Business 4 Good: How Women Leaders Innovate by Centering Equity
The Portland Metro Innovation Hub checked all the equity boxes on paper. I was the unanimous choice to lead it. What happened next became a masterclass in how not to build. Here is what I learned, and why I keep building Business 4 Good, because even if I am no longer in that role, it remains my job to connect resources to the people who need and deserve them.
Extractive Capitalism Is Collapsing: The Generative Economy Has Entered the Chat
We are the visionaries, the early adopters, the system-refusers who know collapse is not the end. It is the invitation. Trickle-down, Reagan-inspired, neo-liberal money is dead. Versions of collaborative currency are what comes next. When women have what we need, everyone wins.
I've been interviewing women in business since 2017, and spent the last five years building the safest place on the internet for women. Extractive capitalism is collapsing mathematically. Women-led businesses are already building what comes next. That is not hope. That is the data.
When Leadership Gets Real: What I Learned From a Very Rough Chapter of My Life
I was hired unanimously to lead a regional Innovation Hub with collaboration and equity at the center. I did not walk in to keep the lights on.
I walked in to build something new. Here is what happened when intention met execution.
I stayed in the work long after it got hard. I continue to seek guidance from mentors, board members and even HR.
I always try to create space for hard conversations. I like to think I tried everything to make this JOB work. Eventually, the staffer left. So did I. Here is what I learned, and why I keep building Business 4 Good!
Tits Up: What Elevation Actually Looks Like
I don't have any balls. Good news though, I do have a courageous and large chest. In many circles known as BREASTS. And I am here to elevate. Not by grinding harder in systems that were built to oppress me. By building new ones entirely.
The Flywheel: Collaboration as Currency
Think of a bike wheel. It spins graciously when it is built correctly, maintained over time with good, kind attention. Now imagine that wheel is a global marketplace built by women for women. This is what the flywheel of collaboration looks like when every spoke is tended to.
What Is More Offensive: F-Bombs or Genocide?
I've gotten the feedback that I "sure do curse a lot." That I "make great points but do I need to drop the f-bomb so much?" And my very favorite: "You are so pretty. Ladies like you do not swear!" Being the salacious sinner that I am, I thought: Well, f*ck. Let's talk about what actually deserves our outrage.
Tech for Good: Buying Back the Internet
What happens when the wild, wild west of the Internet is bought back by women? Not just any women. Specifically women who don't look like women who have traditionally climbed the ranks in big tech. Ada Lovelace wrote the first algorithms. Grace Hopper wrote the first compiler. It is time to finish what they started.
I Never Really Felt I Belonged
I never really felt I belonged. Anywhere. Until one day I began to notice why, and how I could maybe, just maybe one day, find belonging. Inclusivity matters to me because I know what it feels like to search for it. And I've been searching since inception.