Ecosystems For Change

In today’s episode, you’ll meet my friend David Hirsch. David is one of those rare people who–within two minutes of talking to you–makes you feel completely seen, heard, understood, and valued. I hope you get some of that in this conversation.  From his office in Chattanooga, TN, he shares with us his experience with burnout as a community builder. David talks about not only the mental and emotion...

Today’s conversation takes place in Dayton, Ohio, where I caught up with Candace Dalmagne-Rouge, social entrepreneur, Zebra and mother of twin girls. I wanted you all to meet Candace because she has lived the startup life of acceleration, ecosystem building, and Silicon Valley and has come out the other end intact to start a business that is deeply aligned with her personal experience and purpose....

Today, I want you to meet Alex Boross-Harmer. Alex used to be my Crossfit Coach and has since taken a completely new, holistic and empathetic approach to helping others move their body. Think sweating and panting, but fun. From the 15th floor of their condo in Toronto, Canada, Alex talks about their transition from Barbie to Ken with an ink sleeve, making the fitness industry more human and honori...

Today, we’re headed to Melbourne, Australia, to talk to my good friend Isaac Jeffries. He was kind enough to sit down after a late-night game of Aussie rules to talk to me about his experience working in the Australian and South Pacific social enterprise space. We chatted about setting and upholding boundaries to ensure we don’t disappoint ourselves or the people around us who matter. We also talk...

If you listened to the first two seasons of this show, you may have noticed that I ask each guest how they’re handling the demands of the work as systemic thinkers and doers. Having worked in this space for years, I know that many of us idealists and hopeless optimists come dangerously close to burning the candle on both ends on a regular basis.  And this is why we need to talk about burnout frien...

Welcome to my second logbook, an in-between-seasons update on what’s been going on behind the scenes of this show and in my work in the Shenandoah Valley of Virginia, paired with a few observations from the field of ecosystem building here in the US. In between seasons, I love giving you a little sneak peek into what I have planned over the coming weeks and how YOU can get involved! Let’s do it! T...

When we set out on this season, it was all about the great unknown of complex, adaptive systems. Scary, right? I’ll admit, I was a little unsure myself whether we would be able to make systems thinking a little less intimidating and ultimately helpful to how we foster, build, and nourish ecosystems for change in our communities. After hearing from our seven guests, I hope that things are a little...

In today’s episode, join me on a trip to the unceded territory of the Sandia Pueblos in New Mexico. I’m sitting down with Vanessa Roanhorse to talk about the Indigenous worldview, how it might inform our approach to thinking in systems, and what exhausts her about being asked to show up as an Indigenous female entrepreneur and educator. Vanessa Roanhorse (Diné) is the CEO of Roanhorse Consulting,...

Today, we’re taking a trip to Berkeley, California, to talk to my favorite kind of trouble: Kate Sassoon, or as we call her: Sassy.  Sassy has spent most of her life living in or working with co-ops. We talked about the role of stakeholder capitalism and global cooperativism and how both models help us rethink the current system. Sassy also shares what she learned from going undercover in Silicon...

Today’s conversation takes place in a small town north of Amsterdam in the Netherlands.  I sat down with Lana Jelenjev, community alchemist, hospice worker for dying systems and midwife for new emerging systems. Lana introduces the two-loop model that explains her work and shares how she sets and upholds boundaries when helping others cross over from old to new.  Lana is an avid fire starter, syst...

Today I’m catching up with April Rinne in Portland, OR. I wanted to have a conversation with April because her book, Flux: 8 Superpowers for Thriving in Constant Change is exactly the kind of thinking that changemakers and systems thinkers need to not only keep their heads above water, but to actually thrive in our constantly changing circumstances. A World Economic Forum Young Global Leader and r...

In today's episode, we make our way to Sacramento, California to hear from Jeff Bennett. Jeff talks about servant leadership, the importance of co-writing a new narrative with our communities and the frustrations that come with shifting a system. I don't know many people who have worked so tirelessly to move our field of ecosystem building forward and Jeff talks openly about the toll that this wor...

In today’s episode, we’re headed to Kansas City, Missouri, to talk to Lauren Higgins. Lauren has been working with systems thinking for more than half her life and today she shares her journey to becoming a systems thinker and talks about how she remains anchored and sane in the wild dance with systems.  Lauren Higgins, co-director of Democracy Together, is active in civic conflict resolution and...

Today, we are headed to a small village in the south of France to talk to Madelynn Martiniere about her work in designing, activating, and scaling open innovation ecosystems for a more equitable and sustainable future. In our conversation Madelynn and I talk about the importance of finding community and belonging, what role technology can play in driving systemic change and what it means to design...

In season two of Ecosystems for Change, we’re talking about the slow and complex nature of our work. For the longest time, I didn’t understand this concept.  I just knew I was banging my head against the wall. It felt like nothing ever changed and like I was constantly running uphill, trying support entrepreneurs in my community and nobody would see it the way I saw it. Today, I know that’s becaus...

I have been writing monthly Logbooks ever since I started Social Venturers. It’s been my way of keeping myself accountable and sharing with other people what I’ve been working on the month before, what I was planning, and how people could get involved. So I’m continuing that tradition here on the podcast. Listen to the full episode to hear: Three big projects that are wrapping up Professional shif...

If there is one takeaway running through each episode of season one it’s this: Ecosystem building is a mindset. Almost all of the six ecosystem builders I spoke with this season professed to be introverts or having been shy as children, yet they are out there every day building relationships and communities. But, as Charlton Cunningham noted in Episode 3, the introvert-extrovert continuum is reall...

In today’s episode, we’re headed to Quito, Ecuador, to sit down with Michelle Arévalo-Carpenter. When season 1 took shape I knew I had to have Michelle on the show so it’s only suitable that she is closing out the conversation series of this pilot season! Michelle talks about how she left her career and professional identity as a human rights lawyer in Geneva, Switzerland, to return to Latin Ameri...

In today’s episode, I’m taking you to Lincoln, Nebraska, to meet Christina Oldfather. Christina is a seasoned ecosystem builder and economic developer. We talk about the shared objectives and differences between economic development and ecosystem building as approaches to fostering entrepreneurship. And Christina spills the beans on how her ecosystem convenes and how they support founders post-acc...

Today, we’re going on a trip to the Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex in Texas. I want you to meet Darlisa Diltz who runs the North Texas Entrepreneur Education and Training Center. Darlisa shares what happens when the work you’ve been doing for years suddenly becomes all the rage, but powerful players don’t take the time to truly understand their communities’ needs. Darlisa also talks openly about bad...

In today’s episode, we’re headed to Puerto Rico to talk with Denisse Rodríguez. Denisse left her high-flying career on Wall Street to return to her home country where she’s now dedicated to making entrepreneurship more accessible for founders all across the island. Against the background of the bustling streets of San Juan, Denisse shares which champions helped her launch an island-wide ecosystem...

In today's episode, I’m sharing a conversation I had with Charlton Cunningham during his recent visit to Mexico City. Charlton used to be based in Atlanta, GA, but has been living a nomad life since the pandemic began. In our conversation, Charlton talks about how to build trust in an ecosystem. He also shares some insights into the role that Venture Capitalists can play in an ecosystem and why co...

In today’s episode, we’re headed to Staunton, VA, to talk with Debbie Irwin about how she became an entrepreneurial ecosystem builder. With her background in digital marketing and a deep-seated passion for rural communities, Debbie became Executive Director of Shenandoah Community Capital Fund in 2019. As you’ll learn in this episode, the term “community capital” is about a lot more than investing...

Over the last three years, I’ve talked to more than one hundred and fifty champions, cheerleaders and advocates for entrepreneurs in their communities. Some of them work at startup accelerators and small business incubators. Others operate coworking spaces. Yet others are economic developers, investors, community builders, policymakers, academics, mentors, advisors, and service providers to emergi...

Changing the world is hard work. And if world-changing is in your job description, it’s easy to get burnt out. Ecosystem-building is all about gathering the support you need to make your job more sustainable and maybe even easier, too. Instead of exhausted and overworked, you’re supported and well-resourced. Ecosystems For Change is the podcast about caring for yourself as you care for others and...