People Helping People

Send us a text Nicole Crone is a role model for using her curiosity to connect with the community and learn what it means to create impact.

Send us a text Tim Rush spoke about creating a space for conversations through the Third Way Cafe -- a coffee house that helps the community come together for social good, entertainment, discussions, and of course, coffee! Tim mentioned “conversations” as a top priority in the atmosphere at the coffee house. Dialogue becomes more productive in a safe space, especially around social issues. Third W...

Send us a text Josh Boone of Cova Cowork shared his experience building support around social enterprises. Cova is a workspace providing tools and resources for entrepreneurship. While working as a freelance lawyer, Josh went on a global trip with a group of 50 others. He started an entrepreneurship mastermind with people who were interested. Oddly, a trend of social good came from out of the mast...

Send us a text Steve Votaw from Furniture Bank of Central Ohio discussed the depth in their mission to “turn empty houses into homes of hope”. A phrase of “empty houses” referring to the barren conditions of a household pushing through poverty. A lack of material resources, such as furniture and appliances, can eat away at the warmth of a home. Furniture Bank of Central Ohio noticed the resources...

Send us a text Trigger Warning: Content in this episode involves conversations on human trafficking and trauma-based family dynamics. Lasheyl Stroud brought her expertise and authentic understating to share the work being done in and around the juvenile court system. At the time of recording, Lasheyl is growing past her role as Lead Magistrate, and running for judge of the Franklin County Court. S...

Send us a text Susan Post introduced Aspire, the Columbus-cultivated award ceremony honoring social entrepreneurs. The annual award show began in 2013, and continues to celebrate social enterprise in Columbus today. Similar to many events in 2020, Aspire will be held virtually. Now the event has a larger capacity for more people to share this celebratory experience sponsored by Social Ventures. Th...

Send us a text Purnota Dutta Bahl of Cuddles Foundation provides nutrition to children undergoing cancer treatment. Being based in India, Purnota explained the barriers of cancer treatment for children within the country. Malnourishment is one of those barriers slimming the odds of proper treatment. Malnourished children can experience disruptive side effects during chemotherapy, and drop out of t...

Send us a text Beth Gifford, President & CEO of Columbus Works, described the initiative perfectly, saying Columbus Works is a “nonprofit organization providing job readiness training and longterm wraparound support for any individual in central Ohio who desires to move out of poverty through full-time employment.” During COVID-19, assistance in employment matters is extremely relevant. Beth e...

Send us a text George “Ski” Zarebski and Lolo Smith of Urban Accelerator X came to help everyone get on track around building up entrepreneurship. Urban Accelerator X works as an urban entrepreneur support organization much like their name would suggest. Usually, the initiative interacts with smaller businesses that are 5 years or younger in their business journey. The duo points out that they wor...

Send us a text Jennifer Sconyers came to discuss her extensive work in diversity and inclusion, alongside commentary on what lessons she learned. Being the president and founder of Abundance Leadership Consulting, Jennifer continuously worked with numerous companies and observed a lack of diverse talent. Absence of diversity only intensified as the conditions did not allow diverse backgrounds to t...

Send us a text Durell Coleman speaks on DC Design’s work as a social impact strategy and design consulting firm. The firm works on the pressing issues such as the criminal justice system, healthcare, foster care, and education. Through their efforts, DC Design helps organizations nurture relationships with their communities in addition to developing strong strategies and resources. In the end, the...

Send us a text In this episode, we have the pleasure of speaking with past guest Omar Elhagmusa and bringing in new guest Paul Bryson. Omar was a past guest when I spoke with his non-profit lending company Illinois Facilities Fund (IFF). Paul is working for the Legal Aid Society (LAS) as a non-profit lawyer. We dive into the benefits of incorporating as a non-profit, and navigate a conversation of...

Send us a text Marvetta Rutherford discussed with us her take on transportation, food access, ownership, and empowering people. Marvetta gave her observations on the evolution of her hometown, Cleveland, Ohio. Her life experience spans enough eras to remember the Hough riots and Glenville riots during the sixties.

Send us a text Allen Proctor from SocialVentures balances optimism with an extremely realistic outlook on the development of social enterprises and community relations. He builds the ecosystem of social entrepreneurship. We talked through what is working well for social entrepreneurs and what they need to know. Starting off strong, his first two points revolved around what some of the best social...

Send us a text Trudi Lebron is a business coach for social impact-driven entrepreneurs. She also works as a diversity equity and inclusion strategist. She reflects on how she first began her venture into the coaching space. Trudi said school loan payment helped fuel her natural side hustle tendency. She briefly describes what gave the first push of momentum behind her coaching. As one learning poi...

Send us a text Rebecca Cohen explained how Share My Journey “connects caring people to share knowledge and experience during challenging life circumstances.” She created a way for people who lived through a certain experience to give support to people currently living that experience. Whether the experience deals with family, career, or any of life’s endless enigmas, Share My Journey is filled wit...

Send us a text Vincenzo Landino speaks on how Can’t Stop Columbus emerged during this time of social distancing for COVID-19. He recalls how the grassroots initiative began from a tweet on Twitter. Someone asked a holding a virtual hack-a-thon to combat COVID-19, and the response was overwhelming... three days later, over 300 people were involved. Seeing the huge amount of engagement, a Slack acco...

Send us a text * Left to right: myself, Emily of GiveBackHack, Madison of Point, Mico, and Nicole of APTE.Madison Mikhail Bush from the Point app is creating an easier way to volunteer and connect so that causes can have the necessary support. In her own words, she describes Point as “your starting point for doing good”. Regular volunteers may be familiar with the tiring task of learning about org...

Send us a text Annalies Corbin, Ph. D., from PAST Foundation speaks on transforming education through the PAST Innovation Lab. Programs in the organization change how students interact with learning environments. From Annalies’ view, today’s education systems do not properly equip students as the structure of those education systems is obsolete. She brought our attention to how we’re using the sam...

Send us a text Craig Chavis of Cre8ive Craig is a serial entrepreneur and a coach on how you can fulfill your creative dreams. He launched his book, Burdens of a Dream, on the topic a few days ago. Craig shares his story and the lessons he learned in his creative pursuits. Craig went from his home state, Ohio, to play collegiate football in Alabama. After two years, he experienced a season-ending...

Send us a text Kristine Snow and Chelsea Akers amplify true diversity and inclusion through Level D&I Solutions. From WITI (Women in Technology International) to a partnership with Revel IT, these two social entrepreneurs are molding a new experience for “women in tech”. Kristine and Chelsea imagine Level reaching more narratives to widen their involvement with diversity and inclusion. The duo...

Send us a text Asking the right questions is essential for accessing insightful information. Abel Koury from Compelling Analytics helps refine questions that drive your social enterprise forward. After multiple interactions with nonprofits, Abel was inspired to combine his experience in research design and data analytics with social justice. Non-profits and smaller organizations don’t always have...

Send us a text Today we’re going to talk about measuring social impact. We’re going to start by diving into the Sustainable Development Goals, and then wrap it up looking at some ways to measure social impact. In 2015, the United Nations came up with 17 Sustainable Development Goals as part of their 2030 Agenda. At one level, the sustainable development goals are designed to be measured against th...

Send us a text Raj Raghunathan of Happy Smarts teaches others to nurture well being and happiness. His recent courses, A Life of Happiness and Fulfillment and HEROIC (Happier Employees and Return-On-Investment Course), guide people in measuring happiness levels in the determinants of happiness. His story first began in 2007. In his seventh year as a marketing professor at the University of Texas,...

Send us a text Continuing our discussion from episode 55, Suzy of GiveBackHack hosted an episode exploring my experience building Wild Tiger Tees, and what it’s like to engage with the social enterprise community. Reflecting on the journey so far, Suzy and I agree two major parts are finding what impact to make and discovering how to sustain what you are creating. I find myself navigating how to e...