Community
Since 2019, I have interviewed more than 80 Social Venturers to talk about how they're supporting (social) entrepreneurs in their community, what challenges they encounter, and how they move forward despite the obstacles they face. These are their stories.
Rob Lalka
I first met Rob during my first phase of Social Ventures. Back in 2015, Rob was still with Propeller in New Orleans and has since moved on to Tulane University where he heads up the Albert Lepage Center for Entrepreneurship and Innovation at Tulane’s Freeman School of Business. “My role is to teach entrepreneurship to […]
Peter Ptashko
Peter and I first met in 2015 when he was working at Unltd in the UK. He has since struck out on his own as a consultant in London. I checked in with him in the spring of 2019 to see how self-employed life was treating him. “Overall, I worked with UnLtd for six and […]
Naomi Ryland
“I wanted to be a hairdresser in the morning, a teacher in the afternoon and a ballet dancer at night.” Naomi Ryland has never been short of ambition or willingness to work. And while she has somewhat narrowed her focus since childhood, her dedication to making a difference in the world has remained untethered. We […]
Lee Crockford
Lee Crockford and I go a long way back. A long way. In 2013, I was helping run a global Fellowship program for young social entrepreneurs in Hamburg, Germany. Lee had just left the on-site part of the program and returned to Brisbane, Australia, where he was working to redefine masculinity for Australian men. His […]
Danielle Anderson
“I left London in June 2016 and spent some time in the US, Africa and Jamaica. In early 2017, I returned to Kenya and started exploring the ecosystem for startups. What I heard was ‘We love what you’re doing and we want it, but we need you full-time!’ Kenya thrives on face-to-face interaction and continuity. […]
Tom Allen
One of the very first people I called when I Social Venturers started to take shape was Tom. We had originally met in 2016 when I interviewed him during the first phase of Social Venturers in Brisbane. At the time, Tom was focused on creating the right mindsets to tackle big problems and was bringing […]
Hannah Gay
I first came across Hannah on social media. Then I checked out her website. Then I fell in love professionally. “Social Impact without the B.S.” is Hannah’s M.O. Why hadn’t I come up with that? Because I’m not Hannah and she is incredible, that’s why! Hannah lives in Denver, Colorado, and is a teacher turned […]
Leon Reiner
Meet Leon Reiner, a tall, charismatic German with a passion for social innovation and community building. Leon is the co-founder and managing director at Impact Hub Berlin where he focuses on business development and partnerships. Success in a nutshell? “A strong and happy team, the right projects, members at the right time and an ever […]