In this episode, host Isabelle Swiderski is joined by Alexzandria Poole, Director of Defender Initiatives at Zealous, as she shares her journey from being a public defender to spearheading systemic advocacy. Through her personal story and work at Zealous, Alexz highlights the power of storytelling, education, and media in challenging systemic injus…

Host Isabelle Swiderski sits down with Meaghan Kennedy, founder of Orange Sparkle Ball, an innovation consultancy focused on public-private partnerships to explore the role communities / networks / ecosystems can serve as a supportive framework for change.

“What if we thought of the Bronx as an economy of scale? And what if we try to create a plan for the borough that actually brings all of us in, where we share a vision, where we share in leadership, and where the wealth and capital is owned by us and bred by us? So the simple phrase is: what if we ran it?”—Michael Partis Host Isabelle Swiderski sit…

This episode features April De Simone, a transdisciplinary practitioner working at the intersection of architecture, planning, and systems thinking. She collaborates with different communities across the country, bringing to light the lasting impacts of redlining, urban renewal, and gentrification. What are new ways to explore housing as a key node…

Sana Kapadia, director of strategy at 2X Global, sits down with host Isabelle Swiderski to talk about the current state of gender lens investing and the resources and approaches that support the people and partnerships behind the work.

This episode features Vicki Saunders, founder of Coralus (formerly SheEO) based in Toronto. Coralus now operates in 5 countries and through the annual contribution of individual activators, provides interest-free loans and, crucially, a community of support, to ventures led by women- and non-binary folks. Over 140 ventures tackling the world’s to-d…

This episode, the last in Season II, features Darrell Schuurman, co-founder and CEO of the Canadian Gay and Lesbian Chamber of Commerce. The CGLCC is a coalition of LGBTQ2S+ businesses, government, corporate and community partners advocating for change to make a more inclusive Canadian economy possible. Darrell sheds some light on the evolution of …

This episode features Sarah Burgaud who leads Programs and Partnerships at StartOut, a national US 501c3 organization supporting LGBTQ+ founders. StartOut’s mission is to accelerate the growth of the LGBTQ+ community to drive its economic empowerment, building a world where every LGBTQ+ entrepreneur has equal access to lead, succeed, and shape the …

This episode features Al Ramsay, VP and Head of 2SLGBTQ+ & Black Customer Segments at TD Bank Group. How do corporations navigate changing social mores and customer expectations and still successfully develop thriving corporate cultures founded on diversity of thought and service to customer? What does it mean to truly live values of inclusion and …

This episode features Louise Chernin, an activist, LGBTQIA business and community leader, and the former CEO of the Greater Seattle Business Association. What does it mean to create shared value partnerships uniting small businesses, corporations, and government? How might we best redirect resources, technical support and money where it's most need…

This episode features Jordan Wolken, a sustainability student, social enterprise enthusiast, and the Global President of Bridges for Enterprise, a volunteer-led non-profit empowering early-stage impact startups. He is currently based in Paris, France. Social entrepreneurship is a complex undertaking at the best of times. The pandemic and overall vo…

This episode features Arta Istrefi, an experienced private sector development adviser, ecosystem builder, Founder of Women Entrepreneurs Kosovo and a PhD candidate, based in Pristina. She is focussed on the growing role of entrepreneurship as an engine for economic mobility, particularly for women. We had a chance to discuss her findings on how the…

This episode features Kevin Jones, a successful serial entrepreneur who, with his wife, has built media and event businesses centered on niche communities—including the influential SOCAP Conference. He is currently focussed, amongst other efforts, on helping communities of faith take seriously the call to economic justice through faithfinance.net. …

This episode features Charles Montgomery, author of the book Happy City: Transforming Our Lives Through Urban Design, and the founder of the consultancy of the same name. We know cities are key economic drivers, often even outperforming their own countries in terms of growth. We also know that urbanization comes at a cost, particularly around trans…

This episode features Adriana Valdez Young, an urban design researcher and strategist based in New York City. Her perspectives on cities and how we live together seem particularly relevant in a time where our collective notions of private and public spaces have shifted. Where the global pandemic has meant that for the privileged who can perform the…

In this episode I speak with Delilah Agho-Otoghile, an Organizer, Political Strategist and Co-Founder of VoteSimple, a Texas based digital voter registration organization focused on registering young voters of colour and LGTBQ+ Texans. Delilah previously worked as State Director for Beto for America and Field Director for Stacey Abrams for Governor…

In this episode, I speak with Mica Le John. Mica is a writer, technologist, and educator, and the CEO and co-founder of 2SWIM, a social messaging app with an emphasis on close connections and private communities. 2SWIM will be for everybody but is currently invite-only for POC-, LGBTQ+-, and/or womxn-centric communities, creators and brands (and th…

In this episode, I speak with Sean Condon, Manager Director at 312Main, a Vancity Community Foundation project in Vancouver's Downtown East Side, about his hopes for this project which reclaims a building heavy with our colonial history. What happens when we open up avenues and physical spaces for dialogue, when we invite community and indigenous o…

In this episode, I speak with Dr. Gavin Armstrong, Founder and President of Lucky Iron Fish Enterprise, a Canadian social enterprise tackling the issue of iron deficiency with a simple health innovation. I was in Lima supporting startup ecosystem builders and taking part in a training day for micro, small and medium enterprises. THE MSME event, org…

In this episode, I speak with Sean Harvey, Founder of Sympónia Men and Co-Founder of GenderArc. As a writer, speaker, and consultant he is exploring new narratives around gender balance in organizations to transform people, cultures, and systems. In a time that seems to favour headlines over dialogue and shouting over listening, Sean is trying to b…

In this episode, I speak with Dara Parker, Vice President of Grants and Community Initiatives at Vancouver Foundation, about the social profit landscape as she sees it. What happens when the private and third sectors meet? What does collaboration mean for not for profits and how does social entrepreneurship fit in all of this?…

In this episode, I speak with Keith Ippel from Spring Activator about ways of defining social entrepreneurship and how this way of doing business can fulfill its promise to make the world a better place.

Conversations about redesigning the world through entrepreneurship, philanthropy and new collaborations.