Elevating innovators and activists with Carolina García Jayaram, Executive Director of The Elevate Prize Foundation

This is Candor

On today’s episode I’m joined by Carolina García Jayaram, the founding executive director of The Elevate Prize Foundation. The mission of the foundation is to amplify the impact of innovators, activists and problem-solvers. In its first year, the global entrepreneurship competition powered by MIT SOLVE had nearly 1300 applicants from 119 countries. There are 10 winners who receive funding and embark on a 2-year program. In addition, they’re building a powerful platform to mobilize communities, catalyze positive change, and awaken the hero in all of us. This conversation was recorded at the end of September, shortly before the 10 winners were selected.
In our conversation we talk about:

• Carolina’s background leading arts and culture organizations
• What makes The Elevate Prize Foundation different (like why they're industry agnostic and award some of the prize money directly to the entrepreneur, in addition to their organization).
• The pain points felt by social entrepreneurs and how they plan to help.
  

Guest Bio:
Carolina García Jayaram is the founding executive director of The Elevate Prize Foundation and she has more than two decades of experience in leading national institutions and initiatives dedicated to enriching and shaping social-impact, philanthropic and cultural communities across the United States. She most recently served as CEO & President of the National Young Arts Foundation and, prior to that, as President & CEO of United States Artists, where she helped manage $25M in unrestricted awards to this country’s most accomplished artists and spearheaded a $20M operating endowment campaign. Carolina was also Executive Director of the Chicago Artists Coalition (CAC). While there, she was a member of Mayor Rahm Emanuel’s Cultural Advisory Council and was named “Chicagoan of the Year in the Arts” by the Chicago Tribune. Her philanthropic work extends to serving on the Advisory Council for Ruth’s List Florida (which aims to elect progressive women to public office in Florida) and on the Latin American and Latinx Committee for the Perez Art Museum. Carolina received her JD (with honors) from the University of Miami School of Law, where she is now an Adjunct Professor as well as a member of the Advisory Committee for the Law School’s Art + Sports Law LLM program. She has also studied not-for-profit management at Harvard Business School. In 2019, she delivered the commencement speech at Broward College and received an honorary degree for her commitment to community service and leadership.

📍Miami, FL USA
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🎙️ Hosted by Megan Doepker
📝 Show notes: https://www.thisiscandor.com/podcast/carolina-garcia-jayaram

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