Brianna is a writer, curator, and organizational design strategist based in Los Angeles, CA where she currently works for the Los Angeles County Department of Arts and Culture and Charlie James Gallery. She recently designed and is managing the launch of Public Artists in Development (PAiD), a County-led program which seeks to promote the career growth and economic empowerment of underrepresented artists across LA. Through a multi-year grant she received from the Mellon Foundation, the program will seek to dismantle structural barriers to participation and advancement in the public art field and private art market, offering artists apprenticeship-style training, mentorship, professional development, and new small-scale project opportunities through a mix of public and private partnerships. Most importantly, PAiD will seek to center artists’ perspectives in all areas of the program plans and priorities, with opportunities for artists to propose new policies and best practices, act as program ambassadors, and test out new project models to ensure the long-term sustainability of the arts industry in LA County is a place where all artists can truly thrive. Brianna is passionate about advancing diversity, access and inclusion; exposing constructions of value; and creatively rethinking traditional organizational structures and resource distribution models to achieve equity. She hopes to apply new economy tools to establish the framework for an artist cooperative platform as part of PAiD’s highest vision.
Magda Yoc
I’m a descendant of mixed Hispanic and Indigenous Mayan from Guatemala, born & raised in Canada. I live, work and play on the Musqueum, Tsleil-watuth & Squamish nations aka Vancouver, Canada. Currently, I’m employed at a small & local recycling company that focuses on education and innovation to reduce waste. My passions are farming and learning about agroforestry & syntropic agriculture, natural earth building, waste reduction, living & creating resilient communities, rock climbing, empowering womens sexuality, and reconnecting with my indigenous ancestry. I’m wanting to create a business that blends my overlapping passions and benefits the wider community.
Kerry Smith
My name is Kerry and I am a full-time engineering student at Santa Rosa Junior College and hope to transfer to UC Davis next year (Civil & Environmental Engineering). I am The Engineering Club (TEC) president this semester again at SRJC and currently unemployed. I hope to start a business called "Park KEEN Community" that focuses on serving students with low income by providing various services and (tiny) housing. Eventually I would like to have an RV community/park as well. I need to develop the business further which is why I am here!
Thea Nguyen
I'm a recent BSc Anthropology graduate from UCL, London, with a special interest in environmental co-housing communities. I'm skilled in project and event management, as well as in coordinating and managing teams. As an aspiring social entrepreneur, my aim is to create a social enterprise that seeks to support vulnerable young people by providing a safe space that encourages personal growth and allows for people to thrive. I'm particularly inspired by 'Row New York', which empowers and supports young people by offering a unique programme of combining competitive rowing and academic support.
Itoah Scott-Enns
Itoah is a citizen of Tłı̨chǫ Nation based in Yellowknife, Northwest Territories, Canada. She owns Įdaà Strategies, a business that supports communities to identify trails into the future that are rooted in Indigenous languages, cultures, and ways of life. Previously, she supported philanthropic funders to become more effective and responsible partners to Northern Indigenous communities as Executive Director of the Arctic Funders Collaborative.
Itoah holds an H.B.A. in Indigenous Studies and Ethics, Society & Law from the University of Toronto, and has a background in Communication Studies. She enjoys spending time on her cultural education such as tanning hides and promoting her language through #SpeakTłı̨chǫToMe.
Beth Maiden
I'm the owner of Little Red Tarot, an online shop and social enterprise, where I'm exploring what anticapitalist business might look like, and the role of business/commerce in social revolution. I'm queer, white British, middle class and able-bodied. I live in rural Wales, love community life, long walks, film photography, writing, botany, gardening, tarot and ritual.
https://littleredtarot.com
Miki’ala Catalfano
Moving beyond cynicism towards connectedness, I am an artist and designer learning how to create a meaningful, engaged ecobusiness that fits the needs of the place where I live, with an eye on throwing a rope to other like-minded people who would also like to be free from the yoke of conventional workplace hierarchy.
Tracey Osborne
Tracey Osborne is Associate Professor in the Management of Complex Systems Department at the University of California, Merced. Her research focuses on the social and political economic dimensions of climate change mitigation in tropical forests and the role of Indigenous Peoples. She also studies climate finance, environmental governance, and climate justice. She has extensive field experience in Mexico and the Amazon (Peru, Ecuador and Guyana). She also directs the Climate Alliance Mapping Project, a collaborative effort between academics, environmental non-governmental organizations, and Indigenous organizations working for a socially-just response to climate change through research, maps and digital stories.
Melissa Kelii
My vocation is to seed creative discovery in a way that awakens the designer so that we, together, co-create thriving social ecosystems. My vocation is my guide as a mother, artist, friend, daughter and business owner. I discovered my vocation while completing my Master’s in Organization Leadership, an Organization Systems Renewal program through Bainbridge Graduate Institute. The experience was the catalyst to my continual journey to engage my vocation in all aspects of my life with intention, passion and authenticity.
Danylle Kunkel
Danylle Kunkel is an Associate Professor in the Davis College of Business Economics in the Department of Management at Radford University. She has studied at University of Central Florida and VCU. She received her Ph.D. and Post Doc from Virginia Tech focusing on leadership and business curriculum development. Before entering Higher education, Danylle spent 8 years working for Red Bull North America.
She had taught at 3 universities in areas Social Entrepreneurship and Leadership Development at the Undergraduate, MBA, PMBA and Executive Education level. She has also worked in corporate leadership development in industries. Her research interests are centered around social issues and sustainable benefit corporations.
Hannah Kullberg
Hannah grew up amongst the trees in Portland, Oregon. In college, she studied food systems and worked on an organic CSA farm. Returning home, she served on the Food Policy Council, meanwhile, experiencing the power of business to make immediate impact. She co-founded Better Bean Co, growing it from farmer’s markets to national distribution. Successfully selling to Hain Celestial, where Hannah became Brand Manager. In 2019, Hannah started officially supporting natural food startups as a consultant and SBDC business advisor. Hannah is also a holistic health coach & leads a women’s new moon group. She is blessed to be mom to two young children.
Fariba Fuller
"It's been a journey from Iran to Europe to the States and now beyond (I hope). So much to say and nothing to say...I have had multiple careers - entertainment, medical, psychological, design, organizational transformation and I have multiple degrees. Not sure any of it applies any more.
I have journeyed the world and also taken the journey inward . The one thing I think I know is that we survive because of the kindness of others. The one thing that I want to give what is left of my life force to is emergence fanned by the winds love and kindness. "
Rebekah Papé
Rebekah works as the Director of Community and Outreach at Ecolibrium Farms and as the Executive Director of the Papé Family Foundation. She is also a writer, yoga teacher, and mother. She has an MA from in Whole Systems Design, specializing in Sustainable Food Systems, Permaculture Design, and Sustainable Change. Rebekah is passionate about exploring wellness, community, and social change through our connection to food and participating in social justice efforts that shift patterns of inequality by focusing on food access and affordability. Near and dear to her heart are the rituals of gathering, preparing, and eating food together.
Annie Zeng
I am currently working in scientific and engineering R&D within the field of CO2 utilization (www.opus-12.com). Very interested in learning more about socio-cultural and economic systems which affect richness of life and the ability to thrive for all.
Amelia Ahl
Amelia is honing her expertise in understanding and investing in the human component of supply chains as a good business practice. Her experience includes research and advocacy for protection of women and children refugees at UNHCR, managing development projects in India with women as the central agents of change at Traditional Medicinals Foundation, and for profit supply chain engagement strategy development at Traditional Medicinals.
Faith Gilbert
Faith is a farmer, educator and initiator of collaborative projects in the food system.
Charlotte X. C. Sullivan
Charlotte X.C. Sullivan works as the Social Entrepreneurship Program Associate at Middlebury College. She is the co-founder of May West, a design studio and material research laboratory specializing in milkweed-based textile innovation. She serves on the Board of Directors at Cabin-Time, a roaming artist residency program to remote places. Previously, she co-founded the Frontier Fellowship with Epicenter, a rural design resource center in Green River, Utah. For several years she worked at Queens County Farm, the longest continuously operated farm in the state of New York on the largest tract of undisturbed farm land left in New York City.