Be Your Change

In this episode of Be Your Change, I talk to Vava Angwenyi about the importance of empowering women coffee growers. Being aware of where the coffee we drive comes from has a critical impact on women’s financial independence in Africa and Columbia. Vava was born and raised in Kenya. She decided to be part of the solution. In 2009, she founded the social enterprise Vava Coffee. Vava saw smiles where others only saw poverty, corruption and fears. She noticed the voices of coffee farmers and their need to be heard.Women Own Less Than 20% Of All The Land On The Planet.UN puts it at less than 10%. However, women make more than 50% of the population. And 400 million women farm and produce the majority of the world’s food supply.Women “make up around 43 percent of the agricultural labor force in developing countries”. They are especially disadvantaged and usually have more limited access to both information and services. They hold more responsibilities around the house and are now taking over more and more of the agr

In this episode of Be Your Change podcast, you will learn how Alice Bosley, co-founder of 51 Labs Labs  decided to move to Iraq to launch the first social impact incubator. So I'm very excited for her to speak about what is and her mission. Read our full blog post. "These are incredible people, right? I mean these are people with college educations and professional experiences and hopes and dreams and talents. And, when we think about displacement, we think about these people as either kind of poor and helpless or as burdens on society. And I think five one labs wanted to flip that on its head, right? These are assets. This is human capital that has been displaced into a place. often entrepreneurship is an incredible way for people to overcome some of the challenges in accessing jobs at their level. You may not have  connections, you might not have kind the opportunities to break into the job space, but if you have these skills, then you're able to launch a business. And so we provide training and office spac

My guest today on Be Your Change podcast is Wingee Sampaio. She is the global director of the Cartier Women's Initiative. In February, they organized a breakfast in Boston to discuss how to design an ecosystem that empowers women as a force for good. The event brought together a panel of powerful women and attendees who are changing the funding narrative for women. Wingee Sampaio's role is to coach women social entrepreneurs in the early stages of their business to make sure they are driving social change and reaching their full potential. Cartier is one of the most successful luxury brands in the world, but it also happens to be one of the pioneers in supporting women's social entrepreneurs. Cartier Women's Initiatives is an international entrepreneurship program. It focuses on driving change in the world by empowering women social entrepreneurs. Listen to the episode Wingee Sampaio, Head of Cartier Women’s Initiative"A lot of accelerators are mainly focused on the business, accelerating a business idea. And

On this episode of Be Your Change podcast, I sit down with the host and co-producer of the One in Four podcast Beatrice Spadaccini. One in Four podcast looks to educate, humanize and elevate the conversations about previously the incarcerated population re-entering society (This interview has been edited for the purpose of this article).“We…give voice and give the microphone to people who are coming out of the prison system. Men and women who share with us and gift us with their stories of re-entry and the challenges they face, the stigma they face.”We talk aboutThe US Criminal Justice: A money making machineThe Incarceration of Women in the U.S has increased by 700%One In Four Podcast: A voice for people coming out of prisonAn unfair and inhuman systemThe Story of Khadija Clifton, a woman in jail"To give an idea of what we are dealing with, 1 in 3 black men and 1 in 6 Latino men are incarcerated in the U.S…compared to 1 in 17 white men.""The Number Of Women In The Incarcerated Population Has Increased By Mor

In this week’s episode, we are celebrating International Women’s Day by talking with women from an organization named RefuShe. It’s an organization that works with refugee girls in East Africa. We sit down with Jailan Adly who is the president of Refushe and Esperance Gikundiro who is a refugee herself and now a board member of the organization.

In today’s episode, we travel to one of the Parisian neighborhoods named Montreuil to talk with Rebecca Dry, founder of the media platform Love Montreuil.Montreuil is to Paris what Oakland is to San Francisco, a vibrant multicultural young dynamic and creative suburb of Paris. (This interview has been edited for the purpose of this blog post)One of the most secrets of Parisian neighborhoods, Montreuil is well-known for its left-wing politics and its diverse immigrants population.The city has been led by a succession of Mayors affiliated with the French communist but also the Green party.We talked to Rebecca Dry about:Montreuil: One Of The Most Diverse Parisian Neighborhoods: An Incredible Melting Pot Right At The Door Of Paris.“So it's almost like a hidden jewel and lots more people from Paris are coming to live here now, which is good. They wouldn't have touched it 10 years ago and now it's kind of trendy to live here, you know, so they call it the Brooklyn of Paris…and it tends to be where people maybe dare

In this episode, you'll learn how we can help homeless people with the innovative approach of Casa Milagro in New Mexico. Co-founder, Meryl Lieberman, discusses how her model could be an example to follow to help homeless people. About 2 percent of the global population or 150 million people are homeless. In the United States alone in 2019, more than 500,000 people reported being homeless…and the number of people experiencing homelessness in New Mexico is on the rise. From 2018 to 2019, the number of people living on the streets in New Mexico rose by 27%, one of the largest increases in the country.Poverty is one of the leading causes to mental health issues.The United Nations number 3 goals of the 17 goals for a more sustainable world, is about well-being and health. To understand what it means in action to tackle the goal number 3, we are traveling to Sante Fe, New Mexico, to meet with Meryl Lieberman. She is the co-founder of the non-profit Casa Milagro or House of Miracles. We are talking to Meryl today a

Dianne Calvi is the CEO of Village Enterprise. She started with the non-profit in 2010. She has grown the organization from 13 employees to now 200 and overtime she has helped over 1 million people transition out of poverty. Village Enterprise works towards achieving the United Nations’ first sustainable development goal...to end extreme poverty by 2030. And the UN defines extreme poverty by people living on less than one dollar and 25 cents a day. As of last year, more than half of the world’s population living in extreme poverty is located in sub-Saharan Africa...and that is who Village Enterprise works with. Juliette Roy talks with Dianne about her work as the Ceo of Village enterprise and how the non-profit has been making strides in lifting people, mostly women, out of poverty in sub-Saharan Africa.

In 2015, the United Nations introduced seventeen sustainable goals to transform the world by 2030. These goals provide a framework to build a conscious world. They cover a lot of ground from poverty to sustainability and education. Today, we are introducing goal number 5 to address gender equality which is also tied up to decent work conditions and economic growth, goal number 8. So what do the goals mean really? To understand them in action, I’m excited to introduce our guest, Drakshan Khan. She has decided to be part of the solutions to transform the reality of women in Pakistan.

Today, we are taking a look at the social impact space. Our guest Neetal Parekh is a long-term advocate and expert in social entrepreneurship. Social entrepreneurship is a new type of business that is growing fast.

Today we are taking a look at social entrepreneurship and media. These emerging economies bringing new players in the media space while promoting investment in mission driven companies and building a new Exciting media ecosystem.

Today we are talking about Fair Trade with Karrie Pukstas from Kroger and Abby Ayers from the certification organization Fair Trade USA. You'll learn how we can all contribute to provide decent conditions for workers and get them out of the poverty cycle just by how we shop.

In this episode, you'll learn how Lubiana found her voice through an unusual encounter with the Kora. Kora is called the African guitar but is much more than a traditional musical instrument. It ties the world of music to spirituality and oral tradition. Traditionally played by male, Lubiana is one of the rare women who has emerged as an uprising singer-songwriter, kora player and is on her way to become a griot herself. You will learn about the shocking numbers of gender disparity when it comes to music in sounds and hears from Terri Winston, executive director of Women's Audio Mission.

Podcasts. You hear them everywhere. And everybody talks about them. Yep, there’s even an international podcast day – that’s September 30, in case you are wondering. You want another sign that podcasts are trending? Celebrities have their own podcasts, from Shaquille O’Neal to Gwyneth Paltrow. But, as is true with every broadcasting industry, podcasting is widely dominated by men. Even though we have a woman to thank for making the podcast a true mainstream media – Sarah Keonig, with Serial – and even though the gender gap is closing when it comes to looking at the listeners (44% of whom are female, according to a 2018 study), the dominant voice on the hosting side is still male. The reason behind this is that more often then none, women feel that podcasts just aren’t for them. A way of saying they don’t feel represented in the podcasting landscape. Or, more to the point, they weren’t. Because now, we women have tools to better engage our audience, thanks to Simplecast, and its very active COO, Jeanine Wright.

In this new season of ‘Be Your Change podcast, we are looking at what is fair trade and what role do we play to accelerate the transformation of our society to a better world. We are talking to many women who are impacting the world with the creation of sustainable and good jobs. From our new hometown in Los Angeles. we are excited to be now based in Los Angeles because of the bourgeoning social change community with an increasing number of female change-makers leading the way.What You'll LearnWe are looking at the impact of our purchase on people's life. Did you know that 85% of the household budget is spent by women? It tells you how much power we hold ladies to change the world.In this episode, we are talking to Elisha Chan, the executive director of Fair Trade a Los Angeles, a non-profit that helps to spread the word about the impact of buying fair trade products. Companies and non-profits who are certified Fair Trade have to follow strict guidelines like no child labor. Many of our day to day products li

In this episode, you'll learn about how Eunice and Sabrina Moyle used their design company Hello Lucky to create positive change and engage the youth to get their voices heard. You will also learn how their experiences growing up outside of the U.S have influenced their work. Photography by Zoe Larkin. Keep In TouchFollow our Facebook page hereInstagramSubscribe to our newsletter here

In this episode, you learn about Laina Raveendran Greene, the co-founder of Angels of Impact, a company investing in responsibly produced goods made by women living in poverty.

Rosa Lee Harden: Rosa believes that the entire world stands a better chance if we focus on impact investing. Fair trade and changing the world starts by looking at how we spend money, from daily purchases to long term pension funds. Today on Be Your Change, we explore impact investing. The term has different meanings for different people, but ideally, we must ensure our investment has a good impact on the world. We get insights on impact investing from Rosa Lee Harden, a leader in the social impact movement and co-founder of Social Capital Markets (SOCAP). SOCAP is a large network of investors and entrepreneurs who want money to flow towards the greater good.In this interview, we talk to Rosa Lee Harden about the meaning of impact investing, and how we can join this movement even though we don’t have a large amount of money to invest.The story behind SOCAPWhat is Impact Investing?3 Tips to become a more conscious investor and consumer We have to start investing in a way that protects the planet, that protects

In this episode, you’ll learn how social therapy grew out of a movement for social change.Social therapy is a group-oriented model that looks at patients as social performers, people capable of being change-makers. I am talking to Joyce Dattner, a leader in the social therapy community. She will explain how practitioners of this therapy relate to the group, not the individual… Follow us on www.instagram.com/beyourchangepodcastFollow our Facebook page hereJoin our Facebook group hereSubscribe to our newsletter here

In this episode, you will learn how Anna Lecat and Melanie Viallon co-founders of Les Lunes are building an eco-friendly fashion line made of bamboo fabric.Follow us on Instagram www.instagram.com/beyourchangepodcastFollow our Facebook page hereJoin our Facebook group hereSubscribe to our newsletter here