A. Lauren Abele

Mark your calendars for Green Edge NYC’s 3rd Birthday Bash!

In celebration of the community-based organization’s third year of connecting “people with businesses, organizations and the resources they need to build a sustainable future” the group will be hosting a blow-out party at littlefield in Brooklyn.

Things you should know:

Tickets are $20 (and include raffle tickets! YESSSS! I am personally hoping to snag the Blades Natural Beauty item. )

The event runs from 7:00 pm-11:00 pm.

From 7:30-8:30 there will be representatives from Root for Trees, Tap It, Brooklyn Green Team, Rising Tide Initiative, and Solar 1 at the nonprofit booths. Now is your chance to meet other awesome environmentally-minded folks doing great things in NYC.

Hope to see you all there!

When @jameselbaor tweeted that he was on his way to the Columbia Business School Social Enterprise Conference one Friday morning, I immediately sent him a message asking if he could take notes as I would be spending the day sitting in the office. And he did!There are many great conferences out there, probably even way more than I know of, but going to all of them is probably impossible–unless you are a social enterprise conference roadie. A great way to address this problem is to have friends who go to conferences too. James Elbaor is the Co-Founder and Executive Director at KR Student Loans–a peer-to-peer lending platform for students–and a member of the Nonprofit Millennial Blogging Alliance. Here are James’ two main takeaways from the Social Enterprise Conference: Continue reading

Monday evening I attended Net Impact NYC’s Womens Social Entrepreneurship Panel at The Feldenkrais Institute. The panel was moderated by Ann MacDougal, Chief Management Officer (New York) at Acumen Fund and featured:

Elizabeth Scharpf, Chief Instigating Officer at Sustainable Health Enterprises (SHE)
Katie Orenstein, Founder and Director at The Op-Ed Project
Amini Kajunju, CEO/COO at the and Executive Committee member at Angel Africa

They are the big-wigs at their respective organizations and have each made great strides in addressing social issues, but these three women were also honest, funny, and down-to-earth about life as a woman social entrepreneur. Elizabeth Scharpf spoke about her “tipping point” that guided her down a different path. She had been working at an INGO in Mozambique, and had spoken with some young children about what they wanted to be when the grew up. One child answered: “I want to work for a big international development organization, because I want to be rich.” Hmmm. That wasn’t exactly the motivation for involvement in the social sector that she (or really anyone else for that matter) wanted to hear. What resulted was Elizabeth’s pursuit of an alternative path that led her to start SHE. Continue reading

One week, two great events…(Part 2 of 2)

Event 2: NY 100 Party

We’re sick of the doom and gloom–the stories of revival coming out of this crisis need to be told too.–NEWYork 100

Last night I headed over to All Day Buffet’s NEWYork 100 Party at Brooklyn Bowl. All Day Buffet is the Scarlet Pimpernel of the growing social entrepreneurship scene…they are everywhere, doing good, somewhat disguised. When I got to the event last night, the first thing someone asked me was: “How did you hear about All Day Buffet?”  I told them that I had unknowingly come across them on  multiple occasions, but it wasn’t until recently that I realized that All Day Buffet was really behind it all.
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One week, two great events… (Part 1 of 2)

Event 1: BRAC’s Friendraiser

Last Wednesday I headed over to BRAC’s Friendraiser at the Edwynn Houk Gallery. I was invited to the event by my friend Laina–who is always up to good. My hat goes off to the BRAC Host Committee, who organized the free event, as it was truly a great way to introduce new “friends” to the organization’s mission and activities. There were a bunch of things about the event’s structure itself that I really appreciated. Some Friendraising tips to consider for your organization’s next Friendraiser:

Price: The event was free. While fundraising and/or off-setting costs are definitely important and events can be a great opportunity for such a thing, free events are a great way to encourage new attendees. In NYC especially, everything seems to have a dollar sign attached to it.
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I must highly recommend a Women Wellness Seminar on Entrepreneurship and Financial Freedom I attended last Thursday at In Good Company WorkPlaces (which is another great story altogether…for another time), hosted by Change Starts With Me. Dana Skallman, an entrepreneur herself who is a partner at Independent Strategists and a Financial Coach/Trainer at Primerica Financial Services, coordinates the events and brings together women who are inspired and determined to do great things, but who could use some guidance.

Last Thursday the SOLD-OUT event, featured Sue Gilad: “an entrepreneur who has never had a job” (and, a fine public speaker, if I might add). Sue’s seminar, entitled “Financial Freedom is Sexy”:

[G]ets participants excited about creating profitable ventures from what they are already experts at. Sue’s forthcoming book, FINANCIAL FREEDOM IS SEXY, shares the inspired brainstorms and success stories of the entrepreneurs who took the proven principles of “info-preneuring” (information enterpreneuring) and ran with them.

In addition to being an inspiring, down-to-earth speaker, Sue had a slew of personal experiences to share as well as a number of concrete and useful tips for entrepreneurs. One thing she brought up was the concept of changing the way we think about money and seeing “saving as sexy” rather than a “drag” or something that makes us feel unempowered. It didn’t make that much sense to me at the moment, but this weekend when I only “window shopped” at Barnes and Noble (a difficult task, I’ll have you know) I left and thought, “Wow. It’s really nice to have money, and NOT spend it.”

OVERALL: The price was right ($10) for a fabulous and inspiring seminar and what I’ve written up here is just the tip of the iceberg. I HIGHLY RECOMMEND being on the lookout (here) for the second round of this seminar–Dana mentioned that due to high demand, Sue may be back!

The New York Women Social Entrepreneurs (NYWSE) held their first ever Incubator Friendraiser last week. The private event was held at the Bowery Wine Company and was a fundraiser and silent auction for NYWSE’s Incubator Program for budding women social entrepreneurs. The 2009 Incubator Participants were:

• Early Earners – Online education destination for youth and families promoting positive financial habits

• Girl Guides USA – Outdoor program that develops girls’ environmentalism, leadership and teamwork

• Illume – Online mentoring and career resource for young women from illiterate families in India

• Out Against Abuse – Online resource to stop domestic violence in the South Asian community

• Public Stuff – Software to connect government and citizens to improve services and community life

• Start Your Engine – Exercise, nutrition, stress and time management program for low-income women

The event featured a keynote speech by Diana Ayton-Shenker, Founder & CEO of Fast Forward Fund (FFF), a youth-investing-in-youth social venture fund, who spoke the importance of investing in young social entrepreneurs who will become tomorrow’s leaders.

The venue was a-buzz with interesting conversations and was a great opportunity to meet other faces in the world of NYC social entrepreneurship. And, in addition to the great company, the Bowery Wine Company staff were fabulous!

I had the pleasure of helping organize the event and had the opportunity to work with some really fabulous women including Natalia Oberti Noguera (NYWSE Director) and Melissa Osborne (who is off to graduate school this fall! Congrats!).  If you are a woman interested in social entrepreneurship, I highly recommend checking out NYWSE–they have an ever growing community and lots of thoughtful resources for women social entrepreneurs.

If you are considering applying for next year’s Friendraiser, check the NYWSE website for the 2010 Program Applications.

Some photos from Green Edge NYC’s Urban Foraging with Leda Meredith (See “A Day in the Park”).

Interested? Upcoming Urban Foraging with Leda Meredith events: Saturday August 15th and Saturday October 10th.

Sunday June 28th I had to pleasure of waking up (relatively) early, lathering on sunscreen, and sporting my sneakers as I ventured over to Prospect Park for Green Edge NYC’s Urban Foraging with Leda Meredith. It was an absolutely beautiful morning and the time just flew by! The twenty(-ish) person group–composed mainly of Brooklynites–was friendly and full of interesting stories. We walked throughout the park while Leda stopped to point out various edible plants found in the middle of Brooklyn. Personal favorites include:

Linden
Day Lilies
June Berries

Before becoming a botanist, Leda was a professional ballet dancer.  In quick biography at the end of our tour, Leda mentioned that her career transition was made possible by a nonprofit organization called Career Transition For Dancers, which sounds like an amazing program! As we sat under a tree passing around her book, Botany, Ballet and Dinner from Scratch: A Memoir with Recipes, we got to sample some of Leda’s homemade Juneberry & Mullberry Preserves (both of which are found in the Park!). Delicious!

(photo via Leda Meredith)

More on the Green Edge Collaborative NYC:  The Green Edge Collaborative NYC is “a social network that connects people with businesses, organizations and the resources they need to build a sustainable future.” In addition to Urban Foraging tours, Green Edge hosts a number of supper clubs as well as a film series in addition to managing a community calendar.

Check back when I post some more photos from the forage!