Sharon Rowe's Blog, page 2

The Company We Keep: Introducing Shawn Berry

I was a featured speaker at the SVI, Social Venture Institute Conference at the Omega Institute in May of 2016. I was thrilled to be there and a little nervous as I entered the room. I can’t explain but it’s that feeling that happens before something new happens.

The minute I saw Shawn Berry, another BCorp certified business, I knew I was in the right place. The Company We Keep, is about celebrating people and businesses who do really good work. These are the people you want on your team to get started or to grow.  It’s a platform for connecting people.

Seeing Shawn at the conference, reminded me that, in business as in life, it is all about The Company We Keep.

I am pleased to introduce Shawn Berry of Lift Economy, a dynamic advisory business focused on working with social enterprises.

A few words from Shawn:

“I am a serial social entrepreneur with 2 decades of experience founding, stabilizing and growing organizations. In the past 5 years since launching LIFT Economy we have worked with 80+ social enterprises. After 18 years of doing this work in SF, I have recently moved to the NYC area to help expand this movement on the east coast.

I asked – What are you looking for?

I am looking to connect with other mission aligned companies who may benefit from our help with Vision, Culture, Strategy and Operational Systems. We work with clients who can benefit from an outside perspective. Our expertise comes from our own experience,  seeing common patterns of success and challenges across all industries.

#MagicAndMayhem: On Being an Entrepreneur

Thanks to Tom Schmidt, Professor at NYU-PolyTech for inviting Sharon Rowe (our CEO & Founder), Linda Price (CEO, Ronin Enterprises) and Ann Buivid (CEO, The Lilypad Group) to speak and test a concept.  The three women talked about the #MagicAndMayhem involved in creating and running enterprises from zero to millions.  With over 75 years of experience between them, the room was captivated by the honest telling of their many successes and failures.

This speaking engagement is the first step to creating the #MagicAndMayhem platform where students, and the curious, can get “real” lessons from successful #womenentrepreneurs who are open and willing to talk about all of their ups and the downs.  Everyone loves to hear from the founder of SPANX and Sheryl Sandberg but they aren’t the only women out there with original ideas, making a profit in business while adding value to the market. This is a shout out, to the news media, to widen its lens.

Here’s what a few of the students had to say –

(the comments are taken directly from their anonymous post-class responses)

“Loved today. I thought it was going to be annoying and it was going to be just rich people we don’t know talking to us. But, it was a no bullshit environment that really spoke to me.”

And,

“I don’t know where to start, but that was one of the best classes I have had so far in my years at Poly. So inspiring and informative! Hearing from real, confident and successful women entrepreneurs was an invaluable experience.”

And,

“The most effective discussion/part of the class today for me, was when they were sharing their lessons learnt through their start up experiences. Especially the part about believing in having plans and magic at the same time.”