Business leaders in Asheville, NC were keen to get ahead of the spurt in commercial development that would widen the opportunity gap for locals and residents, while causing harm to the environment to cut costs. Although many of us were artists, creatives, designers, entrepreneurs and project managers, there was a shared understanding of the missing link between business + community; community + sustainability; and sustainability + accountability. The organizing team needed metrics to get people to care about their impact on the environment, the impact on the community and somehow making that more important than driving up their profits. Based on some of the strides B Corp and B the Change movement was having in other parts of the country, it was clear that blending the worlds of business, community and sustainability was the true ROI and way to make sure the community was not run over by franchises + could create jobs. This would also bring the environmentalists, DEIB consultants, creatives, engineers, business owners and government officials all together at the same table in order to build a community-wide strategic plan.

New Mountain AVL had the space, capacity and time to host various community engagement points, including a community introduction to "B the Change" and the B Corp methodology. New Mountain AVL's team contracted me as a local business consultant to manage the project and be a bridge builder between the business, creative and social impact communities. Along the way, Buchi Kombucha, Roots Hummus, New Belgium Brewing, Earth Equity Advisors, Big Path Capital, Mycelium School, and Lenoir-Rhyne Unviersity came on board as organizers and promotional partners.

The solution was the work, itself. The connections that were made, the conversations that were catalyzed, the community built all laid the foundation for the start of Asheville, NC becoming a home for sustainable business. Ten years later, the impact of that early work is more evident every day. The takeaways? First, that social movements are not always just about protest. Social movements can happen in business, and are. Check out B Lab and #Bthechange Movement if you haven't already. Next, to get the work done, we must start with synergistic gatherings of a diverse skill set, a shared vision, clear strategy, a good whiteboard and some snacks. And finally, that separating business and people renders our communities vulnerable and it is not just up to the nonprofits to address. If businesses look closely enough, we can see where we need to pivot to take care of our people and make THAT the legacy. It is not a loss to put people first because profits follow values so the money will still be made if ethos is in the foundation.

In order to satisfy the scope of work, I organized a community event; facilitated calls with Impact HUB, B Corp and B the Change organizers; and worked with the organizing team to build out a strategic plan.

If you want to hop on a call to chat process or about a project, do set up a Discovery Call.

For more on this project, view the Asheville Citizen-Times article here, https://www.citizen-times.com/story/news/local/2015/01/26/good-business-means-business-good/22377365/ and for a full view of my work, visit the Portfolios page of Cortina Jenelle Branding Agency.