What do you do when you have an entrepreneur’s brain, a charitable heart, singer’s soul and public speaker’s confidence? Change the world of course. Megha Desai is the possessor of all these gifts and the one who leverages them to help empower women and children all over the world.  Megha is president of the Desai Foundation, a public foundation that aims to elevate the health and livelihood of women and children through community programs in the U.S. and India. The programs they fund and facilitate range from menstrual health and hygiene to hard skills and computer science. All in the name of what Megha calls cultivating dignity.  Megha began her career in marketing and advertising, achieving incredible success in her field, which led her ultimately to founding her own marketing agency. Her true passion to help others found a way of creeping into most of her projects as she helped clients develop programs with purpose and focus on more holistic outcomes. Eventually the growth of the foundation and the pull of helping communities here and abroad brought Megha to a crossroads. With a new board of directors in place and an opportunity to develop more impactful programs through the auspices of the foundation, she put her private career on hold and agreed to run the foundation. For a year.   That was a little over four years ago. All of Megha’s energy, intellect, passion and enthusiasm is now poured into her work with the foundation. And the skills she developed in private industry enabled her to see process and outcomes differently than most.  -- Show Notes: Desai Foundation Lotus Festival Megha Desai If you enjoyed this podcast, please subscribe, share with your friends and rate and review on Apple Podcasts and Podchaser. If you have any questions or suggestions for future guests, send an email to growforgood@moreycreative.com. Find Morey Creative Studios on LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. Subscribe to our blog here.

Not many people know about Fair Harbor the place. But more and more are becoming aware of its clothing namesake. The location is a special hideaway on a strip of Long Island beach called Fire Island. A place where cars aren’t allowed and everyone packs their gear in little red wagons. It’s where the founders in our story spent summers growing up and what inspired their journey.  Jake Danehy and his younger sister Caroline finish each other’s sentences. Literally. Growing up they shared a passion for the beach and the ocean because of the time they spent with their family at Fair Harbor. Every year they grew increasingly concerned about the amount of plastic that washed up ashore. This would stick with them as they grew older and headed off to college.  Caroline followed her big brother to Colgate University in upstate New York. And it was Colgate that provided the fire power behind their idea to create a sustainable beachwear product line using recycled materials. Through Colgate’s entrepreneur accelerator program the duo got their vision off the ground and they haven’t looked back since.  Like most startups, Caroline and Jake did it all in the beginning. From sourcing and manufacturing to marketing and design, they threw themselves into the business. Jake would get a sorely needed reprieve when Caroline graduated Colgate and was able to dedicate herself full-time to the venture. Today, Fair Harbor, the company, is an established brand that boasts partnerships with well-known retailers, a loyal customer following and growing team all focused on the original vision the siblings developed over many summers at Fair Harbor, the place. -- Show Notes: Fair Harbor If you enjoyed this podcast, please subscribe, share with your friends and rate and review on Apple Podcasts and Podchaser. If you have any questions or suggestions for future guests, send an email to growforgood@moreycreative.com. Find Morey Creative Studios on LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. Subscribe to our blog here.

The world of SaaS, or software as a service, is heating up. As more and more of the economy migrates to the cloud to find operational solutions for real-world problems, SaaS platforms are booming and improving every day. Platform development is in high demand and the market is getting increasingly competitive. From accounting and HR to marketing and finance, the business of business is being reimagined in the cloud.  But what if the business issue you’re trying to solve isn’t marketing or sales related. What if it was something more than just streamlining work processes to enhance outcomes in various business departments? What if your business was helping humans? Humans who have fallen through the cracks and rely on safety nets and services to merely survive? What would that even look like? Since 2003, a company called Bitfocus has been doing just that. Bitfocus helps communities use technology, data and policy to improve their systems of care. It’s a software company that designs data systems such as Clarity Human Services, their SaaS platform, to connect a community’s most vulnerable populations to the most effective services and resources available to them. Their outcomes are more than improved processes and productivity workflows. They’re literally life enhancing.  We talk to Jeff Ugai, Chief Operating Officer of Bitfocus about their approach to technology, the markets they serve and what it has been like to provide such a critical service during a pandemic. -- Show Notes: Bitfocus If you enjoyed this podcast, please subscribe, share with your friends and rate and review on Apple Podcasts and Podchaser. If you have any questions or suggestions for future guests, send an email to growforgood@moreycreative.com. Find Morey Creative Studios on LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. Subscribe to our blog here.

If you’ve ever hit a point in your life where you wonder what it’s all for and dream of throwing it all away to fulfill your passions, our guest today has probably already done it. Mike LaVecchia, founder of Grain Surfboards, is like a living, breathing X-Games character. Skateboarding, Biking, snowboarding—before everyone did it—sailing and surfing. If you’ve ever sat on your couch watching someone else rip it, shred it, jump it, sail it, Mike’s probably already done it.  But it was Mike’s love for the sea and his experience sailing from Maine to the Caribbean that sparked what would become an incredible career as a craftsman. He began working on boatbuilding as a young man then decided to apply his building skills to one of his greatest loves—surfing.  Moving back to Maine full-time, Mike and a couple of friends set about building classic surfboards that were completely new to an entire generation of surfers, an environmentally conscious generation with an appreciation for sustainability. As the industry grew over the years, Mike and company realized that the boards themselves had moved far from where they started and that the materials used in constructing boards were actually having a negative impact on the environment.  Today Grain Surfboards is an iconic member of the surfing community and their boards are sought after by surfing enthusiasts from around the world. Success hasn’t stopped Mike and his crew from innovating and finding creative partnerships and collaborations that introduce the simple majesty of wood surfboards to the next generation of surfers.  We’ll break it all down in our conversation with Mike LaVecchia as we get a lesson in surf culture, how his boards are hand-crafted with love and delve into yet another inspiring story of beneficial entrepreneurship on Grow For Good. -- Show Notes: Grain Surfboards If you enjoyed this podcast, please subscribe, share with your friends and rate and review on Apple Podcasts and Podchaser. If you have any questions or suggestions for future guests, send an email to growforgood@moreycreative.com. Find Morey Creative Studios on LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. Subscribe to our blog here.

It’s estimated that the beauty industry has a market cap of more than 500 billion dollars in the United States alone. Household names such as Loreal and Estée Lauder and retailers such as Sephora and Ulta are big business and influence nearly every part of our society. From magazine covers to instagram, brick and mortar stores to online marketplaces, beauty products reflect who are as a society.  For years the industry has employed persons of all backgrounds and gender identities. More recently industry leaders have leaned into the diversity and inclusion movement with initiatives such as Pull Up or Shut Up designed to force transparency among beauty brands on their diversity initiatives. But Laura Kraber noticed something else was missing from the market.  So many of the creative minds in the beauty industry toiled behind the scenes to produce products and images that fit neatly into gender roles and beauty stereotypes. Though not an entrepreneur by nature, Kraber watched and listened to her kids as they navigated effortlessly through the world of gender fluidity when an idea struck her and nagged at her conscience.  The Yale grad who worked in marketing throughout her career and was keenly familiar with the startup culture never saw herself as an entrepreneur. But the more she researched the cosmetic industry she realized that while the industry was rich with talent of all gender identities, there were few, if any products that truly spoke to them as consumers. Kraber had no background in cosmetics and it was risky to enter an industry with so many established brands, but the idea wouldn’t leave her mind. Thus, We Are Fluide was born.  We Are Fluide showcases and celebrates gender-expansive beauty and under-represented faces and voices and supports young people’s self-expression and creativity. We talk to founder Laura Kraber about executing on a vision, remaining focused during a pandemic and driving fearlessly into her mission. -- Show Notes: We Are Fluide If you enjoyed this podcast, please subscribe, share with your friends and rate and review on Apple Podcasts and Podchaser. If you have any questions or suggestions for future guests, send an email to growforgood@moreycreative.com. Find Morey Creative Studios on LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. Subscribe to our blog here.

It’s estimated that 8 million pieces of plastic pollution end up in our oceans. Every day. 8 million pieces per day. As a result, more than 100,000 marine mammals and turtles, and 1 million seabirds are killed by plastic pollution each year.  By now we’ve all seen the images of the vast tracts of plastic islands in the ocean that amount to ecocide. The problem is so pervasive and persistent that plastic has wound up in our food supply as a result of ocean and animal life consuming our waste, and us consuming them. It’s a problem the world has largely ignored due to the massive influence of plastic in all areas of manufacturing and consumption. Together with her colleagues Alexey and Gilmar, a young entrepreneur from New Zealand named Emma Grose, who now makes her home in the United States, founded a company to tackle two small pieces of the plastic puzzle. Toothbrushes and drinking straws. Sounds small indeed, right? Let’s start with where Emma’s journey began and talk toothbrushes. According to studies, 1 billion toothbrushes are thrown away every year in the United States alone. That’s 50 million pounds of waste every year. Suddenly, Emma’s idea doesn’t sound so small.  In this episode we speak with Emma about her companies Mable Brush and Hay Straws. Mable Brush manufactures bamboo toothbrushes that are delivered in sustainable packaging. Hay Straws manufacturers drinking straws that are made of, well, hay. Wheat to be exact. We talk to Emma about the challenges of launching a sustainable company, how to get scale with new products that challenge conventional wisdom and even touch on how a children’s cartoon influenced the founders’ vision for a more sustainable future.  -- Show Notes: Mable Brush Hay! Straws If you enjoyed this podcast, please subscribe, share with your friends and rate and review on Apple Podcasts and Podchaser. If you have any questions or suggestions for future guests, send an email to growforgood@moreycreative.com. Find Morey Creative Studios on LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. Subscribe to our blog here.

Marcus Baskerville, son of Sacramento, came by his love of craft beer honestly. You see, California is the craft beer capital of the country with the most independent breweries per capita - and in sheer numbers California has double the amount of breweries than the next most popular state. Baskerville began experimenting with a home brew kit his sister had purchased and after a while became quite renowned in the home brew scene. The scene was rich with information on becoming a better brewer and mentors were abundant and eager to share. Eventually he relocated to San Antonio, Texas, got a regular day job and set about making a name for himself in his new hometown known more for Dos Equis than craft beer.  Soon, Baskerville was flourishing as a home brewer and was offered a chance to do a tap takeover at a local brewpub. Marcus Baskerville was officially in the craft brew game. Like hundreds of bearded hipsters with tattoos and a killer recipe before him, Baskerville went from hobbyist to entrepreneur and wound up opening his own craft beer brewery with friend and colleague Mike Holt called Weathered Souls. A couple of things set Baskerville apart from his predecessors. First, is the Weathered Souls signature stout. Another thing is that he was one of only a handful of brewers in San Antonio. Oh, and Marcus Baskerville is Black.  Now you might not think a Black head brewer and entrepreneur is unlikely in this day and age. But the numbers speak for themselves. Craft brewing is a white male dominated industry like almost no other. Female head brewers make up roughly five percent of all head brewers in the country. Black brewers are around one percent. Being a Black head brewer is only part of this Grow for Good story. Like all great entrepreneur stories, there’s so much more to tell and Marcus Baskerville is far from one dimensional, and neither are his beers. We’ll talk more about his craft, his position in the industry and an idea he had this summer that sparked a revolution in the industry. -- Show Notes: Weathered Souls Brewing Co. Black Is Beautiful If you enjoyed this podcast, please subscribe, share with your friends and rate and review on Apple Podcasts and Podchaser. If you have any questions or suggestions for future guests, send an email to growforgood@moreycreative.com. Find Morey Creative Studios on LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. Subscribe to our blog here.

In 2011, Dave Heath was an aspiring entrepreneur in search of an idea when a single line in a news story caught his attention. It said that the number one most requested item in homeless shelters was socks. Dave’s mind was spinning and Bombas, the idea, was formed.  Together with his colleague Randy Goldberg, Heath set out to launch a line of socks with a twist. For every pair of socks purchased, Heath and Goldberg would pledge to donate a pair to homeless shelters. It was a bold and potentially risky plan. So they enlisted creative support from Andrew Heath and Aaron Wolk to produce the perfect sock.  By 2013 the co-founders launched Bombas, which is Latin for bumblebee, after raising a little more than 100,000 dollars on Indiegogo. Within a year, they were pitching their idea on Shark Tank and successfully acquired the interest, and additional seed money from apparel impresario Daymond John. Bombas was off and running. Today, Bombas is a juggernaut in the apparel industry, not just for their sales volume but their mindshare. Dave and his co-founders proved that you can build a sustainable and profitable business on a wholesome premise of giving. And from a practical standpoint, they dispelled certain myths of building a retail brand. You see, what makes Bombas special is their commitment to their core values. But what makes them unique, particularly in apparel, is that they’ve been profitable from year one. -- Show Notes: Bombas Socks Giving Back If you enjoyed this podcast, please subscribe, share with your friends and rate and review on Apple Podcasts and Podchaser. If you have any questions or suggestions for future guests, send an email to growforgood@moreycreative.com. Find Morey Creative Studios on LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. Subscribe to our blog here.

The World Health Organization released a landmark report on vision in 2019. It’s estimated that 2.2 billion people in the world have a vision impairment and of that, nearly half are preventable cases to some degree. As with many disabilities, visual impairment impacts low income individuals, those who live in rural areas, ethnic minorities and persons with other disabilities to a more significant degree.  Much of this disparity along socioeconomic and ethnic lines are highly correlated to the conditions typically associated with poverty and lack of access to quality, consistent healthcare. The spectrum of blindness and low vision is vast and each contains unique circumstances, but there are relatable issues on the whole that are universal.  Our systems are built upon an assumption that all senses will develop equally and wholly. But those in the blind and low vision community are presented with the challenges that stem from this assumption and it affects everything from social development to employment opportunities throughout their lifetimes. In an era of heightened awareness around disabilities, equity and empowerment, one company is driving positive change through technology in a simple, and rather beautiful way. It’s called Be My Eyes.  Be My Eyes is an app that connects blind and low-vision individuals with sighted volunteers and companies from all over the world through a live video call. The app allows these volunteers to assist blind and low vision users providing a sense of purpose for the volunteers, and a pragmatic and empowering solution to the users themselves. Companies such as Google, Microsoft and Procter & Gamble have created unique programs to utilize Be My Eyes to assist their users and more companies are signing on rapidly. In this episode we explore the technology, the use cases, and powerful human AND corporate benefits of the app by speaking with the VP of Community at Be My Eyes, Will Butler. -- Show Notes: Be My Eyes Be My Eyes Podcast 13 Letters Podcast Be My Eyes App: Google, iOS If you enjoyed this podcast, please subscribe, share with your friends and rate and review on Apple Podcasts and Podchaser. If you have any questions or suggestions for future guests, send an email to growforgood@moreycreative.com. Find Morey Creative Studios on LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. Subscribe to our blog here.

Social change doesn’t happen in a vacuum. The parts we can see—people in the streets, wall-to-wall media coverage, perhaps even landmark legislation - can sometimes feel abrupt. But these visual cues are like the erupting volcano. Before it explodes, it may simmer for decades, building pressure and moving slowly through pockets of the earth before finally erupting.  Along the way there are champions of change who often toil behind the scenes and push the flywheel of change until it gathers momentum and eventually moves on its own. One such person is Susan McPherson.  Susan McPherson is the founder and CEO of McPherson strategies, a consulting and communications firm that advises organizations on sustainability, corporate responsibility and empowerment. Her client roster is a who’s who of household name corporations, NGOs and passion projects that are near and dear to her heart.  Looking to start a social initiative in your organization but not sure how or when? Better call Susan. Worried that your efforts will seem inauthentic and performative? Better call Susan. Interested in partnering with another organization to bring your sustainable vision to life? You know who to call. You can find Susan McPherson on Twitter, LinkedIn and on her website. -- If you enjoyed this podcast, please subscribe, share with your friends and rate and review on Apple Podcasts and Podchaser. If you have any questions or suggestions for future guests, send an email to growforgood@moreycreative.com. Find Morey Creative Studios on LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. Subscribe to our blog here.

Grow for Good™ introduces listeners to business leaders who have grown their companies by doing good things. Today's featured guest is CEO of American Organic Energy and Long Island Compost, Charles Vigliotti. Established as the next generation of organic waste solutions, AOE’s mission is to transform the organic waste disposal practice on Long Island, and quite possibly, the world. It is based on the simple but brilliant concept behind the intelligent reuse of material, designed to replenish the seeds that nourish the communities and landscape of Long Island and the New York metropolitan region, along with the livelihoods of all who live there. AOE's anaerobic digester will be the first to process food waste in the N.Y. Metropolitan Region and represents a significant step in the continued effort toward changing current waste disposal practices in the country. Charles Vigliotti has received praise from Governor Andrew Cuomo, as well as some of the most prominent business and environmental organizations in New York. In 2015, he was inducted into the Long Island Press Power List Hall of Fame, which honors the most influential individuals on Long Island. You can find Charles Vigliotti at usbiopower.com. -- If you enjoyed this podcast, please subscribe, share with your friends and rate and review on Apple Podcasts and Podchaser. If you have any questions or suggestion for future guests, send an email to growforgood@moreycreative.com. Find Morey Creative Studios on LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. Subscribe to our blog here.

Grow for Good™ introduces listeners to business leaders who have grown their companies by doing good things. Today's featured guest is CEO + Co-Founder of HubSpot, Brian Halligan. HubSpot is unique in many ways. Not only is it an accomplished marketing, sales and service platform, but it boasts a culture that its employees (affectionally dubbed HubSpotters) value immensely—in fact, they value it enough to have voted it the #1 Best Place to Work in 2020 by Glassdoor. And not only are they the Best Place to Work, but Halligan is regularly voted among the Glassdoor Top 100 CEOs by employees. Halligan joins us on this episode to break down how HubSpot has created and maintained a healthy culture of putting employees first, a considerable accomplishment considering years of growth and scale. You can find Brian Halligan on Twitter and LinkedIn. -- If you enjoyed this podcast, please subscribe, share with your friends and rate and review on Apple Podcasts and Podchaser. If you have any questions or suggestion for future guests, send an email to growforgood@moreycreative.com. Find Morey Creative Studios on LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. Subscribe to our blog here.