Women Making an Impact in Corporate Social Responsibility
Wednesday, August 3, 2011
Thank you to everyone for attending! Below is a summary of the resources our wonderful panelists discussed. If you have additional resources you would like us to add to the list, please email info@the-impact-center.org.
Books:
Know Your Worth by Vicki Evans
Websites:
B Corporation - www.bcorporation.net
Certified B Corporations are a new type of corporation which uses the power of business to solve social and environmental problems.
Conference:
SoCap Conference - September 6-9 at Fort Mason Center in San Francisco, CA
Learn more at http://socialcapitalmarkets.net!
People:
To learn more about the coaching services provided by Jung Yoo, please visit her website at www.jungyooassociates.com!
Thank you to our insightful speakers!
Beth Gerstein, Co-Founder of Brilliant Earth
As a co-founder of the two-year old fine jewelry company Brilliant Earth, Beth Gerstein’s mission is to offer conflict-free diamonds as an alternative to current diamond industry norms. Brilliant Earth’s diamonds are produced with environmentally sustainable mining methods, fair labor practices, and without financing violence. In addition, Brilliant Earth provides education about the social and environmental issues affecting the jewelry industry through their website, brilliantearth.com, and donates five percent of its profits to help communities who have suffered from unethical jewelry industry practices.
By being a small social entrepreneur in a big industry that has turned a blind eye to human rights abuses, Beth and Co-Founder Eric Grossberg have taken on the challenge of spreading the word and increasing awareness about social and environmental issues, all while being financially constrained and trying to make a profit. The challenges seem to suit them just fine. Before going to business school, Beth had an engineering and technology background but was looking to do something entrepreneurial. After business school, she took conventional jobs with corporate firms, but Beth sought to make a larger impact as social entrepreneurs and the result was Brilliant Earth.
Michele Hall, General Manager at method products inc.
After several years in litigation consulting, Michele joined The Clorox Company in 2003 where she was a Brand Manager on some of the company's largest brands. Four years later, working for “The Man” had lost its appeal and Michele escaped to method and it's innovative, scrappy, let's-save-the-world-ways in February 2008. At method, her role has evolved from Brand Manager to Marketing Director and now General Manager of the Fabric Care business.
She holds a BA in Economics from UC Berkeley and a MBA from Stanford Business School, all which she forgets as she spends her Sunday afternoons wandering bay area trails and teaching yoga, not at the same time mind you, but that’s not a bad idea…
Yolanda Ruiz, Partner at Pacific Community Management
Yolanda Ruiz is involved in several aspects of the fund including analyzing and structuring transactions and helping manage the fund investments. She currently sits on the boards of PCV portfolio companies Freshology, New Leaf Paper, and on the board of Opportunity Fund.
Prior to joining PCM, Yolanda worked for an M&A advisory firm focusing on acquisitions and growth financings in the food and beauty sectors. Her responsibilities included financial analyses, conducting due diligence, supporting selling process and the managing of client relationships. Previously, Yolanda worked for Gap Inc. as Business Development Manager in the International Division. She was responsible for planning and managing the launch of Banana Republic in Japan in addition to the launch of the International Franchise operation. Before joining Gap Inc., Yolanda was part of the founding team of Punto Com Holdings (PCH), a Mexican venture capital fund led by Cemex. At PCH, she analyzed investment opportunities and actively participated in developing corporate strategy for the portfolio companies. Yolanda also worked for The Boston Consulting Group in Monterrey, Mexico where she developed pricing and corporate strategies for a variety of consumer products clients.
Yolanda received an MBA degree from Stanford Business School and a BS degree in Industrial Engineering from ITESM (Monterrey, Mexico).
Thank you to our moderator!
Jung Yoo, Executive and Life Coach
Jung Yoo is based in Palo Alto, California. She focuses on career fulfillment, career transition, and leadership development. Her passion is to guide individuals to create greater fulfillment in their work. She has recently coached clients in fields including non-profits, government, law, finance, entrepreneurship, high tech, marketing and journalism. She conducts coaching sessions by phone throughout the United States and abroad.
Jung was previously an HR Manager at Apple Computer, Inc. where she coached and trained both individual contributors and managers and facilitated new manager transitions and team conflict resolutions. Later she managed recruiting for Cornerstone Research, an economic consulting firm, leading the nationwide recruiting team. She previously worked at Cornerstone Research as an economic consultant.
Originally from New York, Jung holds an MBA and Public Management Certificate from Stanford University’s Graduate School of Business with a Public Management Program certificate and a BA in Economics and History from Yale University. Jung’s professional coaching training and certification are from The Coaches Training Institute.
Jung has a two year old daughter and lives in Palo Alto, California with her husband, David.