The Kogod School of Business concluded the spring 2023 portion of a new, innovative speaker series with a panel featuring the women behind some uniquely sustainable businesses founded in the Washington, DC region.
In celebration of Earth Day, AU welcomed three “brilliant changemakers” to campus for a Founders’ Forum hosted as part of the Gamechangers in Sustainability series, which in partnership with the Sine Institute of Politics and Policy, examines how the most innovative leaders work to create a more sustainable world.
Kogod professor and Veloric Center for Entrepreneurship (formerly AUCI) assistant director Danielle Vogel served as moderator while incorporating wisdom gained from her own entrepreneurial experience. Vogel previously founded climate change-motivated grocery store Glen’s Garden Market in DC’s Dupont Circle, which helped launch more than 90 local food businesses before Vogel’s sale of the company in 2021.
Noting that Kogod faculty teach students that entrepreneurs are “curious problem solvers,” Vogel pondered how this has proven true for panelist Nicole McGrew, founder of Threadleaf, a women’s lifestyle boutique that places a premium on the source of its products.
“The challenge for me was finding responsibly made and sustainably-made clothing,” McGrew said of the core problem she set out to solve. “I thought, well, if this is a problem for me, then it’s probably a problem for other women, too.”