About

After an early career in finance and brand management with companies like Procter & Gamble, Welch’s, and Seventh Generation, I set out to explore new models for conscious commerce and community capital. Since 2006, I’ve launched or co-founded for profit and nonprofit ventures that share common themes of democratic access to capital, economic justice, and local economic resilience.

Over 30 years I’ve evolved from business manager to entrepreneur, and most recently into new roles as author, innovator, and public speaker. My entrepreneurial and capital-raising experiences are the basis of my latest book, Moving Mountains: The Power of Main Street Americans to Change Our Economy. In it, I explore the impacts of traditional capital markets on social entrepreneurism and provide a vision for how Main Street investors can be a positive force for change in their communities. I also lead workshops on a variety of topics, deliver keynote addresses, facilitate panel discussions, and regularly guest lecture at the college/graduate school level.

A few things that survived my career evolution: avid skier and hiker, science fiction enthusiast, devoted soccer/ballet mom. I live in Jericho, VT, with my husband, two daughters, and our dog, Willow.

A for profit social venture with a mission to make natural products affordable and accessible to all. My pioneering efforts in 2009-2012 to raise money through a “community supported enterprise” model for TrueBody became the forerunner of current crowdfunding techniques.

I leveraged my capital raising innovations with TrueBody and co-founded Milk Money in 2015. Launched in the early days preceding federal Regulation Crowdfunding rules, Milk Money was one of the first “invest local” equity crowdfunding platforms in the U.S.

In 2018, I founded The Initiative for Local Capital as a nonprofit innovation lab with a mission to create democratic investment opportunities, educational tools and resources, and inclusive networks to support all members of a community to invest where their hearts and homes are.

I am a founding board member of the National Coalition for Community Capital whose mission is to democratize financial systems where empowered citizen investors catalyze the growth of locally-rooted ventures creating economic opportunity for all. We are especially committed to the intentional inclusion of communities and entrepreneurs historically excluded due to class, race, ethnicity, gender, or sexual orientation.