"I am a Social Entrepreneur." And that is where smart business is going.

I had a realization today... a revelation of sorts actually. So naturally, this came to me while in the shower. Yes, really. (Typical, right? Personally, I'm genuinely surprised at how many of my ideas and projects have literally come to me while bathing. It's quite frankly ridiculous. You too?) So in the shower today, I realized that I am a Social Entrepreneur.

Okay, a budding social entrepreneur... with surely a lot to learn, I admit (in fact I look forward to it). I recognize this word has a buzz to be careful of; nonetheless, I feel confident that this will be - that it is - my niche to find in this world. My role to fill.

Which is good, timely and so helpful because as I've been traveling these past few years, meeting new people, it's an inevitable question:

"What do you do?" 

I've always had a tough time answering that concisely. "... I travel ... doing public service projects" needed some revisiting.

In this realization, all of my travels these past now almost four years since graduating college; the causes, issues, campaigns and efforts I've been a part of; and yes, even the few businesses I've started or consulted for - made sense.

In that moment this afternoon, my mind flew back over all of the relevant experiences; seeing the intersection of service and initiative in my life - the advocate, the do-gooder, the social with the ideas-man, the project starter, the entrepreneur... then I dropped the soap. Okay fine, I use body wash.

It seemed maybe even a bit strange or rather, almost funny - that it had taken as long as it has for me to now articulate. I am a Social Entrepreneur.

It seems rather obvious now too, when I put it in a bullet-pointed list:

• Last Night's Dream
• Name Your Own Price iPhone Screen Repair
• Katie for Haiti
• Tonight's Watercolor!
• TED Talks & Tea
• ARC of Montara
• The White House
• PolitiCorps
• LNYB
• TOMS Shoes
  
• BioTour on the 2008 Campaign Trail
• AmeriCorps NCCC

I changed majors a lot in college... about six times. I was all over the place. Still 'am. I just love learning. I never knew for certain what I wanted to do. I still don't and I think most of us don't. I only know I'm not a cubicle person and I won't settle for my work not making a difference. Still, I distinctly remember throughout high school and early college, when asked, I knew I could always count on saying, "at least I know I don't want to be involved in politics." Irony.

Dad and I as I received The Congressional Award Gold Medal, Washington, DC, Jun. 2009

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I suppose it started long before the Fall of 2005, but when I became active in our janitor's Living Wage and Union Campaign at the University of Miami, that was possibly it. A long and hard-fought effort for our campus janitors to form a union as they wished - this was the dawn of my social conscience.

Through this campaign, I saw the unfortunate ways in which our world seems to disproportionately favor those few with power; how money talks. But it was through this great effort – not without its personal and academic consequences – that I have seen also, the greater power and the incredible potential that emanates from a united people working together for the magnificent, yet simple hope of a more fair and just future. 

And as a result, 450 of Miami’s working poor were able to establish a voice with which to be heard, respected, and negotiate a small pay raise toward a more livable wage. 

Maritza Paz

It was not an easy struggle, and there were absurd repercussions from the University Administration (including threats of suspension, expulsion, loss of scholarship, and yes, even arrest during a 13 hour sit-in) but it remains one of my most proud accomplishments.

READ MY RESPONSE TO THE DEAN

As students we are in essence, the customers, of our Universities. It was up to us to speak up, where the voice and will of the janitors would not be heard nor listened to. I would do nothing different. I would do it harder. I wish I would have done more.

This was an experience that taught me what Frederick Douglass realized back in 1857; that “power concedes nothing without a demand”. It opened my eyes to the needs of the social disparity existent in our world today. But perhaps more importantly, it showed me the greater need for those of us in positions better off, to not sit silently in the passive flow of our everyday lives. For this, I thank Jacob Coker-Dukowitz and Pat Walsh.

Jacob Coker-Dukowitz

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After graduating, I would spend the next 10 months in what would be up to that point the best year of my life - serving with AmeriCorps NCCC - rebuilding homes with Habitat for Humanity and the people of New Orleans;

Habitat for Humanity, New Orleans, LA, May 2008

student teaching in a 6th grade math class and reading with Kindergarteners in Biloxi, MS, among other national projects. 

Ms. Platt's Kindergarten Class, Biloxi, MS, Mar. 2008

Biloxi, MS. i had no mercy for Jordan; but i exerted too much energy out of the gate and she went on to win this one.

Too, all while traveling the country in a 15 passenger van with 12 other 18-24 year olds who would grow to become my extended family. Incredible.

Great Falls, MT

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Then I joined the non-profit BioTour - and continued traveling the US - this time on the 2008 Campaign Trail. 

BioTour on the 2008 Campaign Trail

Living with 6 others in a school bus that we converted to run on recycled WVO and solar PV power, we went to colleges and high schools across the country, giving presentations about renewable energy and the importance of active democracy. 

Fairfield, IA

We laundered and showered when we met awesome people (educators, host families, and random new friends) who would ask us to join them for dinner with their family or for conversation - which was often.

This cross-country voyage through our American landscape truly renewed my spirit in the good people of the US of A. Maybe "renewed" isn't quite the best word, because I didn't even know what was missing in the first place until I experienced such warmth and awesomeness from people I had met maybe only 6 hours prior, but who had such connection to our mission and intention.

Los Alamos, NM

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In Jan. 2009, I flew out to Santa Monica, CA for an internship with TOMS Shoes. Blake Mycoskie and the entire philosophy of TOMS epitomizes Social Entrepreneurship - an incredible place to be and to learn at that time. Though the phrase coined by Seth Godin and his book of the same title wouldn't be written until 2011, at TOMS I would "Poke the Box" and propose the rebranding of our mission statement - changing the phrase "For every pair..." to "With every pair..." in the very sentence that's now printed under the soles of literally over one million customers' feet, but moreso another one million children throughout the world.

TOMS' One Day Without Shoes, April 2009

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Immediately following, I went up to Portland, OR during the Summer '09 for a fellowship program entitled PolitiCorps - (my application video) a veritable bootcamp for community organizing and campaign politics. An experience that taught me and the other 22 Fellows how to win. How to build and run campaigns, to plan, to fundraise, to leverage volunteers, to continue speaking up, to build a backwards calendar, to street team and most importantly, in the case of elections, how to knock on doors. 

Campaigns, and more specifically, Candidates that knock doors, win.

PolitiCorps Summer 2009, Portland, OR

PolitiCorps Graduation

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I would follow this incredible summer of political learning in really only the most awesome and relevant way to ever do so. I went to DC in the Fall 2009 as a White House Intern at the Council on Environmental Quality.

Fellow Intern Matt and I as Wayne and Garth giving out candy on the steps of The White House with President Obama and the First Lady, Halloween 2009

South Court Auditorium, The White House, 16, Dec. 2009

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There's a pattern emerging here. 

And looking back, I realize now I essentially set three informal rules for myself when I graduated college:

1. That where ever I work, whatever I do, whatever I'm a part of or working on, it will have real meaning.
2. That I would do so while continuing to explore, learn, and hopefully travel.
3. If I could do both of those without going into debt... all the better.

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So far so good.

I've been extremely fortunate to do cool things. Cool things that matter. And it's taken me to countless cities and states across the country.

Among many social factors born of me beyond my control (a straight, white, middle-class, male, born in the United States in particular), I credit my life thus far in part too, with having graduated from the University of Miami debt-free. And I credit that with a near full-ride academic scholarship that I credit in part to my friend Andrew's older brother, Brandon, who told us at the start of 9th grade - when he was a Senior - to take as many AP courses as we could in high school.

(My parents played a role in that too; I would thank them.)

This is why whenever I would speak with kids in schools (like during BioTour) I encouraged them to do well in school. Because now I enjoy debt-free freedom. And in today's world, that's huge.

"Stay in school kids!"

Louisville, KY

This has been especially important in my case because there's certainly no way I ever would have been able to afford to do the awesome traveling I've been doing for however number of years it's now consistently been, working with the incredible organizations that I've been lucky to, while getting paid next to nothing, or exactly that.

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After my brief encounters with President Obama, I went out to Montara, CA and did what most would probably consider a huge 180 (or rather, a mathematically standard 180, as that's all there could really ever be.) 

Still, this chapter would be with another fellow White House Intern colleague / new friend and brother, Matthew Schildkret.

(Also, it was the 1, Jan. 2010. Tonight's Watercolor! was born ...and it would span every night of my whole year forward.)

www.TonightsWatercolor.com

But as for Montara, Matt had met a gentleman (the inventor of the digital compass, no less) who wanted help transforming his property toward sustainability. 

His was a house that sat at the top of a gorgeous (and very steep) hill just one walking minute off Pacific Coast Highway with an expansive 270 degree view overlooking the West Coast's ocean. Breathtaking.

Montara is a tiny CA surf town. Just south of the more well-known Pacifica and right north of Half Moon Bay. Blink or scarier yet, while driving - sneeze - and you'll miss it; there isn't even one of those green mileage signs acknowledging that you've already passed Montara. 

Still, heading south from Pacifica, you drive through an incredibly lush, green and outdoor camp-ground smelling Eucalyptus forest. Then you come to the aptly named Devil's Slide.

Now living rent-free in paradise, our plan was to give our benefactor's home an all-around retrofit - put solar panels on the roof, weatherize the windows and doors, install sound insulation, fresh and colorful non-VOC eco-friendly paint, plant a massive organic garden, and give new life to the unused hot tub for greywater capture and irrigation.

We planted that garden and opened up the house as a community center. Two licensed massage therapists moved in and led Qi Gong or Yoga classes almost every day. We meditated regularly.

Russell adjusting Ben's posture during Qi Gong

We also held potlucks, movie nights, cooking classes (I should have paid more attention to those), painting parties (of course, as I did Tonight's Watercolor! each night), and just made genuine efforts to meet and get to know our neighbors. 

Lacking a weed whacker, we organized a Montara Tool Share. Obviously, this would spawn the Montara Book and Ride Shares, respectively. The ladies of the house organized a Women's Gathering.

Matt made pizza!

Fantastic Mr. Fox, projected on the wall

Merav's Dessert: Baked apple with Cinnamon, drizzled upon with Halve (Tahini and Honey), sprinkled with Pecans, and mint leaves for decoration!

painting party!

Watching the most unbelievable sunsets from our balcony over the Pacific, enjoying the most awesome organic food from our backyard garden, and did I mention there was a sauna? ...we joked that we had reached retirement way too early.

In all seriousness, we probably had.

Montara, CA

Still, I remember one lady saying to me,

"I'm glad somebody in the community's doing something."

That meant something.

One big thing I've found is that when you involve yourself in projects with purpose, the Universe responds in kind. Still, Montara is a very quiet and relatively isolated town; after six months it was time to re-enter society and move on. 

I learned a lot during my time in Northern CA. In the interest of not making this post that much longer, I'll say this was a chapter in my life in which I feel like I earned, what I would call "a street MBA" worth more than any young budding social entrepreneur could probably garner elsewhere... at least, for free.

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So now for the first time in ...ever... without a project or another internship of sorts, Sept. 2010 was high-time to head to Denver to see if my long-term, long-distance girlfriend and I could make it work. ...It didn't, we couldn't. I can't have any regret about this. At least I went to Denver and we tried. It was tough, of course. Necessary.

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Switching gears, I decided to mentally open back up the idea of joining the Peace Corps - which seems like a fairly logical next step for me in this career I've built for myself in not having a career. Another huge challenge, of course - but it seems to be where I might need to go to develop a sense of the world as I navigate my purpose as a journeying vagabond of sorts.

I figured while I go through the 9 month PC application process, I might as well move to a city I'd like to be in. "I've never been to Austin" (and quite frankly it seems no one else has either); and people always end that sentence with, "but I hear great things." So I moved on to Austin on Feb. 1st. 

SXSW last week was awesome.

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Then I thought I might first serve in AmeriCorps NCCC again - but this time now, as the Team Leader of my own band of 12. Learning how to manage a team of young people while navigating the logistics of national service and cross-country travel in a 15-passenger van and doing it is probably a good detour on the way to managing any projects abroad with the Peace Corps. Not to mention learning how to manage a team. Period. 

So I applied to NCCC just before the Mar. 1 deadline and will hopefully have an interview in the coming weeks.

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Throughout all of these experiences there's been a few running threads. 

Most notably, amazing people. 

Two, often living with them in tight or strange living situations (like a tiny nook in a Portland kitchen; on a 36 foot 1989 school bus; or in a well-aired Austin sun-room, to name but a few). 

Then there's literally living out of really only two suitcases for the past few years. I've become quite the minimalist. (A trait that would probably be appealing to many VCs - I know how to work a shoestring budget). And it feels great. 

Also, every time I go back to my parent's house in NY I fill up a few more bags of clothes I realize I never needed and give them to Goodwill. That feels even better; I hate clutter.

And for almost two years now, since my time at TOMS, I've been reading so much of Seth Godin - books and daily blog. Brilliant. Not just about publishing in an industry dying fast, but marketing, access, and art in a world changing faster; he's it. (Google even just the name "Seth" alone and his is the first find that comes up; pretty impressive.) 

www.SethGodin.com

Lastly, at almost every one of these ventures along my path, I've seemingly managed to befriend at least one person who I could count as an added member to my close-circle "cabinet" of sorts. Smart people from wild backgrounds around the country who I would love to get in a room together... to talk and bounce those world changing ideas around with.

Bottom line, it's people.

And that is where smart business is going.