Viewpoint 07: Chante Harris
We were so excited to be joined by the absolutely amazing Chante Harris.
“Imagine what we can do to solve a very pressing crisis that is impacting the planet and people if we bring in more diverse voices.”
—About Chante
“Chante Harris, the co-founder of WOC/CS, is a New York-based champion of social innovation and scaling sustainability companies through successful growth strategies. She is an expert in driving long-term growth for startups and established companies by leading them through the complex processes of winning procurement opportunities, securing pilot projects, undertaking design challenges, and launching community impact initiatives.
Chante is a Venture Partner for Republic, an Advisor for The Kota Alliance and Vice-Chair of Diversity for Teach For America-New York’s Associate Board. Recently named by America on Tech as an Innovator and Disruptor and Women Enews as a Pioneering Woman in Sustainability, she is passionate about the intersection of urbantech, the circular economy, and impact. Her civic engagement and fierce advocacy for inclusivity and representation to advance sustainability in all communities has led her to serving as a Senior Summit Fellow and was recently selected as a Forbes Fellow. She is an alumna of the Coro Fellowship and a graduate of American University. “
Follow Women of Colour Collective in Sustainability and their amazing community here.
“It really was founded to support women of colour who are looking to grow in the sustainability industry through meaningful connections, mentorship, job opportunities, and really just having the tools I think to bring their unique perspective to the sustainability industry.”
—The Story behind WOC/CS
“Jordi and I looked around and we were the only or maybe one of the only few woman of colour in the room…and then we we stayed in touch and so for me it was how do I bring her into more of the the dinners, the events, all of the different things that my company was hosting so I'm not the only woman of colour in the room to be frank and she was at that time standing out her own kind of bi-weekly updates to her community about what she was working on and inviting people here and there and we really became a resource for one another and started attending the things that both of us were inviting each other to and yeah and that's really where it started…and we're like, hey are there any groups specifically focused on women of colour and kind of supporting that community and we couldn't find anything and so we looked at each other and she was like, what do you think if we maybe we start something and I was like, you know, what yeah, I'm open to it. I think the community piece is really important to me and so yeah we I think we made an Instagram page, we made a Gmail we were like, okay, we're gonna do this thing and it really just happened like that.”
— Examples of inclusivity we can learn from
“Our goal is really to ask the question what are all of the different sectors and opportunities in the sustainability industry and how do you highlight those right and not just highlight them but how do you make sure that the women of colour who are doing the work get the resources and exposure that they need and also the support.”
— Chante’s Actions to create a more inclusive industry
“I think we are one of hopefully even more organisations that are forming to really move the needle in terms of building a movement that is inclusive and equitable”
“To continue to generate so much revenue, so many jobs, so many opportunities for people that communities that have historically been left behind don't get left behind right so that I'm not the only person working on climate tech and startups and technologies, but that I'm helping to create pathways for more women who come after me”
“We launched the fund and partnership with a really good friend Daphany Sanchez - Daphany Rose Sanchez - who runs a consultancy called Kinetic Community Consulting it's based out of I believe Queens but she's a New Yorker as well and she actually approached us and said, ‘hey, what what do you think about us doing some sort of grant some or creating some sort of grant to support women of colour in the industry’ and immediately we were like yes…the Collective Resiliency Fund launch.”
“What does it look like to actually be intentional about committing to creating an industry that allows for opportunities for everyone?”
— What does a fully inclusive industry mean for you?
“It means allowing people to use their innate skills and talents to the fullest potential without any barriers or discrimination or unnecessary challenges.”
— Actions the INDUSTRY can take to make the fashion industry more inclusive
Initiatives and policies
Think about how can you as both a consumer but also a voter push businesses and decision makers at the government level
Think wider when it comes to sustainable fashion in terms of transportation and building which fashion companies operate
“How do you push the people who have a lot more power and influence to pass policies and again this goes for internal government agencies and elected officials as well as companies to be committed to cutting their carbon emissions across the board again supply chain, textiles, mobility.”
— Actions WE can take as individuals we can take to make the fashion industry more inclusive
Buying from brands and companies that actually represent your values
Learning how to consume less
Asking yourself how you are going to be inclusive from the beginning
No matter what industry you are in speak up about the lack of diverse voices and be an ally
“If you're starting a company or a business asking yourself, how are you going to be inclusive from the beginning, how are you bringing in different voices, how are you expanding your network and not just how are you doing that but then how do you plan to create a culture right where people's differences are celebrated.”
— Get involved with WOC/CS
Join their LinkedIn group and Google group
Volunteer for the team
Reach out for partnerships
Write for their medium publication
All can be found by contacting and finding out more at their incredible website here.
—Transcript
Laura: Hi everyone. I hope you are well and thank you so much for joining us on this week’s installment of The Inclusive Viewpoint.
Rachel: Today we are joined by the amazing Chante Harris the co-founder of Women of Color Collective in Sustainability. Now the Collective’s mission is to support women of colour and to help them with networking, job opportunities and resources all in the field of sustainability and the climate movement. Laura and I were lucky enough to attend their first ever Resiliency Summit back in July 2020, so this year, and it was absolutely amazing bringing together leaders, change-makers, just incredible people all focused on creating an inclusive and equitable future within a sustainability industry.
So we'll stop there and we'll introduce Chante because she can tell it a million times better than us. Hi Chante, thanks so much for joining us.
Chante: Hi, thanks for having me. I'm so excited to be here and I know that you all had reached out to us, I think in the craziness of planning the summit. So I appreciate all of your patience and happy that we’re finally really connecting and that you invited me to be here to talk a little bit about my experience and then of course WOC-CS which you know is just really grown in ways that we couldn’t even fathom over the past several months, but yeah, you know, I'm the co-founder of Women of Color Collective in Sustainability as Rachel mentioned it really was founded to support women of colour who are looking to grow in the sustainability industry through meaningful connections, mentorship, job opportunities, and really just having the tools I think to bring their unique perspective to the sustainability industry and it was born out of my own experience and my co-founder’s own experience oftentimes being you know, the only woman, the only person of colour in the room and knowing that you know, climate justice is such a central point to how we build, not only a strong sustainability industry, but actually solve for the climate crisis across the board acknowledging that it disproportionately impacts frontline community and communities of colour and so you know, we wanted to make sure that the woman of colour who either were already in this industry or who were interested in joining the industry really knew how to do so and and not just join in terms of you know, entry level positions but be able to rise up the ranks, be able to have leadership roles and be able to call the shots ultimately and so that's that's really what we're building through WOC-CIS and it's been exciting to see it turn from kind of a New York based passion project, into the kind of a global community and we're still figuring out what that means but we're excited about what's to come.
Rachel: We were just saying, weren’t we, before it's been amazing to watch it grow because I remember like following it right from the start and the way you've grown and created this special community. It's just been amazing to watch so I’m just so excited for you and Jordi and the future of WOC-CIS and it’s going to be absolutely amazing. So thanks again for joining us Chante.
So, I guess you kind of covered it but I thought if you wanted to expand a bit more I guess on WOC-CIS, you know your story and how it started a bit more detail - you touched on it then but it would be great to hear a bit more, I think that would be brilliant.
Chante: Yeah yeah I think I mentioned kind of the personal experience but just to give some more details to the actual start. I met Jordi, I think now maybe over three years ago and we were attending an event during climate week which viewers might be familiar with but climate week is essentially, I think it's a global event actually, but it's based out of New York and so a bunch of corporations, industry leaders, companies, really people who are kind of leading the charge across the climate movement on the business side, but also I think on the organizing kind of activist side as well come together for the week and talk about how do we move the needle on the climate crisis and how do we do that in a way that is focused or really focused on bringing together different sectors and making sure that they have what they need to collaborate and Jordi and I were attending an event that was actually geared towards women. I attended because I remember it was focused on kind of the future of fashion and I, to be frank, I'm not really like I didn't haven't done a lot of work kind of in the fashion industry and I know that sustainable fashion is huge right now and rightfully so and it's so amazing to see that innovative things happening there but I was actually working with one of the largest fleet manufacturer of electric vehicles in the world that was looking to or was at that time exploring how did they grow in the New York market. And so they were a client of my team through my previous role and I remember thinking, you know fashion touches so many things, right? There's the supply chain, there's textiles, there's how you know, how things move even just throughout New York State in terms of delivery and I was really interested from that perspective of you know what policy is, what initiatives, what incentives can be created to kind of think about all of the pieces throughout the fashion movement and not just you know, hey, we're creating a sustainably fashion-made garment - which is super important so I don't want to undermine that but again my expertise was really and kind of policy and business strategy and go to market strategy. And so yeah, I got there and it was an amazing event and there was actually a discussion around the adoption of electric vehicles within the fashion industry and I think there was a woman from the Rocky Mountain Institute also talking about their work. And so it was it was one of the most comprehensive conversations I had seen and I was really excited to be there and at the same time Jordi and I looked around and we were the only or maybe one of the only few woman of colour in the room and I was mentioning earlier that I'm pretty smiley, I think I'm a pretty approachable person and I smiled at her, she smiled back and we start talking about the work that we both do and I would say after five minutes we were good friends and yeah, and then we we stayed in touch and so for me it was how do I bring her into more of the the dinners, the events, all of the different things that my company was hosting so I'm not the only woman of colour in the room to be frank and she was at that time standing out her own kind of bi-weekly updates to her community about what she was working on and inviting people here and there and we really became a resource for one another and started attending the things that both of us were inviting each other to and yeah and that's really where it started and I'd say probably after a year maybe a year and a half of doing that we met up in South Street Seaport, which is located in Lower Manhattan and we were asking where we both had kind of done some research and we're like, hey are there any groups specifically focused on women of colour and kind of supporting that community and we couldn't find anything and so we looked at each other and she was like, what do you think if we maybe we start something and I was like, you know, what yeah, I'm open to it. I think the community piece is really important to me and so yeah we I think we made an Instagram page, we made a Gmail we were like, okay, we're gonna do this thing and it really just happened like that.
Rachel: I love that. I love how you say as well you met Jordi and were like how can I get her more involved how can I invite her to things? I think that's really the essence of what your community is about, isn’t it, about sharing that, those opportunities, bringing people together - I love that. And I guess one of the reasons why we're obviously so excited to have you on as well as I know like you and across your community you touch on so many different industries like we were saying before weren’t we about technology and obviously fashion and you know policy like so many different industries so really wanted to kind of take this opportunity to ask you and like you're examples that you think are really good at kind of putting inclusivity at the heart so is there any like brands or you know, leaders, people in your community who you think have really shown examples of I guess inclusivity within their industry if that makes sense.
Chante: Yeah for sure. I mean, there are so many people actually at our first event, the first sort of happy hour event we posted which was a pretty funny story. We were like we're gonna host a pretty small happy hour event nobody really knows who we are so probably get like five to ten people so we convince this pretty small venue in Manhattan and in Midtown which if you know anything about New York is very crowded, especially on a work day to host our happy hour there and they didn't typically take reservations but we were like, don't worry it's gonna be like five to ten people and we launched our first event and we had like over 40 RSVP’s in the matter of a few days and we were like oh no this is a problem but you know, we still we still we so we basically maxed out we went you know, we couldn't open it up to any more people but I think that was really a big aha moment for us we're like wow, they're so many women of colour who have been seeking a community like this and I think it just kind of showed us proof of concept but also a need which is really what matters at the end of the day and at that first event a woman who works with Representative Ocasio-Cortez, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, came and was like hey I heard about your event we're so excited, the team and we were kind of in awe, we were like wow how did her team find out about our event we didn't do a lot of promotion to be frank we just like shared it on a couple of networks maybe a few Slack groups and yeah, we started talking about some of their initiatives and policy right and so one of her staffers is an incredible woman who handles a lot of her local climate initiatives in the districts that she represents here in New York City, so I think there are like a lot of local leaders like that that oftentimes don't get, I think the appreciation, the exposure, the awareness that they deserve and that's one of the reasons why we wanted to start the collective not just to highlight you know the All Stars but also I think the people - I shouldn't say the All Stars but the All Stars that everyone knows and then the additional but we also wanted to highlight the additional all-stars that may be a lot of people don't come across so that's one example. I think outside of that, you know, there are the larger names like Xiye Bastida who you know, we met because we were part of the climate action campaign commercial, Jordi and I showed up and kind of did some filming and at that time I don't think too many people knew who she was like I know she was gaining traction but I think when I followed her she maybe had like a couple thousand followers and I don't even know how many followers she has now but she's, I think 18 year old we had her speak at the Collective Resiliency Summit and just watching her even like I think come into her own power and self over the past like several months since we launched WOC-CS has been such an incredible like experience on our end as well.
I think outside of that obviously Dr. Ayana Elizabeth Johnson who is everywhere and you know was a part of co-authoring ‘All We Can Save’. Our dream is to have her involved with Collective Resiliency Summit next year but I think she's a person who not just doesn't just focus on policy but also focuses on specific policy related to oceans and so I think like our goal is really to ask the question what are all of the different sectors and opportunities in the sustainability industry and how do you highlight those right and not just highlight them but how do you make sure that the women of colour who are doing the work get the resources and exposure that they need and also the support.
Another example and then I'll stop here is Jessica Matthews who's an incredible Black woman who started - I think her first startup pretty young like when she was around 19 or so had just started at Harvard I believe and created a soccer ball that generated some sort of solar energy which I think is just right incredible. I'll send you her link so you can learn more about her but now she runs up a company called Unchartered Power and their entire mission is focused on how do you create renewable energy technology for communities and she's doing incredible incredible work based out of Harlem and yeah we're hoping I do know her team and we're hoping to kind of get her more involved and some of the future events that we do pending her availability because as you can imagine she's asked to speak all the time but yeah, I think those are some of the the people that I feel like help or I think that's those are some of the people that kind of illustrate the vast opportunities that exist in the sustainability industry and we wanted to make sure that we represented that even through the Collective Resiliency Summit being able to showcase ‘look at all of these incredible things that you can do in this space’ and ‘look at all of the amazing things that women of colour are already doing in this space’, so yeah.
Rachel: I love that. I think as well - part of being inclusive it's like you said like spotlighting people or giving people opportunity who haven't had it before because I think sometimes when people launch things they can kind of you know, go to people who've already had a lot of opportunities but like you said spotlighting people who hadn’t had a chance taken on them before and that's really like driving inclusivity forward, so I think that's amazing you're doing that, that’s brilliant.
So the next question we wanted to ask so it was more around I guess, you know, your examples of you, Jordi and WOC-CIS on how you know created you know an inclusive industry and I know that one example, which I love following was you launched the grants didn't you that you gave to some of your community so I would love to hear more about those and then any other kind of ideas you wanted to share.
Chante: Yeah thank you for that question, you know, I think we are one of hopefully even more organisations that are forming to really move the needle in terms of building a movement that is inclusive and equitable and just and so I think for us we are really focused on the professional side of things. I think one of the reasons being is obviously we're creating a community for women of colour, but I think outside of that are like the second biggest tier of our work is really ensuring that this profession that we know is in is going to continue to generate so much revenue, so many jobs, so many opportunities for people that communities that have historically been left behind don't get left behind right so that I'm not the only person working on climate tech and startups and technologies, but that I'm helping to create pathways for more women who come after me, or honestly, Jessica Matthews is an example of someone who's created a pathway for me to be doing some of the work that I do now as well right and so all of that to say that I think that we are again one small piece that I think an entire ecosystem that is showing more and more commitment to that idea when we started to be frank we didn't see as much and I think in light of recent events and honestly how challenging 2020 has been for everyone. I think we're all asking the critical questions of what does that, what does it look like to actually be intentional about committing to creating an industry that allows for opportunities for everyone and I think I talk a lot about this, so I'm going to take like a minute to just reiterate that for us it's or not, I don't want to say just for us. I think for me personally I've done a lot of I had a lot of conversations about this idea that impact and ROI right return on investment are not mutually exclusive that you can do both good and well and make money and I think we're really at a point, a turning point where especially in the sustainability industry like that is that is kind of a core principle right moving forward that we can create great great jobs, make billions of money, right, and also have an amazing impact on the environment and people. But I think to have that impact that we really want to see and to actually combat the climate crisis in a real way, we have to be intentional about who gets opportunity and who is involved in creating policies, initiatives, projects and who gets to drive them and lead them but to your point around the fund we launched the fund and partnership with a really good friend Daphany Sanchez - Daphany Rose Sanchez - who runs a consultancy called Kinetic Community Consulting it's based out of I believe Queens but she's a New Yorker as well and she actually approached us and said, ‘hey, what what do you think about us doing some sort of grant some or creating some sort of grant to support women of colour in the industry’ and immediately we were like yes, right. I mean, we know that Covid is also just proportionally impacting communities of colour in the US but I think across the globe and then we also saw that a number of or the highest demographic that had lost jobs over the past several months were the Latinx and the Black and the Indigenous communities and so we said you know what what's the small thing that we can do if those small to us but we know we're having a big impact on people to give back and to really give you know, the type of support that I think they need and like funding is always an issue right revenue is always an issue especially for communities, so we launched the grant we got I think over like 50 applications in the matter of two weeks and we from there chose, you know, our initial grant winners and then we're able to actually add on two more grant winners but yeah it was really great to see the Collective Resiliency Fund launch and even just getting the notes from the woman of colour who were selected saying thank you so much you're really impacting my business it's been really hard like a couple nobody either been laid off or they were planning to launch something and then Covid hit and they're not huge grants but it's just a reminder that if you can do the smallest thing like you should do it right so yeah, that's the Collective Resiliency Fund. We're actually going to be announcing the next round soon so excited to share that.
Rachel: I can't wait for that! I think as well you know like with the people it went to that you know they're going to return that to their community to like, you know, so many times over like, you know, it's going like to you know a business that is sustainable it's going to return, return, return over and over and that's brilliant.
I think that's such an important point as well on what you said around the you know, linked to investment and kind of impact which is I think we've heard so many times haven’t we that like people say that oh you'll make more money if you know you go for like an non-ethical factory - you hear all these awful things and I think like you said we need to get rid of that idea that, you know, you make your money and then you think about giving back like it shouldn't be like that because you have such destruction along the way then so thanks for raising that point. I think that's so important.
So I guess you kind of touched on this but everyone always said it's a big question but we wanted to ask I guess what does inclusivity mean to you - I guess how would you summarise it.
Chante: Yeah, I think inclusivity to me really means access in terms of what we do as a collective but I think on kind of a larger scale it means allowing people to use their innate skills and talents to the fullest potential without any barriers or discrimination or unnecessary challenges and so you know, that's maybe not the kind of Webster dictionary definition, but that's what I think of when I think of inclusivity. I think the reason why we have to talk about inclusivity is because historically right there are certain groups that have not despite, you know wanting to do more, despite having the talent to do more and the skills to do more literally being limited simply because of who you know who they are, how they were born, how they look, how they innately, you know, present themselves and the society and I just think that you know, it's I mean, it feels silly to still have to have that conversation but where that's unfortunately where we still are but yeah when I think about inclusivity, it's like we created a collective to spotlight woman of colour not only so that they can build awareness but so that people can see that you know that it's not a pipeline issue, which I think is oftentimes the like it yes, it can be a pipeline issue right but a lot of times people just say it's a pipeline issue before they've actually done the due diligence of expanding their networks doing more to get in front of different and diverse groups of people and I think the easy the easy out is oftentimes to say like oh well, we just can't find them or they're not out there and you know, we're building a database of you know at minimum 2000 plus women of colour who either you know already work in the sustainability industry or have skills that they are applying to kind of transitioning or pivoting into this space and 2000 again is low I mean, we're not even reaching I think the pinnacle of like the actual amount of woman of colour that exists globally that are doing this work and so it's just you know in 2020 and almost 2021 right like we have to move past this conversation of oh we just can't access them or we can't find them and so that was one of the initial things that we wanted to tackle was like, If we create a list if we create a database if we create a Google group that we create a LinkedIn group, they can't say people can't say that the that the women are out there right that people of colour aren't out there. It's now on you as a leader, as a corporation, as an organization to do the work to access this talent and I don't I'm always weary of making it like a shameful thing. I don't think it's about like shaming people and I'm sure some people would disagree with me but hey, like, I think it's more it's more you are missing out on amazing talent and amazing skills and amazing resources because you're not doing enough to access the people that can really drive amazing things right and so you know, we see across the board and you know not to get all super technical but there's so many studies that show when you have diverse teams you create better products, better outcomes across revenue, across impact, across so many things and so you know, the sustainability is not an industry is not exempt from that and so I think that's what excites me is saying, hey imagine what we can do to solve a very pressing crisis right that is impacting the planet and people if we bring in more diverse voices not because they're a charity case or because it's just about doing good but because they actually have real value to bring to teams and so I think we're pretty adamant about making sure that that's how we position ourselves and I'm sure you both saw at the collective resiliency summit how amazing were these women like these women who were doing such incredible stuff and so it's not hiring because hiring them because you want to meet a quota or you feel bad or you're you know, like yes, like create metrics, like yes be intentional about it but know that like these women are in these positions and doing great work because they're good at what they do, right and they have the skills so yeah, I think that's kind of how we thought about inclusion that's how I think about inclusion as a woman of colour in the space as well.
Rachel: Yeah, I remember, I can’t remember the author, but I think I saw it on LinkedIn it was like investing in women or I guess investing, you know, in any minority group, it's not charity but you know, it makes business sense like you're not doing people a favor like one it's obviously the right thing to do and secondly like it’s a business case as well. I think that's such an important point. You know, people think you know you’re helping people or, you know, it's charity it's just like, you know like you said just stop thinking like that.
Also I think we had Val who is the co-founder of Role Model Management on a previous Viewpoint and she runs like a modeling agency she was saying that like, you know, if you can't find the pipeline looks somewhere else that you know get on a different website, you know get on a different thing so I think that's so true it's like that excuse it's just not valid so I think you've hit the nail on the head there definitely.
So the final two questions I guess very similar to you and you know Jordi like we really want to focus on action, so obviously it's really important to discuss the issue but you know, we want to actually turn it into action so we wanted to ask I guess from your opinion what do you think the fashion industry can be doing to be more inclusive so you know could be what could brands be doing, you know designers, you know any way you can think of to really create a more inclusive fashion industry.
Chante: Yeah, you know, I know we talked about this. I did do some work in the fashion industry and kind of thinking about incentives for how I mean, obviously New York is considered like one of the biggest fashion capitals of the world and we do have the Garment District and Fifth Avenue and all these really high luxury brands here and so I think on my end taking it back to kind of my expertise is really thinking about policy and incentives so I think one thing you know, I think culture does drive business to do different things as well as policymakers but on the flip and I think in addition to that actually not on the flip side is how can you as both a consumer but also a voter push businesses and decision makers at the government level. I think what I was seeing and to kind of take it back to going to that event and during Climate Week was oh wow look at these leaders and the not necessarily, they weren't necessarily in sustainable fashion actually they were just kind of in fashion but who are committed to figuring out sustainability and they didn't have all the answers but they knew like, you know, we want to be more cognizant of our supply chain and our textiles and our how we you know, how we actually carry product and materials throughout a state right in terms of transportation and mobility options and I think that's where a light went off in my head and where I was like, well, what does it look like for cities, states, governments to create incentives that expedite those processes and so while I think we talk a lot about the consumer right like what can you do which is important yes, like we all can take actions every day the reality is that the biggest change that needs to happen is at the corporate, the brand, the company level, right? I mean, if you look at cities the number one carbon emission or the number the number one cause of carbon emissions in cities are buildings, right and you know, the fashion industry has a lot of real estate here and they have a lot of buildings so I think I oftentimes think outside of the box of just like hey what's what can one consumer do but how can industries move and how can we as individuals push industries to move because I think that's where we have the largest impact so you know, I think being involved in your community and one knowing you're elected telling your elected that you know, sustainable not just sustainable fashion, but also the buildings that they operate all of these things that are really important to climate change in the climate crisis are things that you want them to create programs around and incentivize companies and then of course, you know as a consumer buying from brands and companies that actually represent your values I think a big part of it and I've been talking a bit about this with amazing women in this space is learning that you don't need to consume as much as you do like I think that is one of our biggest right challenges here is convincing people that they can consume less, that it's not impossible and making them think about you know, what it actually goes into that thing that you're about to throw away right and that dress that you bought one time to wear to this event and now you're throwing it away or you're just never gonna wear it again right and so how do we consume less. So I think there's the single person consumer side, which I focused a lot less on but is important because I think it drives policy and business as I said earlier, but really it's how do you push the people who have a lot more power and influence to pass policies and again this goes for internal government agencies and elected officials as well as companies to be committed to cutting their carbon emissions across the board again supply chain, textiles, mobility. I think all of these things really matter and so you know, don't relieve yourself of all responsibility as a consumer but at the same time understand that you know, I no matter how much I reduce my waste today, the real impact that we need to have are companies reducing the amount of waste that they create on a daily and that goes for the sustainability, obviously the sustainable fashion industry for sure.
Rachel: Yeah. I think I heard, it must have been last year, but I guess you know, how companies report the financials, so like you know profit and loss. Asking companies to also report at a policy level, at a government level their sustainability and ethics. And I think that’s such an interesting concept and I don't actually think to be honest, I am really hopeful about sustainability and I think it’s made a lot of progress, but I think for some companies unless there is you know laws in place and policies in place - they won’t abide to it because like you said of that kind of you know concept we hope we can get rid of profit over, I guess, sustainability. So I think that would be quite interesting and I guess also like B Corps as well, I think that's a really, you know, interesting process and I think that's really important because I think I know like a few, we’d love to be a B Corp, but I know from people who have become a B Corp being the process is very in depth and you think about everything from start to finish and even if you don’t meet the criteria yet, it gets you thinking about what you need to do, like you said thinking about the manufacturing all the way through to the delivery. So I think that’s such an important point.
Chante: And I think I just I just want to add that that's why you know I'm personally really excited about the Biden/Harris campaign right and just having leadership like I do think government is a key player here and you see that New York State actually like Governor Cuomo even despite Covid is still committed to pushing out a lot of funding for sustainability and so he you know, he could have made the choice to say, you know, we don't have as much of a budget in light of Covid, so we're not going to focus on the sustainability industry, but I think again going back to understanding that that's where the jobs are that's where the revenue is, that's how we create sustainable economies and so I think you know, it is it is really I think a big part of it is on government to not just say hey businesses you have to do this but to also create pathways so that incentivises business to do to do those things right and so I think that's oftentimes what’s missing in the conversation sometimes even policies will be passed, but then there's not a clear or not necessary clear but I think enough of a roadmap to get businesses to where they need to go in order to meet those so yeah.
Rachel: Yeah, that’s so true because I think I guess, we’re at like obviously startup phase so I guess we've been able to, obviously because we wanted to, but we kind of had the agility to put the sustainability in place at the start. But I guess the bigger companies, they’ve kind of been unsustainable for so long - like you said, where is the pathway, it can be done but where is the pathway. So I think that’s so important and like you said the support and incentivising people is really important.
A final question - I think you’ve probably already covered it but and I guess in terms of consumers and I know you said, you know challenge companies, you know, the government and hold them accountable and I guess like consume less and produce less waste - that's the right way round and so was there anything else you think we can be doing as consumers or would you say those two are the main.
Chante: Yeah I mean I think obviously we're focused on supporting frontline communities, communities of colour and particularly in the industry I think a big part of it is asking if you're working well one if you're starting a company or a business asking yourself, how are you going to be inclusive from the beginning, how are you bringing in different voices, how are you expanding your network and not just how are you doing that but then how do you plan to create a culture right where people's differences are celebrated and they're their varying viewpoints are seen as an asset and treated as such and so I think that on kind of the maybe individual level or business owner level is really important. And then I think you know if you're working at a company or an organisation and you're talking about the future of climate I honestly I don't care what industry it is but I work in tech and investment and that's probably one of the least diverse industries that we know about and so especially when it comes to climate tech and I think as a woman of colour who's in the space, I would love to see more you know of my white peers, of my female peers of those who don't look like me actually bringing up communities of colour and frontline community, so the the burden's not just falling on me to do so, understanding that is like we need everyone in this fight and so you know excluding them doesn't get us where we need to go at the rate that we need to get there. And so I think again from you know, the inclusive point of view how do you actually, not even how you are championing and committing to making sure that if you are the only if you are noticing that there's a lack of diverse voices that you speak up and you say something about it and that you not only bring them in but allow them to lead and I know we're not gonna get there tomorrow, but I think especially with sustainability it's like we have to do that because we know it is just disproportionately impacting certain communities and if we're not intentional about that we're not going to solve the climate crisis It just won't happen right and so I would add that because I think that's really important to the work that we do with WOC-CS and then just also our values and mission.
Rachel: Yeah, I love that because I think that it's something that a lot of people do they’re not a minority or don’t have they experience of for e.g. they don’t look like someone else,and you can think oh I can't do anything, you know, you think oh someone else will but doing something is so important, basically being an activist in your daily life is like something we can all do more of so yeah, then that's brilliant Chante, so thank you so much.
So that was all we had that we wanted to ask. We learned so much, thanks so much Chante - we always love speaking to you. And I’m so excited for the launch of the next round of the grant so we would love to support that and we’ll share that. Thank you so so much for joining us.
Chante: Yeah thanks for having me you know I'll obviously, you both know this, but I guess for the viewers if you are a woman of colour in the space feel free to join our LinkedIn group. We also have a Google group and then we also send out a newsletter. It was supposed to be bi-weekly though, it's a bit more monthly now. We're trying to expand our team so we're also looking for more volunteers. I know that I think you guys have, your audience is I'm sure is different from ours being in the US so if you live in the UK, or really anywhere else and you're interested in getting involved feel free to reach out to us. We do have a volunteer form and you can actually go to our website so all this stuff is on there so in case you’re overwhelmed and you’re like ‘oh my god, I don’t know where to go’ we have everything up there but just wanted to name that we have the Google group, the LinkedIn group - follow us on social media Instagram, Twitter. We also have a LinkedIn that you can like and then for allies we're always looking for ways to kind of build partnerships right and bring you into this work as well as Rachel and you know the team knows and so I think for us it's really how do we make sure that we don't want women of colour to be the only one doing this work and having these conversations. So if you want to get involved as well feel free to reach out to us we have a Medium publication that you can follow where we actually publish different stories that women of colour write and articles that they're interested in collaborating on. And yeah lots to come in 2021, including memberships, we're working on an exciting tech platform that we want to scale and if there are ways that you know, you want to get involved we're pretty reachable so give us some time though because it's still mostly Jordi and I and sometimes it takes a little time for us to get back to folks, but we appreciate your patience and also your interest and we're excited to keep building this community with everyone.
Rachel: Yeah, I'm just saying finally I will share all that on the page, on social media. That's what I loved about the summit as well, it was open to everybody and it was about allies like what can you do, what can everybody do and I think that just sums up the incredible communities. So thank you so much again Chante and I can’t wait to share the interview and all the amazing resources and how you can get involved, so thank you so much.
Chante: Yeah, thank you both. This was great.
Rachel: Brill, see you soon!
Both: Bye!