climate change

078 | Sustainable Success: Embodying Spiritual Practice in Business with Nikki Silvestri

 
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It was such an honor to sit down to speak with Nikki Silvestri of Soil & Shadow this week. From her life as a speaker to CEO and mom, I was inspired to learn about Nikki’s life behind-the-scenes of her business.

Nikki shares what it looks like for her to embody her spiritual practice in her day-to-day activities, as well as what it took to get to where she is now: To have a family, thriving business, and career as a public speaker and change-maker with an environmental, social and economic impact.

Nikki didn’t hesitate to share all of herself in this episode - from what she learned burning-out in the non-profit world, to having challenges with fertility when she was ready to have a baby, to working through her own limiting beliefs around financial success. Nikki shares how she rose above her challenges to create a sustainable and thriving business with a triple bottom line ~ one that is here to see success in terms of planet, people and profits, and how she is helping other companies to do the same.

In this episode we discussed:

  • Nikki’s journey of becoming an entrepreneur and starting her business, “Soil & Shadow”

  • Behind the scenes, what it looks like for Nikki to be a Mother & CEO

  • Climate change, carbon emissions, and sustainable soil and agriculture practices that can reduce the amount of carbon in our atmosphere

  • How Earth’s ecosystems mirror our personal relationships

  • Nikki’s journey with moving beyond limiting beliefs to do empowering work that is good for people, the planet AND drives profits

  • How Nikki embodies her spiritual practice in her business

  • Nikki’s challenges with fertility and having her son as well as what needed to shift in her life

  • Nikki’s journey with being seen, improvising and becoming a keynote public speaker

  • Behind Nikki’s decision to continue running her own business (rather than working for someone else) when becoming a mother

  • Nikki’s upcoming projects including Diversity & Inclusion initiatives in the workplace

Stay in Touch with Nikki:

 

Nikki Silvestri is the Founder and CEO of Soil and Shadow, a project development firm designing economic and environmental strategies with human left in.

As the Co-Founder of Live Real and former Executive Director of People's Grocery and Green for All, Nikki has built and strengthened social equity for underrepresented populations in food systems, social services, public health, climate solutions, and economic development. A nationally recognized thought leader, her many honors include being named one of The Root's 100 Most Influential African Americans.

Nikki is a Faculty Member at the Food Business School (she co-designed and taught one of their inaugural courses, "Ethical Leadership in Food Business"). She is the Board Co-Chair of the Business Alliance of Local Living Economies (BALLE), and is an advisory board member of TendLab, a boutique firm unlocking the power of parenthood at work. She is the recipient of numerous awards including ELLE Magazine's "Gold" Award and OxFam America's "Act Local, Think Global" Award.

Nikki began her work in social change through the foster care system in Southern California, where she directed Foster Youth Empowerment Workshops. She has a master's degree in African American Studies from UCLA, and is originally from Los Angeles. She currently lives in Oakland, with her husband and son.

067 | Climate Change & Hope for A Better Future with Nicole Rom

 
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Announcement: The Sovereign Circle begins this February 2019 ~ Learn More Here

After experiencing California’s wildfires, witnessing the increasing amount of hurricanes on the news and hearing firsthand accounts from friends and family of climate change throughout the world, I knew I wanted to interview an expert on this topic for the Rising Women Leaders podcast.

I just so happened to know the perfect person to interview - my sister, Nicole Rom. Nicole has been the Executive Director of Climate Generation for 12 years, empowering individuals and their communities to engage in solutions to climate change. Nicole breaks down what we need to know about our current state of the world and where we are headed when it comes to rising temperatures, sea levels and how we will be affected in the coming years. We discussed everything from how our family impacted our love for the environment, daily actions we can take to lower our carbon footprint, how to navigate the inherent grief of this issue as well as stories to cultivate hope.

I hope you enjoy the show.

In this episode we discussed:

  • Our family ancestry of individuals who deeply cared about the environment and how that impacted our values growing up

  • A definition of climate change and what we are facing today

  • Navigating grief and hope in changing times

  • Climate Generation’s mission and impact

  • Daily life changes and actions we can take on a personal, local and global level to make a difference

  • Resources Nicole recommends for educating ourselves (films, books and websites to check out)

  • Upcoming trainings and projects at Climate Generation

“One of the most important things we can do is normalize the conversation on climate change. I know many of us are scared. You feel like you need to know the science… Don’t worry about it…All you have to say is ‘I’m worried about this. This is what I’m seeing. This is who is going to be impacted.’ It is from that place you can connect with someone heart to heart.”

Climate-Action

Stay in Touch with Nicole:

Personal:

Work:

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Nicole has been the Executive Director of Climate Generation since the organization was established in 2006, which has included starting and sustaining the organization by providing visioning and development activities for the organization and its programs. Prior to Climate Generation, Nicole managed the education programs for the National Wildlife Federation’s Great Lakes office in Ann Arbor, MI. Nicole taught undergraduate and graduate level courses in environmental education and climate change at the University of Michigan and Hamline University. Nicole was an Environmental Educator with the U.S. Peace Corps in the Republic of Kazakhstan for 2 years. She received her M.S. in Environmental Policy, Behavior, Education and Communication from the School for Environment and Sustainability at the University of Michigan and a B.A. from Bates College. She was a 2010-2011 Humphrey Policy Fellow at the University of Minnesota. Nicole served on the Friends of the Boundary Waters Wilderness Board for six years and various search committees, including the RE-AMP Network CEO and Minnesota Environmental Fund Executive Director. She was a RE-AMP Steering Committee at-large member from 2013-2017 and served on the Executive Committee and the Global Warming Strategic Action Fund Committee. Nicole was recognized in 2015 as a 40 Under 40 clean energy leader by Midwest Energy News. Nicole is passionate about the outdoors, loves the lakes in Minnesota, cycling and skiing.