Cause an Affect

And just a month later, the brutal murder of George Floyd has sparked so many powerful conversations within the organization about racial equity. Traci is a natural leader and feels that running Friends of the Children- Portland is her calling. Growing up in NE Portland, Traci tells her story of living 2 lives — one in her predominantly African-American neighborhood and the other of where her mainly-white private school Catlin Gabel was on a 50 acre property in the woods. She is the daughter of legendary Kay Toran who runs Volunteers of America- Oregon, and has a beautiful relationship with her mom. One of her defining life moments was when her Dad died at just 42 years old and the powerful, positive impact he made on her life with the advice of always being the best at whatever she wanted to be.

Alice shares her story of growing up in Hong Kong and being the first in her family to graduate from college (halfway around the world at University of London). She also overcame a huge fear of public speaking and is a prominent keynote speaker on empowering women (and some men as well) on taking control of their financial lives.

Felicia is a long-term data queen and knows that showing (not telling) results leads to funding and growth of key initiatives that deliver systemic changes for thousands of folks who've been overlooked or struggled because of their race or gender or identity.

This podcast covers entrepreneurs like Kate Day who have a positive affect on their community, and what’s fascinating to me about Kate's story is that she created a powerful community in a few years that I never knew existed - women who garden or work outside who also want to feel good and have a sense in dignity in going out in public without having to change their work clothes. This spark of an idea has become a significant company called Dovetail Workwear with thousands of women all over the country as diehard loyalists to the brand.

I’m here with my Dad, Bob Buchanan. He happens to also be the best man in my wedding 19 yrs ago and my life + business mentor who invariably has a life lesson in nearly every conversation we have - it’s exhausting but endearing. Dad is a third-generation real estate developer and has run Buchanan Partners in the Greater Washington DC area for nearly 50 years. The core of what Dad believes in is family first and community a close second. He founded an economic development non-profit called The 2030 Group a decade ago and was instrumental in recently bringing Amazon HQ2 (2nd headquarters) for the Washington DC area.

I’m here with my Mom, Sharon Buchanan. She’s one of the most loving, engaging, dynamic, and entertaining people I’ve ever known. Mom is also an entrepreneur + founder of an art consulting company called Artists Circle that she started 48 years ago. Mom is the center of the family and has made a name for herself as a true leader in the art community in the Greater Washington DC area. She shares her life journey + entrepreneurial journey as one of few women business owners in the early 1970’s.

Ben McKinley, founder of Cascade Web Development, has been plugged into the Portland entrepreneur, tech, and business community, but where Ben's heart really sings is in mentoring 9-18 year old kids as the Head Coach of the MRT big mountain ski race team at Mt. Hood. All that stems from a his childhood experience of ski racing transforming his life from an insecure, chubby kid to a confident ski racer filled with joy with just being on the mountain. When Ben lost his Mom at 14 years old, skiing and mountain sports have taken on an everlasting spiritual connection to his mother who supported Ben in every way and was a role model for him of someone who followed her passions into adulthood and balancing that with always putting family first.

Su Embree and I first met 8 years ago in a small CEO group in the Entrepreneurs Organization (EO). From then on, we became fast friends and it has led to some amazing collaborations, including me following her as a President of EO Portland. Su also joined as a co-founder of Emerging Leaders 3 years ago. In this episode, which first aired 20 months ago, you'll see Su exude warmth and wisdom, leading from her incredibly strategic mind and huge heart.

Kali Thorne Ladd has a unique ability in creating community among totally different groups of people and bringing them all together where we all feel a sense of belonging and beloved community. Nowhere is this seen more than in TASTE for Equity.

Jelani is a black man married to a white woman and they have a blended family of 6 kids and the topic of race comes up often in life and in conversation with the kids, so Jelani wrote a straight-forward book about it called "A Kids Book About Racism." That book sparked conversation and interest from all of his adult friends because it gave kids and adults permission to talk about such a difficult topic. What started as a small project is now a series of a dozen books around racism, feminism, body image, cancer, belonging, gratitude, and launching 30 new books every year!

Lou Radja, founder of Be More Give More, is a leadership coach around success and significance. Lou talks about the importance of finding what your personal hashtag is for this upcoming year + decade!

After moving 13 times in the first 8 yrs of her life, Sadie Lincoln grew up on a commune in Eugene, Oregon. At 21 yrs old, she had a vision of becoming a teacher of teachers in the fitness + wellness world. A dozen years later, that vision became barre3 - creating a movement of 100,000+ women in 100+ countries around the world.

Doug Johanson, CEO of Vista Capital Partners, leads the most intentional lives of anyone I know. He seemingly designed his entire life in high school, and it was all going according to a dreamy plan, until the plan fell apart when his wife Kristen was diagnosed with cancer and his 9-year-old son said "Dad, I'm having trouble breathing" and nearly died from a tumor in his stomach from Burkitt's Lymphoma. Fortunately, his wife beat cancer and his son Cole overcame lymphoma, but all of Doug's work and family and community commitments piled on and Doug began to have serious anxiety attacks. It was a wake up call for him to start creating real boundaries and taking care of himself physically, emotionally, and spiritually. Doug recently completed a 10-day SILENT meditation retreat and meditates for an hour six days every week. The benefits are transformative and it's made how he engages with his family, his company, and the non-profit he co-founded, Beaverton High School Success Fund, so much more effective + meaningful.

Shari grew up in Milwaukie, Wisconsin in a working class, black neighborhood where she played with friends in the streets until dark. She has an intense pride in her Midwest upbringing and the value of work ethic and strong values. She majored in Philosophy in college and is fascinated by how systems work. Shari became a lawyer, then a TV news anchorwoman, then was recruited to run Dress for Success in Portland. She credits her childhood lemonade stand as the entrepreneur experience that has started her obsession with innovating.

Duncan Campbell, founder of Friends of the Children, grew up tough with mom and dad most often drunk or in jail, and he used that as motivation to become one of Oregon's most successful entrepreneurs with starting + growing a timber investing company Campbell Global and then starting Friends of the Children, Oregon's #1 Most Admired Non-profit for the past 5 years in a row. Duncan has story after story about perseverance and optimism in the face of bleak obstacles, but the current story playing out in his life is legacy and significance (success is secondary). The innovative Friends of the Children model of paid professional mentors matched with a small group of the most vulnerable children started in Portland as just an idea, backed by research, and has changed thousands of kids (and families) lives over the past 26 years. In just the past 7 years, Duncan has grown the impact of this model from 5 city chapters to 21 cities and growing. Each city requires a minimum $1.5M investment and a long-term commitment to the work.

The cops drove him to a homeless shelter and the Exec Director vouched for him to get 100% government assistance to pay rent for a year. Even with that, he got denied from dozens of vacant apartments because of his eviction + credit history. That gave Tyrone the idea to start OneApp, which is now rapidly transforming from a free rental application website and mobile app to be the only app that can be used to stay in compliance with Portland, Oregon and Minnesota’s new FAIR housing laws that take effect in just a few months. This means Tyrone has to scale a software team, negotiate with elected officials and landlords, fundraise $1M from investors, AND raise 5 young girls with his amazing wife. No problem, right?

When asked who inspires her most right now, she gives a key insight about Portland, describing a man on the Ross Island bridge who makes hats and invariably has a smile on his face. “He doesn’t have a sign, he hasn’t asked for anything. But he is just there working his craft every day.” 

Patrick is an Oregonian through and through — growing up in NE Portland and then Corbett at 12 yrs old. He was an incredibly independent and driven kid — in sports + academics, which led him to become the first in his family to go to college and eventually Harvard Business School. He credits the leadership training academy at P&G as the most impactful thing in his early professional years. The most painful thing he has ever endured was a turn-around at Farmer Brothers where he was working 24/7 for the largest shareholders who were the grandkids of the company founder. They hired private investigators to talk to his friends and follow him every day and yet Patrick resolved to serve them with grace and with excellence, successfully turning the company around. Tune into this podcast interview between Patrick and me.

Always humble, Monica shares her passion for being engaged in the community started in high school and continues to this day with entrepreneurship + tech at her kids high school and with Techtown Diversity Pledge initiative. She got the idea to start Zapproved in 2008 when seeing this huge shift of companies needing to store their data in the cloud. The company started as a general document + message collaboration tool and quickly found its niche in legal e-discovery software. Monica has had to work through the narrative in her head that she learned in society and in her family that girls can’t do everything boys can do. She is proving that women are more than capable to run amazingly successful companies and be truly comfortable in their own skin — that’s what she values most in people and herself.

As with all of us, Ray’s journey has not been a straight line to where we are now. He grew up in Manhattan, and as a kid in the early 80's, he’d be on the NYC streets near a paper stand, wowing people with what a computer could do. As an introvert, this was mind-bending to experience the amazing possibilities of converting strangers into customers and friends. It gave him the confidence to start and build tech-related companies from nothing into real businesses. And that confidence was hugely important when he had to drop out of college for a year to care for his ailing Dad. Tune into Ray’s powerful story in this podcast episode.