WeThe Change: Purpose-Driven Women Business Leaders Unite for Good

This B The Change series features articles by B Corp Network leaders who will explore how identity and its many intersections, coupled with their Network leadership roles, affect the growth, diversity, and sustainability of the B Corp movement. This month’s contributors are members of WeTheChange, a powerful community of purpose-driven women and nonbinary leaders who are building high-impact businesses and acting collectively as a force for good. 

WeTheChange began with a clarion call to Certified B Corporation women CEOs asking, “What can we do together that none of us can do alone?”

Sara Schley, CEO of Seed Systems, with the generous support and backing of Eileen Fisher, CEO of EILEEN FISHER, convened over 80 B Corp women leaders in 2018 to discuss that question and take action. The result: Rose Penelope Yee, CEO of Green Retirement, and Kim Coupounas, B Lab’s Global Ambassador, stepped up to co-found WeTheChange with Sara in 2019.

WeTheChange’s founding members committed to creating a new economy in service to all, where women don’t need to fight for a seat at the table. And they realized that this would require creating a new table: one that’s radically inclusive and richly regenerative. 

Women CEOs from B Corps gathered in April 2018 to consider: “What can we do together that none of us can do alone?” The gathering led to formation of WeTheChange.

Succeeding WeTheChange leaders and members have worked to raise up and replenish that table. Founded by women CEOs of B Corps, WeTheChange has expanded membership to include leadership team members at B Corps, B Corp-curious companies, and other businesses with social and environmental missions.

The group is now an active network with a paid membership, an online community, in-person retreats, and an ambitious growth agenda. We asked members of the current Leadership Circle about what inspires them, what they bring to — and receive from — the table, and WeTheChange’s next steps. 

WeTheChange has been ambitious from the start. What are you most proud of from your time on the Leadership Circle?

Mary Stelletello: I am most proud of the evolution of the organization since 2022. In 2022, as a fully volunteer organization, we raised $50,000 in seed funding through our Activator campaign. These funds allowed us to hire two contractors, which strengthened our operational systems and enabled us to launch a formal membership program in 2023. WeTheChange has now entered its next chapter of organizational life, which aims to bring increased investment in women-led, purpose-driven businesses to grow the movement toward a more just, inclusive, and sustainable world.

Lindsay LaShell: One of the first projects I worked on was the Activator campaign. What a dream to go from an all-volunteer organization — where the volunteers are all already overcommitted by nature of their gender and their job — to one with thoughtful, values-aligned staff! This was the first step on a path that we’re still walking, as we explore new revenue models and partnerships that will help us grow into a financially sustainable organization that provides deep support services to our members.

What inspired you to volunteer your time and talents as a Leadership Circle member?

Deb Shannon: Women hold the power to create the changes we want to see in the world. By 2030, American women are expected to control between $30 trillion and $34 trillion in investable assets. Members of the Leadership Circle model the kind of stewardship and leadership I want to see in every workplace and community. We have more power together. 

This is the team from whom I learn the best things about how to conduct business — with inclusivity and impact. When I volunteered, I knew I could learn and serve at the same time. That’s the kind of leadership that calls me in.

Liz Whitehead: As a business development consultant for small and diverse businesses, I know I need to take my own advice! When I was pending B Corp Certification, a WeTheChange member told me WTC was the organization to join in the B Corp network, and I joined right away. When the opportunity came around to get involved with the leadership, I knew it would be the best way to meet other members, contribute to the organization, and introduce WTC to the networks of business owners I’ve cultivated — and vice versa. What I didn’t know is what a warm and welcoming group of powerhouse women I’d get to work with.

Sandra Stewart: I like building things! Evolving enterprises are full of possibility and offer flexibility and openness. They can also be chaotic, but I can roll with that. I felt like serving WeTheChange as Communications Lead while it navigates this next stage would be an excellent opportunity to exercise my creativity and contribute in a meaningful way. And I knew from being a member that this group of women would be a joy to collaborate with.

Michele Button: The opportunity to collaborate with some really smart and impactful women leaders.

Beth Salyers: The group and so many of its individual members were so welcoming when I joined the community, and many friendships and collaborations have grown out of this group. I wanted to give back through my time, energy, and vocational skill sets.

WeTheChange members gather in person and online to share, learn, and collaborate.

What have you given as a WeTheChange leader, and what has the community given you in return?

Stelletello: I became engaged with WTC in 2019, initially with the Radically Inclusive Action Group. I then shifted to Membership, where we began exploring how to better serve our members and what it would take to increase sustainability for WTC and move away from being a fully volunteer organization. In 2022, I moved to the role of Governance Lead to develop the systems and structures for a more sustainable organization. 

This community is deeply welcoming and collaborative. As a new member, I had several members reach out to me just to connect, learn more about who I am, and how we might collaborate.

Michelle Hirons: I’ve volunteered both as a working group member and as a Leadership Circle chair. It’s been a wonderful experience working closely with other driven women to create a supportive space for women business owners. I’ve learned so much from our monthly community meetings and also presented about building a lead pipeline and doing lead outreach.

I’ve also been fortunate to serve with brilliant leaders, and I hope I’ve been helpful in offering insights into what is useful to women business owners and in driving us to figure out how to bring more capital to women. I also bring quite a bit of history to the organization because I have been involved since shortly after WeTheChange launched.

As a white woman who grew up in an upper-middle-class, very white community, I know my privilege and I always have in mind how can I use that privilege to help move our community forward with humility. I was so fortunate to join the B Lab DEI training and feel like this additional insight has been helpful in navigating the very few interpersonal difficulties on the Leadership Circle.

Whitehead: As partnerships lead, I am the liaison between the organization and B Lab, among other organizations, and I really want to highlight opportunities to get WeTheChange in front of the larger B Corp network and vice versa. I’ve been a longtime member of organizations for small and diverse businesses, so I bring new networks, people and resources to the mix.

Salyers: I’m serving as Content Lead. By disposition and training, I’m obsessed with what folks learn and how. I get to work with fabulous humans to share their expertise and passion with our members.

LaShell: In all I do, I’m trying to work toward my highest and best use. When volunteering, that can mean anything from soliciting donations or coordinating programming to writing a newsletter or building community on Hylo. I’m very lucky that the things that I have found myself particularly passionate about over the past few years — community building in 2022 and 2023, democracy and politics in 2024 — have aligned well with the needs of our membership and the moment we are in. For my next trick, I’m excited to be a part of the group that is pursuing philanthropic and investment funding that will allow us to better serve our members with enhanced programming and impact financing.

Shannon: As Connections Lead, I help give our members a great retreat — alongside our amazing retreat architect, Jen Simpson. What do I get in return? The deep satisfaction of watching smart, determined women work through challenges together — and laugh really hard along the way. In this role, I am about customer service. I believe people need to feel whole and supported to do their best work. I’m co-creating an opportunity for our members to recharge and rise — when we need it most!

Join WeTheChange for Recharge and Rise: Everything Your Business Needs Now, a conference for mission-driven women leading impact businesses.

What makes the WeTheChange community powerful?

Whitehead: I love how generous WeTheChange members are and how they hold space for each other with optimism and positivity, even when — especially when — that feels really hard.

Salyers: Folks are supportive of one another, there is always great conversation, and the wealth of knowledge in the group is incredible.

LaShell: This group is consistently the kindest, most authentic, and thoughtful group of leaders I’ve ever had the pleasure of networking with. As a result, I have come to understand that “professionalism” is a tool of the white patriarchy and only serves those who behave without integrity. At WeTheChange, you can bring your whole self and find that there is no reason to categorize others as “friend” or “client” or “mentor.” We can all be all those things to each other at the same time.

Button: This group of women supports each other spiritually and financially. We buy from each other. We share knowledge and problem-solve together. We promote each other’s businesses. We celebrate together.

Why is WeTheChange important to the B Corp movement generally? How do you hope the network evolves?

Stewart: Especially now, when diverse leadership and women’s welfare are under attack in the U.S., women leading purpose-driven companies need a community that helps them continue to thrive and provides opportunities to advocate for all women. The B Corp movement needs women-led B Corps to be visible — as an example to entrepreneurs in the wings, as a show of strength, and as evidence that women-led businesses (which remain drastically undercapitalized compared with businesses led by men) are great investment opportunities.

Button: I want to see this group expand and continue to pivot. We can grow both in the number of members we serve and the resources that we deliver.

Stewart: I hope and believe WeTheChange can become an anchor for purpose-driven companies led by women, providing access to friendly capital as well as a brain trust and network of potential suppliers and collaborators.