Exploring Entrepreneurship: Building an Eco-Friendly Business

Description

Exploring Entrepreneurship is a partnership between the City of Austin’s Economic Development Department and the Austin Young Chamber.

The next generation of great companies are holding purpose and social responsibility at their core -- and a big part is ensuring environmental sustainability practices are baked into everyday operations. Looking for ways to up your green game but don’t know where to start?

Join us for a conversation with business owners and sustainability experts to help take the next step. You’ll learn:

• The benefits of being an eco-friendly business
• How to launch or grow achievable sustainability practices
• Strategies to implement a triple bottom line approach

Have a question for our panelists? Submit your question in advance here.

Lunch will be provided by Hank's Catering. Please select your lunch box option when registering. To guarantee a lunch box, you must register by 4pm on 2/25.

Panelists

• Ryan Kemp, Founder and CEO, Pueo Consulting
• Faiez Rana, Co-Founder and CEO, Prep To Your Door
• Skyra Rideaux, Owner and Principal Consultant for Rideaux Economic Development Co.

Moderated by Karen Magid, Director of Sustainability and STEM and Special Assistant to the President for Huston-Tillotson University

Thank You to Our Event Partners

About the Panelists

Ryan J. Kemp is the founder and CEO of Pueo Consulting, a regenerative and sustainable business consulting company that works with organizations to guide businesses into becoming aligned vehicles of prosperity, purpose, integrity and social transformation, a leadership guide of the Regenerative Leadership Academy, author and speaker. He has worked in, lived in, and traveled to over forty-five countries learning from different cultural elders, working on solutions to some of the world’s largest issues, writing about it through poetry and prose and speaking on various podcasts and summits. Some of his past work includes consulting with the Prime Minister of Cameroon, H.E. Philémon Yang to implement rural infrastructure initiatives using non-degenerative materials (as opposed to bitumen) to assist farming communities in cutting down on food spoilage and accessing healthcare, collaborating with the Minister of Energy in Myanmar working towards renewable energy independence while replanting mangrove forests on the Bay of Bengal and living and working on intentional communities and permaculture farms throughout Hawai’i, the Caribbean, and Central America assisting movements in food security and sovereignty.

Faiez Rana is the CEO and Co-Founder of Prep to Your Door, driven by a mission to create change for the health of people and our planet. He is passionate about using entrepreneurship to solve societal problems, including a broken education system, healthcare, and mass environmental degradation. Faiez serves as a Board Member of Fresh Chefs Society, a non-profit that helps youth in foster care create agency through the culinary industry. His proudest accomplishment to date was in 2015, when he helped co-create an omni-channel school for 2,000 orphans in an Iraqi refugee camp at the height of the Syrian refugee crisis. In November, he won the 2021 FAVE ChangeMaker Award and married his co-founder, Heather, on the same day!

The Owner and Principal Consultant for Rideaux Economic Development Co., Skyra Rideaux is an equity consultant, inclusive economic development expert, and a climate and environmental justice advocate who specializes in hyperlocal community development. She has worked with mid-sized and large municipalities to "localize" redevelopment and revitalization efforts and create research-based reinvestment strategies in historically excluded BIPOC communities. As a life-long public servant and community advocate with more than 15 years of experience in community and economic development, Skyra is known among her peers as a "futurist" and has pioneered dozens of community-centered projects addressing equity, inclusive economic development, and civic engagement. A former bomb-builder for the US Navy, Skyra currently serves as a diversity, equity and inclusion expert for a Fortune 500 global tech company. Previously, Skyra worked for the City of Austin in economic development and circular economy where she was responsible for the recruitment and retention of businesses within the circular economy industry. Her work was focused on supporting new social entrepreneurs and growing the representation of BIPOC and other underrepresented founders in the circular economy industry. Skyra is also the Managing Partner and COO of Conversation Starters, a transformational justice and equity consultation firm that specializes in diversity and inclusion facilitation training and development and racial reconciliation. She is a first-generation college graduate and holds a Bachelor of Arts in public relations from the University of Louisiana at Lafayette. A featured TEDx speaker, Skyra has given keynote presentations and been featured on international panels to discuss the intersection of equity, policy and economic development for almost a decade. Skyra is a 2021 International Economic Development Council's (IEDC) Gold Rank award recipient, 2019 Girls Scouts of Louisiana 'Woman of Distinction' awardee, 2017 TEDx speaker, 2015 Acadiana Top 20 Under 40 honoree, a decorated United States Navy veteran, and a member of the Holy Rosary Redevelopment Board and a member of the IEDC's Racism in Economic Development committee. Connect with Skyra on Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter.

Karen Magid serves as the Special Assistant to the President and the Director of Sustainability and STEM for Huston-Tillotson University (HT). Karen holds a Ph.D. in Materials Science from the University of California, Berkeley. After completing a Postdoctorate fellowship at the ETH-Zürich, she transitioned her career to connect with her passions for the environment and education. Her role at HT encompasses academics, operations, and engagement, including co-founding and organizing HT’s annual environmental justice conference, the Building Green Justice Forum. She serves on the Austin-Travis County Food Policy Board and on the City of Austin’s Joint Sustainability Committee. She also serves on the boards of Earth Day Austin and Austin Community Data Coalition, and is Co-Director of the Dumpster Project.

In-Person Event Expectations for Attendees:

✅ Masks required for all individuals when not actively eating or drinking
✅ Wash or sanitize your hands frequently
✅ Greet each other with non-physical contact
✅ Maintain social distancing when possible
✅ Stay home when appropriate
✅ The Austin Young Chamber reserves the right to update these protocols should City, County, and/or State guidelines change.