Achieving Impact through Entrepreneurial Leadership
“Look Closely at The Present You Are Constructing: It Should Look Like the Future You Are Dreaming.”
-Alice Walker
On November 9, 2022, Revitate hosted its annual Social Impact Summit at the Orange County Museum of Art to share updates on the firm’s progress and celebrate its first class of Revitate Social Impact Champion award winners. The awards presented honored a range of leaders making unique and innovative contributions to the community through business and philanthropy.
Social Impact Champion awards were given to Heidi Zuckerman (CEO, OC Museum of Art), Josh Childress (CEO, Landspire Group and former NBA player), Trevor Pryce, (Founder, Outlook Company and former NFL player), and Julie Uhrman (Co-Founder and President, Angel City Football Club).
In addition to recognizing these inspiring individuals as Social Impact Champions, several honorees also joined Revitate’s COO Kunal Merchant for a panel discussion on the topic of “Achieving Impact through Entrepreneurial Leadership.”
Social Impact, until recently, was seen as a ‘nice to have’ rather than a ‘must do’ for many companies. Now, as society is increasingly shining the spotlight on social, environmental, and systemic issues, and people look for larger social action from companies, leaders must identify ways to strike a balance between business success and genuine social impact.
But how does one measure genuine social impact? For Revitate and their social impact honorees, true social impact means giving back to communities and inspiring others to act.
Heidi Zuckerman opened the new 53,000 square foot Orange County Museum of Art on October 8, with the belief that everyone should have equal access to art. Heidi partnered with $2.5 million-donor Lugano Diamonds to provide free museum admission so that art can be experienced across cultures and socioeconomic backgrounds. In addition to free admission, the museum offers free school lunch to students on organized school tours, again reducing barriers to entry so that all students can experience art.
Josh’s company, LandSpire, believes that the greatest financial returns come from strategic investments that transform communities and the lives of those living in them. Josh explains that LandSpire was founded with the purpose of redeveloping underserved communities of color that were once defined by small businesses, livable-wage jobs, and a thriving middle class. The company provides these communities with the resources needed to thrive and addresses prevalent various socio-economic challenges, while also generating strong returns for investors.
Similarly, Trevor looks to achieve impact through the leadership of his Baltimore-based animation studio, known as Outlook. The studio consistently pushes the boundaries of storytelling, content, and capability. After success in bringing two shows to Netflix, the studio is continuing to expand and looks to put Baltimore on the map as a creative hub for animated stories.
The company is also connected to local schools and works to prepare students for professional work in the field. Trevor’s approach of hiring from these schools has not only benefited local graduates, but also his productions and their creative capabilities.
For Julie, Co-Founder and President of Angel City Football Club, which is one of the only majority female-founded and female-run professional sports teams in the world, the goal is to fuse ‘capital and mission,’ where they effortlessly work in tandem. In this way, the success of the team isn’t only measured by games won and revenue generated, but by the felt impact of the community. By building awareness for Angel City, this also creates the opportunity to simultaneously bring greater attention to women’s sports, grow women’s soccer globally and deliver strong returns to investors.
Julie explains that Angel City has also established a unique sponsorship strategy, which includes the club reinvesting ten percent of their earned revenue back into the community.
All four leaders have proved through their leadership styles that purpose and profit go hand in hand. Revitate is proud to recognize social impact leaders that share a similar commitment to making positive changes in communities across the country.