It’s hard to live in today’s world without seeing the tension between lives of luxury and so many people going without even basic human needs. It provokes questions of what is fair, right, and conscionable– and the role of business in creating this problem. It would be naive to assume that this tension could be simply resolved. But what if one could serve the other, so that luxury items provide for the basic needs of others creating a halo effect for the things people want and critical support for those going without. Stacey Boyd is the Founder & CEO of Olivela, an online luxury retail platform with a philanthropic business model that makes giving back part of every transaction. In this episode, she explains how what consumers want for themselves can drive impact at scale for others, and how today’s top luxury brands are showing up to answer new stakeholder expectations and drive business success through positive impact.
Lead With We is Produced by Goal 17 Media – https://goal17works.org
Stacey Boyd:
Entrepreneur Stacey Boyd founded Olivela, a luxury retailer with doing good built into every transaction in 2019. The idea came to her after a trip with Malala Yousafzai to the Dadaab refugee camp in Kenya, where she met girls who were risking their lives for the opportunity to get an education. Upon her return, she met with many of the world’s finest luxury brands and explored the creation of a site harnessing their artistry and craftsmanship and our collective purchasing power to support girls’ education internationally. Over 400 luxury brands are now a part of Olivela. Twenty percent of every purchase made on the site goes toward cause partners that work towards gender equality, climate action, and health & wellness– making sure help is extended to those most at risk across the globe.
Boyd earned her MBA and Masters in Public Policy from Harvard and is currently an Entrepreneur-in-Residence at Harvard Business School. Boyd has launched a number of successful ventures including the Academy of Pacific Rim, Project Achieve and Schoola, an online retailer that sells gently-worn clothing to support schools in need. She serves on the National Council on Teacher Quality, advises PBS on educational programming, and was named one of World Economic Forum’s 100 Global Leaders of Tomorrow. Boyd’s work has been featured by CNN, PBS, The TODAY Show, The Wall Street Journal, The New Yorker, Wired, USA TODAY, The Washington Post, and numerous other publications.
Resources:
Learn more about Olivela at: https://www.olivela.com/
Connect with Stacey on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/boydstacey/?originalSubdomain=uk
Visit leadwithwe.com to learn more about Simon’s new book or search for “Lead With We” on Amazon, Google Books, or Barnes & Noble.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
