Charis welcomes Janice Shade, author of Moving Mountains: The Power of Main Street Americans to Change Our Economy for a luncheon conversation with Pam Sugarman, president of Sugarman Consulting, about what this moment in our economic history might mean for people looking to start businesses or non-profits or begin new careers during or after the disruption of the pandemic. In 2018, only 2.2% of venture capital went to women-led start-ups; less than 1% to Black entrepreneurs. The American Dream of achieving prosperity through hard work and initiative has remained elusive for women, people of color, social entrepreneurs, and others marginalized by a system designed ages ago by white men of privilege. In Moving Mountains: The Power of Main Street Americans to Change Our Economy, Janice Shade uses storytelling and humor to deliver illuminating facts and practical tips. An entrepreneur and ﬁnancial innovator since 2006, Janice lays out alternative ﬁnancing opportunities for both entrepreneurs and citizen investors. In the pages of her book youʼll ﬁnd:

- stories of women entrepreneurs and their quests for capital

- a history and expose of the inequities of our start-up capital markets

- evaluation of crowdfundingʼs past, present, and future potential

- sneak peaks at the latest innovations in community-sourced capital

- steps you can take today to align your money with your values

If youʼre disenchanted with Wall Street and the current money system that perpetuates the concentration of wealth among the few, this book and conversation is for you. Itʼs meant to inspire and shed light on the emerging possibility to create economic justice for all. The Lola's mission is to bring together womxn as allies and accomplices to tell our stories, raise our voices and dismantle a system that doesn't serve us. Click here to learn more. 

This event is free and open to all people, especially to those who have no income or low income right now, but we encourage and appreciate a solidarity donation in support of the work of Charis Circle, our programming non-profit. Charis Circle's mission is to foster sustainable feminist communities, work for social justice, and encourage the expression of diverse and marginalized voices.

We will be archiving this event and adding closed captioning as soon as possible after airing so that it will be accessible to deaf and HOH people. If you have other accessibility needs or if you are someone who has skills in making digital events more accessible please don't hesitate to reach out to info@chariscircle.org. We are actively learning the best practices for this technology and we welcome your feedback as we begin this new way of connecting across distances.

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Janice Shade is a social entrepreneur, financial innovator, and author with 30 years’ experience building brands, businesses, and movements. After an early career in brand management at Procter & Gamble, Welch’s, and Seventh Generation, she set out to explore new models for conscious commerce and community capital. Since 2006, she has launched or co-founded for-profit and non-profit ventures including TrueBody Products, Milk Money, and Local First Vermont, all of which share common themes of democratic access to capital, economic justice, and local economic resilience. Janice is currently the founder of The Initiative for Local Capital, a non-profit innovation lab; and a founding board member of the National Coalition for Community Capital. Moving Mountains: The Power of Main Street Americans to Change our Economy is her first book.

Pam Sugarman is the president of Sugarman Consulting, which offers strategy and governance consulting to nonprofits and foundations here in Atlanta.

Moving Mountains: The Power of Main Street Americans to Change our Economy--a Luncheon Conversation with Janice Shade and Pam Sugarman