Conscious leadership requires humbleness and willingness to be candid about the lessons learned on the path of daily progress to better ourselves while serving others.
Much has been said about our collective need to embrace the side of our humanity that can help us empower fellow human beings. In the quest for self-improvement and social innovation, much has been done, and still, much needs to be done.
Contrary to the public perception of where we want to be — we're not there yet — it's not easy being a new, small, minority- and women-led nonprofit in Los Angeles.
In an ecosystem that it's meant to be collaborative and inclusive, we often encounter corporate elitism, power-grabbing executives, cut-throat attitudes, the hypocrisy of words without tangible meaning, and sadly, no real impact where it should count.
Most importantly, it's the diligent understanding of effective marketing communications — the lack of which often delays processes, gets in the way of delivering help where it's most needed, and even allows for an inequitable allocation of funds. There still is a consistent lack of collaboration and communication between organizations that should try to do better to bring together public and private efforts. This unsustainable framework often creates unnecessary competition and an almost untraceable stream of lost efforts in the vacuum of 'We're all doing our best.' We're grateful for the opportunity to identify these challenges.
We thank the game-changing leaders who see beyond their job titles and open doors for Brand LA, without preconceived ideas, unnecessary judgement, and polluting corporate politics. Especially, the women in leadership roles, who take pride in their work, and not just in the job for which they get paid. We thank the humble leaders in education, whose vision of an inclusive LA is more about doing real work, instead of putting out statements.
These challenges make us more aware of the need to bring together people from all walks of life, all offices, and many regions. While our work directly benefits Los Angeles County residents and businesses, we rely on the wider views of international expertise to make a global impact from and for LA — by connecting with and continuing to learn from the professionals with whom we engage to make our partners and our region stronger.
In the spirit of everyday gratitude, we thank our small, talented and dedicated team for thinking big with our feet on the ground; for creating collaborative frameworks to help as many people and organizations in LA as it's humanly possible. Our doors are always open.
We thank those whom we come across and express genuine interest in what we're doing and what we're trying to achieve. Thank you for sharing amazing ideas, life-changing knowledge, valuable time, useful contacts, meaningful efforts, and even funds.
Above all, thank you for believing in our mission and supporting Brand LA.
The Team at Brand LA — Adapted from an interview with our founder, Ivy Arias.