An Interview from the Sustainable Brands Conference ‘09 with Founder & President KoAnn Skyrzniarz

From June 1-3, 2009, 650 business and brand strategists, designers and sustainability executives gathered together for three days of extraordinary conversation, inspiration and insights into new strategies and tactics for leading profitable innovation for sustainability in 21st century business.

The mission of the Sustainable Brands Conference (SB09) was to help people and their companies to understand what’s driving change in today’s business landscape; to point out the innovators and stories of emerging best practices and successes, and to groom people into becoming innovators of more sustainable business strategies, products, and practices.  As one of the conference speakers said during the event, "SB09 brought together the finest and most life-serving minds [we've] ever had the privilege of engaging with.” 

If you’ve read the first blogpost on here you already know that KoAnn Skyrzniarz, Founder & President of Sustainable Life Media (right), is the woman behind the Sustainable Brands Conference. I had the opportunity to speak to KoAnn before the conference, which is why I was able to write the first blogpost. However, at the conference, I was able to get a little one-on-one time with KoAnn to ask her just a couple of questions that I think will show our viewers why Link TV wanted me to attend this conference. Here’s what I got:

CD: KoAnn, we’ve heard from you that you feel very lucky to have had an inspiring, possibly sheltered, but nonetheless incredibly inspiring experience working for a corporation. And when you left that chapter of your life, you said you were very determined to apply yourself towards something bigger - building a bridge between media, corporate entities, and sustainability…

KS: That’s exactly right. The company I was fortunate to work for was family owned for the majority of the time I was there, which was somewhat unusual. And having had a very intimate experience with purpose driven leadership, I saw firsthand what that can do to a bottom line, how that can help you grow a business, and how it can impact people. You get an incredible level of engagement, productivity and creativity out of believing that people are your biggest asset, which was the perspective of the chairman of our company.

CD: What were some of the moments here at this year’s conference that stand out for you?

KS: Oh there were so many! You'll have to check out the Highlights Reel:

Dacher Keltner from the Center for Greater Good and UC Berkeley definitely stood out— Just the way he was able to elevate the conversation about the emerging science of altruism and empathy, and how that can actually become a benefit for business.

CD: UC Berkeley is such a pioneer in CSR! I’m looking forward to Dr. Kelley McElhaney’s presentation on “Best Practices in Driving Brand Value Through CSR”!

So, how has this conference differed from last year’s conference?

KS: Well there’s two major things. One: Numbers. We are quite a bit up from last year than we were the year before, which is remarkable for this environment. And two, generally, the community is just continuing to get smarter and smarter about the needs and opportunities. So the level of the conversation has stepped up a lot from last year, and the energy is getting better and better. In light of the economy it’s just so wonderful to see the amount of enthusiasm, passion, creativity and forward momentum that’s continuing to happen. I definitely heard the reverberated statement that this is not going away. I don’t think it’s true that we are in a green bubble.

CD: What is Sustainable Life Media planning on doing in the coming year?  Anything in particular that we should look forward to?

KS: Looking to this fall we are going to be delving into the fragmentation and emergence of eco-labels and certifications. You’ll see there is a lot of need for convening and conversation around that topic. So we’re talking to a lot of people who might be able to construct something that could be helpful. You’re going to be seeing a lot more from us!

***

Recently, Sustainable Life Media posted that Highlights Reel that KoAnn suggested we check out and I’d like to leave you with a little excerpt that I think sums up the conference nicely. Here’s what John Marshall Roberts, author of Igniting Inspiration, had to say about Sustainable Brands 2009:

 “You gotta start somewhere and there’s so much stuff out there. You wanna go to a place where there is some integrity, where there are people who understand you need to balance practicality with ideology. People who are results driven, yet in a way that still honors the spirit of sustainability, that sort of emotional quality. All that comes together in the brand of Sustainable Brands.”

Be sure to check out the other blogposts that are a part of this series! While at SB09 I also interviewed Kellie McElhaney from UC Berkeley and Gil Friend from Nat Logic.

And as we move through the summer, I’ll be interviewing other socially responsible business leaders and experts. Feel free to write in to tell me who you’re interested in knowing more about!

Back to the CSR Blog homepage