Elizabeth MacBride

Uncommon Voices 2021

Q: Why is now the time, and what do we “double-down” on to leverage this moment to take strides for long-lasting change?

Some people emerge from difficult times with a renewed commitment to change. Those people are too rare. We reach them at Times of Entrepreneurship with the trustworthy information and community that supports their endeavors. Double down on trust.

Q: For real systems change to happen, how must perspectives, and how we approach the economy and education, shift to meet the needs of an inclusive, equitable economy?

I believe change happens in individuals, first. People with power and wealth need to recognize that their success comes mostly from privilege. That’s hard. Most people recognize their own hard work – which is true – but not their privilege and luck.

I believe most people are privileged in one way or another, by the way. When people with that kind of humility are equipped with connections and information they can trust, they make systemic change. They start companies, change laws, donate in different ways. They will change education and economic systems. Our work is one part of this picture. That, too, is a privilege.

Q: Where do you find hope in the work, conversations, and sifts you see happening, and how does that shape your thinking?

Times of Entrepreneurship is a for-profit – how could we be credible with entrepreneurs otherwise. Right now, I get hope from our growing audience and the companies and organizations that are stepping forward to be our sponsors. I’m becoming more of an entrepreneur every day and have more respect than ever for builders, and The New Builders.

Inspiration curation: Share who or what you look to for inspiration. 

Systems change is hard. I don’t know if anyone ever sees it permanently in their lives. So, lately, I have been taking inspiration from Gloria Steinem. I saw her at a Planned Parenthood rally attended by – at most – 20 people. The look of generational sadness on her face was profound. But she was there. There are ups and downs. You have to be present for all of it.

I always take inspiration from poet Gerard Manley Hopkins and his connections to our planet. 

Generations have trod, have trod, have trod;

    And all is seared with trade; bleared, smeared with toil;

    And wears man’s smudge and shares man’s smell: the soil

Is bare now, nor can foot feel, being shod.

And for all this, nature is never spent;

    There lives the dearest freshness deep down things;

And though the last lights off the black West went

            Oh, morning, at the brown brink eastward, springs —

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