When life gives you lockdown, make ice cream! - Mona Lipson

Hey, Good Chat!

Mona Lipson is a social impact expert and entrepreneur. She has held various roles in the nonprofit, corporate, and startup sectors, and is currently the CCO (chief churning officer) of an ice cream social entrepreneurial business, "Miss Mona Makes Ice Cream." Mona believes that corporations have a responsibility to take on more of the world's biggest problems and not rely solely on nonprofits. She suggests that every company should be responsible for contributing at least 1% of its products/services towards a social impact cause. Mona also advocates for a "shared value" concept where companies use their services and products to support social impact initiatives. Mona was most recently the Director of Social Good at VidMob, a purpose-driven company offering its video-making services and creative intelligence tools as a way of helping non-profits make better performing ads. Most of their non-profit partnerships come from staff recommendations and referrals. Mona started making ice cream as a hobby in 2017 and it continued as a fun activity for friends and family. During the COVID-19 pandemic lockdown, she started delivering ice cream to friends and family for free and received requests from strangers. This led her to deliver ice cream for free to different parts of New York City and its suburbs. Peter also had a similar experience during the pandemic where he got involved in a related space. Mona believes that hiring individuals from the nonprofit sector is an important first step in building successful partnerships between corporations and nonprofits. This way, companies can understand the nuances and struggles that nonprofits face and can build programs that match their needs. She also points out that larger nonprofits have more resources and capacity to put programs together. However, small nonprofits also face unique challenges and she herself runs a small nonprofit on the side, Guatemala Healing Hands Foundation. --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/hey-good-chat/message