Celina de Sola On Agile Social Enterprises Becoming Key Respondents To Crises

Celina de Sola is co-founder and president at Glasswing. Her work focuses on designing and implementing innovative, community-based initiatives that bring together institutions and people for joint action.

Celina has over 20 years of experience in international development and social change. She’s worked as a consultant for organisations like the Population Council, URC, and family foundations. Celina was also a crisis interventionist for Latino immigrants in the US, and subsequently spent over five years as Director of Emergency Response for AmeriCares, leading responses to complex humanitarian crises including Liberia, the Darfur crisis in Sudan, Afghanistan, Iraq, as well as the tsunami in Indonesia. She is a Fellow of the Obama Foundation, Ashoka, LEGO ReImagine Learning, Penn Social Impact House.

She is also an Audacious Project and Skoll Foundation Awardee, and a Tallberg Global Leader. She serves on several non-profit Boards, and is a member of the InterAmerican Foundation’s Advisory Council. Celina gave a TED Talk at the 2022 conference in Vancouver and has also been featured on Time, CNN en Español, HuffPost Live, Forbes Centroamérica, Yes!, PopSugar, Univision and has spoken about the region’s relevant issues at conferences worldwide. Celina holds a master’s degree in Public Health from Harvard University and one in Social Work from the University of Pennsylvania’s School of Social Policy and Practice.

Celina discusses How socially oriented businesses can play a role in crisis intervention, and Why community organisations are crucial for addressing systemic issues such as poverty.

Highlights from the interview (listen to the podcast for full details)

[Indio Myles] - To start off Celina, could you please share just a bit about your background and what led to your work in social enterprise and not-for profits?

[Celina de Sola] - My academic background is in social work and public health, but I think more than anything else, being a woman from El Salvador, I grew up with access to a lot of opportunities - unlike most people in my country - and personally felt like I had not just a responsibility, but a real interest in addressing issues of social justice. Seeing the difference between what I experienced compared to others and just how arbitrary that can be, where some people have a lot of opportunities, others don’t, and it has nothing to do with who they are. It's more about where you're born and if you're born into conditions of poverty or not. For me, I think there’s this desire to level the playing field. It's about equity, and I think that's what got me personally excited about seeing what I could do to address that, and then I think we share that as a team here at Glasswing. We share that commitment to shifting dynamics and improving conditions for people so they can thrive and be the best versions of themselves.

As the Co-Founder and President at Glasswing International, can you share how these non-profit addresses poverty and violence on a global scale?

We started Glasswing 15 years ago, and there are three of us who started it. What we do is work within public systems. We work in public schools in some of the communities that are most socially excluded and stigmatised. These are the communities where people have given up on or think you can't really do much because of the levels of poverty, violence and crime. What we do in those communities is work with the public schools and compliment the formal schooling with extracurricular programs that vary from dance to art, robotics or debating; whatever is most interesting to students. Those are led by trained volunteers, so they're actually powered by volunteers, which is an important part of it because we know that's also really good for social cohesion. We run these programs with public schools, and they really help develop the confidence of kids, their social emotional skills, resilience, leadership, communication and ends up also improving their grades.

BUT REALLY, OUR FOCUS ISN'T SO MUCH ON THE ACADEMICS AS MUCH AS IT IS ABOUT INVESTING IN THE PERSON'S ABILITY TO ACHIEVE THEIR OWN GOALS AND EVEN TO ESTABLISH GOALS AND THINK ABOUT THEIR FUTURE.

A lot of times in these contexts it makes it hard to think about your future when your life is potentially at risk. We work with frontline workers on their own mental health and wellbeing, helping them understand trauma and develop skills to better care for themselves and for the people who come into their health facilities or care. We work with kids in schools, we have employability programs for young men and women who haven't finished high school and aren't working, equipping them with skill sets and helping them access economic opportunities, either as entrepreneurs or through jobs. Finally, together, with communities we also revitalise and overhaul public spaces, so families can have access to safe spaces.

How can incubators and foundations best empower people seeking to make change and a social impact?

A lot of the conversation around that is now looking at how to localise. This idea of localisation and making sure that whatever we're doing, whether it's on the investment side, program implementation, or advocacy, we have to make sure to constantly ask questions of those who we're working with. I think making sure that we ask people what their priorities are and what they actually want to do and not make assumptions is crucial. I may think that primary healthcare and maternal child health is most important, but they might say actually we have more of a mental health crisis, or there's a lot of homelessness. I think sometimes we make assumptions about what people want based on the data we're seeing.

It's important to ask, and I think that social entrepreneurs, people who are the closest to communities and in the communities, themselves are experts on this, and I think we can't underscore how important it is to ask and not just ask once, but over and over again, because context changes.

We fell into this global pandemic, so priorities change over time. Also, I think taking an approach that's more resource based is crucial. Instead of thinking in terms of needs, thinking in terms of what resources exist that we can build on is key. That gives it a different lens, because you're not coming at it as you’re going to help someone meet needs, you're coming at it asking what resources exist and how you can build on those to achieve more of what you want and access equal opportunities. That shift also changes the way you interact, whether you're a funder, investor, venture or social enterprise. It's a different conversation when you're thinking, "what is there, and what can we do to build off of that?" It's much more dynamic, purposeful and constructive than if we're thinking about the most desperate needs? That's less empowering.

How can non-profit organisations and social enterprises play a role in crisis intervention and responding to national or international threats such as natural disasters and conflict?

What's interesting about social enterprise and business is the agility a social business can have as opposed to governments. For a government, it is really hard to innovate. There's so much at stake. Sometimes it's also hard for very large non-profit organisations to have the agility that the social entrepreneurship and social business sectors have. Crises are always a huge learning curve. We mess up a lot, we think one thing is what we need to do, but then we have to pivot really quickly. Agility and the ability to pivot is super important when dealing with crises, especially when you don't know what the fallout from that crisis is going to be and are moving as you go. I think having the humility to say, “we're going to try this, but we don't know if it will work,” is important. Social entrepreneurs and social business leaders in general know that it might not work and they're ready to pivot quickly, so I think that's a huge value add from that sector. The ecosystem is getting stronger, at least here in Latin America and I think globally. There's this group called Catalyst 2030, and it's a global network of social entrepreneurs. I feel like we talk about this all the time; how can we get more momentum behind a different model? It's the social economy, a different model of business, because at the end of the day, your goal is different than a business which is primarily focused on generating income and profit. In a social economy, there are multiple bottom lines.

Of course, you want to sustain yourself and grow, but really you're thinking of addressing a challenge in a way that's going to be sustainable, and in some cases it can also generate an income. I think it’s a really important sector that needs to grow, and I feel like young people now in their twenties and thirties are thinking about, where do I want to work that's going to have an impact, but also where can I do well by doing good? We have this amazing opportunity now.

Where are there opportunities for entrepreneurs or impact led individuals looking to start their first enterprise or create a positive impact?

There are a lot of different opportunities, and again, when crises happen, we see where there are gaps. In terms of when COVID 19 began, who had access to the right information and how to get people access to the right information so they can take measures protect themselves was important. There are opportunities obviously in technology (which is where I feel there are a lot of ideas) but there are also opportunities in lower forms of technology.

I'm always trying to figure this out (because I think and know that I've talked to a lot of my colleagues about this) how we can also draw from low tech practices that have existed for millennia in Indigenous populations?

What can we bring back in to the way we function, particularly with environmental issues? We need to bring back into practice humans being the stewards of the environment. Ironically, we are seeing something similar in mental health, where we are working with individuals to develop the skills to become responsible stewards of theirs - and others' - mental health and wellbeing. If you think about it, this kind of healing and support has been around way longer than mental health diagnoses of psychiatric treatments. There have always been ways for healing to happen in communities, by communities.

It's important for us to innovate in a way that'll be more inclusive of populations that by virtue of circumstance (not by virtue of them being less capable of anything) haven't been able to access opportunities.

How do we make sure these social businesses and enterprises are really inclusive and are thinking about how they're going to staff up and resource their organisation or business?

What inspiring projects or initiatives have you come across recently that are creating a positive social change?

We're really lucky that my colleagues and even our volunteers are always looking for these platforms and what we can get involved in. Catalyst 2030 is one, Ashoka is another great network of social entrepreneurs that I think can be a great source of inspiration and to build collaborative partnerships. The Skoll network has been amazing also, because there are so many social entrepreneurs part of that network from all over the world. We talk a lot across fellows and participants, and we will say, “you're doing this over in Bangladesh, I'm in Guatemala, how can we team up?” The learning across hemispheres, including the Southern hemisphere is quite broad. There are a lot of opportunities for the global south to drive innovation and impact. Through The Audacious Project, I was lucky to have the opportunity to do a TED Talk, I was lucky enough to be able to do that TED Talk, and when I was at that conference, so many of these presenters and speakers at the TED conference are also doing incredible work, and I think aside from the social entrepreneurs and those networks, there are also academics and researchers who have all this knowledge about people and that planet that we could really build into what we do as social entrepreneurs. That cross pollination with other sectors is super important. Those are just some of the networks that I've had the privilege of being involved in. Again, with the Tallberg Global Leaders, they mix together so many different sectors, so when you're listening to some of their panels and podcasts, you have people who do completely different things. Stepping into that complexity and not thinking in terms of a network that aligns directly with what I want to do but saying yes anyway is important.

Get involved in as many things as you can and show up, because you may be in a conference that seems super unrelated to what you do, but there's going to be some overlap and connections. The more we can cross pollinate with other sectors and other people that seem like unlikely partners, the more interesting our solutions to global challenges will be.

This is because they're going to involve more people

To finish off , what books or resources would you recommend for our listeners?

I try to read, because we're doing so much work and a lot of evaluations. We will read journals and publications, but to be honest, I also like to read fiction sometimes. In terms of trauma, there's a book called The Body Keeps The Score, which is amazing. Another book that I love is Victor Frankl's Man's Search For Meaning. I love reading young readers books, like adult books for adolescents and even younger because I feel like in this space, we need to be so creative all the time. I have an 11-year-old, so that helps me have to have these conversations about imagination and creativity. I love The Little Prince. I try to look for fiction books that are super imaginative and I feel that keeps me thinking a little bit differently. I'd say to really just keep reading. The Little Prince is one of my favourites, so is Alice In Wonderland. Those are probably my two favourite fiction novels.