Just a few years ago, Tommy Flaim (BBA ‘16) was following what he described as a “stereotypical investment banking route” post-college. But his heart was pulling him elsewhere: toward the launch of his own athletic clothing company that treats workers fairly and minimizes environmental impact.
Flaim wasn’t alone in seeking a path where business can be a force for good for the world.. After years of working at major public relations firms, Kathleen Souder (ND ‘07) realized in 2016 that “I really liked what I did, but felt like my professional life was kind of at odds with my personal values, and I wasn't really sure how to marry the two.”
And in 2019, Molly Lawrence (MBA ‘21) left her job at a nonprofit rowing association, hoping an MBA at Notre Dame would lead to a career where she could make a meaningful difference. “I got to this pivotal point where I wanted to move beyond a community organization,” she said. “And create a larger impact by leveraging the power and influence businesses can have to be resource positive.”
Ultimately, Flaim, Souder and Lawrence all found what they were looking for in a somewhat nontraditional, but growing, type of business: Certified B Corporations, or B Corps. More than 4,000 companies around the world hold this certification from the nonprofit B Labs, from small startups to household names like Ben & Jerry’s, Warby Parker, The Body Shop and Eileen Fisher. To qualify, companies must pass an Impact Assessment that measures social and environmental impacts and transparency, and must maintain a governance structure that holds them accountable to all stakeholders — including workers, communities, customers, suppliers and the environment.
I wanted to move beyond a community organization and create a larger impact. - Molly Lawrence
Today, Flaim’s athletic-wear startup, Fox & Robin, takes the unusual step of publishing information about its supply chain and worker wages. Souder left corporate PR to co-found Mighty Ally, a communications consultancy that helps nonprofits and social enterprises — particularly in the Global South — with branding, messaging and strategy. And Lawrence is the corporate social responsibility manager at the employee-owned King Arthur Baking Company, a flour and baking goods company founded in 1790.
BRINGING TRANSPARENCY TO ATHLEISURE
“We want to create a little bit more of a ‘you do you’ mentality,” said Flaim of Fox & Robin, which offers lines of men’s and women’s stylish workout basics, intended to work for everyone from casual walkers to athletes training for marathons. Without any paid ad spend, the brand has made its way into 55 retailers throughout the country. The company is new to the B Corp community after achieving certification in January, but Flaim always knew that designation would be central to his business plan.
As a Mendoza College of Business student, he attended a social enterprise incubator, where he watched entrepreneurs make Shark Tank-style pitches to a roomful of impact investors. He was shocked listening to the pitch from Nisolo, a B Corp-certified clothing brand, which outlined the humanitarian and environmental suffering caused by the fashion industry. Western brands often pressure factories to produce orders quickly at impossibly low prices, which leads to inhumane labor practices and impossible-to-trace supply chains rife with abuse.
Until that moment, Flaim said, “I was completely oblivious. I don’t think a lot of people know what goes on behind closed doors in the fashion industry.” Throughout the rest of college, he learned all he could about clothing companies and supply chains, even convincing his fellow group members to write a business plan for an ethical clothing brand for a class project. Just two years after graduation, he began making that plan a reality.
Fox & Robin — which Flaim describes as Lululemon-quality workout gear with the ethical business model of Patagonia (another B Corp and Flaim’s “favorite brand ever”) — aims to reduce worker exploitation by commissioning audits of its partner factories and prohibiting them from subcontracting the orders. The brand prides itself on being just one of three clothing brands globally that publish factory worker wages — which at this point includes being transparent about the fact that only one of its three partner factories currently pays a living wage.
“Right now, in our company's lifecycle, in these very formative early years, our strategy is just to be extremely transparent, and somewhat of a whistleblower in the fashion industry, and to call attention to what these workers are actually making,” Flaim explained. “Long term, as we gain influence, the goal is to advocate on behalf of factory workers.”
Bridging Branding and Sustainability
During her decade in corporate PR, Souder worked with some of the biggest corporations in the world. She felt compelled to realign her work with her values, but it didn’t make sense to start over in an entirely new field.
Along with a colleague, she left her job to co-found Mighty Ally, which provides branding and strategy services to small-to-midsize social enterprises and nonprofits. The company focuses on clients whose missions align with the first six Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) outlined by the United Nations: no poverty, zero hunger, good health and well-being, quality education, gender equality, and clean water and sanitation. (The SDGs are also a key standard used by B Labs in evaluating B Corps.)
“Mighty Ally was really started with this idea of, ‘How do we take world-class expertise in brand, marketing and positioning, and even some organizational strengthening work,’” Souder said. “‘And how do we take really high-quality, strategic thinking and consultancy, and apply it, not to the world's biggest brands, but to the organizations that are solving some of the world's biggest problems?”
To date, Mighty Ally has worked with more than 100 organizations in 31 countries, leveraging the expertise of (often pro- and low-bono) consultants around the world. Souder regularly travels to meet with clients and see their work firsthand. “The more we prioritize proximity to our clients, the better, because we know that we don't have the context and the grounding in these spaces,” she explained. “Without that, it's really impossible to do right by our clients and craft a brand.”
How do we take really high-quality, strategic thinking and consultancy, and apply it, not to the world's biggest brands, but to the organizations that are solving some of the world's biggest problems? - Kathleen Souder
Beyond One-off Initiatives
While earning her MBA, Lawrence worked to make Mendoza a better, more inclusive space. She was president of the Women in Business Club and co-created a Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DE&I) task force that put together a set of 40 recommendations for the College.
Her DE&I work, in particular, “fueled my passion for working for a mission-driven company,” she said. “I'm like, this is the work that I want to be doing. I want it to be impactful, I want to work with others, I want to be on a team, I want to create strategies or initiatives based on people's experiences.”
When her MBA program went on a 10-week prolonged winter break due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Lawrence networked and cold-called B Corps, seeking a mini internship. She found King Arthur at a fortuitous time: The company was in the process of creating a corporate social responsibility and sustainability department. Lawrence helped build that department from the ground up, as it oversaw environmental sustainability work, philanthropy, DE&I efforts and social impact and community partnerships. When King Arthur offered her a full-time position as she was finishing her MBA program, she jumped at the opportunity.
“We always say, ‘We're not the experts in packaging, or we're not the experts in agriculture, but we have to have a baseline knowledge,’” she explained of her department. “And we are always pulling together, ‘What's going on in packaging? What's going on in agriculture? How can we work together in order to be more sustainable and help restore nature more collectively?’ It's very programmatic, rather than just having one-off initiatives.”
Believing in the Power of Business
B Corp certification has helped each company flourish in different ways.
Flaim says Fox & Robin’s legal structure frees it to look beyond its bottom line in the murky world of fashion. “We're legally obligated to optimize for not just profits, but all stakeholders,” he said. “Ultimately, [traditional corporations] legally exist to optimize profits for shareholders. And we have the belief that businesses exist for more than just shareholders — and impact more than just shareholders. Businesses impact the environment and people, and having a business model that reflects that is important to us.”
Joining the B Corp community also facilitates networking with aligned companies. “The B Corp community is just so beautiful in the fact that we all help each other,” Lawrence said. “We're constantly collaborating on marketing campaigns, different HR practices or even our supplier network. And it’s because at the end of the day, we're all trying to achieve the same goals.”
The B Corp community is just so beautiful in the fact that we all help each other. And it's because at the end of the day, we're all trying to achieve the same goals. - Molly Lawrence
As part of her job, Lawrence oversees King Arthur’s B Impact Assessment, which companies submit to recertify as B Corps. “We use these questions to help with our goal setting,” she said. “It helps us always improve the work that we're doing, to ensure that we are bettering the planet, to ensure we are giving back to our communities and also to ensure that our environment for our employees is top notch.”
Souder, true to her branding and strategy background, said the B Corp certification helps with brand building for Mighty Ally. “That kind of stamp of approval is a way to let people know that we're serious about social impact and social good,” she explained. “That this isn't a green washing thing, that we really are trying to do our best to stand up for the values that we really believe in.”