Promoting Justice in an Amazing Space

Sharon Prince, CEO and founder of Grace Farms, has fulfilled an ambitious vision to build both a foundation with an interdisciplinary humanitarian mission and an intentionally-designed space that embodies hope and peace. Housed in the sinuous, innovative River building designed by Pritzker Prize-winning architects Kazuyo Sejima and Ryue Nishizawa of SANAA, Grace Farms focuses on programming in five areas–justice, nature, community, faith and the arts–with a particular emphasis on addressing modern slavery and advancing gender and racial parity. Sharon is taking an entrepreneurial approach to tackling a wide range of social and cultural issues, including pivoting early in the pandemic to supply PPE, developing an ethical supply chain, creating Design for Freedom, a movement to end modern slavery in the building trades, and launching a social venture, Grace Farms Foods. In this conversation, Sharon talks about the importance of setting clear goals for a project, hiring a values-aligned team, how her previous experience running a clothing brand helped prepare her, the importance of making a commitment to a goal, and how each of us has a role to play in asking how the products we use are being made. 

Highlights of the episode

  • How the idea for Grace Farms came about
  • Its mission of advancing good through five key initiatives
  • The role of architecture in creating a just world
  • Building a values-aligned team
  • How Sharon’s entrepreneurial experience prepared her
  • Developing an ethical supply chain
  • Human trafficking as a priority issue for Grace Farms
  • How the Design for Freedom movement began
  • Working together to rid the building industry of forced labor
  • Pivoting during the pandemic to address urgent needs
  • Creating a social venture business as an income stream for non-profits
  • The importance of asking how products are being made
  • Grace Farms Foods’ ethically sourced products
  • Partnering with chef Silvia Baldini to creates a fair trade cookie
  • An entrepreneurial ethos as key to non-profit success
[buzzsprout episode=’9552562′ player=’true’]

Links in this episode

Grace Farms

Grace Farms Foods

Design for Freedom

Grace Farms on Instagram

Grace Farms on Twitter

Grace Farms on Facebook

SANAA

Sharon Prince LinkedIn

Silvia Baldini

Astonish Media

Susan Ferry Price Instagram

Susan Ferry Price Twitter

Susan Ferry Price Website