Lara Galinsky once asked a question, “What would the world look like if we all owned a problem?” One has only to look at her life to view the powerful change the answer to this question could represent. From her beginnings as national program director at
Do Something to her work as senior vice president of
Echoing Green, a nonprofit organization seeking to identify, invest in, support, and unleash
next generation social entrepreneurs, Lara’s focus is to recognize and support those individuals who are striving to help solve the world’s biggest problems.
As a Leadership and Purpose coach, Lara launched
Work on Purpose, a program at Echoing Green which inspires and equips the Millennial generation to build lives and careers that are both right for them and good for the world. She is the co-author of two books that have become cornerstones of the program:
Work on Purpose (2011) and
Be Bold: Create a Career with Impact (2007).
Lara is currently serving as the Entrepreneur-in-Residence at the start-up
Future Laboratories, a social innovation incubator for new solutions to entrenched problems in America. She also serves as a business developer for
The Women's Building, a groundbreaking new project led by the NoVo Foundation to transform a former women's correctional facility in downtown Manhattan to a 100,000 square feet physical home for activism, community, and reclamation by women and girls.
Lara serves as a coach for impact-driven leaders and facilitates teams to have powerful conversations to unlock their greatest work together. She is founding co-chair of Wesleyan's Patricelli Center for Social Entrepreneurship and vice chair of Initiative for Medicine Access & Knowledge (I-MAK) to ensure life-saving drugs are affordable to people around the world who need them the most. And most importantly, she is a mother and friend who tries to live from the highest purpose of generating love in the world.
Her numerous articles help individuals to
find and recognize our own moments of obligation or demonstrate that it is possible to
blow bubbles and grow a family while creating a successful social enterprise. Lara’s life demonstrates what purposeful
women leadership can look like.
Five Questions with Lara Galinsky
What Makes You Come Alive?
Staying present. Letting go. Uncovering Purpose. Following Curiosity. Generating breakthroughs and realizations. Walking everywhere. Fostering Soul to Soul connections. Keeping eye contact. Aligning mind, body, and soul. Feeling the joy of everyone's story. Witnessing the beauty of every person. Supporting people being their best selves.
Pivotal turning point in your life?
Having Suzanne C as my three's teacher. It's true -- the vital time of the first five years of one's life. I had in Suzanne a teacher -- whom I remember clearly from then and am still in touch with -- who awakened the notion of limitless possibility in me -- the simple powerful idea that with support, we can be who we want to be. Suzanne spoke at my baby shower and came with notes she kept from the time she was my teacher. I was floored. Who I was as a three-year-old and the powerful interactions I had with others aligned with my own sense of self. I feel fortunate to be supported at that young age by Suzanne and the adults in my early life.
An Act of Kindness You'll Never Forget?
My grandmother -- a pioneer of her time -- paid for half my schooling and enabled me to have the gift of extraordinary education.
One Thing On Your Bucket List?
Matchingmaking. Doulaing. In other words, supporting the creation of more love into our world.
One-line Message for the World?
Be the glow of compassionate love.