By Elizabeth Harrin (London)

“Being a mother of an autistic child impacts the core of who I am,” says Tracey Gray-Walker, Senior Vice President and Chief Diversity Officer at AXA Equitable. “Everything I do – even how I work – stems from my experiences with the world of autism.”

Tracey became involved with Autism NJ about 14 years ago when her son was first diagnosed as autistic at the age of three and a half. “It was the first organization I found that provided me with the information, education and resources I was going to need as a parent of an autistic child,” she says. “I got involved to help other families of autistic children and to help create programs and activities to help our children lead more enriched and productive lives. In the beginning, I helped in whatever way I could. As the years went on, I became more involved in organized programs and activities.”

Today, Tracey spends around 12 hours a month volunteering which she balances with a senior role at the life insurance company AXA Equitable and the needs of her own family in Plainfield, NJ. “Balance is a challenge,” she admits. “Recognizing that everything needs to be managed and addressed, then gravitating to what needs to be addressed at that moment. Prioritizing and re-prioritizing. But, when it comes to autism, for me the most important thing is to continue to drive awareness. Autistic people need a voice, they can’t speak for themselves. I always want to be one of those voices.” Read more

by Elizabeth Harrin (London)

Women from every field of technology joined together last week at the new Deloitte office in New Street Square, London to talk about the issues of the credit crunch and cancer.

The Survival in the City event was organized by womenintechnology, a careers and networking forum for women working in the technology profession in the UK. The event paired the twin topics of cancer and the current economic downturn – two issues that would not normally be placed in the same discussion. However, the evening was cleverly framed to draw the two strands together.

Joanna LeVannis, the Deloitte account manager in the corporate supporter team at Cancer Research UK (CRUK), opened the evening by explaining about the partnership between CRUK and Deloitte. Staff members at Deloitte have chosen CRUK and the NSPCC as their two preferred charities, and Deloitte employees in the UK have raised £600,000 for CRUK alone so far – £100,000 over their Year 1 target.

Joanna thanked the hardworking community investment team at Deloitte, especially the 50 charity champions across the London campus who she said volunteered tirelessly above and beyond their day jobs to work to raise funds. She explained that she had seen them develop their skills in other areas such as making presentations, so she knew that they were benefiting from their work as much as the charity. The donations made by Deloitte employees have paid for a mobile health awareness unit, staffed by experts, which travels to areas with high incidence of cancer but low awareness of the lifestyle changes than can prevent half of all cancers. The latest initiative is to work in partnership with Deloitte on a brand new health message scheme: Deloitte staff will be trained to talk to colleagues about cancer prevention. This supports the aims of CRUK and also the strong commitment Deloitte has to the welfare of its staff. Read more

by Tina Vasquez (Los Angeles)

What are the chances that Josephine Karianjahi, a Kenyan national, and Pennsylvania native Joel Thomas would ever meet under normal circumstances? Surely, slim to none.

Thanks to StartingBloc, a global organization that educates, empowers, and connects emerging leaders to drive innovation across sectors, not only were these two able to meet, but they were also able to join forces and make the world a little bit better.

StartingBloc’s signature program is called the Institute for Social Innovation and it takes place annually in one of three locations: Boston, New York and London. The institute is a fellowship program that mainly consists of a four-day conference in which students are provided with training, education, and the networks necessary to turn any career into a socially responsible one. It was at the 2007 Boston Institute that Joel Thomas met Josephine Karianjahi and decided to leverage her networks in Uganda and Kenya, thus expanding Nourish International, which provides the infrastructure and support for college students to implement long-term solutions to eradicate poverty worldwide.

The planning of these amazing, global events falls on the shoulders of philanthropist Taryn Miller-Stevens, who acts as Director of Programs for StartingBloc. Amazingly, she is one of just two full-time staff members. If enthusiasm could be transformed into manpower, Steven’s could run the organization herself. “When I read the word StartingBloc, hear the word StartingBloc, or say the word StartingBloc, there is an overwhelming rush of excitement and passion that builds up inside me. It [StartingBloc] has insane potential and I don’t want to stop working because that potential is just dangling in front of me waiting for us to give it legs and make it run,” Stevens said. Though she works hard to organize and implement all of StartingBloc’s programs, the organization is also in debt to its staff of over fifty volunteer alumni who also play a major role in keeping the organization running.

Since its inception in 2003, StartingBloc has graduated 850 Fellows from over 40 countries, many of whom have moved on to use the network as a way of establishing social enterprises in their communities and to secure socially-responsible careers. Just a few years ago, Stevens herself was one of these students hoping to make a difference and she was making strides well before she was turned on to StartingBloc. “I attended Tufts University where I was able to combine my varied academic interests by majoring in American Studies with a concentration in Corporate Citizenship and minor in Entrepreneurial Leadership Studies. My studies were complimented by my work in the Tisch Citizenship and Public Service Scholars Program, wherein my final two years I organized conferences on poverty in Massachusetts and socially responsible business,” Stevens said.

Stevens first heard of StartingBloc through a friend who participated in their Institute for Social Intervention. “My friend said I should apply for the program and that people she met through StartingBloc were doing incredible socially minded work in different sectors all over the world. I applied and was fortunately accepted,” Stevens said. Afterwards, things would never be the same. “After participating in StartingBloc’s inaugural Global Institute for Social Innovation at London Business School, I returned home with a new sense of purpose. In just four days my life was transformed; my peers and the speakers whom I heard from and met inspired me like never before,” the philanthropist said.

After graduating from college, Stevens did everything from interning in the Reebok human rights department during the company’s acquisition by the Adidas Group to working as a nanny and assistant basketball coach at her alma mater. Out of the blue and only two weeks into her coaching job, she received a call from StartingBloc’s Executive Director that would once again change her life, just as the Institute had. “After a trip to New York and several interviews with board members, I was hired by StartingBloc and worked from Boston during the winter of 2007-2008. Following the 2008 New York Institute and the best season in Tufts Women’s Basketball History, I made the best move of my life and landed in New York for StartingBloc,” Stevens said.

Stevens, who grew up in suburban Connecticut, has come a long way since her days at her family’s turkey farm. Now, based in Manhattan, she helps run a global network for socially minded leaders, all of whom are doing their part to change their small portion of the world. Though she’s traveled far and experienced a lot, what her parents instilled in her on her small family farm shaped who she became as a person and what became important to her. “My parents have worked their entire lives to make a better life for their family and community. They gave me a strong foundation for everything that I hold close to my heart- family and relationship values, community and team building, business, as well as experiencing new things and people. I wouldn’t be the same if it weren’t for them,” Stevens said- and neither would StartingBloc.

by Liz O’Donnell (Boston)

After a career in the non-profit world and a master’s degree from The Kennedy School of Government, Susan Priem heard about the Washington Women’s Fund in Seattle and was inspired to start her own women’s giving circle in Boston. She felt that a group of women acting collectively could make a greater impact than several individuals. So in 1999 she talked to a few of her friends and the following year along with eight other women, she started what is now known as the Hestia Fund. The group is named for Hestia, the Greek goddess of the hearth.

Priem’s vision was that each woman would give an equal amount of money to invest in a cause of their choosing and would make a three year commitment to the organization. Early on, the women of Hestia agreed to a mission: to positively impact the lives of low-income women and their children living in Massachusetts. The women carry out this mission by giving primarily to after school program.

The original group agreed to each give $5000 and set a goal of increasing the group size to 20 women. By the end of the second year, the group was 40 strong. Last year there were 60 active members and eight members who contribute financially but are not active in the decision making.

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