We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Karimah Hudda a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Karimah, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. We’d love to have you retell us the story behind how you came up with the idea for your business, I think our audience would really enjoy hearing the backstory.

I am privileged to have traveled across 44 countries (and counting), to work with and learn from people from all walks of life. I have seen first-hand that no matter where we all come from, when we rise to our fullest potential individually and together, that we can make a big difference. For over 20 years I have partnered with vastly diverse people worldwide to create massive positive change, whether it was in changing historically unequal terms of trade, to successfully fighting deforestation and to combating human rights abuses.

Just before I launched illumine.earth, I learned that according to the world’s leading experts, we have until 2030 to halve the world’s carbon footprint and double nature restoration, in order to curb climate change.

In addition to this urgency on climate change, I also reflected deeply on the fact that we still see all around us today that poverty, inequality and war abound.

We need to be much bigger, bolder, faster in our actions.

At the same time, we have mass human burnout. People tend to equate going bigger, bolder, faster, with working harder, and burning out.

I believe that human ingenuity and positive intent have the potential to solve our existential challenges within our lifetime. And I believe it is possible to do so in a way that doesn’t make us work to the bone.

I launched illumine.earth to help generate bigger, bolder, faster actions in ways that regenerate us. I see a world where we can thrive while helping all nature and people thrive. I’m calling on all leaders, all those who have solutions for a better world, and all those who want to join hands and make the world better faster, to come join the journey of illumine.earth.

Karimah, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?

I am the Founder and Chief Catalyst of illumine.earth, a leadership, strategy, and systems change company. Our purpose is to accelerate a world where all nature and people thrive. We work with leaders, businesses, and solutionists, to advance regenerative leadership and systems change towards this vision.

I founded illumine.earth to support leaders who are committed to helping solve the world’s existential challenges, whether they are environmental, economic, social, cultural, or intersecting. I help create powerful shifts for such leaders to be bigger, bolder, faster in driving positive impact.

I work with leaders at three levels at pivotal moments when leaders need to massively step up their impact:
1. One-to-one with leaders,
2. With teams inside companies and organizations
3. With leaders across multiple organizations who act as a collective to solve common, systemic challenges.

I am a woman of color and global citizen, who has lived and worked in over 40 countries. My unique perspective and mission stem from my experience across global diversity, from my beginnings in small-town India, to working Fairtrade farmers, factory workers, corporate leaders, industry organizations, and policymakers worldwide.

In a world where we have far too much complexity, I use very simple methods to realign people at all three levels to their Regenerative Resonance (who they are, their purpose, and its connection to humanity and nature). Through this process, leaders also integrate changes to live a more regenerative lifestyle in their personal and professional lives. When their Regenerative Resonance is rekindled and nurtured, leaders indeed, become bigger, bolder, faster in their positive actions.

Witnessing the moment of unlock and acceleration within leaders and teams is the most exciting part of what I do.

Can you share a story from your journey that illustrates your resilience?

This is not the story of my resilience. It’s one of the stories of resilience I always carry in my heart.

At a couple of points in my career, I worked with street kids worldwide. During one of my field visits, I met a group of young men who ran a business on Dandora, Nairobi (Kenya)’s largest garbage dump. They raised pigs on the garbage dump, and they collected plastic to sell to recyclers. These young men were born and raised in the slums next to the dump, and they were working in very difficult circumstances to make a living. But you know what? They had the idea, they came together, and they built their business. It was hard. One year the pigs all died. They just started right back again. If young people in such extreme circumstances can embody such resilience, it tells me that all of us can, too.

I always remember that during my hardest times, and it always reminds me of my light within to keep going.

Any stories or insights that might help us understand how you’ve built such a strong reputation?

Three things:

1. Relationships: I love building long, deep, nurturing relationships. I want to see everyone I work with thrive, I trust that when I help people thrive, when I help them recenter on their regenerative resonance, they will automatically find their own way to also help people and planet thrive.
2. Intent: I was born to purpose and everything in my life, leadership and livelihood is in alignment with this purpose.
3. Impact: I have a repeated track record of delivering impact, whether it is in unlocking the potential of individual leaders or teams, or of finding those systemic levers to solve a problem faster.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://illumine.earth
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/karimahhudda/