Today we’d like to introduce you to Kristen Wiltshire
Hi Kristen, it’s an honor to have you on the platform. Thanks for taking the time to share your story with us – to start maybe you can share some of your backstory with our readers?
We started our work with a project called Give&Go GP. It was a pandemic-era act of kindness that inspired so much more. The Gaton Foundation is a landmark representing the ideas that we aim to ground and use to illuminate communities everywhere. Where we are today is quite different than where we were in 2020, 2021, 2022, and 2023 so there’s forward movement and a progression of effort and form. Of course, startups need more than that and that’s where we are today as well; becoming the organization ready to build on what we’ve done already and preparing to do the next thing.
Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way. Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
Wow no, and I don’t anticipate it becoming any smoother. For sure we’ve been given our share. As a team, we have different approaches to these sorts of things. Our collective baseline is that we need the challenges to grow and become, but we’re also actively building systems against the challenges that are in view. Challenges like not being fully resourced yet, not having enough hands to activate when we need them, approaches to executing the vision, and the day-to-day things of building a business from the ground up(when your background is culinary, fashion, and nutrition.) Most things are a challenge but personally, I’ll rise, and the organization along with me for sure.
As you know, we’re big fans of you and your work. For our readers who might not be as familiar what can you tell them about what you do?
I’d like to be the kind of person who before making a move considers whether or not my next act will be of use to someone else. In Latin, the phrase, Ut Prosim.. to be of interior use. My work is to make every attempt to do that; In my studies, the part I play in the world of holistic nutrition, and in my role as The Gaton Foundations’ co-founder and CEO. I’m proud of demanding this from myself.
What sets me apart might be my willingness to become who I need to be in the world to promote and help build monuments to social equity and justice for our global community; In this way I’m as much a part of it as I am separate from it.
If you had to, what characteristic of yours would you give the most credit to?
There are many but my top 5 are, Openness, curiosity, focus, adaptivity, willingness to fail, and
Contact Info:
- Website: https://thegatonfoundation.org/about
- Instagram: @thegatonfoundation
Image Credits
The Gaton Foundation