We were lucky to catch up with Cassie Lee recently and have shared our conversation below.

Cassie, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today Let’s kick things off with your mission – what is it and what’s the story behind why it’s your mission?

Back in 2021, Brandy Schultz and I were in separate professional spaces trying to respond to the vast and complex issue of climate change. We were frustrated by external limitations and it dawned on us we could be much stronger together, and that is how Sound Future was born.

Brandy had spent much of her adult life on tour with her musician husband. His band had committed to reducing their tour’s impact on the environment by working with a nonprofit that offset emissions and deployed strategies to minimize waste. But Brandy quickly started questioning if their efforts were making a meaningful difference.

For my part, I had evolved my career from aerospace engineering to climate technology. I was working for a defense contractor with the hope that being inside a globally renowned tech giant would allow me to find unique and powerful ways to understand our changing planet. I started a program called Climate Intelligence that evaluated how the company’s existing and emerging technology could be used to identify climate threats and protect our planet’s resources and its people. I met more than a little resistance.

On a trip to Iceland to attend a climate conference, Brandy and I watched leaders of Arctic Nations fight over national economic health versus planetary health. This event was poorly attended given the gravity of the decisions being debated in real time. Brandy made an offhand comment that if they’d had a cool band play at the conference it would have drawn global attention and much broader engagement in these history-making conversations. In that moment I realized my approach had been entirely backward. Instead of pushing for change, we could engage nearly every person in the world in positive climate action through music and culture. After all, everybody is a fan of somebody.

Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.

The Sound Future team consists of four women who bring the languages of technology, entertainment, and finance together to build a world where gathering does good. Supported by an incredible Board and Advisory Council composed of culture-makers and innovators, we marry the power of culture with the power of data and technology to accelerate social change, drive needle-moving emissions reductions, and empower planetary-scale restoration.

In our first year, we proved that our magic is in this mix. The intersection of our seemingly disparate areas of expertise is where the most powerful untapped solutions continue to be found. We’ve had the honor to work with legendary artists like Willie Nelson, Spoon, Margo Price, the remaining members of the Grateful Dead, John Mayer, and more.

If you look at all the traditional climate innovation sectors – transportation, energy, waste, manufacturing, and food – they all converge at live events. New culture and shared experiences are launched when we gather. Live events are the touchstones for how we connect to the world and, as such, they should certainly be exemplary demonstrations of how we save it.

Sound Future has a portfolio of products and programs that allow us to address live entertainment’s untapped potential for how we can reinvest in culture and the environment. We offer restoration programs where artists and fans co-invest in giving nature the power to heal itself, we leverage next-generation satellite data and AI technology to incentivize venues and cities to make positive climate investments, and we test climate tech at events and make a business case for their use. Sound Future is changing the narrative on climate innovation and bringing forward more sustainable and business-savvy solutions for live events and the rest of the world.

We’d love to hear about how you met your business partner.

Ask anyone who knows her, Brandy Schultz is a badass.

Brandy and I met nearly a decade ago on a ski weekend with mutual friends. Jumping on a ski lift, we quickly realized that despite our lives being wildly different we had the same goals, values, and sense of humor. In the years since, I have watched her display of strength, resilience, generosity, honesty, and even humor as she navigated her challenges and supported me through mine. She is a source of inspiration.

I also got to watch Brandy build a successful business and navigate the perils of entrepreneurship with these same extraordinary qualities. Having started organizations with people I considered friends in the past, I was painfully aware of how personal relationships can lead to professional heartbreak. So when the idea for Sound Future came to us we were both hesitant. Our friendship was so important that the thought of risking it was terrifying. As the typical type A achiever with a hyper-focus on success, I told her I was worried that I would overwhelm her. For her part, as the dreamer, connector, and free spirit, she said she was worried that she would disappoint me. Like Paula Abdul says, opposites attract.

Then the most magical thing happened – we each voiced our concerns and decided we could accept those risks. We also agreed to keep open and honest communication, even when it was difficult, and vowed not to let anything that happened in our work affect our friendship. Our trust and ability to celebrate each other’s successes have created the most rewarding professional experience of my life. Our skill sets and approaches are complementary and I have learned more than I have in any other role. I am as proud of the legacy we are building as I am of the person I am building it with.

Learning and unlearning are both critical parts of growth – can you share a story of a time when you had to unlearn a lesson?

I started my career as an aerospace engineer in the early 2000s. In the era of the Space Shuttle, and long before the commercial space market as we know it, there were only a few places to work and the competition was very steep. Young engineers competed against each other for achievements and could directly measure their success against one another. In that community, we all understood our assignment: if you want to succeed, do as those ahead of you do. I thought of surviving uncomfortable, and sometimes worse, professional situations as a badge of honor. I came to believe that suffering is what made someone worthy of professional success.

I now see that this was a dangerous perspective. Luckily, through founding the Brooke Owens Fellowship–the world’s largest fellowship for women and gender minorities in aerospace–I have long moved past that mindset to actively support traditionally marginalized groups of deserving young talent who find their greatest success by not following in anyone else’s path. Further, as we expand our Sound Future team, we have intentionally built a community where unique ideas, creative risks, and achievements are what make someone worthy of success.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://asoundfuture.org/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/asoundfuture/
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/a-sound-future/