We were lucky to catch up with Kamilah Sanders recently and have shared our conversation below.
Alright, Kamilah thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. We’d love to hear the backstory behind a risk you’ve taken – whether big or small, walk us through what it was like and how it ultimately turned out.
One of the biggest risks I’ve ever taken was jumping into entrepreneurship. They call working for a corporation the “golden handcuffs” for a reason because
you have a good salary and benefits and there’s not always a pressing reason for you to start your own venture. After working in corporate organizations for years, (even though I worked for an organization that was known globally as the most sustainable, ethical corporation) I knew I wanted more autonomy to maximize my impact on the world. Because of my limited mindset, I thought I had to work for someone to make money and make an impact. I did not grow up with entrepreneurs in my family and the belief that you had to work certain jobs (doctor, lawyer, etc.) or work for someone to make decent money was ingrained in me. After a career in marketing for over 20 years, making millions for organizations, and talking to social impact founders that urged me to help them achieve their mission by using my marketing expertise to help them better connect with stakeholders – I knew I could make more of an impact on the world as a consultant for many different organizations so I took the entrepreneurial leap in 2019. I knew this was direction I was supposed to go in and enjoyed the freedom to focus on working internationally with creative social impact founders in the areas of Sustainable Fashion, Art, and Equity. To get to this point and even to evolve as an entrepreneur I had to go on a journey of self-discovery and awareness. Entrepreneurship was the best decision and allows me to impact multiple social impact businesses and build a network of networks to help shift global systems.
Kamilah, 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?
As Founder and CEO of Greater Than Equal, I currently focus on shifting systems through Web3 Marketing Strategy and Events (specializing in Strategic Creative Equity Experiences) for creative social impact founders in the areas of fashion and art. My background is 20+ years of experience in marketing for a variety of industries such as fashion, financial services, and sustainable technology. I have developed strategy for organizations from entrepreneurs to Fortune 500 international organizations. Because of my purposely diverse career in Marketing, I’m what people refer to as a Marketing Unicorn. I am well versed in multiple aspects of marketing such as event planning, branding, SEO, social media, advertising, public relations, website development, customer research and more. My career now is a mash up of my talents, interests, and passion for impacting the world. I have always lived and breathed fashion as my mother was a seamstress and kept up with designers reading Vogue magazine and watching runway shows. I grew up gaming and continued gaming in my early adult life and even got into Second Life in the early 2000’s. Growing up I loved watching nature shows and shows about culture on the History channel and National Geographic. And being in the financial services industry for years, I understand investments and how the financial system works. Being on the executive level of marketing for over 20+ years I also fundamentally understand customer behavior and one of the things I loved the most about my career was planning and executing large events to provide an experience and connection directly for the customer. Working in corporate we worked with Blockchain, VR, AR etc. technologies and were always looking for the next technological innovation to better serve our customers. When I started my business, Greater Than Equal, in 2019, I was able to take all of these experiences and skills from my background and formulate a strategy to maximize my impact on the world.
At Greater Than Equal we help creatives social impact founders maximize their impact on the world and turn their visions to reality through Web3 Marketing Strategy and Leadership Consulting. Many times creatives have a huge vision that will impact the world but need help on the organization, strategy, and community building, and implementation aspects of their vision. They also many times need help with overcoming limiting beliefs and being able to integrate all of their ideas into something concise that integrates into their life. That’s why we take a whole-person, vision-based approach to our consulting. It’s almost like consulting + coaching.
We are big proponents of creating experiences that expose people to Web3 technologies that help with self-sovereignty and shift economic power. We foster innovative, creative, inspiring, actionable, thought provoking conversations that connect disparate groups and amplify typically marginalized populations. We call these Strategic Creative Equity Experiences. Whether curating a larger community event; hosting a panel; facilitating these conversations on a podcast; or even helping organizations create events that are equitable, sourcing diverse speakers or vendors, we make it exciting and easy to make an impact.
Though our Fashion Futurist initiative we are utilizing Web3 technologies to foster a collaborative ecosystem of sustainable ethical actors along the Fashion Industry supply chain. Currently small-to-medium enterprises in the Fashion Industry are an under resourced group that could use better collaboration and connections. We are building tools that will facilitate this ecosystem in order to create a new fashion industry system that takes a much different approach than the current fashion industry system that drastically harms people and the environment.
We solve the issue of connecting creatives to resources/each other and their communities to maximize impact. I’ve spoken to many passionate social impact founders and it’s true that their passion can only get them so far. They need access to resources such as funding and expert knowledge on how to connect to their communities and other stakeholders to accomplish their mission.
What sets us apart is looking at everything we do through an equity lens. We are focused on helping creative social impact founders that are focused on creating a more equitable world and shifting economics for people of the global majority. We have core values of creativity, innovation, excellence, and empathy to name a few.
The things we are most proud of is seeing our mission come to fruition by seeing the relief on a social impact founder after we consult with them to lay out a plan to accomplish their vision. The reward is on the back end when we work on a project and we see the impact it has on everyday citizens and the positive feedback we receive. We love working with creatives and love every step we take to create a paradigm shift with citizens as we know the steps we take together will impact the world.
Is there a mission driving your creative journey?
Our vision is a world where individuals make a positive global impact through everyday decisions. Our mission is to make impact easy for individuals and organizations by connecting disparate groups and amplifying the voices of marginalized populations. We are focused on creative industries because art/fashion/music has the power to connect cultures globally and communicate concepts that are not always easy to digest or understand. Using art in combination with technology and community we can create experiences that foster empathy which is what is truly needed to make an impact on the world. Greater Than Equal was founded on the firm belief that each individual has a unique power and influence to make an impact on our world. Greater Than Equal is a community of individuals joining forces for positive local and global impact.
Alright – so here’s a fun one. What do you think about NFTs?
Unfortunately NFTs have gotten a bad rap but the basis for NFTs is for authenticity and transparency, meaning I can tell who owns it and verify the authenticity of the item that is owned. Because it is built on Blockchain technology it enables creatives to automatically attach royalties to an item that is sold through a smart contract. This helps to cut out the middleman giving the customer direct access to support the artist vs paying a company to support the artist and little of that money going toward the artist. It unlocks a new way to generate income for creatives as when their work increases in value they have the ability to see a return from subsequent sales from collectors. Because NFTs basically are a token from a transaction we are seeing NFTs being used for things like deeds for home purchasing and more. There are so many applications and I believe that NFTs will be so integrated in what we do that eventually we will stop calling them NFTs and it will just be the way we digitally transact.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://greaterthanequal.com/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/kivanoir/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/greaterthanequalofficial
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kamilahsanders/
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/KamilahSanders
- Youtube: @fashionfuturist
- Other: https://kamilahsanders.com/ https://fashionfuturist.io/
Image Credits
Photographer Ryan Green @30mileswest