Purpose Before Profit: Susan Walker Of Ibu Movement On The Benefits Of Running A Purpose-Driven Business
An Interview With Chad Silverstein
As long as I can remember, charting out a career path, I’ve been more interested in creating meaning than pocketing money. In the end, living with purpose is what fuels my joy, my driven work habits, my sense of being part of a larger vision, and the contentment of my soul.
As a part of this series, we had the pleasure to interview Susan Walker.
In 2013, Susan Hull Walker founded the Ibu Movement to offer a marketplace for women artisans in developing economies. Her goals were two: to put money in the hands of women and preserve the near-extinct cultural languages carried in craft. Today, Ibu partners with over 100 women’s artisan groups in 50 countries, collaborating in design and offering their quality goods via a storefront on King Street, a strong e-commerce presence, and national trunk shows and salons. Susan grew up in Louisville, Kentucky, attended Baylor University and Harvard Divinity School, where her cross-cultural studies in world religion formed the foundation for her work today. She served for 18 years as a minister in Portland, Maine, and at the Circular Church in Charleston, SC, as well as chaplain to a Women’s Psychiatric Hospital in San Francisco. She taught World Religion at the College of Charleston, later returning to school at the Savannah College of Art and Design to study Fiber Arts, becoming a studio weaver and dyer of cloth. She exhibited her art pieces and sold them to both private and institutional collectors. Textiles, she realized, are the repository of women’s stories, values, and the record of their lives. As she dove into the world of spinning, dyeing, weaving, and embellishing hand-crafted cloth, Susan found her calling again as a different kind of Woman of the Cloth. Susan now lives in Charleston, South Carolina, and Santa Fe, New Mexico.
Thank you so much for joining us in this interview series! Can you tell us your “Origin Story”? Can you tell us the story of how you grew up?
I grew up on the edge of a sprawling seminary campus in Louisville, Kentucky, where my father taught. His 10,000-volume library on the top floor of our house led me to explore the world of ideas, to follow his footsteps into philosophical inquiry. My mother worked in a sewing room in the basement, without windows or income, creating beauty. But her work and contributions were invisible.
I always wanted to bring my mother up those stairs, out of the basement, so that her creativity and value were visible to others, her voice recognized. I wanted to bring my father down from his celestial lair so he would recognize the value of her work.
Though both of my parents had died by the time I began Ibu, my work still honors this impulse: bringing women out of invisible corners of the world into community and leadership and telling their stories with the poetry of words which I learned from my father.
Can you share the most interesting story that happened to you since you began leading your company or organization?
When I left the church after graduating from Divinity School and serving for 18 years as a minister, I put aside my simple linen vestments.
On a visit to one of Ibu’s artisan partners in northern Kenya, I led 15 allies from the U.S. When we arrived, the women of this group greeted us with singing, chanting, and their unmistakable undulating dance, surrounding our group and drawing us down the hill under the acacia trees in one wave of bodies. Somewhere, as I bobbed along, women began to dress me, slipping their arms around my waist once, twice, and then again, wrapping me in a brilliant red cloth of their own design over my wrinkled safari shirt and khakis, putting one of their colorful beaded necklaces around my neck and a beaded bracelet that had the word ibu on it around my wrist. I looked around and saw that the bracelet was going on everyone’s wrist. I danced on, feeling like I was part of a conflagration, a beautiful, swelling fire.
When the dancing finally came to a stillness, the women began to tell stories of their lives, their struggles to find income, and their transformation through the power of this cooperative. They expressed confidence in their lives and agency, sending their children to school and some to college, finding a new balance in their relationships with their husbands and families, and proudly giving to their conservancy to preserve the wildlife in their area, bring clean water, and build a school.
As I stood in their midst, wrapped in the red of their own making, I felt like we were all on fire, and they too, were burning with their own passion and resolve. It was a new kind of vestment for me. Blazing with life. Made by real women-of-the-cloth.
As a successful leader, it’s clear that you uphold strong core values. I’m curious what are the most important principles you firmly stand by and refuse to compromise on. Can you share a few of them and explain why they hold such significance for you in your work and life?
Since Ibu means not only mother but any woman of respect (Malay language), the practice of respect is a core value. This starts with our own team, our customers, our donors — all built on real relationships rather than anything transactional.
And it extends particularly to our artisan partners. It’s important to me that they tell their own stories in their own voice. That we never succumb to “helping” the poor women of the world, but rather celebrate them, their ambition, resilience, creativity, and resourcefulness. We respect that they know what they need — it is our job to listen. That we respect their traditions, including in design, and serve as a bridge to bring their creative work to this market. That these women, with whom we have the privilege of collaborating, are our teachers, and we learn from them daily. Respect is at the heart of everything at Ibu.
What inspired you to start a purpose-driven business rather than a traditional for-profit enterprise? Can you share a personal story or experience that led you to prioritize social impact in your business?
As long as I can remember, charting out a career path, I’ve been more interested in creating meaning than pocketing money. In the end, living with purpose is what fuels my joy, my driven work habits, my sense of being part of a larger vision, and the contentment of my soul.
Can you help articulate a few of the benefits of leading a purpose-driven business rather than a standard “plain vanilla” business?
- The inspiration I receive from our artisan partners fuels me daily.
- Working in a field where I know the restrictions and challenges of life in other regions of the world allows me to live from gratitude at all times, need less, want less, be happy with enough.
- Daily contact with other cultures is spicy, interesting, and illuminating. I learn from these relationships about the many possible ways to live this life.
- Seeing women’s lives change, grow, and reach into new fields in incredible ways is utter fulfillment.
How has your company’s mission or purpose affected its overall success? Can you explain the methods or metrics you use to evaluate the impact of this purpose-driven strategy on your organization?
We have so many personal and anecdotal stories from the women we are in contact with daily — these drive us because the impact is intimate. So much is measured in the joy and pride we see among our partners.
But we also collect data for our donors to understand the impact — how many women are receiving living wages, the workspaces completed, the trainings held, the sales increased. This, too, is important to share.
Can you share a pivotal moment when you realized that leading your purpose-driven company was actually making a significant impact? Can you share a specific example or story that deeply resonated with you personally?
In the previous story I shared above, in northern Kenya, one who rose to speak was a strong woman with a proud voice. It was almost hard to believe when she shared her story, paraphrased here:
“Two years ago, I could not have stood here to speak. I had no confidence at all. I saw women coming to bead, but I was afraid to join them. I had only two ways of creating income and both were illegal — cutting firewood for charcoal, or making spirits.
When I finally decided to join this group, I was welcomed. I already knew how to bead, like all women in this area, so I could put those skills to use immediately. Soon I became a “star beader” and oversaw other women, taking them packages of beads and instructions for work to complete at home, then following up, doing quality control, and keeping them motivated.
With my earnings, I was able to send all of my children to school. I was able to provide food for our family. My husband owned livestock. He decided when to sell a cow so we could eat, and often we were hungry in between.
Now, I am running for public office. I see women who have so many needs as I did, and no voice or way to make a change. I want to speak on their behalf.”
This resonated with me deeply, as I listened, my tears and hers becoming one. Women overcome all that stands in our way by joining our powers together. That is what keeps me going.
Have you ever faced a situation where your commitment to your purpose and creating a positive social impact clashed with the profitability in your business? Have you ever been challenged by anyone on your team or have to make a tough decision that had a significant impact on finances? If so, how did you address and reconcile this conflict?
Yes. One time, toward the beginning of our lives at Ibu, we collaborated on a design project with New York interior designer Charlotte Moss. She designed a capsule collection of 7 silhouettes, all of which required incredible detail and handwork, natural dyeing, a real showcase for the skills of a group of women in Bangladesh.
After almost two years, the collection was complete and shipped to Ibu in quantity. The pieces were gorgeous in every respect. Then we began to try them on. Even our tiniest, size 0 college intern could not get the pants over her hips. In the final step of the process, the tailors had completely ruined the endeavor by sewing our patterns incorrectly.
While any for-profit would have sent them all back and paid nothing, we had a relationship with a group of women who had worked for two years to complete this work, and it was only the men at the end of the line who had made it unusable. They needed to learn the lesson of who they could trust to sew their precious cloth into garments. But to not pay them was too harsh a lesson. I ended up sharing the loss with the group, each of us taking a hit for half of the total cost. It was painful on both sides. But it was an example of a business built on relationships. The leader of that group has recently returned to me, after some major internal work, to begin again.
What advice would you give to budding entrepreneurs who wish to start a purpose-driven business?
Know your weaknesses, the areas in which you have no experience, and hire someone you trust to fill those needs. Know your strengths and lead with those.
What are your “5 Things You Need To Create A Highly Successful Purpose-Driven Business”?
1. A Clear Need
Ibu received the Artisan Alliance platform from the Aspen Institute when they could no longer support it. We invited the founder to work with us to make the best use of their assets to meet the artisan’s needs, and we crafted a vision for a membership organization that offers training and support. Then we took this idea to our top artisan leaders to get their feedback. “We don’t need more training,” was their response. “We are trained. We know what we are doing. What we need is more orders.” They were right, of course. We started over.
2. A Person-To-Person Exploration
Instead of a membership organization that could go wide and large, we developed the Ibu Atelier to go deep, with only 10 groups at a time diving into how to scale. We brought in leadership consulting, marketing, and branding for their own enterprises, and hired PR to focus not on Ibu, but on the groups and their leaders. The key was asking and listening, and being willing to change our program to fit their sense of the need.
3. A Clear Vision Of How To Respond
We’ve just finished year one of the Atelier, watching a group of ten leaders meeting monthly from India, Ukraine, Peru, Mexico, Madagascar, and elsewhere sharing their skills and collegial work and elevating each other. It is a beautiful thing to see because the response was crafted with those being impacted.
4. Innovative Storytelling
To communicate the need and response, you must tell stories that resonate. We share the personal and anecdotal stories from the women we are in contact with daily. These drive us because the impact is intimate. It allows donors and customers to see the joy and pride among our partners.
5. A Wide Circle Of Support
Ibu brings artisan leaders from a particular region to the U.S. each year for International Women’s Day to celebrate them as Global Champions and meet with our allies in small groups. We also take allies on Ibu Fringe Road Adventures to meet the artisans. One woman was invited by her mother, experienced the power of the women first-hand, and was deeply moved. Her life changed. She eventually co-chaired our annual event, gave substantially, and now serves on our Board. The immediate involvement is what builds that circle of allies.
How do you nurture a culture where everyone feels connected to your mission? Could you share an example or story that showcases how your purpose has positively influenced or motivated people on your team to contribute?
In our case, direct contact with the artisan partners is what motivates and inspires both donors and team members. Ibu brings artisan leaders from a particular region to the U.S each year for International Women’s Day to celebrate them as Global Champions, hear them speak at a summit and fundraising gala, and meet with our allies in small groups.
We also take allies on Ibu Fringe Road Adventures to meet the artisans. One woman was invited to join by her mother, who had been a supporter for some time. The grown daughter, herself busy raising 4 children, was hesitant. But she came. She experienced the power of the women first-hand and was deeply moved. Her life changed. She wanted to continue her involvement with Ibu, co-chaired our annual event, went on other trips, gave substantially of her own resources, and now serves on our Board. The immediate involvement is what mattered — learning first-hand that the work is real, and meaningful, and makes a difference in the world. In the process, her world grew bigger.
Imagine we’re sitting down together two years from now, looking back at your company’s last 24 months. What specific accomplishments would have to happen for you to be happy with your progress?
Ibu will soon launch a second platform to reach a wider audience with broader price points: Artisan Alliance. I would be happy to see how this has grown and scaled and represented many more groups, and allowed younger women to engage with the work.
Ibu has also begun a five-year collaboration with the Savannah College of Art and Design, which will allow classes each quarter to contribute to building this new platform: graphic design, website creation, fashion, fibers, film… all of these departments will be part of crafting something stunning and unique. It would be exciting to see how this evolves and engages a whole new audience.
Ibu is also looking to expand to other cities, not necessarily in brick-and-mortar retail, but through events and community building. This is in the works and would create a national network of those supporting the mission. I will be thrilled to see this development unfold.
You are a person of enormous influence. If you could inspire a movement that would bring the most amount of good to the most amount of people, what would that be? You never know what your idea can trigger. 🙂
My hope for the world is placed with women, especially those in the global south and in challenged economies. They have shown themselves, whenever given a chance, to have answers to our pressing questions about caring for the earth, feeding and caring for communities, conciliatory solutions, collaboration, and health and well-being. I put my chips on women. Any movement that could amplify their voices, bring them to the world stage, and put them in positions of authority… this is my greatest hope for the world.
How can our readers further follow your work or your company online?
Website: ibumovement.org
Social Media @ibumovement (IG and FB)
Weekly storytelling newsletter — sign up on the home page of the website.
Thank you for sharing these insights!
About The Interviewer: Chad Silverstein is a seasoned entrepreneur with 25+ years of experience as a Founder and CEO. While attending Ohio State University, he launched his first company, Choice Recovery, Inc., a nationally recognized healthcare collection agency — twice ranked the #1 workplace in Ohio. In 2013, he founded [re]start, helping thousands of people find meaningful career opportunities. After selling both companies, Chad shifted his focus to his true passion — leadership. Today, he coaches founders and CEOs at Built to Lead, advises Authority Magazine’s Thought Leader Incubator.
Purpose Before Profit: Susan Walker Of Ibu Movement On The Benefits Of Running A Purpose-Driven… was originally published in Authority Magazine on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.