Join Karryn Olson-Ramanujan in a 3-month transformational group program to:
- Discern your unique skillsets and define your thriving livelihood
- Replace the scarcity-based, “business model” mindset with “abundance models”
- Learn about “regenepreneurship” from leaders in the wider permaculture community
- Connect with other inspired women and heart-centered men who are ready to move to a new level of leadership to co-create our regenerative future
When does the program start?
Dec 15, 2015! Together, we embrace the quiet energy of the Winter Solstice to release any limiting beliefs and envision your audacious right livelihood. We then sow the seeds of your right livelihood so that by the time the course ends on March 15, you can welcome the Equinox with clarity about your path.
Who is this program for?
Do any of these apply to your situation? Are you…
- passionate about being part of the solution but unsure how to find your purpose or unclear how you can earn your living with it?
- rather new to permaculture and unclear about your career path?
- curious about the many ways people are earning their livelihood with permaculture–especially ways that go beyond the typical “teacher” or “designer” approaches?
- tired of feeling like you never know enough and wasting time and money cobbling together skills?
- NOT thriving– either you are working too hard or you aren’t earning enough income, recognition, or rewards for your efforts?
- feeling burned out and craving more support from compassionate women who inspire each other to stretch towards their highest calling?
- desiring new inspiration from dynamic mentors?
- wishing you had a road map that can save you time, money, and struggle?
The Pathfinder group program is a good fit for women who:
- want to accelerate their process of finding their calling
- desire guidance from powerful mentors and peers
- want the convenience of an online program that reduces travel costs and carbon emissions
- love to “get stuff done” and to reflect deeply
- want to be inspired and supported while stretching to reach their goals
- are looking for mutual support and accountability to keep them on track and energized about their right livelihood path
- are ready to dedicate at least 4 hours per week on this program
- want their right livelihood more than they are afraid of the transformation necessary to manifest it!
- want to join in on the “Abundance Models Intensive” which begins in April, but are not yet crystal clear regarding their niche, their ideal client, and their value proposition.
How you’ll be supported:
The entire program will be delivered each week via online software, and recordings are available if you can’t attend a session. Even better, you can download the entire program so that you can return to it again and again. More details below:
- Inspiring Tuesday Trainings (see our curriculum outline below) from 1pm-3pm EST
- Accountability and Integration Calls–the last Tuesday of the month, we check in early in the day to set goals, then break for several hours so you can jam on getting things done; and check in again at the end of the day for celebrations
- Three Laser Coaching / Hivemind calls: Karryn will work with a few women to zero in on a core challenge so that they can experience a profound shift–the other awesome women in our group will cheer you on and learn from your courageous process. We will also have time for tapping into the collective wisdom of the group to support your bold next steps.
- Recordings of interviews with permaculture entrepreneurs–see their bios below. They will inspire you!
- Worksheets and templates that feel like “homeplay” instead of homework.
- Connection to the other awesome participants in this cohort:
- Weekly check-ins with your buddy
- Access to 24/7 group support via our social media platform
Curriculum Outline:
What’s a Thrivelihood?
This is a new concept, and one that the world needs us to manifest, because we need regenerative solutions to local and global problems, and we need them now!
When I interviewed Jeanine Carlson for my “Pattern Language for Women in Permaculture” article, she explained a model for embedding high-quality, nature-based child care into permaculture courses so that more women and families could attend. The solution was to see the young ones as precious assets to the learning community, and to have that be the core of the business model. As a result, the teaching staff included licensed childcare professionals. During morning sessions, the kids and adults learned separately–the children in outdoor adventures. Lunch was a community affair, and the afternoons were hands-on applications of permaculture for the entire group. The outcomes were happy families, more women teaching and learning, and the entire learning experience was richer for everyone because of the intergenerational relationships. This model “re-values” the caring work and weaving work–that’s often done by women, for little or no pay. Jeanine emphasized that this work shouldn’t go unpaid, and women shouldn’t just eke out a living, they should be thriving in this work—she said “we even call it a thrivelihood!”
That word never let go of me, because it encapsulates an audacious and timely vision that so many of us share—one of people doing the regenerative work they love; having ample time to recharge and connect with Beloveds, and standing in the value of their contributions towards co-creating an abundant future for all.
Since that discussion with Jeanine, I’ve dedicated my life to supporting women to cultivate their leadership and entrepreneurial skills so they can fast-track regenerative solutions.
In this program, you will learn the three core components that will enable you to strategically design your thriving right livelihood, and stay on track no matter what.
Why Me? Why Now?
Does the word “business” feel like a swear word? Business as usual is not what most permaculture folks want to replicate. Yet entrepreneurship can fast-track small-scale solutions that can add up to big regenerative shifts. So let’s shift the “business is a b-word” paradigm and co-create a form of socially just ecopreneurship that is so in alignment with Earth Care, People Care, and Future Share that it can be called “Regenepreneurship!” This program will teach you how to avoid overwhelm and burnout so you can thrive while changing the world.
Why should you do this? Your brilliance is needed! Finding your path will enable you to step into new levels of audacious leadership to co-create our regenerative future. Does “audacious leadership” sound like a stretch for you? This program supports women through mentorship and the encouragement of your Pathfinder Tribe. We’ve got your back, Sister!
—Tara Sheen, “The Ecological Gardener”
A Day in the Life of a Regenerative Entrepreneur
The Guest Interviews inspire us with the many ways one can earn a living while practicing self- and family-care and embodying our permaculture ethics. In the interviews, guests discussed the nitty-gritty of business models, how they discerned skillsets needed for their dream careers, challenges faced and lessons learned, and how we can evolve our understandings of “Thriving in our Right Livelihoods” and “Abundance Models.” See the list of our awesome guests below!
Skills for Trailblazing
Clearing a path where there hasn’t been one before requires vision and hard work. We might feel lost some times. Or exhausted. Or alone. Typical trainings just deliver content and expect you to bootstrap your way to success. In the Pathfinder program, we purposely cultivate skills that help us stay in our zones of optimal functioning while on our path. We connect with nature and her cycles to release limiting beliefs about the feminine and our own personal value and power, and to honor our experience and expertise. By birthing our transformative visions, replenishing our self-care practices, and claiming our right livelihoods, we breathe life into our regenerative future.
Sowing the Seeds of Regenepreneurship
We will dive deep into these themes:
- What are you taking stand for in your work?
- Your unique niche in the Regenerative Business Ecosystem.
- Whom are you here to serve?
- How can you serve them best?
- Your action plan for honing and applying your professional skillsets
- How to demystify a business model and design an Abundance Model
–Tamara Pickens, “Gaia’s B-Girl”
About the program facilitator:
Karryn Olson-Ramanujan is passionate about supporting women’s leadership in permaculture. She began studying permaculture in 1997 and in 2005 co-founded the Finger Lakes Permaculture Institute in Upstate NY, and has served since then as a lead teacher and more recently as Board President. Since 2008, she has taught sustainability and permaculture related courses at Ithaca College. In 2013, she started her own business offering permaculture design consulting services that include coaching because she knew several women and families who want to do permaculture design on their own site, but don’t have time to attend courses–and want more support than the typical consultation provides. A proponent of developing the “business case” for permaculture, she incorporates strategic planning into the design process—aiming to obtain a financial yield from aesthetic ecological designs. Karryn lived and worked in Europe, Africa and India before settling with her multi-cultural family in an Ecovillage. As a result, she is dedicated to supporting women and other historically marginalized populations in their vital roles as leaders. In 2013, she wrote the “Pattern Language for Women in Permaculture” based on her interviews of some well-known women leaders. In the Fall of 2013, Karryn co-organized the first annual Northeastern Women in Permaculture Gathering at Omega Institute, and continues to support and present at regional gatherings of women. At the 2014 North American Permaculture Convergence, Karryn led a working group dedicated to articulating some “Best Practices to Support Women in Permaculture, which will be published in the Fall of 2016 in Permaculture Design Magazine. Karryn credits her Women’s Studies minor with igniting her love of transformative learning, and she believes that socially-conscious ecopreneurship is one way to fast-track permaculture into more widespread application.Participants have lifetime access to these Thrivelihood interviews:
Megan Barber and Jonathan Bates are well-known as half of the instigators of the ‘Paradise Lot’ project. They live at the edible forest garden in Holyoke, MA with another family, sharing work, harvest, and camaraderie. Over the past five years Megan and Jonathan have been “letting go of the rope” – letting go of traditional employment and consumerism to build a life around permaculture, self-employment, and raising a family. Megan and Jonathan run Food Forest Farm, specializing in permaculture plants and education. Megan is owner of Megan Barber Ceremonies, helping people honor and celebrate life transitions by using a permaculture approach to designing and officiating original ceremonies. Megan and Jonathan are intentionally designing a work-in-progress thrivelihood with the goal of having a simple, creative life, full of family and friends, laughter and love, connected to the land and supported by meaningful work, with the time to appreciate it and experience it fully.
Can you believe the mission to bring clean water to over 215,000 people in Asia and Africa started with a song? A former professional jazz singer and pre-school teacher, to a global peace troubadour, to a multi-award winning humanitarian and social entrepreneur, Gemma Bulos‘ ‘accidental’ life is inspirational! Gemma is a multi award-winning musician and social entrepreneur.She is currently the Director of the Global Women’s Water Initiative, a project of Earth Island Institute that teaches women in East Africa to solve their local water issues by building technologies, educating communities about good hygiene, and generating income by making and selling products like soap, shampoo and chlorine. She has received national and international awards from Queen Latifah for Cover Girl, Echoing Green, Ernst Young and Schwab Foundation at the World Social Forum, and is currently a Stanford Social Entrepreneur Fellow. Her water programs have also won Tech Museum Tech Equality Award and Warriors of the UN Millennium Goals. She was recently recognized as one of the Most Influential Thought Leaders and Innovative Filipinas in the United States and one of the Top 10 Water Solutions Trailblazers in the world by Reuters Alertnet. And it all started with a song….
From an early age Jennifer Dauksha-English has felt an absolute awe and inspiration for life. Jennifer’s heart connection to culture and nature integrates her, and she uses that connection to propel her into applied action. This focused energy enabled her to create a regenerative lifestyle, which has included a balance of dynamic world change work, financial viability, homesteading on a permaculture farm, with plenty of self-care and holistic healing. Specifically, Jennifer has worked as an instructor, facilitator, designer and consultant in regenerative and healthy lifestyles, participatory community and business design, applied permaculture and yoga. Jennifer has over twenty years experience leading projects and non-profits in the alternative health and environmental sectors. She serves as the Executive Director of the Center for Holistic Ecology, Director of the Financial Permaculture Institute, and as Executive Officer of Holistic Designs and Consulting, LLC. Jennifer’s work currently engages her most with Gaia University, where she functions as the Director of Advisory and Mentor Services, as Project Manager for the International Diploma of Permaculture Design and Gaia Radio. She is the primary facilitator of Gaia U’s on-line Orientation and advises over twenty Gaia University Associates.
Grounded in urban and rural gardens, and extending into communities and businesses, Bonita Ford integrates nature, social transformation and personal healing. Bonita co-founded the Permaculture Institute of Eastern Ontario, a social enterprise, and has been mostly self-employed for over seven years. She has led workshops and groups worldwide for over eleven years, including in Haiti, South Africa, Hungary, Cuba, Canada and the US. In her workshops and coaching, she blends permaculture, Nonviolent Communication, Reiki and nature connection. Bonita is a writer and loves to share inspiration and possibilities with people during this important time in world history. She and her partner Sébastien have a business “Eco-Logical Solutions” and an urban homestead where they grow most of their own veggies and meat, and enjoy teaching people about gardening.
Kelly Hogan integrates Waldorf early childhood teaching methods with permaculture and wilderness skills. She co-founded Mother Earth School in collaboration with a non-profit and intentional community, integrating her family, work, living skills and community all on the land where she lived. She and her team teach “Permaculture Educational Design” to adults who want to teach permaculture to children. Kelly’s passion for “Fair Share” led her to recently complete a training for facilitating conversation and exploration of topics related to diversity, privilege and oppression through Theater of the Oppressed games and workshops to stimulate community dialogue. She also pursues animal tracking and bird language as skills specifically related to place-based storytelling. By weaving all of her passions together, the result has become a thrivelihood committed to regenerative education for our emerging global community.
Maria Klemperer-Johnson, a carpenter in the Ithaca, NY area for the past 12 years, started Hammerstone School Carpentry for Women program in 2013 with the mission of increasing the number of women in the trades. Even in a progressive town like Ithaca, working as a woman in the construction trades provides a visceral experience of the statistic that only 3% of carpenters are women. And the feedback Maria gets from students about their previous carpentry experiences illuminates the cultural reasons why this statistic is so slow to change. Teaching women only carpentry classes is only one part of the solution to this imbalance. Other ways Hammerstone is working towards this goal is by developing pre-apprenticeship recruitment and training programs for union and commercial jobs, and working to find new ways to re-introduce our children (boys and girls alike) to carpentry. Maria’s expertise in the trades will inspire women in permaculture to pursue skillsets in traditionally male-dominated fields.
Nicole Morgan Young The Vital Mom: Creating Success Everyday in ~Life~ ~Family~ and ~Work~ Nicole is an advocate for women who have a mission/calling/service to share in this world, to live healthy, balanced lives, while making their great contributions. Years after co-founding and running the Regenerative Design and Nature Awareness program with Penny Livingston, James Stark and Jon Young, Nicole realized that something was off in her life. She was doing what she was passionate about, and yet, struggling to pay the bills month to month, suffering from anxiety and barely hanging on, all while raising two small children. Nicole wasn’t lacking in purpose, but she knew she needed prosperity too, because without it, she wasn’t going to make it much longer. Years later, Nicole is living a much more balanced life, she’s still unschooling her children, has a full business coaching practice and is preparing to launch a business that will teach working mothers how to balance it all and thrive.
Pandora Thomas is a passionate global citizen who works as a teacher, writer, designer and speaker on topics ranging from diversity, social justice, youth and women’s leadership, social entrepreneurship and sustainability. She has taught groups as diverse as Iraqi and Indonesian youth to men serving in San Quentin creating inspiring and hands on programs around permaculture design, sustainability, and outdoor and environmental education. Pandora co-founded Earthseed Consulting LLC, a holistic consulting firm whose work expands the opportunities for sustainable living for diverse communities. Her current projects include the Black Permaculture Network, Pathways to Resilience-a permaculture and social entrepreneur training program for men returning home after incarceration, and working with Toyota to design and subsequently serving as a coalition member of the Toyota Green Initiative, which supports African Americans in understanding the benefits of adopting sustainable lifestyles. She has studied four languages and lived and worked in over twelve countries and her other achievements include presenting at Tedx Denver and SF, and being awarded internships and fellowships to Columbia University, Green For All, the Bronx Zoo and the Applied Research Center. When she is not working you can find her spending time with her beloved mother and cats or in the redwoods. Before this Program, I lacked the focus and confidence to successfully pursue a career path in permaculture. I was not necessarily interested in landscape design, and I wasn’t sure how to frame what I wanted to do in a permaculture context. I’d been putting off permaculture in my life for a long time because I didn’t see a viable livelihood, only volunteer opportunities.
I saw results from this program almost immediately! The layout of the program gave me extreme clarity on the fact that developing a business around using a permaculture lens was possible, the structures and process by which we would do this were clear, and I could actually see the end result from the beginning – not necessarily the final shape of my program, but the fact that it existed. This was enormously motivating and gave me something tangible to work toward.
Karryn is able to quickly synthesize and filter information, and then provide helpful suggestions to keep us on track. I always find her comments insightful and well-informed. She clearly understands the essential components to building a sturdy livelihood, and works to ensure that we keep putting those in place. Her process is logical and if you do the work and follow the steps, you will arrive at a well-suited solution. She is very organized and direct about her expectations for us and how those are helping us achieve our goals.
It’s been so empowering to have this sacred space once a week to explore my strengths, confess my fears, and share my hopes and dreams with a group of caring, empathetic women. This is one of the safest spaces I’ve ever encountered in an educational setting. We really are free to learn, dream, confess, stumble, recover, experiment and just be our truest selves. The biggest benefits are not having to go through this process alone, discovering that many of your experiences and trepidations are shared by others, and having a cheering squad to push you when you’re starting to doubt yourself.
–Roxanne Finn Matuszek, “Regenerative Parenting”
“Fair Share:”
- Scholarships will be awarded through the Black Permaculture Network.
- 5% of the profit from the program will be donated to The Global Women’s Water Initiative’s “Women and Water Training Programs” which equip grassroots women with the skills and tools for sustainable water solutions—which enable them to tackle the health and violence risks, as well as lost income and educational opportunities associated with the lack of safe water and sanitation in their own communities.
Want to know more?
I am specifically curating the right group of women who are ready to dedicate the next 3 months to blazing the path to thrive in their right livelihoods. This path is not for everyone—it will require passion, commitment, and effort.
I like to use the metaphor of birth to describe the work we will be doing together—because it will change your life! Like birth, socially conscious ecopreneurship begins with passion, invites you to take great care of yourself so you can gestate your highest vision, requires experienced mentors who can reassure you that you can push way beyond your perceived limitations to birth something new and wonderful, and relies on community for support and celebration.
Are you ready to birth your thriving livelihood?
My perspective of money is changing and my mind is chattering about possible synergies (rather than self-doubt and finding ways to subvert my possible competitors). I am growing into the vision that I seeded for myself at the beginning of the program and I am proud of that. Just as Karryn holds a vision of women audaciously co-creating a regenerative future, she challenged us at the very onset of the program to envision and nurture our own authentic truth. Ultimately, Karryn has taught us the skills of how to be the light on our own path.
–Jessica Jackowski, “Eating the Sun: Mastering the Art of Year Round Nourishment Close to Home”
After joining the program, I felt relief and gratitude to be connecting with strong and passionate women with similar interests & hopes for our selves and the world. A few months in, I found myself feeling extremely differently about money. It’s like I went to the depths of my scarcity mindset, really sat in it—and then I let it go. I seem to have lost my ‘worries’ about money—even when our family got to the lowest money point in our lives. The gratitude and trust I experienced as I continued to cultivate my vision and action led me and my family into a whole new place of enoughness and abundance. I was offered the highest paying job I have ever had in my life, because I learned to step up to my leadership and skill capacity. I feel confident to stand in my value. Now towards the end of the cohort, I know about a ton more AWESOME women doing really solid, visionary and cutting edge work in the world- and this is very inspiring.
I feel confident to move forward with this program and develop my services, pricing, presentations, and to enroll clients. It’s pretty awesome. I have a strong feeling that in the near future I will be shifting from my full-time salary position to a creating a business for myself that works optimally for me and for my family’s schedule, and is centered around my passion and vision.
–Diana Sette, Founder of “Possibilitarian Urban Regenerative Community Homestead (PURCH)”
