In Good Company: Brand Geek
March is Women’s History Month and B Corp Month – so we've been featuring women business leaders and B Corps in each issue this month. Next week we will return to our regular programming.
I’ve admired Lara Pearson for a long time.
It started when I saw her company name, Brand Geek, and its visual identity: black, horn-rimmed glasses with a subtle ® inscribed on a Band-Aid adhesive over the bridge. As a branding guy, it was a quick and quirky “get” and demonstrated that Lara knew brands and was a creative thinker, both good attributes if your business is intellectual property rights.
I’ve used Lara’s services off and on over the past six or seven years as I’ve needed them, from searching availability of potential brand names to securing trademarks. Most recently, Lara helped me obtain federal trademarks for my wife’s flower business, Dream Farm Flowers, and for a nonprofit, City of Good.
While Lara’s sharp and experienced at her legal craft, what’s really earned my respect is the way she lives her values through her work, by focusing the impact of her talent on multiple-bottom-line companies – as exemplified by her tagline, “Protecting the brands of soulfulpreneurs™ – and through her proactive philosophy of collective action.
“We are stronger together than we are on our own — there’s a multiplier effect when good businesses do business together; our collective impact is so much greater than what we can achieve individually,” says Lara.
You can see that principle brought to life by the way she invests her time and the company she keeps. Lara’s been a pillar in the social enterprise community since it was still learning to walk, joining with others to fuel the movement in its early days. She joined 1% for the Planet as a business member in 2006 and served on its board of directors; became a member of the Social Venture Network in 2007 (now the American Sustainable Business Network); and was among the first groups of companies to summit B Corp certification (she is, after all, a rock climber) as part of the second year’s class of B Corps that certified WAY BACK in 2008.
So, if you’ve got trademark work and are keen on multiplying the impact of your dollars by working with partners who also use business as a tool for good, give Lara a holler. She’ll help you protect your valuable intellectual property assets, plus I’ll guarantee your conversations with her will be fun and unlike any others you’ve had with an attorney.
Go, Lara, Go.
Godspeed, friends.
Russ
☺️ How Happy Are You?
The World Happiness Report was just released. It's likely not a surprise if you live in the U.S. that it slipped from number 15 to 23. This sparked us to wonder: How happy are you, dear reader? Three simple survey questions and less a minute to register your relative happiness here. We'll release aggregate results next week.
💬 Quote of the Week
"When the whole world is silent, even one voice can become powerful." Malala Yousafzai
💥 Quick Hits
• How to Triumph like a Girl – You know we love poetry here at Godspeed. Here's a poem from U.S. Poet Laureate Ada Limón for Women's History Month.
• Women ARE the change – Stats from B Local Vancouver about the contributions of women-owned businesses within the B Corp community.
🤔 Trivia Time
What percentage of U.S. adults are aware of the B Corp brand?
• 12%
• 21%
• 36%
• 47%
Today's trivia answer can be found at the bottom of this newsletter.
Find the Most Meaningful Work of Your Career
Our partner One Work has you covered with meaningful work that goes beyond a paycheck, a cubicle, or a weekly team Zoom call. You'll find purposeful jobs like those below, along with many more at the One Work job board.
• Rivian - Kick your coding into gear at this maker of electric trucks. Senior Software Engineer, User Experience, Irvine, CA or Chicago, IL.
• Joby Aviation - Electric Aerial Ridesharing - is that even a thing? By Joby, yes it is. Total Rewards Manager, Santa Cruz, CA.
• Purple Carrot - Get your daily dose of antioxidants working at this purveyor of plant-based meals. Operations Business Analytics Manager, Chicago, IL.
Trivia Answer
In late 2023, a survey by Certified B Corp Fors Marsh and B Lab U.S. and Canada found that 36 percent of adults in the U.S. registered an awareness of the B Corp name or logo. In Canada, it was almost the same at 35%. You can read more about the survey findings here.