Balancing Profit and Purpose: The Social Entrepreneur’s Journey | Whitley O’Connor
Whitley O’Connor, co-director of social enterprise for Curbside Enterprises. Whitley is a 2014 graduate of Vanderbilt University, with a B.A./B.S. in Human and Organizational Development and Sociology. While attending Vanderbilt, Whitley co-founded the Curbside Chronicle, an international award-winning magazine that employs individuals experiencing homelessness in Oklahoma City. Over the past decade, Whitley has helped launch three additional employment-based social enterprises that now make Curbside Enterprises – Curbside Apparel, Curbside Flowers, and Sasquatch Shaved Ice. Since launching in 2013, Curbside Enterprises’s four social enterprise programs have helped nearly 400 people end their homelessness and provided nearly $6million in earned income to clients.
Whitley has experience in all three sectors – public, private, and nonprofit – and has received numerous awards for his work including: Outstanding Community Building Effort from the Urban Land Institute, the Innovation Award from the Oklahoma Center for Nonprofits, and being named to the 2022 Forbes 30 Under 30 list for Social Impact. In addition to running Curbside Enterprises, he uses his experience and background as a consultant for companies and organizations working in the social impact and social enterprise spaces. Outside of work, Whitley enjoys true crime podcasts, collecting local art, and playing Sandlot baseball.
RESOURCE LINKS
https://www.linkedin.com/in/whitleyoconnor/
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