This week I came full circle on the 26 years since my first job out of law school at Legal Aid of North Carolina. With support from the late local chief district court judge Russell Sherrill, I had started a collaborative program to represent poor children with disabilities access health care, education, and safe homes. This is a picture of my fabulous law partner Ginny Cascio Bonifacino and me standing under the window of my former office in Raleigh before we headed into the Founders Roundtable at the BLD Southeast conference for B Corp leaders.
Some things I’ve learned during my career that were reaffirmed at the conference:
- Creative and collaborative solutions are needed more than ever to solve the pressing problems of our local, regional, and global communities.
- The entrepreneurial spirit drives innovation and impact across for-profit and not-for-profit sectors.
- Leadership includes finding and using language that builds belonging through identifying our common humanity rather than “othering” those who think differently.
- Living in a large, wealthy, diverse, metropolitan county is a gift.
- It was incredibly liberating and affirming to say to other B Corp leaders that Nazareth Bonifacino Law Benefit LLC is breaking the mold on how the private practice of law, and particularly business law, can be a force for good by representing purpose-driven companies that have tremendous impact on their communities.
- We don’t have all the answers, but pursuing our triple bottom line of purpose, people, and profit brings incredible professional satisfaction that my 27-year-old self couldn’t have imagined was possible.
- I’m deeply grateful for so many colleagues who have influenced my thinking and encouraged me to live my dreams rather than settling for the status quo. The best is yet to come!
Have questions on how to be a profitably purpose-driven business? Give me a call.
