How to reach and inspire your target conscious audience

May 23

As people with important messages to share, how do we balance dropping truth-bombs about the problems in this world with inspiring hope? How can we even begin to tackle issues of modern slavery and exploitation of natural resources around the world by huge companies with complex supply chains?

Our guest today started a highly recognizable and stunning publication in 2014, The Good Trade, which shares stories of social impact brands with conscious consumers. Today, the publication reaches millions of readers per year, and its Co-Founder and Editor-in-Chief, AmyAnn Cadwell, is about to share with you some of her greatest learning lessons in building out this publication. Let's dive in.

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This is a conversation on Green Dreamer Podcast with Kaméa Chayne, a show exploring environmental and intersectional sustainability from ideas to life. Subscribe to Green Dreamer on iTunes, Spotify, Stitcher, or any podcast app and let’s learn what it takes to thrive in every sense of the word!

Highlights

[01:50] What got AmyAnn into conscious living.

[02:10] AmyAnn: "I spent some time in the nonprofit sector - enough time to feel that while traditional models of aid - while essential for times of crisis - often fall short of becoming long term solutions for lifting communities out of poverty."

[02:55] AmyAnn: "It was such a huge wakeup call for me… in full color, the reality of fast fashion as depleting earth's resources and leveraging slave labor to pass on a 'cheap' cost to the end consumer."

[03:50] AmyAnn: "I developed this heartsickness over corporate aims to maximize shareholder value with very little regard for how these companies actually impact their communities and our planet."

[09:20] AmyAnn: "As consumers, we're collectively powerful and capable of driving significant social change."

[10:00] How AmyAnn got started with The Good Trade.

[11:35] AmyAnn's biggest challenge in building out the platform.

[11:50] AmyAnn: "As women... we tend to overthink things and underestimate that we have what it takes."

[12:40] AmyAnn's lightbulb moment to go all in with The Good Trade. [14:00] AmyAnn: "Even the most painful things in our lives, there's fruit and beauty that comes from those things."

[14:20] Balancing shedding light on heavy issues vs. inspiring hope.

[15:15] "We want every piece of our content to leave the reader feeling empowered and activated, rather than overwhelmed or discouraged about an issue."

[17:10] AmyAnn's advice for conscious creatives and brands wanting to reach their people.

[18:10] AmyAnn: "When we help each other grow, it grows the industry as a whole."

[18:25] A common challenge conscious companies and creatives face in our current landscape.

[19:30] Kaméa: "What do you think conscious consumers crave today?"

[21:15] AmyAnn: "I think minimalism is the anchor of this entire conversation."

[26:55] AmyAnn: "The more we connect with nature, the more we intuitively start to protect it."