Hi!

I’m a wild child entrepreneur facing off with the unknown whilst spreading love and trying to make the world a better place.

Founder of WORK+SHELTER, an ethical impact factory.

Hi!

I’m Theresa, a wild child serial social entrepreneur facing off with the unknown whilst spreading love and trying to make the world a better place.

Former Googler, first-born, ENFJ, optimist, nap queen, 8w7.

Out to prove that conscious business is going to help us survive the impending apocalypse, and that journey towards it will make our lives better and more meaningful.

Join me. I’ll send you an occasional update about the lessons I’m learning running my beloved WORK+SHELTER.

Some things I often think and talk about:

social entrepreneurship
female + minority founders
ethical fashion
india
fair trade
sustainability
equity
inclusion
poverty alleviation
meditation + yoga
B Corp
human centered capitalism
clean energy
culture creation
scaling impact
impact investing

“Be ashamed to die until you have won some victory for humanity.”

This is ME!

Theresa VanderMeer is a social entrepreneur who believes that business can be a vehicle for positive social and environmental change. Merging her corporate experience at ad giants like Google and Publicis and her research on female economic empowerment, in 2011 she founded WORK+SHELTER, an ethical cut-and-sew production house that trains and employs marginalized women in New Delhi, India. From sourcing to operations Theresa passionately advocates for female empowerment and access to education, and environmental justice. She splits her time between Chicago and Delhi, loves poetry, and can be found exercising her champion sleeping abilities at less-than-ideal places like Burning Man.

, Theresa VanderMeer, Theresa VanderMeer

Events + Talks

I’ve spoken to thousands of individuals on stepping outside of their comfort zone, embracing risk-taking, starting an ethical business, and more. I’d be happy to speak with your audience too.

For-profit audiences are asked to make a donation to my non-profit, WORK+SHELTER, with all proceeds going to support women in need. Schools and non-profits may request a talk at no cost in the Chicagoland area.

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A Few Organizations I Have Spoken For

(Contact me to speak at yours)

Speaking topics include:

Breaking out of Your Comfort Zone
Building a More Ethical Company
Fair Trade
Women’s Entrepreneurship
Human Centered Capitalism
Ethical Fashion

My Work

I built this.

Nearly a decade ago I founded WORK+SHELTER, a social enterprise where women in need can come to work and make a fair wage. A decade ago, nearly everyone I knew or met discouraged me, claiming that a young American woman didn’t have the skills, resources, or cultural understanding to build a business in India. I should feather my nest before helping others, they said.

They were wrong. We are proof. WORK+SHELTER employs nearly 50 individuals full-time, all of whom are women but three. We have gotten little girls into school, fed the hungry, and provided a leg up for vulnerable women outcast from society.

Even now, “experts” will try to tell me that building a business and doing good are mutually exclusive. I fundamentally disagree. My dream was to help women in need, and for me building WORK+SHELTER has been a dream come true.