Ep 11: Level UP the playing field: Inclusive Entrepreneurship with Claire Wheeler of Mercy Connections

Claire Wheeler (she/her) is a facilitator of strategy, change, and repair. She is currently working as the Director of Inclusive Entrepreneurship with Mercy Connections, designing and delivering small business and self-employment education to a variety of people. Mercy Connections is an educational and social justice organization, founded in 2001 with belief that every person, regardless of life circumstances, deserves dignity, compassion and the opportunity to pursue personal aspirations within a supportive learning community. They help make that happen that through education, tutoring, mentoring, entrepreneurship and radical inclusion.Claire owned and operated RE: WORK LLC, offering strategic design, facilitation, and consulting services for nonprofits and community-based businesses in the Abenaki land called Vermont. Claire is a systems thinker and learner with an insatiable curiosity about how deep mental models impact our experience as human beings and how we can use systems awareness to overcome oppression by designing new systems and ways of working. She holds an MBA in Managing for Sustainability from Marlboro College and a BA in Government from Smith College. Claire resides in Montpelier, Vermont with her partner Petra, cat Xiu Xiu, and enjoys adventuring of all kinds – on mountains, in rivers, into the mind, and through make-believe every Tuesday with her Dungeons & Dragons crew.Tune in to hear more about:What inclusive entrepreneurship means and why it matters to everybodyThe many small business offerings available at Mercy Connections Claire’s extensive business experience and unique lens on what it means to be a “manager” in your businessThe importance of surrounding yourself with peers to cheer you on and give you valuable feedback as you advance your business journeyHow measuring your worth needs to go beyond dollars and revenueUnique advantages to business ownership in Vermont compared to other statesAnd much more!The letterpress mentioned in the episode: https://www.radicalemprints.com/ Mercy Connections website: https://mercyconnections.org/