Kabira Stokes: Isidore Electronics Recycling

Ex-offenders and electronics are her business. A few years ago, Kabira Stokes stood looking at her new factory, burned to the ground, as her General Manager was walking out the door. She had no idea that wouldn't be the hardest trial of her career. Kabira is in the de-manufacturing business. Her company, Isidore Electronics Recycling, takes used electronics and gives them new life, either as refurbished devices, or as components that can enter back into the supply chain. At the same time, she hires the formerly incarcerated so that they can re-enter society again. It's hard enough to run a startup, why she would add an extra challenge of hiring ex-offenders? Turns out, her concern for social justice and her unusual philosophy of finding value in things that society discards might be what makes her business resilient and able survive the entrepreneurial rollercoaster, including the biggest challenge of all—a workers comp technicality— that is currently threatening to put her out of business. Learn more: http://makeitinla.org/podcast/kabirastokes