Love urban living but fed up with traffic?
So were Amber Wason and her co-founder Jeff Stefanis.
Instead of just complaining, they got to work and developed a cool new electric bike, launched a campaign to fund it on Kickstarter and then….
cleverly made a deal with Kevin Cole to sell their bikes in his stores.
How?
Listen to Amber’s story in her eye-opening conversation with Green Connections Radio host Joan Michelson from the Clean Tech Open Southeast Regional Innovation Summit.
You’ll learn how:
- They came up with the idea.
- To do a successful Kickstarter campaign.
- To persuade a major retailer to carry your new product when you’re just starting out.
- To stand out in this emerging industry
What was the most compelling thing you heard Amber or Joan say in this interview? Post it to us on Twitter @joanmichelson or on our Facebook page – like the page while you’re there – and post it in a review when you subscribe on iTunes or iHeartRadio, TuneIn or Stitcher.
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Joan Michelson, MBA is a highly accomplished business leader and award-winning strategic social impact and ESG – environment, social, governance – leader, who drove breakthrough results at Chrysler (in EVs), American Express and Deloitte, small businesses, and government agencies. She is an instructor on ESG issues to professionals, leaders and board members across industries. Her specialties include leveraging ESG solutions and partnerships strategically for maximum benefit, helping organizations recruit innovative, diverse women, and helping these women thrive in their careers. She is based in the Washington D.C. area.
Joan is also an accomplished journalist who has worked with top media organizations and hosts and produces the acclaimed Electric Ladies podcast (formerly known as Green Connections Radio), about innovation and leadership in energy-, climate- and sustainability-related issues across industries, featuring women experts.
She writes regularly for Forbes on these issues and has also been in the Harvard Business Review, HuffPost, TheAtlantic.com, Greenbiz, The New Economy magazine (distributed at the World Economic Forum), New Thinking magazine, regional business journals; and various other media. She coproduced segments with CBS News’ “60 Minutes,” ABC News, and “The Crusaders,” and television specials on NBC.
Joan has spent her career working in energy-sustainability-climate-ESG issues and in marketing communications, including as head of communications and co-leader of the sales and marketing team of Chrysler’s Global Electric Motorcars (GEM), driving “best year ever” growth and significantly accelerated the adoption of electric vehicles. Prior to GEM, she led marketing communications efforts to high-net-worth and high-visibility clients in management consulting-financial services companies Deloitte and American Express. She's a native of NYC and has a BA from UCLA, an MBA from Baruch College at City University of NY, and post-graduate studies at Harvard Business School, The New School and The Aspen Institute, among others. She has a Sustainability and ESG certification from Competent Boards.
