As the Founder and Co-CEO of Adasina Social Capital, I have been driven for more than 20 years by a personal commitment to advancing social justice in the public markets. I am deeply proud of Adasina’s leadership as a community-centric leader in Social Justice Investing, amplifying and elevating social justice movement goals, and using the tools of investing to drive transformational, systemic change at the scale of financial markets.
Together with you, our beloved community, we’ve championed a new approach for catalyzing systems change in finance, proving that a public equities impact asset management firm can be effective at both rigorous portfolio management and proactive social justice activism, and serve as a bridge between the two without sacrificing either.
I have long viewed my leadership at Adasina, and within the wider community, as part of a collective movement to facilitate a just transition away from extractive capitalism and toward regenerative economic and social systems. Over the years, we have launched multiple investor mobilization campaigns and initiatives intended to dismantle systemic oppression and advance social justice.
Today, I am excited to share with you a new social justice initiative deeply rooted in Adasina’s core values: I will soon begin my first-ever sabbatical, which will start December 13, 2024 and extend through the first quarter of 2025. My first day back at Adasina will be April 1, 2025.
The decision to take a brief sabbatical goes beyond choosing my own, well-deserved rest. It is an embodiment of Adasina’s values and an intentional expression of our commitment to turning toward living systems as an act of social justice.
Rest is Essential to Life & Sustainable Growth
Adasina’s commitment to the value of living systems comes from our shared respect for the intricate web of life on our planet – whether those living systems are environmental, social, or economic. We strive to always reflect and embody this respect in our organizational practices because we believe healthy companies, like thriving ecosystems, are diverse, interdependent, and balanced. Balance begins with rest and, at Adasina, we believe rest allows us to grow, thrive, and sustainably contribute our efforts to transform an industry that was built upon extraction.
As is often the case in our capitalist system, women, gender-expansive people, BIPOC communities, and others who have been historically excluded from power bear a disproportionately heavy burden in their pursuit of equity and justice. For those of us who have engaged in this work for the better part of our careers, rest is a vital extension of our social justice values. Defying the expectation within extractive capitalism to value work above human and non-human well-being makes rest a revolutionary act.
I hope that my sabbatical promotes and begins to normalize rest within the financial industry. I also hope it sends a powerful message that individuals should be valued not only for their productivity but, more importantly, for their inherent worth as human beings, and as members of their communities.
What Comes Next?
Adasina’s work to advance social justice in the public markets continues – and takes on fresh urgency amid an increasingly alarming political, climate, and economic context. Our extraordinarily dedicated and capable team is stepping up our efforts to face those contexts, by further centering our Social Justice Partners, growing our portfolios, mobilizing other investors to take meaningful action, and expanding our beloved community.
It is worth noting that we will not be overcompensating for my absence by making everyone else at Adasina work harder. My sabbatical serves as a model for the industry as well as our team. Together, they will practice healthy boundaries and interpersonal processing under the kind and intelligent leadership of our Co-CEO, Julianne Zimmerman, and our firm’s leadership team. Collectively, they will model a healthy living system as we raise our sights to accelerate the work of transforming public markets to advance social justice.
I invite you to join me in prioritizing rest as a form of social justice and support Adasina’s work using every lever at your disposal. Doing so will, in fact, be more crucial than ever in the coming year. We must show up with urgency and compassion to protect and elevate the members of our human and non-human communities that are most vulnerable; to do that we must ensure our own choices prioritize life, well-being, and balance, over exploitation and extraction.
I look forward to rejoining you and continuing our work together in April 2025!
A Few Notes on Availability
- My sabbatical will include a break from posting on my Linkedin account. While I will miss catching up with you there, I encourage you to follow Adasina’s Co-CEO Julianne Zimmerman and others from our team in my absence.
- Join Adasina’s email list, if you haven’t already, to stay updated on the latest news and events from our team and wider community.