Episode 26 - Christine Hanna

Christine Hanna is the Executive Director of Yes Media

Christine grew up in Virginia, received her bachelors degree in economics from UVA and after graduation had the opportunity to travel to the former Czechoslovakia to study comparative economics. It was during that time she was able to witness and appreciate the power and creativity of entrepreneurship and problem solving. She returned to the US where she received her MBA from the University of Washington with a focus on entrepreneurship and innovation .

After receiving her MBA she was swept up into the internet arena and spent the first seven years of her career trying to get people to transact via the web. She got a first hand look at how capital drives innovation and motivaiton in this country and found herself demoralized through the process of simply selling products.

Although invigorated by the process of using the internet for marketing products, she realized it was undermining what she felt was truly important. She said to herself, "if I'm going to work this hard, I'm going to work on something that I really care about". She left that company and joined a nonprofit called Northwest Environment Watch, which was essentially a sustainability think tank.

Christine defines her love for marketing as the understanding of what it takes to move someone from having never heard of something before, to being a loyal advocate and ally.

Christine eventually went on to use what she had learned to launch "Go Next Door" in Seattle, a web-based network dedicated to supporting local businessess and building community. After that, she went on to cofound the Seattle Good Business Network in 2010. Christine and her colleagues grew the organization from a small startup to an influential Seattle player, strengthening the region's locally owned retail, manufacturing and food sectors.

She is a passionate advocate for a sustainable, inclusive local economy, with a great track record for putting that passion into action. Christine joined YES in March 2017 and says the role couldn't be a better fit.

I interviewed Christine at the LOCALize IT conference, held in South Royalton, Vermont on October 21-22, 2017. The LOCALize IT conference was co-sponsored by Local Futures, Vermonters for a New Economy, the Sustainable Futures Fund of the The Vermont Community Foundation, the New Economy Law Center at The Vermont Law School and BALE, Building a Local Economy.

The LOCALize IT Conference was a two-day solutions focused gathering for leaders and community members engaged in accelerating a localizing movement in our region.

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