Tamara Wu
CEO - Liberty Society
MAIN SKILLS
Upcycling gifts
Strategy
Empowerment
APAC
ASEAN
Indonesia
Singapore
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Tamara's introduction

I founded Liberty Society, a social enterprise of eco & impactful B2B merchandise & hampers that empowers marginalized women. Because of my passion to combine profit and purpose, my previous experiences in the intersection of corporations and nonprofits include being Head of Acquisition at Yuna&Co, Partnership manager at Digitaraya, a Google for Startup Accelerator, and Director of Second Chance, a non profit initiative focusing on child sponsorship & micro financing poor households.

I graduated from Biola University, double majoring in Sociology (Social Justice emphasis) and Communication Studies. I also mentor & consult for youth-led NGOs and social projects working for refugee groups, disaster relief, and rural community development.

Liberty Society was named #1 winner of Women Empowerment Principles award 2021. Most recently, i was one of the 14 Global Young Leaders for Generation 17, a program by Samsung & UNDP to advocate for the Sustainable Development Goals.

Top 3 pieces of advice to The Matcha Initiative (TMI) users ?
  • Building a social enterprise needs the support of a village to thrive
  • Strategic partnership with big corporations that is win -win is possible
  • To create a developed and thriving community, start by empowering the marginalized community
How could you help TMI users ?
  • Share our best practices for empowering communities and upcycling waste
  • Provide access and enabler for sustainability guidance and community in Indonesia's context
Expertise
What brought you to sustainability?

My first encounter with an interest in social justice occurred during a mission trip in 2012 to Manado in North Sulawesi, Indonesia. Witnessing a significant level of inequality and a lack of support for people in poverty, I felt compelled to take action.

To address these issues, I founded a non-profit organization called Second Chance Initiative, which focused on sponsoring children and providing microfinancing for households.

After operating it for five years, I came to the realization that I needed a more sustainable business model. This realization led to the founding of Liberty Society.

Which sustainable actions are you in charge of or have you implemented in your organisation?

Under Liberty Society, a social enterprise, we provide eco-corporate goods, gifts, and campaigns, along with upcycling waste, and empower women out of poverty. We reinvest 10% of every purchase's profits into our House of Freedom, which empowers marginalized communities through vocational training programs.

Through our vocational training for communities, we believe it allows participants access to broader knowledge and creates multiple benefits for them. The time they spend in training will be productive, opening opportunities for income generation and lowering their stress levels. As participants gain skills, we equip them with impactful stories, product marketing, and partnership building. As their experience grows, so does their confidence and wellbeing. This access allows them to improve their personal and family wellbeing, inspiring others in the community.

In addition to community empowerment, we also enable corporations to have sustainable procurement (through our goods and gifts), create employee sustainability engagement, and conduct sustainability activations. We recognize that corporations have a significant impact on the environment and encourage them to upcycle their waste into goods/merchandise for their stakeholders.

Find out more here about what we have achieved with Liberty Society in the past 5 years.

Which challenges did you meet and how did you overcome them?

Building the social enterprise from the ground up and forging strategic initiatives. I am Miss Indonesia Jawa Timur 2019. This has helped me. It provided me with good connections to the influencers and the media, and helped me connect with companies who want to stay relevant with millennials and Gen Z.

What are you most proud of?

I am proud of being resilient and openness to learning to continue to grow the social enterprise.

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