My name is Danielle Lanyard and I am the tiny brain behind this big, bad blog. My background of life and work experience in environmental study, community action, and business development began as a child working on my first political campaign and local charity fundraiser and now spans two decades and four continents. With a B.A. in Community Psychology and a minor in Environmental Studies, I decided to throw caution to the wind and travel the world. During five years of independent, international travel and development work experience, I lived in Laos and launched one of South East Asia’s first community performance spaces, created and taught the region’s first college course in Sustainable Development through partnership with environmental NGOs, served as a trainee in the Peace Corps in Senegal as an Environmental Educator, and worked in Berlin as the Development Director for the Institute for Cultural Diplomacy.
Upon return to the U.S., I worked extensively in several related social enterprise, travel and green companies and start-ups to build the foundation in business development necessary to launch any venture. After successfully designing and delivering various business and marketing strategies for startups and sustainable ventures, I traveled towards my true passion and founded Travelcology in fall of 2007 as my dream to retool tourism as a vehicle for positive social change. When the world economy changed drastically, this global vision was put on hold to launch a local venture with a real time need: support the current sustainable businesses in my own backyard. I decided to ally forces with Fred Sullivan's AVDrive, jointly build a team, and launch our new mission, Open Venture Society, a consumers cooperative geared to grow and support the next generation of socially and ecologically responsible ventures. Shortly thereafter, Philip Kiracofe came along and took the reins for Travelcology, and this new adventure and eco travel startup is set to launch in spring 2010.