Beginning with a stint in the Dominican Republic serving in the Peace Corps, Kathy Stearns has used her personal power to make change in the world. She’s currently leveraging socially responsible investing in her work as an investment advisor for First Affirmative Financial Network, and helps guide the impact investing of the Calvert Foundation in her role as a longtime board member.
What’s the change you’re trying to make in the world?
Leave a positive mark. My current professional life is focused on helping people get comfortable with their own financial security within the context of the kind of life they want to live, and helping them invest in a way that reflects the things they value—the environment, encouraging companies to be more responsible, etc.
What led you to the world of sustainable and responsible investing?
The realization that, like it or not, big business runs the world and manages (or mismanages…) the world’s resources. We need to do everything possible to try and influence big business, and responsible investing with shareholder advocacy is an important tool in our toolbox.
Tell us about your work for the Calvert Foundation.
It’s an amazing, entrepreneurial organization that democratizes impact investing. The foundation pays investors back, with interest, and enables investors of any size to invest in microfinance in developing countries, affordable housing in the US, social enterprises in Africa, and other great initiatives. One of the foundation's newest initiatives is to get the Indian Diaspora (immigrants from India) to invest in a fund to finance projects in India. The foundation also just launched a partnership with AARP that will finance projects to benefit over-50 populations in the US with social services, housing, funds for home improvements, etc. I have been on the board for a long time and chair the Investment Committee, so I get to review the larger and more innovative deals in detail and they are awesome.
How did the Peace Corps prepare you for your life that has followed?
Peace Corps shaped the way I see everything. People are people everywhere—living, loving, learning, trying to get by, happy, sad. We are each a complicated individual, even though our circumstances can be so different. No one understands anyone else’s situation enough to be judgmental.
What’s the biggest change you’ve made in your professional life?
After 20 years working for nonprofits in microfinance and then community development in the US, I started my own business as a financial planner and investment adviser focused on sustainable investing and moved from the east coast to Boise. It was a change on many levels, lifestyle, very different work, lots to learn, my own business. One of the best parts of the change is that I now work with people on a really personal level, which is a wonderful opportunity for my own personal growth. A dramatic change like that had been in the back of my mind a long time, and it felt good to make it happen.
Personal life?
Joining the Peace Corps after playing competitive tennis for ten years and spending four years at Duke University was pretty dramatic. But, falling in love with a woman kind of late in life was probably a bigger change. Helllooo!
Change is hard—do you have any tricks you’d like to share for making it easier?
Change isn’t just hard, it’s constant! Accept that what matters is doing the best you can, whether you accomplish what you set out to do or not. The world is never going to be perfect. I love the Forrest Church quote: “Want what you have. Do what you can. Be who you are.”
If you could change one thing about yourself, what would it be?
Change my relationship to time—I’m way too focused on being efficient with time.
When you were a child, what did you want to be when you grew up?
Star tennis player who uses her fame to save the world.
What did you eat for breakfast this morning?
Fruit, yogurt and nuts. Heated up frozen blueberries from last summer, mmmmm.
What are you reading right now?
The Goldfinch, a novel about a boy who’s mom is killed by a bomb in NYC. Some Buddhist books. Trying to read The Divine Right of Capital, but not as enjoyable a bedtime read. I like the initial premise: what if the basic business equation was not Revenue-Expenses=Profits, with the goal of maximizing profits, but Revenue-Expenses (except for pay)=Profits plus Employee Pay. How much would that change the way business works? You could even add some measure of community benefit on to the profits part. And, I like The Sun magazine, The Economist (though I can’t keep up), and the Idaho Statesman.
Who inspires you?
Nelson Mandela. Just thinking of him gives me the chills. His capacity for forgiveness and acceptance, while changing a whole country, blows me away. He had an amazing aura of peace, patience, and non-violence but still overthrew a government!
Rock, paper, or scissors?
Tough one—paper is so versatile: absorptive, you can write on it, paint it, wrap with it. But, rock is nature and permanence and knows what it is.
What is your secret vice?
Dark chocolate. Not so secret.
Who is the most progressive business leader you know?
Our new (one year) CEO of the Calvert Foundation, Jenn Pryce. She is young, dynamic, and in a short time has shifted our direction and focus in a really positive way. She has led us to a new way of thinking, which we needed.
What’s one question you’d like to ask yourself—and answer?
How do I find the right balance between trying to make things better, and acceptance?