advising | storytelling | investing
We help grow the solidarity economy through strategy and story
Advisory and project support for mission-driven leaders
Leading people-and-planet-focused work is hard in our profit-maximizing culture. We’re here to help. We specialize in one-time advisory sessions to help leaders work through difficult decisions. We also offer ongoing advisory and short-term project support.
Connecting visual storytellers with local leaders to reimagine our economy
Seeing what’s possible can change everything.Microgrants for photographers and photojournalists documenting solidarity economy efforts. We fund stories that make a fairer system visible.
Investing to shift capital and power towards a just economy
We work from the conviction that economies should serve people, not the other way around. That money, labor, and land are not resources to extract, but to nurture and circulate. That growth is cyclical, not linear, and the work of building a just economy requires patience, experimentation, and humility.Our investment goals include:
~Reducing wealth inequality
~Moving capital from Wall Street to Main Street
~Generating financial returns aligned with social impact
Our inspiration
Marigold flowers are ever-present in South Asian celebrations, such as Diwali, a holiday of light over darkness and good over evil. They are also companion plants in gardens all around the world – not only because they are beautiful, but because marigolds help nearby plants flourish. Want more tomatoes? Plant marigolds.In this spirit, we aim to serve as steady companions to our clients and partners who are working to make the world a better place, and we celebrate their successes through visual storytelling.Our approach is shaped by lessons from the natural world, Indigenous practices, and the wisdom and warnings of thinkers and doers such as B.R. Ambedkar, adrienne maree brown, Octavia Butler, Thich Nhat Han, Robin Wall Kimmerer, Martin Luther King Jr., and Boots Riley.
About us
Our work draws on decades of experience inside for-profit businesses, nonprofits, and the federal government. We've advised CEOs, cabinet secretaries, and solopreneurs alike. We've built, bought, and sold businesses, raised capital, and made investments in work that matters. That range has taught us how organizations function — and where small changes can make a real difference.We understand the power of markets. We also understand their limits.One of our core beliefs is that compelling images and narratives can move people to action. When people see that a fairer system is possible, it makes it easier for them to be part of it. That’s why we share our own writing on our blog and support visual storytellers through microgrants.
Pooja Mehta, FounderPooja is an attorney, investor, entrepreneur, and photographer.Her first job at age 13, working in her immigrant family’s restaurants, was foundational. Her father went from assistant manager to owner thanks to hard work, good advice, and fairly-priced loans. Over the years, Pooja has helped her parents pay opportunity forward through profit sharing with employees, non-predatory paycheck advances, and paid prison work-release programs.Pooja served as an attorney for children in the child welfare system and advised C-level executives and board members at a national workforce development organization. Her entrepreneurial ventures include restaurants and a photography business.In addition to leading The Marigold Effect, Pooja is Of Counsel at a solidarity economies law firm. She serves on a youth justice-focused nonprofit board and on the investment committee of a fund that makes loans to small businesses ineligible for big bank financing.Pooja’s professional and community work focuses on building the conditions that enable people and organizations to thrive with dignity. She enjoys photography, live music, travel, and cooking for friends.
Philip Martin, ContributorPhil is a political organizer, nonprofit professional, and public and private sector strategist. He brings to The Marigold Effect training in economics, business, and facilitation; experience as an advisor to and writer for CEOs, including two U.S. secretaries of education; a deep commitment to bending the arc of the moral universe toward justice; and a natural inclination for asking questions. When not working his day job in education policy or with The Marigold Effect, Phil enjoys going to concerts and growing food and flowers at the community garden.
We share occasional writing on the solidarity economy, practical strategies for values-driven work, and lessons we can learn from nature and each other.
Contact us to discuss pricing options that
ensure our services are accessible to you.
