Suggestions
Amanda Levinson
Social Innovation Strategist & Advisor | Cofounder, NeedsList (Exited) | Arts-Driven Civic Engagement | Founder and Caregiver Wellbeing Advocate | Inc. Female Founders 100
Amanda Levinson is a prominent Social Innovation and Impact Strategist and coach based in Durham, North Carolina. She has over 20 years of experience in participatory and human-centered design, focusing on launching and sustaining social ventures across various sectors, including technology, nonprofit, and government. Levinson is particularly passionate about supporting emerging social entrepreneurs and established teams addressing complex social issues while advocating for founder and caregiver wellbeing as a cornerstone of healthy organizations.12
Professional Background
Levinson is the co-founder of NeedsList, a humanitarian tech startup that developed a platform facilitating real-time resource allocation during crises, which successfully moved over $35 million to grassroots nonprofits globally. After her tenure as COO, she transitioned to a board co-chair role before the company's exit to Armillaria in early 2024.13
In addition to her entrepreneurial ventures, she has founded Amanda Levinson Embodiment, where she utilizes trauma-informed practices to support the mental health of founders and caregivers.1 Her coaching services encompass strategic business planning, fundraising strategies, and integrating mindfulness into workplace cultures.1
Education and Recognition
Levinson holds a Bachelor of Arts in American Studies from Reed College and a Master of Public Affairs focused on International Migration and Human Rights Law from The University of Texas at Austin. She has received several accolades, including being named one of Inc. Magazine's Female Founders 100 in 2022 and receiving the Tech for Good Award from the NC Tech Awards in 2019.12
Personal Approach
As a certified breathwork coach and yoga teacher, Levinson emphasizes the importance of mindfulness and self-care in her work. She aims to help individuals manage stress and burnout effectively, fostering resilience and compassion in their personal and professional lives.13
Highlights
This #WorldRefugeeDay, let's celebrate the incredible creativity, entrepreneurship, and resilience of refugee founders and companies creating solutions for refugees.
Mursal Hedayat MBE founded Chatterbox to hire refugees to provide corporate language learning.
Manal Kahi started Eat Offbeat to bring the food of refugee chefs to the masses in NYC.
CONCAT Tech is a tech development and design company led by refugee developers.
Yasmine Mustafa created ROAR to protect vulnerable workers--many of them immigrants and refugees--in the workplace.
Sakeena Mihar started Savyn to provide accessible, affordable PTSD treatment for refugees in Canada.
....and there are many more.
With the ascendancy of nationalist governments around the world who demonize migrants and refugees as the source of their country's (and our country's) problems, supporting refugee-led companies and organizations across all sectors, as well as investing in solutions for refugees, is more important than ever.
Impact friends: Natasha Freidus and I are doing some writing on the challenge of duplicative projects in the impact sector. Who is working on interesting thinking and solutions around duplication of efforts? We know Cameron Burgess Astrid Scholz and Madelynn Martiniere are working on this. What tools should we know about? Any funders working on this? Who should we be talking to?
