CARMEN GET IT! is officially a Certified B Corp and it couldn’t have come at a better time
I started my business to break the rules.
Not the fun ones, like having your birthday off or cake for breakfast—though I highly recommend both. But the ones that tell you business is just about making money.
The ones that try to get you to sand down your edges, make you more palatable, and less you. The ones that say doing good is a nice extra, not the whole damn point. The ones that seduce you into treating sustainability like a side quest—something you’ll get to later, rather than how business should be done, full stop.
Or the ones that convince you ‘no one’s really watching’, and that you should be free to carry out your business without ever having to answer for the mark you leave on the world.
That’s why this feels big. Because CARMEN GET IT! is officially a Certified B Corporation™ 🎉
Buzzing, but taking a moment 🐝
Now don’t get me wrong, part of me wants to use this opportunity to unleash a torrent of ‘B’ puns I’ve been storing up, and tell you how my business meets high standards of social and environmental impact.
Part of me wants to tell you how proud I am to have reached 102.6 points and unlocked an Impact Business Model for working with purpose-driven and under-served communities (the median score for businesses is ~50.9).
And part of me wants to shout it from the treetops that I’ve got a special B Corp Month offer happening right now, and that I’m so keen to work with my fellow Bs to communicate your impact and supercharge your comms.
But…what I’m actually going to do right now is pause.
Pump the brakes. Take a beat. Have a break (and have a KitKat chit chat).
Not because B Corp Certification is the finish line or because I think my work here is done. And not because I’m about to launch into telling you why you should care and why we need an economy that actually benefits all (not yet anyway).
But because marking the moment matters.
Business, like life, is full of tricky bits. But this? This is a good day.
In a world that constantly pushes us to keep moving, keep producing, keep chasing the next thing, stopping and standing still long enough to let your feet catch up with your heart is a quiet kind of rebellion.
Rest assured, I’ll get into the how, the why, and what it means in good time, but for now—I’m going to do something semi-radical (in our culture). I’m going to take a moment to bask in the sunshine.
A moment to let this sink in.
A moment to mark the milestone.
A moment to celebrate the people along the way.
A moment to honour the process and the work.
Because beyond the fancy badge, the confetti emojis, and my very real excitement about being part of a growing community redefining what it means to do business—if we don’t take the time to let moments like this land, we risk missing their meaning and the chance to amplify their ripple effect. Or, as my Nan always said:
“What is this life if, full of care, you have no time to stand and stare?”
Celebrating with legendary Mkt. Communications’ Client Services and Strategy Director, Erin Roy, and B Lab AANZ Marketing Manager, Katie Whittaker.
My ‘B’ badge has fingerprints all over it 🫶
In many ways, it’s taken a year (and a career) to get here, and yes, the certification process is as rigorous as you’ve heard it is (and as it should be). But there’s no way I would B (sorry) here without the guidance and inspiration of a whole hive (sorry again) of people.
So before my moment in the sun is over, before you play the orchestral music and usher me (disgracefully) off the stage—I want to share thank yous.
To my B Consultant and business coach, Elana Robertson from foundher., who kept me on track, helped me navigate the trickier parts of the B Impact Assessment, and guides me to build an impact-led business. You are simply the best (*cue David Rose serenade*).
To the B Corp clients I’ve collaborated with and admired for years, from Mkt. Communications, to Pure Finance, Digital Storytellers, Future Super, Summerland Bank, Beamible and more—I’m thrilled to now be in the arena alongside you.
To the organisations and causes I care about—The Global Women’s Project, Ladies Talk Money, WAGEC, Psychology for a Safe Climate, Clothing The Gaps, and more—thank you for enabling me to put my skills where my values are in service of your work.
To the B Corps I’ve looked up to for years (and can now technically use my name in the same sentence as)—Who Gives A Crap, Code Like A Girl, T2, Ben & Jerry’s, Bank Australia, AWWA, KeepCup, Intrepid Travel—and the almost 10,000 other businesses showing up and doing the work of transforming the global economic system. It’s an honour to be here alongside you.
And of course, having spent years working alongside the phenomenal team at B Lab Australia & Aotearoa New Zealand, helping shape B Corp Month campaigns, capturing events like Assembly to SXSW Sydney, and sharing the movement’s growing impact from the inside—thank you all for ushering and leading such an incredible movement in this part of the world.
The truth is, at some point, I knew I didn’t just want to tell the story. I wanted to be part of it.
Now I am. And I think that’s worth celebrating.
