Zack’s Story

“You may ask yourself, well, how did I get here?” – David Byrne

Good question Mr. Byrne!

Well, how did I get here? I took the long way.

I started getting interested in sustainable business while I was at UVM. I changed my eating habits (went vegetarian, the meat at the cafeteria was unconscionably bad!) and began thinking of my (our) impact on the environment. I also knew some people that had started sustainable (in those days, hippie) businesses, and was interested in what they were doing and spent some time working for them.

Vermont is a great place to learn about sustainable businesses – there are quite a few. One of the things that seemed to be consistent was these businesses had awesome ideas, great products, and a true passion for what they were doing. I also thought that these organizations might need some help with traditional business concepts and strategies.

I wanted to be able to help the businesses that had these awesome ideas, great products, and enthusiasm. So I decided to get a Masters in Business, focusing on sustainability. I started at one school, found that it wasn’t a good fit, moved on, and found another. I am now happily working on an MBA in Organizational and Environmental Sustainability from Antioch University New England.

I wanted to learn more so I could help people. I have been interested in “community building” in groups ever since reading the late, great Scott Peck’s The Different Drum. Reading that book turned on a light for me – I realized that working with people is my passion! I have worked with both large and small groups of disparate backgrounds, and love the feeling that comes from leading a group or team towards a common goal. I have also always been interested in developing technologies. This second passion led me to find my way to the “social media” space before most people.

These two seemingly separate interests then collided with a BANG. I realized I am passionate about two things: community and technology. I also realized that Social Media Marketing is a combination of these two passions. Awesome! I started thinking about how businesses could use Social Media to create new relationships (and strengthen existing ones) with their customers and employees. I started getting really excited about it, and I started telling everyone that would listen about what I was learning. The picture that you see below was taken by my friend and colleague @JCosta21 as I was explaining to my Antioch MBA cohort how their organizations could use Twitter to listen to what their customers were saying.

In that moment, captured by John, I realized what I truly wanted to do – to share this good stuff with everyone.

And that is how I got here.

-Zack Luby