Meet an Anthem Judge: Lance Gould, Brooklyn Story Lab
Lance Gould is the Chief Executive Officer of Brooklyn Story Lab, a content-strategy firm that teaches purpose-driven orgs how to think like media companies. Lance is also a member of the Anthem judging academy — read our interview with him below.
For those who are unfamiliar, can you tell us a bit about yourself and the work that you do?
I’m a former journalist who had newsroom-leadership roles at HuffPost, the New York Daily News, the Boston Phoenix, and Spy magazine. After 30 years in the space — and nudged by an unexpected layoff — I started my own media-consulting firm, Brooklyn Story Lab. Our mission is to teach purpose-driven organizations how to think and behave like media companies, so that they can get 1) more visibility and thus 2) more impact for the social good work they’re doing.
What expertise are you bringing as a judge for The Anthem Awards?
Hmmm. Not easy to talk about oneself in that way, but I have written or edited for more than 100 publications in the U.S., UK, and Canada, so I have a decent sense of storytelling. And I have covered or collaborated with various UN agencies since 1991 — I was at the very first Earth Summit in Rio in 1992 — and so I have a similarly decent sense of the issues that have been identified as the world’s most pressing problems.
What are you looking for in Anthem Awards entries?
I think actually moving the needle a little is more important than promising to move it a lot. What is the project doing to actually make impact?
What does it take for a project or campaign to cause real-world change?
Scalability. If you can ideate a solution that makes actual impact in one locale, it offers the potential to be able to make impact in another locale, as well.
What social impact campaign, grassroot effort, fundraiser or project has recently inspired you?
Piñatex, the vegan leather made out of pineapple leaves (video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wMKaoO4O1uQ). The pineapple industry harvests about 27.5 million tons of pineapples every year — and generates over 76 million tons of waste in pineapple leaves. Left untended, that waste would turn into harmful methane emissions — but Piñatex turns that potential waste into vegan leather for major brands. Well produced video and campaign that courts corporate ingenuity.
