Recently named a “2020 World-Changing Woman” by Conscious Company Media, Jenn Graham is on a mission to design a more inclusive world. An activist, designer, and civic tech entrepreneur, Jenn Graham is the Founder and CEO of Civic Dinners, a community engagement platform that brings people together for conversations that matter. 

Can you tell our readers about your background?

I’m a tech entrepreneur, designer, and community organizer, but I never set out to be any of these. A bicycle accident literally launched me into full-time activism and entrepreneurship in 2011, and my obsession with raising the level of conversation around important issues led me to quit my cozy 9 to 5 job and start my own 24/7 life as an entrepreneur. I fell in love with using design as a tool for social good, helping nonprofits tell better stories and using community-organizing strategies to shape real policy change around key issues such as early childhood education and transportation.

What inspired you to start your business?

As a former organizer of TEDxAtlanta for five years, I became good at bringing people together to be inspired by incredible speakers in hopes of raising the level of conversation around important issues in Atlanta. After 12 events, and not much change -- with things actually getting worse with a failed transportation referendum, cheating scandals of our public school system on national news -- I began to question my approach. I realized that real change doesn’t happen in an auditorium. It happens in small groups, where people have the opportunity to engage in dialogue, and really discuss an issue from all sides. That’s when I started to explore other models of community engagement, from Jeffersonian dinners to salons, and realized that if I wanted to really spark local action, I had to create a way for people to gather together around the issues they care about, with a little bit of structured conversation, and then sit back and watch the fireworks. 

Where is your business based?

Civic Dinners is based in Atlanta, Georgia, yet we operate globally and work with clients all over the world. 

How did you start your business? What were the first steps you took?

Civic Dinners grew from an idea and social experiment, to a consultancy project under my social innovation design studio called Aha! Strategy. Once the first project won awards and I started receiving requests to do similar work in other states and with other nonprofits, I knew I was on to something. The first thing I did was register the trademark for the name, and work on initial marketing materials to explain the concept, the business model, and the pricing, while approaching key partners. I also applied for every possible incubator, accelerator and startup pitch competition I could find to validate the concept. I was grateful to receive an initial $15,000 grant from MailChimp to build out the initial platform and technology. I basically bootstrapped Civic Dinners using profits from my consultancy practice until Civic Dinners started earning revenue of its own in 2018, and I spun it out of Aha! Strategy as its own LLC.  

What has been the most effective way of raising awareness for your business?

Honestly, word of mouth. Those who experience a Civic Dinner tend to rave about it to their friends, family, and colleagues and about 90% of people find out about us because of a friend. Also our model is inherently social and viral, as people sign up to host, they then invite their friends or network to join their dinner. Afterwards, people post about their experience on social media, tagging @civicdinners and the related topic in hashtags. Our partners have also been amazing at helping raise awareness, from our largest client Facebook to partners such as The King Center, The Aspen Institute, Welcoming America, and Teach for America. Being able to align with thought leaders who really care about creating a better future helps raise our brand and purpose. 

What have been your biggest challenges and how did you overcome them?

As a mom and a full-time entrepreneur, it’s been a challenge balancing the demands of a growing startup, managing a global team, and being present at home. I’m sure other female founders agree that being a founder is more than a full-time gig. It’s constantly on my mind, and I’m always thinking of ways to grow, expand, improve, etc. Taking time off and really letting go is difficult, as my husband is also a social entrepreneur. The other challenge I’d say is that building and maintaining a team with a shoestring budget as a bootstrapped business is difficult, and having only a few months runway can be stressful and makes long-term planning really difficult.

Now that we’re more established, and have more recurring annual revenue, we can plan further in advance, and launch more strategic initiatives while building new partnerships that will grow into stable long-term customers. When Covid-19 struck, we were lucky to have just received our first investment, and had just hired another developer and product manager, and UX designer. So we had the team we needed to pivot to a virtual solution and did so within just 10 days. Our ability to pivot quickly proved to our existing clients and our community that we were fully committed to our mission of bringing people together, especially in times of crisis when we need community more than ever. 

How do you stay focused?

Ha! I get my best work done between 9pm – 12pm midnight most nights simply because during the day I’m usually in back-to-back meetings with clients, mentors, partners, and team members, or providing feedback to my team. As the CEO, I wear a lot of hats, so my best friend is my trusty to-do list. I can’t stand using digital task managers and prefer to have a physical list in front of me where I have the joy of scratching an item off when I’ve completed it. It keeps me focused and on task. And when I’ve forgotten something, a team member inevitably pings me on slack with a kind reminder. 

How do you differentiate your business from the competition?

Civic Dinners is the only platform of its kind, right now. I designed this out of pure desire and as a bespoke solution to helping organizations design, launch and manage community conversations at scale. Our technology therefore is unique and we’re the only platform that allows organizations from cities, to state governments, to nonprofits and companies to co-design and brand their own conversations and bring their communities together around issues that matter. There are loads of nonprofit organizations out there like Living Room Conversations that are doing amazing work in encouraging people to have meaningful conversation with those who are different than them. However, we’re the only platform that offers organizations a complete end-to-end solution that helps organizations frame the big issues of our time, engage diverse perspectives, find common ground and mobilize action. Our follow-up and reporting provides partners with the insights of the community.

What has been your most effective marketing strategy to grow your business?

Honestly, doing really great work and having our clients rave about Civic Dinners to other organizations and leaders has been the best marketing strategy. We’ve spent very little on marketing, only on staff to support social media. We’ve showed up to expo at Smart City Expo in Atlanta, and other conferences where we might meet civic leaders or nonprofit advocates, and we’ve launched our own initiatives from The Lovable City to The Inclusive Series. But I think the best marketing strategy is still the old fashioned word of mouth referral, and capturing our case studies and client testimonials. 

What's your best piece of advice for aspiring and new entrepreneurs?

I remember the first thing my first design teacher ever told me. Her name is Silvia Gafney, and she taught at the Portfolio Center in Atlanta. She said “Your role as a designer, is to create a whole new world that doesn’t exist, that no one can live without.”  I took that to heart, and I believe that my role as an entrepreneur is to constantly be the visionary, to see something that doesn’t exist, to anticipate the future, and adjust as needed. Therefore, my advice for aspiring entrepreneurs is to hold on to your vision, and be ruthless in your pursuit of making it happen. You can make it happen with sheer will and determination. It just might take a little longer than you expected or hoped, but if you persevere, magical things will happen and the stars will eventually align. 

What's your favorite app, blog, and book? Why?

Anything written by Brené Brown. She’s the real deal, and comes across vulnerable and powerful at the same time.  

What's your favorite business tool or resource? Why?

I don’t think I could live without Creative Cloud suite with access to InDesign, Illustrator, and Photoshop. I’m forever grateful that I went to design school after business school, to learn the art of design so that I could have the ability to think of an idea, and actually design it myself. 

Who is your business role model? Why?

I have a big business role model crush on Elon Musk. I appreciate his ambitious dreams and how he believes whole-heartedly in how his companies can help solve world problems, from solar to electric vehicles. I admire his willingness to be results oriented and his ability to inspire a team to literally land a rocket ship back where it took off after circling the moon is just remarkable. I believe he’s one of the greatest entrepreneurs alive today. 

How do you balance work and life?

I’m probably not the role model for how to balance work and life. I tend to go all out on work, especially if there’s a pressing deadline and sometimes personal life and self care take a hit. But eventually, it catches up with me and I rest when my body says rest. I am grateful to have a super supportive husband who as an entrepreneur totally gets it. He’s also an excellent chef and a fabulous father. We are both night owls and he’s great about helping me crack difficult challenges as a thought partner. I don’t think I’d be able to be where I am today without him as a partner in life. 

What’s your favorite way to decompress?

Long walks, escaping to a mountain cabin for the weekend, or simply a hot bath soak, after a massage. There’s nothing better than having a massage in our own home, then floating in a tub of Epson salt to melt away the stress and fully decompress. 

What do you have planned for the next six months?

The next six months will be ridiculously exciting for Civic Dinners. We’ve just launched our new whitelabeled site with Facebook called Community Conversations (fbconversations.com) and I highly encourage any female founder to go there and sign up to host or attend a Female Founder Civic Dinner. Within the next month we’ll be expanding into 18 new countries across Latin America, Europe, Middle East and Africa. We’re currently translating our site into 10 languages. And leading up to the election in the United States, we hope to partner with many new organizations looking to bring people together across differences and help raise the level of conversation around important issues. Now is the time to come together, more than ever. 

How can our readers connect with you?

To connect with me personally: 

Email me at jenn@civicdinners.com

LinkedIn:  https://www.linkedin.com/in/jenngraham/

To connect with Civic Dinners and follow our journey: 

Website:  http://civicdinners.com

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/civicdinners/

Facebook:  https://www.facebook.com/CivicDinners