What I Do | Montréal | B. Lorraine Smith

A Different Kind of “Consultant”

I tell the truth about how companies contribute to the future we want.

I back up what I say with lived experience — and with companies’ own publicly declared intentions.

I highlight what is possible in order for us to evolve towards an economy that works in service of life.

This entails advisory and coaching services, writing and public speaking, as well as experimenting with new approaches to old tools, such as Matereality.

Reframing possible. We need organizations — whole industries really — to radically shift in the near term. Organizations and industries are run by individuals. People like you and me. Being a very average amateur athlete and then running 5 back-to-back ultramarathons in 5 days at age 50, I embody a renewed sense of “possible” and can guide others so that what might have seemed completely out of the question becomes not only doable, but straightforward. (And fun.)
Changing course. I have lived on 4 continents and worked in a lot of different circumstances (a global NGO, my own artisanal business, a high-end design studio, a massive financial corporation, a boutique consultancy, and as a freelancer, to name a few). I recognize the guardrails we’re offered as contributors to the current mainstream economic model, and I have a lot of experience stepping over them and into more fulfilling, interesting, and reality-based lanes.

Language dexterity. I am fluent in English, Portuguese, and French, and have facilitated workshops and coaching sessions in these languages. I enjoy building bridges across languages and cultures. What’s more, having often been out of my own linguistic comfort zone, I can appreciate and support people who are working in a language (and here I mean “language” in the broader social technology sense) other than their own.

Making cloth. I have been making cloth for over four decades, studying techniques including spinning, knitting, weaving, dyeing, felting, and embroidery, with every spinnable fibre imaginable – plant, animal, and synthetic. Spinning thread and making cloth is a way to understand history, interconnectedness, culture, colour, comfort, dreams, design, persistence, and patience. I apply these skills literally and metaphorically to the work at hand.

Story-telling. I am a writer and story-teller. It’s how I absorb and pass on information. This includes essays, short stories, white papers, poems, facilitated dialogue, coaching, and public speaking. (Also a lot of voice memos on whatsapp and signal.)