A Place at the Table’s Maggie Kane, The Helius Foundation’s Geraud Staton and ReCity’s Rob Shields will be the featured speakers at the next WRAL TechWire Live event on May 21 from 7:30-10:00 a.m. Leadership Triangle’s Jesica Averhart will moderate a panel discussion.
The event is sold out.
The free event, hosted at WRAL and presented by Wells Fargo, will focus on defining social impact and why such work is necessary. Learn how Triangle nonprofits are working like startups to devise innovative solutions to many of the problems facing our region and neighbors, and see how startups and businesses of all shapes and sizes can learn to work more like these nonprofits.
Attendees will access resources that can help them plug-in where they best fit and either continue or begin a meaningful journey of engaging “the other” and building communities where all can thrive.
More on our speakers & moderator
Maggie Kane is the founder and executive director of A Place at the Table, the first pay-what-you-can cafe in downtown Raleigh. She graduated from North Carolina State University in 2013 and began working for a nonprofit with people experiencing homelessness. By befriending many people living on the margins, she knew something needed to be done. Kane has a heart to serve, a desire to always be inclusive, and a passion for loving people. Through her work with people on the streets, she realized the power of community, the importance of dignity, and the beauty in bringing people together over incredible food. In February 2015, A Place at the Table was birthed, and she never looked back. A Place at the Table opened in January 2018 serving thousands of people in Raleigh with a dignified, healthy, and affordable meal; however, more importantly, a meal that feeds more than just the stomach–it feeds your hearts, souls, and minds. Outside of the cafe, you will catch her running marathons and eating peanut butter.
Geraud Staton is the executive director for The Helius Foundation, a Durham-based entrepreneurial consulting company specializing in small businesses and Necessity-Driven Entrepreneurs (NDEs). NDEs are individuals who are unable to find traditional, living-wage employment, including long-time veterans, single parents, people with criminal records or individuals from lower socio-economic backgrounds. Helius has created a means to arm and protect NDEs and provide all of the services that small business owners need to create sustainable businesses. Staton believes wholeheartedly in the mission of the organization and seeks to improve women and minority-owned businesses.
ReCity Executive Director Rob Shields brings a decade of experience in nonprofit management and service, with a focus on youth development. After serving in nonprofit leadership for nearly five years, Shields joined the visioning team for ReCity Network in 2014, becoming the organization’s founding Executive Director. Observing deep divisions in Triangle communities along lines of race, class, and opportunity, he was motivated to create a network of nonprofits, mission-driven businesses, and faith-based organizations that could collaborate to address the most challenging issues facing our communities. By bringing together dozens of organizations since ReCity’s 2016 launch, he has helped build a social impact hub, responding to demand for a more expansive mission of shared space and shared impact for the hundreds of nonprofits that call Durham home. Shields is a native North Carolinian and earned a bachelor’s degree in psychology from UNC Chapel Hill in 2007.
Jesica Averhart is the Executive Director of Leadership Triangle, a non-profit established to educate and develop regional leaders. Prior to Leadership Triangle, Averhart served as the Director of Corporate Partnerships for Capitol Broadcasting. She’s managed the partnership relationships for Google, Google Fiber, Wells Fargo, Fidelity Labs, Lincoln Financial, Audi, Lenovo, Duke I&E, CFCU, RTP, BCBSNC and others.