Helene Lesterlin

My work focuses on community-building, business development, social impact, and finding pathways to aligned capital for startups, entrepreneurs, activists, and artists. My goal is to help build a movement that leads to a regenerative economy and healthy social ecosystems. Currently I serve as Worker Trustee at the Good Work Institute, a worker-self-directed non-profit that fosters Just Transition in the Hudson Valley, where I lead communications, growth and sustainability. I am also board member and mentor at Start.coop, an accelerator for scalable cooperatives; and co-founder and managing director of CO, a co-working co-op and community center. For three years, I supported startups and entrepreneurs at The Trillions Co. and Idealab NY, in partnership with Idealab Studio in Pasadena. We launched an accelerator that specialized in equity crowdfunding, an incubator for social innovation startups, a VC fund, and provided entrepreneur training and coaching with a focus on marketing, innovation and fundraising. To this work, I bring 15 years experience as a producer, curator and interdisciplinary contemporary artist, devoted to nurturing creativity, experimentation and ambition in media, art, and performance.