Author Details

Cindy Cooper has been working as a social entrepreneurship educator, entrepreneur, intrapreneur and consultant since 1999. She teaches social entrepreneurship to undergraduates, graduates and professionals and oversees Portland State University’s Impact Entrepreneurs, which offers courses, trainings and incubation programs to unleash the promise of business for social impact. Impact Entrepreneurs’ Social Innovation Incubator was named by Fast Company Magazine as one of “America’s 51 bold and brilliant ideas to enrich our cities and our lives.” Cindy is an Ashoka U Change Leader overseeing PSU’s participation as an Ashoka U Changemaker Campus. Cindy’s clients have included Girls for a Change, Upwardly Global, Central City Concern, EcoZoom, My Street Grocery, Nike, Ashoka Changemakers, and Meyer Memorial Trust. Cindy co-founded Speak Shop, an award-winning educational social enterprise offering live Spanish language classes by online videoconferencing. Previously she delivered programs for Net Impact, an international network of individuals interested in creating transformational change through their careers and ran a social entrepreneurship incubator for the Three Guineas Fund, a foundation committed to expanding educational and economic opportunities for girls and women.