Season-4, episode 10 of “ZENPod”, featuring Colleen Clines, Co-Founder & CEO - “Anchal”, a non-profit social enterprise.

https://anchalproject.org 

Colleen was named was named one of Public Interest Design's Top Global 100 designers.  Colleen was also awarded the NABWO Humanitarian award.Colleen used design thinking to create innovative solutions for tackling social inequalities and reform traditional textile manufacturing practices.

“Spirituality for me is about Love and Belief that there is a bigger world outside of me and I really need to contribute to that and that’s my purpose for being here”, says  Colleen Clines, in her conversation with Venkatesh Mahadevan. 

“We felt compelled to take the project beyond the classroom with the conviction that our design training, in collaboration with local leadership, could address seemingly intractable social and environmental systems. The women we met became our sisters, sisters we had to fight for.”  - Colleen Clines, Co-Founder & CEO of Anchal 

“We both had linear projections for our careers. Then I saw that we could have more impact than I ever anticipated as a young woman. So I jumped onboard and we decided to make a go of it!” - Maggie Clines, COO & Creative Director 

Colleen values how design can become the tool for sustainable solutions to gender inequality, social injustice, and environmental degradation. She combines this passion as a social entrepreneur and impact designer through her work at Anchal. A Louisville native with a Bachelor of Landscape Architecture from the University of Kentucky, Colleen earned her Master of Landscape Architecture degree from the Rhode Island School of Design (RISD). During her time in graduate school, she initiated the founding of Anchal alongside her sister Maggie after a trip to India.  Anchal is based on the philosophy that we can create positive change in the world through collaboration in design. We are a team of designers, storytellers, activists, and dreamers.            

With backgrounds in design, sisters Colleen and Maggie Clines lead the organization by placing design and collaboration at the center of Anchal’s practice. It all started in a design studio. Colleen Clines was taking a graduate seminar at the Rhode Island School of Design that took her on a trip to India in 2009. Through local leadership, Colleen was introduced to the exploitive world of the commercial sex trade and the lack of opportunity for women in the community. It was in this moment she was inspired to design more than beautiful landscapes, she was determined to collaborate with the NGO using design.Colleen leads the overall strategic and operational planning for Anchal’s programs, partnerships, expansion, and execution of its mission. In 2013, she was named one of Public Interest Design’s Top Global 100 designers. She was awarded Sacred Heart Academy's Heart Award in 2015 and Presentation Academy's Tower award in 2014. Most recently Colleen was named to Louisville Business First’s 2016 Forty under 40 List, and awarded the 2017 NAWBO Humanitarian Award. Colleen has shared Anchal's mission and design thinking model as a keynote speaker at gatherings including the Fair Trade Federation National Conference, NY NOW, the Ali Center's Daughters of Greatness Series, Creative Mornings Louisville and Alt Summit. “ZENPod” is a Podcast series that features trailblazers from different walks of life, with a purpose to build an empowered eco-system where learnings and experiences from these enlightened professionals, will be available within “arms reach of desire” for those who aspire to scale higher and wish to contribute, in their life’s pursuit.