Vincent Carson, 29
Executive Director | Indie Square Public Benefit Corporation
What are you most proud of in your career thus far?
Over the past year and a half, I’ve had the privilege to help build Indie Square, an incubator for nonprofit organizations and community leaders. We currently have 14 small to medium nonprofits in our space, and have short- and long-range plans to expand into a hub of nonprofit activity in the state. It’s been really cool to see the community that’s developed in our space as a natural outcome of proximity. Even though all of our organizations have different cause areas and theories of change, they have the same day-to-day challenges that any small business would. The open door to collaborate and the built-in opportunity to cross-pollinate are now invaluable parts of many of our leaders’ organizations.
Was there a pivotal moment in your life that brought you to where you are today?
When I thru-hiked the Pacific Crest Trail, I became intimately familiar with the hiker mantra “the trail provides.” I love this idea that you can overcome any obstacle the wilderness throws at you; however, I also learned that I never had to be alone in solving these problems. On the trail, I had access to a network of fellow hikers and Trail Angels (the name for those who help woebegone hikers) who were there to offer a hand. It was my hike, and I never could have done it without the support of maybe hundreds of other people. I’ve tried to bring that ethos of community — strangers extending a hand simply because helping is the right thing to do — into every room I’ve been in since.
