Social Impact Heroes Helping Our Planet: Why & How Auste Valikonyte Of Sustain Academy Is Helping To Change Our World
An Interview With Martita Mestey
Don’t overthink — overthinking stops you from moving forward and from moving fast;
As part of my series about “individuals and organizations making an important social impact”, I had the pleasure of interviewing Auste Valikonyte.
Auste is a co-founder of Sustain Academy, managing partner of Sustain Advisory and certified GRI reporting professional.
Thank you so much for doing this with us! Before we dig in, our readers would like to get to know you a bit. Can you tell us a bit about how you grew up?
I grew up in Vilnius, Lithuania. Although I was living in the city center, like most of the kids here, I spend most of my summers in a summer house with my grandparents. Nature and slow living was always a big part of my life and taking care of it just felt natural.
You are currently leading a social impact organization that is making a difference for our planet. Can you tell us a bit about what you and your organization are trying to change in our world today?
Sustain Academy is an online sustainability academy for professionals wishing to enhance their sustainability journey. We offer a 10-week LIVE online sustainability course followed by 1:1 mentorship, taught by best experts in the field.
Essentially, we are helping companies to fast track their sustainability game — from providing them with real life case studies, peer to peer assessments, to workshops and mentorship — we give practical tools to participants so that they are able to successfully navigate further once they are back at their organizations. So far, more than 100 companies from more than 10 different countries have trained their employees with us.
Can you tell us the backstory about what inspired you to originally feel passionate about this cause?
I met my partner Ieva in London in 2019 at a Zero Waste conference where we were drawn together by our passion for sustainability. A couple of years later whilst still employed full-time we founded Sustain Academy and have been very close friends since.
Prior to Sustain Academy, Ieva worked in an FMCG sector developing sustainable brands and I was working in a renewable energy sector. We both realized that the people we worked with lacked the knowledge in the field of sustainability to perform well.
At the same time, the demand for sustainability positions started to rise globally. This was also the time when we started approaching various organizations in the field, taking sustainability courses ourselves, and working with consultants. We then quickly realized that most of them do not provide tools and practical resources to create a measurable and practical sustainability strategy — that’s where we spotted the opportunity.
Many of us have ideas, dreams, and passions, but never manifest them. They don’t get up and just do it. But you did. Was there an “Aha Moment” that made you decide that you were actually going to step up and do it? What was that final trigger?
It was at that moment that I found out that my partner Ieva was moving back to Vilnius (where I was based at that time). I had an idea — Ieva liked it and soon after our initial call we started working together. Today I feel extremely lucky we found each other and had a matching set of skills so that we were able to work together on what we both believed in and what was (and still is!) very much needed.
Many people don’t know the steps to take to start a new organization. What are some of the things or steps you took to get your project started?
We also knew very little about the education industry when we started. Apart from that, there were also no direct competitors to take a look at so we had to do everything from scratch. Even though I graduated from business school, and had a couple of businesses before, each business is different in its own way and the market has its own specifics.
To start with, we spoke with more than 100 field experts to get a better understanding of what skills and content are needed before putting together a curriculum.
It was just the two of us in the beginning so we had to do everything by ourselves — from finding speakers and shaping the program to designing the logo, calculating finance and even creating a website.
Can you share the most interesting story that happened to you since you began leading your company or organization?
There isn’t one particular story that I would be able to exclude, however I’m happy to say that meeting our speakers/lecturers/mentors is certainly one of the most interesting parts of the job. We work with the world’s leading sustainability experts, innovators, leaders that run the world’s largest and most forward thinking organizations. Meeting those people and having the opportunity to work alongside them is a very thrilling part of our job.
None of us can be successful without some help along the way. Did you have mentors or cheerleaders who helped you to succeed? Can you tell us a story about their influence?
We didn’t have mentors but we always had many supporters which boosted our confidence and motivation. We also formed a 25+ expert network on which we felt we could count when we didn’t know answers ourselves. We are very grateful for each and every one of them for being part of our journey.
Are there three things the community, society, or politicians can do to help you address the root of the problem you are trying to solve?
Society and communities should play their part in raising awareness around the topics of sustainability (including climate change, human rights, etc.). This can be done in different ways from protesting to supporting local communities to voting in the elections for the right parties and/or people.
Meanwhile politicians should pay attention to what else can be done to foster ESG related regulations and reporting so that companies would get the support they need to fast track their sustainability journeys as well as the regulations necessary to prevent greenwashing, ensure transparency, etc.
How would you articulate how a business can become more profitable by being more sustainable and more environmentally conscious? Can you share a story or example?
Sustainability in general is about balance and about managing business and its processes in such a way that we would fulfill the needs of the business without compromising the needs of future generations. So to some extent it is also about resource efficiency. This provides long term cost savings as focus shifts towards circular economy, green energy solutions, and achieving more with less.
When we work with companies we often start with a sustainability audit which helps to identify the biggest impact areas. From there, a clear action plan and measurable KPIs should be set so that a company is able to move forward and observe its journey along the way.
One obvious measurable step that all companies can immediately take is start calculating their CO2 emissions.
What are your “5 things I wish someone told me when I first started” and why. Please share a story or example for each.
- Trust your gut — it’s good to seek advice from others but often you’re the person that know the business and market best so trust your judgment.
- Don’t overthink — overthinking stops you from moving forward and from moving fast;
- Plan, plan, plan — good planning is key and really helps you to focus on what really matters.
- Always look at a big picture — it’s easy to get lost in a daily routine full of separate tasks and to-do lists. However, I find it very refreshing to look at a big picture every time I encounter a bigger challenge or when I need to make a bigger decision — this really helps to put things into perspective and prioritize accordingly.
- Prioritize your health — both physical and mental — because if these things are not in balance — the rest doesn’t really matter anyway.
If you could tell other young people one thing about why they should consider making a positive impact on our environment or society, like you, what would you tell them?
To put simply — the future is where your adult self is going to live very soon. Why not make this place nice to live in?
Can you please give us your favorite “Life Lesson Quote”? Can you share how that was relevant to you in your life?
Those who think they can, and those who think they can’t are both right. A lot in business depends on your ability to learn, move forward and start over so a can-do attitude is always helpful.
Is there a person in the world, or in the US with whom you would like to have a private breakfast or lunch with, and why? He or she might just see this, especially if we tag them. 🙂
Alicia Keys and Beyonce. I think pop culture in general could go great miles when it comes to messages related to sustainability. Those messages can shape our understanding of what’s truly important in life and how our actions can make a difference.
How can our readers follow you online?
This was very meaningful, thank you so much. We wish you only continued success on your great work!
Social Impact Heroes Helping Our Planet: Why & How Auste Valikonyte Of Sustain Academy Is Helping… was originally published in Authority Magazine on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.