Speaking & Workshops

Ideas about work, dignity, creativity — and our power to create change

I speak about artisan economics, social entrepreneurship, women’s economic opportunity, creativity, purpose, and how change actually happens.

For more than twenty years I’ve worked as an entrepreneur, educator, researcher, and nonprofit leader — including work with artisans in more than 50 countries. I bring the stories, research, mistakes, and lessons from that work to conferences, classrooms, workshops, and conversations.

Speaking inquiries: stacey@staceyedgar.com

What I talk about

Talks & Conference Programs

Artisan Economics: Work, Dignity & a More Human-Centered Economy

The artisan economy offers a different way of thinking about work, business, and value. Drawing from my book Artisan Economics, I explore eight principles — purpose, creativity, dignity, resistance, value, community, sustainability, and shared prosperity — and what they teach us about the economies and communities we want to build.

Social Entrepreneurship & Changemaking

How do we take an idea and turn it into meaningful change? I draw from starting Global Girlfriend with a $2,000 tax refund, teaching social entrepreneurship, building and leading organizations, and two decades of figuring out what works — and what doesn’t.

Women’s Economic Opportunity & Power

What changes when women have greater economic opportunity and power over their own livelihoods? Drawing on entrepreneurship, research, and two decades of work with women-led enterprises around the world, I explore markets, money, dignity, and women’s ability to shape their own economic futures.

Crafting a Life

How do we build lives and careers around what actually matters to us? Drawing on the principles of artisan economics, I explore purpose, creativity, meaningful work, community, and the choices we make about how we spend our time and talents. These conversations come alive at women’s gatherings and with students imagining their next chapter.

Workshops & Facilitation

From ideas to action

I lead interactive workshops for organizations, communities, entrepreneurs, and students using design thinking, creative problem-solving, and systems thinking — including years of participatory design workshops with international artisans and entrepreneurs.

I also facilitate the HFI Taproot Model of Systems Change™ — a framework for creating change at three interconnected levels: structural, relational, and transformational. Workshops help groups explore a real challenge, see it from new angles, and find where they have the power to act.

Universities & Students

In the classroom

I love working with students — on social entrepreneurship, artisan economics, changemaking, women’s economic opportunity, and building a career around work that matters. I’ve taught at the University of Colorado Boulder and Colorado State University, and guest-lectured at the University of Illinois, Miami University in Ohio, the University of Denver, and Colorado College.

I also share an impact job board connecting students and emerging professionals with purpose-driven work — find it on my Substack.

Invite Stacey to your campus →

Featured Convening

Handmade Futures Summit

From 2020 to 2023 I co-created and hosted the annual Handmade Futures Summit — bringing together 200–300 artisans, buyers, and artisan-support organizations from around the world each year to exchange ideas, build connections, and shape the future of the artisan economy. It grew into a global gathering for the sector, and it reflects a part of this work I love: curating conversations and bringing people together around ideas that matter.

I also curate and moderate virtual artisan panels and global conversations.

Watch sessions from the 2023 Summit →