| PODCAST E.10 | COLLEEN FURMAN, CMO @ NABU
ABOUT COLLEEN:
Colleen has 15+ years of experience in the start-up, digital marketing, and technology ecosystem. Becoming mostly plant-based at age six, her passion has been sustainability, wellness, and in seeing industries and companies differently. She has founded, consulted for, and participated in numerous companies. Currently, she is the CMO for NABU, a global literacy nonprofit, and consults, runs strategy and marketing for numerous clients from start-ups to Fortune 500s around the world. Current and past clients include Sony, LasikPlus, Harper Collins, AT&T, Reis, and BP. When not working on her “regular” job, Colleen is busy dreaming and working on side projects that include a coffee roasting company and a future Women’s Wellness fund. Colleen graduated from Villanova University’s Undergraduate Business School, spent time at Trinity College Dublin in the Law School, and has lived (mostly) in NYC for the past 11 years with her dog Tusk!
NABU’S MISSION:
Our mission is to solve the imbalance in children’s book creation and distribution, so all children can read and rise to their full potential. Literacy is a prerequisite for eradicating poverty, yet globally there is a severe shortage of local language books at the early grade levels. As a result, 250M children are leaving school without being able to read, rendering them extremely vulnerable to social and economic exploitation.
Our solution is to make children’s books free, and to champion mother tongue stories. Our vision is to build an inclusive, diverse, and community-centric global and local storytelling platform. When children can read in their local language first, they grow in confidence, and literacy levels shoot up. By offering training for writers and illustrators, we create original local language books that support children in learning how to read. Nabu.org is our free reading app that can distribute children’s books to millions of readers globally.
Link to Episode: https://open.spotify.com/episode/2LpHflwH8Pv4CK2uj93BOc?si=62eddd013f5b45d2
Hosted by: Justyna Kedra (@thisisjustyna) & Kosi Dunn
Produced by: Janusz Kedra
Questions about our events, podcast, blog or Impact Entrepreneurship Initiative? Email Justyna Kedra at justyna@newschool.edu