Conversation of Change with Jacqui Hocking

For Jacqui Hocking, her passion to do-good fuels her.

“I have always been driven to stand for a higher purpose, not take anything for granted and work hard to create a lasting impact.” she said. “My personal objective is to get more people inspired to do the free B Impact assessment and start thinking about things beyond profit for their startups.”

Jacqui is CEO and Storyteller of Vision Strategy Storytelling (or VS Story), a media company which helps brands get more visibility through innovative video, virtual reality, photography and social media campaigns.

“I was lucky enough to discover a passion for filmmaking and be born into a generation with so much technology at my fingertips. So, I have been working endlessly over the last 10 years to create videos for social and environmental impact.” she continued.

Her Passion For Sustainable Development Goals

Though the pandemic restricted her movements, it hasn’t stopped her commitment. During her Conversation of Change interview, she talked about the various Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and environmental issues she cares about, which translates into her business.

“Whenever someone joins, they have to fill up a form to let us know what goal they are most passionate about.”

In her case, Jacqui feels strongly for the UN's Global Goal 5 ‘Achieve Gender Equality and Empower All Women and Girls’, Global Goal 17 ‘Partnerships For The Goals’, climate change and creating a more circular economy.

As CEO of a B-Corps Company

That passion translates into the work her company does. VS Story has been rated as a service with a minor environmental footprint and has been a certified B-Corps since Jan 2018.

B-Corps are part of a pioneering movement for organisations to stake claim as socially responsible businesses. The community ‘works toward reduced inequality, lower levels of poverty, a healthier environment, stronger communities, and the creation of more high quality jobs with dignity and purpose.’ It’s not simply lip service with these companies, they are truly brands that advocate social responsibility.

“It’s the B-Corps spirit. All the B-Corps around the world have more or less aligned towards being carbon-neutral.” which is achieving a zero carbon footprint by ‘balancing’ any carbon emissions any organisation (or individual) produces through investing in environmental projects around the world.

“For us, the one way that we can contribute to that is what we are currently working on. Maybe it’s someone in the organisation that can reduce your electricity bill or it’s a tree plantation in the Amazon Rainforest. We’re mapping out an ecosystem for Asia so that we can give a roadmap for other companies to follow suit.”

Balancing Our Carbon Footprint

“The other thing is, people don’t realise how much waste they’re producing everyday.”

Neutralising an individual’s carbon footprint is just as important as any big corporation. Climate change is one of the goals Jacqui advocates for and enthusiastically gave examples of how we can do our part for the environment.

She explained that instead of using Google, people could choose Ecosia which is a search engine that plants trees (with over 180 million planted so far). And every time someone takes a video or photo, it lives somewhere and it doesn’t just disappear.

“I don’t think people have really understood that.”

As a photographer she takes pictures of “every single thing and I love Instagram, like everybody. But I think it’s about doing it with mindfulness so you’re not contributing to normal waste. You’re really adding value to people’s lives.

“For example, I’m sharing this photo not because I want to brag about what I ate for breakfast this morning, but I want to promote The Social Space, which is a great cafe in Singapore.”

Creating a Circular Economy

This last example goes back to creating a more circular economy. “Normally when you buy a product, you use it and then throw it out, so there’s kind of this one-way process.” she remarked. “Oftentimes, this is a huge loss. Look at chopsticks, no one ever thinks about chopsticks but actually they’re made of bamboo, which is a great material. And we use hundreds and thousands of them everyday.

“I always tell people ‘waste’ is a verb, not a noun.”

ChopValue is a company she loves that is trying to minimise waste, with their mission to urban harvest, recycle and transform chopsticks into furniture.

It’s no surprise her biggest ambition is to build a stronger network around the world that are working on these issues.

What’s Next For Jacqui

“I think that as much as it has been a difficult year, it’s been an incredible opportunity to meet people with expertise in their fields. And so the next level for me, now with this storytelling company and it’s on this amazing path, I want to really move into really implementing impact, being that bridge between these companies and all of these incredible visionaries and solutions that exist out there.

“That’s kind of the next step for me, on the front of whether that’s investment or that’s really kind of advisory, implementing SDG solutions is something I'm really excited about for 2021.”

Next week, we’ll highlight Thomas Ng, CEO of Genashtim, a certified B-Corps, whose inclusive business model has provided employment for Persons with Disabilities, LGBT and elderly individuals.

Look out for the 8th episode of Conversation of Change.

These philanthropic efforts show that these socially responsible companies don’t focus on profits alone, which is rare enough, but they are achieving so much by leading by example.

So why not find out about starting one of your own?

Listen to the conversation HERE