My name is Liv, and I am the founder of Elvie.

I have come to this work after many years’ experience in gender and disability inclusion. Within that I have had the privilege of working with so many amazing feminist orgs, seeing what transformative leadership looks like in practice and how beneficial it can be to a workplace.

But that’s not how I came to start Elvie!

The concept for Elvie came after starting my own small business, a restaurant which I started and operated for a year. I was surprised to learn how much more relevant my skills in transformative leadership and inclusion were to my new gig than I would have expected.

Even though a restaurant is an age-old trade, I found there were so many opportunities to shape my business around my values, and operate in an ethical way. This applied to all elements of the business, from staff policies to marketing materials, to the partnerships we chose to engage in.

The result was a rate of staff retention unheard of in the hospitality industry, a loyal customer base, and so many wonderful partnerships with like-minded folks. More importantly, it was a business that I could, and always will be, proud of.

So, when it came time to figure out what was next, I knew that I wanted to be able to pass on those learnings to other small businesses. Elvie is how I decided to do that, utilising as well my many years as a facilitator in the diversity and inclusion spaces.

Now I am able to provide wrap-around support to values-driven businesses like mine, while bringing an ethical lens back into the small business space.

So what about the name?

The name Elvie is a simple acronym using some of the key principles of our work.