Lotus Clair Samuel

For my businessy background see here.
I collaborate with good people on interesting projects (the people matter more than the type of project), if you're good people and want to collaborate, feel free to reach out and say hello. Click here (same as the Say Hello! button at the top of the page) or send an email to "hi" at clairsamuel.com

These are my social media accounts, but please note that I am intentionally inactive on social media:

• LinkedIn
• Twitter
• Medium

I currently live on the traditional land of the Ohlone people. If you aren't familiar with the traditional territory of where you live, please explore Native Land Digital.

change management, compliance, and risk mitigation for private equity and startups.

Lotus Clair Samuel

in context

• Autodidactic and curious to the core.¹ 
• Intrinsically resourceful.
• A systems thinker.² 
• Pragmatic and paradoxical.

¹  If I was a cat, I would have run out of lives a long time ago.
²  I dislike the phrase "systems thinking" because, for me, it is redundant; however, buzzwords can be useful shorthand.

Experience

I have industry experience in the following fields ¹
• advanced materials,
• clean technology,
• economic development,
• healthcare,
• management consulting,
• operational efficiency,
• relief and reconstruction,
• robotics,
• supply chain transparency and traceability,
• supply chain water risk,
• sustainability,
• venture capital.While working at the following types of institutions ²
• venture capital studio,
• venture capital (emerging),
• think tank,
• startups (early-stage),
• startup incubator,
• private services firms,
• nonprofit,
• international finance institution,In the following roles ³
• Chief Operating Officer,
• Head of Compliance,
• de facto Chief Financial Officer,
• VP of Finance and Operations,
• Operations and Supply Chain Consultant,
• Independent Business Consultant,
• Strategy and Business Lead,
• Financial Analyst.Executing on ⁴
• compliance,
• due diligence,
• growth planning,
• change management,
• nondilutive funding,
• new venture spin-out,
• organizational design,
• organizational review,
• system and process design,
• market research and analysis,
• multi-entity ecosystem management,
• financial planning and forecasting.

Notes on listing order
¹  Alphabetical ascending.
²  Alphabetical descending.
³  Chronological descending.
⁴  Number of characters ascending.

Education

• Bachelors in International Development Studies, with a minor in cultural anthropology, from UCLA.
• MBA from Georgetown University.

Kids Books

updated June 15, 2020

Hi. This is a list of resources/books to aid in passing an intersectional feminist agenda on to the next generation :) I first posted this list a few years ago and will continue to build on it, I'd love to add any personal recommendations that you have.This is (obviously) not a comprehensive list of what’s out there and I hope to add more, please contact me if you want something added! Especially books for kids over 9yrs old.For books that you already own, consider using pronouns that gender neutral or switching it up, especially with inanimate objects or animals. I do this when reading Goodnight Construction Site, there's no good reason for a tractor or crane to be specific gender.I have no affiliation with the authors or publishing houses.

Resources and Lists

The Concious Kid is a great organization that has a number resources, for example, see their post Confronting Anti-Blackness: A Reading List for Ages 0-18. Find them on Patreon or Instagram.Ashay By The Bay is a great bookstore for all ages. "We are an Independent Minority Owned Business and Deborah Day is the Founder and CEO. She opened the business in 2000."A Mighty Girl is a "collection of books, toys and movies for smart, confident, and courageous girls". They have a sorting tool that makes it easy to target the age, interest, etc.Books for Littles has a number of lists and resources, see Influential Kids Books Featuring Capable Disabled Characters.Brightly has number of book lists about diversity - Brightly is a Penguin Random House Company.Mombian: Sustenance for Lesbian Moms is a list of young children’s books featuring queer moms or women.Diversity in Literature for Youth in the genre gudies from the San Francisco Public Library (SFPL).Social Justice Books: A Teaching For Change Project is another list.Brainpickings tag for children's books has some unique finds.16 Feminist Kids’ Books for Dismantling the Patriarchy by Jen DollTeaching Students with Visual Impairments' list of books "about people who are blind or visually impaired or are impacted by those with visual impairments."Great Books for Young Visually Impaired ChildrenThe Cooperative Children’s Book Center (CCBC) out of the School of Education at the University of Wisconsin-Madison has a number of resources, including Diversity Resources: Multicultural Literature and Books for Children and Young Adults.

---
A note for when purchasing books
Please consider using IndieBound, the library (books can be very resource intensive and kids of the future deserve all the resources we can give them, including as healthy an environment as possible). I avoid Amazon, but often use it for book pre-orders when I specifically want to support the author by increasing the book's rank. If we’re talking diversity, we should think about diversity of thought and influence when making our purchases, see “Amazon Must Be Stopped” by Franklin Foer, “the culture will suffer the inevitable consequences of monopoly—less variety of products”.Here is a list of Black owned bookstores from Publishers Weekly.Some books to get started.

Ages 2-6 (or older?)

Ada Twist’s Big Project Book For Stellar Scientists by Andrea Beaty and David Roberts
IndieBound Library on WorldCatBon Appetit! The Delicious Life of Julia Child by Jessie Hartland
IndieBound Library on WorldCatBlueberry Girl by Neil Gaiman
IndieBound Library on WorldCatCorduroy series by Don Freeman
IndieBoundDo Princesses Make Happy Campers? by Carmela LaVigna Coyle
IndieBound Library on WorldCatExtra Yarn by Mac Barnett
IndieBound Library on WorldCatFree to Be … You and Me by Marlo Thomas and Friends
IndieBound Library on WorldCatFrida Kahlo and Her Animalitos by Monica Brown
IndieBound Library on WorldCatGrace for President by Kelly S. DiPucchio
IndieBound Library on WorldCatI Dissent: Ruth Bader Ginsburg Makes Her Mark by Debbie Levy
IndieBound Library on WorldCatImagine by Juan Felipe Herrera and Lauren Castillo
This book is wonderful. The story, writing, and pictures. It shares the story of Herrera, the son of agricultural workers and became became the United States Poet Laureate.
IndieBound Library at WorldCatJerome by Heart by Thomas Scotto, translated by Claudia Bedrick and Karin
Snelson
IndieBound Library on WorldCatLittle Leaders: Bold Women in Black History by Vashti Harrison
IndieBound Library on WorldCatMe…Jane by Patrick McDonnell
IndieBound Library on WorldCatPablo Neruda: Poet of the People by writer Monica Brown
IndieBound Library on WorldCatPiggybook by Anthony Browne
IndieBound Library on WorldCatRad American Women A-Z: Rebels, Trailblazers, and Visionaries Who Shaped Our History . . . and Our Future! by Kate Schatz and Miriam Klein Stahl
IndieBound Library on WorldCat From the publisherRebel Girls by Elena Favilli and Francesca Cavallo
IndieBound Library on WorldCat From the creatorsRosie Revere, Engineer by Andrea Beaty
It's a popular book, but I wish that the premise didn’t start with the girl being discouraged by a rotten uncle. It’s reality but I’d prefer to not give voice to a rotten uncle.
IndieBound Library on WorldCatShe Persisted: 13 American Women Who Changed the World by Chelsea Clinton
IndieBoundSkit-Scat Raggedy Cat: Ella Fitzgerald by Roxanne Orgill
IndieBound Library on WorldCatSummer Birds: The Butterflies of Maria Merian by Margarita Engle
IndieBound Library on WorldCatThe Amazing Discoveries of Ibn Sina by Fatima Sharafeddine
IndieBound Library on WorldCatThe Harvey Milk Story by Kari Krakow
IndieBound Library on WorldCatThe Little Engine That Could by Watty Piper
My friend (DM): A female protagonist and hero. Old school so kind of campy/ outdated language, but children don’t know that.
IndieBound Library on WorldCatThe most magnificent thing by Ashley Spires
My friend (DM): A book about a girl engineer who perseveres in the face of failure.
IndieBound Library on WorldCatThe Paper Bag Princess by Robert Munsch
IndieBound Library on WorldCatThe Thing Lou Couldn’t Do by Ashley Spires
IndieBound Library on WorldCatThree Balls of Wool (Can Change The World) by Henriqueta Cristina
IndieBound Library on WorldCatWhat do you do with a kangaroo? by Mercer Mayer
My friend (DM) says: Most of the animals are male, but the protagonist is a female so I let it slide.
IndieBound Library on WorldCatYou don't know everything, Jilly P! by Alex Gino
A Middle Grade book about a girl, Jilly, whose younger sister is born deaf. (I think Middle Grade means 8yrs+.)
IndieBound Library on WorldCat

Ages 6-12 (a very rough guess)

African American Inventors by Otha Richard Sulli
IndieBound Library on WorldCatAfrican American Women Scientists and Inventors by Otha Richard Sullivan and James
Haskins
IndieBound Library on WorldCatLumberjanes by Shannon Watters
A really fun graphic novel/comic book, for all ages!
IndieBound Library at WorldCatStrong Is the New Pretty: A Celebration of Girls Being Themselves by Kate T. Parker
A coffee table book that would be perfect for a kids’ fort – the book is very visually focus.
IndieBound Library on WorldCatWomen Who Dared: 52 Stories of Fearless Daredevils, Adventurers, and Rebels by Linda Skeers and Livi Gosling
IndieBound Library on WorldCat

12+

Binti by Nnedi Okorafor
Afrofuturism for teenagers or adults. I read this and really enjoyed it (and I am NOT an YA fan). It's the first in a series. There is some violence early in the book, but, from what I understand, it's less than in Harry Potter series - I've only read the first Potter book.
IndieBound Library on WorldCatCelebrate Your Body (And Its Changes, Too!) The Ultimate Puberty Book for Girls by Sonya Renee Taylor, Bianca I Laureano, and Cait Brennan
IndieBound Library at WorldCat