Dodie Jacobi

Dodie Jacobi

Kansas City, Missouri, United States
3K followers 500+ connections

About

During 40 years so far, I founded 10 for- and not-for-profit ventures, created growth…

Articles by Dodie

  • Burning the Boats to Live More Urgently

    Burning the Boats to Live More Urgently

    Never have I been miserable in my work. Not when I cleaned river-dust from under semi-trucks for the family janitorial…

    9 Comments
  • My First Startup Started It All

    My First Startup Started It All

    I was the telecom software company’s strategist and liaison to a new strategic investor, a major international telco…

    2 Comments
  • The Big Money Mistake I Kept Repeating

    The Big Money Mistake I Kept Repeating

    When it came to reinvesting in growth during the first 30 years of owning various ventures, I made the same recurring…

    2 Comments
  • How I Added Digits to My Income AND Made My Clients Happier

    How I Added Digits to My Income AND Made My Clients Happier

    I’ve experimented with every known business model for selling what I know. It took years to land on the one that was…

    4 Comments
  • From Miss Piggy to Evernote: Habits for a Creative Lifestyle

    From Miss Piggy to Evernote: Habits for a Creative Lifestyle

    Cultivating a curious, creative lifestyle is no longer just for the professions classified as “creative.” It’s…

Contributions

Activity

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Experience

  • Dodiodo, Inc.

    Kansas City, Missouri Area

  • -

  • -

Education

Volunteer Experience

  • Various Companies Graphic

    Activist

    Various Companies

    - Present 63 years 5 months

    Politics

    Political engagement is good business. Politics is policy, and policy impacts every aspect of our lives and livelihoods. Power and influence belong to those who engage. Through my lifelong activism, I work to create peace, equality, and enough for every being on a thriving planet.

    I’ve been civically and politically active since childhood when Jacobi family meetings were conducted using Parliamentary Procedure, and my mom once dressed four children in trash bags to protest at City Hall a…

    Political engagement is good business. Politics is policy, and policy impacts every aspect of our lives and livelihoods. Power and influence belong to those who engage. Through my lifelong activism, I work to create peace, equality, and enough for every being on a thriving planet.

    I’ve been civically and politically active since childhood when Jacobi family meetings were conducted using Parliamentary Procedure, and my mom once dressed four children in trash bags to protest at City Hall a proposed dump relocation.

    Ours was a labor union household where Caesar Chavez, local and national elected officials, candidates, and neighbors routinely gathered around shared initiatives. My family joined campaign pros on the kitchen cabinets for my father’s County Legislator, County Executive, and State Senate campaigns. I attended weekly County Legislature meetings for four summers, and for innumerable other years worked election polls and canvassed door-to-door meeting people in every socioeconomic circumstance. My family attended the Democratic National Convention, where my father was a delegate and rotated each of us inside on borrowed passes to experience history happening. Then, we attended the inauguration of President Jimmy Carter and danced at one of the balls.

    I currently advocate for entrepreneurship, especially for marginalized communities and people reentering society after incarceration.

    Each year, I organize “curriculum” for my self-guided study about the histories, lives, and cultures different from mine. Now understanding the importance of anti-racism over "not racist," I actively seek ways to unwind tightly strung biases around BIPOC, immigrants, and LGBTQ communities.

    I am also committed to increasing awareness about animal welfare and how our growing knowledge about their sentience calls us to reconsider every intersection with animals - from food production, food bi-product use, land-use and natural habitat proximity, climate, and policy-making.

  • Board Member

    Kansas City Dressage Society

    - 1 year

    Represented member interests for organization providing education and competitive events for equestrians' study and participation in dressage. Co-developed a new educational program, Bit of Wisdom, a virtual monthly discussion group.

  • Founding President

    Crossroads Community Association

    - 4 years 5 months

    Economic Empowerment

    When I moved in the Crossroads Community, I found MY people of artists and entrepreneurs. I was called to lead my neighbors organizing for proactive influence in the then emerging, now successful economic development transformation story.
    • Developed strategy for identifying collective vision and organizational needs for rapidly evolving, mixed-use community culminating with co-founding of CCA in Spring, 2001
    • Led 12-person board comprised of real estate developers, residents, and…

    When I moved in the Crossroads Community, I found MY people of artists and entrepreneurs. I was called to lead my neighbors organizing for proactive influence in the then emerging, now successful economic development transformation story.
    • Developed strategy for identifying collective vision and organizational needs for rapidly evolving, mixed-use community culminating with co-founding of CCA in Spring, 2001
    • Led 12-person board comprised of real estate developers, residents, and business owners through organization’s creation process and all operations
    • Built organization from zero to 120 members and 8 fully-functioning committees in one year
    • CCA’s spokesperson for media and at city planning and economic development meetings
    • Established Crossroads "brand" and managed marketing and communications activities
    • Launched and maintained Graffiti Remediation, Neighborhood Watch, and Visual Arts Cooperative marketing programs that were either self-funded or donor-supported
    • Steering Committee Member for the Main Street Corridor Plan

  • Rotary Club Graphic

    Board of Directors

    Rotary Club

    - 6 years

    Human Rights

    • Member of the Kansas City Downtown Club 13.
    • Elected to serve on Board of Directors for 2002 - 2004.
    • Led process for 600-member Rotary club’s strategic plan development.

  • Mentor and Advisor

    Various Entrepreneurship Programs

    - 12 years

    Economic Empowerment

    • Mentored student entrepreneurs and interns, virtually year-round for more than nine years, from Johnson County Community College, Paseo High School, UMKC, Rockhurst College. Many former staff, interns, and mentees progressed to operating their own successful ventures
    • Advisor for the Athena PowerLink program as well as for several startup businesses
    • Mentor, Kauffman Entrepreneur Internship Program
    • Facilitated year-long venture development workshop for Women’s CEO Roundtable

  • Volunteer

    The Arts Council of Metropolitan Kansas City

    - 2 years

    Arts and Culture

    • Member Artslinks.org web site Brand Development and Marketing Committee and co-produced web site launch event
    • Designed local formation strategy for Business Committee for the Arts, a program initiated by the Rockefeller Foundation in New York

  • American Red Cross Graphic

    Board of Directors

    American Red Cross

    - 9 years

    Disaster and Humanitarian Relief

    Greater Kansas City Chapter
    • Executive Committee, Board of Directors for the maximum 6 year term
    • Chair for charter Marketing Committee, a then-cutting-edge addition to ARC’s sustenance strategy using for-profit marketing strategies and advisors
    • Chartered and chaired Special Events Committee
    • Founded local Young Friends of the ARC to increase donors and volunteers with new demographic
    • Chair Local Liaison Committee for National Disaster Planning Convention held in KC
    •…

    Greater Kansas City Chapter
    • Executive Committee, Board of Directors for the maximum 6 year term
    • Chair for charter Marketing Committee, a then-cutting-edge addition to ARC’s sustenance strategy using for-profit marketing strategies and advisors
    • Chartered and chaired Special Events Committee
    • Founded local Young Friends of the ARC to increase donors and volunteers with new demographic
    • Chair Local Liaison Committee for National Disaster Planning Convention held in KC
    • Member Financial Development Committee, Nominating Committee, Ad Hoc Strategic Planning Committee, Ad Hoc Disaster Team Analysis Committee

  • Founding Board Member

    Wylliams/Henry Danse Theatre

    - 3 years

    Arts and Culture

    • Charter member Board of Directors
    • Assisted in creating initial strategic and marketing plans for then-fledgling modern dance company

  • Volunteer

    Various Volunteer Engagements

    - 12 years 2 months

    • Member of Greater Kansas City No More Homeless Pets organizational committee 2 years
    • ReStart’s Jazz Feast fundraiser, Music and Production Committees, 3 years
    • Johnson County Community College’s Fashion Merchandising Department Advisory Board, 2 years
    • SMU’s Regional Council, Alumni Events and Programming, 2 years
    • NYC’s Better Business Bureau, Arbitrator, 1 year
    • NYC’s Boarder Babies Program, Solicited in-kind donations

Languages

  • English

    Full professional proficiency

  • French

    Elementary proficiency

  • Spanish

    Elementary proficiency

  • I can sing in 9 languages

    -

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