How do you start on a path that leads to such grand ideas as social entrepreneurship, venture & innovation? If you ask those on it, you’ll rarely hear the same story twice, and only slightly more often – even catch a similarity.  

Through an encyclopedia’s worth of false starts, impressive entrepreneurial pursuits, scattered career paths and questionable life choices there are two things that do resound repetitively.  

Empathy and belief of impact.  

Ash MacLeod was fortunate enough to be born surrounded by empathy and instilled with the confidence that his actions can inspire change. It’s one thing to care, but it’s another to believe that care will change the world.  

Starting his first business at the age of 15 Ash has an early start at entrepreneurism and has enjoyed successful, meaningful careers in the music, hospitality and advertising industry and gained skills in each that would melt down and equip him to manage the various businesses of one of Canada’s foremost social entrepreneurs – Mark Brand. As a partner in that business he oversees operations, business development and human resources for all 5 of the organizations including Save On Meats, Persephone Brewing Company, The Diamond, Catalog Creative and serves as Executive Director for A Better Life Foundation. He manages a team that provides over 1,500 meals per day, each day of the year to citizens who can’t afford to eat and by doing so creates meaningful employment for dozens of citizens who identify as having barriers to employment.  

This work has granted him a seat on the President’s Group of BC, a coalition of some of the province’s biggest companies dedicated to increasing employment for people with disabilities and he is the Chair of Arts & Culture and Board Member of Hastings Crossing Business Improvement Association which aims to accelerate social entrepreneurship in one of Canada’s most challenging neighbourhoods.