An Update From Alice …you’ll want to read.

Oh Hi, Ethical Movers 👋

Alice here. It’s been forever!

Apologies for not connecting with you sooner… We burned out hard.

The state of the world, team members needing to prioritize paid work to survive, trying to run a community understaffed – it was too much. Especially because all of us have intersections that require additional emotional and mental labour to get through the day.

So… here we are.

With some news.

The Ethical Move as you know it is ceasing to exist. But don’t despair! The pledge lives on and there is a new path we’re very excited about. First, let me tell you what happened, because I’m sure you’re curious.

We ran TEM as a business to show that businesses can communicate ethically and work. However, it relied entirely on unpaid labour. Making it thrive to the point where we could pay everyone a fair wage would have meant significant up front investment of time and resources we didn’t have. Ideas that could have worked kept floating by and we just didn’t have the capacity to do it!

The biggest reason for us not working though, is that we simply grew apart. Meeting face to face was virtually impossible with our different time zones, video meetings became infrequent because of scheduling conflicts, and slowly but surely we each evolved in different directions. Not opposing, just ever so slightly different. The team was not gelling the same way, which kept us from having the inspiration and energy to try new projects.

Part of that was on me: My passion for running an online movement waned.

40 rushed into me with a deep need to focus on being vs. selling. Art vs. content. Being in-sync vs. a-sync. I started working a day job at a local arts charity and all of a sudden the online cacophony felt very far away, and the fire dimmed. Jeffrey did an incredible job running the ship in my absence, but one person alone can’t wear all hats at once.

So… here I am.

I had to concede that TEM in its current form isn’t working and won’t get back on track. It’s a sad moment for me, to say goodbye to an era. Almost 10 years of me shouting about ethical marketing (but I dare say it left a mark)! I’m incredibly proud of what we’ve accomplished.

It’s sad, but it is also a relief.

Because – and this is the part where I tell you the good part: Sabine and Maria, two of our long standing team members have decided to give TEM a new life as a non-profit!! I can’t tell you how much it means to be able to hand the torch to such capable, passionate individuals.

They are working out the structure as we speak and will be taking over all of TEM’s accounts and lists, so you’ll be hearing from them soon about how to be part of this new world they’re building!! The pledge lives on, your commitment lives on, the badge will mean even more now. I’ll leave it to them to share their vision with you, but know that they have my full endorsement.

Pledges keep rolling in, and that door will always stay open. This is your commitment to yourself more than to us. I’m just so, so glad you chose to come along for the ride. This will go in my book as one of the best things I’ve ever started. And I can’t wait to see what’s next!

To honour where we are now, before we head off into a new direction, here are our current team members and how to follow them:

• Alice Karolina​
• Jeffrey Shiau​
• Sabine Harnau​
• ​Maria Arango Kure​
• ​Jeanne Carlier​
• ​Katie Lewis​
• ​MB Huwe​
• Brandee Nichols​
• Karen Webber​

I love you all so much. I can’t tell you how much it meant to hear your stories of ‘seeing the Matrix’ or daring to step out into uncharted territory based on your gut feeling instead of what the internet was telling you.

You believed me, you trusted me… and then us. Nothing better in the world. Stay safe, take care of each other. I’ll never ever forget you!

Love,
Alice