About
She Raises the Bar is a boutique social responsibility and sustainability firm
with expertise in organizational strategy, social/environmental responsibility, diversity/equity/inclusion/belonging, community engagement, and sustainability.
She Raises the Bar creates sustainability roadmaps that center equity, innovation, and return on investment (ROI) in order to help our clients achieve their goals, build trusting relationships, raise market share, and drive social, environmental, and business indicators.
We are industry agnostic, but have expertise in high risk industries such as infrastructure, energy, mining, healthcare, and agriculture, among others. Our global networks and cultural understanding ensure relevant and effective sustainability strategies tailored to our client's needs.
Our clients include government agencies, multi-national businesses, family-owned businesses, start-ups, and non-profit organizations in the US, Caribbean, Latin America, Canada, and Africa.
She Raises the Bar is a woman and minority-owned business located in Winston-Salem, North Carolina.
Mission
Vision
Values
MISSION
She Raises the Bar helps organizations strategically operationalize social responsibility, community engagement, diversity/equity/inclusion/belonging (DEIB), and sustainability investments that strengthen trust, impact, and bottom-line results.
VISION
More Impact.
Stronger Organizations.
Equitable Communities.
VALUES
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Humanity – It's all about people and recognizing the humanity of those we work with and those that they serve and impact.
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Abundance - Someone doesn’t have to lose for another to win. We believe in the “elimination of harm” and “growing the pie for everyone” as critical components of organizational sustainability
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Strategy – We aren’t interested in doing for doing’s sake. We work with organizations that want to innovate and strategically connect social/environmental responsibility to their bottom line.
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Social License to Operate – We build trust in everything we do, helping organizations be more transparent, inclusive, equitable, and engaged in order to realize the impact they want to see
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Maximization – We build stronger environments, partnerships, and organizational capacity to facilitate long-term impact.
Iris Fagundo Cole
Managing Partner
Iris is a social entrepreneur and Founding Partner of She Raises the Bar, a Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) and sustainability consulting firm, and Do Good Artist, a social impact design firm. Her background includes 20+ years of experience working as an executive and CSR/sustainability consultant in both the public and private sectors. She works with investors, businesses, government agencies, and NGO’s to help them leverage and execute more impactful social/environmental investment strategies, inclusive business models/cultures, and community engagement, as well as manage risk and identify strategic growth opportunities through the lens of their stakeholders. Her clients include multi-national, family-owned, and small businesses and start-ups, and her experience in a broad range of industries helps foster best practices and bottom-line results.
Her most recent venture, Do Good Artist, is pioneering social change through multi-sector collaborations between the arts and other industries. Unseen, Do Good Artist’s virtual reality experience on human trafficking, recently won Best VR Short at the Cannes World Film Festival and has been exhibited at the RiverRun International Film Festival, the World Without Exploitation convening in Washington D.C., and the NGO Commission on the Status of Women.
Iris currently serves as the Co-President of the REACH Women’s Network, Board Chair of the Flywheel Foundation, and past Board President for the Hispanic League. She also serves on the boards of Piedmont Federal Savings Bank, Goodwill Industries of NWNC, Reynolda House, Leadership Winston-Salem, Arts Council, Senior Services, WS/FCS Equity Advisory, and the Forsyth County Early Childhood Education Task Force.
Our
History
Founded orginally as Sequilibre, Inc. in 2010 by Liliana M. López Urrutia and Iris Cole, She Raises the Bar established itself as a premier firm in the Caribbean helping organizations in high-risk industries with strategic Corporate Social Responsibility and Sustainability investments. Over the years, She Raises the Bar expanded services into Latin America, Europe, Canada and Africa. In 2023, Iris Cole took over the firm and established its headquarters in Winston Salem, North Carolina where it continues to grow its global impact.