Lifting up the people of Surrey is what SurreyCares Community Foundation is all about
and yet there are times when the organization itself needs to be lifted up. So, when looking for help with its branding, SurreyCares turned to Rochelle Grayson. As an advisor to the
SurreyCares leadership team, Rochelle is using her expertise to help advance the work of the
foundation.
“My whole focus is how do we support communities and SurreyCares Community
Foundation is all about those communities and supporting those communities,” she says.
Rochelle worked with the board and staff to dig deep into the foundation’s brand and brand
personality: where we’ve been and where we’re going as an organization. Her strategic
recommendations around reviving and redirecting the SurreyCares brand will become more and more evident this year as those ideas are implemented. The goal is to enhance who we are as a community foundation in Surrey.
“Surrey is not a monolithic community. It is a multitude of small, thriving communities that each have their own culture, their own language. It’s a mosaic,” Rochelle says. “What I love about SurreyCares is that they want it to remain a mosaic. They want those unique identities to thrive under the Surrey umbrella.”
A highly sought-after brand expert, Rochelle is a self-described serial entrepreneur, having launched about 7 startups. These days she’s on a mission to help women of colour from marginalized communities maintain their authentic voice and be their authentic self, all while feeling seen and supported. It’s the basis for why she created the Mosaic Accelerator.
“I realised there are probably many women from underserved, undervalued and
marginalized communities that don’t want to go to a STEM program because that’s not what
they’re about,” she says. Rochelle launched the Mosaic Accelerator last year, with a goal of
supporting Black, Indigenous and women of colour who don’t have a background in tech but
want to build successful and sustainable businesses. For Rochelle, it’s important to her that the women she supports still feel as though they can be distinct, all while feeling supported
authentically. She beams with pride as she talks about them.
“I think Mosaic and SurreyCares are both about how do we support communities
authentically, genuinely and how do we provide the resources that they need.”
Rochelle’s work supporting the board as it steers the ship will help grow the foundation as it looks to partner more with donors, doing more great work in the community.
“Identifying new pathways to growth allows us to come in as a partner with nonprofits
doing the good work on the ground,” SurreyCares Executive Director Susan Richards says.
“Rochelle really helped us define, dig in and do that important work, particularly around who we are, what we do best and how we can communicate that to others.”