About Us
We are Powered by People. We believe the future of wholesale is small-batch and responsibly made.
We enable independent, diverse makers and brands by providing access to
markets, financing, and digital tools. We make it easy for buyers to source differently.
Small Batch. Big Impact.
With backgrounds in retail, design, tech and international development, we created Powered by People to be a company built on more than just its bottom line—but one that could make a genuine impact. We work to provide sustainable economic opportunities to independent makers by providing them access to the global economy. They, in turn, strengthen the lives of their employees, families and communities, potentially impacting millions worldwide.
Our Vision;
Connecting the world to a new creative economy - powered by people.
Our makers power us.
Our well-curated, digital wholesale marketplace partners with diverse makers from more than 70 countries, all of whom focus on small-batch production of responsibly made goods. Which is exactly the kind of products that more and more consumers are demanding, as they want transparency into the goods they purchase. Many of our makers offer significant output capacity by merging heritage-craft techniques with modern manufacturing capabilities. All adhere to fair-employment and sustainable practices, and a majority are women led.
We use technology as a force for good.
Our innovative tech and financial solutions enable independent brands to easily upload and manufacture their wares. And they allow retail buyers to seamlessly and confidently purchase these distinct goods. By removing the friction from what is too often a time-consuming, complicated process, we take care of the laborious hassles so our buyers and makers don’t have to.
Our Values
Creative.
People ingenuity and collaboration fuel us. It’s in our name.
Responsible.
We are committed to progress for people and the planet. We work to cause no unnecessary harm and to do more good.
Innovative.
We look around corners for new ways to improve the lives of makers and earn the trust of buyers.We think global but not at the cost of local.
Diverse.
We believe supply chains should look more like our customers: global, diverse, and female.
Transparent.
We give conscious buyers choice, so they do not need to compromise their values for price.
Self-sustaining.
Because as our business grows, their businesses grow.
We are global.
Since its launch in June 2021, Powered by People has grown to become a truly global company. With team members strategically located in the US, Canada, Kenya, India, Mexico, Turkey and the UK, PBP provides real-time support to its community of more than 700+ maker partners — which are spread across 70+ countries. We will continue to work to expand our community because that is what’s best for our maker partners.
At Powered by People, we see the power of technology enabling human capital, rather than displacing it. In an age of automation, we see the beauty in handmade. With offices around the world, we understand firsthand the challenges and complexities that makers face today.
Leadership
Ella Peinovich
Chief Executive Officer + Founder
Ella is a MIT graduate who has led projects in design, tech and entrepreneurship. She was founder and CEO of Soko, a jewelry brand with “virtual factory” application that can produce 50,000 units/month, across a network of 2,500 mobile-enabled Kenyan artisans. Ella is an Ashoka fellow.
Hedvig Alexander
VP of Community & Impact + Founder
Hedvig is a Danish Army Captain and Yale graduate. She founded Far + Wide Collective an online platform with a network of 5,000 suppliers, 400 retailers in 18 countries. She led Building Markets adding 1.6% to Afghan GDP (‘06), was Managing Director of Turquoise Mountain and founded The Pin Project for refugees.
Alison Phillips
VP of Design & Merchandising + Founder
Alison holds 100+ patents and has led award winning teams in the tech and retail sectors, as Managing Director, Global Head of Industrial Design at BlackBerry, Head of Merchandising for Aritzia, and founder of lifestyle brand Caban, which was acquired by Polo Ralph Lauren. She has a degree in Industrial Design.
Advisors
Kofo Sanusi
Kofo brings over a decade of experience in strategic business and operational planning, and financial management. Kofo is COO at African Private Equity and Venture Capital Association (AVCA) , and was COO at Founders Factory Africa (FFA), a venture development company investing in start-ups in sub-Saharan Africa where she was responsible for overseeing the company's financial and operational activities, and leading investments and support to early-stage start-ups to scale across Africa. Earlier in her career, Kofo worked at The Young Foundation, Overseas Development Institute and Palladium. She holds an MSc in International Public Policy from University College London.
Ted Selig
FishEyeSoftware, Ted has developed mission-critical transportation & security systems, building technology to access information from real-time data. He holds two U.S. patents & authored over 15 publications. Ted holds a Master’s of Science in Computer Systems from Northeastern University in Boston.
Matthew Sutton
Since 2005, Matt has been an active Investor and Advisor in both private equity and seed stage venture capital, with a focus on technology based platforms. Matt has served as a Teaching Assistant at Harvard Business School and serves on the Board of Advisors for Harvard Ventures. Matt has an MBA and Finance degree from Columbia Business School.
Elicia Carmichael
Elicia has tackled social challenges through a business lens for over 15 years. In her role as VP of Strategy at Root Capital, Elicia led initiatives to advance impact investments across the agricultural sector. She currently consults on strategy, finance, and change management for global enterprises. Elicia has an MBA from Cornell University, where she was awarded the Sustainable Global Enterprise Award for her work in village banking in Nepal.
Sydney Price
Sydney is an award-winning executive and founder and CEO at The Knew Purpose, a conscious leadership company that guides leaders to create new revenue channels and profitability for their companies, while integrating social and environmental benefits into their supply chain. Prior, she was SVP Social Impact, Global Merchandising, and DTC at Kate Spade; and held multiple leadership roles at Neiman Marcus Group. She has a degree in psychology and is an adjunct professor at Parsons School of Design.
Curtis Chambers
Curtis is a serial entrepreneur turned philanthropic investor and advisor. Employee #7 at Uber, Curtis was the first Head of Engineering for Uber, UberEats and UberFreight. Prior to Uber, Curtis was the Senior Software Engineer at Expensify. Curtis holds an engineering degree from the University of San Diego.
Jonathan Shui
As Director of Investments at Good & Well, Jonathan leads the strategy on investments with early stage social purpose businesses. Jonathan is a graduate of University of Waterloo with a B.A. Sc. degree in Mechanical Engineering and a Minor in Economics. He also graduated the Columbia Business School Executive Education Program in Value Investing.
Spencer Crawley
Spencer Crawley is co-founder and General Partner at firstminute Capital, a $100m European seed fund launched in 2017. The firstminute investor base includes 30 founders of billion dollar technology businesses. Spencer started his career at Goldman Sachs in Moscow (in the Fixed Income, Currencies and Commodities division), before becoming the first hire at DMC Partners, a Special Opportunities fund spun out of Goldman Sachs. This was followed by an MBA at INSEAD, and a stint at AppDirect, the cloud commerce platform-provider. Spencer studied History at Oxford University, where he received the Waugh scholarship, and speaks fluent Russian.
Sarah Feingold
Born an artist, Sarah Feingold decided the best way to protect creative folks like herself was to go to law school. She then cannonballed into the position of Etsy's first attorney and 17th employee. For over nine years she helped Etsy scale from an inconspicuous startup to a publicly traded company. After that, she drove Vroom forward as its first General Counsel. Due to her accomplishments, The New York Law Journal awarded Sarah with theGeneral Counsel Impact Award. Sarah is still making waves as the creator / writer of the play,Dirty Legal Secrets. You can also find Sarah speaking, investing, eating candy, hammering silver, and building things with her child.