Loading summary
Transcript45 lines
- [00:00]
Elise Hu
This podcast is brought to you by Wise, the app for international people using money around the globe. With Wise, you can send, spend and receive up to 40 currencies with only a few simple taps and save up to 55% compared to major banks. Plus, wise won't add hidden fees to your transfer. Whether you're buying souvenirs with pesos in Puerto Vallarta or sending Euros to a loved one in Paris, you know you're getting a fair exchange rate with no extra markups. Be Smart Join the 15 million customers who choose WISE. Download the WISE app today or visit WISE.com Learn Learn more by visiting WISE.com US Compare T's and C's Apply Banking with Capital One helps you keep more money in your wallet with no fees or minimums on checking accounts and no overdraft fees. Just ask the Capital One Bank Guy. It's pretty much all he talks about in a good way. He'd also tell you that this podcast is his favorite podcast too. Ah, really? Thanks Capital One Bank Guy. What's in your wallet? Term supply See capital1.com Bank Capital One NA Member FDIC Comcast Business High Five.
- [01:05]
Lily James Olds
Hotline I signed my business up for the 5 year price lock Guarantee and I can't stop high fiving people.
- [01:11]
Elise Hu
That's perfectly natural when you sign up for gig speed, Internet and advanced security locked in at a great rate for five years. Really?
- [01:17]
Molly Hemstreet
That's great news. High Five everybody.
- [01:19]
Elise Hu
The Comcast business 5 year price lock Guarantee is back, but only for a limited time.
- [01:24]
Lily James Olds
Sign up today.
- [01:25]
Molly Hemstreet
High five ends 92125 for new customers with qualifying bundle.
- [01:28]
Capital One Bank Guy
Current customers eligibility varies by service and area. Guarantee rate applies to monthly service charge.
- [01:31]
Molly Hemstreet
Excluding taxes and fees. Other restrictions apply.
- [01:43]
Capital One Bank Guy
You're listening to TED Talks Daily where we bring you new ideas to spark your curiosity every day. I'm your host, Elise Hu. Today's talk is the first of Our brand new 2025 Ted Fellows films adapted for podcasts just for our TED Talks Daily listeners. We'll be releasing these special episod showcasing our amazing Fellows on certain Fridays throughout the rest of the year and into the new year, so make sure to stay tuned. The TED Fellowship supports a network of global innovators and helps them catapult their world changing ideas. We're excited to share their work with you today. We'd like you to meet sustainable textile entrepreneur TED Fellow Molly Hemstreet. The Appalachian region on the east coast of the United States is known for its gorgeous green mountains, but it's also known for crippling job losses over the years as various industries have left the region. Molly, who grew up in Appalachia, decided to do something about this one piece of clothing at a time. She is the co founder of the Industrial Commons, a collective of community owned manufacturing enterprises and programs that address business resiliency, worker agency and sustainability. Today, she shares how she's reimagining a $96 billion industry and creating a model that can be replic in other rural manufacturing regions all across the world. After we hear from Molly, stick around for her conversation with Ted Fellows program director Lily James Olds. It's coming up.
- [03:24]
Molly Hemstreet
When you've had a lot of opportunity taken out of your community, you just feel incredibly powerless. You're not sure where to start. You also don't have the energy to figure out how do you impact something like an economy. Often what we really need is a new imagination. How do we create opportunities that can root wealth and overturn these cycles of generational poverty in our communities? I'm Molly Hemstreet. I'm the co founder and co executive director of the Industrial Commons and I work to bring opportunity to rural communities across southern Appalachia. Appalachia, for me is a really beautiful place and it is where I call home. I always think the season I'm in is my most favorite season. There's lots and lots of trees, animals, insects. It's my favorite place to be. It's also a really complex place. A lot of the story of Appalachia has been about extraction things leaving our communities. Where I grew up, we have been manufacturers and makers for generations and particularly textile manufacturing. Textiles are really these workhorses of our world. It's not just the clothing we wear. If I think about the stent that's in my dad's heart that's keeping that heart beating, that's a medical textile. If you think about a firefighter that walks into a burning, they're protected by a textile. So much of our world is about fiber and is about the textile industry. And it's really our communities that are helping to ensure that that industry stays vibrant and active in the United States. But around the 1990s, into the 2000s, that work left, leaving our communities with upwards of 15% unemployment. Entire families just didn't have work. So I really started asking this question of myself, like, what do I do as someone who really wants to stay here, but someone who wants to be sure that there's opportunity not just for me and my family, but for my friends and neighbors? There were several things that I wanted to be different from what I had seen coming down around me. I wanted this to be a profitable enterprise. I to wanted, I wanted it to be about people and I wanted to be sure that we were making things that weren't hurting the environment. And I knew that the people in my community had incredible skill and incredible knowledge. And so Opportunity Threads was started as an employee owned company around developing sustainable textiles. The idea of employee ownership is just really, really basic. And I think we can all relate to it. If we work really hard for something, that reward should come back to us. We all want to feel like we're valued. We all want to feel like the opportunity that we create, the profits that we create, we have a say in those. Opportunity Threads is a really magical place. They're one of the largest upcycling facilities in the US upcycling upwards of 60,000 T shirts every week. They're a profitable company, a really brilliant bright light in our community. I'm very proud of, I'm proud of that work. From there I was like, oh, this is kind of cool. This seems to be working. Let me find some more help. I wasn't an economist, didn't have a business major, didn't consider myself an entrepreneur. What I did know is that I cared very deeply about where I lived. And so we started building a network. We called it the Carolina Textile District. With this whole idea of being big by being small together. So we were going to band together in order to build scale. And then after we built that, we built the Industrial Commons. What we do with the Industrial Commons is we support workers, we support businesses. Some of those businesses we help to buy and convert to employee owned companies. Some of those businesses we start ourselves. We've drawn the attention of folks like the National Science foundation who have chosen us as one of 10 innovation communities across the country. And it was really the organization that I needed when I was getting started that I didn't have. One of the projects that the Industrial Commons right now is working on is called Material Return. And what we do at Material Return is we take back the region's textile waste, we grind it up and we send it through this big machine and then we're able to make that back into a yarn, something that might be sold for 3 cents a pound. If we can put it through our system, it can come out on the other side and we can sell it for $9 pound. So we're engineering value back into this waste stream just like we're trying to engineer opportunity back into our communities. Bob has really Been the leader that's helped material return get started. He's somebody that grew up in Burke county, started to work when he was 16 in a sawmill. What's so neat about Bob's story is, you know, Bob is still working in manufacturing. In fact, he's working in these same plants where his uncle and his dad used to work. But now he's an owner of that plant. He has a say in what's going to happen at that facility. And he's really one of the leaders. So Bob, for me, really represents why I come to work every day. We call ourselves, we're long haul people. We're in this for the long haul. This isn't just a project of six months. This is a project of generations. Right now there's 27,000 workers working in the textile industry. We would love to see half of those workers engaged in some type of enterprise or economic opportunity that we're creating through our ecosystem. My hope is not just Southern Appalachia, but all over that there's more say, there's more wealth that can be rooted, there's less extraction, and there's really just a more thriving working class. Every community has opportunity. Every community has something good in it. Every community has a future where you can show up every day, you can work hard, you can get ahead. But that's not at the expense of the person beside you getting ahead. That there's opportunities for your kids where there's a lightness and there's a joy, where you really feel like you're not staying because you're forced to stay, but you're staying because you've chosen to stay. We forget that we are part of the economy. We forget that we have power in it. It just takes a few people to start. And you don't have to necessarily have a complex set of skills. What you really have to have is a deep care and a deep love and a deep knowledge of where you're planted and where you want to grow.
- [10:23]
Elise Hu
Banking with Capital One helps you keep more money in your wallet with no fees or minimums on checking accounts and no overdraft fees. Just ask the Capital One bank guy. It's pretty much all he talks about in a good way. He'd also tell you that this podcast is his favorite podcast too. Ah, really? Thanks. Capital One bank guy. What's in your wallet? Term supply. See capitalone.com bank capital1na member FDIC.
- [10:50]
Molly Hemstreet
Thanks for selling your car to Carvana. Here's your check. Whoa. When did I get here? What do you mean?
- [10:54]
Elise Hu
I swear it was just moments ago that I accepted a great offer from Carvana online. I must have time traveled to the future.
- [11:00]
Molly Hemstreet
It was just moments ago. We do same day pickup. Here's your check for that great offer.
- [11:04]
Capital One Bank Guy
It is the future.
- [11:07]
Molly Hemstreet
It's. It's the present. And just the convenience of Carvana. Sorry to blow your mind.
- [11:11]
Capital One Bank Guy
It's all good.
- [11:12]
Elise Hu
Happens all the time.
- [11:13]
Capital One Bank Guy
Sell your car the convenient way to Carvana.
- [11:17]
Molly Hemstreet
Pick up. Times may vary and fees may apply.
- [11:25]
Capital One Bank Guy
And now a special conversation between TED Fellow Molly Hemstreet and TED Fellow's program director, Lily James Olds.
- [11:34]
Lily James Olds
Okay, I'd love to start with why textiles? Why is that where you started in terms of trying to shift things and create opportunities in your community?
- [11:44]
Molly Hemstreet
Sure. So textiles and the furniture industry have been in our communities for generations. In fact, we still have one of the largest concentration of textile and furniture manufacturers as a cluster, as an industrial cluster here in our region. And so as I was thinking about what do I want to do and how do we revitalize the future of the economy that we are part of? It was to not necessarily throw out the generations of legacy that have made our communities what they are. There have been struggles, but it was to really think about how could we build on that legacy to create an economic future that we could all thrive in. So it was what was in the ground here. It was what was already in our communities. It just needed the ability to revision what the future of those industries could look like.
- [12:41]
Lily James Olds
Right, that makes sense. So really, those roots that you talked about were sort of already in place and you decided to start from there. So when you talked about starting the Carolina Textile Network and now the Industrial Commons, you mentioned that you aimed to be big by being small together. I really love this and I feel like it's an important way to reconsider how we're approaching collaboration and mutual support in our communities today. I'm curious, how did you get everyone to come together for this approach? And how do you deal with competition between companies in this model? How do you kind of get at that, you know, all boats rise mentality and get everybody to understand that that's what's best?
- [13:24]
Molly Hemstreet
I appreciate questions on collaboration because collaboration is really tricky. It's something we hear a lot about, but it's often we don't get the mechanics of how you be a good collaborator. So when we started the Carolina Textile district, we talked a lot about this word called coopetition. That's not a word we came up with. It's one that we heard from somewhere But I love the spirit of it because it is about you are competing on some things, but you're also collaborating, you're cooperating. And so where that comes from is really around necessity. And we are in communities that have a lot of necessity. And you realize that you need each other to solve problems. You can't go it alone. And we often have a very go it alone mentality in the US and what we found is we needed each other to solve the biggest problems. And that is really why network building and collaborations, and now through what we're using as business consortium of folks coming together, businesses coming together to solve big economic problems is where we have landed. And so I grew up in a community where there were really big manufacturing facilities, and one of those big plants would go down that had 1500 people working in there. And the devastation of that was huge. And so what I really was drawn to was rebuilding economic models that were more resilient. So if you have 50 plants of 50 people, you're still putting a lot of people to work. But if one of those plants goes down, you're not taking everyone with you. And if one of those plants is successful, they can drive success throughout the entire ecosystem. And this isn't a model that is new. We look a lot to other models, particularly in Europe, we look a lot to the models of northern Italy and where they have built some of the best manufacturing networks by again, using this idea of being small and putting small companies, smaller companies together into really big, powerful networks that have a lot of resiliency to them. And so we've taken a lot of our blueprint from other regions of the world that have used this model, in.
- [15:46]
Lily James Olds
Some ways, it's so obvious. But I do feel like your sort of curiosity and ability to investigate these other models, sort of from that beginner mind that you talked about, of saying, you know, I wasn't an entrepreneur, I didn't go to business school in this way. It's really inspiring to think about that. So you talk about how Southern Appalachia has been hit so incredibly hard by unemployment, and you know that the area saw upwards of 15% job loss, which is really what compelled you to get involved in the ways that you have. Give us an update. Where do things stand today? And have you seen any shifts in the community since you helped start the Industrial Commons?
- [16:26]
Molly Hemstreet
Yes, we have certainly seen shifts in the community. We're not at 15% job loss anymore. We have recovered in a strong way. We want to be sure that manufacturing always has a place in communities, particularly in rural communities, and that we really can have the ability to make and create things, and in our case, recycle things, take our waste, and make it back into wealth for our communities, which is what we're doing through our work in the circular economy. But we are seeing recovery. However, I can't be in this conversation without naming the devastation that our communities went through with hurricane Helene. And that, again, was a huge setback for many people in western North Carolina. But what's wonderful is when we build these ecosystems, they solve problems together, and those networks create resiliency for people to pull together and solve not only the problems of our economy, but also whatever problems our communities might face. I'm really excited because we have our big groundbreaking for the 30 acre brownfield that we are developing. And so we'll have 400 people come from all over the country to help us launch this innovation campus that is taking off. And one of the things that is so beautiful is we're having workers that were on this plant throughout the 80s and 90s before the plant burned down, and it sat as a brownfield in the heart of our community for almost 20 years to come back and tell their stories. So it is about revitalizing new manufacturing, but it's also about holding and cherishing the stories in our community as well. And so we don't ever want to leave the human aspect out of what we're doing. We can drive markets, we can create industry, but at the end of the day, we do this for our people.
- [18:15]
Lily James Olds
You mentioned so many great examples of the work you've done with your collaborators and otherwise, I'm curious, what would be a sort of hope for you in terms of keeping jobs and industry in the area?
- [18:28]
Molly Hemstreet
So as we mentioned before, there has been a downturn in manufacturing all across the United States, but particularly in communities like ours. And when you think about the textile industry, it's not always great images that come to many people's minds. You see those pictures and think about, okay, that's a hard, dirty, not well lit place to work. But truly the future of manufacturing and textiles as part of that is a really innovative, dynamic place with good, high quality jobs. Now we have to create that future that we want to see, but we are certainly actively doing that. So our hope is, out of this region will spring a whole regional ability to think about taking the waste in our supply chains and the waste in our communities and turning them back into wealth and doing that within the textile industry. And that is really at the heart of what textile circularity is and the interesting thing is we have all the infrastructure to do that in our communities. We have the plants that can take the fibers back and grind them up and spin them into new yarns and get them back into the supply chain. And so we're reactivating a lot of that, building on the knowledge that has been in our communities for generations and connecting to brands and connecting to consumers through both the stories and the really wonderful products that are coming out of our region.
- [19:57]
Lily James Olds
That's so exciting. I mean, I think what's really fascinating to me about what you do is that we so often hear environmental causes pitted against the issue of communities and job losses. And what you're doing is so actively proving that working to support the climate and climate movements can actually support job and industry growth rather than destroy it. I'd love to hear you speak to this a little bit more. And how do we keep shifting the narrative away from the kind of one against the other mentality and instead recognize how these can be mutually beneficial?
- [20:34]
Molly Hemstreet
I do love the name of the industrial commons because there's a tension in it. There's this tension of industry and the common good or common access can't necessarily work together, but it is often in those creative tensions where we come up with the best solutions. I really love this idea from Ecology of the edge effect. And I might not have it exactly scientifically right, but the spirit of it in my mind is that where we often think that, oh, you're either going to have strong manufacturing or you're going to have to choose between the environment, when manufacturers can really think with environmentalism in mind, and the environmentalists and environmental products can really think about good manufacturing practices, that is where we can really scale solutions. And so I'll be honest, Lily, like, I love that tension. I think that is where we can drive a lot of creativity for true solutions that can get us out of places where we have been stuck.
- [21:37]
Lily James Olds
I'm curious, with what you just said in mind, which I think is so fitting, how can we nurture and create that sense of imagination and possibility that is needed to take us forward?
- [21:49]
Molly Hemstreet
Well, I think there's always the individual action that someone can take. And while it can feel lonely, our individual actions do drive to a bigger collective. It's really exciting and grounding to be part of a community that is of makers. Like, we make things, we create things, we can see the things, we can see the positive and the negative impacts of what we make. So for people to remember to get in touch with the things that they're making the food they're eating, the clothes that they're wearing, and have deep knowledge there. That is such an important place to begin because it starts with knowledge. It starts with how things are made and then how things are remade, how they become part of a cycle. And that's what our economies are. They're these cycles and we have a role in them. And then as we move into the larger collective of being part of a community, it's really understanding what your assets are. Often rural communities are looked at as all the things we don't have and all the things we're missing. And being from a rural community and banding together with other people from our rural community, you realize how many assets you really do have that you can build upon. And when you start to build upon your assets and you start to believe in each other, you start to build power and the capacity to shape things. And that is really, I think, how you start to go from the individual to a bigger sense of the collective and to being able to shape things like an economy and shape futures as well.
- [23:18]
Lily James Olds
I love that you mentioned learning from the mistakes and the successes. What's an example, Molly, of a mistake or a negative, as you said, that you learned from and that helped you evolve?
- [23:27]
Molly Hemstreet
So there are a lot of mistakes along the way. And sometimes we've started companies that were a little too soon. And I think of one company that we tried to get started and you know, on paper all the pieces were in place, but then it just like it didn't come together and we went back and we really defined some of those pieces that you need. The demand really has to be there and really the passion of the person to move it forward has to be there as well. And so that was a company that we got going and then we stopped and we said it's time is not right yet. Sometimes I think innovators get too far out and we don't remember that transformation happens incrementally. We often think that that next right step is not big enough or bold enough. And what I found with time is that it is that incremental step when you put them together, that at the end of that journey is transformation. And sometimes we have to be patient. So I think I'm often at fault for not being patient enough, not being incremental enough. And that is what I love about the journey that we're on. And being from the community that I'm from here is committed to a 50 year vision. This is what I've committed my life to. As many people have but you can be a little more patient and be a little more incremental and then start to look backwards to see, wow, we've gotten to something transformational because we took incremental steps. So I think it's sometimes when we've taken too big a step is where we have failed and had to go backwards and start again.
- [25:01]
Lily James Olds
No, I appreciate that and thanks for that honest answer. I think also with that patience, what I find inspiring about what you do is you're always asking the next question, you know, you're always looking for. Once I've learned one thing, what is that next question that can help me understand this or the process or the system more deeply? And I think that's something that in the time that I've known you, I find really inspiring and that I would like to apply more and more to my own life. So thank you. This has been such a great conversation. Thank you, Molly, for joining us and all the fascinating and important work that you're doing.
- [25:31]
Molly Hemstreet
Well, thank you, Lily, to all your team. Being part of TED is really, really inspirational and I feel really honored to be part of this community. So thank you.
- [25:43]
Capital One Bank Guy
That was Molly Hemstreet, a 2025 TED Fellow. To learn more about the TED Fellows program and watch all the TED Fellows films, go to Fellows. And that's it for today. This episode was fact checked by Aparna Nathan and Ava Dasher. The audio you heard at the top there comes from the short film made by Divya gitangi and Owen McLean. Story edited by Corey Hajim and produced by Ian Lowe. Production manager is Tseering Dolma. Additional support from Lily James Olds, Leone Horster and Allegra Pearl. This episode was mixed by Lucy Little and Christopher Faizy Bogan. TED Talks Daily is part of the TED Audio Collective. This episode was produced and edited by our team, Martha Estefanos, Oliver Friedman, Brian Greene, Lucy Little and Tansika Sangmar Nivong. Additional support from Emma Tobner and Daniela Balaurazo. I'm Elise Hu. I'll be back tomorrow with a fresh idea for your feed. Thanks for listening.
- [26:51]
Molly Hemstreet
Prime delivery is fast. How fast are we talking? We're talking puzzle toys and lick pad Delivered so fast you can get this puppy under control fast. We're talking chew toys at your door without really waiting. Fast pads, cooling mat and pet him.
- [27:03]
Capital One Bank Guy
Are fast and fast.
- [27:04]
Molly Hemstreet
And there's training T R E A T s faster than you can say fast. And now we can all relax and order these matching hoodies to get cozy and cute.
- [27:13]
Capital One Bank Guy
Fast, fast.
- [27:14]
Molly Hemstreet
Free delivery it's on Prime. Hi, it's Maddie from After Myths, Misdeeds and the Paranormal on the most Terrifying Places in America. Travel with ghost hunters, psychics and historians as they uncover the chilling truth behind America's paranormal hotspots. From a haunted hotel in New England to a Texas warship where the dead still walk the decks. It's a podcast that's part cross country road trip, part ghost tour. Listen to most terrifying places in America wherever you get your podcasts.
- [27:55]
Paige
This is Paige, the co host of Giggly Squad. I use Uber Eats for everything and I feel like people forget that you can truly order anything, especially living in New York City. It's. It's why I love it. You can get Chinese food at any time of night, but it's not just for food. I order from CVS all the time. I'm always ordering from the grocery store. If a friend stops over, I have to order champagne. I also have this thing that whenever I travel, if I'm ever in a hotel room, I never feel like I'm missing something because I'll just Uber Eats it. The amount of times I've had to Uber Eats hair items like hairspray, deodorant, you name it, I've ordered it. On Uber Eats, you can get grocery alcohol everyday essentials in addition to restaurants and food you love. So in other words, get almost anything With Uber Eats. Order now for alcohol. You must be legal drinking age. Please enjoy responsibly. Product availability varies by region. See app for details.