Tune in to WOL 1450 AM, 95.9 FM or WOL Live Stream on Thursday, September 2 at 10:30 am EDT for Everything Co-op, hosted by Vernon Oakes. This week, Vernon interviews Camille Kerr, Founder and Principal of Upside Down Consulting. Vernon and Camille will discuss cooperative startup development, ChiFresh Kitchen and her efforts to support social justice movements.
Camille Kerr is working to build a democratic economy in service to U.S. social justice movements including organizations advancing Black liberation, immigrant rights, food justice and the U.S. labor movement. She specializes in cooperative startup development, managing complex worker-centered initiatives and supporting existing businesses to become worker-owned, as well as policy advocacy and drafting.
In partnership with Chicago organizers, Camille helped found ChiFresh Kitchen, a worker cooperative food service contracting business owned and determined primarily by formerly incarcerated folks living in the south and west sides of Chicago. She is currently a nonvoting shareholder and management consultant for ChiFresh.
Before starting Upside Down Consulting, Camille served as Associate Director of The ICA Group, Director of Field Building at the Democracy at Work Institute and Director of Research at the National Center for Employee Ownership. She has a law degree from the University of Cincinnati College of Law, where she was awarded a human rights fellowship and graduated cum laude.