Meet the Innovators: Loam

Get to know the Social Innovation Lab’s Accelerator Cohort 2021–22. For this interview, we spoke with Samantha (Sam) Novak and Kasey Armstrong, co-founders of Loam. After years of friendship and collaborating together to facilitate change for organizations and communities using a whole systems approach, Sam and Kasey decided to formally start working together by co-founding Loam in early 2022.

Loam is a social design and facilitation practice that empowers changemakers to repattern within their own circles, communities, and collectives to animate transformative change.

SIL: Tell us about your company. What are you working on?

We know purpose-driven organizations- and the people in them- want to make a positive impact but often feel stuck in ways of working that don’t feel effective or nourishing. We help them get unstuck. Loam empowers purpose-driven people with creative strategies for making deep, lasting change in the spaces where they work, learn, and lead.

We specialize in an approach called whole systems change. This is a framework for seeing ourselves and our organizations through a systems-thinking lens and identifying new and powerful strategies for change based on what that lens reveals.

Loam offers education, coaching, and consulting to help individuals and organizations develop their capacity for whole systems change. You’ll be met with creativity, care, and collaboration no matter how you engage with us.

Right now, we are polishing our programming, rolling out our summer-hike series in partnership with Discover Charm City, and laying the groundwork for our first community of practice in Baltimore. Stay tuned for upcoming events and opportunities to connect and learn with us!

SIL: Why did you decide to start this? Where did the idea come from?

About three years after moving back to Baltimore, Sam was struggling to find people who were interested in her professional passion- whole systems change. She was yearning for a community of practice committed to exploring, deepening, and supporting one another in practicing whole systems thinking and its application in social change work. Sam sent out an invitation to her alumni group at the Center for Creative Change and began to convene online conversations. Kasey came to the first convening. Over time, while others fell away, Sam and Kasey never stopped meeting.

We loved exploring and experimenting together. We spent years building a strong relationship while we piloted systems thinking programming with Impact Hub Baltimore’s Skill Shares platform and at WFAN’s annual conferences. We had both experienced the frustration and harm of dysfunctional organizations working on intractable social problems. We’d also found healing and growth by participating in learning communities that were exploring how to create deep, lasting personal and organizational change. We believed in the transformational power of these spaces and wanted to co-create similar opportunities for others.

SIL: What constitutes success for Loam?

Success is finding the courage to embrace our daily lives and work as a primary place to practice transformative change. Change requires a commitment to a different way of understanding and being in the world. It is hard to do and even harder to measure. It reminds us of a quote about belonging by Peter Block, “What makes community building so complex is that it occurs in an infinite number of small steps, sometimes in quiet moments that we notice out of the corner of our eye. It calls for us to treat as important many things that we thought were incidental…If the artist is one who captures the nuance of experience, then this is whom each of us must become.”

Success is when we become the artist capturing the moments when we have shifted- with intention and care- how we relate to and treat ourselves, our communities, and our world.

SIL: What have you accomplished so far?

Until recently, we had been building this venture alongside full-time work. We designed and facilitated nine workshops and staff retreats centered in applying whole systems to social change with over 280 participants. Our biggest accomplishment at that point was finding our rhythm and strength as a team of two and working towards taking on Loam full-time.

In the last 4-months- since officially founding Loam in December 2021- we’ve been focused internally on building our foundations and becoming full-time entrepreneurs. We’ve picked a name and invested in our branding, polished our flagship workshops, completed 20 customer discovery interviews, clarified our impact, signed 2 new contracts, led ourselves in a 3-day strategic planning retreat, got accepted as a fiscally sponsored project under Empowerment Works, submitted 4 new project proposals, and led another 4 workshops with 55 participants. We’ve been rooting our work and growing in Baltimore.

SIL: How can people get involved in supporting you in your venture?

There are lots of ways to get involved with Loam! You can check out our website, follow us on Instagram or LinkedIn, subscribe to our mailing list, or contact us directly to explore opportunities to partner or hire us. We’re still strengthening our network, and we’d love to grab a coffee and learn more about you.

This summer, you can also join us for a 3-part hiking series in partnership with Discover Charm City. Stay tuned for upcoming dates and registration details.

SIL: What have been some of the biggest challenges in scaling your venture during the pandemic?

We were intentional about not scaling during the first chapter of the pandemic. We were both still working full-time and adding more to our plates amid a global crisis didn’t feel like the right move. We also knew our people — both our professional community and our existing and potential clients — were at capacity as well. For us, the moment called for pause and attention rather than trying to grow bigger.

The pandemic did, however, highlight many of the issues Loam seeks to address. For one, we could no longer ignore the urgency of building human-centered ways of working. Covid made it clear that organizations need to prioritize care and internal well-being as much as they prioritize their external mission and impact goals. Organizations had to reckon with the reality that strategic plans can only carry us so far when uncertainty, complexity, and unanticipated change come into play. In other words, we began to acknowledge, en masse, that we need new and better change strategies.

SIL: What do you like most about the Baltimore entrepreneurial community? What would you like to see more of?

We appreciate that the entrepreneurs in Baltimore don’t hesitate to support one another. Community and social capital are such fundamental parts of success. We don’t hesitate to offer one another connections or resources. In our experience, there is a stronger sense of collaboration than competition.

We also appreciate that the organizations and institutions in the entrepreneurial support community are learning how to listen, elevate, and support historically disenfranchised entrepreneurs, artists, activists, stewards, educators, and leaders in fundamentally different ways. We’ve got a long way to go, and we’d like to see even more effort and commitment to doing this work.

SIL: What advice do you have for would-be social entrepreneurs thinking about starting a venture?

This work is really hard. There have been an immeasurable number of times when we’ve felt the tension between the impact and money-making sides of social entrepreneurship. We are still learning how to dance with that tension and we try to embrace those two goals with a sense of curiosity. We suggest finding role models who can help you build your own authentic, values-centered decision-making compass. Along with role models, find peers who understand the joys and challenges of entrepreneurship. This work can feel lonely sometimes. Celebrate and support each other.

SIL: Why did you apply to SIL?

The SIL Bootcamp was Sam’s first touchpoint into the Baltimore entrepreneurial ecosystem years ago and she has been a fan ever since. She knew the accelerator program prioritized community-building alongside traditional business education and resources, valued Baltimore-based ventures focused on community-driven solutions, and attracted powerful leaders. If you need any evidence, just take a look at the past cohorts.

We applied for the SIL Accelerator Program because we needed guidance in starting a business. We are experts in designing and facilitating workshops, educating about whole systems change, and crafting cultures of learning. But we are brand new at founding, running, and scaling a successful venture. We have been so grateful for the concrete business support, the connections to resources and experts, and this cohort of badass entrepreneurs following their passions and growing together.

SIL: How have you grown personally during your time in the Accelerator?

The Accelerator has continued to push us to become better communicators! We’re learning how to translate our work, make difficult decisions as a unit, and move gracefully through personal and interpersonal conflict in moments of conflict and frustration. Communication is often considered a “soft skill,” but there is nothing soft about it! Communication is key to collaboration and success, and it has been an element in our growth as people.

Are you interested to connect with Loam? Visit the website, follow Loam on Instagram or LinkedIn, or subscribe to their mailing list.