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Tannis Williamson (M.P.A. 鈥�06) got the idea for her consulting firm while getting a crash course about other cultures in the Netherlands.

The Arab Spring had just happened, with protests across many countries in the Arab world. Those protests were followed by a crackdown鈥攁nd an influx of immigrants arriving in Europe.

鈥淭hat experience, learning about different cultures, I walked away from that experience in amazement and awe. I began to understand [diversity, equity, and inclusion] from a different perspective than race, that there鈥檚 more to it, there鈥檚 culture and nationality,鈥� Williamson says.

Additionally, the Paris Climate Agreement had just been signed in 2015, prompting conversations about climate change across Europe and the globe.

鈥淚 saw how companies were talking about it and [nongovernmental organizations] were talking about it, and I felt鈥擨 still feel鈥攍ike everyone is operating in silos even though they鈥檙e trying to accomplish the same goal. How can we create a platform for these people to come together and achieve their goals?鈥� Williamson asked.

She鈥檇 just graduated from the University of Luxembourg as the only United States citizen in its master鈥檚 program in entrepreneurship and innovation, so she founded in 2017 to work with NGOs and businesses in Europe.

鈥淔undraising and strategic thinking were key strengths for Tannis. Working with her was such a breeze,鈥� says Tawanda Hondora, who hired Williamson while she was still in the Netherlands as the executive director of the World Federalist Movement, an NGO that at the time worked on conflict-related issues in Latin America and Africa.

The World Federalist Movement was going through a difficult restructuring at the time in an attempt to be more sustainable, and though Hondora was in the midst of cost-cutting and reluctant to spend money on outside talent, a colleague urged him to meet with her.

鈥淔or her, clearly, money was not the motivation, but rather, 鈥榃hat impact can I bring?鈥欌€� Hondora says. 鈥淲e benefited quite immensely, and for way less than the cost we would鈥檝e paid had we gone out to the market.鈥�

Despite her growing business in the Netherlands, in 2020, Williamson and her husband moved back to Chicago during the COVID-19 pandemic. She鈥檇 spent much of her adult life in Chicago, and was a little surprised by what she found when she returned after just over a decade.

鈥淚t definitely wasn鈥檛 the same place I left. I returned the day after the George Floyd riots. I came back to the South Side of Chicago, and places were boarded up. It was very, very traumatizing for me, to say the least,鈥� Williamson says.

Before her time overseas, Williamson had worked for six years at the Rev. Jesse Jackson Sr.鈥檚 Rainbow Push Coalition after being introduced to him at the organization鈥檚 national convention in Chicago.

Her family had grown up with Jackson in Greenville, South Carolina. Her aunt, Joan Mattison Daniel, was one of the 鈥淕reenville Eight,鈥� a group of Black high school students who, in 1960, entered the Greenville County Public Library and quietly read books and magazines before being arrested after the librarian called the police on them.

鈥淚 told my aunt, 鈥業 want to work there,鈥欌€� Williamson says of Rainbow Push Coalition, where she worked as a constituent advocate and helped to run Jackson鈥檚 two national shows, Saturday Morning Forum and Upfront with Jesse Jackson. She also worked for the Salvation Army and another nonprofit called Y-Me National Breast Cancer before getting married and moving to Switzerland after her husband took a job there.

She restarted The Sustainability Firm in 2023, shifting her focus to small- and medium-sized businesses with a presence in the United States and Europe.

鈥淚 saw it was the smaller businesses that didn鈥檛 understand what this whole conversation around sustainability and ESG [environmental, social, and governance] was all about. They heard the buzzwords, but they don鈥檛 know what those words mean,鈥� Williamson says.

Many investors and stakeholders use ESG criteria to screen potential investments, aiming to identify companies that are not only financially profitable, but also demonstrate what the investors see as responsible and sustainable practices. Williamson says that companies with strong ESG performance are often considered better equipped to manage risks and opportunities related to environmental and social factors.

Williamson offers her small-business clients an ESG 101 course to help them look 鈥渂eyond the buzzwords.鈥� She also offers climate risk assessments, human capital assessments utilizing DEI, and helps small businesses include sustainability in their business model.

鈥淲e want people to really understand the impact policy has on people every day,鈥� Williamson says.