In this live fireside chat, I sit down with Kelly Vlahakis-Hanks, President and CEO of ECOS, to explore what it looks like to steward a values-led company across generations while continuing to grow, innovate, and evolve.

Kelly shares how ECOS grew from a family-run company making products by hand into the number one-selling green laundry detergent in the US, while remaining independently owned and grounded in its commitment to human and planetary health.

We discuss:

• Stepping into leadership after the death of her father and founder of ECOS
• Building a company with a long-term, multigenerational view
• Making difficult growth decisions when opportunities fall outside the company’s values
• Remaining independently owned without VC or private equity
• Moving ECOS toward zero waste, net zero certifications, and climate positive operations

• Building team buy-in around sustainability and organizational change
• Creating a culture where innovation can emerge from every level of the company

• Building resilient, localized supply chains across four manufacturing facilities

• Advocating for ingredient transparency through the Cleaning Products Right to Know Act
• The relationship between cleaning products, human health, and the home environment
• Designing products and packaging around reduced waste, refill, aluminum, and laundry sheets
• Green chemistry, upcycled ingredients, and new innovations like Banatech
• Governance, succession planning, and protecting the company’s mission over generations
• What Kelly believes consumer companies and the next generation of founders need to understand about building for the long term

This conversation was recorded live in Los Angeles as part of a live fireside chat series with Light Dao.

To book a consult with Katrina on how you can build more leadership and Regenerative capacity for you and/or your team, book a call here.

• This meditation helps you uncover the unconscious loops that have been shaping your thoughts, choices, and habits. As those patterns become conscious, you’ll intentionally rewrite them so they align with the future self.

  
  

  Your future is shaped by patterns long before it is shaped by outcomes.

  Many of the choices you make each day begin as unconscious loops. They live beneath awareness and influence how you think, feel, decide, and respond. Becoming habits. Habits become identity. Identity shapes the life you create.

  This 20 minute guided meditation is a pattern interrupt.

  Through an immersive audio journey with original beats by Joe Con, you will connect with your future self, clarify the vision you are growing toward, and bring awareness to the unconscious patterns that have been shaping your path. From that place, you will begin rewriting those loops with intention so they align with the person you are becoming, expand your capacity, and evolving your potential.

• This meditation will help you:

  • Connect with your future self and your essence.
  • Reveal unconscious patterns that influence your daily life.
  • Interrupt inherited habits that no longer reflect who you are becoming.
  • Create conscious loops through intentional thoughts, choices, and behaviors.
  • Build a bridge between your present self and your future potential.

  
  

  Return to this meditation whenever you want to reconnect with your vision, shift or uncover habits holding you back, and cultivate the patterns that allow your potential to unfold through daily life.

  Guided by Katrina DeAngelis

  Original beats by Joe Con

• About Katrina

  Katrina DeAngelis is a regenerative leadership strategist, organizational consultant, and founder of Evolving Potential. For more than 15 years, she has designed leadership, innovation, culture, and organizational development experiences for Fortune 50 companies, founders, startups, and purpose driven organizations.

  She supports leaders in expanding their capacity, developing stronger teams, and building organizations that continue to evolve as they grow.

  Looking to expand your potential?

  Book a conversation here to see if Katrina's coaching is right for you.

  
  
  

In this solo episode, Katrina shares a real-time reflection on a question many leaders and change-makers are navigating right now: When you speak truth or name harm, are you being divisive—or discerning?

Drawing on the framework of Spiral Dynamics , this episode explores how different stages of individual and collective development shape the way we interpret conflict, truth, and responsibility. What one stage perceives as “disruptive” or “too much,” another may recognize as necessary for growth and integrity.

Katrina breaks down the tension between inclusion and discernment—especially for those who value empathy, compassion, and multiple perspectives, but are learning that not all perspectives equally serve the collective.

This transmission covers:

• Why truth-telling is often labeled as divisive

• The difference between calling out harm and creating division

• How developmental stages influence perception, language, and conflict

• The limitations of “everyone’s truth is valid” in complex systems

• The shift from empathy alone to empathy paired with discernment

• A practical lens for evaluating whether a belief or message contributes to—or harms—the whole

This episode is both a personal reflection and a developmental lens for understanding the cultural moment we’re in—and how to lead within it without abandoning yourself.

Key Takeaway:

Discernment is not division. When rooted in care for the collective, it becomes a form of leadership.

If this episode resonates, share it with someone navigating similar conversations.

To go deeper,

Connect katrina@evolvngpotential.org

Follow Katrina.deangelis for more conversations on regenerative leadership, systems thinking, and building beyond inherited models.