Compassionate Careers

“Cause-Driven” Work

Erick Ochoa, Robert Egger and Ashara Ekundayo do cause-driven work. They each identified a need or a problem in their community and set about finding a solution. Ochoa was working in his father’s carpenter’s shop in Todos Santos, a town on the tip of Baja California, Mexico, when a local artist and his wife discovered the young man’s talent. They taught him to speak English, paint and work with clay. Ochoa gives back as president of the Palapa Society, a Mexican nonprofit that helps children in Todos Santos. More than 100 kids gain access to language and art programs and about half of them receive high school and college scholarships. The program includes a medical program, library, environmental program, adult English classes, and more.

Egger stopped running a nightclub in Washington, DC, and started teaching homeless people the tools of the restaurant industry so they could find jobs. When he noticed clubs and restaurants discarding food, he started D.C. Kitchen, which trained hundreds of homeless people how to cut, prepare and cook food. Egger also opened L.A. Kitchen to fulfill the same mission.

Ekundayo, a serial social entrepreneur, ...