Dare to Think Purple – Leadership Lessons from Women in Social Entrepreneurship Book Talk

Note: This is a past event, additional resources may be available below.

Date

Tue Mar 2, 2021
4:00pm – 5:00pm EST

Location


Virtual

Dare to Think Purple Book Talk (Full Recording) from Ascend at the Aspen Institute on Vimeo.

Let’s kick-off Women’s History Month together. Join us for an engaging virtual book talk with Danielle Kristine Toussaint, author of the new book, Dare to Think Purple—A Survival Guide from Women in Social Entrepreneurship, and the inaugural Morgridge Communicator in Residence for Ascend at The Aspen Institute. During this conversation, moderated by Anne Mosle, vice president at the Aspen Institute and co-chair of the Aspen Institute Forum on Women and Girls, you will gain inspiration and leadership insights from the still-in-progress success stories of real women who have launched and scaled social ventures. You’re also invited to stick around after the talk for an author meet and greet, where you will have an opportunity to engage with Danielle and maybe even win a special prize.

About the Author

Danielle Kristine Toussaint

is the inaugural Morgridge Communicator in Residence for Ascend at Aspen Institute, where she leads brand strategy and innovation, storytelling, and executive communications initiatives. She joins the team with more than 15 years of experience in social enterprise and nonprofit leadership.

Most recently, as founder and chief storyteller at She Thinks Purple, a women-powered creative agency, she has partnered with impact-driven entrepreneurs and nonprofit leaders to tell inspiring brand stories. She has previously served tenures as Managing Director, Marketing and Communications for both KID Museum, a pioneering experiential museum and educational makerspace located in Bethesda, MD, and iMentor, a leading national college success organization based in New York, NY.

Danielle has been the writing pen behind op-eds and speeches for Huffington Post, Forbes.com, and TEDx. She’s also author of the book Dare to Think Purple, which will be published by New Degrees Press in December 2020.

A proud alumna and mentor to first-generation students, Danielle holds a B.A. in Political Science and African American Studies from Yale University and a M.S.Ed from the University of Pennsylvania Graduate School of Education. With Caribbean family roots, she speaks Haitian Creole, Spanish, French, and Jamaican Patois (all to varying degrees of fluency depending on the day).

About the Moderator

Anne Mosle

is a vice president at the Aspen Institute and executive director of Ascend at the Aspen Institute. She is an innovative and inclusive leader in building pathways to opportunity for low-income children, women and families. With more than 20 years of experience in philanthropy, policy, and practice, Mosle is a nationally recognized leader in bringing those sectors together to build pathways to opportunity for children, women, and families with low incomes. Mosle has achieved numerous awards including Washingtonian of the Year, APHSA’s 2017 Jerry W. Friedman Health and Human Services Impact Award, and Visionary Philanthropist.

Mosle founded and leads Ascend, a policy program of the Aspen Institute. Ascend serves as the national hub for breakthrough ideas and proven solutions that move low-income children and their parents towards educational success, economic security, and health and well-being. Under her leadership, Ascend at the Aspen Institute has guided the national two-generation field to new heights and catalyzed action and investments for children and families around the world. Mosle led the design and launch of the Ascend Fellowship, a national fellowship program that identifies and amplifies the impact of multi-sector leaders with “quantum leap” ideas to break the cycle of poverty, and the first national Two-Generation Innovation Fund and national network focused on policy and practice innovations, which now comprises over 300 partners reaching 3.5 million people.

Dare to Think Purple Book Talk (Full Recording) from Ascend at the Aspen Institute on Vimeo.

Let’s kick-off Women’s History Month together. Join us for an engaging virtual book talk with Danielle Kristine Toussaint, author of the new book, Dare to Think Purple—A Survival Guide from Women in Social Entrepreneurship, and the inaugural Morgridge Communicator in Residence for Ascend at The Aspen Institute. During this conversation, moderated by Anne Mosle, vice president at the Aspen Institute and co-chair of the Aspen Institute Forum on Women and Girls, you will gain inspiration and leadership insights from the still-in-progress success stories of real women who have launched and scaled social ventures. You’re also invited to stick around after the talk for an author meet and greet, where you will have an opportunity to engage with Danielle and maybe even win a special prize.

About the Author

Danielle Kristine Toussaint

is the inaugural Morgridge Communicator in Residence for Ascend at Aspen Institute, where she leads brand strategy and innovation, storytelling, and executive communications initiatives. She joins the team with more than 15 years of experience in social enterprise and nonprofit leadership.

Most recently, as founder and chief storyteller at She Thinks Purple, a women-powered creative agency, she has partnered with impact-driven entrepreneurs and nonprofit leaders to tell inspiring brand stories. She has previously served tenures as Managing Director, Marketing and Communications for both KID Museum, a pioneering experiential museum and educational makerspace located in Bethesda, MD, and iMentor, a leading national college success organization based in New York, NY.

Danielle has been the writing pen behind op-eds and speeches for Huffington Post, Forbes.com, and TEDx. She’s also author of the book Dare to Think Purple, which will be published by New Degrees Press in December 2020.

A proud alumna and mentor to first-generation students, Danielle holds a B.A. in Political Science and African American Studies from Yale University and a M.S.Ed from the University of Pennsylvania Graduate School of Education. With Caribbean family roots, she speaks Haitian Creole, Spanish, French, and Jamaican Patois (all to varying degrees of fluency depending on the day).

About the Moderator

Anne Mosle

is a vice president at the Aspen Institute and executive director of Ascend at the Aspen Institute. She is an innovative and inclusive leader in building pathways to opportunity for low-income children, women and families. With more than 20 years of experience in philanthropy, policy, and practice, Mosle is a nationally recognized leader in bringing those sectors together to build pathways to opportunity for children, women, and families with low incomes. Mosle has achieved numerous awards including Washingtonian of the Year, APHSA’s 2017 Jerry W. Friedman Health and Human Services Impact Award, and Visionary Philanthropist.

Mosle founded and leads Ascend, a policy program of the Aspen Institute. Ascend serves as the national hub for breakthrough ideas and proven solutions that move low-income children and their parents towards educational success, economic security, and health and well-being. Under her leadership, Ascend at the Aspen Institute has guided the national two-generation field to new heights and catalyzed action and investments for children and families around the world. Mosle led the design and launch of the Ascend Fellowship, a national fellowship program that identifies and amplifies the impact of multi-sector leaders with “quantum leap” ideas to break the cycle of poverty, and the first national Two-Generation Innovation Fund and national network focused on policy and practice innovations, which now comprises over 300 partners reaching 3.5 million people.

Feeling the Heat: Workplace Safety in a Warming World

For the benefit of workers, businesses, and our society, we need to build workplace heat safety into our culture, policies, and practices if we are to adapt to our warming planet. Join the Aspen Institute Economic Opportunities Program on Wednesday, July 30, at 1:30 p.m. Eastern time, on Zoom to learn about how the warming climate is affecting workers, and what policymakers, businesses, and labor are doing to keep workers safe. This event is part of EOP’s Opportunity in America conversation series.

How to Tell Governments What You Think

Learn how to tell government actors what you think about their ideas in this 1-hour webinar.

Flash Seminar: Rooting Our Leadership in Humanity – August 2025

Get a glimpse into what the Aspen method of text-based dialogue can do to strengthen the connection between your leadership and your values

Writing a Public Comment

Learn a framework for writing effective public comments in this 1-hour webinar.

Writing an Op-Ed

Learn how to draft an op-ed to advance a broader goal of policy change in this 1-hour webinar.

Communicating for Policy

Learn the basics of communicating your ideas for policy impact to stakeholders both in and outside of government in this 1-hour webinar.

Scoping a Policy Problem

Join the Aspen Policy Academy to learn the basics of defining a policy problem in this 1-hour webinar.

Rising Civic AI Leaders

A program providing recent tech-to-government civic AI leaders with the knowledge, tools, and support to navigate government processes.

Shared Futures: The AI Forum

Shared Futures: The AI Forum brings together cultural architects to explore how AI is reshaping the way we live, create, and connect.

The Potential and Peril of AI for Women in the Economy

Watch our latest installment of the Women in the Economy webinar series on AI, featuring leading women in tech.