Tracking your impact in the community has been made easy with Philadelphia-based MilkCrate, thanks to CEO Morgan Berman.
The young entrepreneur created MilkCrate four years ago. Originally a sustainability app, it now helps clients implement “impact goals” through an engagement app that can be customized based on how each client wants to engage with customers, employees and so on.
“It’s like a Fitbit for doing good,” she said. They work with some Fortune 500 companies within their wide range of clients.
A past Tribe 12 fellow, finalist for Forbes’ Under 30 Summit and an Ariane de Rothschild fellow, the 32-year-old continues to share her expertise through nationwide speaking engagements and keeping her business up-to-date.
Q: What’s new with MilkCrate?
A: “We pivoted the company more than a year and a half ago, so we went from a consumer-based app to this enterprise software platform. … We’ve also relaunched our website. It was our four-year anniversary a few weeks ago. We made public our pricing, which is something that none of our competitors really do. We’re really proud to have transparent pricing. We’re also really proud that we work with such a wide range from the very top of the market all the way down to really tiny nonprofits and for-profits. We’ve made our software and our services so flexible that we can accommodate a wide range of potential clients from employers of 100 employees to 100,000.”
Q: Tell me about your Ariane de Rothschild Fellowship.
A: “The Rothschild family obviously is a very prominent Jewish family and very wealthy global force. One of the great things that they’ve done is Ariane, who’s a member of the family, created a foundation that sponsors a fellowship every year for 20 Jewish and Muslim social entrepreneurs to convene in various historic places. This year it was at Windsor Castle. … We all come together and work on our businesses together, but we also explore our identities and how we’re connected to these global social issues around refugees, anti-Semitism, Islamophobia and how we can learn and grow from each other’s experiences.”
Q: How has the fellowship impacted you?
A: “It helped me think a bit more about my Jewish identity. I come from an interfaith family. One of the things that was really important to me about doing this program was in the past I’ve done things like Birthright and Tribe 12, where I’ve always felt like the least Jewish person in the room. I really wanted to keep pushing on that bruise because as a child, people would say, ‘You can’t be both’ or ‘You’re a halfsie,’ and my identity was always being questioned and measured. I really wanted to take this opportunity to meet with other people who maybe have similar but different experiences. And that’s exactly what happened. I met people with really rich intersectional identities about being a feminist and a Muslim or being an immigrant and a proud patriot. … We don’t all fit in these neat little boxes.
“I remember being in synagogue last year in West Philly and someone was telling the story of Jacob and how the name ‘Israel’ means ‘one who wrestles with God.’ I realized how much I identify with that because as someone who competes in Brazilian jiu jitsu and who goes through the wrestling of building a business, I really thrive in that concept.”
Q: What do you do in your free time?
A: “I started training [Brazilian jiu jitsu] a little over a year ago. I’ve had two competitions and two gold medals. … I’m out there in the community promoting MilkCrate, but I feel like I almost spend more time now trying to convince people to start training in jiu jitsu.”
Q: In all of your work experience in the Jewish community and beyond, what are you most proud of?
A: “It’s been the training and working with the interns and the new professionals that come through MilkCrate and … giving them a really wonderful place to grow into their new adult lives. I didn’t have the best experience coming out of college with the jobs that I had. … I also had a couple really wonderful ones. So seeing that contrast and wanting to make sure that I provided a great work environment for everybody so that they didn’t have to go through what I went through, it’s been really rewarding.”
Philly Faces, which focuses on interesting members of our Jewish community, is a new feature that will be appearing regularly. If you know of a young professional we should speak to, email [email protected].
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