The More You Known: Caralene Robinson –– Join the Movement Changing the World

Known’s support of the international advocacy organization Global Citizen has been growing steadily over the past few years, with Knowners donating time and energy to help defeat poverty, demand equity and protect the planet. Through its robust network of active “global citizens,” Global Citizen has impacted more than a billion lives across the world.

This year, Known’s impact increased when the movement’s founder, Hugh Evans, and Chief Growth Officer, Caralene Robinson , recruited our President, Ross Martin, to join the fight. Knowing that equity, environmental sustainability, and poverty are three of the most important issues to Knowners, Ross set out to devote more time to these efforts outside of work, joining senior business leaders on Global Citizen’s marketing committee. In this role, Ross works to ensure the brand comes to life in the most compelling ways, ensuring it will reach and connect with tens of millions of people globally, for generations to come.?

“I have always known that Global Citizen was an extraordinary organization,” says Ross, “but seeing the movement up close, it’s clear their impact can be exponential. So when they asked me to participate more directly, I jumped in with peers across the industry to support and provide advice on growth and strategic direction. I’m so proud that the number of Knowners who volunteer year-round, then attend the Global Citizen Festival, continues to grow. Together, we are starting to make a difference on issues so many of us at Known care so deeply about.”

Following the event, Caralene Robinson visited Known’s New York office to meet our teams and share the incredible results from this year’s 10th-anniversary efforts. With the support of Known clients Google, Citi, and iHeartMedia, Global Citizen raised $2.4 Billion to effect change worldwide, focusing in large part on Africa, where, for the first time, the annual event took center stage.?

As Global Citizens’ Chief Growth Officer, Caralene is no stranger to running toward opportunity. A trailblazer whose talents know no limits, Caralene has developed in multiple careers by turning dreams into actions and by swimming alongside all the ebbs and flows of her journey. Her openness, creativity, and wisdom have led her to find a greater purpose in life by doing meaningful, impactful, fulfilling work at Global Citizen and beyond, and telling meaningful stories as a marketer, writer, film director, and producer.?

Below are excerpts from this conversation, in Caralene’s words.

On Global Citizen’s mission

Global Citizen is an advocacy organization. Our mission is to end extreme poverty with three pillars: climate change, a focus on women and girls, and getting rid of systemic barriers that keep people rooted in poverty. Our model is really unique. I've never seen anything like this before. If you join Global Citizen digitally, you have the option to take various types of actions. It could be a post, a tweet, or going plastic-free for a week… by taking these actions, you earn points and can access a variety of rewards. The most notable of which is the Global Citizen Festival, which just took place [in September] in Accra and New York with all these amazing artists and world leaders.?

We aggregate and use those actions to apply pressure to corporations, governments, and world leaders to drive commitments; whether it's going net zero or to drive policy change in certain countries to help facilitate programs against our pillars. This year our high-profile event, Global Citizen Festival, raised $2.4 billion. We track those commitments very meticulously and make sure that they get to our community partners and actually get on the ground. That’s Global Citizen.

On making more than just a concert

At Global Citizen, we're not just inviting artists to come on stage, we're inviting them to be part of the movement and actually advocate as part of the campaign. They're using their own platforms. We're asking them to engage and use their full selves and their platforms to advocate for causes dear to their hearts.?

On getting involved and making an impact

The easiest way to get involved with Global Citizen is to sign up at globalcitizen.org––sign up and just start taking action. Whether it is climate change or helping women and girls or what's happening in Iran; just start taking action. That's what's so wonderful about this model. It's a crazy world right now, and it's easy to be disillusioned or apathetic. By taking action you know that we are aggregating your actions, we're applying pressure, and you can see the results. This is the biggest year that we've ever had in terms of action-taking as well as how much we raised. It really shows that there are people out there that want to drive change, and we're helping channel individual action into real big change.

On realizing fulfilling work

The first time I knew that I was really helping to change the world was the first time I did an advanced trip to Accra. Accra is positioned as this kind of beacon of West Africa for tourism purposes, but there's a lot of poverty there. We went to visit one of our community partners called Basics in the shanty towns of Accra. Basics helps kids by teaching them functional skills, such as how to sew. When I went to that location and saw those children and what they were doing, I was like, "This is what I'm doing–– it’s not about the stars, it’s not about the artists––I'm helping to change someone's life." And that's when I knew I was doing the right thing.

If you have a dream, a side hustle, or a passion, you’ve got to do it. It is through storytelling that I have found purpose, and that I've been able to flourish in all aspects of my life. You have to do it.

On standing apart from the crowd

Throughout my career, I felt people talked too much [without action]. I’d think at the end of the day, “What are we here to accomplish? Let's just focus on that.” I felt like people were staying in their lanes and not thinking bigger.?

When I had something to say, I said it and then I wanted to go do it. We would spend all this time painting these beautiful portraits of the problem. “Let's paint this portrait. Let's admire the portrait. What's an amazing problem?” Well, let's go solve it. Let's go to solutions. We spent too much time admiring the problem and not moving to solutions.

On finding purpose and passion

I frequently have days where I don't feel like I'm doing anything particularly well, but I don't penalize myself for it. I live my life as if something happened to me tomorrow, I would have no regrets so I wait for nothing. If you have a dream, a side hustle, or a passion, you’ve got to do it. It is through storytelling that I have found purpose, and that I've been able to flourish in all aspects of my life. You have to do it.

Get involved: Learn more at globalcitizen.org.