Elevate: A Women's Leadership Institute Podcast
For a decade, we've been at the intersection of leadership, gender and the workplace. With our cornerstone product, The ElevateHER Challenge, we have worked to bring the vision and value to companies of creating more gender equitable workplaces.
To celebrate 10 years in this space, we share with you political and business leaders varying perspectives on the topic as well as the women who are creating change everyday in their workplaces and communities.
One conversation at a time, we work to change hearts and minds.
Pat Jones, WLI Founder
Nicole Carpenter, WLI Director
Patti Cook, WLI Director of Communication
Kris Jenkins, Tech Founder and Male Ally
#additivevalueofwomen
Elevate: A Women's Leadership Institute Podcast
Carin Crowe: A CEO's Journey From Finding Your Voice to Empowering Others
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The journey from voiceless child to powerful advocate isn't linear, but for Carin Crowe, CEO of Habitat for Humanity Greater Salt Lake Area, it began with a petition at age eight. When she received a response from President Jimmy Carter telling her children like her would change the world, she discovered her voice – and decades later, leads an organization with deep connections to Carter's legacy.
In this illuminating conversation on the Elevate podcast from Women's Leadership Institute, Crowe reveals how growing up in an unstable home environment ultimately shaped her leadership philosophy centered on empathy and intentional listening. With adventure-seeking in her personal life (skydiving and bungee jumping among her hobbies), she brings that same boldness to breaking barriers in Utah's leadership landscape, where women executives remain underrepresented.
Habitat's work extends far beyond building homes. Through zero-percent interest mortgages calculated at 30% of family income, critical home repairs affecting health and safety, and distribution programs serving unsheltered community members, they're addressing housing insecurity at multiple levels. Crowe explains how homeownership creates paths to intergenerational wealth that historically have been less accessible to marginalized communities, particularly single mothers and people of color who make up the majority of their program applicants.
What makes their approach unique is the requirement for families to complete 225 hours of "sweat equity," literally picking up hammers to help build their own homes. This partnership model, combined with foundational values of equity and inclusion dating back to Habitat's origins in the racially integrated Koinonia Farm of the 1940s, creates what they call their "beloved community" – a term borrowed from Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., with whom early Habitat founders collaborated.
For women aspiring to create change, especially in conservative environments, Crowe offers powerful advice: "Start where you are, use what you have, and don't ask for permission." Whether volunteering on a construction site, supporting their ReStore, or contributing financially, everyone can play a role in keeping "the nails and the hammers swinging" toward a more equitable housing future.
https://www.habitatsaltlake.org/
https://www.linkedin.com/in/carin-crowe-459b6291/
www.wliut.com
@utwomenleaders
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