This Pod Room has concluded. You can watch the video recording here (passcode: hangmai) and also read some notes from the conversation.

Hang Mai's life is a pioneering be-the-change journey towards a greater connection to the ecologies of which we are a part. From law school to business to social entrepreneurship to permaculture farming -- today, she and her husband live on two dollars a day, and they don't want the third dollar. Immersed in natural farming practices and engaged in work that supports regenerative communities, her daily life, deep integrity, and heart of service is like a tuning fork for nature's timeless wisdom.

After a decade working with multinational corporations, Hang Mai realized the importance of change coming from within. Propelled on an inner journey, Hang learned to observe her mind. In 2009, she founded Xanh Shop, which delivers farm produce to urban populations. Channeling her passions towards a local economy and experiments in radical generosity, she transparently shared her financial ledgers with everyone, telling the farmers, "This is the value-add we're providing. But if you do this yourself, you can make more money." Along the way, she found “the only way to reach the farmers is to become a farmer." So, she became one!

A woman who truly walks her talk, Hang Mai is a spirited community-builder and fearless "ladder" behind many transformation-led possibilities. Among them, she popularized "father of permaculture" Masanobu Fukuoka's One Straw Revolution across Vietnam. Today, she and her husband live in a house they built completely from recycled or discarded materials. For their honeymoon, they traveled the length of their country in an old truck someone gifted them. The truck wouldn't go more than 40 km/hr, but slow is the perfect pace for them. They would stop at a farm, pick up seeds, and then pay-it-forward to the next farm. Sometimes it was more than seeds, too. When they returned to their 2-hectare farm, they decided to build a house purely from what people had thrown away. All their friends came to help them build it.

See her words of wisdom on "The Ecology Base":

"There will be no infinite growth in a finite planet." That is the affirmation from Ms. Mai Hang when she presented the audience with the speech ‘Base’. ‘Base’ can be also viewed as our ecosystem which is the bottom stratification providing resources for all activities that take place in other stratifications - society and economy. Therefore, if people utilize resources for development without returns, the ‘base’ will gradually get emptier until it fails to sustain. Where should we start from to maintain ‘the base’? By listening to the sharing of Ms Hang Mai can we learn more about what people are capable of to fulfill their responsibility towards the environment. It’s because "Everyone has their own God, but there is only one Base which is for all” Giving up on a thousand-dollar job, Hang Mai started up a business and named it “Xanhshop” - an online shop that carries unique philosophies in its administration: Doing what I can - Lessen just a piece of trash - Small is beautiful. Considering Nature as God, Hang and her teammates choose to do business in a minimalistic way such as providing only essential goods with minimalistic packages. They are also doing a test on selling non-packaged products.

A force to be reckoned with, Hang Mai (pictured below with her husband) consistently tills the soils of inner and community transformation. Here's another small window into her remarkable spirit and journey: