Our Impact In 2022

We’re proud to have completed our third year in business!

It couldn’t have happened without each and every one of you. Thank you! We’re grateful to have such wonderful clients, community, nonprofit partner, and co-creators.

2022 wasn't easy. We continued to experience immigration-related challenges until IRCC finally approved our permanent residence applications in late Q3. Like most folks and businesses, we had to continue navigating an ongoing global pandemic and the resulting economic uncertainties. And unfortunately, we also had to face and overcome additional health issues.

At the same time, it was a year filled with enjoyable and meaningful collaborations.

• Check out our case studies for Build Up and Textile Lab for Circularity to learn more about two of our consulting engagements.
• Smith Assembly was certified as a WBE by the Women Business Enterprises Canada Council in April.
• During the latter half of the year, we revised our signature inclusion training workshop to include a new section (co-created with Robin Eastman) about integrating Justice, Equity, Diversity, & Inclusion into the workplace.
• Five organizations subsequently approved the online version of our inclusion training workshop as 2.5 hours of Continuing Professional Development (CPD) credit: • American Association of Veterinary State Boards (AAVSB) RACE®; • Engineering Institute of Canada (EIC); • Human Resources Professionals Association (HRPA); • Law Society of British Columbia (LSBC); and • Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM).
• Finally, we also began what we hope will be a long relationship with Vancouver Coastal Health.

Smith Assembly helps purpose-driven organizations harness the art and science of human-centered innovation to create more successful + impactful products and programs. While you might think that our consulting services and workshops are solely focused on improving our clients’ offerings, that’s not the case. The value of our approach is in centering the people who create, use, and are affected by our clients’ product or program and teaching their teams how to evolve their design and development practices to be more participatory and co-creative. The result is clients that disrupt the status quo and deliver exceptional products and programs for their stakeholders and humanity.

Purpose and impact still drive us!

We’re proud to donate 5% of our revenue annually to community-led nonprofits fostering local innovation, participate in 1% for the Planet, and be a Certified B Corporation™.

Purpose and impact are also why OAXIN continues to be our nonprofit partner. For the past few years, they've driven social and economic justice in the Mexican state of Oaxaca through a community maker space and participatory programs teaching inclusive and collaborative innovation practices. As a result, OAXIN now collaborates with several of Oaxaca's 18 indigenous peoples, including an Ikoot community in San Mateo del Mar, a Mixe community in Jaltepec de Candayoc, a Triqui community in Yosoyuxi Copala, and a Zapotec community of Santiago Suchilquitongo.

Our annual membership fees fulfilled our giving commitment in 2022 to 1% for the Planet.

In 2022, our founders volunteered 91.5 hours. Specifically, Liz donated her time to: • serve as a mentor for members of the SVI Women, Coralus, MassChallenge, and SVI Hollyhock communities; • participate in a global accessibility hackathon led by Giulia Barbareschi; • provide product/ux feedback to Tracker.ly, Versatackle, and Do Some Good; serve as a design facilitator for Brand Battle for Good; and • help establish Busy Bs (a new group for female and nonbinary CEOs of Canadian B Corps).

Smith Assembly also donated live-facilitated group versions of our inclusion training workshop to support two incredible organizations — North Shore Restorative Justice and Factory Farming Awareness Coalition.

How can we support you and your impact?

Collaborating with good people doing good is what it’s all about. Contact us! We’d love to get to know you a bit, talk about your organization’s goals and challenges, and see how we as individuals or as Smith Assembly can help. No sales pitch, no obligation, just building connection and community.