In the late 80’s, a friend of Madelyn’s quipped to her after she threw some rubbish in a bin, “Out of sight, out of mind!”
That gave her pause for thought — and she often thinks back to his comment almost four decades later.
In the meantime, she graduated from Brown University with a double major in Visual Arts and with honours in Art History, lived and worked in Italy, and moved to the UK in 2000. In her working life, Madelyn has always focused on business objectives, be it connecting strategy with creativity in branding and design, or building the business case for sustainability.
Grain (and a previous incarnation of it) has been a member of 1% for the Planet since 2008, donating 1% of revenue to environmental charities. Madelyn serves on the 1% for the Planet Board as well as on its UK & Ireland Steering Committee.
Madelyn believes that businesses need to play a key role in creating an equitable and safe world and must take responsibility for their activities. Her background is in branding and communications, working with a variety of purpose-led brands over the years. She shifted her focus wholly to sustainability after studying Business Sustainability Management at the Cambridge Institute for Sustainability Leadership in 2020.
You may have spied Madelyn on BBC News and BBC World, commenting on branding, business, and communications, and she lectures on sustainable fashion at the University of East London. She holds a BA from Brown University and speaks Italian fluently. In 2019 she received an honorary MBA from the University of West London’s Claude Littner Business School.
She is a published author and has written a short story collection that links memoir with her family history of Chinese and Eastern European Jewish immigrants who converged in California.
Elena is an accomplished leader dedicated to supporting innovation, collaboration, and social equity within the creative and entrepreneurial sectors.
As General Manager of Creative Works, (Big Creative Community) she has spearheaded initiatives such as the Creative Connect Programme, a grant-funded effort to expand opportunities for underrepresented groups in the creative industries.
Previously, as Managing Director of OuiShare UK, Elena played a pivotal role in shaping the global think tank’s influence in the Sharing Economy. She co-developed strategic business initiatives, produced innovative content – such as the OuiShare Podcast Radio in 2015, well before podcasts became mainstream – and orchestrated impactful live and online events that strengthened global collaboration. Passionate about purpose-driven innovation, Elena excels at building strategic partnerships, inspiring trust, and transforming visionary ideas into tangible outcomes. Whether advancing social enterprises through automation or designing collaborative programs for social change, her work is rooted in creating meaningful impact.
Beyond her professional achievements, Elena has a unique background in coaching, having spent over 12 years as a swimming coach, training more than 1,000 individuals from infants to seniors. Starting on her 18th birthday, this experience honed her ability to manage diverse teams, foster trust, and adapt to unexpected challenges. Notably, she was among the youngest coaches to lead a Swimming Club Masters team to a top-five European ranking in 2012. She also competed in rescue swimming competitions as part of her hometown’s Firefighters’ Swimming Team in Italy.
