SweetRush Pioneers La Maestra – eLearning Business
San Francisco, California, May 11, 2021 – SweetRush, a 100% remote workplace, deepens its commitment to green business and sustainability with La Maestra, a reforestation initiative in Limón Province, Costa Rica.
As a life-centered organization to empower employees, SweetRush has set itself the ambitious goal of complete CO2 neutrality. SweetRush transforms organizations, teams and individuals through tailored online and blended learning solutions, cultural transformation, leadership and team building, immersive technology and recruitment for learning and development – and now reforestation.
To this end, SweetRush has started:
- Measure the cumulative carbon footprint and calculate the cost per sales in dollars to offset that footprint
- Inclusion of funds in each project budget to plant trees to offset the carbon footprint of all SweetRush team members
- We invite every customer to do our part to offset their carbon footprint
The name La Maestra – “teacher” in Spanish – stands for SweetRush’s dedication to nature as a teacher and guide. SweetRush’s goal with the La Maestra initiative is to learn how rainforest systems can make companies thrive and how companies, in turn, can share their wealth with nature by incorporating reforestation into their workflow.
“We will take every tree and the regenerating ecosystem of the rainforest as a lesson,” said Andrei Hedstrom, CEO and co-founder of SweetRush. “While we believe that using our regular workflow to create a living system is a wonderful end in itself, we also see it as a seed. In sowing this seed, we wonder what else is possible when a world class learning and transformation company joins the global discussion about reforestation efforts? “
Since his trip to the Osa Peninsula in Costa Rica in 2005, Hedstrom has sought a way to apply the wisdom of natural ecosystems to the economy. Working with Cristina Calvo, ecotourism expert and CEO of Green My Experience, Hedstrom created the link between SweetRush’s business and reforestation.
Calvo explained: “La Maestra is a very special project for me because I have been working on sustainability and CO2 neutrality in my company for many years. I have tried to build a project and partnership that is fully in tune with the meanings of conservation, education, technology, time and growth. With La Maestra we were able to bring all of these parts together. “
Calvo’s partnership also helped La Maestra find his home in Limón Province, Costa Rica, on land that belonged to Calvo’s grandfather. Here the members of the Calvo team plant every bay tree with care and keep it alive for the next five years. With their dense, leafy branches and nutritious berries, bay trees are an important source of food and shelter for the diverse bird species of La Maestra.
SweetRush employees have come together behind La Maestra and its sustainable, life-affirming cause. With every tree they plant, the team members grow closer together – and are more connected to the global web of life and the systems that support it.
“With every customer call, every eLearning course we create, every status update, every e-mail, we grow a forest of knowledge together,” said Hedstrom. “To stand in the service of the life potential and everything that we can cultivate and create with one another and the living systems of which we are part, is our highest calling. La Maestra is not just about addressing the suffering and fears of today: The use of life’s potential creates awareness, services and products of the future. The best is yet to come for those who can develop this mindset. “
SweetRush customers also take the opportunity to literally bring their learning projects to life. Since the launch of La Maestra at the end of the first quarter, customers have sponsored the planting of 117 bay leaf seedlings. La Maestra broke ground in a moving celebration of Earth Day on Thursday April 22nd, 2021.
The pace has been fast: SweetRush has already exceeded 10% of its 2021 planting target of 1,024 trees. But the vision behind La Maestra is not tied to calendar years or quarters; it’s a long-term legacy. As Hedstrom promised his team: “As of today, our daily work will outlive us.”
SweetRush plans to expand its commitment to green business and the lessons of the rainforest by joining the United Nations’ Race to Zero initiative and seeking certification as a carbon neutral company.
Contact SweetRush for more information.
About SweetRush
SweetRush is trusted by many of the most successful companies in the world to help them improve the performance of their people. We are known for exceptionally creative and effective solutions that combine the best of teaching design with highly interesting teaching. Our work in collaboration with our customers has resulted in a long list of awards and accolades. Discover more on the SweetRush website.
