When Saunders-Green researched the MSSE program, housed at USC BRITTINGHAM SOCIAL ENTERPRISE LAB, she had already launched Green Pines Media as an indie publishing and podcasting company. A burgeoning author, she had written ANGELIQUE: A TRANSITIONAL AGE YOUTH NOVEL, about how a young adult’s journey through foster care continues to impact her life as an adult. At the time, she thought she’d teach writing and publishing to foster care alumni, but at an event in Downtown Los Angeles, one such alumna confronted her with the question: “I don’t read, so what else do you have?”

At the time, Saunders-Green said she wasn’t familiar with design thinking—though later she’d take USC Senior Lecturer ABBY FIFER-MANDELL'S course on this topic. “I didn’t even think to ask them if this [publishing] was something they were interested in. That’s when I knew we had to pivot.”

Prior to enrolling in USC Marshall’s MSSE program, Saunders-Green met with Professor of Clinical Entrepreneurship JILL KICKUL who told her, “You’re already doing social entrepreneurship, but we can help you refine it.”

Said Saunders-Green, “The MSSE program changed my life.”

It all began with Green Pines. As foster parents to teens, Saunders-Green and her husband would take the kids on trips to her father’s cattle ranch in Alabama.

“The kids didn’t know Black people could own a lot of land, or be cowboys,” she said. Among the many cherished memories they made on those trips, Saunders-Green says she vividly remembers one in particular: “One of our girls riding around the property on a 4-wheeler yelling ‘Freedom!’”

Saunders-Green, her husband and some of the teens they fostered collectively named the company “Green Pines” to reflect its serenity and vast openness, unlike anything most of those in foster care had experienced in their lifetimes.

When Saunders-Green was designing The GPC—in the building she is leasing from USC Marshall alumni Jim Greenwood (a happy coincidence)—she similarly drew inspiration from the foster care alumni she had worked with over her career, and emerging artists she had come into contact with after re-launching Green Pines Media. A member of coworking spaces since 2017, Saunders-Green said she’d always wanted a place to meet the young adults she was working with, but it was difficult to get them to come to any of the spaces at which she held membership.

“A common statement,” she said, “Was ‘it’s just not for me.’ I had to interpret what this meant.”

Some of the elements Saunders-Green focused on to make the space welcoming to foster care alumni: a first-floor or walkup accessible space, as many didn’t feel comfortable riding in the elevators at previous spaces; public transportation close by; Black and brown representation; and an eclectic set of themes. A key selling point was the event space—which was sold out in February. Artists need such spaces to display and promote their work, but usually cannot afford such venues. Having an event space helps the company as well, saving costs for their annual artists showcase presented by Green Pines Media.

“This all started with the artists,” Saunders-Green said. From the very beginning, she relied on visual artists she was already working with to build a vision for how the space would look and feel. In the early days of setting up the space, she invited artists from the community in and asked, “Where do you want to create something?” Spaces she hadn’t even thought of painting became full-fledged, vibrantly colored murals like the orange hallway that leads upstairs or the atrium outside the lower-level bathrooms, which are space-themed.

To see a tour of The GPC, visit our YouTube channel HERE.