We can’t transform systems without transforming ourselves. That’s core to my work at Percolab Coop and that’s key to Coralus, an amazing international community I am part of. Coralus freely flows capital of all kinds to the dreams that dare to build a world where everyone thrives. At the recent Coralus 10 year UnSummit, we engaged in this deep work, in community, with care and play. From shifting money systems, to reframing funding to rethinking our roles.

Shifting Money Stories

Susan Basterfield and I have been innovating financial processes in our organisations. You can read about some of our work – Compensation as Conversation and Liberatory Approach to Pay. We have become curious about how we can unlearn and relearn the deep seated values that connect to money. How we can feel the old stories in us, acknowledge them, even thank them, and let them go. Many concepts need renewal and Susan and I played with “success”, “safety” and “fairness”. With the Coralus community, we explored a range of ways to dig in and began gathering data.

At the (un)Summit, we offered an embodied inquiry of Shifting Money Stories. We wove the work with the beautiful art of Innu artist Carole Bérubé-Therrien. People brought their painful threads and their joy to the work. We saw that many of us grew up with this idea of success tied in with sacrifice, hard work and external show. There was a sense of not being enough or not having enough. The shift is to a more inner take on success: community, autonomy, inner peace, and uplifting others. We were able to map ourselves onto the data sets and expand the inquiry. A huge thanks to all who participated and for all the love and comments that have flown back to us. It gives us energy to keep going with this work! If you want to engage with this let us know!

Alignment and opening up

There was so much I appreciated at the UnSummit. Daliliah Panio and Gail Wong work in the democratization of capital and money trauma. They breathed fresh perspective into the world of funding in their Money Alignment session. We reflected on the assumptions we carry around our value and funding in our businesses. They helped us dream of ALL the support we really want, beyond our usual limiting beliefs. A much more expansive view of support and funding than the narrow options we usually think of. What if we show up with potential funders as equals? What if we know that our businesses are a way for a funder to express their values? Feeling centred alignment in the funding world in our bodies! More letting go of old stories and letting in new ones!

As the money threads were weaving, I was experiencing my own opening up. There were so many serendipitous connections. Timmy Smith, founder of Pause for Tea, is a model in the layers of who we are and what we want to transform in the world. Tyler Ball from Indigenous Water Partnership held me in my Land back energy. Tera McDonald from Kalawikk grounded me in voices with the land. Mélanie Bernard and Trisha Pitura from Mini Tipi filled me with the coherence of their business and daring to appear on Dragon’s Den (end of October 2025). I do believe they can bring back industrial looms to Canada! Andrea Menard of the Sacred Feminine Learning Lodge got me singing and witnessed my Land back calling. Vicki Saunders, Coralus visionary, touched me by bringing the community to Saunders Farm with all her family stories. Walking amongst these women held me. We were able to talk about how being an entrepreneur is also about healing our core wounds. What a business reframe. Good thing there was such a beautiful care tent to process in (thanks Thu!).

The Summit beckoned me forward. I want to go deeper in this thread I am following. How can my systems work serve self-determination? What is my role in supporting land sovereignty and Land back in my local region? I have already had a follow up conversation with Stacey Maora-Roberts of Ignite your Gift. I have received the supportive energy of my local Montréal community. Susan and I are following up with our online pod on Shifting Money Stories, an Embodied Inquiry.

This is what a Summit should achieve, to strengthen us in our courage and our connection. I love this community and what we are doing. To be continued!

Thanks to Dahlia Kratz for the beautiful photos.