MosaicMinds Podcast – Episode 27 | Guest: Lê Kim | Founder, CL2B

What does it mean to build an economy that heals rather than harms? And what happens when the drive to create impact is tangled up with generational survival instincts that tell you profit is safety and scarcity is always around the corner?

In this episode, host My Holland sits down with Lê Kim, an environmental economist, systems thinker, and founder of CL2B, whose path from a working-class family in Nghệ An to becoming a pioneering voice in circular economy across Southeast Asia has been anything but linear. Kim grew up in a household shaped by the quiet weight of post-war poverty, a mother whose ambitions were never fully met by the world around her, and a father whose one piece of wisdom she has carried through every career decision: never harm others for your own benefit. She left for the UK at 21, working kitchen shifts until midnight and sleeping four hours a night to fund her tuition, before slowly finding her footing in a culture that eventually gave her something unexpected – a deep sense of self, shaped in part by the artists she befriended and observed.

Today, Kim works at the intersection of circular economy, equity, and systems change, asking corporations and leaders not just what their sustainability roadmap looks like, but what future they actually want their children to inherit. Her work draws from the Global South perspective she has had to defend, knowing that most corporate sustainability strategy is written in the Northern Hemisphere with little room for what communities in Vietnam actually need.

Kim's story is a reminder that transformation rarely starts with a strategy. It starts with the courage to ask whether the world you are building is the one you actually believe in.

📩 Know a woman leader in Vietnam who would like to join this podcast? Contact My at: 📧 Email: [email protected] 🔗 LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/myholland/

𝗠𝗼𝘀𝗮𝗶𝗰 𝗠𝗶𝗻𝗱: 𝗪𝗵𝗲𝗿𝗲 𝗖𝘂𝗹𝘁𝘂𝗿𝗲 𝗣𝗮𝗶𝗻𝘁𝘀 𝗬𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗟𝗲𝗮𝗱𝗲𝗿𝘀𝗵𝗶𝗽 𝗝𝗼𝘂𝗿𝗻𝗲𝘆

Leadership isn't a one-size-fits-all canvas. It's a mosaic! Join My Holland, your FrenchAussie Vietnamese host, as she uncovers the layered lives of leaders who think differently, lead deeply, and live fully.

🌐 Website: https://www.equestasia.com.au
🔗 LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/equestasia
▶️ YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@equestasia/podcasts
🎧 Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/42rgfiUBtVe7Gdun0oWcHA
🎧 Apple Podcast: https://apple.co/3O1mn6E

Join our VK Nữ community of overseas Vietnamese 🇻🇳 women: https://vietkieunu.org/

Mosaic Minds Podcast – Initiative for Women by EQuest Asia

✨ Music: AnthonyHolland | Researcher: My-Lan Holland | Editor: Cam Tuong