You’re Invited!
Build Ecosystems,
Not Empires™
A free 3-day virtual summit built for and by purpose-driven BIPOC founders.
Ready to scale to 6-figures and generate wealth for your community as your business grows?
September 22nd-24th, 2026 | Online
The world doesn’t need Empires, businesses that benefit a few at the expense of many.
We need Ecosystems–businesses like yours that create more wealth, joy & justice for everyone.
But the reality is: Almost 90% of small businesses owned by Black, Indigenous and founders of color stay stuck under six figures, despite our businesses already funding our local economies and creating generational wealth.
It’s not because we lack vision or aren’t capable. It’s because we’re taught empire-building playbooks that don’t serve us and never have. We end up caught in capacity leaks—doing all our own marketing, fulfillment, and operations until we burn out. Or we under-price, over-give, and end up… well, burnt out, because that’s what we’re told it means to serve our communities.
The world can be different, and so can our businesses.
That’s why we created Build Ecosystems, Not Empires™
Will you join us?
Three Days
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Free Virtual Summit
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Three Days * Free Virtual Summit *
20+ Speakers
Majority of whom are BIPOC founders leading innovative, purpose-driven brands.
You’ll learn the frameworks, strategies, and mindset shifts they’ve used to grow their businesses in alignment with their values.
16 Action-Packed Workshops
Pre-recorded sessions you can watch anywhere you are in the world.
Spanning topics like values-aligned marketing, easeful sales strategies, money mindset, healing, activism, and more.
8 Live Events
Opportunities to connect with values-aligned BIPOC founders, ask questions & get support during live group coaching, and experience powerful transformations.
Most entrepreneur summits teach you how to scale using extractive, empire-building tactics.
Meanwhile, spaces for purpose-driven founders often focus on impact, without giving you the money-generating tools & strategies you need to actually grow your impact in the first place.
Build Ecosystems, Not Empires™ was specifically created for and by purpose-driven BIPOC founders and racialized business owners who are ready to scale to 6-figures while centering community, justice, and joy.
This summit is designed for you if:
You’re driven by collective wealth
You’re deeply committed to using your business as a platform to lift up, reclaim, and reinvest in our communities—while building wealth for yourself, too.
You’re exhausted by "business as usual"
You’re tired of the content hamster wheel, hustle culture, and the pressure to sacrifice your well-being for growth or community. You’re ready to throw out the traditional business playbooks and build a business that feels like you.
You’re done playing small or watering yourself down
You want your marketing, offers, and messaging to reflect your true voice, lineage, and identities—no more whitewashing, greenwashing, or shrinking to make yourself “palatable”.
Grow your business in alignment with your values, mission, and activism so your business truly feels like you.
Market your work boldly and unapologetically, in a way that deepens relationships with your community and pays you a salary (and a generous one at that).
Design products and service offerings that are easeful, joyful, AND profitable. No more spreading yourself thin.
Be in community with other BIPOC founders and allies who are growing their purpose-driven brands alongside you.
Own your identity as a badass CEO and make decisions from a place of self-trust, intuition, and purpose.
How would it feel instead to…
You and your business can be a source of collective wealth & mutual flourishing.
Join us at the Build Ecosystems, Not Empires Virtual Summit and let’s grow together.
Meet Your Host 👋🏽
Hey, I’m Gelaine Santiago (she/her)!
I’m an award-winning social entrepreneur, speaker, and business strategist for justice-driven BIPOC founders.
For the past decade, I’ve been working at the intersection of entrepreneurship, social justice, and cultural identity.
Previously, I co-founded Cambio & Co. Filipino Jewelry and Sinta & Co. Filipino Weddings, two mission-driven e-commerce brands partnering with artisans in the Philippines. My co-founder and I bootstrapped both into multiple six-figure companies serving customers in 21 countries, created over $1M worth of livelihood for Filipino artisans, and did it primarily through organic and community-led marketing.
Today I’m the Founder and CEO of Founding Possibilities—a growth and education studio. I help racialized entrepreneurs scale their online B2C businesses to six figures and beyond, while building generational wealth for their communities. And I’m so excited you’re here!
Grab your ticket and join me and a community of hella smart and ambitious purpose-driven BIPOC founders! Together, we can scale our businesses to new heights and generate more wealth, justice, and joy as we grow.
I can’t wait to see you there!
What To Expect At The Summit:
Build Ecosystems, Not Empires™
Build Ecosystems, Not Empires™ is running for 3 days from September 22nd-24th 2026.
The event is entirely virtual so you can attend anywhere in the world with internet access.
Founder-Led Sessions & Live Events
Learn from 22 speakers (majority of whom are racialized) on topics like growing your profit without burnout, relational marketing & sales strategies, abundant money mindsets, and more.
Your free ticket includes 48-hour access to each presentation during the week of the summit.
Private Pop-Up Community
Join our private pop-up summit community and gather with other BIPOC founders like you who care deeply about social justice and are already growing their values-aligned businesses!
The community is where you’ll be able to connect with the speakers and other attendees before and during the summit. Available only for summit attendees.
Chance To Win $1000 Worth of Prizes
Attend live events and participate in the Summit Community for chances to win prizes like 1:1 strategy sessions, operational templates, or yearly memberships to help you keep growing your business even once the summit ends.
Upgrade For Deeper Support
After registering, you’ll have the option to upgrade to the 6-Figure Ecosystem Pass which includes ongoing access to the presentations after the summit wraps up, a dedicated week of co-working & live events, premium bonuses from our speakers, and more!
Get all the details (and a special offer) after you grab your free ticket!
Meet The Speakers
Check out the incredible lineup of speakers you’ll learn from at the Build Ecosystems, Not Empires™ Summit!
Each speaker is a racialized founder with lived experience growing their own purpose-driven brands while revolutionizing their re-imagining what business can be.
Day 1: Activate & Align your intuition, values, and purpose
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Gelaine Santiago (she/her)
Build Ecosystems, Not Empires: A Revolutionary Approach To Generate More Wealth, Joy & Justice As You Scale Your Business
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Miriam Buttu (she/her)
It's Not You, It's The System: Reclaiming Your Power To Scale Your Business On Your Own Terms
⏰ Live Workshop: 2-3PM (ET)
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Nadia De Ala (she/her)
Reimagining Success - Stop Negotiating Against Yourself: How to Raise Your Prices, Reclaim Your Time, and Build a Business That Loves You Back
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Adelina Tancioco (she/her)
What if your Business is a Sacred Assignment? Connecting To Your Divine Intuition & Purpose
⏰ Live Workshop: 3:30-4:30PM (ET)
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Teresa Purugganan (she/they)
Attuning To Your Inner CEO: Designing Sustainable Business Systems Around Your Natural Rhythms And Get Shit Done
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Meenadchi (she/her)
Myth-busting Money Mindset: Understanding Financial Energetics and Ethics
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Karolyn Wong (she/they)
Unblock Your Energy and Heal with Your Ancestors so You Stop Playing Small, Release Scarcity, and Create Mutual Abundance
Part One: Pre-cursor to Day Two Live Workshop
Day 1 Live Community Call
Reflect & Connect: Summit Opening & Community Kickoff
Tuesday Sept 22nd, 12PM-1:30PM (ET)
Let’s kick off the summit together! Set your intentions throughout the summit with a guided reflection exercise, then connect with your fellow attendees and summit speakers.
Day 2: Scale Sustainably with relational marketing, soulful selling & easeful growth strategies
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Gelaine Santiago (she/her)
Empathy-Driven Content Marketing: How To Stop Posting Into The Void & Attract Your People Instead
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Carissa Begonia (She/Her)
Build Your Power 100: Get More Leads and Visibility by Activating Meaningful Community Connections
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Crystal Pope (she/her)
Easeful Visibility: How to Stay Visible Without Burning Out (Especially If You Hate Creating Content)
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Karolyn Wong (she/they)
Tap into Your Ancestral Wisdom and Divine Intuition to Reimagine & Grow Your Business Ecosystem
⏰ Live Workshop: 5:30-6:30PM (ET)
(Part Two: Builds upon Part One)
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Paloma B. Concordia (she/her)
PR For The People: Using Media & Public Relations To Get More Visibility & Authority In The Age of AI
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Kathy Kwon (she/her)
Money-Making Websites For Founders Scaling To 6-Figures
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Khryzza Kelley (she/her)
Your First Hire Is a Design Decision, Not a Job Post (How to Build a Team That Scales From Day One)
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Carmela Montenegro (she/they)
Your First Automated Content Engine
Day 2 Live Coaching With Gelaine
Align & Grow Your Ecosystem: Office Hours Q&A With Gelaine To Scale Your Business To 6-Figures
Wednesday Sept 23rd, 1PM-2PM (ET)
Here’s your chance to get personalized coaching and feedback about your business!
Come with a challenge you’ve been struggling with or a question you have about growing a profitable and sustainable business that lifts up your culture and community.
Day 3: Recirculate wealth as you scale and Reimagine a better world
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Gelaine Santiago (she/her)
Moderator of Founders Panel: Building Ecosystems, Not Empires In Practice
⏰ Live Session: 12-1PM (ET)
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Melinda Jackson (they/she)
Fund The Change You Want To See: How To Build A Business That Bankrolls Our Collective Liberation
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Dani (aka. Stella Gold) (they/them)
Build Your Business Wealth Roadmap: A Regenerative Approach To Pricing, Profit, and Claiming Your Financial Power
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Lana Kristine Flores-Jelenjev (She/her)
Healing-Centered Entrepreneurship: Moving from Protective to Resourced Engagement
⏰ Live Workshop: 3:30-4:30PM (ET)
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Ashley A. Bernard (she/her)
Capacity-Conscious Community Building: Grow Your Business, Not Your Burnout
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Sheena Dennise Ewan (she/they)
Alignment over Acquisition: Creating Ecosystems for Collective Liberation
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More Speakers Coming Soon
Founders panelists to be announced
Day 3 Live Panel
Founders Panel: Building Ecosystems, Not Empires In Practice
Thursday Sept 24th, 12PM-1:30PM (ET)
It’s one thing to say that we want to build ecosystems in our businesses, but what does that actually look like?
You’ll hear from Black, Indigenous, founders of colour and allies who’ve each scaled their businesses with an unapologetic focus on their mission and values.
We’ll talk about the honest struggles, joys, and lessons learned on the journey of scaling a business committed to social justice and collective wealth, plus what worked/not along the way.
Day 3 Live Community Call
End of Summit Journalling Session & Community Celebration
Thursday Sept 24th, 5-6PM (ET)
We’ll start with a guided journalling session to help you plan the next steps for your business after the summit is over, followed by an opportunity to connect and celebrate your wins with your fellow attendees & speakers.
How Our Event Is Built Differently
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Uncover your highest vision, learn how to bake your mission directly into your business model, serve your community unapologetically, and unlearn the systemic mindsets that keep purpose-driven founders under-earning or burnt out.
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Master organic, empathy-driven marketing and profitable offers that attract loyal customers, elevate your visibility, and build consistent revenue without burning you out.
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Explore how to build a business that keeps you well-resourced so you can sustainably redistribute wealth, amplify important causes, and build generative systems that serve our collective futures.
Build Ecosystems, Not Empires™ isn’t your typical business summit. You won’t find sleazy girl boss or bro tactics, and we’ll never tell you to ignore your own wealth and health to serve your community.
Every presentation and resource at the summit falls within one of three pillars:
Because business doesn't have to be extractive. When we scale our businesses generously and sustainably as BIPOC founders, your success becomes your activism.
Together, we can revolutionize our industries and create more wealth, health, and joy for our communities.
Have Questions? We’ve Gotchu!
Still have questions? Take a look at the FAQ or reach out anytime. If you’re feeling ready, go ahead and apply.
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The main portion of the summit runs from September 22nd-24th. You’ll also be able to join our private pop-up community starting September 15th so you can connect with other attendees earlier!
If you upgrade to the 6-Figure Ecosystem Pass, you’ll also get access to daily live co-working sessions and exclusive events from September 28th-October 2nd.
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Good news - most of the summit’s presentations are pre-recorded and available for you to watch async no matter your timezone.
We’ll have some live events throughout the summit, as well as active discussions with summit attendees and speakers in the private pop-up community.
To get the best experience out of your free ticket, we recommend clearing out your schedule so you can watch the presentations, engage in the online community, and attend as many live events as you can.
And if you’re ready for a deeper experience with more hands-on support, we recommend upgrading to the 6-Figure Ecosystem Pass (option to upgrade after you register).
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Your free ticket includes 48-hour access to each of the pre-recorded presentations and live replays.
If you need more time, you can upgrade your ticket to the 6-Figure Ecosystem Pass (available after you register), which will give you one year extended access to all the presentations, a dedicated week of live co-working sessions and group coaching after the summit, along with premium bonuses from our speakers and more!
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No. When you register, you’ll be added to the Founding Possibilities email list so we can send you updates for the event and links to each day’s presentations. After the summit is over, you’ll continue to hear from us, but you can unsubscribe any time.
Each of the speakers will have free resources available that you can access by providing your email address, but the speakers will not get your email address unless you choose to give it to them specifically. That way, you only hear from the people you really want to and don't have to worry about getting added to 20+ email lists that you're not interested in.
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Absolutely! You don't need a perfect label or certification. If you're a racialized/BIPOC founder or values aligned ally building a business that's about more than just making money, you belong here.
This summit is for BIPOC founders who want to grow their online businesses, build wealth for themselves and their communities, and unlearn the harmful advice and empire playbooks that have hurt us. If you believe business can be a force for justice, and you want to be part of that vision, we'd love to have you!
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Potentially! The summit presentations and workshops are designed for solopreneurs and/or small business owners who are already generating revenue and need support with systems, strategy, and scaling.
If you don’t have a business yet, you’ll learn some core business foundations, but a lot of the content may be over your head.
If you’re not an online business, you’ll still get a lot of value from the workshops and community, especially on days two and three, so we recommend you register and join us.
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While our event is unapologetically built for BIPOC founders, active allyship is a core value. We welcome justice-aligned allies who are doing the work to lift up the collective and are looking for the strategic support & community to match their values.
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At this time, our speaker list is all filled up, but please register for your free ticket to get a sense of the vibe of the summit. We’ll announce on our platforms once we open up speaker applications for next year’s summit.
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“BIPOC” stands for Black, Indigenous, and People of Colour. We use this term when referring to racialized people because it’s currently the most widely understood, while acknowledging that it’s an imperfect term that may not resonate with everyone.
We acknowledge that ‘BIPOC’ does not adequately capture the rich nuances of our experiences as racialized peoples. We also acknowledge that it can sometimes flatten people’s distinct experiences, erasing the unique historical and active harms inflicted upon Black and Indigenous communities worldwide.
We use BIPOC when speaking to the universality and connectedness of our experiences as racialized peoples of the global majority. At the same time, we commit to being specific and naming cultural identities, direct contexts, anti-Blackness and anti-Indigeneity whenever it is necessary and right.
With that said, we know that language, just like humans, are imperfect. We remain open, humble, and ready to adjust our words and approaches as we continue to learn alongside our community.
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If you still have questions, we encourage you to go ahead and sign up. Your questions will likely be answered during the event or in the pop-up summit community, which you’ll be able to join from September 15th onward after you grab your free ticket.
If you need to ask us a question before registering, feel free to send us an email at summit@foundingpossibilities.com
Thank You To Our Sponsor, Fern CRM!
🌿Fern CRM is the ethical all-in-one business tool for brands that care about people, profits, and the planet.
Ethically priced to save you money AND we donate 5% of every payment to social and environmental causes.
So you can feel good about where your money goes, without sacrificing performance.
Prizes proudly sponsored by The Reach Club