There is a particular kind of moment many experienced professionals don’t talk about publicly.
It’s the moment you realize you can no longer unsee what you’ve seen.
The moment where “good intentions” and “best practice” begin to feel like performance.
The moment where you’re not interested in burning everything down but you also can’t keep going the same way.
Lorraine Smith has built her work around that moment.
After two decades inside mainstream sustainability, Lorraine now works as an independent advisor, writer, and creator of Practice-Change, a learning space for people who feel “between worlds,” and are searching for practical next steps toward work that is more coherent, life-affirming, and honest.
Below is Lorraine’s journey, in her own words.
Tell us a bit about your background
I’m an independent advisor, writer, and creator of Practice-Change , a body of work and learning space for professionals who can no longer unsee how industrial systems often undermine life, but aren’t interested in burning everything down either.
Today, I work with experienced people , often from sustainability, finance, policy, or adjacent fields , who feel “between worlds.” Together, we slow things down, surface what’s no longer workable, and build practical next steps toward work that is more life-affirming, coherent, and honest.
What first inspired you to begin this journey or take on the role you are in today?
After 20 years working inside mainstream sustainability, I realized the gap between what we said we were doing and what our systems were actually producing was impossible to ignore.
Once that happened, “business as usual” stopped being an option. Practice-Change grew out of the question: What does it look like when we create an economy that truly serves life , across all industries and regions, at all scales?
Along the way, what has been one of the most defining challenges you faced, and how did you navigate it?
Letting go of legitimacy as it’s conventionally defined, and then following my instincts while building a tangible practice to do things differently.
Stepping away from familiar titles, institutions, and narratives created real uncertainty , financially, professionally, and emotionally. I navigated it by developing a solid practice of listening carefully, testing small steps, and letting the work be shaped by real conversations around impact and change, rather than abstract positioning. Over time, trust replaced certainty.
What impact do you feel your work has created so far – for people, communities, or within your industry?
I see people exhale. Open up. Feel encouraged , literally, having more courage.
Clients often arrive feeling isolated, stuck, or quietly compromised. What shifts first isn’t a strategy , it’s orientation. They regain language, agency, and permission to act from integrity rather than performance. From there, tangible changes follow: new offerings, clearer boundaries, reshaped roles, and work that aligns more closely with life , theirs and others’.
Looking ahead, what is your vision or goal for the future?
I’m building a steady, grounded ecosystem around Practice-Change , one that supports people in making real transitions, not just intellectual critiques.
My goal is to normalize thoughtful exits, creative pivots, and quieter forms of leadership that prioritize contribution over optics. This matters to me because the work ahead isn’t about scaling louder , it’s about practicing differently.
Finally, what message would you share with others who want to create positive change but are unsure where to start?
You don’t have to know the whole path , but you do need to stop overriding what you already know.
Start by paying attention to what feels off, rather than rushing to fix it. Ask better questions. Take smaller, truer steps. Change happens when you do things differently
UPDEED Reflection
Lorraine’s work speaks to a growing reality many impact professionals are quietly living:
the hardest part is not learning what needs to change, it is choosing to act differently when the old ways still reward performance.
Practice-Change makes space for something rare in the impact world:
not louder ambition, not polished positioning, not another framework designed to look good on paper but the slow, practical work of rebuilding integrity from the inside out.
At UPDEED, we spotlight changemakers like B. Lorraine Smith because they expand our definition of impact.
Impact isn’t only campaigns and scale.
Sometimes impact is a professional choosing to stop participating in what they can no longer justify.
Sometimes impact is a quieter kind of leadership, one that prioritizes coherence over recognition, contribution over optics, and life over legacy narratives.
UPDEED exists to make these journeys visible not for admiration, but for alignment.
So the people who feel “between worlds” can find language, community, and next steps.
So the work that is more honest can be supported, shared, and replicated.
And so change becomes not just an idea we discuss, but a practice we live.
