I created and published Sheepless as a national web magazine, designed to support and galvanize the radical small business movement of the early 2000’s—engaging with growing interests in cultivating local economies, understanding where goods come from, and nourishing our natural environment. Over two and a half years, I wrote or edited nearly 200 articles and editorials, directed and produced five short-form documentaries (view below), and commissioned dozens of photographs and custom illustrations. I managed a team of 15 regular collaborators and ten guest contributors (including design educator Cheryl Heller, sustainability entrepreneur Jeffrey Hollender, and author Stacy Mitchell).
To further bring the work to life, I organized and hosted panel-discussions and film screenings at UC San Diego and in Brooklyn community spaces, presented to college classes and design conferences, and delivered a keynote address at a New Atlantic Independent Booksellers Association conference.
“Compelling narratives about real businesses—just what the local economy movement needs. Thanks, Sheepless.”
Stacy Mitchell Co-director @ Institute for Local Self-Reliance,
author Big-Box Swindle
author Big-Box Swindle
In this capacity, I was a contributing writer to The Huffington Post and to PSFK; and my writing was featured in Objects-Journal of Applied Arts (Germany), LINO Magazine (Australia), Resurgence (UK), and on ChangeThis.com. The sheepless.org website earned two Silver honors in Writing and Documentary/Public Service Video from the W3 Awards.
Sheepless Films
Founder Profiles exclusively for Sheepless (Produced & directed by Kit Ballum Cohen, shot and edited by Bryan Sykora, with original soundtracks by Clara Kennedy.)
“The idea of documenting ‘community makers’—the new generation of entrepreneurs going into business with a socially-minded idealism, and a whole new set of rules for success—is one whose time has come, and Kit, as a member of that group, is the ideal recorder and spokesperson.”
Jessica Stockton Bagnulo Co-founder @ Greenlight Bookstore
Sheepless: Short film, screened at UC San Diego in 2011
