Meet Karimah Hudda, the Founder and Chief Catalyst of illumine.earth, a purpose-driven company offering leadership programs, strategic advisory, and systems change initiatives in hopes of creating a world where both people and nature can thrive.
Growing up in a small town in India, Karimah saw families struggling to access basic necessities, igniting her lifelong passion for social impact. Over the span of the last two decades, Karimah has lived and worked across more than 40 countries alongside a wide range of stakeholders. She has driven strategies to tackle deforestation, modern slavery, and systemic inequality. These diverse experiences have shaped illumine.earth’s mission to inspire leaders to take bold actions that create lasting impact without sacrificing their well-being.
During our conversation, Karimah shared the story behind illumine.earth’s founding, the core values that guide her journey, and the advice she would give other women looking to intentionally grow businesses.
Tell us the story behind your company’s founding. How and why did you start working on illumine.earth?
I am originally from a very small town in India, where, as a very young child, I saw deep poverty and inequality. I have always known that my life, leadership, and livelihood would be centered on making a difference to people and the planet. Throughout my career, I have worked with and learned from people from all walks of life in more than 45 countries. I have seen that no matter where we come from, when we rise to our fullest potential, we can make a big difference. I have seen firsthand the power of people doing big things for good faster than they thought was possible.
Just before I launched illumine.earth in 2023, I learned that we have until 2030 to halve the world’s carbon footprint and double nature restoration in order to curb climate change. In addition to this urgency, I also reflected deeply on the fact that poverty, inequality, and war abound. We need to be much bigger, bolder, and faster in our actions.
At the same time, we have mass human burnout. People tend to equate going bigger, bolder, and faster with working harder.
I believe that human ingenuity and positive intent have the potential to solve our existential challenges within our lifetime. I believe it is possible to do so in a way that doesn’t make us work to the bone. I launched illumine.earth to help generate bigger, bolder, and faster actions in ways that regenerate us.
Through the work of illumine.earth, I am filled with gratitude whenever I witness the moment of unlock in the leaders and organizations we serve. After working with us, a leader or a team makes an unimaginably large shift toward greater impact in a way that is regenerative for them. It is continued affirmation that illumine.earth’s work is just what business leaders need right now, more urgently than ever before.
What sets illumine.earth apart in a crowded market? What do you believe is your unique contribution to your industry?
illumine.earth serves business leaders who want to elevate their own, as well as their enterprise’s, positive impact on people and planet. We work with a range of businesses, from startups to the world’s largest corporations. Through illumine.earth’s in-house leadership programs, retreats, strategic advisory, and systems change programs, we catalyze business leaders and their teams to recenter their leadership, team culture, and enterprise strategy on purpose; rekindle and nourish their inner light through regenerative practices; and elevate their positive impact.
In a world where we have far too much complexity, we use very simple methods to realign people to their regenerative resonance. Through this process, leaders also integrate changes to live a more regenerative lifestyle in their personal and professional lives. When their regenerative resonance is rekindled and nurtured, leaders indeed become bigger, bolder, and faster in their positive actions.
What core values guide illumine.earth? How do these principles reflect your personal values and how do they influence your leadership?
illumine.earth embodies three of my own core values: joy, abundance, and impact.
In a space that is filled with doom and gloom, polarization, and dissonance, it’s important to remember our joy. The more joy we have in making a positive impact, the bigger the impact we will want to make. When we are in a state of resonance with ourselves, each other, and nature, we are connected to that which brings us joy. I check in with myself, my team, my clients, and my ecosystem of partners to make sure we feel joy in what we do.
When I launched illumine.earth, I read a lot of material on competitive analysis. I also came across a lot of people who behaved like they were my competition. I realized very quickly that how we view competition is a mindset. We are a world of eight billion people. Our “market” is vast and limitless. What is important to me is that I am clear about what illumine.earth is meant to accomplish and to remain steadfast on that path. Abundance is also a mindset in how I choose my ecosystem—my team, strategic partners, platforms, and so on. illumine.earth is a company born to purpose. We are impact-first in everything we do.
I have found that as long as we remain clear and consistent on our values, we find out very quickly whom we are meant to serve, who is meant to be in our ecosystem, and who is not yet meant for us.
“What if we could help everyone connect to their purpose so that they could choose to live a life of purpose that fulfills them? Imagine what the world could be like if we all led in this way.”
Can you share a time when you struggled with burnout or stress? What steps or practices helped you regain your balance and well-being?
We know the global statistics: more than 50% of global managers report burnout. I’ve seen even bigger numbers in other literature. Fifty percent of impact professionals also report burnout.
I was a corporate executive and an impact professional, and I see my past tendencies in those statistics. I am also a woman of color and an immigrant who embodied the “work twice as hard to get half as far” adage. I used to spend the last month of every fiscal year so exhausted that I have few-to-no memories of personal events in those months.
I knew I needed a change. I knew other business leaders and impact professionals needed a change. illumine.earth’s regenerative resonance method was born of the urgent need for a change in how we live, lead, and operate our enterprises.
Almost none of us, myself included, will achieve perfection in balance and well-being. It is important that, just like in any other habit change, whenever you skip a beat on your balance and well-being journey, you remember to be kind to yourself and restart.
Two practices that have helped me immensely are my daily five-minute meditation at the start of my day and a more nutritious diet. I also find tremendous joy in seeing life and the world as an adventure. My husband and I both love seeing the world and are foodies, so we prioritize these experiences.
Which personal relationships or life experiences have had the greatest influence on your leadership style?
Working with people living in extreme circumstances all over the world has taught me that the most important leadership trait is your inner light and its connection to the world around you. I have had the privilege of learning many mainstream leadership programs and methods that predominate the world of business today. When I compare those methods to what I have learned in the slums of Nairobi or the mountains of Aceh, our mainstream leadership paradigms are often built on the basis of fitting people into a mold and having them compete to be the most productive workers. I often wonder why we have not connected the dots between this strategy and our global human burnout statistics.
What if, instead, we could go back to brass tacks? What if we could say to everyone that who you are—who you really are—is good enough? What if we could help everyone connect to their purpose so that they could choose to live a life of purpose that fulfills them? What if we helped people reconnect to what they love most about our shared humanity? Imagine what the world could be like if we all led in this way.
What advice would you give to other women wanting to start or grow businesses in an intentional way?
First, spend the time to get clear on who you are, your purpose, and the change you want to make in this world. Then, write your business purpose and plan. The more alignment there is between who you are and what you do, the more successful you will feel.
Second, it’s a well-known data point that women try to do everything by themselves. When I launched illumine.earth, I called all of my friends who had launched similar firms in the past five to ten years and got a lot of advice. I also found excellent communities like Dreamers & Doers, which helps women founders to tap into collective wisdom as well as a wide range of resources and business partners.
Karimah is a member of Dreamers & Doers, an award-winning community that amplifies extraordinary women entrepreneurs, investors, and leaders by securing PR, forging authentic connections, and curating high-impact resources. Learn more about Dreamers & Doers and get involved here.