As co-founder and Chief Executive Officer of Triple Bottom Brewing Company, Tess Hart ’05 believes that craft beer has the power to strengthen community, advance equity, and foster a safer, healthier, and more inclusive society. The name of her business reflects its triple bottom line: beer, people, and planet.

“A brewery’s all about community. It’s a place where people gather to celebrate and connect. It’s a place where people go looking for a story, not just a drink, which means they carry an open mind and a curiosity to learn new things,” Hart says. “At Triple Bottom Brewing Company, we respond to that curiosity with a story about how a business can do things differently—through fair chance hiring practices, deep community partnership, and a reduced environmental footprint.”

With the vision that “everyone in every community has the opportunity to craft something great,” the microbrewery’s nonprofit partners—Mural Arts Philadelphia, Project HOME, and the Youth Sentencing & Reentry Project—have a hand in recruiting its team members, many of whom have faced various barriers to employment. As part of its commitment to environmental sustainability, Triple Bottom Brewing Company runs entirely on wind-generated electricity, diverts much of its waste from the landfill, and feeds its spent grain to local cattle.

Hart, who studied political science at Brown University, environmental management at the Yale School of Forestry & Environmental Studies, and business administration at the Yale School of Management, got an early taste of community service and activism at The Shipley School. During her high school years, she served on Student Government, organized recycling efforts, and raised money for social causes.

“At Shipley, empathy and inclusion were a daily practice that I’ve carried with me through college, grad school, and into the world,” Hart says. “Shipley was a place where I could express ideas and take risks within the safety of a supportive community. Each step in my life since Shipley has helped me become braver in raising my voice, taking risks for what I believe in, and trying to create opportunities for others to do the same.”