Human Connections at Scale: Inside B Lab's Community Philosophy

“Community is built by people.” That reminder from Silvia Laserna, Community Manager at B Lab U.S. & Canada, is more than a soundbite. It’s a design principle driving one of the largest social enterprise movements in the world.

In her role, Silvia supports a network of over 2,500 certified B Corporations in North America. part of a global community nearing 10,000 businesses. 

But while the numbers are big, her focus is deeply human: “There are always people behind what we see in these businesses. People make decisions. And it's about bringing the people together around these values.”

Not Just a Certification, a Movement

B Lab certifies for-profit companies that meet rigorous standards of social and environmental performance. But as Silvia explains, it’s not only about the score:

“It is more important for us that companies are actually getting better than the fact that they go through with certification.”

That mindset powers a vibrant peer community. Some businesses are in it to share best practices. Others to find values-aligned collaborators. And many, simply to feel less alone.

“We find that the B Corp community is a shelter in many ways. There's nothing stronger for people to connect in community over than values.”

Networks, Not Newsletters

Silvia’s team has cultivated a range of community networks, built not just around industries, but identities and job functions:

“We have networks forming around people's identities, like Be Proud, which is our LGBTQIA+ network, or the BIPOC network. And also around industries like B Beauty or B Tourism.”

In the US and Canada, this layered approach helps cater to a broad mix of motivations:

“There are people who are here to learn best practices. There are people who are here to do business with each other. And those are very different purposes.”

Balancing those expectations can be challenging, especially when some members bring a traditional business-first mindset:

“In such a capitalist world that we live in, it's really difficult to ask businesses to get out of that mentality.”

Scaling Support Without Losing the Soul

B Lab is currently rolling out a major standards update to its certification model. Silvia is leading efforts to prepare the community:

“We launched a series called Impact Collab, we bring experts to talk about the impact topics and then we allow time for companies to connect. That is the CoLab part.”

Each event is paired with online courses, topic-specific community groups, and accessible documentation.

“The idea is that we give people the information in many different ways and give them different levels of engagement depending on their time availability.”

Even as complexity grows, Silvia remains focused on the fundamentals:

“Our mission is to inspire, connect, and inform. And that is what I think success looks like.”

Designing for Turnover and Scale

Building community at the organisational level brings unique hurdles. People leave roles. Companies scale. The human connections Silvia helps foster are always in motion:

“When we're trying to build a community through the companies and the people keep changing, it's not a steady process.”

It’s also tricky to design support that works for both 5-person teams and 3,000-person enterprises:

“When we try to make assets for these companies or design programs, it's tricky to try to serve everybody's needs.”

Despite the scale, Silvia is cautious about relying too heavily on automation. But AI might help with the right human-first framing:

“If we could use AI to do some matchmaking between our companies depending on their strengths, areas of expertise and interest, I think it would go a really long way.”

And when it comes to reducing the admin load?

“To liberate [our team] from answering the questions that don't need to be answered by a human would be a huge achievement.”

As Silvia puts it, the strength of B Lab’s community isn’t in its database or its certification tiers. It’s in the people showing up, sharing values, and sticking around:

“The biggest retention point is that the people who have been a part of this community want to remain a part of this community. More so than the businesses, I would say.”