Almost eight years ago, when longtime environmentalist David Fortson decided to flex his entrepreneurial muscles by starting an “eco-lifestyle collective,” his friends, family, and colleagues had no idea what he was doing. And neither did he.
“I’d come to believe that the future of changing the world long-term hinged on business, which had the opportunity — by moving capital, products, and services — to change the direction of environmental and social issues,” explained Fortson, who worked a decade of professional progressive jobs, from the Isla Vista Recreation & Park District to SB-CAN before a stint at Sonos, where he learned the for-profit mind-set. “Quite frankly, I didn’t know how I was gonna do it,” he admitted. “But here we are years later with a roof over our heads and a talented staff.”
That roof is on East Haley Street, in the former Muddy Waters coffeehouse space, and that staff — including Fortson’s best-friend-turned-business partner Eric Cardenas — makes up their companies LoaTree and LoaCom. The former is what’s become of that initial collective notion: a consumer-facing, event-throwing entity, responsible for producing Earth Day at Alameda Park since 2010 (his first client), the Green Drinks happy-hour networking series, and, this Sunday, the first ever LoaFest, featuring live music, food, beer, and good vibes.