Description
About the Session
Business as a Force for Community
What if the impact of a successful business could be measured by more than revenue, growth, or market share?
What if one of the most important things a business builds is the community around it?
At this month’s Lewes Leadership Lunch, we’ll sit down with Mariah Calagione, co-founder of Dogfish Head, to explore what it looks like when business, leadership, and community become deeply connected.
Mariah helped build Dogfish Head from a tiny Delaware brewery into a nationally recognized brand. But alongside that growth has been another story—one of community engagement, philanthropy, social impact, and a belief that businesses can play an important role in strengthening the places they call home.
Through a moderated conversation with Misti Burmeister, Mariah will share stories from that journey and what she has learned about building a successful organization while staying connected to people, purpose, and community.
Together, we’ll explore questions like:
When does a business become part of a community rather than simply operate within one?
How did community contribute to Dogfish Head’s growth—and how did Dogfish Head give back?
What does authentic community engagement look like when it’s woven into the way a company operates rather than treated as a marketing strategy?
How can leaders balance the demands of running a successful business with a desire to make a meaningful difference?
What can small businesses do when they want to contribute but don’t have enormous resources?
How do you decide where to invest your time, money, and influence when the needs around you are endless?
And perhaps most importantly:
What happens when we measure success by more than the bottom line?
As with every L3 gathering, this won’t be a lecture.
It will be an honest conversation filled with stories, reflection, audience questions, and opportunities to learn alongside other local leaders.
Whether you lead a business, nonprofit, team, community organization—or simply care about using your influence to make where you live a little better—you’ll leave with ideas worth thinking about long after lunch is over.
About Mariah Calagione
Mariah Calagione is an entrepreneur, community builder, philanthropist, and co-founder of Dogfish Head.
Alongside her husband, Sam Calagione, Mariah helped grow Dogfish Head from its beginnings as a tiny brewpub in Rehoboth Beach into one of the most recognizable names in American craft brewing.
Throughout that journey, Mariah’s leadership extended well beyond building a successful brand. Her work increasingly focused on the relationship between business and community, including charitable giving, volunteerism, social impact, and creating meaningful connections between companies and the communities they serve.
At Dogfish Head, she helped lead Beer & Benevolence, the company’s charitable arm, and following Dogfish Head’s merger with The Boston Beer Company, Mariah went on to lead social-impact efforts encompassing community engagement, volunteering, cause marketing, and philanthropy.
Her commitment to community extends beyond the companies she helped build. She has contributed her leadership to nonprofit and community organizations and continues to invest her time and energy in initiatives designed to strengthen Delaware and the people who call it home.
At L3, Mariah will invite us to consider a larger definition of leadership and success—one in which what we build matters, but what our success makes possible for others matters, too.
