The Community Fellows - Lee Unsu

LEE Unsu was most recently a director of the Coconut Club restaurant. In partnership with Beyond Social Services, he will be doing research and helping to establish a worker-owned cooperative called Be Cooperative, whose aim is to build autonomy and resilience amongst families from low-income neighbourhoods. He hopes to bring a philosophical and storytelling lens to support the creation of a democratic workplace that might serve as a model for building economic resilience.

In his 20s and 30s, Mr Lee was a filmmaker, starting his own production studio called Hotbed Media while he was living in San Francisco. During this period, he produced and directed several independent films, including Confessions of a Burning Man and Happily, Even After.

Unsu’s fellowship will allow him to conduct research on the feasibility of a worker-owned social enterprise to help to uplift the low-income. He will help the community navigate the complexities of a community-driven enterprise that includes ownership structure and business decision-making.