About ELUME

Lighting the Path to Sustainable Success

Small businesses, big impact

Imagine a world where your business is a driving force for change—fueling innovation, uplifting your community, and leading in sustainability. That’s the vision we’re bringing to life with businesses like yours.

Sustainability isn’t out of reach; it’s the tool that helps you thrive while making a difference. We’re here to guide you in integrating its priciples into your operations in practical, profitable ways that align with your values.

Founded by Melisa Báez and Sarah Payne, ELUME was born to ensure sustainability is accessible to small and medium-sized businesses, particularly women-owned and BIPOC-led.

meet the founders: The heart behind elume

Our journey began with a shared belief: sustainability is a way of life. Inspired by global communities that honor the natural world and its creators, Melisa Báez founded ELUME to empower underrepresented entrepreneurs—especially women and BIPOC business owners—to view sustainability as a strategic advantage. As a Dominican-American and first-generation entrepreneur, Melisa knew the challenges of growing a business while staying true to her values. Through her lived experience and years of coaching, teaching, and consulting with entrepreneurs, she developed a passion for making sustainability practical and accessible for all.

To amplify this mission, Melisa partnered with Sarah Payne, an expert in sustainability standards and business certification. Sarah’s experience with B Corp standards and her success guiding businesses through certification brought the operational expertise ELUME needed to deepen its impact. Together, their combined strengths—Melisa’s focus on values-driven growth and Sarah’s ability to turn purpose into action—have transformed ELUME into more than a consulting firm.

We’re a movement—redefining what it means to grow with intention. By blending strategic expertise with a passion for sustainability, we help businesses thrive while becoming leaders in their communities.

At ELUME, we believe businesses that embrace sustainability at their core spark meaningful change. Our mission is to help you build a resilient, impactful business that grows alongside a better world.

Melisa Baez

CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER

Connect with melisa
Sarah Payne

CHIEF OPERATING OFFICER

Connect with Sarah

“transform sustainability from a concept into a way of life”

Your blueprint for impact: The MVI assessment

Many businesses struggle to effectively integrate sustainability, often feeling overwhelmed by the complexity and scale of potential initiatives. They want to make a positive impact but lack a clear path forward.

At the heart of our work is the Minimum Viable Impact (MVI) framework, a practical tool designed to help you uncover unique ways your business can create positive social, environmental, and governance impacts while building business value. MVI empowers you to identify one specific area where your business can make a difference and provides a step-by-step approach for integrating sustainability into your operations. We guide you in piloting this idea, ensuring its viability before expanding your sustainable initiatives.

With MVI, you’ll not only see measurable returns—financially and culturally—but you’ll also ensure that sustainability becomes an integral part of who you are as a business. Through our framework, you can cultivate a thriving culture of sustainability that drives meaningful change in your company and beyond.

“we’re part of a movement”

A young woman in a yellow sweatshirt planting

Small steps, big change

We understand that sustainability can feel overwhelming, which is why our approach is rooted in taking small, intentional steps that create lasting change. By breaking the journey down into phases, we help you test and scale sustainable practices in a way that works for your business.

As you move forward, you’ll not only see the bottom-line benefits—you’ll feel how sustainability strengthens your operations, team culture, and customer loyalty. Every step is designed to drive both impact and growth.

Purpose driven, community focused

Business can be a powerful force for good. Equity, inclusion, and sustainability are at the heart of everything we do. We work with entrepreneurs who believe their success is tied to the well-being of their community and the planet.

Every move toward sustainability is a step toward a better future, and we’re here to help you lead the way.

#ELUMEtheWay