Molly Hemstreet is the owner of Opportunity Threads and executive co-director of The Industrial Commons. Hemstreet co-founded The Industrial Commons with Sara Chester in 2015. The nonprofit “founds and scales employee-owned social enterprises and industrial cooperatives, and supports frontline workers to build a new southern working class that erases the inequities of generational poverty and builds an economy and future for all,” according to its website. The organization provides its incubator companies loans, space, infrastructure and other resources, as well as a variety of workforce development and training programs.

Hemstreet, a Morganton native, said she developed a community-focused mindset early in life, especially from her father, Dr. Don Hemstreet, who was named the 2019 Distinguished Person of the Year.

“My dad has a real commitment to this idea of, ‘A lot has been given to you, and a lot is expected of you, and you are better off when the person beside you is better off,’” she said.

Hemstreet graduated from Freedom High School and was awarded the prestigious Benjamin N. Duke scholarship to study at Duke University, where she graduated cum laude.

She returned to Morganton to teach English as a Second Language in Burke County Public Schools. She saw how the high unemployment rate at the time affected her students and their families, which sparked her interest in economic development. That interest led her to found Opportunity Threads LLC in 2008, described as “an immigrant-led cut and sew factory.” The company, which now employs 70 people, was designated as Cooperative of the Year by the US Federation of Worker Co-ops in 2016, according to the Industrial Commons website.

“Opportunity Threads then partnered with Burke Development Inc., our local economic development entity, to start the industry cooperative, the Carolina Textile District LLC, winner of an IEDC Gold Award for Innovative Economic Development,” according to the website.

The Carolina Textile District is “a member-governed and member-driven network of values-aligned textile manufacturers in North Carolina, South Carolina and beyond,” according to a previous Morganton News Herald article.

Rotary Club of Morganton Secretary, Deborah Jones spoke of Hemstreet saying “Her community development work over the past two decades, deeply focused on creating good work and including all community members, has impacted many lives. Her model of community driven, participatory wealth building has been heralded as an authentic, U.S. based rural example of true grassroots economic development.

“Molly has spoken about her innovative approach to rural, participatory community transformation and development at the Aspen Ideas Festival and was invited by the Vatican to participate in the World Meeting of Popular Movements. For her work in environmental stewardship, Molly has been selected to participate in the Eileen Fisher Women’s business grant program and the Levi’s Strauss Collaboratory. Her work has been featured on National Public Radio, in Vogue Business, and the Wall Street Journal.”

Hemstreet also serves the community through a variety of volunteer positions. She is a member and former committee member of the Burke Women’s Fund, a member of the Quaker Meadows Chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution and serves on the campus and operations steering team for the Morganton campus of the North Carolina School of Science and Mathematics.