Building sustainable careers in social impact starts with stronger foundations.
Hey! I'm Khawar and I head things up at SOMOS 👋🏽
When I shifted SOMOS to focus on supporting workers in the social impact space, the original plan was to build a complete operating system — something that could help people plan, earn, manage projects and build a personal brand.
SOMOS is designed to help people build sustainable, independent careers in social impact — not just find work, but actually sustain it over time.
The focus was largely on improving financial wellbeing. Given how many people in the sector are under pressure to earn a sustainable income, that part of the message resonated quickly.
But before getting too far into the build, I spent time speaking to potential users — and two things became clear:
- Starting with a single “all-in-one” app would likely be overwhelming
- Wellbeing needed to be defined more broadly than just income
At first glance, those two points might seem slightly contradictory.
On the one hand, simplifying the product — starting smaller, with something focused and easy to use.
On the other, broadening the definition of wellbeing — moving beyond income into something more holistic.
But they actually point in the same direction.
The way to do both is not to build a single, all-encompassing system from day one, but to build a set of smaller, complementary tools — each focused, useful on its own and designed to work together over time.
That shift allows SOMOS to stay simple in the short term, while still building towards a broader, more complete system.
Why health and wellbeing matter in social impact work ✊🏾
Nearly everyone I know in the social justice space has to confront burnout at some point in their career.
These are people doing deeply meaningful work — often emotionally demanding and difficult to switch off from.
Over time, it’s not uncommon for personal wellbeing to drop down the priority list.
When the focus is on impact and urgency, day-to-day habits can quietly become secondary.
But over time, those things compound.
Energy drops, consistency becomes harder, and even the most important work becomes difficult to sustain.
If we’re serious about building long-term careers in social impact, then health and wellbeing aren’t optional — they’re foundational.
Introducing Food Journal: a calmer approach to building habits 💚
Starting with something simple, but foundational.
Food Journal is a calmer alternative to traditional food tracking — something designed to help people notice patterns, reflect and build sustainable habits without pressure or perfection.
No calorie obsession
No “all or nothing” mindset
Just something simple you can actually stick with.
Even at this early stage, we’re already close to 2,000 meals tracked, which has been a helpful signal that this kind of approach is resonating — and that people are able to stay consistent without feeling overwhelmed.
As with everything in SOMOS, it’s also built with impact in mind.
Each annual subscription contributes to a small group of grassroots organisations, so supporting your own wellbeing can also support others doing important work.
What this means for building sustainable social impact careers 🤔
The broader vision for SOMOS hasn’t changed.
Tools around planning, branding, selling and managing work are still very much part of what I’m building — they’ll just be released as a series of focused tools, rather than one large platform from day one.
Over time, these tools will connect into a broader system — but each one is designed to be useful on its own.
Impact also remains central to how SOMOS operates.
Each product includes a built-in contribution model, where part of every annual subscription supports grassroots organisations.
The main change is that each tool supports a smaller number of charities (up to four), so each one receives meaningful visibility and support — rather than being one of many.
Over time, this allows us to support a wider range of organisations across the ecosystem, without diluting impact.
For Food Journal, the organisations are BuildPalestine, Conversation Over Borders, Foodfacts.org and Linguistic Justice Foundation.
Building a career in social impact isn’t just about finding opportunities — it’s about sustaining the energy, habits and systems needed to keep going long term.
If you’d like to try Food Journal, you can do that here: Try Food Journal
It’s designed to support sustainable habits for people working in social impact and beyond.
Let’s connect… 🤝
- Subscribe to my newsletter, Build With... 🌱 to keep an eye on what we’re building.
- Reach out on LinkedIn! I’d love to hear your thoughts.
Thanks for stopping by!
Khawar | Founder & CEO @ SOMOS 👋🏽
p.s. check out our Impact Fund and some awesome Projects We Love.
