Girls Saving the World

Christal Earle is a social entrepreneur, a single mom and the founder of Brave Soles. In 2000 she co-founded Live Different, an international youth empowerment humanitarian charity that works in high schools across North America and around the world. In 2005, while in the Dominican Republic with one of the teams she was leading, she discovered a community of landfill workers that radically altered the trajectory of who she is becoming. It was through her work there that her world was further turned upside down as she became aware of the effects of systemic poverty, statelessness and exploitation — and the power she had to start to create something from nothing. For the past 8 years, she has lived every two weeks between Toronto and the Dominican Republic to be with her adopted daughter, Widlene, who can’t yet come to Canada.Support the show (http://www.gaterhodeisland.org)

Bobbi Paidel is the Founder and Creative Director of Tribe of Lambs, a for purpose jewelry brand working for the rights and lives of HIV Positive Children in India. Bobbi’s passion and expertise shines through Tribe of Lamb’s high quality, high demand products. She received formal training at the University of Calgary when she completed her B.Sc in 2009 and Central Saint Martins in London UK where she completed her Diploma of Fashion Styling in 2012.Bobbi has an extensive resume in the fashion industry, working in Toronto, New York, London, Sydney and Vancouver. She worked under Canada’s premier artist agency as a stylist and co-founded fashion, photography and art magazine FRISCHE which reached worldwide distribution. Her background also includes product design, photography, eCommerce, creative direction, client relations, dance and travel. Support the show (http://www.gaterhodeisland.org)

Cathy Yee is the CEO and founder of Incluvie - the IMDb for diversity in film - with the mission of social impact and change. Before Incluvie, Cathy was an engineering project manager at Johnson & Johnson, leading service for medical devices worldwide. She is an inventor and innovator, holding 2 patents in endoscopic applications. Cathy has great passion for diversity in film, and believes that high-quality inclusive film is the key to enabling global empathy. She holds a BS in Biomedical Engineering from the University of Connecticut and a MS in Biomedical Engineering from the University of Southern California.Support the show (http://www.gaterhodeisland.org)

Noora Sharrab is the co-founder and CEO of Sitti. Sitti is a social enterprise that provides fair-wage employment opportunities to refugee women in Jordan. They aim to empower and restore hope to refugee communities through the making of olive oil soap and other timeless products. Sharrab, whose ancestral family is from Gaza, has always felt a special bond with the women of Jerash “Gaza” Refugee Camp in Jordan. As the co-founder and regional director of Hopes for Women in Education, an international NGO and one of several Sitti beneficiaries, she has worked tirelessly to provide educational opportunities to refugee girls and women throughout the MENA region. In addition to her work in Jerash, Sharrab also worked for several years in humanitarian development with the United Nations regional Jordan office. She received her M.A. in Political Science with a specialization certificate in Forced Migration and Refugee Studies, as well as her B.A. in Political Science from York University. She currently lives with her family in Toronto, and works between the Middle East and Canada.Support the show (http://www.gaterhodeisland.org)

Bridgette Wallace is an urban planner and founder of Dudley Visions ‘SkyLab’ and Co-Founder for ‘G|Code House’. She has worked with institutions, coalitions, community residents, and city officials to develop economic networks and programs around entrepreneurship. Bridgette is particularly interested in rebuilding the ways Roxbury and other neighborhood economies emerge by delivering specialized, efficient, and innovative plans that fuel long-term economic growth for black, brown and immigrant residents. ​Prior to developing the initial plans for SkyLab and G|Code, Ms. Wallace worked in the field of Public Health for a number of years as a Program Manager for Boston Public Health Commission and the Department of Public Health. She received her Master’s in Urban Planning with a concentration in Economic Development from Tufts University. She is also a Roxbury resident and serves on the board of the Roxbury Neighborhood Council and on the Project Review Committee of Plan Dudley.Support the show (http://www.gaterhodeisland.org)

Meredith Segal is an American social entrepreneur, education reformer, and political strategist. Meredith founded and led Students for Barack Obama and was selected as one of the original 10 National Co-Chairs of President Obama’s 2008 campaign. She has also worked for Senator Sanders and has consulted for candidate and issue campaigns domestically and internationally.Meredith was one of the founding leaders of Alma del Mar Charter School in New Bedford, Massachusetts, where she directed operations, student services, and community engagement. She subsequently served as Chief of Staff and Director of Strategy for Match Education in Boston, Massachusetts. Most recently, Meredith co-founded the African Development University (A.D.U.) in Niger. The mission of A.D.U. is to prepare the most talented young women and men in Francophone Africa to lead the development of their nations as entrepreneurs, accountants, physicians, engineers and government officials.Support the show (http://www.gaterhodeisland.org)

Today’s episode covers the people who pick our coffee. According to the Fairtrade Foundation, “around 125 million people worldwide depend on coffee for their livelihoods. It is the most valuable and widely traded tropical agricultural product and is mainly produced by smallholder farmers. Many of them, however, are unable to earn a reliable living from the coffee they produce.” Today I chat with Kristin Van Busum, the founder of Project Alianza, a nonprofit dedicated to breaking the cycle of poverty that exists for the 300,000 children living and working in the coffeelands of Nicaragua. Project Alianza builds schools and provides educational opportunities to give kids the tools they need by challenging the systems that prevent resources from reaching remote areas. Project Alianza empowers both women and girls by teaching the older women to be educators and leaders in the community.Then these women are able to provide safe and high-quality education to children. Founder Kristin Van Busum is a TEDx and Keynote speaker, panelist, and public speaking coach for women leaders and entrepreneurs. In 2018, she was selected as a winner in the MassChallenge Boston accelerator for high-impact startups where she currently serves as the Social Entrepreneur in Residence. She previously worked at RAND Corporation, a global policy think-tank where she co-authored over 20 policy briefs and peer-reviewed articles. She has traveled to 40+ countries and lived in Mexico (to assist families at the border), Spain (as an English teacher), and Nicaragua (as Fulbright Scholar). Support the show (http://www.gaterhodeisland.org)

Subscribe now. First episode drops Tuesday, May 7th.Support the show (http://www.gaterhodeisland.org)