Podcast appearances and mentions of Elizabeth A Vazquez

In this episode, Elizabeth A. Vazquez, President, CEO, and Co-Founder of WEConnect International, a global advocacy organization that educates and connects women-owned businesses to qualified buyers across the world, talks about all of these and much more.

Elizabeth A. Vazquez is the CEO and Co-Founder of WEConnect International, a global network that connects women-owned businesses to qualified buyers around the world. She is a world leader in women's economic empowerment and global supplier diversity and inclusion. As the head of WEConnect International, Ms. Vazquez is responsible for mission delivery and measurable impact. WEConnect International identifies, educates, registers, and certifies women's business enterprises that are at least 51% owned, managed, and controlled by one or more women, and then connects them with member buyers. The WEConnect International WECommunity supports and promotes women-owned businesses based in over 120 countries, including local support and certification in almost 50 countries across the Americas, Asia, Europe, the Middle East and Africa. The organization also helps to develop the capacity of large buyers to source more products and services from underutilized suppliers, including women-owned businesses globally. Ms. Vazquez is the co-author of the book, “Buying for Impact: How to Buy from Women and Change Our World.” She sits on several boards of directors and councils including the Procter & Gamble Supplier Diversity Advisory Council. She “rang the bell” at the New York Stock Exchange in 2019 in support of women business owners around the world and is a W20 Representative to advance G20 commitments. She also served as a member of the UN Secretary-General's High-Level Panel on Women's Economic Empowerment from 2016-2017. Ms. Vazquez is an advisor to a long list of corporate, government and multilateral leaders, including WEConnect International members with over US$1 trillion in annual purchasing power. She has served as a trainer and guest lecturer on international trade and gender inclusive growth to graduate students at several business schools and universities such as American University, Arizona State University Honors College, Brown University, Georgetown University, Harvard University, MIT, Oxford University, Tufts University, University of Johannesburg, University of Ottawa, and more. She was born in Mexico, has a Bachelor of Arts in Political Science from Arizona State University, and was honored by the Barrett Honors College as an Inspiring Alumni for making significant contributions in her career and community. She has a Master of Arts in Law and Diplomacy from the Fletcher School at Tufts University where she studied development economics and international negotiation as a Woodrow Wilson Fellow and is the recipient of the 2018 Fletcher Women's Leadership Award for outstanding graduates who are making a meaningful impact in the world. She also completed graduate seminars at Harvard Law School and the Kennedy School of Government, the Heinz School of Public Policy and Management at Carnegie Mellon University, and Sookmyung Women's University in South Korea. https://weconnectinternational.org/

Why is buying from women key to supporting women in business? What does WEConnect International - a corporate led non-profit that helps to empower women business owners to succeed in global markets - do for women in business? Elizabeth A. Vazquez, President, CEO, and Co-Founder of WEConnect International weighs in.

President, CEO and Co-Founder of WEConnect International Elizabeth A. Vazquez discusses the biggest challenges that women around the world face when trying to start and grow a business, and the one thing that they all want the most. Vazquez also talks about how watching her mother host Mexico’s “first yard sale” while she was growing up taught her the value of entrepreneurship for changing women’s lives, and the fundamental mental shift that many businesswomen need to make to reach their potential.