Global Girlfriends
How One Mom Made It Her Business to Help Women in Poverty Worldwide
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5.0 • 3 Ratings
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- $11.99
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- $11.99
Publisher Description
Start small, dream big, change lives— how one woman harnessed the power of fair trade to help women in poverty help themselves
Seven years ago, Stacey Edgar had a $2,000 tax return and a deep desire to help provide economic security for women in need. She knew that of the 1.3 billion people living on less than $1 per day, seventy percent are women. What she didn't have was a business plan. Or a passport. But that didn't stop her from creating a socially conscious business that has helped poor women in five continents feed their families and send their children to school.
Global Girlfriend has since grown into a multi-million dollar enterprise that specializes in handmade, fairly traded, ecoconscious apparel, accessories, and items made by women all over the world. Global Girlfriends is Stacey's inspiring story of following her convictions, as well as her passionate argument for simple actions we can all take to eliminate extreme poverty. Stacey Edgar refused to be paralyzed by the size of world poverty; she started by taking several small steps, personal responsibility firmly in hand, and never looked back.
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From its humble birth in 2003 in Edgar's basement, Global Girlfriend has helped poor women develop and sell fashionable, ecologically sound products, thereby feeding their families, educating their children, and contributing to their communities. At the time, former social worker Edgar states in her captivating account, she knew little about the fair-trade movement, but harbored a desire to reach women subjected to hunger, gender discrimination, and abuse in nations reeling from war and natural disasters. As she chronicles visits to cities and villages east and west, Edgar profiles crafters and entrepreneurs with whom she has partnered. Serving as designer, marketer, wholesaler, retailer, and cheerleader, Edgar stresses her role as bridge to American women eager to shop on behalf of their "sisters." While quick to reveal failures (e.g., bugs emerging from seed jewelry), Edgar delights in symmetries: low-caste Indian women recycling trash bags into chic items; a series of Friday phone calls from Organic Style and O magazines and Whole Foods. Now part of GreaterGood Network and posting annual sales of more than $1 million, Edgar makes clear that her company is a model for-profit social business that grew by making people the bottom line.
