23 & 24 September 2020

Kathleen Holland, Founding Partner, KMH Associates & Co-founder, Chair of Board Trade+Impact

Kathleen is a global strategic management consultant and trainer providing organizations with the tools and counsel to sustainably build their capacity and effectiveness based on a triple bottom line (people, planet, profit) platform. Kathleen is also the visionary and co-founder of Trade + Impact Association; a non-profit trade association with a mission to break the barriers to trade and investment for women-led social enterprises in the craft and natural cosmetics sectors across Africa and the Middle East.

Kathleen’s career has spanned leadership roles with major Canadian corporations to consulting roles with the US State Department, Vital Voices, and small craft companies in Africa. Kathleen has seen first-hand the impact that social enterprises have on their employees and communities; working in Afghanistan, Latin America, and fourteen countries across Africa. Kathleen is committed to supporting the growth of women-led social enterprises globally.

Kathleen has received the Johanna Townsend Export Champion Award from OWIT (Organization for Women in International Trade) and the CME (Canadian and Manufacturers and Exporters) Award for Excellence in Promoting Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises in Developing Countries (with CARE Enterprise Partners).

Jennifer Gootman, Vice President of Sustainability for Williams-Sonoma, Inc.

Jennifer Gootman is the Vice President of Sustainability for Williams-Sonoma, Inc., leading social and environmental strategy and programming across the company’s eight brands. Jennifer started with the West Elm brand in 2013 where she launched the first Fair Trade-Certified factory program in home retail, was a founding partner of the Nest Standard for Ethical Handcraft, and piloted a partnership with nonprofit VisionSpring to provide vision screenings to factory workers that is now reaching half-a-million people. Today, she is building on Williams-Sonoma, Inc.’s leadership in responsible materials and ethical production to launch a comprehensive climate and environmental strategy. Prior to this role, Jennifer spent more than a decade with nonprofits and social enterprises in New York, Nicaragua, and India, working within design-driven industries to create impact through supply chain innovation. Jennifer holds a BA from Harvard College and an MBA from the NYU Stern School of Business, is a fellow in the Aspen Institute’s First Movers program, and serves on the board of Chicago-based ethical fashion company Mata Traders and as an advisor to NYU Stern’s Center for Sustainable Business.

Zoë Dean-Smith, Vice President, Economic Empowerment & Entrepreneurship, Vital Voices Global Partnership

With a background of experience in the for-profit, non-profit, corporate and social enterprise sectors, Zoë is responsible for driving the organization’s global approach to Economic Empowerment and Entrepreneurship, to advance the organization’s mission. She provides vision and leadership for the organization's economic empowerment and entrepreneurship focused programs.

Between 2007 and 2011, based in Swaziland, Zoë served as Senior Director of Vital Voices’ Global Entrepreneurs in Handcrafts Program. During this time, she also worked with TechnoServe, developing Swaziland’s handcraft sector and with the International Finance Corporation’s Grassroots Business Initiatives across Africa and SE Asia.

In 2011/2012, Zoë project-managed The Coca-Cola Africa Foundation’s programs across Africa.  Prior to 2007, she was Managing Director of Gone Rural, working with 700+ women artisans in Swaziland and launched Gone Rural BoMake, a community development non-profit organization serving the Gone Rural communities.

Zoë received a 2011 World of Difference Award from The International Alliance of Women and a 2005 Pan African Business-Woman Award for Capacity Building. She has been a featured speaker internationally in her role as a social entrepreneur as well as addressing issues concerning Swaziland such as HIV/AIDS, women’s rights and basic community needs. 

Zoë serves on the Boards of the Association of Women Business Centers (USA), the Good Shepherd International Foundation (Italy), the Grassroots Business Fund (USA), on the International Advisory Council of Days for Girls (USA) and has served on the Jury of the Cartier Women’s Initiative Awards. In 2008, Zoë initiated a Young Women’s Mentorship Program in Swaziland. She has served as a mentor in the Cherie Blair Mentoring Women in Business program and the Mandela Washington Fellowship Program for Young African Leaders.

Teni Majekodunmi, CEO & Founder of Eclectic Chique

Teni is the founder of Eclectic Chique an African Inspired Accessories brand that trains and supports female and male artisans in Nigeria to produce high quality exportable products to 8 different countries. Eclectic Chique has a flagship store in Lagos Nigeria, a production hub and an e commerce online store with warehouse distribution in the UK. In addition to that she is an International Trade lawyer and National Expert to the International Trade Centre (ITC) of the United Nations on the SheTrades in Commonwealth Programme. 

She attained her Bachelors Degree (LLB)hons. and Masters Degree from the University of Warwick, UK. As a lawyer, she trained and practiced for several years and has written several articles on legal issues relating to International Trade negotiations, Climate Change, Carbon Credits and Climate Finance. Ms Majekodunmi is a member of the Nigerian Bar Association, a US State Department Alumnus via her participation under the President Obama’s Young African Leaders Initiative 2012, Cherie Blair Institute for Women & a World Bank Scholar. She mentors’ youths & potential leaders and is a motivational speaker at a lot of social and business entrepreneurial events. She has delivered several papers at various conferences and has a weekly column in 2 national newspapers in Nigeria.

In addition to serving on the Trade & Impact Advisory board, Teni also serves as a trustee of 2 non – profit organizations and serves as a director on 3 other Companies. She is happily married with 3 children.

Leslie Mittelberg, Owner of Swahili Imports

Leslie Mittelberg founded Swahili African Modern in 1995 to represent African artisans in the U.S. retail gift market. Over the past 25 years, the company has expanded from working with a few artisan groups in Kenya, to partnering with export-ready craft producers in 15 nations across the African continent. By cooperatively developing products with artisans and showcasing natural and recycled materials, Swahili offers stores around the world an extensive collection of beautiful handmade products that blend traditional craftsmanship and modern design. With insight from years of working in rural Africa, Leslie has performed artisan assessments for the World Bank and Aid to Artisans, and facilitated artisan training workshops for the Peace Corps and West African Trade Hub. She has served as a board member for the Fair Trade Federation and represented the Handmade sector on NY NOW’s Advisory Board. When Leslie isn’t working, she enjoys spending time with her family, particularly her grandson Ike and her furry friend Norman.

Hedvig Alexander, Chief Commercial Officer

Hedvig is a Danish Army Captain and Yale graduate. She founded Far + Wide Collective an online platform with a network of 5,000 suppliers, 400 retailers in 18 countries. She led Building Markets adding 1.6% to Afghan GDP (‘06), was Managing Director of Turquoise Mountain and founded The Pin Project for refugees.

Sharon Dranko, Director of Product Development for West Elm

Sharon has worked closely with West Elm’s artisan partners over the past 4 years through her roles on both the Sourcing and Product Development teams. She’s traveled extensively to meet with vendors and experience artisan & hand crafted production firsthand.  Sharon is passionate about the preservation of native crafts and feels a great responsibility in bridging the gap between artisans and mass market retailing.

Sara Otto, Senior Director of Compliance and European Lead at Nest

Sara has been instrumental in the development and implementation of Nest’s Ethical Handcraft Program, as well as Nest’s other compliance-related projects which aim to address common challenges faced by artisans globally such as wastewater management, providing living wages, and technology solutions for supply chain transparency. Sara previously worked as Nest’s Program Manager at its flagship project in Varanasi, India, where she has resided for 3 1/2 years consulting closely with artisans on the ground, allowing her to deeply understand the cultural, economic and logistical challenges they face, as well as to develop practical, sustainable solutions that support the long term growth of their businesses in an ever changing global marketplace. Prior to working with Nest, Sara served as a Small Enterprise Development Volunteer with the Peace Corps in Togo, West Africa, where she consulted with several micro-enterprises including artisans and a micro-finance organization on basic business skills, marketing and internal systems development.  

Sara graduated from the State University of New York at Buffalo with a degree in Arts Management and a concentration in Marketing. She is also an avid photographer and traveler.

Nikhil Khera, Managing Partner at V-Weave

Nikhil Khera is the managing partner of Bharat Carpet Manufacturers, a four-generation old family business set up by his great grandfather in 1951. They are the oldest exporters of hand-woven floor coverings based out of Panipat, INDIA. Following his graduation in Textile Management & Marketing from Philadelphia University, USA in 2002, Nikhil returned to India and joined the family business. Over the last two decades he has nurtured and grown the export business multifold while preserving the legacy of operating an ethically and socially responsible organization by supporting hundreds of local hand spinner and weavers. Nikhil loves to travel and explore new destinations. He is an avid photographer, passionate about Music, Dj’ing and has keen interest in art and crafts.

Diego Olivero, Designer, Co-Founder of Meso Goods and Design Consultant for West Elm

Diego Olivero is an award winning designer, born in Guatemala. Diego holds a multidisciplinary career based on creativity, craftsmanship, and social impact projects. He received his BA with honors in Industrial Design, at The Art Institute of Fort Lauderdale. 

Diego’s passion for handcrafted objects and design drove him to co-fund Meso Goods, a social enterprise working with more than 550 artisans families in Guatemala, Peru, Haiti and Honduras, distributing products in more than 20 countries, through Museums, Retail Stores and Exhibitions, generating sustainable economic development for artisan families. His design work is available at West Elm, Metropolitan Museum of Art (MET), Santa Barbara Museum of Art, New Orleans Museum of Art, Perez Art Museum (PAM), San Antonio Museum of Art, among others. 

As founder of his own practice studio, Diego has worked in different architectural, interior design and installation projects in Guatemala, Venezuela, Miami, Brazil, Honduras, Panama and the UK. Though his creative language Diego has received different recognitions and awards and received the Public Medal by the London Design Biennale 2018 for the Guatemalan Pavilion Palopo, also recently won Two Gold Medals at the World Biennale of Interior Designers in Mexico City.  In 2016 became part of the Young Leaders of the Americas Initiative by the United States Department of State, for being a leader and social entrepreneur. This lead him to co-create a Social Driven Platform CONVERSA, a place to learn, share, connect and act for social good.   Diego’s understanding and study of materials, has led him to expand his range of work focusing on mixed media for the development of his products, interiors and installations.

Patti Carpenter, Global Trend Ambassador and Principal of Carpenter + Company

Patti is Principal of Carpenter+Company/Trendscope and an award-winning Creative Director in globally sourced home decor, personal accessories, fragrance and gifts. With extensive experience in product design and development, merchandising and color + trend forecasting, Patti is a micro-enterprise specialist with US presidential recognition for domestic and international expertise in artisan development, small producer and entrepreneurial training, and economic development. Patti has designed, sourced, and created innovative Private Label products for brands including Bloomingdales, Sferra, Neiman Marcus, Crate & Barrel, The Phillips Collection, ABC Carpet and Home, Yankee Candle, Donna Karan Urban Zen, and Ralph Lauren. She has traveled and worked in fifty-seven countries speaking and writing on color + trend and design around the globe as the Global Trend Ambassador for Maison & Objet in America and Paris and is a consultant with Pantone. She is an active board member of SERRV International, which is a founding member of the World Fair Trade Organization, and an Advisory Board Member of the Black Artists and Designers Guild, BADG.

Jeff Hannoosh, Senior Vice President of Design for West Elm

Jeff Hannoosh is the Senior Vice President of Product Design and Development at West Elm, where he oversees design and concept, product development and engineering for all areas of the West Elm brand including retail, online, B2B and West Elm Work with Steelcase.

An industrial designer by training and a graduate of the Rhode Island School of Design, Jeff and his team define West Elm’s well-known aesthetic and bring thousands of products to life annually. Under Jeff’s leadership the brand has accelerated and diversified its aesthetic evolution, realized high standards for product quality, and maintained an industry-leading commitment to sustainable and artisan designs.

Jeff has worked in design in New York for more than 20 years, and in varying capacities at West Elm for more than 10 years. Prior to joining West Elm he worked as an Associate in Interiors at architecture firm Skidmore, Owings and Merrill. There, he designed a broad range of hospitality and commercial furnishings and interiors and built numerous projects in New York City and abroad. Jeff began his career as an Industrial Designer at Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia in 2000.

Today Jeff and his wife have two young children and live in Brooklyn, New York.

Bingka Leung, Vice President of Design, Concept and Textiles for West Elm

Bingka Leung works on the West Elm Product Design team as the Vice President, Textiles Design and Concept. She leads product design for all textiles as well as our seasonal concept process.  Prior to joining West Elm Bingka led design and creative direction at Dwell Studio.  She also served as Creative Director at Wayfair, repositioning and providing seasonal direction for their lifestyle brands like AllModern and Perigold.  She has recently overhauled the West Elm brand approach to concept and design aesthetics, and is working towards establishing the brand as a destination for original print and pattern.

Ella Peinovich, Chief Executive Officer, PBP

Ella is a MIT graduate who has led projects in design, tech and entrepreneurship. She was founder and CEO of Soko, a jewelry brand with “virtual factory” application that can produce 50,000 units/month, across a network of 2,500 mobile-enabled Kenyan artisans. Ella is an Ashoka fellow.

Vaishali Misra, Business Leader Social Entrepreneurship Initiative, IKEA

Born and brought up in India , Vaishali’s formal education was a  degree in Interior and Furniture Design followed by a MBA in Marketing & Operations. Her 27-years career spans across leadership positions in designing, sales, business development & project management in varied global positions. Her current assignment is  Business Leader, IKEA Social Entrepreneur Initiative. This is a pioneering global initiative from IKEA to partner with social entrepreneurs and social businesses with special focus on inclusion and empowering women and supporting vulnerable groups to gain economic empowerment through livelihood. She is responsible for setting the strategy, developing the business model, securing roll out ,partner evaluation and alignment to business and social metrics with the stakeholders. What excites and drives her is  partnerships IKEA builds and the ripple effects they create in family & society. Over time she sees that women get more respect in their communities, inspire others as role models, gain confidence by learning skills and most importantly they invest in their children. She lives with her husband and son in Älmhult, in the south of Sweden.

Hedvig Alexander, Chief Commercial Officer

Hedvig is a Danish Army Captain and Yale graduate. She founded Far + Wide Collective an online platform with a network of 5,000 suppliers, 400 retailers in 18 countries. She led Building Markets adding 1.6% to Afghan GDP (‘06), was Managing Director of Turquoise Mountain and founded The Pin Project for refugees.

Neelam Chhiber, Co-Founder and Managing Trustee at Industree Foundation and Co-Founder, Director at Mother Earth

Neelam Chhiber is Co-founder and Managing Trustee at Industree Foundation, and Co-founder, Director at Mother Earth. Neelam has for the past three decades been working on regenerative economies, with parts of India's 200 million strong artisanal work force, by providing design, technical, marketing\ and management solutions to bridge the urban-rural divide. Over the years, Neelam and her team have built a holistic ecosystem that works with the most vulnerable rural and peri urban women in India to equip them with the necessary skills and tools to set up self-owned enterprises close to their homes, having already impacted 60,000 producers. Their work ensures that communities become part of mainstream value chains with customers such as IKEA and H&M Home, giving them greater control over their economic security and resources to significantly improve social gains such as social security, better health care, improved resilience to crisis and overall resilience.

Her work is now transforming into building a Platform for Inclusive Entrepreneurship for women, with very strong technology enablers, so that in the years to come, solutions being built out could use the power of networks and scale faster(PIE.foundation). Neelam is one of the founding members of the collaborative initiative, Catalyst 2030, which is a movement of NGOs, enterprises, intermediaries, and funders to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals by 2030. She is also a founding member of #Creative Dignity, a movement initiated by India’s leading artisan skill-based development organisations and experts in the field designed to respond to the needs of the Indian artisan community, which is estimated to include 200 million people.

Robbie Stewart, Chief Africa Explore, Mbare

The founder, Robbie Stewart, is Mbare's Chief Africa Explorer.  He is a global citizen, committed husband, and father of 3 boys. Robbie is also a former competitive diving champ. He holds an MBA from TCU in Fort Worth, TX, and a Masters in Spiritual Psychology from the University of Santa Monica in California. Robbie’s entire career has been in pursuit of a big vision: bringing handmade products and cultural exchange to the mainstream. Robbie is gifted at establishing and maintaining relationships with producers and suppliers, and he has become an expert in international import-export logistics. He is an enthusiastic problem solver, a travel nut, and a bit of a coffee snob.

Sammy Abdella, Sammy Ethiopia

The Sammy brand links the artisan skills of one of Africa’s most ancient civilizations with American and European fashion know-how. The result; unique contemporary treasures, made in and around Addis Ababa, that have already gathered fans from New York to Tokyo. The Sammy line was launched in the Ethiopian capital in 2005 and is the brainchild of US-educated CEO, Sammy Abdella and was astonished to discover a wealth of craft skills, all but lost to the West, which he knew could be applied to a fashion-forward range of accessories.

He attained BA in Political Science and Masters of International Management from University of Maryland. Stockiest also include Eileen Fisher, Barneys New York,  Swahili Modern, Lost & Found, Merci, Le Bon Marche, K.Jacques and Liwan in Paris and select stores in London, Athens, Tokyo, Toronto and Sydney. Exquisite pieces by Sammy are available in leading museum shops including the De Young Museum in San Francisco, MAD (Museum of Art and Design) in New York and Musee Branly, Paris.

Sammy works with Beza and WogenAden, both involved in the prevention, care and treatment of HIV/AIDS; Berhane Taye, another  organization in Addis Ababa that does similar work for the leprosy affected; Zewai Women’s Cooperative which teaches sewing and embroidery to rural women and many others. Sammy works with Tesfa a non- profit organization which provides sustainable employment and a market for the goods produced by the parents and guardians of children affected by cancer. Sammy has been featured in TIME magazine, The Financial Times, Time Out New York, Vogue Italia, Corriere dalla Sera, vogue.com and in publications from London to Sydney.

Landon Vonderschmidt, Brand Marketing + Photography for West Elm

Landon has been on West Elm’s Brand Marketing team for 4+ years, focusing on Social Media and Photography for the brand. He brings a creative eye, especially when traveling coast to coast photographing home tours of our clients spaces.

Chas Prettejohn, Managing Director, Ngwenya Glass

Chas is the managing director of Ngwenya Glass in Eswatini. He and his parents bought Ngwenya Glass, a Swedish aid project that had failed, out of liquidation in 1987 and, with his wife Cathy, has spent the last 33 years building the award winning company into a world class handmade glassware manufacturer. All products are handmade using traditional glassblowing techniques, and a few they have developed themselves, from 100% recycled bottles. Fuel used to fire the furnace is a 50/50 mix of old cooking oil (mainly KFC) and paraffin, but this will soon be 100% cooking oil. Packaging used is predominately recycled newspaper, rainwater is harvested from the factory roof and recycled in production. 45% of electricity consumption is created from 550 solar panels on the factory roof. Looking after the environment and the community are first and foremost in any decision made, and the company has recently received an A score in Circulytics, a measure of ones impact on The Circular Economy put together by the Ellen MacArthur Foundation, and scored an impressive 117 points, where the benchmark is 80, being assessed as a B-Corp business. All this without changing anything to the everyday business practices. Driven by Chas, Ngwenya Glass is an environmentalists dream and is possibly the “greenest” company in Africa.

Lauren Tersaga, Associate Manager of Supply Chain Operations at West Elm

Lauren Tersaga is currently an Associate Manager, Supply Chain at West Elm. Her team of 10 does order management for all of West Elm’s retail and direct to consumer purchase orders from vendors around the world. Lauren has worked in Supply Chain for 7 years for both large and small apparel and case goods brands; and has also worked for third party logistics providers on the opposite side of the fence! Her supply chain expertise is in warehousing and distribution, wholesale and direct to consumer operations, reverse logistics, and international and domestic transportation. She’s passionate about developing end to end supply chains and operational processes that elevate customer experiences - you can’t have loyal customers without a reliable supply chain! Lauren loves what she does and brings that enthusiasm to all of her parters and vendors each and every day.

Rebecca van Bergen, Founder and Executive Director, Nest

Rebecca van Bergen is the Founder and Executive Director of Nest, a nonprofit bringing transparency, business development and advocacy to the global artisan community, including the millions of people who work from home. Rebecca founded Nest immediately after receiving her Master’s Degree in Social Work from Washington University and has since grown the organization to improve the lives of more than 60,000 artisans since the organization’s inception. In partnership with recognized philanthropic partners as well as brands like West Elm, Target, Maiyet, PVH, Mara Hoffman, Patagonia, and Eileen Fisher, Nest’s Standards for Ethical Compliance for Artisans and Homeworkers are radically improving transparency and development in complicated decentralized and home-based supply chains. Rebecca is a World Economic Forum Young Global Leader, Levi Strauss Collaboratory and Ashoka Fellow. She has been spotlighted by the New York mayor’s office as an NYC Catalyst and has also been honored as a PBS Changemaker and a CNN Young Person Who Rocks.

Teni Majekodunmi, CEO & Founder of Eclectique Chique

Teni is the founder of Eclectic Chique an African Inspired Accessories brand that trains and supports female and male artisans in Nigeria to produce high quality exportable products to 8 different countries. Eclectic Chique has a flagship store in Lagos Nigeria, a production hub and an e commerce online store with warehouse distribution in the UK. In addition to that she is an International Trade lawyer and National Expert to the International Trade Centre (ITC) of the United Nations on the SheTrades in Commonwealth Programme. 

She attained her Bachelors Degree (LLB)hons. and Masters Degree from the University of Warwick, UK. As a lawyer, she trained and practiced for several years and has written several articles on legal issues relating to International Trade negotiations, Climate Change, Carbon Credits and Climate Finance. Ms Majekodunmi is a member of the Nigerian Bar Association, a US State Department Alumnus via her participation under the President Obama’s Young African Leaders Initiative 2012, Cherie Blair Institute for Women & a World Bank Scholar. She mentors’ youths & potential leaders and is a motivational speaker at a lot of social and business entrepreneurial events. She has delivered several papers at various conferences and has a weekly column in 2 national newspapers in Nigeria.

In addition to serving on the Trade & Impact Advisory board, Teni also serves as a trustee of 2 non – profit organizations and serves as a director on 3 other Companies. She is happily married with 3 children.

Kerry James, The Eswatini Artisan Collaboration

Prior to taking on ownership and the role of Managing Director with Tsandza Weaving in 2013, Kerry had an extensive career as a business trainer and coach working in both SME’s and corporates. Kerry’s areas of expertise includes sales, communication, leadership development, strategic planning and capacity building.  An astute business acumen, Kerry is passionate about developing climates in which everyone feels empowered to work to their highest degree of effectiveness and take ownership for their outcomes, such that both personal success and organisational performance is optimised. Her approach is strategic, relationship focused and results orientated. Currently serving her second term on the Board of Eswatini Fair Trade, an alumni within the Vital Voices network, having graduated in their women in leadership programme, VV Grow 2019 , and more recently a graduate of the Bank of America Institute’s eCornell Women's Entrepreneurship  programme, Kerry is also a certified trainer of Neuro Linguistic Programming, Time Line Therapy and Hypnosis ,which she uses as part of her tool box of methodologies and processes to develop greater awareness and flexibility in our communication and behaviour.  

With the need for active participation from every individual in the fight against the spread of COVID-19 and it's impact on economic development, Eswatini Fair Trade members Tsandza Weaving, Khokho Collection, Baobab Batik, and local NGO Bomake Rural Projects, came  together to form The Eswatini Artisan Collaboration. Aimed at improving the livelihoods of rural Artisans through the creation of alternative revenue streams and for the sustainability of social businesses specialising in ethical, hand made products.

Darla Robbins Saarela, Development Coordinator, Swahili

Darla Robbins Saarela joined the Swahili African Modern team in 2002 after moving from rural Missouri to Oregon. Inspired by a brief experience in website content management, copy writing and graphic design, Darla was gifted with the job of helping Swahili craft its identity as an online destination for wholesale buyers when buying online was still novel. Over the past 18 years, Darla has aided Swahili’s growth in an ever-evolving marketplace by supporting product development, customer engagement, artisan relations, organizational systems, marketing, and sales channels. Darla credits Swahili with fueling and fulfilling her love for craftsmanship, creativity, travel and cultural diversity.

Stacey Edgar, Stacey Edgar Consulting

Stacey Edgar is a lecturer in the Social Responsibility and Sustainability division at the University of Colorado Leeds School of Business. A passionate advocate for women and girls, Stacey spent 17 years leading Global Girlfriend, a fair trade company she founded in 2003 as a way to provide economic security for women artisans in developing countries by creating a sustainable market for their handcrafted products.  Global Girlfriend grew from a $2,000 personal investment into a multi-million dollar brand partnering with over 200 women-led artisan enterprises in over 30 countries with products selling through premier retailers including Whole Foods, Target, The Smithsonian, and over 1,500 independent retailers across the US and Canada as well as direct to consumer online.

Stacey is the author of the book Global Girlfriends: How One Mom Made it Her Mission to Help Women in Poverty Worldwide and a social impact business consultant working with social entrepreneurs, artisan businesses, corporations, non-profits, and government export agencies.  She is a founding board member of Trade+Impact Association, a global trade association advancing women-led social enterprises in Africa and the Middle East.

She has been honored by the Microsoft Corporation as a recipient of the company’s Start Something Amazing Awards, by Organic Style as one of their Women with Organic Style, by Multichannel Merchant magazine as a “Maven of Merchandise,” and she and her former brand have been featured in several national publications including O, The Oprah Magazine, In Style, Forbes, USA Today, The Christian Science Monitor, Redbook, and Seventeen. Stacey is also currently pursuing her Ph.D. at Colorado State University to contribute to research and policy in our sector.

Katherine Magee, Magee Resource Group

Katherine Magee (MBA, ACC) is the principal of The Magee Resource Group Inc., founded in 2006 to help organizations and leaders achieve success by translating business objectives into tangible realities.  Katherine’s expertise is in strategic planning, leadership coaching and facilitation, bringing over 25 years of strategic business thinking to working with clients in multiple sectors. From start-ups to some of Canada’s largest corporations, Katherine has led strategic planning initiatives that enable the success of the organizations.   As one of the Founding Board Members of Trade+Impact, Katherine is deeply gratified by the work that Trade+Impact does given her passion for promoting female-led businesses and social enterprises in Canada and around the world. 

Benita Singh, Chief Programs Officer, Nest

Benita Singh brings over 15 years of experience working with artisans and SMEs around the world to her role as Chief Programs Officer at Nest. In 2003, she served as a co-founder of Mercado Global which promotes the handicraft of women weavers in Guatemala. She went on to lead the artisans program at the American India Foundation, working with craft organizations across the country to build sustainable sourcing relationships with a range of US fashion & interiors brands. Building upon her love of textiles, she served as the Founder & CEO of Le Souk, the first online platform to connect textile mills & leather tanneries in 17 countries directly to a global community of designers and sourcing specialists. Throughout her career, Benita has been named an Echoing Green Fellow, the North American Laureate by the Cartier Women’s Initiative, a Levi Strauss & Co Collaboratory Fellow and most recently as one of the top 10 individuals transforming retail according to LinkedIn. Benita graduated from Yale University with degrees in Comparative Literature and International Studies.

Daniella Mastracci, Executive Director, Trade+Impact

Daniella Mastracci is a recognized SME and strategy development specialist working across Africa and Asia. Her expertise includes building emerging companies' export readiness through training programs on marketing, business development, and finance in handcrafts, textiles, coffee, natural cosmetics and fruit & vegetables. Mastracci was instrumental in the launch of the first international trade show in Africa focusing on women-led social enterprises in the handcraft and natural cosmetic sectors from Africa and the Middle East, Trade+Impact which was held in Morocco in 2016. Since then she has co-founded and is now the Executive Director of Trade+Impact Association, a global trade association for women-led social enterprises in the craft and natural cosmetics sectors across Africa to increase their access to markets, learning and networks.

Lauren Barkume, Training Director, Aid to Artisans

Lauren Barkume is the Training Director at Creative Learning’s Aid to Artisans division. With over 13 years of experience in international development and artisan programs, Barkume spent nearly 9 years based in South Africa working directly with entrepreneurs, artisans and small businesses in the region, developing community co-created programs, designing and running practical business skills workshops for small business owners, and working in collaboration with artisan communities across Southern Africa. Lauren cares deeply about facilitating responsive, community driven development.

Mary Heather White,  Program Director, TFO Canada

Mary Heather is Program Director for TFO Canada’s programs in Africa and Haiti. She is currently managing two projects funded by Global Affairs Canada, “Making Trade Work for Women in Sub-Saharan Africa: Lesotho, Uganda, Madagascar and Ethiopia” and “Women in Trade for Inclusive and Sustainable Growth” which is implemented in 12 Sub-Saharan African countries. She also works on a research project funded by the International Development Research Centre covering Nigeria, Ghana, Senegal and Madagascar. Her role includes planning and implementation, donor communications and partnership management. Mary Heather has more than 20 years of experience in the development sector contributing to sustainable and inclusive livelihoods for women, men and youth through vocational skills training, entrepreneurship and disaster response and recovery, and by being a gender equality champion. She has worked with numerous leading non-profits both in Canada and overseas. Mary Heather holds an MA in International Development from the Norman Patterson School of International Affairs, Ottawa.