Greetings,

I believe that companies have the ability to help resolve some of the world’s biggest social and environmental challenges through their purchasing power. That’s why the organization that I founded, Peace by Piece International, helps companies easily use that purchasing power to make an impact on people’s lives when they purchase corporate gifts.

I saw an enormous opportunity when I learned that in the US alone, over $250 billion is spent annually on corporate gifts, according to Forbes. I wanted to be part of something that helps companies see an easy way to spend some of that money on gifts that help provide jobs and skilled training to people in underserved communities. Because when women and other forgotten individuals rise, the world becomes a more peaceful, prosperous place for everyone. That has become my life’s work.

My journey to Peace by Piece began over 20 years ago. From the early 2000s, I started sponsoring women who had been impacted by war through an organization called Women for Women International. Through those relationships and the many friendships that evolved, I was able to see first-hand how marginalized women and underserved communities in places like Bosnia, Kosovo, Rwanda, Haiti, Guatemala, India and the US could transform their lives. They all needed three things to become self-reliant: a safe and trusted community; the tools and skills do something society wants or needs to make an income; and a market for those skills or products.

In the 6 years since establishing Peace by Piece I’ve witnessed literally thousands of disenfranchised women and men lift themselves up when they were afforded those three things. It’s their inspiration that shapes what I do every day. And I’m not the one who has made that happen. It’s been our client corporations who have decided to act.