I never say "that is too big to take on" or "you can't work with them" because only by engaging do I believe that real change can happen. I am a changemaker because I create opportunity by connecting government, worker communities and private industry to deliver economic empowerment programs that everyone can take credit for.
105 Herring Creek Rd. I met my wife there. Hours and hours and now years and years of debate and influence from this woman has brought me to care more about what I believe than what I want. It is following her example that has made me want to be part of change for OUR better good and not just my own.
I'll start small. I would like to change the technology that a women salt farmer in Gujarat uses to pump brine into her salt flats. Strange thing to be passionate about, right? Well, the daughter she cannot afford to send to school, the diesel merchant who overcharges her for fuel, and the 60,000 other women farming salt who would see their incomes nearly doubled using alternative energy pumps would all likely share my interest.
I am the Executive Director of the Global Fairness Initiative (GFI), a not-for-profit international development organization working to improving livelihoods for the working poor. I have worked in government for the White House and Americorp, on political campaigns for the past 4 democratic presidential nominees, and for Universities and several Non-profits. I grew up in Washington, DC (I consider myself a local and not an insider) where I live with my wife and 5 month old daughter Padget.
