More Than 85 Broads

Giving means getting beyond yourself, beyond your own focus and priorities, beyond your own challenges and perceived barriers. Giving can take on many forms: philanthropy, healing, co-mentoring, parenting, and even entrepreneurship, as we'll see in the stories of the exceptional 'givers' profiled in this chapter.

Sara M. Green

Sara is a former professional dancer and the founder of Art for Refugees in Transition (ART). ART is a not-for-profit organization that develops programs enabling long-term refugee populations to preserve their traditional art forms and transmit them to younger generations. Revitalizing indigenous arts provides a catalyst for rebuilding displaced communities and helping to heal the wounds of war, famine, flight, and other trauma. Sara founded ART after graduating in 2001 with a degree in finance and economics from Columbia Business School.

"After spending 10 years as a professional dancer and working in various nonprofit organizations, I knew that I needed a change. I no longer felt challenged and was eager to reach out to help others and to make a difference in the world. At the time I was watching the war in the Balkans unfold daily on television. As battles raged, refugees flooded into provisional camps for safety. Every day I saw the pictures of the refugees, and I could not help but be moved by the plight of thousands of children fleeing their homelands. Their faces were etched with a pain, a fear, and a hopelessness that they did not deserve to know. From my experience as a dancer, both in performing and in teaching dance to children, I knew that every child loves to sing, to dance, to play, and to be free. Perhaps, I thought, these children could overcome their pain and regain their lost childhoods through song and dance. The arts would be a way for them to find freedom, to connect with their elders, to preserve their indigenous traditions and to rebuild their shattered sense of community."

Judith Aidoo

Judith was born in the United States and moved to Ghana, West Africa, when she was 12. She gained interest and confidence in the world of business through the independent, entrepreneurial women in her family. With degrees in Business Administration and French from Rutgers and a Juris Doctor degree from Harvard Law School, Judith started her career at Goldman Sachs and is currently an independent investor, specializing in media and entertainment in the United States and Africa.

"I consider myself blessed that, at this point in my career, I can put my capital and time into those projects I am most passionate about. The amazing part of it all is that you will never know who you will meet next or how that person will affect your life. From some you receive, and to others you give. You just have to remain open, seize every opportunity to play a big game, and help someone along the way."

Kendall Webb

Kendall graduated from Harvard College in 1986 and began her career at Goldman Sachs. From there, she worked for the World Bank as a way to merge her financial background with her desire to make a positive social impact on the world. Kendall went on to work in small African villages and then to an orphanage in Poland for three years. Upon her return to the United States, Kendall worked on the founding team of a company called More.com, a health and wellness Internet drugstore. Kendall has since started her own nonprofit organization, JustGive.org, which connects contributors with their chosen charities by leveraging the efficiencies of an online Web site.

"So I quit my job at the World Bank to get in touch with the heart of the matter and spent time working in remote African villages planting tomato and cabbage seeds and educating Ugandan women on the need for these foods in their banana-only diets. After Africa, I moved to western Poland to work at an orphanage that was achingly devoid of even the most basic human necessities. My memories and mental images from these experiences strengthened my commitment to find a way to bridge the unfathomable gap between tremendous wealth and tremendous need."

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