Meet Julie Castro-Abrams

My name is Julie Castro Abrams. I am the CEO of Women's Initiative for Self Employment. I have worked in social justice and as an agent for change for 20 years. When I found Women's Initiative nearly 6 years ago, I felt like it was the convergence of everything I believed in, and I have felt even more inspired every day.
Women's Initiative is the most successful poverty alleviation strategy around. Across the globe, every major effort to impact health and economics is focused on women because there is a clear correlation to children's health and education. Women are more likely to be committed to every extra dollar going to feed and support their children. Women are also more likely to live in poverty. Working mothers are in fact the largest population using food banks and community kitchens.

Yes, that's right. They are working and doing everything we want them to do and they can't make ends meet. Minimum wage cannot meet the financial needs of a family, definitely not in the Bay Area. While it can take months or even longer to get up and running with a business, the long term financial gains for women are tremendous and far out pace working for someone else. Women build assets in addition to their income growth ... meaning they will be able to find long term financial health.
Owning a business can be a powerful option for women who are experiencing challenges such as a disability, family care responsibilities or even women recovering from domestic violence. You can set your own hours and be your own boss. I owned my own business when I had my first child for just this reason. And it worked really well for a few years ... except I didn't have the Women's Initiative training and didn't set it up correctly. Oh what I would give to have known then what I know now.

Julie Castro Abrams, CEO poses with Muhammad Yunus, 2005 Nobel Peace Prize winner, and Karen August (Women's Initiative business trainer) at the 2007 AEO conference in Kansas City.

I had the opportunity to meet Nobel Peace Prize winner Mohammad Yunus twice this year. He has inspired and perhaps even changed me each time. He is such a strategic and big thinker who is completely committed to ending poverty. He wants to see poverty in a museum, and therefore knows we must think and act BIG. We need to change the way business is done.

Yunus expresses that perhaps the model of business has been set up incorrectly… it only focuses on profits. In reality, we are so much more as human beings than just profit. He is championing a new stock market where the dividends are social impact. You can invest your money and the return is ending poverty in a region, curing a sickness. This is powerful thinking and I hope it inspires you as it has inspired me.
I love the community found at Women's Initiative. Everyone goes the extra mile. People work and live with integrity. It is an honor to be part of it. I hope you find something that brings you in as well.