“You are more powerful than you realize and the world needs more women stepping into their voice and power.”
- Shannon Keith
What does freedom mean? For many the answer can be found in money, vacations, autonomy, being independent. For some women, sewing means freedom.
Facing reality is one of the hardest things in life, but also the biggest opportunity to make a difference. We live in a world where women abuse is normalized, starting in the home. Day by day, we read innumerable stories on social media about women who have suffered some kind of abuse. How they were forced to leave their families, children, or do things they didn’t want to because they had NO CHOICE.
Since 2005, Shannon Keith gave Indian women A CHOICE.
After a trip to India, Shannon realized that woman after woman were being sold into sex slavery, forced into the sex trade by their families, or picked up off the streets by local pimps. The main reasons: lack of education and options.
Since that day, Sudara has empowered women by giving them jobs as factory workers. She also provides job-skills training and sewing lessons to the women she employs. Higher than fair-trade wages and benefits packages such as health care, childcare, a savings plan, and housing support through local partnerships are also provided.
Nowadays, hundreds of women in India have an option. Hundreds of women are able to provide for their children, their education and their future. Hundreds of women are fearless. Hundreds of women are sewing their freedom and, hopefully, there will be more to come.
In the past few days, we talked to Shannon about what it is like to be a female founder having so much impact in our society, and we want to share with all of you her wonderful way of seeing life.
1. Shannon, what is the biggest challenge of being a woman leader in your sector?
- “The biggest challenges I face are funding and being taken seriously as a woman; in particular, a woman of color. Women receive less than 2% of all VC funding and Latin women less than 1% of VC funding. It’s really difficult to grow and scale a business with little to no access to capital.
- This is why our business model is so important. We began as a nonprofit organization in 2005, with a mission to empower women in India who have escaped from or who are at high risk of human trafficking by providing dignified employment opportunities — and access to these opportunities through skills training programs. In 2015, we realized we could use business to grow faster and help more women by becoming a certified benefit corporation. This means the revenue generated from selling our loungewear is reinvested in training for more women, leading to more economic independence and more gender equity. Today, our B Corp (Sudara Inc) operates in a very integrated way with our nonprofit entity (Sudara Freedom Fund) to meet the holistic needs of our most marginalized sisters in India. Together we raise funds and revenue needed to achieve our mission.
- Although this model has helped us do more and grow faster, there is still so much work to do — in fact, 3 million women and children are trapped in brothels in India alone this very minute. Along with our mission-aligned partners, we currently train approximately 1,200 women per year in 11 vocations with a 90% job placement rate. With systems and strategy in place, we’re poised to double our impact this year — but, we need funding to do it. So, we’re turning to crowdfund to help us meet this need with a Kickstarter campaign launching in March that introduces products to a larger market, and offers opportunities for individuals, organizations, and corporations to vote with their dollars by supporting our mission.”
2. What is your organization doing for women’s equity?
- “Sudara’s mission strategically aligns with the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (UN SDGs) — specifically #5, which is Gender Equality and #8, which is Decent Work and Economic Growth. We firmly believe and agree with the data around investing resources in women and providing opportunities that give them economic power. This brings real equity to women and has an amplifier effect because research shows that when you invest in women they, in turn, invest in their children and communities.
- Our work also aligns with three other SDGs:
- SDG #1, No Poverty — Since 2005, Sudara has worked to lift thousands of women out of the high risk “danger zone” posed by poverty that results in sexual slavery, to find dignified and self-sustaining employment with our partner centers.
- SDG #4, Quality Education — In concert with our partners in India, Sudara elevates the most marginalized women in the most impoverished communities and offers them the choice of a way forward. We illuminate their path out of an unthinkable life of slavery through education, community, and hope for their posterity.
- SDG #10, Reduced Inequalities — With gender equality at Sudara’s core, we promote social inclusion and reduce inequality by providing women access to increased income, savings accounts, and managerial roles. Together with our partners in India, we continue to work to promote lives of freedom, opportunity, and dignity which contributes to systemic, economic, and social change.”
3. What advice will you give to women who want to become leaders in your industry?
“Go for it! You are more powerful than you realize and the world needs more women stepping into their voice and power. Women have the potential to lead and nourish humanity and the earth in ways that have not been done heretofore. We need a restorative, authentic, kind and powerful type of leadership to help solve some of our world’s biggest problems and I know that women have the capacity and collaborative approach needed to lead in navigating those challenges.
- The once competitive landscape among women and the notion of “which woman gets a seat at the table” is a thing of the past. We must lift up one another, and rise together. Gender equality and balance will evolve all of humanity.
- We need more women leaders today, now — simple as that.”
4. What advice would you give YouNoodle, to help present better opportunities to the founders such as yourself?
- “The YouNoodle community has an amazing opportunity to leverage their smart, global network to highlight and support diverse founders like me. I would challenge anyone reading this to think about how you can not only leverage your personal budgets and actions, but really to think strategically about using your business budgets and practices in ways that intentionally align with your values along justice, equity, and environmental priorities. Choosing to align with diverse, socially conscious companies like mine — supporting by purchasing goods and services — is putting your actions and budgets to work on behalf of equity. This unlocks the innate benefit of a CSR initiative as well, ensuring that your campaigns are not just marketing, but have real substance and impact in the world.”
For more information write to us at info@younoodle.com
