My Little Paris was born when Parisian Fany Péchiodat decided to email 50 friends to let them know about a secret neighborhood speakeasy she discovered. Six months and dozens of emails later, the My Little Paris mailing list grew to 10,000 strong, and that’s when Fany decided to quit her day job. She spent her time exploring the city to find hidden gems, and recruited five friends to join her — women who would eventually help her turn My Little Paris into one of France’s largest media groups with a community of 3 million subscribers.

The friendship and sisterhood that the company was founded on continues to propel its success today. My Little Paris’ newsletters, subscription boxes, beauty products and mobile apps are all designed to feel intimate, warm and personal. It’s why so many Parisian women keep coming back for more. And it’s a testament to the unique power that women entrepreneurs have to create thriving communities both online and off.

2017 brings another exciting milestone for My Little Paris: the brand’s launch of La Parisienne, an English-language, Paris-inspired newsletter. For Francophiles and women who love cross-cultural exploration, this is a can’t-miss addition to your inbox. Think of it as a combination of the former Daily Candy and Birchbox. A daily dose of pure Paris magic.

I spoke with Fany and her co-founders Céline Orjubin and Anne-Flore Brunet about the growth of the business, what it’s like to work with close friends, and how My Little Paris helps create positive social impact.

My Little Paris started as an email to 50 friends. At what point did you realize you had a business on your hands?

Fany: For me, it was when we started to see the impact we were having on other businesses. People we wrote about started sending us these thank you notes saying how My Little Paris had changed their lives. After we wrote about The Liu family for example — a traditional Chinese massage therapist — 2,000 people booked sessions with them. They had to hire five new people just to deal with the demand. We started collecting and framing all those thank you messages on a wall in our office.

Céline: My biggest ‘a-ha’ moment was when Dior asked us to partner with them, and gave us almost total liberty to integrate them into the My Little brand rather than the other way around. We sent out a partner email for the launch of Miss Dior, and they called us saying there must be some kind of error. Our subscriber base was relatively small at the time, but Dior’s site was getting flooded with traffic because of the enormous engagement rate we had. Everyone clicked through. That’s what got us noticed by LVMH, and followed by a lot of other luxury brands.

The early founding team was a tight-knit group of women. What was the experience like growing and building a business with these friends? Any challenges?

Fany: A lot of people advise against mixing business with family or friendship, but for me it just seemed natural. My Little Paris was a passion project before it was a business — so naturally I sought out people who were equally passionate about the same things.

Anne-Flore: Even now, all the company’s main values are the same as what you’d expect from a good friendship. Be clear, direct and honest. Show your appreciation. Work hard and play hard. It’s that idea that you can (and should) take pleasure in everything you do.

Céline: In terms of challenges, I think the biggest one for all of us was getting over that fear of jumping in, eyes closed, with no idea what we were doing. It’s the Power of Zero: we had zero experience, zero knowledge of digital, and almost zero capital. Interestingly, I think that high tolerance for uncertainty and that willingness to leap before we look has become integral to our success. It’s also part of our hiring philosophy: we don’t care about experience. Show us that you’re passionate, willing to learn, and above all willing to jump in eyes closed.

What’s an example of the type of content or tips that American women will discover through the email newsletter?

Anne-Flore: The French are very pleasure-oriented. Each email is like a sip of a really good wine: it puts a smile on your lips, makes you feel better, gives you the tiniest shot of confidence, perhaps adds some romance to your life. We try to fit the greatest amount of enjoyment into the fewest sentences possible. So it’ll be a great recipe for example: not just from the internet, but from someone’s 89-year old grandmother in the Loire Valley. Or a single, spot-on beauty tip from the owner of our favorite makeup brand. Or a profile on a person who inspires us, but who’s maybe never had any exposure in the English-speaking world. Basically, we want to show people a more authentic side of the so-called ‘French Girl’. One that’s less expected, but just as captivating.

How did you get into subscription boxes and why do you think they’ve been so successful? Any plans for bringing this to a US audience?

Fany: We found our success delivering surprising content to inboxes, so actual mailboxes seemed like a natural next step.

Anne-Flore: Mail tends to be so boring nowadays — it’s all tax returns, bills, notices. We wanted to introduce some surprise back into all that.

Céline: Not going to lie, it was a challenge. The first batch of boxes we sent out — around 2000 in total — we developed those start to finish in a month. Everyone told us there was no way we’d pull it off. It was tough, but we did!

Fany: As far as launching the boxes in the U.S., right now our focus is more on building a rapport with an American audience via the newsletter. So there’s nothing planned in terms of subscription boxes right now — but we’ll see!

How do you integrate sustainability or social good into your business?

Céline: I think there’s always been a certain level of social engagement at the heart of My Little Paris. Our newsletters have always featured small, local businesses, and we make it a point to take public stands on the causes we believe in.

Anne Flore: Voting, for example. A couple of months ago, we sent out an email asking our readers to register for the first round of voting in the upcoming election — the response from the community was huge. It inspired us to launch a one-off email series called Lost in Election where we’ll try to help people make sense of the political scene so they’ll be encouraged to cast their vote.

Fany: More concretely, we’ve begun working with an initiative called Les Déterminés, a mentoring initiative for aspiring entrepreneurs from the Parisian suburbs. They pitch their business ideas to us, and we work with them to develop the idea, help them take it to its limit, and hopefully watch it take off. The best ones, we’ll also present to the My Little Paris community.

What does success look like in the U.S?

Fany: Since we launched the English version a couple of weeks ago, we’ve already gotten 50,000 subscribers, so I think we’re on track! But numbers aside, true success would be for My Little Paris to become synonymous with Paris itself. That is to say, emblematic. Something that truly captures the spirit of the city, and all the things that draw people to it.

Susan McPherson is a serial connector who believes business can be a force for good. She’s founder and CEO of McPherson Strategies, a social-good communications consultancy in New York City. She can be found often on Twitter at @susanmcp1.

For those of us completely horrified by the actions our White House is taking, you don’t have to sit idle and watch. Any action you take will help. #resist #NoWallNoBan

1. Donate to ACLU. The organization’s attorneys are working overtime to support those who are detained and clearly will need to be ready for further egregious human rights violations.

2. Purchase from and support companies fighting the ban such as Starbucks Coffee, Lyft, Nike, LinkedIn, Virgin, AirBnb and Google.

3. Write your representatives ASAP. Easy tool to use here:
https://aitogether.org/actioncenter/.

And here is a list of U.S. Senators along with the comments they have made on the Ban.

4. Fund news organizations such as The New York Times, Washington Post The Atlantic and Poynter who are tirelessly reporting the FACTs

5. Local organizations in NYC who are providing support to refugees who could use your financial donations and possibly volunteer hours:

IRC
Church World Service (CWS)
Hias
Catholic Charities of NY
Human Rights First
NY Immigration Coalition

USA for UNHCR
Lutheran immigration and refugees services
World Relief

6. Talk with your neighbors, fellow church, temple and mosque attendees, along with your kids and teachers at their schools. Dialogue and connection are more vital than ever now. Voice your protest to your business leaders and any organizations you are a member.

Other key information to have at hand:

*Airport protest locations across US: http://getgroundgame.com/airportprotests.html

*Lawyers and Arabic/Farsi translators are still needed at major airports NYC/DC/LA/SF/Dallas. Contact your local ACLU chapter or International refugee assistance project for more information.

*Any cases of immigrants or refugees being detained should be reported to Mac or Steve at IRAP: mmceachin@refugeerights.org and spoellot@refugeerights.org.

Susan McPherson is a serial connector who believes business can be a force for good. She’s founder and CEO of McPherson Strategies, a social-good communications consultancy in New York City. She can be found often on Twitter at @susanmcp1.

We can no longer sit on the sidelines and watch as our country sways in a direction few of us desire. As an entrepreneur and a woman who runs a consultancy focusing on social good and corporate responsibility, I personally know that we can all make a difference. And no, you don’t need to be wealthy to support those causes near and dear. Even small donations can make a HUGE difference to NGOs and advocacy groups. And if you cannot part with funds at this time, you can volunteer your time, sign petitions, share on your various social channels and certainly pick up the phone and contact your legislative leaders.

Here are some vital organizations that could use a boost given the new political era we are entering. This is by no means an exhaustive list, but ones to spark ideas and get your creativity flowing.

1. Help stop hate speech and actions via The Southern Poverty Law Center.

2. Become an abortion clinic escort. Having had to cross a picket line 27 years ago when I terminated a pregnancy, I know how painful the experience is.

3. Keep access to women’s healthcare and reproductive choice legal and affordable via Planned Parenthood and NARAL Pro-Choice America

4. Provide counseling and support to youth LBGT via the Trevor Project.

5. Fight the good fight against gun violence and the NRA which in no doubt will have greater power now via EveryTown and the Brady Campaign

6. Rise up to stop street harassment via Hollaback.

7. Don’t allow the media lose its vital role by supporting the Committee to Protect Journalists.

8. Join Campaign Zero to end police violence.

9. And let’s not forget about our planet. These worthy organizations are doing their part to fight climate change, save our reefs and oceans and provide important environmental education: Sierra Club, NRDC, EarthJustice and Conservation.org

10. We’ve always needed as many pro-choice women running for office as possible, but that urgency is much more vital today. Emily’s List is my go to.

11. Help find your voice, learn how to articulate it and be heard by engaging with The OpEd Project

12. Finally, While this election exposed just how large the nasty underbelly of our country’s racism, sexism, and xenophobia are, against popular belief, Donald Trump won this election for the main reason that his team members simply showed-up at the polls and voted. Hillary’s did not. So given that scenario, here are organizations that I recommend you consider supporting in order to prevent such a predicament in the future:

• ACLU
• FairVote
• Rock the Vote
• League of Women Voters
• The Brennan Center for Justice
• Fair Elections Legal Network
• Voto Latino
• All in Together

If funding is just not feasible, all things organizations will welcome your amplifying their good work, sharing their positive stories of impact and recommending others volunteer and support them. We’re in this mess together and we must work in tandem to prevent it from escalating.

The article above previously ran on the weekly platform, @TueNight.

Susan McPherson is a serial connector who believes business can be a force for good. She’s founder and CEO of McPherson Strategies, a social-good communications consultancy in New York City. She can be found often on Twitter at @susanmcp1.

Vital Organizations That Need Your Help After the 2016 Election was originally published in Highlighting Generosity on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

Time and again we have seen the power that business has to bring about lasting positive change on issues that affect national social progress. American Airlines, a longtime proponent of LBGT equality, was the first airline to include sexual orientation (1991) and gender identity (2000) in corporate nondiscrimination policies. The company also issued a public statement of support following the Supreme Court’s 2015 decision on marriage equality. The CEO of AT&T recently spoke emphatically to employees about the importance of the Black Lives Matter movement, while Ben & Jerry’s published a blog post on the topic and Starbucks opened a store in Ferguson, Missouri, as part of a larger program to provide job training and revitalize diverse, low- to medium-income communities. This summer, 28 companies including Cisco, PwC, and Slack took the Equal Pay Pledge and pledged to reduce gender pay gaps internally. Meanwhile, Etsy recently introduced six-month paid parental leave for all employees, reflecting a larger trend toward progressive leave policies in the tech industry.

We know that the demand for companies to take on societal issues and do right by their customers is only growing. A 2015 study from Nielsen found that 66% of global consumers are willing to pay more for sustainable, responsible brands; employees also increasingly gravitate toward responsible companies. These numbers are even higher among millennials — who also voted overwhelmingly against Trump.

Here’s an opening for the C-suite to yet again put itself out there and influence public actors to do the right thing while also creating shared value for their customers, the company, and the country. Here are five things corporations can do now and throughout the uncertain years ahead.

TAKE A STAND

Whether it’s a single issue — equal pay, paid leave, minority inclusion, mental health, criminal justice reform, or the many issues related to climate change — or a suite of issues, be sure to take on something true to your values and commit to bringing about change. The next four years may bring policy reversals that threaten the stability of any or all of these issues, so it’s important to lay the groundwork now and decide what your company is ready to fight for.

PROTECT, INVOLVE, AND ENGAGE YOUR EMPLOYEES AND STAKEHOLDERS

A company’s greatest attribute is its workforce. There’s a good chance that many of your employees feel unsafe or afraid right now. Reassure them. Explain how you’ll protect them, reiterate that you stand by them, and provide a clear channel for reporting incidents of hate or discrimination. Once this groundwork is laid, be transparent with your team on the issues that the company will fight for — and give them the opportunity to get engaged.

USE YOUR CHANNELS TO FOSTER CONVERSATION

The issues we’re facing are numerous and no doubt complex. As a corporation, you have influence. Use social, content, and media channels to educate consumers about why the issue at hand is so important, what’s at stake, and how to get involved. Encourage open discussion and provide your audience with an opportunity to listen to and engage with new perspectives.

If the government passes legislation or uses rhetoric that threatens social progress and your company’s values, issue a statement to let your audience know where you stand. Of course, it’s important to be strategic about your communication, articulating your stance without alienating or dismissing the other side, and using positive positioning when possible (see Ben & Jerry’s letter to Trump as an artful example of this, and the GrubHub CEO misstep — in which he told Trump-supporting employees to quit — as an example of what not to do).

SET POLICIES AND COMMIT TO TANGIBLE GOALS

While a speech, a tweet, or a blog post can go a long way, we encourage companies to take actionable steps and set goals toward achieving concrete social progress. Whether it’s an initiative to hire and welcome refugees, new environmental measures to protect local resources, or a grant program to fund women’s advocacy organizations, think tangibly about how your company can help protect Americans’ rights and resources — and how you’ll measure success.

CONVENE

In 2015, 379 companies and groups submitted a friend-of-the-court brief to the Supreme Court in support of gay marriage. It was true then and even more true now: We’re stronger together. It is time to bring like-minded companies, organizations, and influencers together to protect the country and drive progress that will benefit all current and future Americans. If you’re taking action at your company, consider publishing and speaking about it to encourage others in your industry to follow suit. Form and join alliances. Sign your name on petitions, briefs, and pledges, like the Equal Pay Pledge.

Each year, the Social Progress Imperative releases a Social Progress Index, which measures countries’ performances based on three dimensions: basic human needs, foundations of well-being, and opportunity, all which encompasses personal rights, personal freedom, choice, tolerance, inclusion, and access to advanced education. Many businesses use this index to measure shared value initiatives and assess investment or operational decisions.

Based on the reported uptick of hate crimes and the rhetoric of intolerance, there are very real threats to the United States’ social progress, and any CEO — republican, democrat, or independent — should be ready to act. We can’t afford to be passive bystanders. We need to band together, develop a stance, implement change, and get out the message that business can and will protect our shared values of inclusion, tolerance, and equality. Let’s lead this new chapter, and make it one of opportunity.

This piece first appeared in FastCoExist on November 21, 2016. Penned by Susan McPherson, founder and CEO, McPherson Strategies and Kasia Reterska, managing partner at McPherson Strategies.

You’re probably familiar with the argument: investing in the economic empowerment of women drives growth for their families, communities and local markets. Studies show that women will reinvest up to 90 percent of income in their families and communities, compared to 40 percent for men. And according to McKinsey, advancing women’s equality — including economic participation — could add $12 trillion to global growth by 2025.

But in the U.S. and across the developing world, many women lack access to the capital, skills and knowledge needed to succeed in business. Empowering these women by providing loans, training and other resources isn’t just a “feel good” corporate social responsibility (CSR) move. It’s an economic opportunity — one that’s helping promote the sustainability of local communities.

The opportunity presented by women’s empowerment is exactly why we’ve seen an uptick in the number of companies investing in it. Of course, “women’s empowerment” is a broad topic, one that invites many approaches and varies greatly from culture to culture. That said, many of the most successful initiatives have a few characteristics in common.

Working within the value chain

The business case for investing in women is particularly strong when companies focus on their own value chains, from executives to suppliers to distributors to retailers and beyond. While women occupy roles across these functions, inequality runs rampant, with female workers often making less and working longing hours. For example, cocoa female farmers see income and productivity levels at 25 to 30 percent below their male counterparts — a statistic that makes sense when you consider these women are 25 percent less likely than men to have received training and 40 percent less likely to have a bank account. A recent report from BSR explores these inequalities in greater depth.

Corporations like The Coca-Cola Company and Nestlé are looking within their global value chains to understand and address the unique challenges women face. In doing so, they improve the efficiency and productivity of global operations while also advancing women’s rights and health. I saw this first-hand during a recent trip to South Africa with Coca-Cola’s 5by20 program, which aims to enable the economic empowerment of 5 million women entrepreneurs across the company’s value chain by 2020. I met with kiosk and tuck shop owners like Dumi Nyaose and Zandile Nxumalo, two of the 23,166 women in South Africa who have participated in 5by20 business skill training programs from Coca-Cola and UN Women.

Zandile Nxumalo with her 20-year-old daughter at her kiosk in South Africa. (Photo by Susan McPherson)

On average, these trainees saw sales increase by 44 percent and their personal income increase by 23 percent after just one year. Dumi and Zandile were the embodiment of this success, sharing stories of how they’ve turned their businesses around and how their children are benefitting. When I asked Zandile what she wanted most for her future, she responded:

“More than anything, I want to see both my children attend and complete a college education, and grow my business to the point where I can open multiple shops.”

Nestlé has seen similar success by working with women farmers in the company’s supply chain. In 2013, the company published an action plan for improving the livelihood of female farmers in Côte d’Ivoire, which was focused on promoting equal opportunities through trainings, closing the wage gap and giving women a voice. Two years after launching the program, Nestlé saw the number of women who lead and oversee its cocoa plantlet nurseries increase from 3 percent to 23 percent.

Partnerships

Addressing women’s inequality across the value chain and across the globe is incredibly complex, and the most successful initiatives rely on extensive strategic partner networks. It’s important for companies to work with global NGOs as well as organizations that understand local nuances; with financial institutions as well as market research companies; and to differentiate the partnership strategy from community to community and brand to brand.

Unilever’s extensive partnership network reflects this sort of differentiated approach. The company’s Sunsilk brand partners with UN Women in Turkey to change perceptions of working women and increase their independence in the labor force. In Nigeria, the Unilver brand Sunlight is partnering with Oxfam and Technoserve to establish water centers that can help reduce the amount of time that female workers have to spend on household chores — and scale this model to other locations.

Coca-Cola’s partners also vary by location for its 5by20 program. In South Africa, Brazil and Egypt company partners with UN Women and partners specifically with Hand in Hand Southern Africa, in South Africa, a nonprofit focused on job creation. Coca-Cola also joined forces with market research firm, Ipsos, to understand the impacts of its investments and identify areas for improvement.

Storytelling

By combining data points with anecdotes from individual women, companies like Unilever, Coca-Cola, Nestlé, Kate Spade and others have a powerful story to tell. Browsing through Kate Spade’s On Purpose stories, which show how women artisans have benefitted from joining the company’s social enterprise in Rwanda, provides moving evidence about the ROI of women’s empowerment. The same goes for Coca-Cola’s 5by20 content site.

Investing in storytelling isn’t just about marketing, though that’s certainly part of it in a world where consumers increasingly purchase from purpose-driven brands. Sharing success — and doing so in a visually compelling, data-driven way — helps drive buy-in from stakeholders, freeing up more budget for these types of initiatives. It helps inspire other companies to make similar investments in women’s empowerment, and promotes knowledge sharing between corporations. And finally, it helps inspire women across global value chains to recognize their own needs, power and potential.

Susan McPherson is a serial connector who believes business can be a force for good. She’s founder and CEO of McPherson Strategies, a social-good communications consultancy in New York City. She can be found often on Twitter at @susanmcp1.

It’s as if she is writing about our world today

The letter below was penned by my maternal grandmother, Gertrude Stern, to her three children. For unknown reasons, my father had kept the letter for 32 years and then read it aloud during the memorial service for my mother in early 1987. My grandmother, like my mom, lost her life prematurely to tragedy at the age of 52; my mother passed at age 56. Unfortunately, I don’t know what specific happening other than the horrors of World War II and the Holocaust, spurred her to pen this letter. What I do know is that her words are extremely relevant today and I only wish I had the opportunity to meet her.

There is certainly something on my mind, and it is giving me great concern. I have three children growing up and my responsibility to them as a parent is very great. We are living in a very different world than we hoped our children would find. They are old enough to understand and be affected by the terrible forces let loose in the world today. Greed and lust for power, war with all its horrors have enveloped almost an entire world; they hear of suffering and of want, of a cultured civilization suddenly become barbaric and ruthless in its path of destruction.

The history books they have studied at school have become very real; history is being made before their very eyes. They are face to face with reality, and we cannot shield them from life which seen through children’s eyes is incomprehensible. And so, we as parents must keep their faith in human beings alive; we must give them ideals by which to live; we must prepare them for the tremendous task they will find as adults.

What can we do now to prepare them for the job ahead? First, I want to instill in them a belief in humanity and prove to them that people cannot get what they want by force. I want them to have a feeling of security — not financial security, for that I cannot guarantee or plan on, but the security that comes from a a happy home, from being surrounded by people who have learned one must give first before one can get. Here in our home, my children can learn the democratic way of life — to work together in peace and harmony; to share equally with the other members of the family; to give and take — which are the essentials of everyday living.

Rather than have my children feel that money and success are important to them, I would like to instill in my children a love for beauty, for the fine things in life, so that in days to come they will not run with restless feet looking for an elusive bluebird.

I want them to find beauty in simple things, in a glowing sunset, rippling rivers, the thrill of watching nature at work.

I want my children to be self-reliant; to be able to stand on their own feet and be able to clearly face a problem and make their own decisions, and when a mistake is made to profit by it. These children will not run away from life but will be able to face and challenge it, no matter how difficult it may be.

I want to do everything in my power to help them grow so that both their minds and their bodies will be healthy. I will not worry about my children or the kind of world they will live in, because I know that with these essentials they will do their part to make it a better place to live in. And, above all, I will teach my children to have faith in the Almighty, for without that light that guides us in the darkness, we would all be lost.

##

Susan McPherson is a serial connector who believes business can be a force for good. She’s founder and CEO of McPherson Strategies, a social-good communications consultancy in New York City. She can be found often on Twitter at @susanmcp1.

Letter From My Grandmother in 1943 was originally published in TheLi.st @ Medium on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

Having traveled extensively during my 50 years, I’ve witnessed extreme poverty and heart-wrenching situations, when I lived in Bucharest, Romania as a young child, volunteered my time in Kabul, Afghanistan and traveled as a tourist through remote parts of Laos, Vietnam and war-torn Sri Lanka. But none came close to what I witnessed first hand in the refugee camps and settlements in Kenya and Uganda. As a USA for UNHCR board member, my goal in visiting these camps was two-fold. One, I wanted to gain insight so I could authentically share the stories of individual refugees’ lives and two, I could help develop some unique business and entrepreneurial solutions to improve their livelihoods.

During our recent journey, we traveled to the Kakuma Camp in northwestern Kenya where over 200,000 refugees reside. It’s about a 2-hour flight from Nairobi and we made the trek on a Monday morning in early May 2015. The camp’s population consists of those that have fled from civil strife in South Sudan, Sudan and Somalia. The camp is also host to refugees from Ethiopia, D.R. Congo, Burundi, Rwanda, Eritrea and Uganda.

As soon as the airplane door opened, we immediately noticed the barren, dry land as far as our eyes could see. Trees were a rarity and massive amounts of dust was swirling about. Attempting to grow anything in this land’s soil would clearly be an extreme challenge.

UNHCR housing huts lay row after row. It was not a pleasant picture and it was clear that those living here faced enormous challenges to find work, raise their children and have any hope for a better future. Nonetheless, they had a safe place to escape to and were provided rations of water, food and electricity. What is unfortunate, however, is very few can return to their homelands for the foreseeable future and they must make the most of their current day-to-day lives.

We met a South Sudanese mother who had walked over 350 miles while 8 months pregnant, carrying her two young children.

We visited with 20 school students who ranged in age from 6 to 17, all in the same classroom. We met a group of men who were learning to type on computers in the technical training program using almost ancient Windows machines.

When asked why there were no women, we were told that so few complete secondary school and without doing so, they could not apply.

Following our visit in Kenya, we traveled to Uganda, a country that is known to be more hospitable to refugees as they are not forced to reside in camps, but rather are placed in “settlements.” Some also can live in urban locations such as Kampala, where we spent some time. During our visit to this sprawling city, we met with community refugee leaders who shared some of their challenges and struggles. Although, they are allowed to work under Ugandan law, given the high-rate of unemployment in the country, most urban refugees are unable to secure a job. Many complained of lack of viable education opportunities for their children and less than palatable health care services. Part of the population fled from the Democratic Republic of Congo, speaks French and has lived in Uganda now for more than 10 years. Others fled from South Sudan, Rwanda, and other neighboring countries.

The remainder of our journey included two days spent in the Kwangali Refugee Settlement, a sprawling “village” located in the Hoima district in the southwestern corner of the country and only reachable via a long and arduous two-three hour drive over unpaved, bumpy roads. We visited an elementary school, which was in disrepair, but were welcomed by fifty-plus school children singing upon our arrival.

We learned that there was only one secondary school to serve over 49,000 people and the actual number of students topped out at 400.

For many students, the journey that would need to walk each day would range from 15–19 kilometers. How could any parent feel comfortable sending his or her child on such a trek on a daily basis?

The sheer isolation of the area was troubling and made one wonder how those who live there could ever actually consider being integrated into their host country.

During much of the journey one could certainly feel a sense of hopelessness. At many points, I found myself asking what could I realistically do to help improve these peoples’ lives. Finally, however, I found some optimism after meeting a young urban refugee, known as Ikayak Martha, a 24-year-old student born in South Sudan.

Martha lost her father when she was four. He was killed in the civil conflict in that country. With danger looming, Martha and her mother fled across the border into Uganda to the refugee settlement where her grandparents had already gone.

While no one would choose to live in such a place, there was one very real benefit that Martha would soon take to her advantage. The settlement had a school funded by UNHCR. If Martha had stayed in South Sudan, she would have had less than a 50/50 chance of ever attending school.

Then tragedy struck again. When she was in fourth grade, her mother died, and she was left in the care of her elderly grandparents. Thankfully, she had caretakers, but it could not have been an easy road for this young woman. Martha set her sights on secondary school. But secondary school cost money, and there was none. She would go no further, but she would not be alone. In that part of Africa, secondary education is a luxury few girls enjoy. Less than one South Sudanese woman out of a hundred completes secondary education. At this time, Martha became one of the fortunate girls. She became the recipient of a scholarship from Windle Trust International.

“My colleagues and I studied so hard,” she said, “bearing in mind that (education) was the only tool we could use to change the status quo.”

And that she did. Not only did she complete secondary school, she attended college. She applied to and was admitted to one of the most prestigious universities in Uganda. An uncle came through to cover the costs, but after two years the money was gone. Martha was forced to withdraw. However, one-year later, a program funded by one of UNHCR’s donor governments, Germany, came through with a program called the Albert Einstein German Academic Refugee Initiative or DAFI. “Armed with only the hope of a guardian angel to rescue my situation, I withdrew,”

At this time, Martha just completed the final requirements for graduation from Kyambogo University. She believes that her engineering degree will help her build a technology infrastructure that will bring Uganda into the developed world and is looking to the future with optimism.

Martha is a role-model for girls everywhere.

While she may not know it, what she has accomplished is insurmountable.

Students like Martha are needed so we can shine a light on the potential of refugees and refugee children around the world. Their numbers are growing and their potential is tremendous.

Susan McPherson is a serial connector who believes business can be a force for good. She’s founder and CEO of McPherson Strategies, a social-good communications consultancy in New York City. She can be found often on Twitter at @susanmcp1.

Finding Hope Amidst the World of Refugees was originally published in TheLi.st @ Medium on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

What Angel Investors Can Bring to the Table

It’s much more than cash

When I stepped into the world of angel investing five years ago, I was immediately taken by the process of helping female entrepreneurs build successful businesses. My financial investments have helped enable the founders I support to build out new technology, bring on new hires, and expand to new markets. But I have a hunch that if you ask these women what they value most about my involvement, their answers won’t have anything to do with money.

My greatest value as an angel investor is something I’ve spent years building and nurturing through countless tweets, phone calls, coffees, and conferences. It’s what has propelled my career to places I never thought possible. Ask the women I invest in what they value most about my involvement, and here’s what they’ll tell you: my network.

“One of my favorite definitions of angel investing is “smart money,” which includes financial (money), social (contacts, relationships, networks), and human (skills, experience, background) capital,” says Natalia Oberti Noguera, founder and CEO of The Pipeline Fellowship, a network which recruits and trains new ranks of female angel investors.

“Smart money” means you’re not just cutting a check, you’re providing additional, continuous value to the company and the entrepreneur. This is smart for everyone: supporting your entrepreneurs means supporting your investment, hopefully through to an exit.

Angel investors can and should look for ways beyond money to add value to the companies in their portfolio. For women especially, who tend to excel at relationship building and collaboration, having and leveraging a strong network is one of the most powerful ways to maximize financial returns. Connections bring intangible value — the sort of support, visibility, and opportunities that far exceed the dollar value of my typical investment (a case in point, I charge for such service when I consult, but provide gratis to the businesses in which I invest).

As an angel investor, here are just a few examples of how a strong network can buoy the success of your portfolio:

Visibility

New entrepreneurs sometimes assume that if they have a brilliant or revolutionary product, requests for media interviews and event appearances will come rolling in. Once in a blue moon it works out that way, but more often than not, startups have to work hard to cut through the noise and get in front of the right journalists and audiences.

That’s where I come in. After years of building relationships in the industry, I frequently get asked if I can recommend sources for feature stories or speakers for upcoming events. Every entrepreneur I support has benefitted from my media relationships in one way or another, whether it’s helping The Muse’s founders appear in an article in the Wall Street Journal or securing Zady’s Maxine Bédat a speaking gig at the BSR Conference, the de facto annual conference for those working in corporate sustainability.

Similarly, whenever I come across editors looking for wedding experts, I immediately put them in touch with Kellee Khalil, founder and CEO of the wedding planning platform, Lover.ly.

Forbes, Fast Company, The Guardian, Upworthy, and More magazine are just a few of the outlets where I’ve scored placements. People often believe that this is possible by just having good relationships with editors. Actually, it’s more about understanding the editors’ specific needs and connecting them with the most appropriate sources as well as actionable information. Clearly, those I’ve invested in are at the top of their game.

“Having great angel investors is about more than capital. It’s also about support, about network and connections, and about getting to the right answer — or the right person — as quickly as possible when building your company. Susan’s helped us with all of these.” Kathryn Minshew, co-founder and CEO of The Muse.

Talent

One of the biggest challenges any startup faces is identifying strong talent early on. With the chaos and craziness that comes with growing a business, most entrepreneurs don’t have the time to recruit high-quality candidates, even when they’re desperately in need. This is another area where having a strong network can be a game-changer. When one of the founders I work with needs a stellar content marketer, for example, I send an email to the right people and can reliably emerge with several peer-approved candidates 24 hours later. This helps them reduce the risk of hiring the wrong person.

We all know the power of networks, but the best ones are those that are “super” connected, meaning they overlap into other connected networks. When you send out a request to one, it can often spill over into others and therefore increase your rate of return.

I am an investor in TheLi.st, a professional network for women in media, technology and culture and I frequently refer potential members to for consideration. “Susan has introduced us to so many incredible Listers,” says List co-founder, Rachel Sklar.

“Elizabeth Plank, Nancy Spector and Ruthie Ackerman, to name a few —These are some of our favorite people and hugely valuable to our community and they all came through Susan. Quality networks beget quality networks.”

Connections to additional investors and funders

When I decided to explore angel investing, the first thing I did was meet as many investors as possible. Not only did this provide me with the background and context I needed to get started, but it also introduced me to a community of investors who shared my passion for supporting women entrepreneurs and spurring a more diverse workforce. Now, when one of the founders I work with embarks on a new round of funding, I can quickly connect her with the right investors in my network. Just ask Jane Barratt, the founder of Vested Interest, a business I’ve committed to invest in, and whom I introduced to a slew of potential investors from well-aligned organizations. This matchmaking between funder and investors helps entrepreneurs strategically expand their portfolios while enabling the entrepreneurs to expand their businesses. It’s win-win — the recipe for any successful connection.

Kara Goldin, co-founder and CEO of Hint Water, touched on the fact that her early funders provided incredible connections (along with knowledge and guidance). One early funder, Sonja Perkins, a partner at Menlo Ventures, had a massive network that she mined to connect the healthy bottled water company with key investors from the start. She also helped them with their positioning so that they could successfully target larger VCs.

Both of these examples demonstrate how entrepreneurs can borrow credibility and “equity” from those who fund them.

Advice

When you’re an angel investor, you also become an advisor, especially when you’re helping a new entrepreneur grow her business. Being able to pull from your own experiences to help founders grapple with challenges and see the big picture is incredibly valuable and crucial as you work to gain high returns on your investments. One well-known angel investor, Joanne Wilson, is a tireless supporter of those she funds. Jen Bekman, founder and CEO of the art marketplace known as 20x200, shared the following:

“Joanne believed in the potential of my business, and did so long before she became an investor. She is a tireless advocate of the companies she backs, and she’s a convincing one because she is entirely authentic and it’s super obvious that she really cares about what these companies are doing and the impact their businesses can have on the world. If she was just pushing to help them make more money…Well, I can’t even imagine that!”

Amanda Steinberg, founder of Daily Worth, shared that “an intro from Joanne provides instant credibility and is equal if not worth more than a financial investment.”

But sometimes, you don’t always have the right experience to draw from or the best perspective from which to offer advice. That’s where one’s network comes in. If any of my founders has funding challenges, I frequently direct them to friends Jalak Jobanputra, managing partner at FuturePerfect Partners and a venture capitalist with over twenty years of experience raising capital, or Fran Hauser, partner at Rothenberg Ventures, who was a senior executive at TIME prior to turning her attention to the funding world. For issues related to human capital development, I would turn to Ruth Ann Harnisch, a woman who wears more hats that I can name in this article but is an incredible resource for coaching, employee development and goal-setting. Similarly, other angel investors often come to me if their founders need advice about communications, corporate social responsibility, partnerships, or social good.

Moral support

It’s not just straight-up business advice we’re talking about here either. A lot of founders need guidance when it comes to handling all of the stress that comes with building a business — someone to tell them it’s time to take a break, go work out, or hang out with their family. Sometimes it can be as easy as offering to meet over a mani-pedi, something Muse advisor Rachel Sklar told me she did once with founder Kathryn Minshew during a bad day. A simple boost in morale can make all the difference to a weary entrepreneur feeling the grind.

For me, this type of support comes in the form of giving my founders a willing ear and a safe space to vent, reminding them that it’s all part of the process and that entrepreneurship is all about the highs and lows. It also helps to introduce them to other founders that can help them work through those stressful days and laugh or commiserate together.

Let’s not forget, too, that investors and entrepreneurs are actual people with lives, families and hobbies. Connecting with them where they live can make all the difference, sometimes literally, as POPVOX founder, Marci Harris recounts.

“Tim O’Reilly was the first non-family investor in POPVOX, but the value he has brought to the company has been much greater than any amount next to a dollar sign. I quite literally pitched him on the company as he picked out tomato plants at a nursery in Sebastapol,” said Harris, who has built POPVOX into a civic engagement platform meshing real-time legislative data with users’ personal needs and stories.

“Later, I visited with him to provide an update and he was making homemade jam. So, I threw on an apron, started stirring, and proceeded to update him on our significant company transitions. I left with good advice, several amazing introductions, lots of encouragement…and fresh organic jam.”

The power of a vibrant network is its sustainability. As long as I continue to bring value to both sides when I facilitate connections, I’m confident that my network will continue to thrive and my portfolio companies will continue to reap the benefits. There’s no question that capital matters a whole lot, too — but if an angel investor focuses solely on capital, she is doing a disservice to the entrepreneurs she supports and to herself. The more an angel investor taps into her greatest assets — her network, her experience, or her expertise — the higher returns she will see.

Susan McPherson is a serial connector who believes business can be a force for good. She’s founder and CEO of McPherson Strategies, a social-good communications consultancy in New York City. She can be found often on Twitter at @susanmcp1.

What Angel Investors Can Bring To The Table was originally published in TheLi.st @ Medium on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

And yes, it’s very much a part of my world of social good

Five years ago I realized, thanks to a significant inheritance, that I had some serious disposable income on my hands. With no kids to put through college and a reasonable mortgage payment, I found myself in the position to do what I’ve always loved most: elevate the voices of women and help build organizations doing the same.

At first, I pursued these goals the traditional way, by donating to nonprofit organizations or volunteering my time. But as I began exploring my options for major donations, I came across organizations like Golden Seeds, 37 Angels and Natalia Oberti Noguera’s Pipeline Fellowship that offered an alternative approach: angel investing.

It had never occurred to me investing in businesses was another way to support and empower women, but after some research, I realized the approach actually suited me quite well. Through angel investing, I could harness my passion for helping other women make change, while supporting the wider movement to increase the number of women providing capital and expertise to early-stage companies. (Only 13 percent of today’s angel investors are female.) With such a low number, businesses are losing opportunities to gain from the unique skills that women bring to the table, including our ability to inspire collaboration and common ground among differing parties and helping businesses target the growing female consumer market. I wanted to change that ratio, too.

Only 13 percent of today’s angel investors are female...I wanted to change that ratio, too.

I set up meetings with passionate angel investors such as Fran Hauser, Joanne Wilson, Deborah Jackson and Laurel Touby to become familiar with the requirements to “play” and hear more about their investment strategies and philosophies. For instance, Deborah, who recently launched the crowd-funding site specifically for women, Plum Alley, explained to me that by supporting a female entrepreneur, I would effectively be creating more jobs for women — certainly a social good that I’ve always valued. Fran shared that as a funder, it provides her with opportunities to share much of the wisdom and expertise she has acquired from years in the media business. Soon after, I made my first angel investment, and the next four came easily. My portfolio now includes The Li.st, Lover.ly, Zady, The Muse and soon Modern Loss, each receiving investments between $5k and $25k.

Angel investing is indeed personal, allowing a far more targeted approach than traditional investing through mutual funds, stocks and bonds. The first thing I did when starting out was to determine my personal criteria: to fund only women entrepreneurs, to find those that are innovative and creating a unique product or service, and to support those that would benefit from my business network and advice. The priority for me has and continues to be investing in companies that are founded by women entrepreneurs whom I completely trust and believe in — people who I’ve had the chance to get to know personally and professionally. These are women whom I believe will fight fiercely to change the world through their companies and their platforms.

But this was just a starting point. As my portfolio has grown, my investment strategy has evolved as well. Rather than soley identify smart women whom I trust, I partner with founders who will welcome me in as an advisor, connect me with their other investors, and tap into my expertise. My goal is not to simply write a check and wait for the financial returns to come in, although that certainly would not be a bad thing should it happen! Instead, I want a seat at the table — the opportunity to share my business knowledge and experience. In fact, even if I break even or lose a bit of money, the companies in my portfolio have provided returns to me in other ways: tremendous introductions to fellow investors, invitations to exceptional events, the opportunity to get hands-on experience building a business from the ground up, and the chance to be part of something changing the industry, and quite possibly the world.

It’s good business to invest in diversity and places where diversity is valued. My goal is to be proof of that as an investor, advisor, mentor and team member.

-The great thing about angel investing is that you have the flexibility to shift and adapt your approach over time. I’m constantly learning from the other investors I meet as my criteria continues to crystallize. While my strategy stays rooted in supporting women innovators who can provide the returns I need, my goal going forward will be to look more closely at how these businesses approach hiring. I plan to look at the make-up of the board, the founding team and early hires to glean whether the company is serious about welcoming diverse voices and perspectives. This isn’t just for the social good of it –- the data proves overwhelmingly that diversity improves the bottom line. It’s good business to invest in diversity and places where diversity is valued. My goal is to be proof of that as an investor, advisor, mentor and team member.

My overarching investment strategy is to change the ratio of angel investors, of funded female founders, of their successful companies and hopefully of their even more successful exits. This is truly why I embraced angel investing from the beginning and the lens that I will use as I continue making investments in the future. We are living in a remarkable time when women are becoming a major force in business, in boardrooms and in our global economy. By supporting women entrepreneurs, I’m doing my part to help fuel such a movement.

Susan McPherson is a serial connector who believes business can be a force for good. She’s founder and CEO of McPherson Strategies, a social-good communications consultancy in New York City. She can be found often on Twitter at @susanmcp1.

My Path to Becoming an Angel Investor was originally published in TheLi.st @ Medium on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

Last week, I was fortunate to receive an invitation to attend the sold-out Times Talk with Malala Yousafzai, hosted by the New York Times. The almost 90-minute interview was conducted by Times reporter Jodi Kantor, an accomplished journalist as well as a mother of one young daughter.

During the talk, topics ranged from Malala’s discussions with President Obama to meeting Queen Elizabeth. Malala shared some advice that the President had given her: “Don’t join politics too early—your hair will turn grey!”

Ms. Kantor touched upon how Malala has changed since her tragic shooting. What became apparent to me is that although her maturity and poise are off the charts, she is still a typical teenager with hopes, dreams, and friendships that she often references in interviews and talks. Just like many girls her age, she grew up listening to Justin Bieber, watching Ugly Betty DVDs, and dreaming of vampires while watching the Twilight series.

Malala’s warm and innocent sense of humor was evident when Kantor referred to a line in the young readers’ edition of her best-selling book, I Am Malala: “When she first started watching American and British TV, @Malala thought there was a clothing shortage in both those countries as skirts were so short.”

Clearly wise beyond her years, Malala’s insights about education and activism were both articulate and powerful. “Let us pick up our books and our pens. Education is the only solution,” she said. Later: “Change comes when WE become the change, when women step forward.” If you closed your eyes, you could easily forget that the woman being interviewed was, in fact, a teenager.

The fact that Malala is only seventeen years old is, simply, astounding. As I listened to her speak, I saw glimmers of her youth shine through. She holds hour-long Skype sessions with her friends back in Pakistan, speaks quickly, brims with enthusiasm, and never waivers from her optimism. She jokes about being her mom’s favorite, pokes fun at her dad’s cooking, misses her best friend, Moniba, and loves playing Candy Crush. She also received a C in biology.

As articulate as she is optimistic, Malala’s poise, intelligence, and idealism make her the perfect person to lead a movement in support of girls’ education. Seeing her “teenage” side come through at the Times Talk was truly a treat.

Malala is a leader, full of grace and intellect. But she can also be relatable, especially to the community she represents. This blend of wide-eyed, relatable optimism with a bold and worldly composure is what makes Malala so special and, probably most importantly, effective in her global advocacy on behalf of education for all.

Malala Yousafzai: Wise Beyond Her Years, But Still a Teenager was originally published in TheLi.st @ Medium on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.