Roxanne Joyal
Roxanne Joyal
CEO, ME to WE and Founder of ME to WE Artisans
Ground-breaking Social Entrepreneur. Women's Empowerment Advocate. Rhodes Scholar.
When she first travelled to Kenya as a teenage volunteer, Roxanne was struck by the profound beauty, wretched poverty and the strong and resourceful women she met.
Her task was to start a fair trade program so women in the impoverished communities could sell their beadwork to visitors. Inside their small huts, the mamas showed Roxanne their exquisite handiwork, objects they used in rituals surrounding birth, marriage, warriorhood and death. Thinking of their craft as not art, but necessity, these women could not believe that Roxanne wanted to sell their work and return the profits to them and their families.
In helping to empower these women, Roxanne found her calling.
She went on to graduate from Stanford University with a degree in international relations, earn a coveted Rhodes scholarship and a law degree at Oxford, and clerk for the Supreme Court of Canada. But rather than pursue a conventional career, she chose to bring her training back to the communities that first inspired her.
As founder of ME to WE Artisans, Roxanne now leads social and economic empowerment initiatives for women in Kenya's Maasai Mara. Infusing centuries-old traditions with modern elements, ME to WE collections share the artistry of indigenous cultures with North American consumers looking to make a positive impact through their purchase.
A beading project that started with 25 women now provides fair wages to more than 1,400. By joining Artisans, each woman is able to build her savings to do things that were previously impossible: improve her home, buy food and medicine for her family, send her children to school, and emerge as a leader in her own right.
Roxanne's continued commitment to the Artisans program has led to widespread retail traction, with ME to WE products now being sold in over 12,000 locations across North America through partnership with influential retailers.
As CEO of ME to WE, Roxanne led the creation of its unique volunteer offerings, allowing travellers to break free from a touristic experience and find meaningful connections in communities where ME to WE's charitable partner, WE Charity, puts its 20-year history of sustainable development to work. She established Bogani Cottages and Tented Camp, a first-of-its-kind facility designed as a rejuvenating home base for youth, adults, families and corporate groups volunteering in Kenya. The success of Bogani led Roxanne to expand this niche experience with the creation of Araveli Cottages and Tented Camp in Rajasthan, India, and the Minga Lodge in the Ecuadorian Amazon.
In 2015, ME to WE became a certified B Corporation, an indication of high social and environmental performance, transparency and accountability.
Roxanne Joyal
CEO, ME to WE and Founder of ME to WE Artisans
Ground-breaking Social Entrepreneur. Women's Empowerment Advocate. Rhodes Scholar.
When she first travelled to Kenya as a teenage volunteer, Roxanne was struck by the profound beauty, wretched poverty and the strong and resourceful women she met.
Her task was to start a fair trade program so women in the impoverished communities could sell their beadwork to visitors. Inside their small huts, the mamas showed Roxanne their exquisite handiwork, objects they used in rituals surrounding birth, marriage, warriorhood and death. Thinking of their craft as not art, but necessity, these women could not believe that Roxanne wanted to sell their work and return the profits to them and their families.
In helping to empower these women, Roxanne found her calling.
She went on to graduate from Stanford University with a degree in international relations, earn a coveted Rhodes scholarship and a law degree at Oxford, and clerk for the Supreme Court of Canada. But rather than pursue a conventional career, she chose to bring her training back to the communities that first inspired her.
As founder of ME to WE Artisans, Roxanne now leads social and economic empowerment initiatives for women in Kenya's Maasai Mara. Infusing centuries-old traditions with modern elements, ME to WE collections share the artistry of indigenous cultures with North American consumers looking to make a positive impact through their purchase.
A beading project that started with 25 women now provides fair wages to more than 1,400. By joining Artisans, each woman is able to build her savings to do things that were previously impossible: improve her home, buy food and medicine for her family, send her children to school, and emerge as a leader in her own right.
Roxanne's continued commitment to the Artisans program has led to widespread retail traction, with ME to WE products now being sold in over 12,000 locations across North America through partnership with influential retailers.
As CEO of ME to WE, Roxanne led the creation of its unique volunteer offerings, allowing travellers to break free from a touristic experience and find meaningful connections in communities where ME to WE's charitable partner, WE Charity, puts its 20-year history of sustainable development to work. She established Bogani Cottages and Tented Camp, a first-of-its-kind facility designed as a rejuvenating home base for youth, adults, families and corporate groups volunteering in Kenya. The success of Bogani led Roxanne to expand this niche experience with the creation of Araveli Cottages and Tented Camp in Rajasthan, India, and the Minga Lodge in the Ecuadorian Amazon.
In 2015, ME to WE became a certified B Corporation, an indication of high social and environmental performance, transparency and accountability.
The World's Most Powerful Women: How Women Are Leading Change
Ideal for university/college students, businesswomen, women's groups
What does empowerment mean for women and how can it be achieved? In this inspiring keynote, Roxanne shares effective strategies that women can use to transform their lives. Although she was the first in her rural Manitoba family to consider higher education, Roxanne went on to become a Stanford graduate, a Rhodes Scholar, a clerk at the Supreme Court and one of the 100 Most Powerful Women in Canada.
Secrets of a Social Entrepreneur: How Business Leaders Can Make an Impact
As CEO of ME to WE and founder of ME to WE Artisans, an innovative social enterprise that empowers people to change the world with their everyday consumer choices, Roxanne's work has taken her from the hallways of Oxford to the villages of rural Asia and Africa to the top design showrooms of New York and Los Angeles.
Under Roxanne's leadership, ME to WE...
From One Mama to Another: Raising Kids Who Care and Contribute
A ground-breaking social entrepreneur, women's rights advocate, and working mother raising two young girls, Roxanne shares the wisdom of mothers around the world who struggle to not only build a better life for their children, but also raise children who care about the world. In this powerful keynote, Roxanne shares learnings from the mothers she's worked with in Kenya, Ecuador, India...
