STEPHANIE WOOLLARD BIOGRAPHY
MELBOURNE BASED
Stephanie Woollard is the founder and director of Seven Women, an award winning social enterprise which helps train marginalized and socially isolated women in Nepal, giving them opportunities to improve their quality of life. Miss Woollard is a Rotary Peace Fellow and has recently completed her Masters in Peace and Conflict Resolution at Uppsala University in Sweden. Stephanie has this year been nominated as Australian of the year.
Stephanie founded the Seven Women enterprise in 2006, after she visited Nepal and met seven women who were making soaps and candles to sell in the local market. These women all had various disabilities, which in Nepal carries a stigma that leads the locals to believe these people bring bad luck. As a consequence these women sold very little of their products and were unable to meet their daily needs. In spite of their poverty and hardship, Stephanie saw a tremendous strength and endurance in these women. She also saw an opportunity to create a sustainable enterprise which could support the women through giving them skills to make and sell Fair trade goods, and in doing so would give them economic independence and a way to regain their dignity.
Since its inception, Seven Women has trained and employed over 1000 disadvantaged women in Kathmandu and remote village areas and offered shelter, medical assistance and community. In 2014, Seven Women received the ‘Ethical Enterprise of the Year’ award.
Seven Women has continued to develop projects including establishing a second shelter, this one being for abused women and single mothers. Like the first shelter, which is self-sustaining, the second shelter aims to teach women practical and production skills such as sewing and growing their own vegetables. Other programs include literacy classes, money management, gender awareness, basic health and women’s rights, training and business and savings classes.
Stephanie also runs a company called Hands On Development, through which she speaks at events, mentors others and runs study tours to Nepal. Stephanie’s talks offer students and business owners insight into how to live their passion and run enterprises that contribute to a better world. Stephanie, who speaks Nepalese, has created itineraries that immerse people in the real life and culture of the country and take them to organisations and businesses, including Seven Women, that are committed to bringing about real and lasting change.
Stephanie is dedicated to education and empowerment. She believes having a realistic understanding of the causes of poverty and culture in developing countries is essential for those who want to work in the field of international development and a crucial ingredient for bringing peace and tolerance in a globalised world.
“My key to a better world is as simple as finding your passion and dedicating your life to using that passion to bring hope to the lives of others.”