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During a trip to India in May 2010, mother-of-five Kirsten Monson discovered the beautiful artisan work of the local women and determined that she would provide a way for their work to reach a receptive market. The result was Elevita, a site that sells products from artisans in developing countries and then funnels all of the revenue back into the local communities. In this interview, Kirsten talks about the status of women in the countries she serves and the drive she feels from the Spirit to help them. You’ve lived in several countries abroad. How did this lead to the founding of your website, Elevita? We currently live in Singapore for my husband’s work. He works for a medical device company and his responsibility is to get the company’s medical devices into developing countries around the world. This is what led to Elevita in a way because he travels a lot and I felt like I needed to go with him to India. I finally got to go in May of 2010; I felt like there was something calling me there. I had no idea what. When I got there, what I loved was seeing all of the beautiful artisan work, the native handicraft, and I met people who didn’t seem to have very much demand for their beautiful work. On my way home, I felt that there could be a much larger market for these people’s wares so that they could become more financially independent. I felt that there just needed to be a bridge from the product to the market. Elevita is something that is completely volunteer, we donate all our time, we don’t get any money or personal revenue from it. We feel that this is a way we can help people pull out of poverty through the economic opportunity. We pay the artisans for their goods upfront at the price they name. We then sell their goods on our website. Even though we are paying the artisans a very fair price, there is always a markup for their goods when sold in developed countries. We use the net profits from this markup to fund our humanitarian projects. We hope that the dual combination of the economic opportunity plus the humanitarian grants will really encourage people to work their way out of poverty. It seems like a small thing to buy something from Elevita, but it’s a huge way to help. We’re talking about people who don’t have 3 meals a day, and you buy an ornament from them and it helps them feed their family. It makes a really big difference, and a hundred percent of the revenue goes back into the communities. Kirsten Monson with a Friend What is your background that gave you the confidence and skills to start something like this? Good question! Honestly, my pioneer heritage taught me that I can do anything. We needed to do this. So I thought, Let’s do it! Also, I studied statistics in college with an emphasis in business management. My husband has a strong business background and already had relationships in these countries from his professional work. I also am an artist and have a good eye for quality and color. I come from a very entrepreneurial family; we always have some project going on. So putting all that together, I said, “I’m going to build a website and help people sell their stuff!” I had zero computer background. The extent of my computer knowledge was email. And yet I felt so driven and inspired to do this. Don’t ask me how. I hope I never have to do it again, but I built the site myself. That was definitely not something I thought I could do. All the pieces eventually came together. If you’re willing to follow inspiration, things will work out whether you think you can or not. Kirsten Monson with Others I’m curious about the logistics about this. Do you take sourcing trips to India yourself to buy the inventory? Yes, we get our inventory from a lot of different places. Some of it is from direct travel, some comes through contacts and friends, some is from other non-profit groups that import things from developing countries and sell them wholesale. Recently, for instance, a missionary couple returned from the Phillipines and put us in touch with people there. We just moved to Singapore this summer for my husband’s job and already I’ve met people here with contacts in the countries we feature. I’d like to work with any developing country. I’ve had friends who have traveled and thought of me in their travels. One friend called me when she got back from Ghana. She had met a community of handicapped people who make jewelry, so we ordered some jewelry from them to sell. I have a list of guidelines on the type of artisans we want to work with. I don’t just take anything from anywhere. I like to work with artisans who don’t have another outlet to market. We do like to help in disaster areas; for example, we recently added some ornaments from Haiti. And we like to help both women and men. There are organizations that like to help only women but I certainly don’t want to exclude men from economic opportunities. Once we make a connection with a specific artisan, I usually get a sample from the artisan so I can see if it’s marketable and if there are any changes to be made. Sometimes I need to direct the artisan to know what kinds of patterns or fabrics would sell in a western market. There is one group in India that we work with – a group of women – who recently completed a sewing course. They’re excellent seamstresses now, but that’s all they know so far. So we brought them a bunch of patterns that we thought would sell in a western market – patterns for placemats and aprons and pillow covers. We helped them buy the fabric since they don’t have the capital to do that themselves. We gave them the exact patterns and showed them how to do it and then they send the finished products to us. So we get our products a lot of different ways. We launched the site in November 2010, six months after I made my first trip to India. Since the launch a year ago, we’ve increased our inventory to about sixty products on the site now. Kirsten Monson with Her Family You say on the site that 100% of the proceeds go to funding humanitarian projects, especially in education. Would you tell me about the project you have in mind specifically? Yes, the entire project is volunteer, so I wanted to reinvest our revenue into a worthy project. Right now we’re raising money for a girls’ hostel in India. Girls in rural India live in such small villages that are so away from schools that it is impossible for them to attend. Plus, their culture doesn’t value education for girls. Third, it’s difficult for them to travel with safety along the route. Something could happen to a young girl on the road and then you run into honor killings and other awful things. So they don’t travel to and from school. If a girl from rural India wants a secondary education – meaning high school – she must stay at a hostel at a safe place near a school where she can live, attend school, and go home periodically for holidays with guided transportation. This has been a formula that has been very successful in enabling girls to get more education. In the local community where the girls recently completed the sewing course I mentioned earlier, we became associated with an organization that had already built a hostel and was having tremendous success with it but was having a hard time raising funds to build a second. They invited us to contribute our funds towards building another one. That’s what we’re doing right now. It’s actually a perfect situation because the hostel will be built directly next to the craft center where these girls are sewing for us, so the girls will be watched over by the local women at the craft center but they’ll also be getting their education and gaining practical skills like sewing. When they leave they will have their secondary education, some sewing skills, and broader economic opportunities. It is a great place to put this hostel so we just need to raise the funds. There’s been some opposition from the village to building a second hostel there because, again, traditional villages don’t like girls to be educated. But we’re working through that right now with the local organization we’re affiliated with. Kirsten Monson Let’s turn to you personally. How do you stay motivated to tackle a project like this day after day? Where’s the drive coming from? It’s got to be from the Spirit. When you decide to do something like this, you just get the energy you need. There’s really no other answer. I love what I do. Already, we can see how we’ve made a difference in individuals’ lives. That’s totally motivating. I love the crafts themselves. I get so excited when we get a new batch of tablecloths or ornaments or beading. I do all my own gift-giving from Elevita because I love these products so much. I benefit personally from having this store. The motivation really comes from the joy of helping other people. I’m a firm believer that because I have been given much I too must give. My husband has a great job; we’ve had all these opportunities to travel. I’ve always felt that the Lord wouldn’t give me all these opportunities just for fun. There’s got to be some reason behind it, some way to build the kingdom, to serve and to love. You have five children, almost six. What impact has Elevita had on them? Yes, I have four boys and a girl, from 14 to 3. And one due in April 2012. They have been very supportive. We’ve explained to them about people living in poverty. People in America generally don’t understand what living in poverty really is, what it means for a family of our size to call a tarp a home, with a little cooking pot. We came home from India last year and explained to the kids that there was something we could do to help these people. And they became excited. They’ve always been supportive of the time I’ve spent on it, the trips I’ve had to take. I have total flexibility over what I give and when I give it, so it is something that has not at all been disruptive to my children. I’ve had to reprioritize some things but I can still be the mom I want to be. I do a lot of my work between the hours of 10pm and 2am. My kids know we’ve invested a lot of our own money in this project with no financial return just because it’s something we believe in. My kids lead really privileged lives, so hopefully a project like this will help them realize long term that their lives are the exception and that there’s a lot they can do to influence and affect and help people outside their sphere. I also want them to realize that just because someone is on the other side of the globe doesn’t mean you can’t do something for them. Kirsten Monson with Others You said earlier you like to support the women and also the men, but most of the artisans on your site are women. What do you think it is about being a woman in these developing countries that causes them to look outside their sphere for opportunities to support their families? I’ve learned that women in many developing countries, especially central Asia, have no status. None at all. They have no property rights. They are considered equal with animals. They’re often beaten, they typically are not allowed to keep money. They’re really just in servitude to their husbands as a cultural norm. Obviously from our gospel perspective, that’s not right. There is an expression: If you teach a woman, you can change a village. Give a woman an opportunity, you can turn a whole family around. Women are the ones who make choices about education, and food and hygine and nutrition. You put the money in the hands of a woman and they do amazing things with it. When a woman is seen as being capable of making money or being able to provide, all of a sudden she earns respect from the men in her community. Her status changes. Historically, in India and Afghanistan and Nepal, people have said it’s not worthwhile to educate a woman. But that’s changing. Now people realize that an educated woman, even if she doesn’t go into the workforce, will have an impact on her children that will affect generations. What has learning about the status of women in developing countries done for your vision of yourself as a modern Mormon woman? It’s made me feel so much more blessed than ever. It’s unbelievable to think I was born in the time and the place and the culture that I was. There are so many women born with no hope. The more I’ve studied, the more I’ve been heartbroken and sick to my stomach. We learn in the gospel how valued each daughter is in the eyes of our Heavenly Father. Part of my mission is to share that vision with others. Take these women and show people what they’re capable of. Give them economic opportunities and education and help them feel valued. I believe so much in a woman’s role in the home and I love my role in the home. So one of my hesitations in starting this project was that I didn’t want to go out and create a whole new generation of career women in developing countries. But once I visited these countries where a woman is considered as low as a dog, I realized that anything I could do for her is worthwhile. That confidence and social change will filter down to generations and they can choose what they want to do. The key word is “choose”. We are giving them choices and they can decide what they want to do. A lot of projects we support are things women can do at home. We take village girls and give them an education, but it’s not like they’re going to then abandon their families and villages. They can choose to go back to the village or go to the city whereas previously there was no choice. At A Glance Name: Kirsten Monson Location: Singapore Age: 34 Marital status: Married Children: Five (14, 13, 10, 6, 3) — and one on the way, April 2011! Occupation: Homemaker Schools Attended: BYU Languages Spoken at Home: English Favorite Hymn: “Because I Have Been Given Much” On The Web: www.elevita.com

Families with trans-racial adopted children are becoming more common, both within the LDS community and without. But what is it like to grow up as that child in a family that doesn’t look like you? This anonymous perspective, from an Asian woman adopted into a white family as a baby, shares the pain and joy of being adopted into a trans-racial family. You were adopted as an infant. At what point did you realize your family was a little different than others? I was adopted by my family before I was one year old. Shortly after birth in my home country, I was abandoned on a doorstep. I came to the US on a plane with several other adoptees, and my mother was waiting at the airport for me. My mother says I realized from an early age that I looked different; I was surrounded by white people, but I still knew I was different. One day, when I was young, I found a picture of an Asian baby in a magazine and carried that picture around with me for weeks. My siblings say they didn’t notice anything different, and just accepted me as part of the family. But, there were moments when we were younger when they were embarrassed about being different from other families or didn’t know how to handle inappropriate questions or comments. People at church – a place where you should feel safe and accepted – would make comments that hurt, like my skin was darker because I was cursed. I felt alienated and hurt. I couldn’t express much of what I was feeling because there was such an outpouring of optimism and expectations of gratitude, like “You’re so lucky to be saved from a bad life in that other country.” It felt wrong to tell people I wished I had another identity. I spent so much time wishing I were white or fit in better with my family, which isn’t something that’s healthy for children. My parents are both white and had grown up in white communities so they didn’t realize things were that different for me. I grew up during a time when people didn’t know that trans-racially adopted children struggled to reconcile competing visions of how they fit in the world and their families. Adoptee families will often say things like, “Race doesn’t matter, we love you no matter what you look like, and we’re all the same on the inside.” There was little dialogue about the need to prepare children for the fact that people, even well intentioned people, frequently comment on trans-racial adoptive families in insensitive and sometimes inappropriate ways. How did you come to terms with your adoption? I had so much anger and hurt built up inside of me about abandonment and the isolation I felt. My family lived in an area that was similar to the ones they grew up in, so there were virtually no other racial groups. Additionally, I didn’t feel like a “real” Asian or Asian-American because my parents weren’t Asian. I had no idea where I fit because I was constantly reminded that I wasn’t white. Because I had no way to understand or articulate the pain I was in for so long, I started making really destructive choices. After college, I had a crisis point where everything became too much and I thought it would be better not to be alive than continue on. At that point, I started learning that my parents loved me and weren’t going to send me back, and that they never thought of me as second best or a substitute for a biological child. I started going to counseling, and my parents went too. Without their unfailing support, especially my mother’s, I doubt I would have made it. We had to work through what it means to be a minority family and learn how to talk about race. We also had to work through abandonment issues just like other families who adopt, regardless of race. Developing my faith and a relationship with God helped me heal. The Atonement came into play for me when I realized that I could be healed from all the anger, isolation, and bitterness I had. I’m friends with a lot of adopted people who carry so much bitterness and hurt with them from their upbringing – they’ve cut off contact with their adoptive families, even moved to other countries, trying to get away from the hurt. But I’m lucky; I haven’t had to do that. How can trans-racial families help bridge the gap and help their adopted children to feel part of the family? Some say all you need is love to raise a child. Others rely on resources like culture camps and so forth. It’s not so much about keeping or adopting cultural practices as the cure-all, but more about helping children feel accepted and part of a community. Some families find groups of other adoptive children and spend time with trans-racial families. This lets their children know that they can be part of another culture and part of the family at the same time. It’s important for many families to have a support network so that children don’t feel like they stand out and stand alone. How has your background affected your parenting style? Becoming a mother changed me. I was a little nervous to have children, because of my history. I want to believe that my birth parents decided to place me for adoption out of necessity and not because they didn’t want me. Once I had children, I realized that it didn’t matter why my birth parents placed me; my adoptive parents chose to raise me and they taught me how to love my own children. Once I had children I stopped worrying that there was some flaw in me handed down from my birth parents. Having children and creating my own family unit healed me of a lot of the hurt I’d harbored my whole life. Race is a big, conscious focus in our family. My husband and I are a trans-racial couple and our kids definitely look like me. When he is out with the children, people assume they are adopted or that he isn’t related by blood to them. People ask questions like, “What are they?” The kids notice difference in race, in our family, and in our community, but we try to explain that being different isn’t bad – it’s just different. We’ve lived in very diverse cities, and in places that are predominantly white; no matter where we go, race comes up. We just work through it a day at a time. It’s heartbreaking having to explain to my children why another child makes faces or teases them about the way they look. At the same time, I’m grateful that I have the Gospel and my own parents’ example so I can teach my children about Christ-like compassion for others. Interview produced by Lyndsey Payzant Wells.

My hardest choice ever was to let God back into my heart. All through my childhood, I’d known that my Heavenly Father and my Savior, Jesus Christ, love me. It was a conviction that carried me safely through the often-tempestuous adolescent years. I knew God’s love in the good times, like when I met my husband, and the bad times, like when I miscarried my first pregnancy. That fixed knowledge helped me find peace and direction. And so it went through unemployment, major surgery, under-employment, my firstborn being diagnosed with autism, another miscarriage, and watching the family I grew up in fall apart—God’s love was a constant that gave me strength, purpose, and hope. Then, shortly after I weaned my second child, I was struck down by a major depressive episode. I knew that depression could strike anyone and that it was a medical disorder, but I also knew first-hand God’s healing power. From Him, I sought relief from this ailment. None came. As I grew more desperate, I read the scriptures, I prayed, I attended the temple with intense purpose—all to no avail. I felt cut off from my Heavenly Father and from my Savior. I couldn’t receive the revelation I’d relied on throughout my life because the Spirit speaks to our hearts and minds—but my heart and mind both were broken by the depression. I was left in misery, suffering the emotional pains of spiritual death. Eventually, I was able to see a psychiatrist who prescribed medication that did more to lift the darkness than all my prayers had. Though I was grateful for that partial relief, I also felt surprisingly angry. Are we not promised over and over that the Gospel brings peace to our hearts and that our Heavenly Father’s plan is one of happiness? So why could I get those things from a pill but not from Him? He lives—even in my darkest moments, I never doubted that—but I felt that for inexplicable reasons He had turned away from me. The depression was turning out to be a life-long struggle. Then one day I realized I had a choice: I could go on feeling angry and abandoned, or I could repair my relationship with my Heavenly Father. Even though I still couldn’t entirely trust my emotions, I chose to reach out to Him. I began daily scripture study and prayer again. And while I couldn’t go back to the way things were before the depression, I found that with God’s daily grace I could move forward in my faith journey. It has taken me a long time, but I have come again to a place of surety. I know my Father lives. I know that He loves me enough to let me struggle through the lessons I need to learn. I know He trusts me enough to try my faith. Above all, I know that despite how I felt, the reality is my Savior had already experienced every moment of my despair, frustration, and anguish. I never was and never will be abandoned. At A Glance Name: Hillary Stirling Location: Pleasant Grove, UT Age: 37 Marital status: Married Children: Two (ages 12 and 9) Occupation: Paralegal Schools attended: Brigham Young University, Utah Valley University Languages spoken at home: English Favorite hymn: “How Firm A Foundation”

After a difficult childhood, Kimmie joined the Church in Korea. Now a successful business owner, Kimmie talks about how the healing properties of the algae supplements from her cosmetics company help people overcome debilitating illness. She has started a non-profit to help those who can’t afford the treatments have access to their benefits. You’ve faced quite a bit of adversity in your life, especially in your childhood. Can you tell us about that? I would say mine is a dysfunctional kind of family. I was the sixth child. The firstborn was a son who died when he was a baby. Then came three girls. My mom had a really hard time with all of those girls. In Korea at the time, girl babies were not as respected as boy babies. After the three girls came, another brother was born, and then I came. I wasn’t welcome because I was another girl, and I was strong. My father would say, “Oh the girls are all the same! They are so worthless!” I had to be kind of invisible when I was around my brother. I had to keep my distance from him. Whatever was given to my brother wasn’t allowed to me. My parents were also very busy. My mom was so busy taking care of all her children, as well as a nephew and niece who had moved into our home. They had a farm to take care of. My father was an herb doctor, so he had to take care of his clinic. Because they were so busy, I was left to be cared for by my grandma, who lived with us. My parents just didn’t have much time for me. I know it didn’t mean that they didn’t love me, but I felt all alone. I felt like I was an outcast. I felt like no one cared about me. How did you deal with these lonely feelings when you were a little girl? I started to read books. Whenever I went missing, I could be found in the library. The librarian loved me. I found my peace and my sanctuary with all of those books. I read a lot at the time, even philosophy. Many of those books talked about a superpower. From this, I knew there was some Being stronger than my father, stronger than my grandma, and stronger than anybody else–someone who knew me as I was. I tried to find out more but I didn’t know where to go to find it. My family had a big house, and we rented rooms to a few people. When I was eight or nine years old, a Roman Catholic family moved in, and they went to church every Sunday. Watching them go together to this church and seeing them wear the veil over their face and head looked really nice to me. I wanted to have that veil on my head, so I asked them if they wouldn’t mind taking me with them to church. I was overwhelmed by the serenity that I felt there. I knew the people there were looking for the same thing that I was looking for. I saw a statue of Saint Mary and also the baby Jesus. When I saw Jesus I felt like I knew him. I didn’t feel that kind of a feeling for Saint Mary. I couldn’t say exactly what but I felt something different about this little baby. I started asking around, “Where can I get that baby Jesus?” I wanted to have that doll. I had to have it. I had never asked for anything as a child, but I had this burning desire for the baby Jesus statue. Then something miraculous happened. I discovered one of the girls in my classroom had a small baby Jesus doll. She would let me play with it if I gave her a bowl of my corn soup or a small loaf of bread. Whenever I had that baby Jesus, I had this warm feeling inside of me. How did this experience shape your young womanhood? I continued to seek out Jesus. I asked the nuns many questions about Jesus and religion, and they always said, “Huh, you are full of questions!” Sometimes they couldn’t answer me; they couldn’t answer me simply because they didn’t know the answers to all of my questions. During this period I started to think seriously about religion. Whenever I went to church they offered the sacrament wine. I knew it was the symbol of Jesus’ blood, and I thought, “If I take the sacrament, then I will be different. I will be healed. People will love me. People will care about me.” I wanted to have that so desperately. I wanted to find peace inside of me. I wanted someone to look at me the way I was. I tried to find some relief in religion. I considered becoming a Catholic nun. I already acted like a nun in that I didn’t have my own personal time, my private time. I was out there to help others. I spent a lot of my time serving others. When I walked along the street, if someone needed help, I was the first child to get there with a helping hand. I was different. I had this tendency toward helping less fortunate people. I think I got it from my mom or my grandpa. My grandpa was called “father” by beggars all throughout Korea. When he passed away, our place was flocked by beggars and homeless people from all the provinces. When were you introduced to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints? When I was eighteen, my sister met the missionaries. I was also, coincidentally, contacted by my classmate, who was a Church member around the same time. I went with her to the LDS Church, and I met the bishop. He was a really nice and very kind man. In the building, I saw a painting of Jesus stretching out his arms. It had such a glorious background, and I couldn’t take my eyes off of it. I knew that was Jesus. While I was listening to everyone, all of my attention was on that picture. It was beautifully done. I just loved it. Later I talked to my sister, and she said, “Oh I’m meeting the missionaries.” I thought, “Hmm, ok, I have to find out what the LDS Church is all about.” I started to read the Book of Mormon, and I asked Heavenly Father if the book was true and if it was really from Heavenly Father. I asked that my heart feel a burning sensation. I didn’t get anything. I didn’t even get a burp. So I thought, “Hmm is it true?” My sister was baptized but I wasn’t baptized because I still wanted to be Catholic. But I also wanted to be supportive and to understand her more so I told her that I would like to meet the missionaries. I met the missionaries out of my love for my sister. After I met the missionaries, I got baptized. To tell you the truth, when I got baptized I didn’t really have the conviction that I have now. I didn’t really have the belief. Eventually, I stopped going to church and moved to America a few years later. Why did you move to America? My mom and dad wanted me to marry a man I wasn’t in love with. They said, “You’ve got to get married to a man that we think is worthy and is good. Marry this guy.” I said, “No, no, no I don’t want to get married.” In Korea, you cannot go against what your parents say to you. So I tried to find a way to get away from home. I tried to get as far away from home as I could, so I moved to America. I lived in America for three years and got married while I was there. My husband abused me and raped me. I felt all alone. One day I started to pray, “Where are you, Lord? I’m so stubborn. You have to let me know that Jesus lives, that he cares for me, that I’m still loved, and that I’m not all alone. Please let me know.” I didn’t get any answers. Then I wrote a letter to Heavenly Father. I tried to write everything. After I wrote it, I was going to burn it. I thought, “The ash will reach Him.” I was about to burn it when all of the sudden I got a phone call from a missionary who knew me in America. He said he was studying his scriptures before going to bed and all of a sudden I was there. He said he had this strong urge to call me. He said, “Are you okay?” I tried not to cry on the phone. I didn’t say one word because I was crying and crying and crying. He said, “If you are in trouble, know that the Holy Spirit is always with you.” He concluded by saying, “Know that I called you because I was led by the Holy Spirit.” That moment I knew I wasn’t alone. From that point, I became really zealous. I started going back to church, I filed for a divorce, and I moved back to Korea. When you moved back to Korea, you started a health care business using algae as a healing agent. How did this come about? I think I was destined to get involved in the algae business. I often went to a chapel to pray that medicine could be used to heal unhappy people. I promised God I would offer my own life in return if He answered my prayer. In my late 30’s, I found favor among people who harvested algae which has incredible healing properties, especially for damaged skin. The limited knowledge I had about microorganisms somehow impressed them, and I was offered a business opportunity. This opportunity to work with algae helped shape my plan to start a non-profit charity organization that would provide inexpensive algae supplements to less fortunate people who desperately needed to improve their health. I realized that I needed some high-end products to generate the funds for the non-profit and decided to use cosmetics as my high-end product. I began using algae as a skin-care ingredient and making my own formulas for troubled skin. How have your spiritual beliefs informed your business? When I give algae supplements to those who suffer from various—often serious—ailments, I first pray over the product to ensure that it is given with the right intention and that the healing properties will be fully realized. I also ask that those who take the algae do so with prayer and faith. I witness many miracles daily. People heal and recover from all sorts of ailments by using the products and advice I offer. They eventually realize they were given a unique opportunity to think about their bodies’ limits and potential power. I know that it is the grace of our Lord Jesus that makes them whole and healthy again. His absolute, unconditional love has incredible, incomparable healing power. I also act as a member missionary through the interactions I have with my clients and co-workers. Some people I meet through work have shown sincere interest in my religion and some eagerness to listen to what I have to say about not only physical, emotional wellbeing but spiritual wellbeing and the restored gospel. I won’t stop my constant struggle to do business in a manner with which the Lord would be pleased. I could be surrounded by charming business people whose main interest is how to be beautiful, healthier, and gain more. But I chose a life where the Savior can use me as an instrument in His hands. I’d rather be surrounded by the sick and the suffering. I know I’ll serve them with my heart; these holistic products will benefit them physically, emotionally, and spiritually because they are enhanced with ingredients like unconditional love, my humble prayers, and many people’s blessings. What sort of future do you envision for your business? Even though the future of my business may not be free of occasional ups and downs, I will continue to employ ethical management models where honesty is always the best policy and charity comes before profit. I hope our eco-friendly products will contribute to changing concepts of what defines a successful business and a career woman. I also hope that nature-oriented products will be introduced and distributed throughout the world and that algae will be used for affordable but powerful treatments. Ultimately, I envision my small business becoming the foundation of the global algae community and becoming a steward company that shares the gospel with the meek and the sick and works to make the world a better place to live. There’s no doubt in my mind that as long as I walk in the light and continue to gain my strength from the Lord by reading scriptures and visiting the temple, my business and I will be sustained. God lives! A very insignificant person like me has become a tool to help people. I pray that my business continues to be used as a tool in God’s hands! At A Glance Name: Kimmie Matthews Location: Seoul, Korea Age: 52 Marital status: Single again Occupation: Entrepreneur Convert to Church: 1984 Schools Attended: Chosun University Languages Spoken at Home: Korean Favorite Hymn: “Because I Have Been Given Much” On the Web: www.Bioe3.com; www.klamathbeauty.com Interview by Krisanne Hastings. Photos by Heather Willoughby and Robyn Larsen.