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HEINEKEN, Vital Voices Aim to Brew a Better World by Empowering Women Entrepreneurs

Creating a sustainable, inclusive future requires helping a diverse range of individuals realize their fullest potential — particularly women. On Saturday, September 30, HEINEKEN USA will lead a workshop in Washington, D.C. at Vital Voices’ Global Freedom Exchange (GFE) Program, a two-week dynamic educational and mentoring opportunity for emerging women leaders.

By Sustainable Brands | Published 7 years ago | About a 2 minute read

Creating a sustainable, inclusive future requires helping a diverse range of individuals realize their fullest potential — particularly women. On Saturday, September 30, HEINEKEN USA will lead a workshop in Washington, D.C. at Vital Voices’ Global Freedom Exchange (GFE) Program, a two-week dynamic educational and mentoring opportunity for emerging women leaders. HEINEKEN’s workshop will focus on developing and honing purpose-driven leadership skills for a group of women from 18 countries around the world.

The partnership builds upon HEINEKEN’s larger commitment to Brewing a Better World, which aims to actively connect with and serve the communities in which the company does business or calls home.

The Global Freedom Exchange Program was created by Vital Voices in 2013 to address human trafficking. The program’s objective is to invest in the leadership potential of women, providing them with mentorship, strategic planning, networking and capacity-building opportunities. This year’s program includes 22 GFE Fellows, who will leverage the knowledge and networks gained to enact positive change in their own communities and regions. This Fellows’ focus areas range from human trafficking to youth empowerment and childcare.

“HEINEKEN’s entrepreneurial spirit takes us to every corner of the world and our purpose is to brew experiences that inspire legendary lives. Similar to how we embrace our company’s purpose, we’re committed to helping others find their purpose,” said Stephanie Johnston, Director of Corporate Social Responsibility at HEINEKEN USA. “Through our partnership with Vital Voices, HEINEKEN USA is helping promote purpose-driven leadership skills for a group of women so that they can improve the world for us all.”

The 2017 Global Freedom Exchange Program will take place between September 25 – October 6 and will involve three US metropolitan areas that have developed unique approaches to addressing human trafficking: Dallas, Washington D.C. and Chicago.

2017 has been a busy year for Vital Voices. Earlier this summer, the organization partnered with Women in the World, HSN and FreshPaper founder Kavita Shukla to launch FreshVoices, a campaign which aims to highlight the stories of women entrepreneurs and inspire more women innovators to take the next step with their business ideas. The campaign launched during a 24-hour marathon on HSN, in which the stories and innovations of 11 women entrepreneurs were introduced into the homes of 90 million households across the US.