Bread Power in Texas - Part II

written by Emma Nelson, Texas A&M University

The Women’s Bakery A&M Chapter in College Station, TX is officially two years old, growing, and constantly finding new ways to succeed its mission. I was so lucky to be able join TWB A&M at the very beginning in the Fall of 2016 when the organization was just starting out with a small group of determined members inspired by strong women baking bread. Our members have believed in and worked passionately for the purpose of this chapter from the start and to reflect on its successes and achievements brings me so much pride and joy!

Our Chapter exists to raise awareness about TWB, educate students about women’s empowerment and social entrepreneurship, and raise funds to support The Women’s Bakery. In two years, our members and officers have pursued and created ways to achieve these goals that bring the inspiration and concept behind TWB to more and more people. Some of the ways we accomplish this include; educational meetings, awareness events, profit shares with local businesses, partnerships with fellow student organizations, bake sales, and social media campaigns.

In the past year TWB A&M has held multiple campus outreach events, delivered presentations for A&M classes, screened documentaries, educated members on global issues, partnered with similar organizations, and officially established the TWB A&M Scholarship.The Scholarship was created by our chapter to cover the entire cost of the TWB training for one woman which gives her the education and opportunities that will equip her to gain a steady income and increase her autonomy. Through lots of dedication and work, our members have raised enough to sponsor four women through our scholarship!

This is the impact of TWB A&M! This is what can happen when people who believe in empowering women set out to do just that. TWB A&M is made up of friends that support each other and work together to achieve our goals to empower ourselves and others. We’d love for you to follow and keep up with us as we grow on our social media platforms!

Find us @twbtamu !!

Bread Power in Texas

written by former TWB A&M Co-Chair, Madison Jaco

For the 2017-18 school year, I had the privilege of getting to work alongside some badass women for badass women. The past year came with both bitter failures and oh-so-sweet successes, and on the whole, I really feel like I could see TWB A&M blossoming into something more than friends gathering and speaking about empowerment; we were learning, teaching, and truly understanding what it means to empower others and our place within The Women’s Bakery (TWB) model.

When we started the Fall Semester, we were, and I’m just being honest, disappointed by turnout.  We were looking at around half of the members we had the year prior, and Emma and I were a little scared.  However, once we got into the swing of things, we really began to fathom what we were looking at: a group, albeit small, of humans insanely passionate about equality, education, and empowerment of others.  Where we lacked in numbers, we overflowed in determination. 

Over the summer, our officer team had set a goal to raise $1,000 for the entire year, so we challenged our organization of 22 students to each raise $50 over the Thanksgiving Break as our Giving Tuesday fundraiser.  If you’re not a fan of mental math, fulfilling that would have been $1,100 and set us over our original goal.  We didn’t anticipate every person would pull through (let’s be realistic) but for anyone who lacked a dollar, someone else showed up to cover for them.  By the end of our fundraising efforts, TWB A&M had raised just over $1,000 in cash and online donations, and even after we had finished collecting as an organization, people continued to donate directly to TWB.

In the Spring Semester, we were planning the second annual RISE, a larger event for the community to learn about TWB and donate to our scholarship.  We screened Zaza Rising and set up a panel of students (including our resident powerhouse Co-Chair Emma Nelson) and professors alike to discuss the film, TWB, and how students at A&M can empower women both here and across the globe.  Our room fit 80 people as we weren’t expecting more than about 60 to attend, but as people began filing in, the room filled quickly, leaving those who came in at the start of the film standing in the back.  Students asked provocative questions about women’s health and education in Rwanda, the correlation between sex education and autonomy, and what TWB A&M was really doing to help boost women in East Africa.  Excited by what the panel had to say (and probably slightly motivated by the smell of carrot bread), most people contributed to our scholarship through donations and bread and merchandise purchases.

Through all of our fundraising, bread baking, profit shares, and generous donations by local Aggie-affiliated groups, TWB A&M raised $2,000 (double our goal!), which will go directly into our scholarship through TWB and fully fund two women through the trainings.

We were elated with the outcome of our second year here on campus, and hopeful that the student population understands more completely what The Women’s Bakery at Texas A&M means to us, to our members, to the core group at TWB HQ, and, most importantly, to the women who are defining #BreadPower in East Africa each day.

Bread Travels: Madrid, Spain

I’m continuously inspired by just how international The Women’s Bakery’s work is becoming.

On average, we receive between two to four emails a week from people all over the world requesting our model – or a portion of it – to implement in their community. South Africa, Botswana, Uganda, Kenya, Iran, Iraq, The Caribbean, Honduras, and India, just to name a few this year.

What’s exciting about these inquiries is, simply, that they exist. There are people around the world who, like us, had similar revelations that bread could be a powerful medium for women’s empowerment. They see that bakeries can spur an economic ecosystem – meet product demand and support employment for an entire chain of new workers. It’s powerful. Not because bakeries are a new thought, bread is as ancient as it gets, but because people see power in the ripple effect that one small bakery can have.  

The international inspiration continued when, two weeks ago, Julie Greene and I had the opportunity to present The Women’s Bakery’s work to a wonderful audience in Madrid, Spain. Spain! How many people who run a small (but mighty) social enterprise get invited to present on a continent where they don’t (currently) operate? So cool.

The idea for the event began a year ago when Julie’s family friend, Pablo Martinez , suggested that people in Spain would be very interested to learn more about our work. Julie jumped at the opportunity and the planning began. Pablo is the CEO of Colección SOLO, a firm dedicated to showcasing the vibrancy and inspiration of contemporary art.  He and his SOLO amazing team organized and executed a beautiful event showcasing TWB to a diverse, engaged audience. We presented at SOLO’s newly constructed, gorgeous art gallery and the evening was buzzing with excited conversation, ideas and inspiration.

This year is the first time we have had the opportunity to present to secondary and tertiary audiences. That means that no one in the audience, other than our one contact, knows us or is directly connected to us. It also means that people have the space to be more critical because they don’t have a personal investment in one of our team members. But, the enthusiasm in Madrid was palpable. People were so energized by TWB’s work and inspired by our vision.

When this happens – and the vision for the power of bread spreads – we are reminded of the why of what we do. We can’t wait to go back to Spain – and beyond!

Why Giving Matters: An Inside Look at TWB's Approach

At The Women’s Bakery, we view our supporters as not just believers of our work in Rwanda, but as investors in our model. By being both believers and investors, donors can expect transparency – about where we have been, and where we are going.

During 2017, our team pushed hard to launch two of our new bakeries: Ndera and Kagina. These launches brought our network of bakeries to four within Rwanda. As we have monitored, tested, and learned from these business enterprises, we have realized that our original model of women-owned bakeries isn’t working the way we thought it would. And, because of this, we are responding.

In 2018, we are pivoting to an TWB-ownership model. We will acquire and own the existing bakeries in Rwanda to install TWB-trained managers for an unbounded period of time and provide the women what they’re asking for: jobs and job security. Our TWB managers will follow production and sales goals set by our senior management team to achieve profitability. We will set a runway for the success of these bakeries, and, frankly, to do this, we will need a lot of oversight, work, grit, and vision.

Getting a bakery to profitability requires investment.

Getting multiple bakeries to profitability calls for even more investment.

We can do it – we know it. Our goal for 2018 is to enhance everything that we are doing:

We will continue to ensure that TWB women have jobs and have the opportunity to quadruple their incomes.

We will continue to provide extremely affordable and highly nutritious products to the Rwandan communities our bakeries serve.  

And, with YOUR support, we will continue to work to make sure that these bakery businesses are optimized and thus, sustainable for future operations.

If you are inspired and would like to support our work, you can join us in our Crowdrise Campaign that is eligible for matching funds from Newman’s Own Foundation. Every gift matters and makes a difference. That’s breadpower.

Communities Do Not Exist Alone

The Women’s Bakery does not exists on its own. What makes us strong is the communities that believe in our work and support our efforts around the world.

One group that has been particular enthusiastic is Westover School, the high school Markey and Meg attended.

This spring the Westover Squash and Swimming teams raised over $2,500 in T-shirt and baked goods sales for the organization. Thanks to the help of the Global Studies office the students educated and publicized the work of TWB.

Additionally, merchandise sale and alumnae donations came in during Westover’s Alumnae Weekend in the middle of May totaling close to $6,000!

Jovial, a senior and First Head of School at Westover, poses selling TWB goods in the Westover gym.

Also this spring the Mighty Oaks, a kindergarten class in Stratham, New Hampshire, raised $310.17 for TWB! The class of 19 students did fundraising as part of a unit on having the power to impact the world through actions big and small (the unit is called You Have the Power). Their teacher, Nancy Gitschier, remarked, “kindness is a big theme throughout the year in class, as we have a monthly kindness act for homework, we work on filling a kindness jar throughout the weeks, and teachers verbally honor kindness when we see it.”

The Might Oaks kindergarten class holds up their kindness jar.

It is the enthusiasm and support of the communities we are part of that make The Women’s Bakery possible.

We are so grateful for the support of Westover and the Might Oaks and all the endless donors and advocates of The Women’s Bakery. Together our teamwork supports a network of females (and males) that are creating opportunities for themselves and their families.

Thank you!

Rise

Last week, I had the wonderful opportunity to spend some time in the middle of College Station, Texas with a whole lot of mid-Spring Texas heat.

I was down South to join The Women’s Bakery Chapter Group at A&M – TWB A&M – for a campus-wide awareness event called “Rise.” The concept was dreamed up over a year ago by Alayna Davis, the Chair & President of the Chapter, and intern for TWB. Alayna is helping us to build a national network of chapter groups – the first one being at Texas A&M.

The event was designed to bolster awareness of the chapter group, and the work of TWB. Additionally, the beautifully-made and powerful documentary “Girl Rising” was screened as a way to inform attendees about the plights for girls and education around the world, a cause very near and dear to my heart.

Following the screening, we hosted a TWB informational, where I explained the Bakery in the Box Model and the impact of our work in East Africa. I fielded lots of questions from curious students, teachers, and community members. Perhaps more profoundly, we also engaged in conversations about the importance of locally-driven work, and why sustainability depends on it.

After I spoke about TWB, the chapter group hosted two other speakers, Dr. Janet Marcantonio, and Dr. Henry Musoma, both professors and connections to A&M’s business and international programs. Dr. Marcantonio shared pictures from her Peace Corps Service in Gabon, and Dr. Musoma shared stories about growing up in Southern Africa, emphasizing the power that storytelling holds for all of us. He left the audience with this thought, “stories can liberate us…they can also oppress us. Be the one to tell you story.”

Following the event, humbled and amazed at the energy for TWB at the school, I received an email from an A&M student who had come to learn about The Women’s Bakery.

She wrote in her email,

“...the women involved in with TWB remind me a lot of my mother, who's main goal was to provide for her family. I love to see empowered women doing good, not only for their families, but for the good of their communities. I feel that TWB has given these women a network, a personal community of their own where they can rely on each other and feel powerful being women, I am all for that…I believe everyone deserves the opportunity to feel empowered, and that is why I love what TWB stands for.”

Now, that, my friends, is bread power.

Why Growing the TWB Family is like Rugby

I hopped onto the rugby pitch (pitch not field) for the first time last week. It was a scrimmage, to be sure, but in my world – with the big lights, in a professional stadium – it felt like the “big leagues.” It was also my first time to be playing rugby live.

For the entire month of August, I had practiced boldly with white cleats, innumerable bruises, and new teammates, as I began to learn the proper technique of tackling, and perhaps more importantly, the proper technique of being tackled.

Rugby, it turns out, is a game that is played well when skills are sharply refined. Strength is not measured only by muscle. Instead, a long-running, patient commitment, larger-kind-of-vision is what provides success-potential for this sport. My responsibility to show up each week and learn was not so different from my professional capacity with The Women’s Bakery.

When I come to work each day, I represent our organization and act as a voice for what we do. I learn and listen from our team in Rwanda, I grow alongside our team in the United States, and as I communicate our mission and vision with our TWB family across communities, state-lines, and digital media platforms, I realize that growing our TWB family is (and should be) relationship-focused, built on experiences together.

Inherently, this takes time.

Time. This is why growing the TWB family is not unlike rugby. Sure, less tackling is involved, but there is an enduring patience in both landscapes that catalyzes real growth. The more practices I attend, the more I can apply in a game. The more anecdotes, impact reports, and training and bakery updates I can share with our supporters, the more “fuel” our movement of bread power has to grow. And in turn, more women are able to take part in our program – taking part in a real opportunity for empowerment.

To our supporters that have attended our events; for stakeholders that have invested in our work; for readers of our blog; and for loved ones cheering on the women of TWB from afar, thank you.

Thank you for your patience, thank you for showing up with us and believing that empowerment and education matter.

We’ve been a registered social enterprise for over a year and now, with 200+ breads sold a day in Kigali, we know that it’s working. Keep joining along with us for the ride. Practice, it seems, makes perfect.

Bread power!