A Maryland teenager is making a global impact by helping to sell jewelry.
“I need to be doing this, this, this, this,” Mary Sailer, a senior at Winston Churchill High School in Potomac, said.
Sailer is on the crew team, pen pals with Syrian refugees take advanced classes, and plays the trombone.
The girl is busy.
“If I’m doing nothing, I feel like not productive and kind of like gross,” Sailer laughed.
Despite everything on her plate, Sailer is still driven to help other people.
She participated in a fellowship about women empowerment in New York over the summer.
“My mentor was Maria Pacheco. The founder of Wakami,” the 17-year-old said.
Wakami is a system that helps poor communities in Guatemala by creating income opportunities and access to products for families – mostly women -- to start businesses and improve their lives.
People in the villages are in control by creating and manufacturing their own merchandise.
Wakami has exported materials to more than 20 countries across the world.
“You don’t know individually what each person has to go through. Some of these stories are insane,” Sailer told WUSA9.
Sailer signed on with Wakami as a brand ambassador to help spread the word about this program that seems to be changing lives.
The teen explained that she is not in it for the money, but the reward is seeing the impact.
“Obviously, it’s mostly about helping the other people, but then you also feel better about yourself,” she said. “You’re like I helped people today. I made a difference today.”
Sailer has dreams of working in a medical profession in a Spanish-speaking country.
CLICK HERE to learn more about Wakami and how you can support its efforts.
