Help Send Britteney to Peru with Awamaki!

Hi! My name is Britteney Testino, and I am a current grad student at Pepperdine University! I'm pursuing a Master's in Social Entrepreneurship. What's social entrepreneurship? Social entrepreneurship is about developing innovative business ideas with the goal of effecting social change or solving social issues that can be from a local or global perspective. Part of my program requires us to research organizations in developing countries that address social issues that interest us. We are then asked to travel to visit these organizations for a few weeks to learn how they operate and gain insight into our own social enterprises, and learn how to run a successful crowdfunding campaign.

I'll be traveling to Peru to visit an organization called Awamaki! I will be visiting Awamaki for 3 weeks this August! Awamaki is a community-driven social enterprise that creates grassroots programs to support and grow their collaboration with Andean women-led cooperatives through the sale of heritage textiles and sustainable tourism. The purpose of their work is to create sustainable economic opportunities for Andean women artisans in Peru and support their journeys to financial independence! While I am staying with the organization, I will be working with Awamaki's Sales + Production Manager to help them prepare for the launch of their next collection. I'll also be working with the Head of Women's Artisans Cooperatives to work on the curriculum for their leadership workshops with the cooperatives. You can check out their website if you're interested in learning more about them here. Or watch this video!

On this trip, I hope to connect to my cultural roots. This will be my first time going to Peru, so I'm excited to have the opportunity to visit and get to know more about my culture and grow as a person from this experience. I have a personal goal for myself to learn some Quechua while I'm in Peru! I want to learn how Awamaki has established these key relationships with the indigenous communities and built them into thriving partnerships. As I think about my capstone and the enterprise I would like to build, I would love to implement what I can learn from the time I spend with Awamaki.

We are fully responsible for covering the costs of this immersion experience, and are meant to utilize this experience to learn how to launch a successful crowdfunding campaign. I am hoping to raise $6000 to help me cover my travel expenses, substitute my salary for the 3 weeks of unpaid leave I'll be taking for this trip, and for any additional exploration and souvenirs while I visit Peru. Unfortunately, I cannot afford to travel for 3 weeks without a paycheck. I would love to raise enough money to cover my expenses and donate any additional funds to Awamaki.

Help me change this fundraiser's picture to one with me in it! And thank you to anyone who can support and share this fundraiser! I'll keep you all updated on the progress!