Introducing myself and my journal: Fearless Social Entrepreneur Changing the Economic Development Landscape

About Me:
IBADA WADUD is the Founder and CEO of Run by Rural, a social enterprise and American lifestyle brand revitalizing global craft. Since 2013, Run by Rural has participated in NY NOW Artisan Resource as member of the Market Incubator Program initiated by ByHand Consulting. Run by Rural is a member of the Ethical Fashion Forum Fellowship 500, a global community of sustainable fashion pioneers, and the Alliance for Artisan Enterprise, launched by Secretary Hillary Clinton at the U.S. Department of State. Run by Rural's partners include DEED Lab at Parsons The New School for Design in New York and SIT Graduate Institute in Washington, D.C.

In 2013, she was selected as one of three inaugural fellows at The Aspen Institute's Alliance for Artisan Enterprise. To date, she has tackled global issues across different sectors in the US, Latin America and Africa in order to link women and children to economic resources. As an international development practitioner, she has worked with premier organizations in the public sector to develop strategies for sustained growth and inclusive development that use design, business and technology solutions as building blocks for social change. In 2012, she presented at the United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development (Rio +20) Youth Blast, and in 2013 she was selected as the keynote speaker on the International Day of the Girl by the United Nations International School in New York.

As a business development consultant she is accustomed to identifying global problems, mapping their root causes and leveraging markets to create sustainable solutions for maximum social impact. Ibada is passionate about youth engagement having worked in global education in various capacities for eight years. She is currently on the Social Entrepreneurship faculty for Summerfuel at Yale University.

Her passion for design, culture, and the arts won her the prestigious Zegna Fellowship at The University of Ideas in Italy, where she researched sustainability in the luxury fashion industry under the direction of the Image Director for Ermenegildo Zegna.

She is originally from Washington, D.C. and lives between New York, Peru and Kenya. She has a puppy named Sadiki.

My Passions:
design, performing arts, travel, social media, cooking, photography

My Challenges:
building support for new ideas in formal spaces

My Vision for the Future:
unite rural women and girls across the globe through design and media

My Areas of Expertise:
social entrepreneurship, rural development, digital media, youth engagement