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Monday, August 6, 2007
Rebecca Kousky
It's something we all crave -- security, a nest of our own. By day, Rebecca Kousky helps sustain a nest for a family in St. Louis, Missouri, for whom she works as a nanny. On her own time, Kousky is the founder of a non-profit organization called Nest that helps women all around the world create their own security.

Nest offers micro-finance loans to women from India to Israel. Female designers and artists worldwide come to Nest for small loans to help them with their businesses typically involving the fabrication and sale of goods like jewelry, pottery or clothes. In return for the loan, the artists have the option of paying back the loan in cash or with their product which is then featured on Nest's online shopping site, buildanest.com.

Her catch phrase is "changing the world one purchase at a time." Kousky rang up sales of $10,000 in her first month of business. That money was used to finance 45 more women with loans as small as $50. The business is both charitable and self-sustaining. "The beauty is that once the nest is built we get the money back to build a future for someone else," said Kousky.


Update: Watch the CNN.com Live Video interview
Posted 12:46 PM
2 Comments Add a comment
Rebecca -- I think what you're doing is great... What advice would you have for other young people who want to do something a little out-of-the-box? How did you get your idea from vision to action?
Posted By Anonymous Anonymous :August 12, 2007 8:52 PM ET  
what a great idea
Posted By Anonymous Anonymous :August 13, 2007 8:52 AM ET  
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