134 Beyond the Beauty Pageant with Wendy Shew
Wendy Shew, Founder of Building Education, experienced early tragedy which became her catalyst for social impact work. She’s served 25 years in community service as a youth advocate, international volunteer, and board member for numerous non-profit organizations.
Prior to community service work, Wendy attended Southern Illinois University where she studied aeronautical science, aviation management, and learned to fly, logging over 60+ hours in single engine prop planes. She went on to work in international aviation business, managing jet engine consignments while joining Women in Aviation and becoming a board member for Women In Defense, a national security organization affiliated with NDIA.
In the same year that her project brought in $5 million for the company, she volunteered at a girl’s orphanage in India which changed the way she saw herself in the world. She realized that if she could bring in $5 million to her then company, she could bring in $5 million anywhere, especially to make a greater global impact. She quit her job 4 months later and left the country to travel the world all across Asia, Europe, and Africa for six years.
Wendy Shew founded Building Education after volunteering in Nepal for disaster relief during the April 2015 earthquake that damaged over 9,000 schools. Building Education’s mission serves to alleviate extreme poverty by sponsoring education and building schools to spark a legacy of change. Building Education has served to rebuild 3 schools, provide education to 400+ students, build 2 water systems, providing water to over 100+ homes, and launched women empowerment conferences that have provided skills in entrepreneurship, financial literacy, and menstruation health.
Wendy is also an ultramarathon runner, and completed the 58k Cami de Cavalls North island route in Menora, Spain. As an avid runner she has placed 2nd in the Pollenca Half Marathon in Mallorca and 3rd place in the 10k Pokhara Marathon in Nepal. She is a mountain climber who has trekked mountains from the Himalayas to summiting Mount Toubkal, the tallest mountain in North Africa. She was named Top 100 Visionaries in Education in 2021 by GFEL. She is also a fashion enthusiast, model, and the current title holder of The Global Citizen’s Collective, Miss Nepal 2021 vying for the International title of Global Citizen’s Miss 2022.
We talk about
How is scaling a Mountain like scaling a startup?
What is multidimensional poverty? How does education impact the cycle of poverty?
How does one go about learning the business culture in another country?
From winning Miss Nepal, how does building a personal brand help with what you are doing?
What are some of the hidden benefits of winning a beauty pageant?
Connect with Wendy Shew
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