viviana cadavid

Change Agent, Connector, Engineer, Event planner, Idea generator, Project manager, Social entrepreneur, World traveler

I currently run a social enterprise in Colombia focused on empowering single mothers from low-income backgrounds to unleash their potential to become emotionally and financially independent. CadaVida Foundation (“each life” in Spanish” believes that every life is important, and that empowering women helps not only themselves and their own families, but also creates stronger, more resilient communities and a powerful, positive impact in the world. We both implement and support programs in Colombia that provide entrepreneurial training and job opportunities to women from low-income backgrounds, specifically single mother households. All programs we support or implement must be self-sustainable programs that have two important components. The first component is training and teaching that focuses on entrepreneurial skills, how to manage money (i.e. like skills) and how to become emotionally and financially stable. The second component is real-world application that allows women to make an income to immediately put into practice the skills they have learned during training and bring them into the formal economy. Our primary focus at the moment is a new project called ColorGlam, which is an on-demand nails and beauty service that will be run by the women of the communities we work in.

I love to exercise, especially run. I have run several half-marathons and enjoy the training sessions and milestones required to be able to finish the race and accomplish your goal. I also love to mentor students and I get involved any organization needs that kind of help. I truly believe that in a person’s mind, the things you don’t know do not really exist so I love to share with the students all what I know and learn from them as well so we are able to build a better future for them and help them to take the right decisions. I love to cook and to have friends and family to join my dinner table is magic - getting people together around the table to laugh, share and eat!

) Beauty changes lives! It is difficult for women to talk about challenges and societal pressure faced everyday. Beauty serves as an enabler of self-confidence/worth and as a tool to bring women together, release their fears, connect and affect change!: the decision to be a mother, earn less salary than a man and be forced to stay in a culture where we don’t, domestic violence, etc. I dicovered throug the job I do in my foundation and after to got to know many programs araound the world that a simple topic like beauty as a common language in almost every single culture. When you get together a group of ladies aroun make up classes, fahsion classes you allow them not only to reconaze their own magic, learn to love each other a we are but as well to unleash many of our fear that we share in common with other women. Reconazime as an amazing human being that even with a big, small noise I am extremely powerful and beautiful. And when with learn that the most powerful beauty comes from working all womne together and learn more about what I am capable is when the change happens. Programs in South Africa where the teach women how to became reatails not only allow them to make a living to imporve their finantial life for her and her children but as well feel as they are part of something! And start to think in her and the other women around. Or projects like exist in SA where women loss their last name because commited something agains the law and have programs where they learn how to became make up artists and fo rthe first time reveal their faces to other women (in the case) that they are in the same circunstances or nail programs where a lot of women got into after believe they won’t do anything with their lives and get the opportunity to learn something that it is not only empowerh her but the women who gets this service. This examples is how a topi that can be very “ superficial” is a common topic that put together without fear many women and they same time help them to get ouf the real fear about their lifes. The power of congrete women together and work together as a same goal is a real “revelion” where we make undertaand the world that our real beauty comes from our heart and our desire to be better persons.