Did you know that an estimated 6%-7% of full-time workers in the US experience major depression, costing employers an estimated $44 billion per year in lost production time? Joy Gihana is the Founder and CEO of Family Life and Beyond and holds a Master’s degree in Counselling Psychology. You will get many tips for handling the stress of COVID and everyday life.

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Are you courageous? Imagine yourself walking down a street in Afghanistan. You have to be accompanied by a male relative. As you walk along, the potential of a bomb exploding is very real. How do you economically and socially empower oppressed women? Education. By arming women with knowledge, they are able to develop themselves and their households. Mozhgan Wafiq Alokozai has a passion that continues driving through adversity again and again. She’s lived under the Taliban regime in Pakistan, she has provided training programs and opportunities for women in Afghanistan. She has tried and failed and gotten up again to try another avenue. Her latest venture is Eagle Online Academy, which is a nonprofit organization offering quality, flexible online educational programs globally. She feels that a good quality education can be life-changing for girls and women giving them marketable skills. 

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Dr. Sharifa Hesarnaee of Kabul, Afghanistan, tells about struggling to maintain the OB/GYN department in a Kabul hospital dealing with both COVID-19 and a horrific terrorist attack on the hospital. Dr. Susan Chambers of Oklahoma City, OK, is her mentor who has continued to be a friend to Sharifa during all this as well as work herself in a hospital in the United States during COVID. You will get a feeling of what they mean by "security" being their biggest worry. The comparison of the environments is a "must listen!"

Barbara Crain, along with her husband, pioneered grass-fed dairy and beef in the state of Oklahoma. Together they have taken a tired, underproducing wheat farm and turned it into a profitable, environmentally responsible value-added grass-fed dairy farm. They began dairy farming in 1991 and built the processing plant in 2005 so they could process their own milk. Barbara oversees manufacturing, marketing, and distribution of all the products. She would like to be an example of how a small farm can be profitable, sustainable, and a viable option for the next generation. Barbara has hosted PEACE THROUGH BUSINESS® women from both Afghanistan and Rwanda.

Michel Buthion is considered a fine food and wine aficionado not just in Oklahoma, but around the globe. Other ventures have included turning a vintage theatre into a dining and event center, building and managing the first boutique hotel food and beverage concept in the City, taking over a favorite Italian eatery in town, and finally, developing and managing that long dreamed of saloon and chop house in Stockyards City. At the same time, La Baguette Bistro has grown into a full bar and dining room anchored by their own butchery, bakery, and fine wine store. Hear about the fun events he orchestrated to keep his business alive during COVID-19!

Manizha Wafeq graduated from the inaugural PEACE THROUGH BUSINESS® class in 2007 and is currently teaching her 13th year of the program in Kabul as the In-Country Facilitator for Afghanistan. In this role, she has taught and mentored more than 400 Afghan businesswomen in Kabul and other smaller provinces. She tells us what is happening in Afghanistan with the hospital attack and the coronavirus. LISTEN to her full story on Episode 7 of Peace Through Business Podcast.

Ms. Mohseni Saqeb is the Founder and President of Jama Saqeb Design and Production Company in Afghanistan. She is a skilled business woman with a Master’s Degree in Business Administration. Jama's products in the clothing design sector combine new, classic and local designs such as formal, local and traditional clothing, handbags, pillow covers and mobile phones with new, classic and local designs. The company now provides services in different provinces and countries in America, Australia, Europe and Asia.

Ep. 35 - Florence Isaro is a passionate linguist who works as a translator with two bachelor’s degrees, one in Political Science and one in English-French translation. As an adult in Rwanda, she has seen firsthand how challenging it is for parents to get their children to and from the public library. Her very inspiring objective for her business, Books and Brains Ltd. is to create an enterprise that will not only help kids discover the power of books but will also make those books more accessible to those children who don’t have the luxury of a public library in their neighborhood.