Social Entrepreneur: Conscious Companies | Benefit Corporations | Impact Investing

The Empowerment Bag is an eco-friendly brand of bags, that employs women at risk of sex trafficking. Vaishali Umrikar is a passionate social entrepreneur who is committed to fighting human trafficking. While she was in high school, she read the book, The Natashas: Inside the New Global Sex Trade by Victor Malarek. This book awakened her to the realities of modern-day human trafficking. She became involved in anti-trafficking advocacy groups throughout high school and college. Since then, Vaishali has worked with the Australian Government Office for Women, Chicago Probation Sex Offender Unit, and Chicago Alliance Against Sexual Exploitation. After graduating from college and beginning her corporate career, Vaishali realized her passion was to end human trafficking. So, she decided to launch her own business. She thought of several product ideas. But it was when she couldn't find an ethical and affordable line of bags, she decided to create one herself. The project became The Empowerment Bag. The Empowerment