Editor: Why did you join TIAW?
DK: I am working in Nepal running a Himalayan herbal products company. TIAW provides me a network to other women running businesses, who are interested in international connections. Also I was a member of TIAW when I was working in Japan and my former friend and colleague Diane Morris encouraged me to do so.
Editor: What do you do professionally?
DK: My job is Managing Director of a small village private enterprise that employees 90 percent literate women to make herbal body care products to sell in the global market.
Editor: What does it take to be successful in your field?
DK: (1) Building relationships with distributors for these products and delivering a unique quality product. (2) Negotiating in a less sophisticated environment with few government regulations where corruption overshadows ethical norms. (3) Setting standards of quality where everything in the culture is adaptive to limited resources. (4) Being interested in what is possible and open to new ways of thinking while at the same time knowing what is required by the global customer.
Editor: What are some life lessons that you have learned so far?
DK: Business is fun when you are passionate about what you do and have the opportunity to make a difference in others lives.
Editor: Why did you make the shift from Boston to Katmandu?
DK: My children all were grown - the youngest now a freshman in college in the USA. I have loved Nepal for 25 years - it has been a place where I found sustenance and because I believe in private enterprise and not donation - I decided to take my business expertise to Nepal and help develop a local business into a global voice using the natural products and skills of the women in Nepal.
Editor: How difficult was it for you to adapt to your new environment?
DK: I did not find it difficult. It was joyous. I live simply, have time for refection, and have wonderful exercise in my own backyard.
Editor: What are some programs in Nepal that benefit women?
DK: I believe in women working in clean/safe environments, where they can contribute their ideas and problem-solve. Non Governmental Organizations provide work for women to do but this is very different than women using their skills and knowledge to create the culture and affect the development of a company. With a micro-credit fund I would like to spin off more such businesses so that women -by their labor - prosper.
Editor: How important is volunteerism?
DK: It is such a great way to unravel complex desires. Sometimes we want to do something but we just don't have the skills, recommendations, experience that form the language for us to talk about what we want to do. Volunteering gives us that language to articulate the new work we want to take on. Then when we encounter friends or go for the job interview - we don't speak from what we have done - but we can use the volunteer experience as a way to transition into the type of work we really want to be doing.
Editor: What are your hobbies?
DK: For now I work 24/7 but I do love taking the motor bike up into the mountains and then turning off the engine and coasting down the mountain roads in silence.
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