Roxanne Joyal
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The co-CEO of Me to We and a founding member of Free The Children, Roxanne is an innovative business leader, activist and designer. Her work with Me to We Artisans, a line of original accessories sustainably made by women in Free The Children communities, has taken her from the breathtaking plains of the Maasai Mara to boardrooms around the world and earned recognition from magazines like Chatelaine, The Globe and Mail, the National Post and Canadian Living.
Ideal for:
Women’s/Girls’ Groups
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Non-Profit
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Testimonials
“Roxanne is a truly remarkable speaker who shares tremendous wisdom combined with passion, energy and hope to inspire young and old alike.”
Full Biography
Roxanne Joyal is co-CEO of Me to We, an innovative social enterprise providing socially conscious products and experiences that support the work of Free The Children. Half of Me to We’s net profit is donated to Free The Children, while the other half is reinvested to grow the enterprise and its social mission.
Roxanne Joyal is also a founding member of Free The Children, an international charity and educational partner that empowers youth to achieve their fullest potential as agents of change. Since 1995, the organization has worked in more than 40 countries and built more than 650 schools and school rooms in developing regions, providing education to more than 55,000 children every day.
A former parliamentary page in the Canadian House of Commons, her involvement with development work began at a young age when she spent six months in the Klong Toey slum of Bangkok, Thailand, caring for mothers and children afflicted with AIDS.
Roxanne graduated with distinction from Stanford after completing a degree in international relations. A Rhodes scholar, she went on to complete a law degree at Oxford University with an emphasis on family and labour law. Roxanne completed her legal training by clerking for the Supreme Court of Canada in 2005. In 2012, she received an honorary doctorate from the University of Nipissing in recognition of her innovative work in education and human rights.
She is directly responsible for corporate and family engagement at Me to We, seeking to create bridges and sustainable change by changing the way we live, act and conduct business. Roxanne created and established Bogani Cottages and Tented Camp, a first-of-its-kind facility designed to educate and engage youth, adults, families and corporate groups through international volunteer adventures. She is now heading up the expansion of Araveli Cottages and Tented Camp in Rajasthan, India.
Roxanne also leads social and economic empowerment initiatives for women in Kenya, India and Ecuador as founder of Me to We Artisans. Me to We Artisans empowers women in Free The Children countries through financial literacy and employable skills. This initiative currently employs more than 600 women and their families, and proves that every dollar earned by a mother directly impacts her home, her children and her community.
Me to We Artisans is growing at a rapid pace, having been warmly received and featured in media outlets such as Chatelaine, The Globe and Mail, National Post, Fashion and Canadian Living. A French-Canadian, Roxanne has been featured as “Faces of the Future: 100 Young Canadians to Watch” in Maclean’s magazine, and she is an Action Canada Fellow. In 2005, Roxanne was selected for the Women’s Executive Network’s Top 100: Canada’s Most Powerful Women. Her work has been extensively covered by the CBC, The Globe and Mail, the Ottawa Citizen and the Winnipeg Free Press.
Recent News
Me to We Artisans brings can-do attitude direct from Kenya
(Appeared in the National Post April 20, 2013) — Roxanne Joyal identified the problem as a simple case of supply and demand. In [...]
Me to We: Presence of Voluntourism in Travel Industry
Original Source: TravelHotNews.com Five minutes with Roxanne Joyal, co-CEO, Me to We Jovana Arnaut Roxanne Joyal, co-CEO, Me to We TRAVELHotNews.com [...]
Roxanne Joyal speaks at Goodes Hall: Me to We co-founder discusses Free the Children and fair trade
(Appeared in Queen’s Journal March 8, 2012) — Consumers will purchase responsibly if they know their money helps to fight inequality, says [...]
Roxanne Joyal, Co-CEO of Me to We
(Appeared in Shedoesthecity.com January 3, 2011) — Roxanne Joyal is Co-CEO of Me to We, the partner enterprise of the international development charity [...]
