An Educator turned Social Impact Entrepreneur: Meet María José de León

María is the founder of INDIGART Designs LLC, a social business with the mission to increase economic opportunities for indigenous women and to support the preservation of the ancient art of backstrap-loom weaving in Guatemala.

María also works in international education at NAFSA: Association of International Educators in Washington, DC, and is the co-founder of Ense?a por Guatemala, a nonprofit currently in its initial stages of formation, which will focus on providing quality and inclusive education to children of Guatemala.

We caught up with María for the Xperienceships Thought Leadership Series - as social innovator, businesswoman and educator - to ask her about her own career trajectory and the key motivators for her to do ethical work in her business.

From our conversation, three key themes emerged:

• Education is a pillar of development for any country and without teaching 21st century skills like emotional intelligence, tech literacy and analysis, countries cannot move forward.
• Social entrepreneurship is a unique business blend: you're always challenging yourself and on how you can drive forward your mission and still make a profit.
• You do need some funds to start a business, but the most important part is how to get started, and more schools could and should offer that training.

Read the full interview below or watch a 3 min teaser video here.

Xperienceships: Maria, you’re a social impact entrepreneur, could you explain what that means for anyone who doesn't know what that would entail?

Maria: Well, in general terms, a social impact entrepreneur is a person who has a business, or likes to start businesses that are mission driven. This type of business is not necessarily profit driven. But the profits that you create are used to drive the mission behind your business which tends to be centered around something greater than yourself. Social entrepreneurship means that you will be 100% true to your values. And that those values are non negotiable, no matter what the price. 

I have a social business whose mission is to increase economic opportunities for indigenous women in Guatemala and to support the preservation of the ancient artifact of loom weaving in my country. When I started this business, it was very important that I was surrounded by like minded individuals, whose values totally align with my company's mission. And the same goes for our partners. We only work with weaving cooperatives that pay fair wages and offer dignified working conditions. So as a social entrepreneur, I knew that there would be no shortcuts, and that we did not want to be harmful to others, no matter how profitable. It was key for me that human rights were respected and everything we did, and not only in terms of fair wages, but also in terms of who we work with. Do they respect human rights, animal rights? Do they respect the environment? Do they believe that we're all equal? I mean, no one's perfect, but at least are they willing to evolve and learn? So I would say as a social entrepreneur, you're always challenging yourself and on how you can drive this mission and still make a profit.

X: What kind of career experiences did you have that prepared you for the job that you do today? And did any of these occur during your formal education?

M: Let's say a combination of both career and educational experiences for sure. I was born and raised in Guatemala, and I had the opportunity or shall I say, privilege compared to most of my fellow citizens to pursue my university studies abroad. So I had the incredible opportunity to study in Sweden and enjoy the benefit of access to a quality and free higher education back in the day which used to be available to students from anywhere in the world. Moving from Guatemala to Sweden, two completely very different countries, definitely taught me a lot about cultural sensitivity, how to adapt quickly to new situations to be resilient, which are the skills as you probably know, that have become key at your average workplace.

X: 21st Century skills, right? 

M: Exactly. And yeah, having acceptance and empathy towards members of other cultures and willingness to listen and learn from those who are different to ourselves. So I would say my education affected a lot what I'm what I'm working on now, but it wasn't just the education itself. It was the whole experience.

X: Did you have any internships or anything that got you started in this world that exposed you to this kind of form of ethical entrepreneurship before you set foot in it?

M: Yes. When I finished my bachelor's degree, I did an internship at UNESCO in Paris. And that's how I was first introduced to education diplomacy. I wanted to intern at a multilateral organization, but wasn't sure where I was going to be placed or on what topic: economic development or human rights. I started working more with culture and education, and that's how I realized: education is a big pillar of development for any country and without education countries cannot move forward. 

So that's what sparked my interest. Later on, I did a master's degree in London, in international affairs, and that led to a job here in Washington, DC: also at a big multilateral organization working in education related topics. And that's how it started. But my major was economics & international affairs. And in the end, everything was related. We have to start thinking in a multidisciplinary way: we cannot continue to just divide degrees: “oh, you're an economist, you should just work in economics.”

X: So in recent years, you've been working in international education diplomacy. Could you explain a little bit more about how you became so interested in the education strand of international diplomacy? 

M: Education is one of the pillars of development and personally, education changed my life. I mean, for me, being able to obtain a quality and free education did increase my opportunities in life, and it became the foundation for my professional career. My first job was in international education. I was managing scholarships for students in Latin America & the Caribbean wanting to go to the United States or Europe or even China, and it was very rewarding to witness how these scholarships were fulfilling dreams and changing the lives of students who wouldn't have this opportunity otherwise. Being in touch with them years later and noticing that they were CEOs at certain companies, running nonprofits or working in government was very, very fulfilling. Then later on, I started to get more interested in teacher education. And as soon as an opportunity came up, working with teachers in Latin America and the Caribbean, I applied to the job and traveled to many countries all over the region to offer Teacher Education programs for teachers in vulnerable areas. That work was even closer to my heart because teachers are the ones that are working with our children: they are responsible for the future. And they need a lot of support. And especially now during COIVD I would say, at least in Latin America, what is most needed is technological literacy. Many are now struggling with having to do teaching in virtual modes. They're mostly using television because not everybody has internet. The digital divide in Latin America is very, very wide.

X: Did you have any knowledge that this pathway could exist to you when you were at school? And if not, what could have been done to help inform you of the opportunity to become a social entrepreneur? What ideas can educators take on?

M: Interestingly enough, it was both of my universities that gave me the confidence. Both of them had a very strong business component that was accessible to any student, no matter the discipline. When I was in Sweden, I remember there was an incubator lab to start businesses, and the concept of business was always somehow transversal through many of the subjects and all the students had access to this incubator, and there were all these clubs where you could just go and discuss business ideas. 

That gave me more confidence to be like, “if all these young people are doing it, I can also do it”. And although my career took me into diplomacy in education, I will say I was a bit risk averse at the beginning. I waited till I had some savings and some financial stability to start Indigart. I try to be realistic: what I learned at university was many businesses fail, and that's okay. That just means you might need to start something different. Many successful entrepreneurs have failed the first attempts, so having that in mind made me a bit more risk averse. I was like, okay, I need a financial cushion before I take that leap. I don't know if that was the best decision or not. I did need some funds to start a business j. I mean,ust the cost of registration and finding a website, but I think the most important part is getting started. I do think it would be great if more schools offered that sort of training.

X: Thinking back even even earlier, how do you think high schools or education institutions could adapt? Do you have any ideas about how they can incorporate entrepreneurship earlier for those younger students? 

M: Definitely. I wish that later on in high school, we would have had more courses like how do you register a business here in Guatemala, what do you need to do? Or use a project based learning approach. How could you start a social business that has a profit but also impacts your community positively? It could be done as projects at the end of the school year, instead of having a science fair, have a business fair. Not everyone wants to get a degree in six, seven years - some people are just natural entrepreneurs.

X: Thinking as an educator yourself, how would you prepare students for doing more ethical work and why is it so important to you?

M: I would start by asking them what values are important to them: what type of world they would like to live in? I think we all have different drivers and motivators that push us to do the work we do. I would ask them, if you could work on something for the rest of your life, what would that be and why? I do believe that many of the people working in ethical related work, have a strong feeling for social justice, and correcting social injustice. I would ask students to question themselves, what privileges they think they have in comparison to others. 

For me, this journey has been very personal. Having grown up in one of the most unequal countries in the world, and now not fully grasping how terrible it truly was until I lived abroad had a huge effect on me. When I was in Sweden, I started questioning: why is Guatemala so unequal? We have so many resources and why are people still suffering? Why do we have malnutrition? Why are women treated differently and suffer so much violence in my country? And of course: why is obtaining a quality education so unattainable for most Guatemalans. It's been almost a 10 year journey now, but looking back, yes, I found some answers. I realized that we all have the power to bring change, and you can change one person at a time, change a small community. And I think education has a lot of potential to do that.

X: We ask these questions to every thought leader we've had on. What does the future of work look like in your industry?

Tech literacy is becoming imperative, and the benefits of technology have become more obvious, especially now during COVID. In terms of international education, I believe that my industry will have to adapt and understand that student mobility is not the only option for intercultural experiences. We live in an era where technology allows us to connect to the entire world. And we have not exploited this opportunity enough. I believe that technology will soon become a tool that would allow us to get more access to education. It will ultimately depend on decision makers and national governments working together with the private sector to make the internet and technology more available. But we also have to remember that we need more tech literacy even though we have these tools and we don't know how to use them.

X: How can educators better prepare students for the 21st century that's awaiting them? Or rather that we are already in?

M: Educators should definitely continue to encourage the learning and practice of social and soft skills. Emotional Intelligence will continue to play a big role. Critical thinking skills, analytical skills, I mean, we have to remember that robots and machines are already replacing human labor. And these are some of the skills that they're not able to replace - or at least not yet.

X: What do you think you would do differently if you were starting your career exploration journey all over again now?

M: I would have definitely started doing internships much sooner. I wouldn't have been afraid of doing work that was unrelated to my degree. We tend to think that we have to follow a trajectory and have a straight career path. I wish I would have been more spontaneous; change geographic locations more often. I wish I would have tested different careers early on and not being so scared of moving out of my path. I would say in general, I wish I would have been less risk averse.