Lori Pappas
CEO
Global Team for Local Initiatives, Ethiopian Aid Organization
Bainbridge Island, WA USA
“All I have to do is redefine success.”
Videos
By Roadtrip NationLori Pappas
Milestones
My road in life has been direct.
Says when she was growing up, women were expected to be teachers, secretaries, or stay-at-home moms and housewives.
She always preferred to do office work, so she worked in a series of companies doing computerizing.
Eventually built up the knowledge and funding to start her own tech company; ended up selling it at the height of the tech market.
After selling her company, she "tried to be retired"; practiced golf, worked for nonprofits, traveled extensively.
On a trip to Niger, she saw a girl her granddaughter's age with flies on her eyes; learned that these flies cause unnecessary blindness.
Realized she could no longer partake in the shallowness of listening to her peers complaining about their multi-million-dollar homes not selling.
Started the Global Team for Local Initiatives, which works to increase the lifespans of indigenous African peoples; now spends half her year living in Ethiopia.
Says she needed to experience the traditional "American Dream," in order to realize that she had a different definition of what that dream should be.
Keep following my journey
Career
CEO
I use my entrepreneurial skills to create development programs that help indigenous communities in Africa.
Career Roadmap
My work combines:
My work combines:
Medicine
Non-Profit Organizations
Helping People
Interviewed By
Los Angeles - Seattle
Traveling up Highway 101 to San Francisco, the team takes in the iconic sights of the West coast, from sea lions to the Golden Gate Bridge, before stopping to speak with Aleks Zavaleta, Executive Director of Loco Bloco, a community outreach program. In Sebastapol they interview Jay Shafer, designer of Tumbleweed Tiny Houses, sustainable homes as small as 65 square feet, whose home makes the RV seem spacious. Continuing into the Pacific Northwest, the team is invited into the home of Lori Pappas, CEO of Global Team for Local Initiatives, an Ethiopian aid organization.
