Abra is a proven leader who has a passion for helping others reach their full potential.  For 15 years she has run an award-winning financial planning practice that helps clients achieve their financial hopes and dreams.  She also leads Optimize Your Practice, a coaching program that helps other financial planners across the US and Canada to serve their clients more effectively.  In addition, she serves as the Board President for the Lake Pepin Legacy Alliance, an environmental non-profit working to restore the health of Lake Pepin, a unique section of the Mississippi River.  Abra is known for her ability to think strategically, communicate with impact, and develop others. She found her passion for helping women in the developing world while volunteering as an English teacher in Peru in 2002.  While there she lived in a rural mountain village with an indigenous family of artists.  This allowed her to see first-hand the challenges faced by artists in rural communities with limited resources.

“Multicolores is the spark that enables Mayan women to transform themselves, their families, and their communities through personal empowerment and economic opportunity.“

Beth first met Multicolores’ artists and founders at the International Folk Art Market in Santa Fe, NM.  She was engaged by the quality and colorful designs of their hooked rugs, and their repeated annual success at the Market.  Beth then joined one of Multicolores’ rug-hooking tours to the communities around Lake Atitlan, Guatemala, and was even more inspired by the Maya artists and their work, and accepted an invitation to join Multicolores’ Board.  Beth has had multiple careers including as an economic consultant for litigation, and before that, in civil rights enforcement.  Beth has an MBA, and lives in Palo Alto, CA.

“When I think of Multicolores, I think of brilliance — of the Maya women artists, of the colors and designs of their work, of their accomplishments in using the proceeds of their work to benefit their families and communities.”

Wise is an esteemed American textile artist, curator and visionary advocate for indigenous textile traditions. She is nationally recognized as an accomplished weaver, inspired creator of one-of-a-kind hooked rugs, and, as a rug hooking design teacher. Her work is in numerous corporate and private collections throughout the US. In 2009 she co-founded Cultural Cloth to promote sales that support women textile practitioners from around the world. She co-founded Multicolores and co-authored Rug Money: How A Group of Maya Women Changed Their Lives Through Art and Innovation, an award winning book. Wise lives on a Century Farmstead she shares with her husband in rural Wisconsin.

“When I think of Multicolores, I think of an organization comprised of brave women united in purpose who make the world a better place.”