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"    Rebecca Kousky St. Louis, MO buildanest.com How did you start Nest? I graduated at 24 with a master&amp;#039;s degree in social work and I couldn&amp;#039;t decide what I wanted to do next. I applied to several jobs. Then one day I went to a coffee shop and just ended up listing all the things I liked on a sheet of paper and trying to come up with something that fulfilled many of my interests: working with women and children, social activism, international travel, fashion, design, art, and the &amp;quot;green&amp;quot; movement. I knew I was at a point in my life where I could take risks, so I started the business in June (two weeks after graduation), and by August was selling goods from 40 designers. We grew really fast: At our year anniversary, we had 80 designers. Why this business? Nest provides micro-credit loans to women in developing nations to help them start art or craft-based businesses. Many of the societies where these women come from are patriarchal \u2014 the women&amp;#039;s husbands and fathers handle money, so they are reliant upon them for everything. Working with Nest helps the loan recipients ease into self-sufficiency. Our business model is unique in that we try really hard not just to be a bank; we want to help council the women, learn about their dreams and hopes and family lives. And the women are able to pay back their loans to us by selling their goods on our site. What&amp;#039;s the best advice you got before launching? I come from a family of entrepreneurs, so I had lots of support around me. At first, I was really stuck on the idea of having a physical boutique, but the bank denied me a loan. I told my dad what had happened. He asked me how badly I wanted to do this, and when I told him it was what I really wanted, he said then I needed to figure out a way to make it feasible. That&amp;#039;s when I came up with the idea to put Nest online. If you have a dream and a passion for something, you find a way to make it work. What advice can you give for someone considering starting her own business? Just to do it! There are a million reasons out there not to do it \u2014 for example, everyone thought I should get a job with a stable paycheck after grad school, but I went and started Nest anyway. I didn&amp;#039;t have any experience with online sales or boutiques, but you learn as you go. I realized that it&amp;#039;s good to have a vision, but if you look too far in the future it&amp;#039;s overwhelming. Instead, take one step at a time. What was your best resource for getting started? Ladies Who Launch is a fantastic group. I found out about them before they even started a chapter in St. Louis, where I live. I reached out to them, and as soon as they found someone who was interested in starting a St. Louis chapter, I got involved. Now, the head of our chapter is a member of Nest&amp;#039;s advisory board. And in May, the group is sponsoring a trunk show of products made by local artists, and part of the proceeds will go toward the Nest. What has been your greatest success? I didn&amp;#039;t take a salary for a year and a half so we could start giving loans right away. The fact that we&amp;#039;ve been able to help so many people (55 so far) in such a short amount of time is a major success. There&amp;#039;s a huge need \u2014 I&amp;#039;d like to help more women, but never at the expense of the personal care we give to the women we currently work with. What home or business trends for women are you seeing? There&amp;#039;s a real trend toward charitable giving \u2014 women don&amp;#039;t want to just write checks, they want to be really invested in the causes they&amp;#039;re giving to. I&amp;#039;ve noticed that they want to be able to see the women whose lives they&amp;#039;re helping to change, so that there&amp;#039;s only one degree of separation. There&amp;#039;s also a trend toward social awareness when you&amp;#039;re shopping (buying &amp;quot;green&amp;quot; items or things related to the pink-ribbon campaign), which can only be positive. How would you describe your customer? Our customers mostly range in age from the mid-20s to early-50s. They are professional women, largely educated with a heart for social activism. They&amp;#039;re also looking for something unique, a one-of-a-kind gift or item that has a story behind it. What are the benefits of being an online retailer? Being online allows us to be an international resource for women. We have bios and photos of all the designers (international and domestic). I think that personal connection between the designer and customer is very powerful and encourages a lot of people to do more than just purchase from us; they also volunteer and hold Nest trunk shows. Our advisory boards were built through connections we made with customers across the country. The company is built on the hundreds of people who have gotten involved and wanted to help. What is your favorite item sold on Nest? One of our loan recipients, a woman named Sevinc Esen from Rahmiye, Turkey, will be selling this incredible crochet and sequined clutch (pictured above) this spring that she made without any product assistance from Nest. She had been nervous about creating products to sell in the U.S. without our guidance, so this is a really big deal for her. I think it&amp;#039;s also a great example of how we&amp;#039;re not just giving out money, but confidence. To donate to Nest, volunteer, or simply check out what&amp;#039;s for sale, visit buildanest.com. Read more about Rebecca Kousky, and explore our slide show of Nest&amp;#039;s wares. "^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://www.countryliving.com/life/a2225/entrepreneur-rebecca-kousky-0408/>