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About The nugget. (Sisters, Or.) 1994-current | View Entire Issue (March 3, 2021)
12 Wednesday, March 3, 2021 The Nugget Newspaper, Sisters, Oregon Sisters nonprofit supports WOMEN IN AGRICULTURE By Katy Yoder | Correspondent Julie Escobar and her husband, Gordon Robertson, are living their idyllic life. Their log home in Sisters Country is surrounded by juniper and ponderosa trees. Bounding through a plethora of sagebrush or nestling deep into a doggy bed, their snuggly, pre- cocious pup, Lola, is always ready for the next excursion. Their home looks out on a vast horizon with Black Butte and the Three Sisters welcoming them each morning. Their days are filled with working corporate jobs from their home office and adventures in the High Desert. Professionally, Escobar has achieved a level of success that allows her to live anywhere she chooses. The couple wanted a home settled com- fortably in nature with access to out- door recreation and in close proximity to people who share their affinity for outdoor sports and exploring nature. They chose a small-town existence as a counterbalance to careers that usually take them around the globe. There are not enough hours in the day for Escobar. She9s Senior Vice President of Renewable Resources, a private equity group, and is co- founder/president of Global Women Fresh (GWF), a nonprofit she co- founded two years ago. The private equity group specializes and invests in water and water rights in the agri- cultural sector. Focusing on commer- cial relationships, the group invests in Latin American agriculture projects like avocados and citrus crops. <My role is to step in and develop commercial relationship with retail- ers around the world. I9ve been in the international side of the ag busi- ness for the past 20 years. Half of my career was in Latin America and Europe working with growers, con- sumers, and retailers,= said Escobar from her home office. For the past 10 years, Escobar9s career has focused in the Asian Pacific Rim. She received her MBA at UCLA and the University of Singapore, which led her to spend a large amount of time in the Asian Pacific Rim. For almost two years, she lived in Singapore. Traveling the world and working with PHOTO PROVIDED Global Women Fresh, based out of Sisters, hosted a conference that invited international particip growers, packers, shippers, and retail- ers, she saw an opportunity and need for women to have a stronger posi- tion in the agriculture industry. That9s when the idea for GWF began to take shape. Even today, in her corporate role, she9s often the only woman in the room. She and other women in her industry wanted to create a global network. <We wanted to unite people from Asia, Latin America, Europe, and the U.S. in one platform,= she told The Nugget. <Our initiative was embraced by corporate entities and governments around the world. They thought it was the perfect time to sponsor gen- der equality. We hosted an event and the attendance (both male and female) was beyond our expecta- Global Women Fresh has worked tions. Support like that with United Nations International inspired us to take our ideas to the next level.= Trade Centre — here at the Through her time SHE TRADES exposition in Kenya. in the field and the boardroom, Escobar identified some of the missing pieces for women who were trying to grow their businesses, increase productivity, and compete successfully. <We saw the need to bring more women into corporate life, provide them with opportunities to grow, and move up the corporate ladder,= she said. The original mission of GWF was to empower, inspire, and con- nect women around the world. But they soon realized they were leaving too many women out. <After receiv- ing feedback that our efforts weren9t addressing 50 percent of the world9s workforce, who were female farmers in the fields, we saw their point and expanded our efforts into five pil- lars for our organization. The pillars are: food waste; sustainability; social impact; technology; and innovation. The five pillars evoked conversation and a question: How could we bring women within the entire supply chain, from the farm level to the executive For more than 40 years, The Nugget Newspaper has been TELLING THE STORIES OF THE SISTERS COMMUNITY. Through boom and bust, good times and hard times.