The month of August tends to be bittersweet at GGP. This year, along with the highlights – visiting artisan partners in Swaziland and South Africa, preparing for the NY NOW gift show, and readying our fall product line – we, sadly, said goodbye to intern extraordinaire, Mehrsa Kheibary.

Mehrasa will return to St. Lawrence University in Canton, New York, this fall as a senior majoring in International Economics and Multi-languages (Arabic and French). Before school starts, though, she’ll be heading out on a long-awaited visit with her family in Tehran, Iran, where she was born and raised. After graduating high school back home, Mehrsa told us that she “was privileged to attend a unique international high school called United World College Maastricht (Netherlands), where I was inspired by my fellow and former classmates to take actions for community improvement and strive for a peaceful, sustainable future.”

That spark, which we benefited from all summer long, led Mehrsa to pursue an internship at GGP. When asked to reflect on her summer experience, Mehrsa said that “while looking into women empowerment organizations GGP stood out to me because of the transparency of their work with female artisans . . . GGP sees what works best for its partners and provides them with the opportunities that they desire; be it health, education, new fashion trends. Additionally, I admire how globally this organization thinks as they partner with female artisans from Southeast Asia, Africa, and South America.”

Mehrsa added that, “The most valuable lesson I take from my experience at Global Goods Partners is the kindness and care that my colleagues show at work. I felt very welcomed and part of a family throughout my internship. Professionally, every individual woman of the office and their collaboration as a team in GGP's business matters inspired me. I will bring these valuable lessons with me to my future endeavors.”

We too were inspired by Mehrsa’s intelligence, diligence, professionalism and warmth, and we know she will continue to inspire her colleagues and accomplish great things throughout her career.