I learned about philanthropy from my mother as well as from the generosity of others. When I was a kid, my family lived in Mexico while my parents did graduate work. Because they were going to school, they had to get resourceful about how to earn money. Mom started selling homemade granola to the local super market. It was soon a reasonably lucrative enterprise. When we were ready to move back to the States, Mom turned the business over to our housekeeper. She taught her about business, especially bookkeeping, and she introduced Maria to the store manager as her business partner.
When I was a single mother at 20, I realized that an education could get me out of poverty. I enrolled in the local community college, Columbia College, where I applied for and was awarded various scholarships. The generosity of people who established these scholarships helped me through tough times. The gift not only helped me financially, but it also boosted my self-esteem because I felt like someone believed in me.
That’s why I’ve chosen to donate a portion of the proceeds from The Right Sisters: Women Inventors Tell Their Stories to fund a scholarship at Columbia College for women like me—young women in difficult situations who recognize that education is a way out of poverty.
My mother’s generosity was a significant influence in my life. Philanthropy is as important to me as the more practical issues in the inventor-entrepreneur life—things like patents and manufacturing and promoting.
I’d like to hear how readers are repaying the help they’ve received during their inventor journey.
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