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There’s definitely more than meets the eye when it comes to Mommy Mogul Evelyn Kessler. She’s a banker by day and entrepreneur/philanthropist by night. Her story is one that is both fascinating and tragic, one that best-selling novels and blockbuster movies are made of.

During her earlier years, Evelyn moved quite a bit. Life as she knew it in the United States abruptly changed when she and her siblings were sent to live with their Grandmother in the Democratic Republic of Congo, where her family is originally from. This was due to personal circumstances that her parents was sorting out but while there, Things we’re difficult on her Grandmothers so she eventually moved to Goma with her mother. There, Evelyn witnessed acts of war, poverty and other tragedies. After her school was bombed in Rwanda, she was sent to Paris, France to live with her uncle and ultimately found her was back to the United States eventually.

After obtaining a business degree, Evelyn began to settle into the American Dream. Career, wife, mother and for once, stability. Although she achieved her desires lifestyle, she couldn’t help but to think about the 4 million orphans that was left behind from the 6 million people who were killed in the wars in her home country. Some of the casualties being her own flesh and blood. She felt a great weight and responsibility which is how her non-profit organization, International Child Advancement came about. Their mission is to empower orphans and disadvantaged children to become self-sufficient through education, vocational training, livelihood provision and mentoring. Today, International Child Advancement supports an orphanage in Goma. The orphanage houses 165 kids out of which 54 we send to school and they’re aiming to continuously increase that number. This is only a fraction of what her organization is doing and plans to do.

Listen in as Evelyn talks about the struggles she’s endured from her upbringing, how she’s overcome them and the techniques she applies to motherhood as a result while balancing the corporate world with an organization that has a great social responsibility.

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