Janine Levijarvi
Janine Levijarvi
Meet the People Powering Our Mission
At WomenServe, our impact is only possible because of the passionate, talented individuals working every day to create lasting change in the communities we serve. Through this series of team member interviews, we’re shining a light on the people behind the scenes — their journeys, motivations, and the values that drive their work. Get to know our dedicated team as they share their stories in their own words!
Janine Levijarvi
Board Secretary
1. Can you briefly describe your role at WomenServe?
I am a board member of WS. My primary responsibilities include fundraising, strategy, and input regarding programs. I have been with WomenServe since 2018.
2. What motivated you to join WomenServe?
From the inception of WomenServe I have been inspired by Nioma Sadler’s commitment to the women and girls of the senna growing villages. In 2017, I and a few other employees of Traditional Medicinals, joined a visit to the Rajasthan Desert where WomenServe and the TM Foundation were engaged in several community enrichment programs.
During the visit, we had the opportunity to help dig a taanka, install a school playground, participate in a school health/hygiene day, enjoy time with the women of the Thar Artisan Collective, and spend time with village women in their homes.
The experience showed me first hand how lives of the villagers, especially the women and girls, were being enhanced dramatically by the training, education, and self reliance projects that were being undertaken in the senna growing communities in the Rajasthan Desert.
Then and there, I made up my mind to become involved, and help with time, and financial assistance. I knew that helping even a few women and girls would help their entire family, and by extension, the whole community.
3. Can you share a bit about your background and how it led you here?
I worked as an employee of Traditional Medicinals during my entire professional career. During that time, I saw how TM worked with the herbal growing and harvesting communities to create programs that would benefit and enrich their lives. TM participated in Fair Trade and Fair Wild programs that worked with the growing communities to find what they needed and wanted to thrive. This sustainability model was a important influence on the emergence of WomenServe.
4. Can you tell us about your previous work experience before joining WomenServe?
I was employed by Traditional Medicinals where I headed up Human Resources. My working experience showed how listening and responding to people’s needs help an organization to become stronger and more resilient. To seek to understand another’s perspective can be more powerful than trying to convey one’s own perspective.
I treasure the opportunities I had to enhance the employee experience at Traditional Medicinals through benefit programs, training, and a project to create a beautiful/functional office work environment.
5. What do you find most rewarding about your work at WomenServe?
There are so many examples of life changing work that is being carried out by WomenServe programs. It was an honor for me to speak with some of the women and girls in the Rajasthan desert whose lives were being transformed by the programs sponsored by WomenServe. The most fun was playground building completion day for a village school. A playground was a brand new concept for both the children and the adults. There was so much joy as the entire community climbed, learned to swing, tried out a slide, and laughed with abandon as they enjoyed being kids and playing together.
6. How do you see the impact of WomenServe's work in the communities we serve?
The entire community benefits from Tanaka installations, Thar Artisan Collective creativity and income, and the educational opportunities for girls. Helping women and girls discover their own self worth is helping to create new generational patterns and positivity for the community as a whole.
One young mother of three was a cancer survivor, as am I. She relayed through a translator how having the Taanka, which at that time was being installed near her home, would benefit the entire family. Now her older children could go to school for the first time because she would be able to bathe them, and provide clean clothes. It would also be easier to feed them before the school day began. Now at the start of each day, she would not need to walk the 3 mile round trip to get water for the family's daily needs. She would have more time to attend to her health recovery, take care of a few goats, and keep her children safe.
I have witnessed change as a result of WomenServe’s programs. A typical story is told by one young woman who said her extended family was against women getting an education. They firmly believed an education wouldn’t be needed if the girl married at a young age, as was expected of young women in their society. However her parents, especially her father, was convinced that education and delayed marriage would be beneficial for her life, and for the well being of the entire family. With the help of WomenSserve’s programs, she continues the education that was begun as a child in her Rajasthan village. She is a teacher and has aspirations and dreams that seem to be realistically within reach.
7. Who has been an inspiration to you in your professional journey.
There are several former colleagues who have been an inspiration to me during my working career. Drake Sadler, co-founder of Traditional Medicinals, has an unwavering commitment to those who grow and harvest the herbs that are the foundation of the Traditional Medicinals products. He is one of the first leaders of the natural foods industry to develop a sustainable business model. He cares for those people who contribute all along the supply chain. Nioma Narissa Sadler is the epitome of her TraditionalMedicinals job title, Goodwill Ambassador. Through her dedication to employees, to farmers, pickers, partners, and suppliers, Nioma brings goodwill to all aspects of TM and WS. Katie Huggins always exhibited unruffled calm even amidst trying circumstances, and her commitment to quality is rock solid. She treats all with respect and has a dry sense of humor. Josef Brinckmann has never strayed from his principles of integrity, and products formulated on proven research. His dedication to sustainability and ethics in the herbal industry is unequaled. Also my colleague in HR, Judith Yera, stayed current with HR law, as well as extended helpful service and kindness to employees. She was a joy to work with as a partner in Human Resources.
By their passion for the botanical wellness formulas, sustainability, and for each person who contributed time and energy along the way to create the final product, Drake, Katie, and Josef inspired me to have a deeper understanding of how the supply chain worked, and how it affected the lives of those involved. Judith and Nioma both helped me to understand how working for, or with, Traditional Medicinals affected the lives of employees, suppliers, and their families.
8. How do you envision the future of WomenServe?
I ardently hope that WomenSserve will be able to continue and grow the stellar programs which they developed and are participating in with NGO partners. As we continue to hit milestones of individuals helped, communities served, and understanding developed, I feel that even more avenues of help and service will be revealed.
9. What motivates you to keep striving for the mission of WomenServe?
I feel that if you help one person, one family, one community, that you are actually helping the whole. By providing a water harvesting taanka to a woman and her family, it opens up a world to her that does not revolve around walking for water just so the family can survive. More important than any of the individual programs is the contribution WS is making to help the village members realize the value of, and appreciate the worth of the women and girls in their society. Paramount to the community valuing the women and girls in their midst, is the self worth and self esteem that the WS programs are helping evoke among the women and girls.
10. Can you share a favorite quote or mantra that you live by?
Two principles guide me: Peace and Harmony, and Love and Serve.
Not so coincidentally, Love and Serve is also the motivation for Nioma. She lives by it, and quotes it often. I feel happiest when I am able to serve family members or friends, and being a part of WomenServe allows me to serve the wider world, even in a small way. Peace and Harmony is a secret tool to help smooth and neutralize situations that are fraught with tension, anger, misunderstandings, or hurt feelings. It may take time, but when silently repeated and sent to a person (heart to heart), it works like magic.