by Jennifer Kulier

In some areas of Panama, nine out of 10 people live on less than a dollar a day. Maria Barsallo Rubio ’07, whose roots are in Panama, saw that artisans in those communities were producing beautiful, handmade items; the problem was their only customers were people who happened to come to the village and stop at the residents’ huts. So Barsallo started DESDE to give artisans in marginalized communities access to a local and international marketplace. DESDE is Spanish for “from,” and represents to Barsallo empowerment and transparency to the label of origin.

Maria Barsallo Rubio ’07 was recently featured in CC’s Faces of Innovation.