After graduating from the University of Virginia in 2006, Milena worked for several years as an investment banker at JPMorgan in New York City.

Craving adventure and purpose, she quit her job after 2.5 years and become a Kiva Fellow, through which she volunteered at microfinance institutions in Bosnia, Kenya, and the Philippines.

While overseas, she developed the idea for Pando, based on her experience as a grassroots organizer in college.

How many times have you heard about a group of students going overseas and they end up painting a wall of a classroom?

Or lugging suitcases full of clothes and toiletries to hand out to people?

Why did you paint that wall and what happens when the clothes get worn and the toiletries run out?

In December 2008, I returned to the land of my birth for the first time since I was a baby.

I had the conviction to use my talents as a force for positive change in a land that I'd only known from the stories my mother had told me as a child.

Even as my plane touched down in Sao Paulo, I didn’t know my end destination or the details of my trip.

I was born in Kenya where my parents were Peace Corps volunteers, my pre-college life was largely spent in the Middle East and the South Pacific.

When I was ten years old, I lost 10 pounds in 10 days because I was incapable of keeping fluids in compliments of giardia, a diarrheal disease.

When I learned to camp on the Sinai, my family planned and packed every drop of water we would use. And so, I chose to fight for water.

A true inspiration to women of all ages, Carey Appel is the true definition of second chances, believing in your dreams, and never giving up.

Growing up in Los Angeles, Carey loved to sing. And people loved to listen. Since age 3, her natural talent never went unnoticed.

Compared to the likes of Julie Andrews, "Such a grown up voice for such a little girl" was the comment often heard.