Nina Smith

A native of Glen Falls, New York, Nina Smith graduated with a B.A. in history from Tufts University in 1989. Upon graduation, Smith traveled extensively overseas. While in Guatemala, she met a small, local craftswoman who begged Smith the buy her wares for less than they were worth. It was an important moment in Smith's life when she realized the link between what the Western world pays for handmade goods and the quality of the lives of those who make it. Paying less than what this woman needed was perpetuating the problem of poverty.

When Smith returned to the US, she worked as a crafts export consultant to the Tibetan Government-in-Exile, was former president of the Fair Trade Federation and the executive director of The Crafts Center and publisher of Crafts News. In 2000, she launched the RugMark Foundation USA.

Armed with the belief that no parent wants their child to work, RugMark was launched in 1994 by Kailash Satvarthi to eradicate the use of child labor in the handwoven rug industry. Now working in Afghanistan, Pakistan, India, and Nepal, RugMark has a three-fold approach with the ultimate goal of providing economic incentives so that rug makers will not use child labor in their factories. RugMark offers scholarships to the children of rug makers so that they have a higher chance of staying in school until they are of legal working age, therefore helping to break the cycle of poverty and child labor.

Smith's tireless work with RugMark, especially in the area of raising consumer awareness, garnered her a Skoll Foundation award for Social Entrepreneurship in 2005.