This model became the basis for A Global Friendship (AGF), the Brooklyn-based nonprofit she founded in 2007. AGF strives to alleviate poverty by building small businesses in communities in need. And it focuses specifically on women’s empowerment as a way to fight poverty. “The women that I came across made beautiful products, and stateside we love to consume. So to me it was a simple formula to offer the opportunity to women who had none and keep women employed in a sustainable way,” Firgeleski says.