Marga Fripp, Founder
The Journey of a New American to Empower Women and Lead Change Around the World
Marga Fripp, the Founder and President of Empowered Women International, is an award-winning social entrepreneur, and an international consultant in art marketing and entrepreneurship with a focus on women.
She is a former journalist and a native of Romania with over 17 years of experience in solving social problems through the arts, innovation and entrepreneurship. Marga is passionate about training, coaching and inspiring women artists, artisans and creative entrepreneurs to pursue their passions. She worked with thousands of women in the US and internationally, and helped them to start up or grow businesses that fuel innovation, opportunity and social change.
As a journalist, Marga produced programs that focused on women’s equality, human rights and integration solutions for orphans and street children during the difficult first years of Romania’s transition from Communism. She was banned from broadcasting in Romania in 1996 due to her critical portrayal of social policy of the post-Communist Iliescu government.
In 1998, at the age of 23, Marga founded and developed a successful women’s service and advocacy organization – The Association for the Promotion of Women in Romania (APoWeR) – to counteract violence against women and provide economic opportunities for women in Romania. As part of her strategy of development, Marga formed and led a multidisciplinary team of lawyers, judges and prosecutors to draft a domestic violence bill (2001), and she mobilized citizens, politicians and non-profit activists to advocate for it.
In 2000, Marga also produced and hosted a TV talk show to address women’s human rights in Romania. The talk show’s popular debate format for discussions of discriminatory practices towards women, combined with APoWeR’s three years of legislative advocacy efforts, led to a national Domestic Violence Bill signed into law by the Romanian Parliament in May2003.
Marga left her life in Romania behind in 2001 to bring her seriously ill newborn baby to the United States for treatment. It was during this most stressful time in her life, as she struggled to find her own way in the U.S., learn the language, care for her baby and the eight year old daughter, and with a husband whose work frequently took him out of the country, that Marga felt she needed to help other women she saw in similar circumstances.
In May 2002, Marga created Empowered Women International(EWI) to give voice and create entrepreneurial opportunities for immigrant, refugee and other marginalized women. Over the past ten years, Marga’s effective and passionate leadership turned EWI from a volunteer-run program to an award-winning organization with more than 3,500 supporters, over 2,500 women beneficiaries, and more than 1 million dollars generated in donated services.
Prior to creating EWI, Marga volunteered for one year with the DC Rape Crisis Center, as an advocate for sexually assaulted women. Later she served for one year in the AmeriCorps – National Volunteer Service as a Volunteer Maryland Coordinator.
Empowered Women International was named “one of the best small charities in the Greater Washington region“ by the Catalogue for Philanthropy.
Marga and her work have been featured in The New York Times, The Washington Post, USA Today, Alexandria Gazette, WETA and have appeared on The Voice of America Television and WUSA 9News, among others. She received many awards including Living Legends of Alexandria, (Nominee), 2011, Arts Build Communities Award 2010 by the Virginians for the Arts, Alex Awards 2009 by Alexandria Commission for the Arts, the Enterprise Award, Catalogue for Philanthropy 2008, Virginia House and Senate Commendation, 2006, Making a Difference Award, Soroptimist International, Arlington, 2006, the Cultural Affairs Award, the Alexandria Commission on Women, 2005, and the Governor of Maryland’s Award for Service and Volunteerism, 2003.
Marga has completed a graduate certification in Business Administration at the Open University, U.K., and holds a BA in Communication/Journalism from the University of Maryland University College. She is married to Jesse Fripp, a former Peace Corps volunteer in Romania and currently an executive with ShoreBank International Ltd. They have two children and live in Bowie, Maryland.
Marga speaks regularly to women’s and business organizations on leadership, entrepreneurship and women’s empowerment, and travels with her marketing and art business seminars to train artists nationally and internationally. To contact Marga or invite her to lead a marketing workshop or speak to your event, email her at margacfripp@gmail.com