Bios

Jen Foster

Jen is CWoW's International Advocate to Kenya. As such, she lives part of the year in Fort Wayne, IN, and part of the year in Nairobi, Kenya. While in Kenya, Jen mentors a group of women in sustainable and ethical business practices. These women call themselves the Mwangatu Women, and devote a portion of their business to HIV/AIDS awareness. Their products are for sale at the CWoW shop in Fort Wayne, as well as online. Additionally, while there, Jen works with a scholarship program called Kenya Simba Scholars. She advocates for these children, and hopes to grow the program up to 1,000 scholars by the year 2020.

She has a passion for travel, and has lived in 4 countries. She loves languages, cultures, mission work, and cross-cultural communications, which is why we love sending her abroad and endorsing her work there! When she’s not engaged in public speaking and helping CWoW thrive here in the States, Jen plays violin with her all-girl folk band and as a guest musician in other bands. She’s also a writer, singer, and cross-stitcher on the side.

Working for CWoW gives Jen the opportunity to live out her passion for advocating for those who do not have as many resources as we have here in the US. She enjoys empowering women around the world, being inspired by them, and getting to see the positive changes in their lives first-hand.

Nicole Moore

Nicole was born and raised in a small town in northern Indiana. She played in closets, and alleyways, and forts made of blankets. She traveled the world amongst the dusty trunks of clothes and old picture albums in her grandparents’ attic. Nicole knew all the wonderful characters that made up the neighborhood homeowners and apartment dwellers. They were the same people who watched over her when she set up her own version of the street corner lemonade stand. Best of all, her mother, with little resistance, would let her paint on the press board walls of the laundry room with water. Life was good.

Like most, Nicole's life has taken many turns. Long ago, she left the small town for the big city. As a Fashion Design major in college, she tested the waters of many mediums and crafts. Nicole was exposed to and influenced by many different types of people and the backgrounds they brought into their art. Since college she has lived and worked everywhere from NYC to Shanghai, China, and traveled to many places in between. Life has been an eclectic mix of big and small, bright days and scary moments, great candlelit dinners and hurried microwave meals. And her mother still lets her paint on the walls, but now she can use paint. A life full of adventure and experiences that conjure up stories even greater than she can imagine, and a grand collection of friends and family from whom Nicole learned humor and from her they learned whimsy. These days she spends her time as a professional watercolor artist, making art, laughing, working at Creative Women of the World as the Retail Manager, having too much fun, traveling the world, hanging out with all her incredible friends and family, and finding the joy and blessings in life's nooks and crannies. Life is good.

Kayla Wieland

Kayla is the Inventory Manager here at CWoW, where she works diligently to perform quality checks and tag every item that comes in. She is also in charge of writing the stories for any new products, which describe their origin and who made them. Kayla lives in Winona Lake with her husband and dog and commutes to Fort Wayne to work. Kayla graduated from Grace College with a B.S. in Graphic Design and Painting/Drawing. While she was in college she worked in an art store run by Nicole Moore, who is now the Store Manager at CWoW.

Kayla has always been passionate about helping people. After learning about Human Trafficking in college, she took a trip to Thailand. It was here that she saw the red light district first hand. Even in the daylight, as she watched people set up for what would happen that night her heart broke, and she felt she was called to do something. CWoW has answered that call by being part of an organization that helps women rescued from these situations. She can now go home knowing that although she may not have done much, she helped make someone's life better.

Melissa Marts

Melissa is a rising sophomore at Vanderbilt University who is spending her summer working as an administrative assistant for Creative Women of the World. Although she is currently in Fort Wayne for her job, she also calls Nashville home. Melissa plans to major in Human and Organizational Development and hopefully continue her work in the nonprofit sector post-graduation. She loves Jesus, organizing everything, Spanish, and the ever-important chocolate. Working for CWOW has been a growth experience, both professionally and personally. Melissa is constantly inspired by the dedication and passion of the women surrounding her, which has taught her that the best work comes from the people with the right hearts. She hopes that the rest of her summer at CWOW will continue to provide her with the tools she needs to accomplish her lifelong goal of bringing freedom to the oppressed by fighting women’s degradation and human trafficking around the world.