Masha was born in Ukraine and grew up in the north of Israel. Before Glocal, Masha studied Economics and Geography at The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, and worked for two years in research, studying communities' resilience to natural disasters. 

Her interest in cultures and communities eventually brought her to apply to Glocal, where she did her internship in Kenya with a local organization, Integrated Community Organisation for Sustainable Empowerment and Education for Development (ICOSEED). Masha's focus was business development of their Banana fiber enterprise. Her ultimate goal was to help the organization create sustainable income, which included rethinking their existing work strategies and practices, building a marketing strategy, training staff members on various analyses and creating new connections for the organization.

Zero Waste is a philosophy and a movement that encourages the redesign of resource life cycles so that all products are reused. The goal is for no trash to be sent to landfills, incinerators, or to the ocean, with emphasis on waste prevention, as opposed to end-of-pipe waste management.

Integrated Community Organization for Sustainable Empowerment & Education for Development (ICOSEED) is a local Kenyan nonprofit that implements this philosophy. The organization uses Banana leftover stems to extract and produce fiber (in the picture). Instead of being thrown away after harvest, the farm-waste material is reused to make purses, bags, and table mats – supporting the financial sustainability of the nonprofit along with the environmental one.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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