Inspired by the desire to improve the lives of women in war-torn and distressed countries, Canadian journalist Barb Stegmann took an unlikely turn into the world of cosmetics after a friend was injured trying to liberate women and girls in Afghanistan.

In 2009, she sourced her first cup of orange blossom oil from Afghanistan and has now expanded her cosmetic enterprise The 7 Virtues by gathering ingredients from Haiti, Rwanda, India, Iran and Madagascar. Stegmann has empowered local Afghani farmers by enabling them to earn more with legitimate crops such as orange and rose instead of illicit poppy growing in Afghanistan, providing income opportunities for adult orphans and HIV widows in Rwanda, or teaching the blind to become perfumers in India.