About Stacey
It started with a $2,000 tax refund in my basement.
In 2003 I was a social worker and a young mom who believed the women making beautiful things by hand around the world needed a market for their work. From that $2,000 tax refund, Global Girlfriend grew into a multi-million-dollar fair trade brand partnering with 250+ women-led artisan enterprises in forty countries.
My artisan partners taught me their businesses ran by different rules — purpose, dignity, community. I spent the next decade chasing why: a PhD, six years teaching at CU Boulder’s Leeds School of Business, co-founding Trade+Impact. That research became Artisan Economics.
Today I lead the International Folk Art Market in Santa Fe — the largest juried folk art market in the world — and speak and teach wherever people want their work to mean more.
Speaking
Keynotes & workshops
From leadership forums to literature festivals — and hands-on facilitation of the HFI Taproot Model of Systems Change™.
The Books
Artisan Economics & Global Girlfriends
Where to order both books, plus reader resources for clubs and classrooms.
Research
Artisan social enterprise
Peer-reviewed work on women artisan entrepreneurs and community resilience.
Substack
Essays & interviews
Stories of the world’s makers, twice a month — and first looks at the book.
In good company
Twenty-plus years, 50+ countries, hundreds of artisan partners and entrepreneurs — these ideas grew out of friendships around the world. Meet the makers in the artisan directory →
RECENT FEATURES
Selected press
Santa Fe New MexicanSanta Fe’s International Folk Art Market reports record $4M sales · 2026 ↗
The New York TimesArtisans weigh whether U.S. fairs are worth the trouble · 2025 ↗
ForbesInternational Folk Art Market in Santa Fe: Artisan retail with a purpose · 2025 ↗
Santa Fe New MexicanIFAM breaks another record with over $3.8 million in sales · 2025 ↗
PasatiempoSharper focus on artist and guest experience adds to IFAM’s market value · 2025 ↗
Authority MagazinePurpose before profit: The benefits of running a purpose-driven business · 2024 ↗
The BhutaneseA conversation on women in leadership and social entrepreneurship · 2024 ↗
BBS BhutanAward-winning entrepreneur highlights global potential of Bhutanese products · 2024 ↗
Table MagazineStacey Edgar to lead Santa Fe’s International Folk Art Market · 2023 ↗
Executive ConnectionsIn the classroom: EMBA students benefit from DEI curriculum additions · 2022 ↗
Press kit
One-line bio
Stacey Edgar, PhD, is an award-winning social entrepreneur, educator, and author of Global Girlfriends and Artisan Economics (Chelsea Green, April 2027), with twenty years alongside artisan businesses worldwide.
Official bio
Stacey Edgar, PhD, is an award-winning social entrepreneur, educator, and researcher with more than twenty years working alongside artisans globally. In 2003 she founded Global Girlfriend, a fair trade enterprise that partnered with over 250 women-led artisan enterprises in forty countries and built a multi-million-dollar market for handcrafted goods with retailers including Whole Foods Market, Target, and West Elm. She co-founded Trade+Impact Association, a global trade association advancing women-led social enterprises, and taught social entrepreneurship and impact business for six years at the University of Colorado Boulder’s Leeds School of Business. Today she leads the International Folk Art Market in Santa Fe, whose mission is to create economic opportunities for and with folk artists worldwide. She is the author of Global Girlfriends: How One Mom Made It Her Business to Help Women in Poverty Worldwide; her research appears in the Social Enterprise Journal, the Journal of Fair Trade, and the Handbook on the Business of Sustainability. Her new book, Artisan Economics, arrives from Chelsea Green in spring 2027.
High-res photos available on request: stacey@staceyedgar.com
THE GLOBAL GIRLFRIEND YEARS
O, The Oprah MagazineInStyleForbesUSA TodayThe Christian Science MonitorRedbookSeventeen
Artisan Economics, twice a month
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