Before I start actively contributing to this blog, I thought I should quickly introduce myself…

My name is Michelle Grocke, I’m 24 years old and I just moved to Seattle a few months ago. I graduated from William Smith College in upstate New York with an economics and modern language degree in the Spring of ‘06. Immediately after my graduation I moved to Geneva, Switzerland and completed a research internship with the I.L.O.
(the UN specialized agency which seeks the promotion of social justice and internationally recognized human and labor rights).

While at the I.L.O., I edited a few working papers on microcredit and soon discovered how brilliant, how widely successful and how simple this method of eradicating poverty really is! I soon began to immerse myself into any and all literature I could find regarding microcredit – and knew that this was something that I wanted to become and stay involved in for the rest of my life.  Side note: If you have not already done so, you should read both Muhammad Yunus’ book Banker to the Poor, and Alex Counts’ book Small Loans, Big Dreams.

Not knowing exactly how to get involved with microcredit I decided to take a break, move to Jackson Hole, Wyoming, and go skiing for two seasons – I thought maybe the crisp air and powder would provide some sort of clarity…

Well low and behold it finally did, and that is how I wound up here. After a mere four-day visit to Seattle I realized how involved and active everybody here was with not only microcredit, but with an abundant array of both domestic and global issues. In Jackson I almost always had to follow up “I’m going to Seattle to hopefully get a job working with Microcredit…” with “Oh, okay…well basically Microcredit is….” That’s not the case in Seattle.

In addition to looking for a job, I am currently continuing to educate myself with the ‘what’s new’ in the world of microcredit – and will be posting my findings on myKRO.org. Sorry, I realize this introduction wasn’t exactly short, but now at least you know a little about the newest contributor to myKRO.