Meet Molly Cantrell-Kraig

Molly is a woman with drive. Possessing an innate sense of purpose and a pragmatic, solution-based approach to empowering people, she fused these two traits in order to establish Women With Drive Foundation. Based upon its founder’s personal history, Women With Drive Foundation is a means through which Cantrell-Kraig may effect change on both a micro and macro level. By providing women with something as essential as personal transportation in order to transition them from poverty to prosperity, she, through Women With Drive Foundation, seeks to empower women to help them help themselves. Through this action, the individual applicant benefits, as does society as a whole. Molly recently attended the inaugural United State of Women Summit, convened by the White House. As a Nominated Changemaker, Molly met specifically with organizations dedicated to the economic empowerment of women.

Q+A

What do you suck at? 

Logistics. I rely heavily on my bean count-y friends who realize and understand the implementation component of my “castles in the air” propensity. It is they who help me to implement effectively. Without their strategic and implacable prodding, I wouldn’t be nearly as effective.

Favorite word? 

Reciprocity. I love the actual sound it makes as it rolls off the tongue, but I also love the thought behind it. We are dynamic creatures, designed to work best in tandem or within synchronous orbits. When we find someone who complements us, we’re unstoppable.

Who helped get you here? 

The list of those people would be immense. Truly. There are literally hundreds of people who interacted with my journey and who have helped me to refine and define my passion, purpose and the manifestation of what’s currently visible in my life. To name a few: the women of Ms. Tech; Liz Strauss (and by extension, the community of SOBCon); Melissa Pierce in particular helped me to directly get to Chicago; my three daughters (who I identified during a conference as my first ‘stakeholders’). 

What don’t people know about you? 

I’m actually very aloof and intensely private. 

What do you think about when you are alone? 

Honestly? That the world IS a stage and that we are merely players. Sometimes, I think that this whole production is a collective character study, writ large and that we are each here to learn from (and love) each other. Then, when I get too serious for my own good, I binge watch something on Netflix and have a glass of wine. 

Want more? Follow Molly on twitter as @mckra1g or @WWDr1ve (Women With Drive) or like them on facebook. To learn more about booking Molly as a speaker or her other work, visit www.mollycantrellkraig.com

Photo Credit: Jamie Kelter Davis Photography