We spoke to Karen Schaufeld, President of 100 Women Strong, a nonprofit that allocates funds to Loudoun County residents in need.

You’ve started two non-profit organizations, All Ages Read Together and 100 Women Strong. What was your motivation to give so much of your time and energy to the non-profit world?

If we pay attention, we are given opportunities to add value to the world around us. I have always loved to read, and so I was particularly attracted to the challenge of literacy, especially for children who otherwise would enter school with a big deficit. And using older volunteers from the community− an underutilized resource − to help an underserved population seemed like a nobrainer and a win-win situation. The positive effect on members of our community is invaluable and could be accomplished at a very low cost. And I always like doing things a little differently and a little smarter.

“The downturns are important,” says Carolyn Severo, business director for Aesthetica Cosmetic Surgery and Laser Center, two Radiance Salons and Medi-Spas. As she says this, the stock market is plummeting amid fears over the United States’ diminished credit rating and the precarious state of Europe’s economies. Yet Severo sits comfortably composed with her sophisticated black dress still crisp − victorious over the day’s humidity. She leans forward and, with a voice as welcoming and cool as ice water on a hot day, says, “Because that’s how you learn what is important.” This is not just business speak for Severo. It is wisdom culled from multiple experiences − professional and personal − that, encountered individually, could derail a person’s life. Perhaps it is a quality she learned while selling accident insurance door-to-door in college, or maybe it is something innate, but Severo does not get derailed. She forges ahead, clear on her destination and mindful of how best to get there.

I AM Modern sits down with the founder of Becky’s Fund, a non-profit
organization that serves the victims of domestic violence and abuse.

When did you decide that you would dedicate yourself to the cause of battered women? What’s your personal relationship to it?
I aggressively sought out my first mentor in 1999 during my senior year in college after hearing an attorney, Andrea Lyon, speak in a class at the University of Michigan about defending battered women in prison for killing their abusers in self defense. When I heard about the high rate of violence against women and how no one was doing anything about this issue, I couldn’t sit back and do nothing. I approached her right after she spoke in my Women's Studies class and asked her if I could study under her and work with her that summer. Even while I have personally never been in an abusive relationship, every time I have spoken up about this issue, I am approached by yet another survivor who has been. Because I haven’t personally experienced DV, I have been able to speak openly and aggressively about this issue.

How many of you can name five players from the W.N.B.A.? And how many of you can name five pro softball players? Or can you name five Redskin cheerleaders? Probably not... I know I can't. But I can name a world champion female boxer- Ashburn's very own, Tori Nelson!!!

It's a fact- women still have a long way to go in athletics, but there are some people out there that just won't quit and refuse to be ignored, and my girl, Tori, is one of them.

Jewell Green, wife of former Washington Redskin and Pro Football Hall of Famer Darrell Green, is a powerhouse in her own right. In 2007 she launched Posh Couture, a fashion boutique based in Ashburn, VA that has recently expanded to an online shopping site

Stephanie Travis remembers constantly rearranging her room as a child, so it shouldn’t be surprising that she ended up with a Masters degree in Architecture. After working in D.C., she “got the NYC bug” and worked with an award-winning firm in Rockefeller Center.

In 2004, Cynthia de Lorenzi had an “ah ha” moment when she realized that traditional business networking events were not fostering the type of connections and relationships that went beyond a sales call. At the time, she was working as a CEO in a male-dominated information technology industry that left her feeling “girlfriend bankrupt.” She wanted to find connections and friendships with likeminded women who felt the same vacuum.

Being the control freak I am, I had my daughter's December birth perfectly planned out. I even picked the hospital next to the news station, convinced I'd work my morning shift, go into labor the Friday she was due and head on over for a smooth delivery and a weekend stay in the ward.