Alyssa Leyden is a valued member of the Syracuse University Enactus team and has personally helped Mayans in Guatemala receive education and live a more comfortable life.

The SU Enactus Team, which originated in the Martin J. Whitman School of Management in 2006, is a global non-profit organization. The team covers 10 different projects that are used to benefit a greater cause. Leyden, a senior marketing management and retail management double major, is co-project leader of Team Guatemala, or Team G.

Team G partners with Mayan women in Guatemala to utilize their gift for craftsmanship combined with the students’ business skills. Team Guatemala helps by purchasing the necessary products in bulk to save money and selling them at a higher retail. The profits are retuned both by the money they save in purchasing supplies and through scholarship money.

“They can finally have lights in their homes or get another bed, things like that,” Leyden said about the effects of their work. “It puts things into perspective and makes all the work we do here on campus worth while.”

Each year, Enactus sends several students to Guatemala to visit the Mayan women. Leyden said she is grateful to have taken this trip both her sophomore and junior year. She said it was surreal to hear the women’s stories and personally see the conditions in which they create their products. She described the women sitting on rocks creating intricate beading on jewelry and bags.

“Seeing how people who essentially have so little still manage to work so hard. Their gratitude makes it worth while and them sharing their stories is very beneficial to us because it makes us want to work harder,” Leyden said.

As a Whitman student, Leyden is learning the skills she needs in order to be an asset for Team G. In previous years, Leyden was on the e-board of Enactus as the vice president of communications. She was responsible for spreading Enactus’ message to its members and the community through the team’s website. Through Team G, she began a luggage tag business with the group leader, Amanda Nicholson, an associate dean for Whitman. It allowed for more bulk orders, which in turn, give the Mayan women more business.

This past fall break, Leyden took all the products home with her for a trunk show which sold roughly $1,000 worth of merchandise.

Through connecting with Nicholson on this project, Leyden has secured a job as an assistant buyer for Ross Dress for Less following her graduation this May. Reflecting on her work with Enactus, Leyden is proud that she has been essential in expanding Team G.

“Once you get involved, you get to see the benefit of it. Some other clubs it may go unnoticed. With Team G, you get to see statistically, how the work you are doing impacts them. If you sell a necklace for $20, it may not seem like much but it’s a lot for them,” she said.

Published on February 21, 2017 at 9:09 pm

Contact Chloe: cjgreenw@syr.edu