Sara Minkara is the Founder and President of Empowerment Through Integration (ETI), a nonprofit focused on the empowerment and inclusion of youth with visual impairment in the Middle East-North Africa region. Sara herself is a Blind Lebanese American who lost her sight at the age of seven. She founded ETI out of her own personal experience and passion for empowering blind youth to be the catalysts for change in their communities. She is an internationally recognized advocate in the areas of disability inclusion and social entrepreneurship. Her personal and professional commitment to disability rights and youth empowerment began while she was an undergrad at Wellesley College and continued throughout her time at the Harvard University Kennedy School of Government. Since founding ETI, Sara has continued her work in the social sector while also growing ETI from a summer camp to an organization that today reaches over 3,000 individuals across Lebanon and the United States.

Minkara became legally blind when she was 7 years old and experienced a safety net of support for her disability through government and private institutions growing up in the U.S. Minkara realized when she visited family in Lebanon that these privileges were not afforded to blind children in other developing countries. Empowerment Through Integration works with blind children in Lebanon to instill confidence in them, teaching life skills like how to walk with a white cane or how to use a computer. ETI also runs a summer camp for both blind and sighted children.

Immigration, Social Justice, Social Entrepreneurship, Entrepreneurship, Women in Business, Diversity & Race, Diversity Topics, Inspirational, Inspire, Motivation & Inspiration, Disability, Blindness, Blind, Inclusion, Human Rights, Civil Rights, Lebanon, Muslim, Children with Disabilities, Underprivileged Children, Empowering, Women Empowerment, Youth Development, Youth