Dr. Linda Edwards spent most of her childhood in a small town of East Tennessee. Prior to moving to Maryville, Tennessee, at the age of nine, Linda had already lived abroad in Southeast Asia with her parents and two brothers. The family was located in Chiang Mai, Northern Thailand, where Dr. Edwards' father was an agricultural specialist. Linda's mother was a teacher and home administrator. Edwards' childhood adventure certainly inspired her return to the people of the Thailand, first in 1988. Visiting non-profits in Kampala, Uganda, in 2008, her daughter Dr. Emily Spivak, specialist in infectious disease, Dr. Edwards committed to promote Fair Trade to artisans and to consumers worldwide. Edwards has been working with craft artisans for two decades, setting the talented creators on a course of sustainability. Linda Edwards practices the principles of Fair Trade with the artisans, mostly female, and founded a non-profit organization A Fair Trade World to support artisan work.
