At one point Orma told me a story about a girl walking home from school that was too slow for her friends. When Orma found out the girl was walking alone, she told the girls, “Walk Fast, Walk Together.” The quote stuck with me. It represented something deeper in the culture and to women globally.

The statistics in India are devastating when it comes to the amount of children being sold into illegal activities such as drug peddling, organ trade, labor, entertainment, adoption, marriage and sexual exploitation.

This is a woman I photographed in Ongole, India that was running her own street side shop in a village. I’m sure she faces far more struggles than I could imagine when it comes to starting a business, but she was so happy to show off her hard work.