Move the Needle

What happens when accepting an invitation to visit Ghana turns into a nine-year journey?



Lisa Jackson Tresch was a magazine editor who had a comfortable, settled life. What she thought was a one-time trip to the Ashanti region of Ghana led her down a path of learning about the struggles of single mothers and how seamstress apprenticeships can help move the needle toward a better life. Along the way she peddled stitched items and eventually started a nonprofit that focused on income sustainability for the women. She never did learn to sew, but she discovered how to survive detours, dead-ends, and do-overs, and celebrate the small movements toward success. Ghanaians begin their visits with travelers by asking, “What’s the news from the road?” This book is her attempt to answer the question, share the lessons, and take readers on the journey with her, all the way to its unexpected conclusion.



Move the Needle is a deeply personal founder’s memoir that reminds us that we don’t have to know everything to start something, and that it might be the small incremental movements that change the world.