Lodema Steinbach has innovation in her blood. Her grandfather invented the popsicle—and when it didn’t take off fast enough, he paid neighborhood kids to ask for it in stores until demand caught up..

Alla has always championed resilience and self-reliance. While still in college, she supplemented her stipend by interpreting for international organizations entering the former Soviet bloc after the fall of the Iron Curtain. Her work took her to the most remote corners of the newly independent states, where she witnessed the uphill struggle of nations trying to build democracy from scratch…