Erin VanderVeen, 33

Erin VanderVeen learned compassion and a desire to help while working for her family’s funeral home in a small town in Western Michigan in her teens.

But after graduating from college in 2009, VanderVeen found the job market tough. Her dreams of working for the United Nations would be put on hold.

To make ends meet, she began working at a Michigan golf club, where she met an executive of Grand Rapids, Mich.-based self-help company It Works! Global.