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Episode 340

25 Years of Taking Care of the BASICS with Patricia Wilkins

October 27th, 2026

55 mins 24 secs

Your Host
Special Guest

About this Episode

Greetings Glocal Citizens!

For more than 25 years, my guest, Patricia Wilkins has worked across the United States and Ghana at the intersection of education, community development, youth opportunity, workforce development and social impact. As Founder and CEO of BASICS International, a nonprofit organisation committed to breaking cycles of poverty by creating pathways to education, opportunity and self-sustainability, her journey to this work has not been traditional.

She began her professional career in New York's fashion industry, working in fashion production and textiles before eventually leaving corporate America and moving into international service. Her work took her from New York to Russia and West Africa.

With a strong belief that where a child is born should never determine how far they can go, Patricia has been putting this belief into practice impacting 300,000 lives as BASICS celebrates 25 years of service to Ghanaian families.

In addition to her community development work, last year she penned her first book, So You Started a Nonprofit… Now What? - a practical and honest reflection on the realities of building and sustaining mission-driven organizations. As an author, social entrepreneur and creative, she is especially interested in the space where community, culture, technology, storytelling and good ideas come together to create meaningful change. And this what your’ll hear shine through in our conversation.

Where to find Patricia and BASICS International?
On LinkedIn or https://www.linkedin.com/company/basicsinternational/
On Instagram
On Facebook
On YouTube
Show your support BASICS here!

What’s Patricia playing?
Magnetic Chess
Othello
Phase 10
Left Center Right

Other topics of interest:
A Brooklyn Story on Winthrop Street
A brief guide to Flatbush, Brooklyn
A short story about Chorkor, Ghana
About Camp Aklowah
About Shai Hills, Ghana
About Liberia’s Civil Wars
Abouth the Congo People, Americo-Liberians