The G.L.E.W. Foundation funding freedom.
WUSA9 news segment featuring a mother-daughter duo discussing the G.L.E.W. Foundation.
Our vision is to create a world where Black mothers in our community experience expanded freedom—mental, financial, spiritual, and physical—by recognizing ambition as an asset and building community infrastructure rooted in abundance and self-determination.
Our mission is to advance the lives of ambitious mothers. We provide freedom capital.
G.L.e.W. Founders & Matriarchs
We operate from a place of radical self-determination, guided by three non-negotiable principles:
Sovereignty, Creativity, and Integrity.
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Zuhairah and her mother, Yael, are the women behind the G.L.E.W. mission. Zuhairah Washington is an award-winning technology executive with a track record of driving billion-dollar outcomes across the spectrum—from pioneering startups to Fortune 500 giants like Uber, Expedia Group, and Zillow.
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Yael Singh Humphries is a trailblazing leader whose career is distinguished by her consistent ability to shatter professional barriers and achieve groundbreaking milestones. Beginning her journey as a pioneering female scientist in the 1980s — a period marked by significant underrepresentation for women of color in STEM — she made history as the first Black female to attain pivotal leadership roles at four major corporations, including Mattel Toys.
From pioneering chemist to Co-Founder/CEO of ILSE Commercial Services, Yael’s path spans science, entrepreneurship, and education. Her two decades in higher education as a Senior Admissions Advisor yielded an exceptional 89% student retention rate, reflecting the same dedication that has defined her entire career.
Yael holds an MBA from the University of Phoenix, a BA in Occupational Management from Vanguard University, and a Bachelor of Pharmacy from Southwest College. She now channels her pioneering spirit into the G.L.E.W. Foundation, passionate about empowering the next generation of leaders.
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Gertrude was always smiling and laughing with her friends. She was a free spirit who LOVED life. She was an active member of the Civil Rights Movement and participated in the March on Washington. She graduated from Barringer High School in Newark, NJ, where she met her husband, Ernest. They married and had two children - Yael and Terrance.
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Willie was married at the age of 13, and her mother was a Cherokee Indian. As was customary during that time, she was a cook for a white family. She had an extremely strong work ethic, and she took pride in the fact that she saved enough money after many years to buy land in Georgia, which our family still owns today.
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Eula was the consummate strong, black, independent woman. With limited opportunities in Quitman, Georgia she followed her older sisters Calo and Wee to Philadelphia and then to Newark, NJ to find better work. She became a presser at a cleaning company making $1,040 a year, the equivalent of approximately $18,000 in 2020 dollars. She met her husband Leroy Scott in Newark,NJ and went on to marry him and have four children which she raised on her own; Joyce, Kelvin (Zuhairah's father), Vaughn and Stephanie. They lived in a two-room apartment that was immaculate. While they were poor in wealth, they were rich in love.
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Lillian Rahn had bright blue eyes and a short and curvy build. She was married and had her only child, Gertrude, when she was only thirteen. She was a housewife who could frequently be spotted looking out her window in her brownstone in New Jersey, watching her neighbors go by.