Indigenous economist Rebecca Adamson is a passionate advocate for the rights of Indigenous Peoples worldwide. After recognizing the vital importance of economic self-sufficiency to self-determination, Adamson founded the First Nations Development Institute in 1980, where she spearheaded the creation of the first microloan fund in the United States, on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation. This led her to partner with the Calvert Group to establish a private sector vehicle, now called Community Notes, which has allowed investors to directly invest more than $1 billion in microlending and other community development financial institutions. In 1997, she took her advocacy global with the founding of First People Worldwide, an organization that makes grants to Indigenous communities in over 60 countries while advocating globally in policy and market forums for Indigenous self determination. In 2014, she led the creation of the Indigenous Rights Risk Report, the first assessment tool of corporate risk exposure to Indigenous Peoples' rights. Rebecca’s decades-long work has established a new field of culturally appropriate, values-driven, sustainable development based on Indigenous principles.