Indego Africa: Empowering Women

I stumbled across this beautiful brand on social media recently and quickly felt inspired to do a little research about what this organization was all about. I am so moved by the mission and purpose of Indego Africa - it is such a breath of fresh air and so encouraging to see the huge change happening in families, communities, and the confidence and value of these precious women in Rwanda and Ghana. It is just beyond beautiful.  Scroll down if you are ready to be inspired to the core. P.S. Standing ovation to Anthropologie for carrying this brand, too! I love companies that desire contributing to change. How was the idea of Indego Africa born?Indego Africa was founded in 2007 with a simple idea: Empower women artisans in Africa by showcasing their beautiful craft and investing in the power of education. Since our founding, Indego's mission has always been to help artisans lift themselves and their families out of poverty and become empowered businesswomen. The artisan sector is the second largest informal employer in the developing world. Despite its potential, the industry remains untapped as a resource for income generation, job creation, and economic growth in under-resourced communities. Since 2007, Indego Africa has played a critical role in changing this by providing artisans, especially women and young people, with access to markets, vocational training, and education. We believe that women around the globe have the capacity, creativity, and determination to uplift themselves, their families, and their communities—all they need are the opportunities!What is your favorite part of working with the artisans in Rwanda and Ghana?All of it! I love how collaborative the process is. These groups of artisans look to us for market and business opportunities, and we look to them for production and a chance to show the world their exceptional artistry and craftsmanship. Seeing how much dedication to and passion for craft they have is so inspiring to me. It helps shape the vision of our brand in the best possible way. I also love how, as partners, we’ve being able to grow together. I started at Indego Africa 6 years ago, when many of our partners were also just forming their businesses, and looking back, I feel like we were all babies in this journey! We’ve worked through cultural challenges, business related bumps in the road, collaborative successes, (epic) failures and, most importantly, we’ve experienced moments of incredible joy, growth, empowerment and pride – all together as partners. I consider the commitment of these women to our shared mission to be the most essential element to the success of our company. I love, love, love building this brand together, hand in hand with them!How often does your team travel to Africa and what is that experience like?Indego Africa is a global team that truly prides itself on maintaining a collaborative culture. Our design, marketing, fundraising and operations team members are based out of New York City and our wonderful local teams in both Rwanda and Ghana oversee and implement the direct to artisan social impact programs and production logistics. We believe in having a connected and collaborative relationship with the artisans we partner with and try to visit our cooperative sites as often as we can (and have our local teams visit NYC whenever possible)!The artisans we work with share our passion for education, artistry, and the future of their country and it's a common bond that connects us as partners. Our local teams in Rwanda and Ghana are with them, day to day, sitting down with these women and discussing their lives, their goals, and their insights into our work and or partnership. So many of our programs and educational initiatives (which you can learn more about here) were started because of the direct feedback from our partners. We are invested deeply in these communities, and it is so important to us to make sure the opportunities and support we are providing is relevant and helpful in their lives and our local teams are the ones making sure this is happening on a daily basis.On a personal note, I am forever in admiration of these hardworking women and visiting our artisan partners is an inspiring, invigorating and motivating experience. I have learned so much about grace, strength and pure hard work from them, especially when I’ve had the opportunity to see in person the way they carry themselves, to sit down next to them and observe them at work and to talk to them, woman-to-woman, about all the things that make them who they are.Indego Africa items are all so lovely and unique- we would love to hear about the design process in NYC. What is that process like?Thank you! For me, the design process looks different for every product but always has the same creative spin behind it. The first thing it always starts with is the artisan element itself. What can our partners make with the skills and materials they have? What will be a good fit for our brand aesthetically and will it showcase their artistry? Whenever I’m seeking – or seeing – inspiration these are the parameters front and center in my brain. From there, I focus on using color and pattern to tell a story but also showcasing the power of texture through neutrals. I want our products to feel happy, well-made, and to evoke a sort of casual chic design element.  We sell home goods, baby and kids décor and apparel, women’s accessories, art and objects, but we always make sure our product line feels cohesive and comprehensive. What are the designs that would be able to tick all these boxes while also following trends in the markets we serve? The design process can feel sort of like a puzzle sometimes - and that’s before we even start sampling! ☺ Once we have an idea that will work, I communicate with our production teams in Rwanda and Ghana, who then sit down and work with the artisans to see if the piece can come to life the way we want through a traditional sampling process. From there, we review, redesign, and resample. Then within a few weeks, months, or seasons, we have a new product. It is my favorite part of the job to be a part of this global design process!What is the inspiration behind some of your favorite pieces in the collection?Right now I’m really loving our woven hat and bag collection. A few years ago it occurred to me that these artisans, while experts in basket-weaving, had the perfect skill set to make the ever popular “straw” summer bag and hat but just didn’t have the right vision. It took a few months – or maybe closer to a year ☺ - of sampling but when we got the shapes and look right it was easy to think of creative ways to make the traditional woven bag feel on brand and interesting to our customers. This year we added lots of textured raffia pops and fun hand-embroidered bag charms and accents. I love how these pieces at the same time feel both traditional and of the moment and add a handmade and possibly unexpected pop to any outfit (or bathing suit for the beach beauties out there!).Your mission is so beautiful from start to finish, but the part of profits earned going to education programs for the artisans is truly extraordinary. What are some of the education programs that the artisans enroll in?Indego’s education programs include foundational business education and financial management, technology training for the workplace, skills-based vocational education, and advanced leadership and entrepreneurship training. It’s through these programs that women and youth in both Rwanda & Ghana develop the skills they need to grow their own businesses, become entrepreneurs, and create economic growth in their communities. Combined with access to global markets and work opportunities, Indego’s education programs ensure that our partners are not solely dependent on us for their livelihoods, but rather, are actively building the knowledge, tools, and expertise to achieve financial independence and realize their full potential as leaders and change-makers.Recently, we’ve also partnered with UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency on a special project providing artisan vocational training to Burundian refugees in the Mahama Refugee Camp in Rwanda. The goal of this project is to help female refugees improve their livelihoods by building the skills necessary to participate in the artisan economy. We’re excited about this new program and the potential Indego Africa has to help create opportunities for a group of incredibly deserving and hardworking women!Is there anything else you would like to add?We’d love for you to bring a piece of Indego Africa to your lives! Please use code IndegoShop for 25% off your purchase from Indego Africa.Save

[Agape] Loving the Silent

“When the whole world is silent, even one voice becomes powerful”: words spoken by Malala Yousafzai in her address to Harvard University on September 27, 2013 as the Harvard Foundation presented her with the Humanitarian award. Malala is a pillar for human rights and the advancement for girl-child education around the world. With a passion to advance education in her home country, Pakistan, Malala began to write a blog for the BBC Urdu service. To protect her identity, she used a pseudonym. Her rising activism led her to be awarded Pakistan’s first National Youth Peace Prize and to be nominated by Archbishop Desmond Tutu for the International Children’s Peace Prize in 2011. But, Taliban leaders schemed to kill her in response to her rising influence. Both Malala and her father’s passion to advance education withstood death threats from the Taliban and soon enough, Malala’s identity as the author of the BBC blog was revealed in a documentary made for the New York Times. Then, on October 9, 2012, as Malala was on her bus going home from school, Malala was forced to identify herself to a masked gunman who shot her with a single bullet that went through her head, neck, and shoulder. Her survival and her resilience during a long recovery process inspired people around the world to stand up against injustice.After her attack, Malala went on to win the Nobel Peace Prize on December 10, 2014. Her influence allowed her to create the Malala Fund which raises awareness of the social and economic constraints on girl-child education and which empowers girls around the world to raise their voices, to realize their potential, and to demand change.Malala is one of many voices that are speaking up for the silent. With a story such as hers, and so many others around the world, we should ask ourselves how we can use our voices to affect change and how we can speak up for those who may find it hard to speak up for themselves. In the United States, our freedom of speech is protected by our US Constitution, except when it infringes upon the rights of others. But, all in all, whether our speech is enlightening and encouraging, or even destructive and offensive, we, as US citizens, are granted free speech, a right that is not granted to all citizens of all countries around the world. How, then, with the power of this right that is granted to us, do we advocate for, do we speak for, those who find themselves silenced by their governments, by their social institutions, or even by their own peers? How do we love the silent?Some instances may require us to defend this right subtly, mundanely, and habitually, as if it were an everyday task. Singers, whether they have just begun their careers, whether they are dedicated to advancing their careers, or whether they have been experienced in their profession for years, undergo voice exercises. They do not stop efforts to improve or sustain the strength and technicality of their voices once they have “made it”. These voice exercises are intended for singers in all stages of their careers in order to strengthen vocal cords, improve transitioning techniques, relieve tensions, maintain healthy singing practices, and prolong the impact of their voices. In the same way, then, that singers routinely check in on and improve their vocal capacity, we too should continually work to grow the strength and influence of our voices. We should be so accustomed to practicing and defending our voices, refining and affirming our voices, that it becomes second-nature to us. You see, each of us has a distinct voice and a voice that we can use to affect change throughout the world. We should locate our voices, we should strengthen our voices, and we should see where our voices carry so that those voices can have the greatest impact. When we begin to know the impact of our voices, we will be able to use our voices to help others, to speak for those who find their voices silenced, and to use the stories that our voices tell in order to empower others. You see, these daily voice lessons of ours have a far greater impact than on our own lives; our voice lessons enable our speech to be strengthened so that their fortitude can send waves of peace, assurance, and justice throughout the earth.Other instances, then, may require us to use our voices bravely and boldly. At times, we may find that we need to scream and yell; to advocate for the equity of others and to defend the human rights of others. In these circumstances, we use the privilege of living in a country that defends our right to free speech in order to extend that right to those around the world. Certain times may call us to use those techniques in which we have strengthened our own voices in order to fight for the voices of others to be heard amid oppression, intolerance, and injustice. We may be called to allow our voices to carry and to send shock waves to other parts of the world in order that the force of those waves will inspire others to find and use their own voices in times of tribulation. It is the strength of the collectivity of our voices, then, that has the capacity to sustain life, to foster hope, to affect change, to inspire courageous acts, and to defeat terror, oppression, and injustice.When we use our voices to locate and inspire the voices of others around the world, we form a chorus of voices whose influence cannot be contained. With a chorus determined to affect change and to advocate for the rights of others, the unity that sings of rightness, of justice, of equity, and of restoration is undeniable, and with such an undeniable force as that, the song of peace and of the reconciliation of hopes and dreams plays so that the whole world can hear. As we draw upon the strength inherent within us and the strength inherent within one another, let us use our voices so boldly and so loudly that we sing of this song of peace, empowerment, and justice to ends of the earth.

Seeing the Bigger Picture: Uwezo Shoes

I love when a fabulously talented person has an eye for a brand that will benefit something greater than just the fashion industry piggy bank. Alexis Hefley did just that when she stumbled upon these hair-on-hide shoes in a market during a trip to Uganda with her Dallas-based non-profit, Empower African Children, a charity that has funded education programs for high-risk and orphaned children since 2005. Alexis saw beyond a cute accessory for our feet--she saw impacted lives.Uwezo, a shoe line that supports our style personalities with nature-ific oxfords while simultaneously providing academic scholarships and educational opportunity for Ugandan orphans and vulnerable youth, was born through a partnership with shoemaker Bata. This line of classic, yet trendsetting soles was an answer to many brainstorming sessions aiming to keep their educational programs up and running.The best is yet to come: the shoe sales are not an end in themselves; they are a source for economic growth, providing jobs for local residents and utilizing cowhides from cows in the community. Another thumbs up: production takes place in environmentally friendly and sustainable factories in Kenya, where local employees are promised fair wages and humane working conditions.You can find these super-cool, reasonably priced shoes at Macy's or on the Uwezo website. Profits benefit the community and the educational programs of Uganda. Read more about Empower African Children here.Image: Courtesy of Uwezo