Creative Women

Still thinking about the NYIGF ...

It's been a few weeks and I've still got the NYIGF on my mind.  Yes, we still don't have all the Blue Striped Napkins and tablecloths that have been ordered (if anyone has advice on how to keep inventory, please be in touch), but I've decided to think about the more pleasant parts of the show and this business.  So, for the next few blogs I want to tell you about some of the people I met at the show and things they have "turned me on to".  

To start, if I didn't own Creative Women, I probably would never learned about Edna Lewis, the Grande Dame of Southern Cooking.  But thanks to Angela Hederman, who ordered 13 Striped Napkins for her friend Scott Peacock (another grand name in southern cooking), I now have watched a fascinating video about Edna and her influence on cooks, especially Scott.

About.com described Edna this way, "A tall, commanding woman, Edna Lewis was also a giant in the culinary world as well as in life. The granddaughter of freed slaves, Edna would grow up to be a great chef, culinary ambassador, and caretaker of genuine Southern cooking. She would inspire a generation of young chefs and ensure that the traditional folkways of the South would not be forgotten. More than a skilled cook, Edna Lewis touched the lives of those around her with grace and the beauty of life. She will be deeply missed."

So many women have made a difference; Edna definitely is one of them. I seem to be meeting a lot of them along the way ... Creative Women all over the world.  And, I just thought that I'd learn more about business when I started Creative Women.

 

Scott Peacock and Edna Lewis

Great Day ...

This morning on my walk, I was thinking about how I now need to create a Hassle List on our white board.  I believe that if I don't stay on top of my hassles (become the "squeaky wheel") than those hassles will never be resolved ... or at least not in my favor. 

On the way to work, I checked my IPhone and found out that the bank in Mali, which had been sitting on my $1600.00 wire for 6 weeks and not depositing it in the account of Cooperative Djiguiyaso, my supplier in Mali, finally was convinced the money belonged to Dyigui, not the bank.  Hassle #1 ... settled.

Then, at work, I got an email from my broker at UPS, forwarding Customs and Border Protection's ruling that I had complied with their requests and they would not be charging my duty on my current shipment from Ethiopia.  Of course, under AGOA they were not supposed to charge me duty, but they had the right to ask me certain questions: they did, I replied.  After more than a bit of wrangling, they agreed with me.  Hassle #2 ... settled.

It's a beautiful day in Vermont, we're almost ready for the New York International Gift Fair (BOOTH 6308); things are looking good.

Come meet us in NY ... see the wonderful accessories our colleagues make for us.  It's one of those days when things go right.

Ellen 

Creative Thinking

Poverty and an exploding world population are topics that impact all of us, whether we like to think about them or not (and most of us don't). Swedish doctor and professor Hans Rosling has a creative take on the links between the two.

Food for thought, certainly: creating markets, jobs, and the opportunity for prosperity will create benefits for individuals and the planet.  Sounds like a double-benefit to me! Those job we support do matter.

~Amy

It's either too hot or too cold ...

Am I the only one who thinks it's amazing that the temperature in Grand Isle, VT (and Burlington, VT where Creative Women is located) is hotter than the temperature in Bamako, Mali or Addis Ababa, Ethiopia?  Next time I travel to either of these places to work with the women who produce Creative Women's textiles,I'm not going to bring them all my winter photos of Lake Champlain frozen.  (Yes, you really can drive your truck on the ice.) I'm going to bring them photos of Vermont at 97 degrees ... that's amazing!

This message expresses so much of what Creative Women is all about.

Please... click on the box, watch the video. And think about it.

Great changes start with small decisions.

Amy

Dining for Change

What's better than getting together with friends for a really good meal? Easy--getting together with friends for a good meal, and doing some good while you're at it.

Every month, women across the U.S. get together under the aegis of Dining for Women, a non-profit organization through which small groups can gather big money to donate to charitable organizations seeking to support and empower women and children living in some of the poorest countries in the world. It's a creative approach (love that word, creative!) to getting people involved, and bringing some of these issues that can feel so far away right up front and center.

How is Creative Women involved? Well, two years ago we supplied textiles for a fundraising dinner meeting of the Eastern Shore of Virginia chapter of Dining for Women. Here's the cool part: the featured program that month was the Fistula Foundation. Much of the silk used in our Ethiopian textiles is spun by women recovering in the Fistula Foundation Hospital in Addis Ababa. How's that for synchronicity?

This year, we were happy to be able to supply goods for a Fair Trade sale and education event put on by that same chapter, more than doubling our previous sales record. Hurrah for hungry women!

Amy

With a Little Help

A High School friend posted this video on her Facebook page yesterday, and I planned to put it up here with a brief comment just because I liked the song and video itself. Then I did a little more research and found out what a cool project Playing for Change really is.

The stated mission of Playing for Change is pretty lofty: "to inspire, connect, and bring peace to the world through music." Not asking much, huh? Yet when you listen to the music, hear the unique spin each artist puts on a particular song that nonetheless holds its own as one piece of music—well, you believe that it can happen.

There are lots more videos and amazing stories—check them out!

The Playing for Change Foundation, a separate non-profit corporation born from the desire to give back to these musicians and their communities, was founded in 2008, about three years after the original project began. They have completed a music school in the township of Guguletu, South Africa; have broken ground on the "Bizung School of Music and Dance" in Tamale, Ghana; are involved in arts programs in Nepal and Johannesburg; and is working to rebuild and improve the Tibetan refugee centers in Dharamsala, India and Kathmandu, Nepal.

Amy

Fair Trade, why so complicated?

Did you know that October is Fair Trade month?  Have you seen all the articles about Fair Trade out there? Yet it seems most of the people I know still are confused about Fair Trade.  May be there are too many organizations that have fair trade in their titles, or may be everything that is being sold is either labeled fair trade or green or sustainable.  Do they all mean the same thing?

Ok ... here's what Fair Trade means to me at Creative Women:

Dyer's daughter, after school at Sabahar, in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.

• working with businesses that support women, make it possible for them to get jobs, move ahead in their jobs, even bring their kids to work now and then;
• good working conditions; i.e, weavers should have enough light, no one should be exposed to toxic chemicals;
• decent benefits and working hours;
• decent pay;
• a commitment on the part of management and owners, and workers, to tackling the difficult issues in the workplace; everything won't be changed overnight.

That's how I define it ... maybe a bit pie-in-the-sky.  But it makes it easier when I am looking for new producers.  If they share these values with me, I want to work with them.  And, I suspect this makes Creative Women more attractive to our customers.

Half the Sky

Have you heard about the buzz that Nicholas Kristof has created?  He and his wife, Sheryl WuDunn, have just published a book, "Half the Sky".  They focus on women in the developing world, with a special emphasis on girls education, microlending, job creation, and maternal health.  In his New York Times blog on August 19, Kristof invites anyone with a "personal story that shows the work being done in this field around the world" to submit their story to the comment section of his blog.

I urge you to take a look at his blog ... the stories are amazing. Some very sad, others funny, most filled with hope that we, in small or large ways, can make a difference.  There are so many people around the world, making a difference, doing something that matters to them and others.  It's the perfect balance to what we read in the papers and hear on TV/Radio. 

Please take a look at what I submitted to Kristof's blog:

http://kristof.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/08/19/drumrollnow-the-half-the-sky-contest/, go to #403, on page 17

I'm so proud of what we are doing at Creative Women.  And it only happens because of every link in our "supply chain" ... producers, importers/wholesalers, retailers and the final customer.  We do create "the possibility of change" (to quote Kristof) in 1000s of lives.

Young girls walking home from school in rural Ethiopia.

Connecting to Afghanistan

In honor of the newest addition to Creative Women's line, our Khosh silk scarves woven in Afghanistan, I recently picked up a book called Come Back to Afghanistan, written by Said Hyder Akbar and Susan Burton (Bloomsbury Publishing, 2005, ISBN 1-58234-520-1). Akbar grew up in California after his family left Afghanistan in the wake of the Soviet invasion. His father returned to the country as soon as he could after the fall of the Taliban, however, working hard to rebuild the country first as Presidential Spokesman, and later as the Governor of the Kunar province.

What began as radio documentaries of Hyder's summer visits to his father developed into this fascinating story of an American teenager 'coming home' to Afghanistan. Reading Hyder Akbar's account made me acknowledge how little I really know about that country's history and culture; even the recent history of U.S. involvement. What made the story work for me was that Hyder brought both an American perspective and an Afghan understanding to bear. I had trouble putting the book down, and while I can't claim an instant, intimate understanding of the culture, I find myself with a more immediate caring about what happens to the country. I feel as if I'm somehow rooting for the Afghan people to win out over violence, confusion, and chaos that have plagued them.

All of which explains our excitement over the scarves we're just beginning to get from Kabul. Azana, the studio we're working with, was founded by an Afghan woman whose goal is to help revitalize her country. All of their equipment and supplies are purchased within the country; the company is managed by Afghans; their weavers are women who have been widowed or orphaned (or both) by the years of war; both literacy classes and health care are offered to all of their employees. However distant we are physically and culturally from these women, buying the scarves they produce offers an immediate and concrete benefit to them.

I'm not sure that it feels like enough, but I am sure that it's a good start.

--Amy

P.S. More on Come Back to Afghanistan, and Said Hyder Akbar:

• An Interview with Said Hyder Akbar
• Foreign Correspondent: Said Hyder Akbar
• This American Life, 230: Come Back to Afghanistan