Hope For Women Blog

Dominique Conseil, President of Aveda, chooses Hope For Women

2009-01-19T12:28:00.001-05:00

I am excited to announce that Dominique Conseil, President of Aveda, has personally chosen to use our Portraits of El Salvador cards to communicate his congratulations to over 200 award winning Aveda salons.

: Rosa - one of our Portraits of El Salvador cards

Aveda is a world-renowned creator of high performance botanically based beauty products, and is recognized as one of the leading socially responsible brands on the market. Our stylish, Fair Trade cards were a perfect fit for Aveda for meeting their high standards for design, function and social mission.

We are honored that Dominique and Aveda have chosen Hope For Women as a partner, and we are looking to work together with Aveda on other projects in 2009.

Recycle Caps with Aveda

: Bring your caps to Aveda!

Through our partnership with Aveda, I became aware of an excellent recycling program that they have launched called Recycle Caps with Aveda.

Aveda found that a majority of plastic bottle caps do not get recycled today, and often these caps end up as litter or trash, ending up in landfills and beaches or migrating into our rivers and oceans causing harm to wildlife. Recycle Caps with Aveda helps you solve this problem - and it is super easy.

Collect and bring your RIGID plastic caps (if you can bend them, they are not rigid) to Aveda stores and salons so they can be sent by Aveda to be recycled into new caps and containers for Aveda products. What a great program!

Learn more at Recycle Caps with Aveda, and to see where your nearest Aveda Salon or store is located.

ISIS chooses Hope For Women to supply Fair Trade products

2008-12-01T16:40:00.005-05:00

This Holiday Season you have the opportunity to take advantage of a special offer from ISIS, a premiere outdoor clothing company designed specifically for women.

Hope For Women and ISIS are working together on several projects, and we are thrilled to be partnering with a company that is 100% committed to supporting women in everything they do.

Customized tagua products from Colombia's rainforest

Through our new partnership with women artisans in Colombia, we are providing ISIS with customized Fair Trade products made from tagua - a sustainably harvested nut from the Colombian rainforest. The results are stunning, and we are working on new tagua products for ISIS for a variety of projects. Learn more about our tagua program by visiting our website.

ISIS is also featuring Hope For Women on their website, and will be featuring us in their Fall/Winter 2009 catalog.

ISIS provides 25% discount to friends of Hope For Women

To show how much they love working with Hope For Women, ISIS is extending a very generous offer to all Hope For Women newsletter subscribers. They are giving each of you their "friends and family" discount - so you can save 25% on any order you place just by entering the coupon code "Hope4Women" at checkout.

Take advantage of this great offer - it ends on 12/12/08. ISIS outdoor apparel makes the perfect gifts for the woman in your life, or for you! We are so happy to be working with them and for having such a wonderful partner.

Hope For Women in more Whole Foods Market stores

2008-11-18T16:28:00.002-05:00

Recently we became an approved vendor for the Rocky Mountain Region of Whole Foods Market - the world's largest retailer of natural and organic foods. This is the fifth region of Whole Foods Market that we are proud to be working with.

Hope For Women greeting cards can now be found in many of the Rocky Mountain region's Whole Foods Market stores in Colorado, Kansas, New Mexico and Utah, as well as in Whole Food Market stores in California, Arizona, Nevada, Connecticut, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Illinois, Michigan, Missouri, Minnesota, Nebraska, and Wisconsin.

We have formed very strong relationships with a diverse group of incredible retailers throughout the country who are supporting Fair Trade products. Hope For Women greeting cards are now available in over 650 stores in 48 states around the United States and Canada. Even in these sluggish times people are choosing to shop with their values - and fair trade products continue to make inroads into many traditional retail centers. Let's hope this trend continues.

The Fair Trade difference

2008-11-11T14:59:00.002-05:00

In the last post I told you how we have partnered with a group of women artisans in El Salvador that are producing our new greeting card line, "Portraits of El Salvador".

While our goal is to always get a fantastic new product to our customers, our perpetual purpose is to provide income and economic stability to women artisan groups, which, in turn, helps the groups expand and grow so that there can be more meaningful jobs for a greater number of women.

: Elana and Guadalupe - sisters, friends, artisans.

For the women in El Salvador, expanding their artisan group is risky. It takes considerable time and resources to train the women and if they do not have a market for the product their investment can be lost.

To take that strain off our new partners, we have put in place a program to engender mutual trust. To demonstrate our commitment and to provide security to the women we have produced 50,000 packaging units that have been delivered to their region to be filled with their creations. Currently, there are 12 trained artisans, and our packaging represents well over a year's worth of production. Our packaging commitment is the artisan's security that Hope For Women will be a long-term partner. We anticipate that the group will have the confidence to double in size by 2009, creating life-changing work for more women.

I had the privilege of visiting El Salvador, meeting each of the women artisans and spending time with them and their families at their homes. They are an inspiring group - you can learn more about them on our website.

: Yanira and Roxhanna

: Maria and her daughter Tonyia

New "Portraits of El Salvador" Initiative

2008-11-05T13:10:00.003-05:00

Arte Comasagua artisans

We are thrilled to announce that Hope For Women is building upon our success in India by beginning a new partnership with women artisans in El Salvador.

For the past several months we have been building a relationship with Arte Comasagua, an artisan group located in the highland cloud forests of El Salvador.

Our new line "Portraits of El Salvador" - this is "Rosa"

In 2001, massive mud slides and a devastating earthquake left many families in the highlands of El Salvador homeless and jobless. With their fields destroyed, many people began traveling long hours to low-paying jobs in the capital. To better their lives, a group of enterprising women formed Arte Comasagua, an artisans’ organization that handcrafts stylish designs from native flowers and plants. These women now work locally, caring for their families and saving for their future.

Hope For Women is proud to work with this incredible group of women, and we are excited to launch our new line of greeting cards, "Portraits of El Salvador".

"Portraits of El Salvador" greeting cards have arrived, and are available at stores and on our website.

Learn more about this new initiative on our website.

Meet Elana - one of our new artisan partners

2008-11-03T14:24:00.001-05:00

Hope For Women on TV

A wonderful news story about Hope For Women aired on TV stations across all 6 New England states recently.

After starting our production with 4 artisan women, Hope For Women is now working with nearly 50 women - creating stability and providing means for a better life.

Your continued enthusiasm and support makes Hope For Women a reality. Thank you!

Click here to view the story

Stability and security for more women

2007-11-07T16:40:00.000-05:00

I am proud to share with you that Hope For Women is now working with over 30 artisan women in India, and that these women now have stable, sustainable jobs that they can count on for themselves and their families. When we started working in India we had only 4 women creating our handmade greeting cards. In just over a year the demand for their work has caused our working group to expand eightfold,
and more women are being trained each month.

Where do all the flowers come from?

Hope For Women flower gardenHope For Women greeting
cards are now available in almost 400 stores in 45 states across the United
States, as well as in Canada. Our growth has led to a big increase in demand
for the flowers and ferns we use and many people ask me, "Where do the flowers come from?" In the beginning we sustainably harvested flowers and ferns from the wild, but as the demand for more botanicals arose we planted gardens that would supply our needs. We have recently cultivated two more growing fields where we utilize organic farming practices. Our gardens also create employment opportunities for the gardeners and farmers we work with, many of which are family members of the Hope For Women artisans.

Hope For Women now in Whole Foods Market stores

2007-07-27T14:07:00.000-05:00

Recently we became an approved vendor for the Midwest Region of Whole Foods Market - the world's largest retailer of natural and organic foods. Hope For Women greeting cards can now be found in 19 of the region's Whole Foods Market stores. This is a major step forward in the national market expansion program for Hope For Women.

In that regard, we have formed very strong relationships with a diverse group of incredible retailers who are supporting Fair Trade products throughout the country. I am thrilled to announce that Hope For Women greeting cards are now available in over 200 stores in 42 states around the United States. In just 9 short months we have achieved a national sales presence within food stores, stationary stores, booksellers, botanical gardens, yoga studios, clothing stores, fair trade shops, gardening centers, gift stores, coffee and tea shops and other exceptional retailers. Use our store locator to find a retailer near you. If you know about a great store where our cards should be, let us know!

As we grow, so do the number of women we work with

2007-04-18T11:16:00.000-05:00

As demands for our Fair Trade notecards increases (the greeting cards are now in about 150 stores in 40 states) we have the opportunity to provide more employment to economically disadvantaged women – thus meeting a major goal of why we are doing this work. While in India I was able to attend a training in Gairsain (pictured at right and below), a remote area of Uttaranchal nestled in the Himalayas. There are very limited employment opportunities in this region and we are excited to partner with women in this area

Some of our current artisans led the training – it was great seeing them take on the leadership role of trainer. Vidhya (see “Our Team” posting below) did a wonderful job taking the women through the process of making a card and showing them the basics. Then the trainees used their imagination to create new designs from the flowers in front of them – an incredible process to watch unfold.

The women are excited to begin producing greeting cards, and I enjoyed sitting with them at a computer showing them some of the retail stores where their artwork would connect with people here in the States (yes – we had an internet connection! More on technology advances in India in a later post).

Meena (middle woman in photo) said, “I always thought I would have to leave this area to find meaningful work and a job that provides enough income. This is my home and I love this place. I am happy that I can stay and work here and be with my family and community.”

Hope For Women India - Our Team

2007-04-06T15:25:00.000-05:00

Currently we work with 23 women that create our greeting cards. They are located in four different regions. But Hope For Women's operations in India extend beyond our partnerships with our women artisans - we also have a great management staff . Our central office is in Dehra Dun (see posting below) and it is there that we have our crack team who is in charge of managing all of our operations. This includes purchasing all of our paper and supplies, overseeing our flower inventory and storage facility, researching and developing new products, sourcing and managing all of our product printing requirements, and overseeing quality control on every greeting card that is produced. They do much more too! So let's meet the team:

SAJI - Saji is one of my oldest and dearest friends - our relationship goes back over 14 years. He was my roommate during the time I lived in India and I consider him "my brother from another mother"! Saji oversees all aspects of Hope For Women India and is amazing at what he does. He is originally from the state of Kerela in south India, and while staying at his home with his wonderful wife Malini and two great kids I was treated to fabulous south Indian home cooked meals - another benefit of working in India!

VIDHYA (on left)- Vidhya joined us 6 months ago and is in charge of leading trainings for women interested in working with Hope For Women, as well as supervising greeting card production in Dehra Dun. She is an excellent designer who has flourished in her role as manager.

ROOPA (on right) - After seeing her sister Poonam support herself as a Hope For Women artisan, Roopa joined us 3 months ago as quality control supervisor. Known by the women as "Eagle Eye", all cards and packaging must pass Roopa's approval before leaving India.

Increased demand for our product has allowed us to offer Vidhya and Roopa full-time jobs and we are thrilled at how they are responding to the opportunity. We are lucky to have such a great team!

"The Office"

2007-04-05T12:24:00.000-05:00

We recently (in the last 6 months) aquired our own office space and flower garden (known as "The Office") in Dehra Dun, the capital of the Indian state of Uttaranchal. The Office serves as a logistics headquarters for managing product production, as well as a meeting place and workspace for some of our women artisans (photo above was taken following a meeting at "The Office").

I was lucky to arrive with a crop of flowers in full bloom. Yellow calendula, blue larkspur, orange
dhalias and purple pansies all shown brilliantly. These flowers serve as the base stock for our notecard production, and are supplimented by other gardens located in more remote areas of the Himalayas. After picking fresh flowers (above and below) for making future cards we went back into The Office, and over cups of steaming chai the women proudly showed me new designs they created. "I love thinking up new ways to arrange our beautiful flowers!" said Poonam.

Big Changes for Maya

2007-04-02T15:33:00.000-05:00

After meeting with one of the groups of women we work with in Dehra Dun I was very excited to see Maya (pictured below) come towards me with some obviously good news. The soft spoken woman had a big smile and announced that she would be leaving her other jobs as a domestic helper, where each day she would spend a total of 4 to 5 hours cleaning and cooking in two different homes. "I am so thankful to leave that work and spend my time creating art."

Due to the increase in demand for Hope For Women's greeting cards we are able to offer Maya and other women stability - something that wasn't in their lives beforehand. We are able to offer them a monthly wage as well as payment for each card they produce - money they can count on each month, and money that allows them to leave less-fulfilling and lower paying work that previously served as their base income.

"I'll see you in the office tomorrow!" Maya said as she headed out to pick some flowers in our garden. "I am so excited to come to work!".

2007-02-23T10:17:00.000-05:00

On March 12th, Evan Goldsmith, President of Hope For Women, will be flying to India to meet with our women partners who create our products. Evan will work with them on new product concepts and ways to grow and improve the company. Hopefully you can join him on this journey.

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