In 2009 I graduated from FIDM in Los Angeles and began a career in product design and development. I specialized in “Ethical Fashion”, a new concept back in 2008 in the mainstream market. While artisan products had been around for decades thanks to businesses like Ten Thousand Villages and the late Pier 1 Imports, there was no one filling the market with modern western fashion that made sure workers and working conditions were ethical and sustainable. I joined a group to help start a brand called Raven & Lily in Los Angeles, CA, and later in Austin, TX. During my 8 years with them, I became their lead designer and a large part of my job also included social development. I worked with artisans in multiple countries with very different cultural ways of doing business and implemented systems to help the co-ops put training systems into place and grow. I enjoyed the challenge of coming up with designs that utilized their skills and local materials and developing systems of communication that worked for both parties. Since that time, I went on to work with other established brands and start-ups to help their journeys toward building a more equitable and sustainable fashion market. I have seen communities come out of poverty, gain access to education and healthcare, and have a consistent income to support their families, all through the power of retail goods made ethically and with an excellent design aesthetic. In 2014 the Ethiopian government-sponsored me to work in the capital of Addis Ababa for 2 months to provide support and development services for a jewelry and handbag program.

Brands I have worked for include Raven & Lily (Burundi, Kenya, Ethiopia, India, USA, Cambodia), Sseko Designs (Uganda, Ethiopia), Aid Through Trade (Nepal), Matre Boomie (India), JOYN Bags (India), B-WAP (USA), Moringa/My Fight (Ethiopia), Village Artisan (India), Entoto Beth Artisans (Ethiopia).