Jewelry and Accessories
Global Ambassadors Program alumna Andrea Bury founded ABURY, a fair trade lifestyle brand connecting designers with traditional artisans to create unique handmade bags, shoes and accessories and re-invest in social causes. Hours of education have been given back to the ABURY communities. Check out their products here.
Founded by VV GROW alumna Sasibai Kimis, Earth Heir works with over 100 artisans from women’s cooperatives, indigenous tribes and refugee groups, across six states of Malaysia. Check out their accessories, jewelry, clothing and home design products here.
Founded by Fortune-U.S. Department of State Program and VV GROW alumna Lula Mena, Lula Mena creates opportunities for women in high-risk areas of El Salvador by producing unique, eco-friendly, handmade products under norms of fair trade. Check out their jewelry, accessories, and home products here.
Global Ambassadors Program and VV GROW alumna Yanina Faour founded Oleana Jewelry combining the high quality craftsmanship of her ancestors with a fresh and modern aesthetic. Hailing from a family of jewelers, she continued in their footsteps and dedicated herself to creating unique, handmade pieces available here.
VV GROW alumna Rasmina Gurbatova is the owner and designer of Resm Jewelry, a company rooted in the culture and tradition of Azerbaijan. The patterns and symbols that give each piece a distinctive sense and unique design originate from the name of the company, Resm, meaning ‘drawing’ in Turkish and Arabic. Check out their jewelry here.
Global Ambassadors Program and VV GROW alumna Ariela Suster founded Sequence Collection with a sustainable business model for violence prevention using the creation of fashion products to generate jobs and new opportunities to positively impact the lives of young people living in at risk communities in El Salvador. Check out their jewelry and accessory collection here.
Global Ambassadors Program and Fortune-U.S. Department of State Program alumna Norm Bunnak is CEO of Villageworks, a fair-trade certified enterprise that trains artisans to produce handcrafted products using recycled, organic materials. With a network of nearly 500 artisans, Villageworks employs home-based workers in rural areas of Cambodia. Check out Villageworks‘ bags here and face masks here.
Fortune-U.S. Department of State Program alumna Maria Pacheco’s Wakami is a socially-minded fashion accessories brand that enables women in Guatemala to export handmade accessories created with ancestral Mayan weaving techniques. Check out their jewelry, accesories and face masks here.
Clothing
Leadership Incubator Fellow Sara Shokouhi is the Founder and CEO of b.WR, an organic and eco-friendly undergarment company. Part of proceeds go to support women’s health organizations. Many traditional products out there today are ridden with synthetic and irritating materials. At b.WR they believe what we put on our bodies is just as important as what we put in our bodies. We worry about our food being organic, or our skin products being paraben-free, but do we think about what’s in our underwear? Check out their products here.
Fortune-U.S. Department of State Program alumna Claudia Mendez created Ella Ember, a socially conscious brand of upscale alpaca clothing and blankets. Every piece is independently designed and handcrafted by highly skilled artisans in Bolivia, most of whom are women from indigenous background. Claudia is committed to keeping the artisans and full-time staff in Bolivia during the pandemic. Visit her site here.
Leadership Incubator Fellow Chavonne Hodges is the Founder and CEO of GrillzandGranola, which is a MWBE certified, NYC-based fitness company that curates and creates community-based experiences powered by women of color, starting with our signature class, TrapAerobics. Check out their workout packages and shop their merch here.
VV GROW alumna Genet Kebed’s Paradise Fashion was inspired by a love for traditional Ethiopian handweaving, the desire to preserve the beauty of this tradition, and empower women across Ethiopia with sustainable employment opportunities. Check out Paradise Fashion’s products here.
HERlead alumna Charlotte Massey is the Founder of SheFly. SheFly is a women’s outdoor pants with a stealth-pee zipper design to answer nature’s call w/o pulling your pants down, no matter your anatomy. Check out their outdoor pants and merch here.
VV GROW alumna Maria Quintero is the CEO of Undercover, a Panama-based rain boot company with a focus on social responsibility. For every boot purchased, Undercover donates to a non profit, focusing primarily on children in need, environmental conservation, and animal protection. Check out Undercover here.
Skincare, Makeup and Hair Care
VV GROW alumna Takia Ross is the owner and lead make-up artist at Accessmatized, a company that is reimagining the make-up industry. They provide professional, affordable, and reliable make-up products that meet their clients’ needs and facilitate their ability to be their most confident selves. Learn more about their products here.
Global Ambassadors Program alumna Ntombenhle Khathwane created Afrobotanics to retell, reposition and reimagine the African story and identity by producing high quality, high performance consumer brands created with African botanical ingredients. Products are sustainably sourced to empower African rural women – learn more here.
VV GROW alumna Evelyne Nyairo created her beauty company of serums, oils, salts and more to help create a world where every woman has the opportunity to embrace and own her strength and beauty, inside and out. Check out Ellie Bianca’s collection here.
Global Ambassadors Program alumna Brianne West founded Ethique, a beauty company offering solid beauty bars using naturally derived and sustainably sourced active ingredients in a compostable cardboard box, and you add the water! One concentrate saves 700ml of water and one plastic bottle from manufacture and disposal into landfill. Check out their products here.
Home
Global Ambassadors Program and VV GROW alumna Josefina Urzaiz created her company Cielo Hammocks to help alleviate poverty and promote gender equality. The Cielo Foundation’s work is focused on the native Mayan communities in the Yucatan peninsula, where weaving supplements family incomes. With each hammock purchased, a contribution is made to improve the living conditions of these families. Check out their hammocks here.
Global Ambassadors Program and VV GROW alumna Maria Teresa Leal founded COOPAROCA, a social enterprise that integrates and trains textile artisans from various areas of the city of Rio de Janeiro. The business connects consumers interested in ethical production with high quality design offerings, accessories and home decor. Check out their online store here.
Global Ambassadors Program alumna Stevie Howell’s Stevie Howell brand is distinguished by artful prints, ethical and sustainable sourcing, and high-quality craftsmanship. Check out their unique collection of wallpaper, home items, loungewear, robes and buy-one-donate-one durable cotton face masks here.
Specialty Food and Beverages
Global Ambassadors Program and VV GROW alumna Claudia Castellanos Roques is the founder and managing director of Black Mamba Chili, an international food brand committed to economic empowerment for families in Swaziland. Check out their products here.
Fortune-U.S. Department of State Program alumna Akshi Khandelwal is the founder and CEO of Butterfly Ayurveda, an organization that develops Ayurvedic products ranging from immunity boosting Ayurvedic medicines for lifestyle-related disorders to herbal teas, infusions, cookies and bakery items. Find out more here.
VV GROW alumna Maria Clara Ruiz Zapata is the Managing Director of ZoOming.co, a travel company that creates bespoke trips and offers signature experiences in Colombia. From this work came Estación Medellín, a Colombian coffee subscription that supports tourism and connects you with a network of Colombian coffee growers. Check them out here.
WE Empower Awardee Mavis Nduchwa founded Kalahari Honey, a social enterprise that uses Beekeeping as a tool to mitigate human and wildlife conflict in Botswana. Kalahari Honey trains and supplies rural women with beehives that they use as living fences along their farms and producing raw organic desert honey. Get their honey here.
Fortune-U.S. Department of State Program alumna Silvana Gonzalez is the CEO of La Divisa, offering specialty coffee products while focused on sustainability and women´’s economic empowerment. Their coffee is the result of better opportunities for coffee pickers, farmers and vulnerable communities combined with natural resource preservation and modern technologies for harvesting, roasting and brewing. Check out their coffee here.
Global Ambassadors Program and VV GROW alumna Maria Vargas is the owner and co-founder of The Gluten Free Factory, which specializes in manufacturing gluten free food products. The company is a pioneer in Costa Rica in research and development of healthy and tasty gluten free foods, and is one of the first companies in Latin America in this field. Check it out here.
Specialty Gifts
Global Ambassadors Program alumna Michelle Buelow is the founder and CEO of Bella Tunno, a company that sells childcare products and is committed to donating one meal for a child per product sold. Bella Tunno tasks themselves daily with creating products we wish-we-had that make us laugh. All products are 100% CPSIA compliant. Check out their products here.
Global Ambassadors Program alumna Rana Kotaiche and Fortune-U.S. Department of State Program alumna Rima Kotaiche co-founded Blessing which can transform any occasion with gifts and favors. Sisters Rana and Rima cofounded the company in 1996 in Beirut, Lebanon providing customizable gifts, souvenirs, chocolates or invitations for any occasion. Check them out here.
Global Ambassadors Program alumna Jacqueline NGO MPII’s Little Africa is a sustainable and inclusive enterprise based in Paris, France whose mission is to promote the art and culture of Africa and its diaspora. The Little Africa venture is the culmination of Jacqueline’s seven-year career in the tourism industry and features items ranging from notebooks to city guides to bags and more. Check it out here.
VV GROW alumna Louise Lonergan’s Lonergan Corporate Gifts has over 22 years experience and offers an unmatched gifting experience tailored to client needs. They are also supplying a large range of certified PPE including face masks, hand sanitizer, work safety kits and more. They can facilitate small and large orders here.