Pulse Magazine features Hope for Women and Aveda partnership

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Pulse magazine has featured us in their March/April 2011 issue, The Female Factor, and we could not be more honored! We are in the “Empowering Women” section under the subhead, Giving Hope, which is exactly what we do.

The section aptly features a famous quote by President Bill Clinton, “Women do 66 percent of the world’s work, produce 50 percent of the world’s food, earn 10 percent of the world’s income and own one percent of the world’s property.”

We knew that, and we want more people to know what we know. This article illustrates the importance of companies partnering with fair trade organizations like ours to champion equal labor for women and their families in poverty stricken areas around the world.

We recently partnered with Aveda, a socially conscious company that retails in salons and spas worldwide. This partnership benefited Hope for Women artisans from Colombia and over 400,000 of our Tagua nut hair accessories were sent to 27 countries!

This amazing partnership improved the lives of more than 400 women and their families and also helped to protect 400 acres of the Colombian rainforest.

As ISPA Chairman Deborah Waldvogel said in the issue, “Let this be a call of challenge to us all within the spa industry who have the ability and responsibility to impact lives. Uplift other women in your team to become leaders. Think beyond revenue to empower the less fortunate. Be a woman of strength to others.”

Well said.

Pure Aveda Salonspa is our Retailer of the Week!

This week Hope For Women would like to highlight a new and growing distribution channel and give special praise to Pure Aveda Salonspa of Mount Dora, Florida for their support of Hope For Women.

Owners Ric and Michele Wilson have created an urban, eco, zen retreat that connects the world of beauty and wellness with a heartfelt sense of environment and social responsibility. Pure Aveda Salonspa is a wonderful supporter of Hope For Women and has successfully sold our Fair Trade and eco-friendly Portraits of El Salvador since 2009. Customers love their striking beauty and modern look in addition to the support each purchase provides the artisans in El Salvador.

"Rosa" one of the top selling Portraits of El Salvador cards

Offering treats for the senses, this award winning team of professionals (voted best Hair Salon in Central Florida and a Salon Today top 200 winner three consecutive years in a row), elevates a salonspa visit to new heights by performing rejuvenating moments of wellness designed to balance the mind and renew the spirit.

Hope For Women’s growing relationship with salons began with our partnership with Aveda — where we provided them with a Fair Trade, eco-friendly Tagua accessory for each of their Holiday Gift Sets that were sent to 27 countries around the globe – and continues today with customized Aveda products and individual salon sales of Hope for Women’s products including Tagua bracelets, Portraits of El Salvador and India note cards.

Be sure to connect with Pure Aveda Salonspa on Facebook and Twitter as well as online at http://www.pureaveda.com/.

Serious Business

Picture yourself in a New Orleans’ conference room with 1200+ salon industry professionals. If you are thinking that you would be constantly worrying about how your hair looks you would be correct. And despite my Vermont fashion sense (more functional than fabulous) I was welcomed with open arms by a wonderful group of salon/spa owners that we are building relationships with.

How did I end up there? I was fortunate enough to be involved in the Neill Corporation’s 2011 Serious Business event this year – an annual gathering focusing on business education in the beauty industry.  Amongst other things, Neill Corporation is an Aveda distributor, serving a seven-state region in the southeastern United States, and their connection to Aveda is why I was there.

Neill Corporation invited me to attend to speak directly to the salons about the Aveda and Hope For Women partnership that is supporting artisan families in Colombia. I loved sharing the back-story of the Aveda and Hope For Women partnership and talking about some of the real people that the Aveda 2010 Holiday Gift Set program helped support.

A tagua seed pod known locally as a "cabeza"

It was particularly fun hearing people say “No way! THAT is where the tagua comes from?!?” after seeing the tagua seed pods that I brought with me, and seeing them energized to want to continue the partnership with the tagua artisans. I also got to meet salon managers that we already work with face to face for the first time – a real treat to finally be able to put a face to a name.

"Rosa" one of the top selling Portraits of El Salvador cards

Our Portraits of El Salvador cards were also extremely well received by the salon owners. These cards have found a great home in salons across the country and we are excited to work with many new salons that we met at Serious Business who want to feature this product.

I hope to have the opportunity to be around such a great group of people again in the future. Many thanks to the folks at Neill Corporation for having me there and for treating me so incredibly well – you made a flannel wearing guy from Vermont feel completely at home at a fashion event, which is no small feat.

-Evan

Fair Trade Connections Down Under

Most of the connections we make with communities around the world are with artisans that produce products in places like India, Colombia, El Salvador, Haiti, and many others in Africa and South America. Recently though, we were contacted by a Fair Trade store in Australia that found Hope For Women on the web and really wanted our products for their store, and this brought to mind how individuals in Melbourne, Australia are supporting Fair Trade and providing a platform to support global artisans.

It is difficult for us to sell to stores in other countries on an individual basis due to the high cost of shipping product from the US (where we store our products) to an individual store in a place like Australia (or Europe). In the future we might be able to find a distributor who can get our products to stores in Australia so that we can bulk ship products direct from India or El Salvador to them, but for now we do not have those systems in place.

Kym of Sankofa Fair Trade in Melbourne, Australia was so in love with our India and El Salvador cards that she ordered them despite the high shipping cost. We just heard back from her that she sold out before the Holidays were over and that they were a huge hit with her customers. So we are sending Kym some more, and we are happy to know that we have Fair Trade friends in Australia who love the work we are doing.

Our day to day focus is dominated by growing the Fair Trade movement here in the US, and it was very nice to have our partnership with Kym in Australia happen to remind us of the great people across the globe that are choosing to make Fair Trade a big part of their lives. Some encouraging perspective for us here at Hope For Women as we move into the new year.

New locations to find your favorite Hope For Women products!

What an exciting time it here at Hope For Women!  We are proud to announce that more than 40 highly talented independent sales representatives covering the gift, stationery and natural foods channels have partnered with Hope For Women to bring our Fair Trade and eco-friendly products to stores near you.

With hundreds of new shops embracing better products for a better world, Hope For Women products can be found in a vast variety of outlets including, natural foods stores, upscale grocery chains, lifestyle shops, new age stores, Fair Trade stores, department stores, garden and nursery stores, outdoor stores, health food stores, pharmacies, florists, hardware, hospital gifts shops, museum stores, seasonal & tourists shops, stationery stores, airport gift shops, coffee stores and salons & spas.

Support for our women artisans has been exceptional, stemming from our long term relationships with natural foods stores  including  Swathmore Food Cooperative, Lebanon & Hanover Co-op Food Stores and Whole Foods Market and with the innovators in Fair Trade retailing including Our Momentum,  Global Infusion ( http://www.globalinfusion.net/page/page/5819163.htm)  and Global Exchange Fair Trade Stores . Our newest retailers also play a crucial role, including Jungle Jim’s International Market,  Gloria and Company Wellness and Spa and  Lifestyle Whatever in the San Francisco Airport.The list goes on and on, and it is hard to pick and choose between all the new stores who have joined forces with us since September.  It’s the most exciting part of my job, seeing all the different types of stores making strong choices with the dollars to support products hand-crafted by artisans that tell a powerful story of empowerment, employment and support for women all over the world. See our store locator  to see a retailer near you – and tell us who your favorite Hope For Women retailer is – we would love to know!

Wishing you all health and happiness.

Amy Carey

Director of Sales