Empowering Women Artisans From Around the World with Kara Valentine

MP3 Download

In this uplifting dialogue Valentine is sharing how her organization is offering women who are living in poverty stricken communities a way to earn a livable wage that supports themselves and their families. By partnering and building alliances with artisans around the world, women are rewriting their futures through jewelry making and fabric art. Valentine was the mother of a two-year old daughter when her second daughter Bryn was born prematurely, no bigger than a dollar bill at birth and weighing under 2 pounds. She says, “We were very, very lucky to have resources and the best doctors in the world.” She describes how her Aunt Jane did a long-distance healing that tapped into a field of non-verbal communication with the baby in which she received instructions she conveyed to Valentine that made baby Bryn stronger and stronger. When she finally brought four-pound, baby Bryn home, Valentine’s dearest friend Angela Melfi brought up an idea to start a business to help import products made by women and sell them through a direct sales channel creating global connections for woman artisans in developing countries as equal partners. Even though Valentine was beyond busy with this new baby she said yes to this idea and here she describes what unfolds. This work she says, “Really boils down to the family values and staying in integrity around who I want to be in the world. I believe that if we all work together, we could end systemic global suffering in our lifetime. That’s what I’m committed to and being a part of this community [gives me the] support I need to be able to continue on this journey.” Threads Worldwide offers a way for many mutually beneficial partnerships to blossom and share in the wealth. (hosted by Justine Willis Toms) 

Bio 

Kara Valentine is a co-founder and COO of Threads Worldwide. Through collaboration with thousands of Artisans and Fair Trade Partners around the world, Threads Worldwide is dedicated to building a growing market for handmade goods. Partnering with artisan cooperatives and businesses it seeks to create dignified jobs for women through the fair trade of artisan jewelry made by women from Uganda to Ecuador. Many of these artisans have watched their dreams become a reality: dreams of sending their children to school, accessing healthcare, and making their homes safer. 

To learn more about the work of Kara Valentine go to www.threadsworldwide.com. 

Topics Explored in This Dialogue 

• How her life was changed by the premature birth of her second daughter
• Who was Valentine’s aunt Jane and what did she experience when she fell out of a forty-foot tree when she was ten years old
• What was the result of Aunt Jane’s healing circle and what baby Bryn communicated telepathically that led to her survival
• Why Valentine said yes to her friend’s idea of a global company for women artisans in developing countries
• What is the family value of “do it now” rather than waiting to be fully ready and looking for the one step that will move you forward
• Why it is important to connect with a vision that is bigger than yourself
• How following your joy can be a magnet for magic
• Why collaborations and equal partnerships are a deep value for Valentine’s business
• What is the network of sisterhood and collaboration
• How Valentine stood up to a comedian on an Alaskan cruise who spoke derisively about Guatemalans
• How did Maria Pacheco, a Guatemalan woman, start a women’s business cooperative
• Why Maria Pacheco requires only positive energy in the creation of the products in the cooperative
• How women in the U.S. can get involved and become Fair Trade partners as hosts and ambassadors in this endeavor and share the wealth
• Why abundant joy and wonder is a business value
• What is the value of staying curious even in hardship
• How the women artisans reinvest 90% of the income back into their families
• Why we must choose authenticity over perfection
• What is the Guatemalan dream circle 

Host: Justine Willis Toms   Interview Date: 9/27/2019   Program Number: 3693

Music Playlist

From Album: Planet Passion 
Artist: Ancient Future        

Opening Essay: Track 12 - Socha Socha, Part 2
Music Break 1: Track 08 - Alap
Music Break 2: Track 10 - Ne Po Pogrebu Bochonochek 
Music Break 3: Track 11 - Socha Socha, Part 1