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when we are able to look beyond others’ actions and into their motivations. KR: Everyone seems to have a different definition of courageous. I find it both revealing and informative to have people share theirs with me. I’d love to hear your take on courage. What is the most courageous thing you have done in your life? SWF: Although I didn’t see it at the time, the most courageous thing I’ve ever done was buying that one-way ticket to Port-au-Prince (Haiti) three weeks after graduating from high school. My parents had moved back to the States so this meant I was completely on my own with a small business I had started a year prior and a few contacts. I think the idea of starting over in a new country is far more daunting to me now at 25 than it was when I was 17. KR: Talk us through your journey from Haiti’s to Heir Raleigh; describe the scenery. How did you get there? SWF: A gap year in Haiti turned into three before I realized how important it was to go back to the states and get an education. So I spent my third year in Haiti training the artisans to do my job so that Haiti’s Jewels could run smoothly without me. Just after my 21st birthday, I moved back to North Carolina to start my degree in Industrial Design at NCSU in Raleigh. I quickly became interested in expanding my jewelry making skills. In Haiti, I tried to minimize how much product needed to be imported, so as a design team we limited ourselves to what we could find/buy locally like grenn majok (tapioca pearls), leather, recycled aluminum + glass, coconut husk, wood, and some found stones. When I moved back to the states, the world of new materials opened up to me. In Haiti I had focused on colorful, chunky, bohemian, craft jewelry but in Raleigh, where I had endless material options, I took a turn towards minimalistic sophistication: fine gold + brass jewelry, luxurious leather bags with wood + brass details, and eventually a fashion collection made entirely with
sustainable wool, cotton, and leather.
in society.
KR: The Heir woman is…
The name Haiti’s Jewels is not about the jewelry as much at it is about the artisans who make up our team. They have faced adversity that I will never truly understand: extreme poverty, malnourishment, abuse, loss of homes and family during the earthquake, and so much more.
SWF: Sophisticated, strong, adventurous, minimal, conscientious, self-aware. KR: The Haiti’s Jewels woman is… SWR: Resilient, bright, considerate, courageous, and outwardly focused. KR: Which one of the artisans working with Haiti’s Jewels inspires you for an unlikely reason? Tell us why… SWF: In my seven years owning a business in Haiti, I only once had to fire someone: a man who had worked with us since the beginning who kept stealing materials from the warehouse and other artisans. It broke my heart. He was one of my best friends but for some reason he couldn’t control the impulse to steal. But upon hearing the news, his wife, Néhémie, came to visit me. She apologized for her husband’s actions and then courageously advocated for herself, setting down a basket of materials and showing me how she had watched her husband make jewelry for a year and could make everything that he could. Now she is one of our highest-earning artisans and she’s able to employ her husband. Since she’s the manager of her family’s relationship with the company, we never have to worry about theft. What’s amazing to me is that instead of using the firing of her husband as an excuse to despise Haiti’s Jewels and blame me for her family’s hardships, she used the situation to make herself better and take on a role of leadership in her community and our family. KR: “Partnering with Haitian artisans to create life changing beauty” that’s the Haiti’s Jewels slogan. Break that down for us. SWF: I started Haiti’s Jewels before I was a jewelry designer. It was entirely motivated by a desire to empower women through design + business. Haiti has a high unemployment rate and those who are employed are often paid little and it’s difficult to get a leg up
But despite all of this tragedy in their lives, they are resilient, have advocated for themselves and their community, and learned a skill that transformed their lives. The artisans are each independent contractors who have ultimate control over their designs and therefore their business and each have used their earnings (which at times far exceeded mine) to build homes, buy land, send their children to good schools, take online classes, and even start their own businesses outside of jewelry design. The beauty that they choose to create each day is transforming their lives, the lives of their loved ones, and the lives of women around the world buying and wearing their jewelry. It’s the most fulfilling work I’ve ever had the opportunity to experience and even as business has slowed, the artisans have all moved onto their own passions and are thriving, healthy leaders in their communities. KR: What is your affirmation for today, for every day? SWF: If today I fall short, I have every other day, for the rest of my life, to prove today wrong. KR: What can we expect from Heir Raleigh and Haiti’s Jewels in the future? SWF: From HEIR — more product development with an emphasis on a luxury line of exquisite one-of-a-kind bags and fine solid gold jewelry. From Haiti’s Jewels — new collections that push the boundaries of business design and artisan manufacturing in Haiti. page 95