VOZ | change through beauty

Since attending Stanford University's d.school, Jasmine aspired to "rehumanize" product design by learning about ceremonial craft and artesanía in the Americas.  While interviewing Quero Shamans and over a hundred weavers in the Peruvian Andes in 2008, she saw how many artisans and fair trade cooperatives struggled to connect with contemporary audiences. She began collaborating with Mapuche weavers in 2009 as a volunteer product designer to the Chol Chol Foundation, and then founded VOZ in 2011 to offer indigenous artisans fair trade market access through design educations and contemporary fashion.

After graduating from Stanford and University of California's Haas School of Business, David’s thirst for social change through innovative business solutions has pushed him to co-found some of the most influential startups in social enterprise such as World of Good and Save Up. David’s experience working with artisans ranges from production and supply chains across over 50 countries, and his big-picture financial strategies have turned his companies into international successes.

Lorena comes from a family of master seamstresses and grew up sewing in her mother’s studio. After studying Fashion Design and Haute Couture in Santiago, she became VOZ’ lead fashion designer. Lorena is also our master pattern maker, technical backbone, and Director of Production.

Irys is a product designer from Stanford’s d.school with a career background in sustainable fashion design. She has worked as Director of Sales and Marketing for Amor Vert, designed her our own fashion collections, and has also consulted in the Silicon Valley in information design. She directs our customer relations and marketing outreach.

With over a decade of corporate management experience in Santiago, Chile, Maria Eugenia manages VOZ' Chilean finances and operations.  Her family is of Mapuche origin from the Carahue region. Maria Eugenia brings unique cultural and professional experience to the table.

Mercedes' passion for indigenous artwork has taken her to the far reaches of Latin America. With a background in strategic communications, sociology and sustainable development, Mercedes has devoted her career to creating Fair Trade communication campaigns that enlighten consumers and connect artisans to global audiences.

Margarita is 55 years old.  Weaving has been pivotal for her to buy what was necessary and pay for the education of her three children. She started weaving when she was seven. She loves weaving fine shawls and capes (ruanas), and dyeing with greens and yellows from the leaves of peach trees and maqui, flowers from the aromo (Acacia) tree and matico (a native medicinal plant). Margarita is one of the founding weavers of VOZ.

Verónica is 41 years old. She started weaving, she says, almost when she was born. Weaving has allowed her to earn an income while doing something that she enjoys.  She is also proud that the work she does represents precious knowledge that comes from her family's tradition; she learned textile art from watching her mother. The colors she prefers when dyeing are the yellow she gets from onion and the black she gets from mud and Eucalyptus leaves. She is secretary to the weaver's association Ñimi Kafe, and also one of VOZ' founding Artisan Directors. Verónica say this weaving is not only a line of work but also a way to heal the soul.

Zenobia is 51 years old. Her mother taught her to weave when she was 13. She is married and has three professional daughters that she has also taught to weave.  She prefers to weave on the loom and her favorite dyeing color is yellow from the onion peel. Zenobia was a weaving instructor with Newen, and began weaving with the Fundación Chol-Chol 13 years ago. She has also served a President of the Ñimi Kafe association. She is one of the founding Artisan Directors of VOZ.

Marta is 47 years old.  She married a farmer in Carahue when she was 24, and today they have three children.  She has been able to provide for her children thanks to the weaving she produces.  Her husband helps her with the twisting of the yarn.  She started weaving when she was 13 years old when her grandmother taught her, and wove the first poncho when she was 15.  She loves weaving, and the colors she dyes green with various leaves.  She enjoys experimenting with colors and new textures. She participated in an education programs from Agro Progreso and the Fundación Chol-Chol, and today is one of the directors of the Ñimi Kafe weaver association. Marta is a founding Artisan Director of VOZ.

Jacqueline is 40 years old. She worked as a secretary in Temuco before marrying a farmer and moving to the countryside.  She had a daughter and identical twin boys. She began knitting four years ago when she attended a workshop and began to craft, invent colors, and finally began an artisan leader in her community.  Jacqueline loves weaving, especially when done in a community, because it allows her to meet new people and gives her the opportunity to earn an extra income for her household. Jacqueline is passionate about innovating new products and created the Scarf Ko VOZ design.  She is one of the founding VOZ Artisan Directors.

Julia is 35 years old and weaving has been pivotal in her life – providing her the income she needed to educate her daughter as a medical technician and keep her own home.  Julia began weaving when she was ten years old by observing her mother, and building herself a small loom.  She most enjoys weaving small, delicate and intricate textiles, and loves the accuracy and symbols.  She likes dyeing green, orange and grey from peach leaves, onion peel, oak and mud. After working with the Fundación Chol-Chol for nine years, she became a weaving instructor in her community Trabla Mañio. Julia is one of the founding Artisan Directors of VOZ.

Irma is 58 years old and she is a seamstress. Her two daughters are lawyers and live in the UK.
While in the U.K., Irma took advantage of every opportunity possible to study design while she worked as a seamstress, and learned advanced techniques of dressmaking in 1986 at Rotherham Soult Jorbes.  However, she recognized that Europe was no paradise, and returned to Chile in 2008 "with nothing."  As a Mapuche woman, she reconnected with the land and traditions of her family with her creative work when she returned to her family´s land and joined a weaver's organization in Nueva Imperial. Her experience both of the Mapuche culture, dressmaking, and European markets brings Irma a unique perspective as VOZ´ founding seamstress.

Pascuala is 54 years old and married with three children. She says that weaving has meant a lot to her because of the independence the income it brings has given her.  Her mother taught her to weave after she got married, and the first weaving piece she made was a poncho for her son.  Around the year 2002, she started participating in weavers' groups in Araucanía. For three years, Pascuala was an instructor with the Municipality of Teodoro Smith where she taught weaving workshop. She most enjoys knitting scarves and fine textures.

María learned how to weave when she was 17 by watching her aunt. She left for Santiago as a young woman, but did not like city life or domestic work and returned south. The income she makes from weaving has served her to educate her four children. What she loves weaving most are large traditional textiles like blankets and rugs. Her favorite colors to dye are orange from barba de Hualle, green with Maqui leaves, and café from Hualle bark and Eucalyptus leaves.

Sonia is 56 years old and has been weaving since she was a child. She learned how to knit in elementary school and never stopped since. She weaves to sell in the countryside to support her four children, all of whom studied to become professionals. What she loves to knit the most are socks, hats, and scarves. Her favorite colors to dye are green from the Maqui leaf, orange from Hualle bark, and yellow from Michai roots.

María learned how to weave at 16 years old when her neighbor sat her down to weave and watched her every detail, only stopping to drink matte. The first thing she wove was a small poncho and with that earning she bought her first pair of shoes. She is married with three sons, and her husband sets bones at the intercultural hospital of Nuevo Imperial. The money she has earned for her weavings has served her greatly in that she has never has to ask for anything from her husband, has always been able to make decisions independently, and has been able to buy the things her and her family need. She loves to weave everything, and dye green from Maqui and orange from Hualle bark.

Nina is 30 years old, and after working in Santiago she returned, disillusioned, to Southern Chile where she was raised and her mother taught her how to weave. She is single, and the money she has earned with weaving has helped her with everything. It is her sole profession and it sustains her month to month. She enjoys weaving everything except bags, and her favorite natural dyes are blue gray that she makes from mud and Huelle shells.

Bill is a Professor in Mechanical Engineering and the Executive Director of the d.school Design Program at Stanford University.  His extensive product design experience ranges from award-winning Apple portable computers to the original Hasbro Star Wars action figures. Bill is also an experienced entrepreneur, having founded five successful companies including tech design consultancy D2M.

Laura is the founder of General Counsel Services, a boutique Silicon Valley Law Firm specializing in a variety of fields such as intellectual property, patent opinions, contracts, NDA’s, licensing, corporate governance, corporate formation, employment and labor law, mergers and acquisitions, venture capital, and financing.  Coming from a Design and Engineering background, and Intel Corporation, she understands, law, design, innovation, and the special needs of start-ups from a unique perspective.

Derek Footer is the Managing Partner at CygneGris, a micro venture capital firm focused on startup funding of energy, bio/clean tech, food and entertainment companies in Latin America. With long time experience in international business development and strategy, his career has been dedicated to building viable businesses both entrepreneurially and within larger corporations. An attorney and serial entrepreneur with prior success in Chile, he is now focused on investment and advises VOZ with a seasoned perspective on entrepreneurship and a view to the practical issues of growing a business.

Sandra works to solve the world’s problems through market-based solutions, experienced developing alternative business models to meet social and commercial bottom lines internationally. Currently, she is forging an ecosystem of social entrepreneurship as a manager of HUB Atlanta. She spent the last year in Mexico City developing-economy enterprise finance, investment and business management. Formerly Director of Institutional Development at New Ventures Mexico, and part of Bloomberg’s international and regional sales team. Sandra is fluent in Spanish, holds a BBA from Emory University and an MBA from the University of Southern California with a focus on social enterprise.

Rebecca is an avid fashion entrepreneur, and pioneer in the Ecological Apparel industry. With over fifteen years of design and fashion management experience, including founding her own fashion line Rebecca Rich Organic, she has brought many brands to success through production to sales including 39SIXTYONE for Velvet Inc., Atlas T, Tart Sportswear, and Solow. Having also once founded a sustainable fair trade garment factory, she brings VOZ a plethora of sustainable production and apparel knowledge.

With a degree in Mathematical and Computational Science from Stanford University, Jessica has a strong formation in analytical problem-solving. After several years success as a user experience designer, her love for fashion drove her to train in Fashion Design and Production at Apparel Arts SF, and co-found Threadflip, "a sexier eBay" for women to buy and sell clothing. She brings to VOZ digital design experience, coupled with fashion sensibility and Silicon Valley tested entrepreneurial success.

Kyra was an early co-founder of VOZ, and advises us in international marketing, social media, and communication strategies. She comes from a background in campaigns, community change, and communications strategy. Her experience from University of Berkeley in Rhetoric and Public Policy, the London School of Economics in Social Business, paired with experience with Swing Semester, New Organizing Institute and the US Department of Energy, has made her skilled in sustainable design, system development, and team management.