A small business halts human trafficking through unique fundraising ventures.
By Bethany Leggett
In 2000, accessories designer Lia Valerio, 36, finished her Peace Corps assignment in Tonga and had a choice to make: fly back to the U.S. or keep traveling. She chose to head to South East Asia. In Cambodia, she fell in love with the people and the fabrics, but she was taken aback by the visible sex trade industry.
After her friend Maria had a similar experience in Cambodia, the women started a partnership with fair trade companies in the textile industry, turning the colorful silks into handbags and scarves to sell internationally. Malia Designs — named after Maria and Lia — was formed. Today turquoise Vietnamese fish-feed bags, pink wallets and ivy green Chinese silks sit in neat stacks in the basement of Valerio’s Logan Square apartment, the headquarters for Malia Designs.
In 2009, Malia Designs added Stop Traffick, a nonprofit foundation, to its international wholesale business. So far it has given more than $47,000 to local and international organizations, in addition to 10 percent of the profits from Malia Designs. Donations currently go toward two organizations — Damnok Toek in Cambodia and the Chicago Alliance Against Sexual Exploitation, which provides services for victims of trafficking.
About 1.4 million people in the world are sold as sex slaves each year. Damnok Toek rehabilitates, provides schooling and gives medical care for more than 1,500 children who have either worked as sex slaves or are at risk. In Chicago, CAASE provides educational tools, advocacy and legal services for anyone who has been sexually assaulted .
“We are small, but every time anybody has a seed of an idea, sharing that knowledge is huge,” Valerio says.
How can you add a fundraising venture to your business? Here are some tips:
Throw fundraising parties at unusual places
You won’t find crystal champagne glasses or partiers decked out in evening attire at Stop Traffick’s fundraisers. One board member, an artist, helped organize a small event at Arts n Spirits in May 2012, where attendees paid $45 for a BYOB art class. The class painted a picture of a woman rowing down the Mekong River in Cambodia, a reminder of where the money from the event was going.
In September 2012, the fourth annual benefit will be held at a neighborhood bar in Chicago. “We are going to do different stations where people can sign petitions, write your local senators about human trafficking or see the top 10 things you can do to fight human trafficking in your day,” Valerio says. “It’s a party but also an event to raise awareness.”
Expand without hiring more people
Ask other companies that share your social mission to become partners. Valerio knows the accessories market, popular trends and ideal sizes to order, but she lets the three established production organizations in Cambodia handle the sewing and manufacturing. She has established a quality-control system that requires a small number of designs to be shipped for her approval before the full order is placed, so there is time to work out any kinks.
Her Cambodian partners independently practice fair trade principles, such as a basic wage and health care. They also find women and children jobs to keep them from being sold or rehabilitate them after that experience.
Borrow the best ideas
For Valerio, it seemed natural to convert some of her existing products into accessories showcasing the new philanthropy mission. Following the Lance Armstrong LIVESTRONG armband model, she created multicolored Stop Traffick bracelets made from recycled fish-feed bags and sold them for $2.5 apiece alongside Malia Designs products.
Learn more
Check out Stop Traffick’s benefit page to get information on upcoming events, maliadesigns.com/stoptraffick/benefit.html, or email Lia Valerio at lia@maliadesigns.com
Where you can find Malia Designs products:
-
Andersonville Galleria, 5247 N. Clark St.
Greenheart Shop, 1911 W. Division St.
Hanger 18, 4726 N. Lincoln Ave.
The Fair Trader, 1623 E. 55th St.
Whole Foods Lincoln Park, 1550 N. Kingsbury St.
