Designing beautifully elegant jewelry isn’t simple. Designing beautifully elegant jewelry out of recycled material adds even more complication to the process. 

Emily, our jewelry designer, designs beautifully elegant jewelry out of recycled material and then teaches a group of 28 Ugandan women how to make all of our designs ready for our American retail market. 

Emily Goodrich, spends a majority of her year living in San Diego fulfilling various roles at the Ember Arts office. However, her greatest contribution to our company is her tremendous ability to design paper bead jewelry. 

For the next four months, Emily, will be living in Uganda teaching all of our Ugandan partners how to make our 2013 collection, a collection we believe to be our best yet. 

To learn more about Emily and to understand how she continually pushes the limits of what is possible with paper jewelry, we asked her a few questions. Her answers, about the work she does, are fascinating and reveal a side of Ember Arts most people never get to see. Here is what she shared. Enjoy.

As a jewelry designer what exactly do you do for Ember Arts?

My job entails forecasting jewelry and color trends in the U.S., and using what I know about our own market and the available materials in Uganda to find a middle ground. I do a bit of resource research as well, I just finished a day of scouring the markets to see what sort of new materials we might be able to incorporate into our jewelry. I also spend time in Uganda teaching things like color theory. For an idea of what that looks like, check out the sway earring, which is a piece I’m very proud of the bead makers for mastering, as light tints and a dark shades of a central color were once new concepts for them. We are continually working to build a color vocabulary that makes sense across cultures.

What will you be focusing your attention on while you are in Uganda?

We’ve already had a touch-up training session to remember the new designs for Fall/Holiday 2012, and to learn about making a great multicolor piece. In the next weeks, I’m going to be working with a smaller group of women to experiment with new bead shapes and new materials, and potentially some entirely new products. Then, I’ll be narrowing down a group of designs to start the training for 2013. I’ll also be looking for new kinds of materials that we can incorporate into the jewelry. In the past we’ve used ‘cavera,’ which is the local word for plastic bags. There are lots of interesting materials in the market, but they’re often available only once. Part of the work is to determine which items will be available consistently.

How many times have you been to Uganda?

This is my fourth trip to Uganda.

What is it like to work with a group of 28 Ugandan women, some of which you can not communicate with because of the language barrier? 

It’s a little challenging at times, sometimes I have to work with a translator, and I’ve definitely had to get used to being laughed at. These women love to joke, and it doesn’t always translate! But they are also starting to feel more and more like old friends. I’ve learned about 30 words in the Acholi language, and they get a huge kick out of it. They are also quick learners, mostly they teach themselves by looking at the samples, which makes things a lot easier for me. And I’ve learned a lot from them as well, like how to get a fair price for fabric at the market. You should see the glaring look of disgust that our smiling Gladies can pull off, which usually drops the price by at least 10,000 shillings!

How long have you been designing/making paper jewelry?

I’ve been designing paper jewelry for about the same length of time as I’ve been working for Ember, roughly four years. But I’ve always had an interested in creative things, and had been making jewelry and working with recycled materials for at least a few years before the opportunity with Ember came along.

What are your top three favorite things about Uganda?

1. The people. It’s hard to get used to being in a place that’s so different from home, but most Ugandans are very accommodating and helpful; particularly the women we work with, but even strangers on the matatu (taxi bus) who help with negotiating fares and directions. I also really enjoy getting to know other expats who are living here in Uganda and working in similar fields. We have some great conversations, and also share the experience of navigating a foreign culture.

2. The rainstorms. Rain is my favorite weather, so I’m never sure how I ended up in Southern California. To me, there’s nothing better than sitting on the porch with a cup of tea during a downpour, listening to the thunder and raindrops.

3. The produce. First of all, besides being delicious, you could make an entire bowl of guacamole from just one avocado. I had to stop eating bananas in the U.S. because now I know what they’re supposed to taste like, and there’s really no comparison.

What is it about Ember Arts you care about most?

What’s really important to me is that the women we work with have a good, safe job with fair wages that lets them look toward better futures, and allows them a sense of dignity in the international community. They are business women and entrepreneurs, and they hold their heads high. You can see it in them. In terms of my own role, I love having the opportunity to use my own art and design background to help them create a product that sells itself, and doesn’t rely on making the customer feel guilty to make a sale.

Emily is a dreamer herself. She also, has a jewelry line of her own. Her passion for the work she does in Uganda is fueled by her dream of using her interest in art and design as a catalyst to see as much of the world as possible, by helping others creatively use their resources to support themselves and to pursue their own dreams. 

Many of you have seen photos and videos of our jewelry-making partners. Emily is another important family member that makes the jewelry you wear and support exceptionally beautiful. 

Keep your eye out for new designs closer to the holidays. Emily and our Ugandan partners are working hard on something special. 

Ember Arts is for dreamers.

Michelle Larson doesn’t look the type to wade through knee-deep trash along the border of two developing countries. She’s pretty, stylish, and at the very least hygienic. Nonetheless she points to one such jaunt into the garbage as a formational moment in her life.

“The first time I took a visit to the city garbage dump in Mae Sot, Thailand [a Thai city on the border with Burma], I found myself knee deep in the trash, playing with the children who live there,” Michelle recounted to us by email from Mae Sot.  “Many of them had skin problems, horrible coughs, and smelled like… trash.” The children’s Burmese mother said that settling her family in the dump was the lesser of two evils, that keeping her family in Burma was far more dangerous.

Michelle has since spent the last several years traversing the borderlands of Thailand and Burma, educating herself on the brutal military regime that tyrannizes the Burmese people to this day, and exploring ways to support the many refugees that flee for their lives.

She helped found an organization called Eleho that publicizes the hardships of people in Burma and supports the best organizations serving them. And recently she was asked by those organizations to teach English to Community Health Workers, helping them to better understand the medical texts and drug labels that they rely upon. She is there now, working on a voluntary basis to spread hope in Burma.

We are proud to announce that Michelle is our next Ember Hero, and that 50% of all online sales through the end of October will be donated to Eleho to support Michelle’s work. You can shop online here.

And Michelle’s commitment to Burma is only her latest endeavor in making the world more just.  She grew up in Portland, Oregon and when she was still very young she remembers seeing homeless people in the city’s downtown, some without shoes or coats, trying to shelter themselves from the rain. She started volunteering with a soup kitchen and a women’s shelter, and she began to wonder about poverty not just in her hometown, but globally.

Years later in 2006, after seeing the film Invisible Children, she joined the organization’s first national tour to raise awareness and funds for children affected by a civil war in Uganda. She finished her college degree from an Invisible Children RV as it sped across America to screen the film.  “I was blown away at how many people selflessly gave of their time and resources on behalf of the children of northern Uganda,” said Michelle.

Injustice, she says, happens everywhere. “It can be found in our own neighborhoods, and in our own cities. If you are looking to engage in the fight against injustice, you don’t have to look far.” Michelle, though, still has her eyes on a pile of trash on the far side of the world. “Being there that day,” she says, “with garbage all around me, I felt a strange responsibility. Now that I have seen with my own eyes, I am compelled to share.”

We are glad that she has shared her mission with us, and we hope that you will be inspired by her work as well. We’re proud to donate 50% of all online sales through the end of October to Eleho to support Michelle’s work. You can shop online here.

Hemline is one of our favorite new stores, or rather, Hemline is a beautiful team of 10 stores, and we love them all. They have invested deeply in the story of our Ugandan partners and are a force for hope throughout the Southern USA. Today their website features a great summer look combing Ember jewelry with HEMLINE clothes and TOMS Shoes. It was created by our very own fashionista intern Laura. Check it out!

Talking to Lisa Dougan you might not know what an important force for hope she is. She speaks with unswerving humility about herself, and would likely turn the conversation to you, your interests and your successes, rather than focus on her own.

In fact even her success tends to focus on other people, on building peace and opportunity for those who find them lacking. She has helped open hundreds of thousands of eyes to Africa’s longest running war, seeded a community that bridges socioeconomic divides, and was recently invited to the Oval Office to meet President Obama in recognition for her advocacy and lobbying for children in East and Central Africa.

She is, in short, an inspiration. And our first Ember Hero.

In appreciation of her contribution to hope in our world we are donating 50% of all proceeds from our online sales through the end of the month to Lisa’s chosen charity: the Young Life Columbia Heights Program, which is investing in the lives of Washington DC teenagers from rough backgrounds with faithful, caring mentorship. Ember’s contribution will specifically go to help 30 of these teens attend a summer camp with Young Life that offers them the chance to connect more deeply with caring mentors and experience a different perspective on life.

Shop online thru July 31, and 50% will go to Young Life Columbia Heights.

A couple months ago Lisa was invited to the Oval Office to shake hands with President Obama. The path that got her there started about four years ago when she saw a film called Invisible Children that highlighted the unthinkable hardships of children in a civil war in Uganda.

“My life was monopolized by a desire to advocate for the children of northern Uganda,” says Lisa, and soon she was road-tripping from Washington DC to San Diego to the join a growing non-profit movement sparked by the film. As a ‘roadie’ for Invisible Children she spent five months travelling the country, living out of a donated RV, and “sharing the story that had taken my life captive and calling on my peers to act.”

But Lisa didn’t stop there.  She soon left on a fact-finding trip to Northern Uganda and then returned to San Diego to help manage the ongoing awareness and advocacy efforts of Invisible Children.

Even as she split her attention between her friends in Uganda and the roadies she managed across the US, Lisa did not neglect her interim hometown of San Diego. The small coastal community of Ocean Beach is known in part for the many homeless people who enjoy its nice weather and public spaces. One Sunday afternoon a friend of Lisa’s took some leftovers from a party to Ocean Beach and had a public BBQ, inviting anyone who happened to be around, many of whom lived on the streets.

Lisa saw that food was a great way to connect with people. She says, “After that first day, I made a personal commitment to return to that same spot every Sunday, with a meal to share. The food just provided an excuse to meet people. The real goal was to learn their name and their stories and to make plans to find them the following week. The point was relationship.”

Five or six people grew to ten, then twenty, then forty people meeting every Sunday for food and each other’s company. This small community was the catalyst for life change on both sides of the soci-economic spectrum.  Says Lisa, “Through the relationships that were built between all of us and the community that formed, I had the incredible privilege of seeing people get off the streets, find the courage to pursue recovery from addictions, experience unconditional love for the first time, open up about pain and fear that paralyzed them.  In turn, I have been loved, supported, educated and challenged by many of my friends living on the streets in Ocean Beach.”

At the end of last year Lisa moved back to Washington DC to dive deeper into political advocacy to bring an end to the ongoing conflict in Easter and Central Africa with Resolve Uganda. Together with other advocates she slept on the streets in front of a Senator’s office to get him to release a hold on the LRA Disarmament and Northern Uganda Recovery Act, which aims to focus US attention on the conflict. And it worked. The bill passed and Lisa, together with a select few delegates, was invited to meet President Obama as he signed the bill into law.

It’s the most visible of Lisa’s accomplishments so far, but we don’t suspect that it will be her last, or greatest. We asked Lisa, “If the world could be different somehow because of you, what change would you choose?” Her answer was that people would see the richness and necessity of building deep bonds of relationship, that they would brave the inconveniences and sacrifices and pursue the adventure, healing, and transformation that relationship promises. This, Lisa seems to believe, can change the world.

[Join Lisa's mission to send 30 teens to Young Life summer camp here.]

Laura Berry (bio by Joanna Oboza)
Laura Berry is a vegetable garden growing superstar in Haiti. Originally from Dallas, Texas, in her spare time she finds herself in Haiti, working to provide a sustainable food source for the impoverished people of Haiti by helping them grow vegetable gardens that are maintained through the compost of human solid and liquid waste. When not using her vegetable superpowers, she tries to live a normal life by going to Texas A&M working on a degree in Geography, Sociology, and Business. Trying to act like a normal college student as often as her non-normal but exciting life allows, she plays with her dog Bentley, watches a lot of hockey, crafts and sews, and enjoys spending time outdoors. If you happen to run into her somewhere in Dallas or Haiti, be sure to speak into her left ear because her right ear, unfortunately, will not pick up what you say. Hopefully one day when her life takes a more normal toll, she will be able to live on a sailboat (where she can read “Mountains Beyond Mountains”, a book that continues to change her life each time she reads it), help people tap into their creativity, and camp out at a Nascar Race. Although no super hero is ever able to live a normal life, Laura would never want to live a life other than hers because it allows her to continuously work on developing countries and projects. She has currently taken on a role as an intern at a company called Ember Arts where she hopes to learn about social entrepreneurship and its ability to truly empower women. As a child dreaming of being a weather girl, little did she know that she were to become a superhero with vegetable growing and waste composting super powers!

Joanna Oboza (bio by Sander Harth)
A unique Polish upbringing has catapulted Joanna Oboza into becoming the first Ember Intern who not only speaks a first language that is not English, but who can name over 50 different types of sausages. Despite being held back in Kindergarden for not knowing enough English, Joanna has overcome her language barrier and fear of eating the ends of bananas to establish herself as a fine young woman with a big heart and great aspirations. Besides being a psychology major at UCSD, she is involved with multiple well-known organizations, a few of which include Invisible Children and the Big Sister mentoring program. She has recently brought her passion for reading books and her dream to one day build a library in her own house to a more contemporary endeavor, tutoring refugees from Burma and Somalia in financial literacy. Joanna considers herself very fortunate to have the opportunity to intern at Ember this summer because she has a great passion for helping others in need, and by working at Ember she is going to experience how a business can both be profitable and play a major role in changing people’s lives for the better. While earthquakes are Joanna’s greatest fear, and the Ember office is located North Park (which is devastatingly close to the San Andreas Fault line), she has volunteered to risk her life in order to participate in what is most definitely going to be a life changing experience, not only for her, but for the 27 beautiful women in Uganda who work so hard to produce the Ember Arts jewelry we all adore.

Sander Harth (bio by Laura Berry)
Sander the Surfer Superhero is not only big in size but business savy. He had a natural knack for business and dreams of owning his own company. Sander’s business aspirations are not only aimed to help himself, but also to help others who are less fortunate. He has worked closely with an agricultural company, Guayaki, based out of Argentina and helped promote their projects at his school, University of San Diego.  After taking a trip to Argentina and living with the indigenous Ache Guayaki Indians, he knew socially conscious business was a direction to aim. This superhero has linguistic power and is trilingual: English, Norwegian, and Spanish. These powers come in handy when you travel like sander. He’s studied in Spain and Mexico and has traveled all over the world ranging from New Zealand, Africa, Panama, Paraguay, Europe, and his favorite Costa Rica. Originally from Encinitas, CA, Sander can not imagine living anywhere but the San Diego area. He’s finishing his last year at USD where he is studying Finance, Accounting, and Spanish. In his free time you can find him surfing, hiking, playing volleyball, cooking, going to concerts, exploring, kayaking, or watching sports. In the future, Sander hopes to have started a family and own his own business.