Tag Archives: Haiti’s Jewels
Sales Force
Haiti’s Jewels, LLC is a wholesale company partnering with Haitian artists to design, produce, and sell beautiful jewelry made of recycled materials and local Haitian products.
In my opinion the business’ success is truly determined by its sustainability. If Haitians are unable to operate something, how will it have any resounding value? Part of making this company sustainable is finding bulk buyers… wholesale customers. The focus on large scale buyers has been necessary to build the wonderful group of clients we now have.
Bret Pinson is one of these individual buyers who is quickly expanding a market for HJ in Baton Rouge, LA. He is on the board of Respire Haiti and has been coming to Haiti regularly for the past two years.
“This was one of the first tangible economics development projects in the area that had early success and momentum (creating jobs and changing lives), the initial market response was outstanding; women absolutely love the story, the jewelry and most of all, the purpose!” –Bret
I met Bret in June of 2012 when he came down to Haiti on a service trip with his church, The Chapel from Baton Rouge, LA. He’s a consultant who works independently with a growing number of companies across the United States… so naturally one of the first things we did was talk. Bret got the whole story of Haiti’s Jewels, the artisans, myself, the business plan, and then asked one fateful question, “How can I help?”
At the time SALES were a problem for us. We were selling enough jewels to break even and inventory was stacking up. I asked Bret to help by buying a wholesale package to sell it to his friends and associates. I knew that between his outgoing personality and large network, they would sell quickly. I didn’t expect, however, that he would become Haiti’s Jewels’ #1 individual buyer, impacting Gressier in a new way…
“I am a management consulting and a big part of my practice area is executive recruiting. (I have) recruited dozens of CEOs, CFOs, COOs, and many other leadership positions. Once those jobs are filled there is some satisfaction from a job well done. That being said, nothing in my professional life has ever given me the fulfillment that working with you (Haiti’s Jewels) and the many others that are working to serve our Haitian brothers and sisters. Helping an affluent American secure another position is one thing but helping a Haitian feed their family, pay for education, provide funds for life threatening medical care, and all the many other life changing things has a depth and purpose that supersedes success in the excessively abundant world we live in here.” –Bret
Individuals are just as strong as businesses when it comes to sales. Haiti’s Jewels is still in need of individuals who are interested in adopting a unique story and product to share with their community.
1. You further a culture of socially responsible business in Haiti- a nation where 90% of it’s population are unemployed.
2. Jewelry has a 2-3x retail value. You can make 50-70% profit on every piece sold.
3. By building a network of people who become passionate about the jewelry, the story, and the artisans, you will be able to expand your market by supplying and selling to other individuals.
email info@haitisjewels.com for more information.
And then there were nine… GROCKISANZ pt. 3
It’s been a few MONTHS since my last post… and a LOT has happened. We now have 9 artisans (Grockisanz: glass and rock jewelry makers) who are working hard and producing some new, beautiful jewels. Biju Ayiti (Haiti’s Jewels) has four new talented artisans:
Johnny: Wilnes’ twin brotha-from-anotha-motha
Johnny is about 6’7″, as skinny as a bean pole and has a smile that is two times too big for his face. Alice in Wonderland’s Cheshire Cat aspires to Johnny’s smile, which stretches beyond the confines of his face. Wilnes taught Johnny everything he knows. They both have young children and wives to care for; they work with vigor and incredible attitudes. Last month, when he began working and earned his first paycheck, he almost seemed surprised that he was being paid to work. As we were walking down the mountain he whispered, “Thanks.” I whipped my head around macro-fast and said, “You worked hard, you earned this!” He smiled until corners of his mouth kissed his ears and said, “Yeah, you just wait, I’m going to make a bunch of zanno, yo (earrings).”
Vanessa: Ti Blag
Vanessa taught me perhaps the most important word in my Haitian vocabulary, Blag (comedian, joker, goof-off, silly kid). I’ve never had side-splitting laughs anywhere in the world like I’ve had in Haiti. In a place that’s so… (okay let’s be honest)… desolate. Perhaps Haitians must compensate with laughter. Vanessa is one of these blags, almost everything that passes through her lips is either uncontrollable giggles or words aimed making the entire team of artisans fall off their chairs laughing. I’m honestly becoming concerned that she’s an artisan just for the sake of hanging out! Should that be the case, however, I don’t think it would be a real problem. We all need some hearty laughter in this life. Vanessa quickly adapts to any challenge and has participated in making and designing some beautiful rock jewelry. March on ti blag, you bring us laughter!
Robenson: Donald’s Twin
Towards the beginning of March and I was sitting with Donald, showing him how to make double tier glass earrings, he had just wrapped his first pair perfectly when I saw a shadow pass in front of the light coming in the door. I looked up and all the blood drained from my face, because standing five yards away from my was Donald, the same spitting image of the Donald right in front of me. I stared for a few seconds and then turned my eyes over to the boy standing in front of me.”Donald,” I asked, “Why is there a Donald clone standing over there?”
He laughed.
“That is my brother, Robenson, most people think we are twins (marasa).” Donald said, introducing his brother. Robenson took a few steps closer and I began to notice small differences between them, thankful that they wouldn’t pull a parent trap on me! He sat down and before I even had time to protest he had wrapped a pair of perfectly matched earrings.
“What…How? Where did you learn to do that?” I asked, completely shocked.
“I’ve been watching my little brother do this every night for the past 3 weeks, I should know a thing or two.” He said, smugly.
“You’re hired,” I said.
Robenson is a reliable worker. He’s still in school but spends an hour or two working on jewelry every night and creates between 10 and 15 pairs daily. More than enough to save up for important things like university and school necessities.
Michel Ange: Girl Power
There is a movement, growing in developing countries and non profits, of investing in women. The female race is vogue right now. It’s cool to hire women, it’s cool for women to be in power, and it’s not so cool to hire mostly men… especially for a jewelry business. So, despite the fact that I care very little about what’s “in” or “out,” I can’t help agreeing that employing women is a fantastic thing to do, especially in Haiti.
I had expressed this desire to Megan and within a few days she recommended Michel Ange. She’s the mother of a kindergartner in the Respire School and had come to Megan looking for a job. Respire (Megan’s org.) already employs half of Gressier so there really wasn’t a convenient job for her working at the house or school. Megan instantly mentioned her and said that she didn’t have a lot of confidence but has made an effort to search out work. Michel Ange came over the next day, she is a curvaceous woman with a high pitched voice and very little confidence. When I tried to give her a hand shake she touched my hand lightly and didn’t make eye contact. I invited her to come to class the next day and she showed up at 4:00 sharp, unlike all of the other artisans who are continually between 30 minutes and an hour late. I was delighted to have time with her to work specifically on what she could do. Boy, could she DO! She made a rock bracelet in 30 minutes and then demanded that I give her another project. A few weeks ago, before I left for the states, I taught her how to make glass earrings and she has been working with Victor Richard regularly to improve. Out of all of the artisans, I expected the least from her. I suppose this is God’s way of redefining my first impressions.
I was in the states for a few weeks to renew my passport and donate my head to a friend’s hair dying competition… random, eh? I’ve only been back in Gressier for a few weeks.
I would like to send a shout out to my new hero, Bonnie Kate. She was an intern at Respire this spring and essentially MANAGED Haiti’s Jewels while I was away. Despite health problems, starting a bakery, babysitting, and saving the world, she has been an invaluable addition to our team. She takes inventory with Chrismate every week, communicates with the stateside team, and meets with the artisans to give new assignments and fill them in on new orders. She recently had to go home due to some undiagnosed health problems and she is greatly missed. Please keep her in your thoughts and prayers because we can’t wait to have her back again. As a Haitian would say, Big thanks “BONNIE CAKE!” We love you!
GROCKISANS
Grockisans: Artisans, particularly Haitians involved in Haiti’s Jewels, who use rocks and recycled broken glass bottles as their premiere artistic medium.
I can’t tell you how proud I am to begin to introduce them to you. For simplicity, I will translate our conversations into english.
Madame Vil Franch: Queen of the Recycled Plastic Feathers
(woah. that’s a great movie title) ^
The first week I was in Gressier, in early February, I was walking home from visiting one of the students in Bellevue when a woman shouted out to me from her front step, “Yo, white girl, do you have a little gift for me?”
This was nothing new. I sighed and said, for maybe the fourth time that day, “What do you think I have to give you? What would you even want that gift to be?”
She laughed and my spirits were lifted a bit “White girl, you know I’m just joking- but if you still want to give me something, I trust your judgement”
and wham. Just like that, we became buds. She offered me a chair and we sat on her front step talking about life for the next two hours. I had to make her repeat herself all the time, as my creole is still cave-man-esque, but it became very clear to me in those hours why I loved Ayiti Cherie so much. We talked until the sun went down and the rain began to fall and I still didn’t really want to leave. She was such a bro. Madame Vil France, has five children, a husband who’s no longer around, and strong desire to work. “Sitting is no thing to do in Haiti,” she told me, “no matter how hot it is, we almost all want a job.” Madame Vil sends her five children to school everyday, three go to Carrefour (10 miles to the east) and two go to Leogane (10 miles to the west, and the epicenter of 2010 earthquake). This woman, with next to no income, spends every dime she gets on her children’s education. She is empowering herself and her children and investing in the future. I’d be crazy not to invest in her!
The next day, after visiting another Ti Moun at the Bellevue school, I stopped in again and invited her to come to a little jewelry class up at the school. Madame was the only one, out of the four parents I invited, who showed up. She wanted this, I could tell. I struggled, at first, to find jewelry that she could do well despite her shaky hands. I really wanted to find something that could be her specialty, her territory.
Plastic Feathers. What? Yes.
They’re really quite simple to make but quite time consuming and require someone with gentle hands and patience. This was Madame Vil.
In two days she made 150 feathers and discovered beautiful red bottles to make HIV awareness earrings with red feathers. I’m very excited about the future with Madame Queen of Feathers.
Wilnes Pierre: Rock Extravaganza
I first met Wilnes when he came into our jewelry class and invaded three of my most sacred pet peeves: he stood right over my shoulder, breathed down my neck, and blocked 90 % of my light. After about 15 seconds I whipped my head around and said, “Do you want to SIT down?” He laughed and grabbed the chair right next to me saying, “That looks fun.” I welcomed the idea of a new student and handed him a tool set. Wilnes didn’t even need me to show him how to wrap a rock. Those 15 seconds of standing over my shoulder were enough. He wrapped the little white stone and then started making spacer beads with the scraps of wire. WHO IS THIS DUDE? He’s Wilnes. And he’s our official rock wrapper. He’s got a tiny baby and is engaged to be married this month. He gave me a wedding invitation the day after he met me. We have a line of rock bracelets and necklaces that is operated by him.
Donald King of the Zanno.
(Zanno is the Creole word for Earring).
Donald is a 17 year old boy who walked into class two weeks ago and asked to try making earrings. I showed him a couple pairs of glass earrings and he quickly and easily recreated them. Donald is in 11th grade and lives for education and the dream of studying in the states. Unfortunately his English is horrendous and he knows it! We practice English every day at 4 o’clock while we make earrings and learn new techniques. He’s really good at making earrings. In two weeks he has made over thirty pairs of glass earrings in class alone. I normally factor in two weeks for training alone, but Donald is the king.
Last wednesday I handed him an envelope of cash to pay him for the beautiful earrings he had made. Donald opened the envelope, peeked inside, and then handed it back to me saying, “I didn’t think we were getting paid for this! I just wanted to learn to make jewelry! If you give me cash like this, I will only spend it on things I don’t really need. What I need is to study in the states”
I was stunned. What? Who turns down cash? After 20 minutes of convincing him that he would eventually need money if/when he went to the states and that saving for university, whether in Haiti or in the US, was a smart idea, he finally agreed that we should create an account so that he can save up all the money he gets from jewelry making and not spend it until there is something truly important for his funds. He’s a smart kid.
So there, you’ve met them… the TREMENDOUS THREE!
I feel so unbelievably shocked and proud to know these three talented, diverse people. It was certainly not me who discovered them, yet somehow we all found each other. I’m so grateful for how quick, simple, and… beautiful this process has been. I was expecting to spend three months looking Grockisanz… But within two weeks we have three superstars! It’s DIVINE.
A New Day in Gressier
I’ve started to get used to moving. I packed up all of my material possessions in 30 minutes this morning. In the last 1.5 years I’ve moved 5 times. From Haiti to the DR (for a month), to North Carolina, to Illinois, back to North Carolina, and then to Delmas, Haiti in September of 2011. There were some things, in these last five months, that I never even unpacked. Expectant?
I can’t describe a more informative, educational, and exciting experience than the internship I had with the ApParent Project (www.apparentproject.org see my other post about Social Entrepreneurship for more info). But, like all earthly things, this incredible semester came to an end, leaving me… overwhelmed.
Overwhelmed by the future. Overwhelmed with all the things I could do wrong. Overwhelmed by all the ways Haiti’s Jewels could fail. Overwhelmed by the sinking realization that I am on my own and somehow have to figure out life (even with the petty things like: transportation, lodging, and a space for business to continue) within a deadline. Doesn’t leave much time to simply revel in the beauty and culture of Ma Cherie Ayiti, does it? I mean, as much as I hate it when people treat me like a child, I AM a kid. TOTALLY A KID. A toddler in the business world and literally a baby in Haiti- minimal creole, limited funds, and a frightening romance with danger. So what the hell was I going to do?
Well I’m not really one to understand the way the heavens work- but somehow, with the help of divine encounters, blow-ya-mind smoothies (props to Le Daily Cafe), and a few good chats with Megan Boudreaux- we came up with Gressier.
Respire Haiti, Megan’s Organization, is a progressive education initiative in Gressier, Haiti– just 15 miles west of of Port au Prince on the coast (not the cleanest coast, mind you). Megan works with outstanding Haitian leaders, teachers, and pastors to create an atmosphere of safety for at-risk students, many of whom are Resteveks (children who are given to “family or friends” to work full-time in return for a bit of food and maybe a place to sleep- essentially a slave). For all of these children, Respire (meaning breathe), is their second wind. The dejected rise up and jump with excitement, the beaten break a cycle of abuse, the lonely find fellowship, the slaves find freedom. See Megan’s blog for more info: blessedwithaburden.wordpress.com
Respire has been working in Gressier for one very effective year. They are reaching a point in their ministry when they are partnering with the business community to make this school a self sustaining entity. This is where Haiti’s Jewels and others comes in. Hopefully, within a few years, the school will be a solidified part of the community without the help of outsiders– i.e. Americans– ha! This could include, but are not limited to: Custom T-shirt painting business, bakery, community gardens, fishing business, and Biju Ayiti (Haiti’s Jewels).
As of right now, the majority of the students would drop out if the school charged enough to cover it’s costs… but WHAT IF those parents had good jobs? WHAT IF agriculture, artisan work, fishing, clean beaches, and RAD PANINIS created an economy in Gressier that drew people from far and wide to see such a healthy, beautiful land? I’ve already chilled with a few parents in the school with EXCELLENT skills- coffee roasters, chair makers, and a little old roof thatcher. So yeah, I’m realizing how little I actually have to offer… even jewelry making will have to happen organically because there are too many people around me who already do way COOLER stuff.
So Gressier is becoming home- cool and breezy Belle Vue Mountain, the slightly dirty beach and where I go to stomp around, hunt for rocks and lizards, and the “stadium” (small field with a few cement blocks) around the corner where I surprise street boys with my soccer skills.
Respire is my second wind too. Breath Ayiti.
Social Entrepreneurship, Yo
For the past two years, starting with my time in Ounaminthe, I’ve lost countless hours of sleep struggling with a very real issue: what works?
In Haiti, I was blown away by how much money was being invested in huge economic-expansion projects, government subsidized medical care, countless NGO salaries, and things as simple as orphanages and sponsored schools. The economy expansion projects were building multi-million dollar structures with imported materials and foreign labor, while international medical care kept people from supporting, or even developing, Haitian hospitals, and orphanages were an excuse for children to be separated from their parents by something as insignificant as ten dollars a day. It seemed like these billions of dollars were just being thrown away- or invested solely in making a nation of dependents.
What is a man to do when his own children are starving because he makes less than $100 a month working 70 hour/wks making sure that the over-fed, nicely clothed, and well-educated children in the orphanage never miss a meal or have a few hours without electricity? What sharp minded man wouldn’t love his children enough to want the same things for them? His salary per month is the same price as the diesel the orphanage used for it’s generator in an afternoon. The sad thing about this man’s story is that he was actually doing well, according to Haitian wage standards because he had a steady income. When 95% of the children in orphanages are only there because their parents couldn’t afford to keep them, we must realize that there is something vastly wrong with the way we are approaching family care. Patronizing a system of economic orphans plagues a nation with an even larger culture of orphanhood, one that is passed from generation to generation.
So what is the solution to overwhelming, deeply embedded problem? I wish those hundreds of sleepless nights had produced some sort of solution- an answer that made perfect sense. But there is no quick fix for this problem; this nation of broken families. So before we come into this place, with our big donor money, fancy jeeps, and high-end, all-american standards for doing “life,” we just need to learn. For someone that easily relies on my initial assumptions and rash conclusions, it’s refreshing to be in a place where I’m just a wide-eyed kid again. Everything is new: new language, people, culture, and lifestyle; we’re just soaking it all in.
A localized solution to some of the things I’m learning about, come from the ApParent project. It’s a business that started by learning from people, learning what the needs of a nation are, and beginning with a tiny community of artists. Shelley and Corrigan Clay have been developing a non-profit social business for three years and their labor (along side of 180 Haitian artists) is apparent within the community. The nature of this business, and it’s innovative team of designers, keeps them out on the forefront of their peers. I’ve seen many small missions and organizations take their ideas, but none compare in quality or creativity because the people in power work in very separate spheres from those actually creating the product. AP has spent years working side-by-side with the real artists and this makes them unique. I feel very honored to be working with them.
Localized solutions, like AP, may be the beginning of a much more global resolution to end poverty and aid-related dependency. I advocate what the ApParent Project is doing because they’ve learned to learn- which is more exciting, to me, than anything else.
Artisan Anthony
Anthony has worked with Shelley and the ApParent Project for two years. He came when he was 15 looking for a job that would help him afford to go to a good school. Anthony has an eye for art. His main jobs include making special woven bracelets and book binding. Unfortunately these specialty items are time-consuming and directed towards a very select clientele.
Anthony went to an elementary school called TLC, an english speaking mission school. His english is flawless and has already begun helping me with my creole. This year is difficult for Anthony regarding his education. He has the desire and skill to become an engineer but is struggling to save enough money for his entrance fee into high school, 250 USD- and then 50 dollars a month throughout the year. That adds up to a WHOPPING $700 a year. For a boy who is supporting himself, this is a lot of money.
I’m excited about what we can accomplish together, the skills we can learn from each other, and the future Haiti’s Jewels’ has because of him. I’m proud to say that he’s already an invaluable addition to the Haiti’s Jewels’ team.
His first glass earrings were constructed carefully because of his close attention to detail and his eye for beauty. Though he still has much to learn, I have no doubt that we will continue in this partnership.
This is the boring blogpost. Monotonous background to the exciting stuff, which is obviously adventures in Haiti.
For those of you who haven’t been receiving my mother’s caring and also obnoxious emails about the status of my one-day-old life in Port au Prince, then this first blogpost might be useful to you. Yes it is true, SOPHIE IS IN HAITI AND SHE LOVES IT AND PLEASE KEEP HER IN YOUR THOUGHTS IN PRAYERS- SHE IS MORE FUN ALIVE. So actually, these are more my mother’s thoughts than my own. I’m not worried at all, if there were a numeric scale… I’d be negative 17 when it comes to worried.
So for the sake of “this” being an introduction, I’ll give you a background of why I’m here…
I moved to Ounaminthe, Haiti (in the north part of the island, near the border) when I was a junior in high school. It was kind of like living in Tijuana mexico, the border was crazy, but provided many benefits- making the Ounaminthe what my dad called “Haiti-Light.” My family worked with an orphanage, blah, blah, blah. Y’all know all of that. Hence the “monotonous” title and content.
Shortly after the earthquake, when I was 16 and felt helpless in the wake of such a disaster, I decided to start making jewelry. It was really boring at first, just using cheap beads that had been donated by visitors. I was really inspired to start working with rocks while living in Haiti because there was no such thing as an uninteresting stone. I began making jewelry with the stones, using mostly old recycled copper wiring (that I stripped and varnished) to wrap the pieces. I went to milwaukee for a couple days in february of 2010 to visit family and prepare for a trip to Beijing with my grandfather. It was there, with the help of my talented and artistic aunt, that we stumbled upon beach glass on lake michigan. I took the glass home and messed around with wire (every possibly kind) trying to find some way to make beautiful jewelry, from “trash.” It was within a few weeks (in beijing hotel rooms and workshops back in Ounaminthe) that Haiti’s Jewels’ best-selling designs were created. The goal was always to help provide jobs for Haitian artists in either Port Au Prince or Jacmel and after a year-and-a-half of waiting, rigorous and annoying college applications, and a decision to take a gap year (or possibly 5 of them); I ended up here, in Port Au Prince.
I tore out an Audi ad from my American Way magazine and I wrote down all the things that excited me in those jittery moments… waiting for the plane to land into my new life. I wrote an unreasonable amount of 90% silly and 10% awesome. Unfortunately, the ad, like most items I tell myself I could not possibly lose because of it’s importance, is no longer anywhere to be found. So I won’t tell you about all of those 10% awesome things… I’ll just make a list of things you need to know in order to understand the rest of this blog.
Continuation of monotonous blabber.
- My name is Sophie Rose Wiseman-Floyd (my name isn’t long enough yet). After living in Haiti and the Dominican Republic for my first three years of high school and going to University Laboratory High School (in Urbana, IL) for my senior year, I’m finally moving back to Haiti to work with the ApParent project. They’re a business geared towards providing excellent jobs for people, minimizing the common problem of economic orphans in Haiti.
- Haiti’s Jewels is growing and flourishing, due to the huge amount of support I’ve been receiving from a wonderful group of clients.
- I’m now living in Port Au Prince and to say that I’ve enjoyed my time would be an understatement. Working with Papillon Enterprise and the ApParent Project (who were recently visited by Bill Clinton and praised for their innovation and community development) is a thousand times more exciting and life-changing than spending the next four years in some highly-competitive (and inherently irrelevant) university. This, dear reader, is a shout-out to anyone considering a gap-year. Do it.
- I will be updating this Blog periodically… sometimes talking about really boring “here’s-how-i’m-doing” and “yes-i’m-alive” (for the paranoids out there) kind of stuff… sometimes bringing up real and relevant issues… and sometimes using the art of words to make you wish lived “da-life” here in P.A.P.
IF THERE ARE ANY BASIC FACTS THAT I FORGOT ABOUT… sorry. EMAIL ME.
Haiti's Jewels 