Meet Amy Yanda-Lee of BeadforLife in Boulder

Today we’d like to introduce you to Amy Yanda-Lee.

Amy, please share your story with us. How did you get to where you are today?
I met BeadforLife a decade ago while attending a BeadParty event at the Highlands City Club, where I had an office. I immediately fell in love with BeadforLife’s mission of empowering women to earn income through their own hard work and the philosophy of “no handouts”…I felt so inspired that I knew I had to get involved. Not only was I fascinated with the beauty of the jewelry, turning trash to treasure, I was blown away that a woman had touched the beads with her own two hands, and could feel the connection of women around the world. A friend introduced me to BeadforLife’s co-founder Devin Hibbard and she happened to be in town for only 24 hours.  We squeezed in a meeting and had an immediate connection. I had a planned media trip to New York as I was running my own PR business. Devin generously offered beads to me to bring to New York and share with editors I met with. That’s how it all began, and I was able to help support BeadforLife with some great stories and PR coverage. I eventually officially joined the BeadforLife family as the Communications manager, and last year, there became a need for the organization to hire an Executive Director, as Devin was evolving our sister organization Street Business School, and needed 100% focus on that. To this day, Devin and I are close friends and colleagues. I am leading BeadforLife’s efforts, and she is the CEO of Street Business School.  This has been a dream job for me, with amazing growth and connection opportunities to the women and good work we do, as well as with challenges. I feel lucky each day in knowing we are creating 1:1 woman connections around the world!

Great, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
The pathway has been smooth from a cultural standpoint – I love working with strong and savvy women. BeadforLife attracts people who are brilliant in their areas of expertise and who have come to the realization that there is much more to life than earning $$ in the corporate world. We, therefore, have the “best of the best” in our different categories of business.

One challenge we face is we are a non-profit organization who operates as a business selling a fashion product/accessory, meaning we are truly competing with large brands in the Fair Trade arena who are not actual non-profit organizations. That means they have dollars for marketing and to grow at a faster pace. At the end of the day, we know we are not in it for the $$, we are in it to help women transform their lives and create impact via Street Business School. We are exploring creative partnership opportunities to increase visibility and awareness that will ultimately support our mission.

What else should our readers know?
BeadforLife is an energetic non-profit organization who is changing the world one bead at a time. The women we partner with to beautiful handcrafted jewelry from recycled paper are amazing! They earn income through their own hard work and lift their families out of poverty. We bring this stunning artisan work to sell in the U.S. and create an easy way for people to make a difference in the world. BeadforLife is a small and delightful action that people can take every day, whether they are wearing beads or sharing our story.

What sets us apart is that we are more than just pretty beads. We have always have been filled with heart – love, and connection. We were founded upon a direct woman-to-woman connection and that carries through all that we do. While our jewelry is stunning and sparks a global conversation, it also brings love back to Uganda, where woman are given the hope that through their own hard work, they can rise up. Sometimes, this love and support across continents is all they need to create their own pathway out of poverty. I am so proud of the women we serve and the power they discover within themselves to change their own destiny.

We are not about handouts… we empower women to work hard to change their lives, we don’t try to do it for them. We believe in them and we mentor them.

What moment in your career do you look back most fondly on?
Devin and I had an opportunity to travel to Monaco to receive the Peace Jam Hero Award for BeadforLife’s Street Business School work from Oscar Arias, the former president of Costa Rica and a Nobel peace laureate.

I was also incredibly proud to speak about BeadforLife this past January at the WeRiseUP film premier @ Sundance. We provided lanyards to the attendees and there was a sea of vibrant color and global connection.

One more proud moment was jumping on a street corner with excitement together with the BeadforLife founders as we celebrated an incredible meeting with Nick Kristof, the renowned New York times columnist who writes about human rights, women’s rights, health and global affairs. We were over the moon when he actually inked a story about BeadforLife.

Pricing:

• Our jewelry is affordable, ranging from $8 – $55
• We want many people to be able to engage, and keep our pricing affordable for that reason
• We find value in people sharing the story and include “story cards” with every purchase

Contact Info:

• Address: BeadforLife
  6797 Winchester Circle Ste. 200
  Boulder, CO 80301
• Website: http://www.beadforlife.org
• Phone: 303-526-6774
• Email: customercare@beadforlife.org

Image Credit:
BeadforLife

Getting in touch: VoyageDenver is built on recommendations from the community; it’s how we uncover hidden gems, so if you know someone who deserves recognition please let us know here.