FAIR Talks Podcast

Housing, Wellbeing, and Social Impact | Downtown Women’s Center, Los Angeles

This week Elisha chats with Joe Altepeter and Alexandria Pineda from the Downtown Women’s Center, the only organization in Los Angeles exclusively serving and empowering women experiencing homelessness. Learn more about this incredible organization from its audacious inception to their vision to see every woman housed and on a path to personal stability. Alex shares her journey from bartending and serving in the Air Force to her current role as lead trainer in the transitional jobs program and head of production for the MADE By DWC home and gift collection. Joe explains how the social enterprise arm of the DWC invests time and money back into the local economy. Their conversation highlights the ways COVID, race, class, and gender disproportionately affect BIPOC women’s opportunities for safe housing, and how housing is a prescription for health. 
Visit fairtradela.org/podcast for show notes and exclusive discounts.

BONUS | Hong Kong to Haiti: Global Impact Made Personal | Elisha Chan

Join us for a special bonus episode before our fall season! Listen as our Executive Director and host of this podcast, Elisha share her personal journey with fair trade - from her first trip to Haiti during college to building a social enterprise aimed at eliminating poverty that’s given away over 345 scholarships to send children to school. She recounts powerful stories of the impact of ethical employment and teases about big changes to come for her business!
Visit fairtradela.org/podcast for show notes and exclusive discounts.

How Dinosaurs Keep Fair Trade From Extinction | Ten Thousand Villages

This week Elisha talks with Mary Lampmann about the collaboration between Ten Thousand Villages and Jurassic World: Dominion. They discuss the crossover of themes like preservation of culture, sustainability, and women’s empowerment. Mary also shares how the artisan partners have scaled their operations and market reach with this partnership, and the ways that will impact these communities for years to come. Finally, she shares the one thing that citizens can do that mean the most to any fair trade organization to build a fairer world. 
Visit fairtradela.org/podcast for show notes and exclusive discounts.

How Hand Embroidery Creates Financial Independence for Refugees | Neococo

Are hand embroidery, fashion, refugee resettlement, and women’s empowerment connected? This week’s guest will tell you how! Amrita Thadani shares how her background in fashion design and volunteer experience with refugee resettlement led her to start NEOCOCO, a social impact brand equipping women for financial independence through community, femininity, and hand embroidery. She highlights the ways embroidery acts as a cultural and family connector, as well as a therapeutic act. Elisha and Amrita explore how fair and dignified employment provides a firm foundation for women refugees building a new life, and how fair trade businesses can get involved in the refugee crisis.
Visit fairtradela.org/podcast for show notes and exclusive discounts.

The Difference Between Fair Trade & Charity | The Little Market

Doug Lapp, the Artisan Relations and Supply Chain Senior Strategist of The Little Market, shares his journey as a fair trade buyer and building artisan relationships. He breaks down the differences between fair trade, charity, and mainstream models of business, and explains the positive potential impacts in children’s lives that fair trade offers. Finally, Doug and Elisha discuss the importance of changing how the fair trade world can better communicate the multiple layers of value embedded in fair trade.
Visit fairtradela.org/podcast for show notes and exclusive discounts.

Fighting for a Fairer World | Paul Rice

This week Elisha dives into a rich conversation with Paul Rice, founder & CEO at Fair Trade USA. They discuss Paul’s entry into the world of fair trade and how that ignited his passion to grow the movement in the United States. Paul explains how fair trade creates a win-win scenario for companies and farmers by creating new shared value and through fostering equitable trade partnerships, not dependence on charity. He highlights the ways fair trade collectives invest resources into their communities for stability and wellbeing. Plus, how the fair trade symbol became synonymous with high quality products and a special call to action to support fair trade pilot programs in your area!

How to Revolutionize Your Closet | Fashion Revolution USA

If you wear clothing, this episode is for you! Elisha talks with Shannon Welch, Director of Strategic Initiatives and Creative Partnerships for Fashion Revolution USA, about the history of labor and environmental abuses in the fashion industry. They dive into the origins of Fashion Revolution and discuss how their work for greater transparency in fashion supply chains could fundamentally change the industry. Shannon highlights how big brands adopting fair trade makes an impact at scale, how the hashtag #30wears relates to buying clothes, and shares suggestions to create a fashion revolution in your own closet.

Creating a Worker-Led Fashion Future | Garment Worker Center

This week, Elisha talks to two leaders from the Garment Worker Center in Los Angeles - Nayantara Banerjee (industry research and strategic partnerships) and Francisco Tzul (garment maker and organizer). Francisco shares personal hardships he’s endured in his career as a garment maker and what motivates him to work for industry-wide change. Nayantara describes the history of the Garment Workers Center, how SB62 (the Garment Worker Protection Act) can change the future of the fashion industry, and why “Made in America” doesn’t always mean sweatshop-free production. Both share inspiring tips for consumers to wear their values.

Building Farmer Capacity | Fair Trade USA

Nathalie Marin-Gest, Senior director of producer services at Fair Trade USA, chats with Elisha about her background, journey, and how her work supports equity and justice for farmers and producers. She describes the similarities between her department’s functions and Julia Child’s first cookbook, and the importance of focusing on the human side of production in building better systems. Their conversation explores how to build capacity, collect information, and calibrate programs to benefit those most directly affected.
 
SHOWNOTES: http://fairtradela.org/podcast
INSTAGRAM: http://instagram.com/fairtradela
FACEBOOK: http://facebook.com/fairtradela
EMAIL US: fairtradela@gmail.com
 
 

Welcome to the FAIR Talks Podcast!

Our host, Elisha shares a brief introduction to fair trade, who we are at Fair Trade LA, and our work in the City of Los Angeles. Hear how this podcast will inspire you for extraordinary change!