This month, I'm delighted to present an interview with Kristen Caron. She’s Creative Director of Raven + Lily, a women-led brand offering handmade jewelry, accessories, and items for the home. All goods are handcrafted by female artists. I feel quite lucky to have such amazing colleagues like Kristen to go on walks and chat about the sector with. Like me, she moved to Paris a few years ago. During our most recent walk, Kristen was kind enough to share some interesting insights on her approach to advertising, how she keeps Raven + Lily competitive, impactful referral websites that have led to sales, along with some of her favorite shops in Paris.

This month, I am honored to interview Colleen and Margaret Clines, co-founders of the Anchal Project, a sustainable home decor and textile brand. Working alongside artists in India, Anchal is known for its bold, quilted designs.
Colleen Clines was taking a graduate seminar class at the Rhode Island School of Design when she embarked on a trip to India in 2009. Through local leadership, she was introduced to women who were being exploited by the commercial sex trade. This left a mark. She was inspired to collaborate with the local NGO and soon her enterprise came to fruition.

This month, I was honored to interview Marissa Maximo of Anaak Collection. If you haven't yet seen her line of artisanal apparel, get ready to be swept away by her collections. They evoke ease and approachability. Marissa scouts the globe, searching for the highest quality craftsmanship and materials, presenting a chic, bohemian line of feminine apparel. Marissa shares her thoughts on how Anaak competes in the competitive luxury market. Our candid conversation includes her take on artisan as a luxury, her most successful marketing strategies and how she balances artisan and machine-made products to keep up with demand (her key to creating a sustainable business model).

This month, AOW connects with Laura Siegel of Laura Siegel Collection, a designer of artisanal apparel. Laura shares her honest feedback on how she’s navigated one of the trickiest sectors of the industry, managing quality control, design limitations, and consumer demand to build a strong and growing brand.