Last Wednesday, February 20, 2019, women from around the world gathered at the beautifully curated Salt & Sundry, one of our all time favorite shops in DC. It was in celebration of our newest charity collection, Girls Soar, with Morocco based non profit, Project Soar. Though the icy weather caused challenges for some, we still had a full house. The positive energy could be felt by every one in attendance as customers shopped our new collection, perused the shelves of Salt & Sundry, and enjoyed holistic drinks by Jrink. Everyone was there to hear the story behind our newest collaboration with Project Soar and wanted to be a part of the impact. Salt & Sundry founder, Amanda McClements, has always been a huge supporter of our brand but more importantly, an advocate for others through her charity work. Not only was it a night to shop and celebrate, it was a moment for women business leaders to come together for good and to create a movement to affect change.
Project Soar is dedicated to empowering and educating girls in Morocco and the developing world. Established in 2013 and headquartered in Marrakech, Project Soar teaches teen girls an empowerment curriculum to help them understand their voice, value, body, rights, and path. They believe that empowered girls lead to empowered women, able to uplift their family, their communities and ultimately their country. This initiative is unique, especially in Morocco, because they are dedicated to supporting teenage girls to become leaders of today and tomorrow, leaders who are activated, conscious, and powerful voices for inclusion of all. They are truly (and literally) the face of change in Morocco for girls and their futures.
We were lucky enough to have Project Soar’s co-founder, Maryam Montague attend the event, traveling all the way from Morocco. Maryam spoke candidly about Project Soar - how she started the organization and why she was so moved to make an impact for girls in Morocco. Accompanying Maryam was Khadija Satour, a Project Soar student who spoke to the crowd with beautiful strength and optimism. This was the first time she has ever been outside of her home country and she shared with us her personal story of challenges, setbacks and triumphs. To hear such a confident young woman tell her story was not only emotional, but really emphasized the work that was being done at Project Soar schools.
We are so lucky to share such a wonderful night with partners like Project Soar and Salt & Sundry, who share our values of collaboration, joy and happiness. To be in company with women who are dedicated to making change in the lives of others is ever-inspiring.
To read more about Project Soar and how I connected with Maryam in the first place, check out this blog post. Shop the new collection here - 30% of the profits go directly to Project Soar and the wonderful, tireless work they are doing in Morocco and beyond.
Xo, Becky