Girls, Make Your Mark! Awards

I am very pleased to have been selected as a finalist in the Entrepreneur with a Conscience category in the Girls Make your Mark Awards. I have been working as a Female Ambassador for the past year and this has involved many visits to schools and colleges, as well as accepting students on work placements at Pachacuti, in order to encourage girls and young women to become the entrepreneurs of the future. It is a role which I really enjoy and it has been very satisfying to see the fruits of some of this work, such as the fashion show at our local secondary school. I am passionate about encouraging the next generation of fashion and textile entrepreneurs to work more ethically and I have taken four undergraduates and graduates in fashion and design out to South America so that they could see their designs being made, work with our producer groups and eventually take the finished garments to trade shows in the UK and Paris. This is really an unparalleled opportunity to undertake fair trade fashion placements and I know that the trips have inspired the students in their future careers.