For Women's History Month this week, we are excited to introduce you to Jennifer Owens, the founder of Forai (Friends of Refugees and Immigrants). We’ve recently added Forai to our curated selection at Fair Trade Winds. This unique jewelry is made in St. Louis, Missouri by skilled women artisans who are also refugees.
Forai acknowledges the uncertainties and challenges refugees and immigrants may face after the recent Presidential election; the team in St. Louis remains committed to supporting and uplifting them. Supporting refugee-made products fosters community and contributes to a more just and sustainable global economy. We are honored to be part of their journey! 
When did you begin Forai, and what inspired you to get your start?
I started Forai in 2009 after being deeply impacted by an experience getting to know a recently arrived refugee family. Our church had asked for volunteers to host refugees in our homes to celebrate Thanksgiving. One of the families assigned to my home was Yamo, a widowed single mother with two young children who spoke no English and had very little education. I simply could not get her out of my mind after our meal, wondering how she would support her family on her own. The words came to me: “She will have to work with her hands,” and slowly the idea for an organization that trained refugee women to create beautiful products from home while caring for children or other family began to take shape.
Less than a year later, in October 2009, Forai held its first gathering of American volunteers and women from Nepal, Bhutan, Burma, Togo, and Kenya. We continued to see growth and momentum. In May 2010, we formed a Board of Directors and incorporated as a non-profit in the state of Missouri.
In May 2014, we received our 501(c)3 status, and in June celebrated the launch of our online store. In October 2017, we moved into permanent workshop/office space on the campus of St. John the Baptist Catholic Church, sharing the building with several other refugee/immigrant-centered organizations.
In the fifteen years since we have started, we have been blessed to impact the lives of over 150 refugee women who have worked with us as artisans, and many more immigrant women through our free 6-week sewing classes, which take place throughout the year. 
What’s a typical daily schedule like at Forai? What are the benefits of this work environment?
Currently, our four staff members and three admin artisans work together part-time (15-20 hours per week) at our workshop. Admin artisans are artisans who have been with us for some time—usually 6 months or more—and are able to start working part-time outside the home. They receive additional training in English, computer usage, and other important workplace skills. We have an additional 10 artisans, currently, who come into the workshop 1-3 times per month for training, and complete 5-10 hours of product creation at home weekly. A typical day for an admin artisan might look like this:
Zo Man from Burma and her four-year-old daughter Esther arrive at the workshop at 9 AM. Esther enjoys a snack and plays in our kids play area, while her mother, our sales admin assistant, completes an English lesson for 20 minutes with her mentor. Next, Zo Man will spend a couple of hours counting inventory, organizing, and packing supplies for the next pop-up sales event. Later she will join a staff meeting and lunch time where she can practice her English listening and conversation skills and give her opinion on various fabrics for new product development. She will finish the day after lunch by spending 15 minutes completing a typing lesson on the computer and entering her hours into a spreadsheet, then she and her daughter Esther will head home. She is paid for all this time—whether it is time spent “accomplishing” tasks for the organization or time spent on her own learning and development. In addition, she is able to observe the cultural norms of an American working environment, and improve her English through an immersive experience. And [can] do all this while still caring for her not-yet-school-age daughter.
The theme for International Women's Day this year is "Accelerate Action." At the current rate of progress, it will take until 2158 to achieve full gender parity, according to the World Economic Forum. What do you think will speed up this process? Include what benefits or positive changes you have seen in the communities where the artisans work and live.
Nearly all of our refugee artisans come from countries and cultures where the gender roles are even more disparate than what we experience in the U.S. For many of them, this is their first time holding a job and bringing in outside income for their families. We hear again and again from our artisans how much working for Forai builds their confidence (“I never thought I could work at a real job! I thought my husband would always be the only one who could earn money, but now I know that I can too!”) and transforms their own thinking about what women are able to accomplish.
We provide a women-centric environment (which feels safer and more supportive, especially for our Muslim artisans from conservative countries like Syria and Afghanistan) that is understanding and flexible about childcare needs, while also teaching them important “soft skills” they will need for future work in the U.S., such as arriving on time, being dependable, following directions to the letter, communicating when you don’t understand something, etc.
We see ourselves as a “bridge” to enable them to be successful in a future job here in the U.S. that will enable them to have even more financial independence and, we hope, lead to more gender equality in their homes and communities.
What advice would you give girls who are interested in getting involved in causes they’re passionate about?
You absolutely have the power to make a real difference in the lives of other people, but you will multiply your impact significantly if you can find others to join you and work together as a team. So always be on the lookout for people who are passionate about the same things that you are! Take time when you are young to figure out what you are good at, and then lean into using those gifts to help others and make a difference. Find others who may have gifts and talents that you lack, and invite them to partner with you. It’s cliche, but teamwork really does make the dream work!
Do you have a story to share about a woman artisan that made a lasting impact on you?
In many ways, every artisan we have worked with has inspired and impacted me! But the one in particular that comes to mind is Lun, who was a sewing artisan with us for ten years, from 2010-2020. This is an unusually long time for an artisan to stay with Forai, but it allowed us to see an incredible transformation take place. When Lun first started with us, she was a young mother with a baby on her back, spoke almost no English and had never sewn before. A few years later, she was teaching sewing for Forai to other artisans all in English, and now runs a successful business supplying sushi to local grocery stores. She has become so independent, and is truly thriving here in the U.S. She is such a testament to all the innate potential in each of our artisans, that just needs some time, encouragement and support in order to be fully realized.