Happy International Women's Day! Today is all about celebrating women's achievements and creating an inclusive world. So today we wanted to share with you all a round up of 10 female-founded brands that are giving us all the inspiration, not only today, but year-round.
Beauty Bar Chocolate
After 18 years in the fast-paced fashion industry and suffering from autoimmune issues, Candace found the power of healing through food, rest and meditation, and the importance of savoring the beauty in life. And we all know how unwrapping rich, wholesome, yet decadent, dark chocolate can make you feel!
Candace's vision for Beauty Bar Chocolate is to help people find inner peace and feel vibrant and beautiful from the inside out. We love their focus on self-care and finding beauty from within, plus the added benefits of adaptogenic herbs and delicious fair-trade dark chocolate. We should all be able to indulge AND feed our bodies with the good stuff, too!
Beauty Bar Chocolate has a different flavor to cover all your beauty needs, from collagen, a good night's sleep, antioxidants, and superfoods. Buy an individual bar or a set. They have chocolate for dietary needs including vegan, keto, paleo, and dairy and gluten free, Plus, check out their super cute market tote bags!
Half Baked Harvest
Food genius Tieghan Gerard comes from a family of nine and started to help cook to help tame some of the mealtime chaos. She found she really enjoyed it and started leading the cooking. She captured the process in photos and documented her best recipes, and that’s how Half Baked Harvest was born.
We love that her recipes are centered around family and community. She aims to inspire a love of food in others and encourages us to step out of our comfort zone and try new things. The way she presents her recipes is approachable and inviting and makes you feel like you can tackle a technique you haven’t tried before. And of course, all her recipes are absolutely delicious!
Her Instagram account is a visual recipe book. Scroll and eat with your eyes to decide what you want to cook. Plus, follow along in her stories and highlights for step by step visual instructions. She also has two NYT best-selling cookbooks (we have them both) and they are the perfect thing to pull down when you know you want to cook—or bake!—but need a little inspiration.
HATHORWAY
Based in the San Francisco Bay Area, Hathorway is a sustainable fashion accessories brand founded by Jessica Phan focused on quality, sustainability, and women’s empowerment. As advocates of sustainable and zero-waste fashion, they handcraft all of our pieces with up-cycled buffalo horns from Northern Vietnam.
Similar to our story, Jessica fell in love with the buffalo horn material while she was traveling. It was in Vietnam that she discovered all sorts of products made out of buffalo horn, but wanted to bring her own style and taste to the material. This gave her the opportunity to reconnect with her Vietnamese culture while allowing her to pursue her childhood dream in fashion. Like sapahn, Hathorway respects the makers and artisans with fair wages and safe working environments.
Hathorway bases their designs around long-lasting quality and timeless aesthetics. From jewelry and accessories to handbags, home items and gifts, Hathorway has a variety of styles for the unique and modern woman looking for sustainable and ethical choices.
Jenny Dawn Cellars
Jenny’s brand is all about savoring the moment—and we couldn’t agree more, that life should be enjoyed to the fullest! When you open a bottle of her wine, she wants you to open your moment, your reprieve from the business of busy-ness, and your time to bloom.
What makes Jenny Dawn Cellars unique is that they handcraft 11 premium wines that highlight grapes and fruit from California and Kansas. All of their wines are complex, well balanced, food friendly and have a smooth finish. They don’t add any harsh chemicals or additives. They have wines such as Cabernet Sauvignon, Pinot Noir and Chardonnay, and craft fruit wines such as apple, blackberry and watermelon. Plus, with accolades like the following, you know it’s good: Best in Class, Gold, Silver and Bronze medals from the San Francisco Chronicle Wine Competition, Texas International Wine Competition, New World International Wine Competition and Kansas Grape Growers and Winemakers Association.
Love Is Project
Chrissie Lam founded Love Is Project after moving to Kenya where she met a group of women in the Maasai tribe. These women made vibrant, high-quality, and gorgeous beaded items. Blown away by their craft and compassionate community, she worked with these artisans to design a bracelet emblazoned with one powerful word: LOVE. 50 countries later, a collection of LOVE stories began to unfold.
With each bracelet sold, Love Is Project empowers thousands of female artisans in developing countries around the world through fair wages, healthcare, education, and more, paving the way to a positive future ahead. Their purpose is clear and their message is universal: in a world that can feel heavy, divided, and discouraging at times, there is only one thing that helps us to thrive—LOVE. It’s the single common thread that connects us all.
From beaded bracelets to silver to woven friendship bracelets, Love Is Project has a bracelet that fits every style, all with the common message of love. All the bracelets are crafted by 2,000+ artisans across the globe, from different cultures and countries.
Moon-Seed
Cathy started Moon-Seed by accident, after using some scrap wood for a grad project to make earrings. Its name signifies how all of her great ideas are birthed at night time, each pair of earrings is kind of like a little seed of the moonlight. Cathy has her bachelors in Studio Art and a Masters in Graphic Design. She is crazy about art and is also an illustrator.
Cathy has a passion and love for creating, which is evident by her unique designs and beautiful illustrations. We love that she says her earrings are for the risk-takers, because isn't that what fashion is all about? Putting something on and immediately feeling a little bolder, a little more powerful, and a little more magical? Check out her illustrations on @cathy.c.williams.
Moon-Seed has sculptural pieces made mostly in wood and acrylic. Each piece is cut, sanded, painted, sealed, glued together and finished. From organic shapes to more structural arches, Moon-seed has a bold statement earring for everyone, in all the fun colors for this spring.
Shiffon + Startup Girl Daily
Founded by Shilpa Yarlagadda, Shiffon’s mission is to fuel a movement for female entrepreneurs to receive equal access to startup capital through their pinky ring— because a world in which women succeed is a world in which everyone succeeds. In 2019 just 2.8% of venture capital funding went to women, and they are set on changing that. 50% of profits from Shiffon’s Duet Pinky Ring go towards funding female entrepreneurs, with 11 companies funded to date.
As a fellow female-founded company, we know how important access to capital can be. Shiffon funds their own non-profit organization, The Startup Girl Foundation. As companies grow, capital from the nonprofit’s investments will be used to fund more companies, creating a sustainable source of capital for a new generation of entrepreneurs. Along with the ecosystem of mentorship and human capital supporting their network, each and every dollar invested is thus designed to have the maximum possible lifelong impact.
In addition to their amazing mission, Shiffon uses recycled metals, minimal and repurposable packaging, and ethically sourced stones. Their signature pinky rings come in a variety of metals and stones and they also added a collection of brilliant hoop earrings to their line up.
Sierra Winter Jewelry
From an early age, Sierra loved to draw and collect stones on the prairie and channeled that creativity into a BFA in Metalsmithing and Jewelry Design and worked as a jewelry designer for Silpada Designs. She launched her eponymous line in 2015. Sierra hopes her jewelry makes you feel as good as you look... which is good as hell.
When your mind wanders down a story of doubt, Sierra, and the brand she built, is someone to look to to feel that you're not alone. Not alone in the building stage of the pursuit - brand, designs, dreams, and the harsh reality of resources. It’s awesome seeing the hustle in other female founders who are paving their path.
Intricately designed by Sierra Otto, Sierra Winter Jewelry is a handcrafted collection of high-quality and inspired pieces. Just like you, each piece has its own story to tell, and the brand wants to share those stories. They'll have you shining in rings, earrings, bracelets, necklaces and more.
Wax Buffalo
Alicia started hand pouring candles as a way to honor her grandmother, and now she has a flagship store and is in boutiques all across the country. Staying small batch, hand poured and close to their origin, Wax Buffalo believes in safe, natural products that also bring an element of style to your home.
After their main mission of creating beautifully imperfect hand made products for the modern home, Wax Buffalo's, and Alicia's, second calling is to create a space of collaboration and community—and she EXCELS at this. She is in your corner and is such a beautiful example of how to support women and other small businesses.
Take a peek at their website and all the amazing scents they have available. From candles, roll-on oils, reed diffusers and soap, they will have you and your home smelling divine. They also make wonderfully curated gift boxes to send to your loved ones!
Will and Ivy
It all began when Will & Ivey’s designer, Sandra Ney, was raising her four children and found there were some specific attributes missing from the garments she was purchasing. She longed for simple, comfortable clothing items created from materials free of toxins that made dressing squirmy little ones easy. In all her designs she strives to meet those needs.
Will & Ivey began as a clothing company with the goal to give back. Sandra has recently become a board member of Tennessee Alliance for Kids where she created TAK PAK, a community lead program that fills backpacks with essential and comfort items for children when they are abruptly removed from their homes. A percentage of each garment purchased goes to filling these backpacks or to Tennessee Kids Belong, a company that helps children as they transition from the foster care program into adoption.
Each garment is built with individual care by a small manufacturing company in Nashville, TN. All materials are Oeko-Tex certified which means they are ethically sourced and organic, free from toxins for the manufacturers and your little ones. WIll & Ivey offers only the most soft and satisfying colors paired with simple Scandinavian inspired styles that make getting dressed in the morning an easy and joyous experience.
