UPDATED: March 7, 2020 at 12:08 a.m.

A pop-up shop in Bird Library’s Blackstone LaunchPad featured beaded jewelry, colorful woven accessories and Otto the Orange ornaments — all handmade by women in Guatemala. 

 Team Guatemala, one of nine projects within a social entrepreneurship organization called Enactus, held the pop-up shop in partnership with Blackstone LaunchPad to help kick off Women’s History Month. The pop-up shop was open from 2 to 5 p.m. on March 4. Guatemalan coffee pour-overs were also served outside the shop.  

 Team G works with a fair-trade partner in Guatemala that pays a fair wage to the women who create the products, said Paige Koss, an SU junior and Team G member. Team G will send 90% of the profits from the pop-up shop back to the women in the form of scholarships, said Sarah Ferranti, an SU senior and the project leader of Team Guatemala.  

 Ferranti said that women in Guatemala are the most underserved group in Latin America. The scholarships give the daughters of the women who create the products an opportunity to go to school, Koss said, adding that the goal of the project is to break the cycle of poverty through education. 

 Women in Guatemala made each of the pieces by hand. Products at the shop included bags, wallets, headbands and necklaces. Koss said that lots of time and care goes into creating the products and that some of the bags take six hours each to weave. Creators of a given product and the amount of time involved in making it were written on some of the tags. 

 Ferranti, Koss and some other members of Team G went on a trip to Guatemala over winter break. There they met with the beading and weaving teams to talk about product development. The group has plans for new products coming in the fall, Koss said.  

Products at the shop included bags, wallets, headbands and necklaces. Creators of a given product and the amount of time involved in making it were written on some of the tags. Elizabeth Billman | Asst. Photo Editor

 Members of Team G also got to meet recipients of the scholarships while in Guatemala, Ferranti said. During the winter break trip, Ferranti reunited with some of the scholarship recipients she met on a trip two years before, she said.  

 “That’s just something that is one of my favorite parts of Team Guatemala in general,” Ferranti said. “They’re so grateful, and they are so eager to learn.” 

 Koss said that the group helps women in Guatemala earn a fair price for their work by selling the products in a college market rather than in Guatemala, where there is a lot of competition for similar types of products. Koss said that it’s more difficult for the women to make a profit when they sell the pieces in Guatemala because the markets tend to be oversaturated with so many of these products.  

 Team G holds tabling events at various locations throughout the year, Ferranti said. For this pop-up shop event, Team G partnered with Blackstone LaunchPad. Ferranti reached out to Linda Dickerson Hartsock, the executive director of Blackstone LaunchPad, who thought of the idea to hold a pop-up shop. The event kicked off Blackstone LaunchPad’s series #LaunchStrongWomen, which is celebrating Women’s History Month.  

 Matt Frisch, an SU junior and member of Team G, said that the group also sells the products on Etsy and in Marshall Square Mall. He said he hoped the pop-up shop event with Blackstone raised awareness for the organization.  

 Haley Francois, an SU freshman and Team G member, explained how the pop-up shop promotes the group’s mission.  

 “Education is how we can empower women, so by selling these products we’re encouraging them to go school,” Francois said. “And with that education, they can get better jobs and just improve their lives.” 

CORRECTION: In a previous version of this post, it misstated when Ferranti reunited with some scholarship recipients. The Daily Orange regrets this error.

Published on March 4, 2020 at 10:04 pm

Contact Mandy: ackrayna@syr.edu | @MandyKraynak