53
Reese Fernandez-
Ruiz tells us what
makes her keep doing
what she does best —
empowering women
through artisanship
and improving the
lives of many through
their work
with Reese
Fernandez-Ruiz
in the
workshop...
See some R2R designs on
the next page >
Reese Fernandez-Ruiz
and her friends founded
Rags2Riches (R2R) in
2007 to provide a means
of livelihood to a group of
women weavers in Payatas,
Quezon City. Eight years
later, the social enterprise
has trained over 900
artisans from communities
across Metro Manila.
The efforts of Reese
and her company haven’t
gone unnoticed. In January
this year,
Forbes
magazine
named her one of the
world’s 30 notable social
entrepreneurs under 30.
This is just the latest of
many accolades Reese has
received since Rags2Riches’
launch in 2007. Reese
was one of five recipients
of the inaugural Rolex
Young Laureate Awards
for Enterprise in 2010;
in 2012 she was named
a Young Global Leader
by the World Economic
Forum, while the following
year she was awarded
the title of Schwab Social
Entrepreneur of the Year.
What were the challenges
you had to overcome
while setting up R2R?
Oh, we have had a lot.
We encountered trust
issues in our community,
for good reason — they
were promised so many
things before by people
who just wanted photos
with them or wanted to get
their votes. [There were]
quality concerns — we had
to reject 98% of the initial
items; the usual cash-flow
crunches; fulfilling market
demand, expanding to new
markets; I could go on and
on. And these concerns
have evolved over time of
course. We have established
trust in our communities
now, and our quality rates
are high, but there are still
some roadblocks to growth
— we just got better at
dealing with them.
Right from the start,
design has been an
important aspect of R2R.
What’s the thinking
behind it?
We just knew that we needed
a design solution to increase
the value of the products,
and make them marketable
and functional. That’s why we
decided to integrate design
right from the start.
How does your idea get
translated to an actual R2R
creation?
I actually don’t create designs
myself. I’m just a small part of
the design process. We have
an in-house designer, Chris
Weaving
her magic
Clockwise: Reese was recently
named as one of
Forbes
magazine’s
“30 under 30” notable social
entrepreneurs; a snapshot of what
goes on in the R2R workshop; R2R’s
Chloe bag
INTERVIEW BY MAE YOUNG
