Rachel Roy is a designer, entrepreneur, philanthropist and mother. She designs her clothes to inspire women to feel smart, confident and individual. She believes the trick to great fashion sense and personal style is to find things that are unique to oneself and then incorporate those items in the wardrobe. Rachel launched her own collection, Rachel Roy New York, in Spring 2005. In one of the fashion industries highest honors, she was inducted into the Council of Fashion Designers of America in 2007.
Rachel works with charities like Born Free Africa, GlobalGiving, and UNICEF. When asked how she chose these charities to partner with she said: “It’s the same advice that I have with life: Choose something that you’re passionate about. So for me, that’s creating jobs for women who don’t have a voice. I would like to be their voice until they’re strong enough and on their feet to have their own and really be heard.
The way that I can do that is not necessarily by hand-outs, because my hand-outs wouldn’t be great enough to really affect change. It’s by providing jobs. Every season, I make sure that I produce something in a third world country instead of producing it in my factories in China and Peru. I specifically look for artisans to produce my clothing.
I’m always trying to think of ways to provide jobs and money through what I’m already doing. Charity can be overwhelming, and some people think you have to be Bill Gates to really make a difference momentarily or you have to be Mother Theresa and give up Western life, but you can just incorporate it into your everyday life.”
Visit Rachel at: http://www.rachelroy.com
