BeautifulNow
Impact

THESE GIFTS MAKE A BEAUTIFUL DIFFERENCE

Dress, by Makoko.
Dress, by Makoko.

The most beautiful gifts deliver beauty, not only to the recipients but also to the people who create the gifts, communities, and the planet. It’s exponential gifting!

In the spirit of exponential beauty, the BeautifulNow Team has curated an Impact Gift List for this holiday season. We found gorgeous apparel and accessories from ethical fashion companies VOZ and Makoko, and super-cool super-meaningful tours from Tastemakers Africa, all from women and femme-led companies supported by Pipeline Angels. Pipeline Angels is changing the face of angel investing and creating capital for women and non-binary femme social entrepreneurs.

And we love giving ancient tree clones from Archangel Ancient Tree Archive. This gift will last thousands of years!

Check out all of the BeautifulNow curated Impact Gifts listed below! And give exponential beauty!

Shala Dress, by Makoko.
Shala Dress, by Makoko.

Give Makoko! Makoko is an authentically sourced, ethically produced, African-inspired women’s fashion collection with the vision of positively impacting the lives of women in Africa and the United States.

Autumn Adeigbo, founder and CEO of Makoko, was inspired by her Nigerian heritage. Her mother used to sew her clothes when she was a little girl. And now, she’s giving back, lifting the women of Ghana and Kenya out of poverty, increasing their income on the average of 91%, with just 24 hours of training.

The Makoko collection is designed in New York by a team of women, sewn in NYC by female-owned production facilities, and beaded in Kenya by female Maasai artisans who are paid fair-trade wages.

All garments produced already have a buyer, thus reducing both fabric & unsold inventory waste. The final product is a made-to-order, limited edition, ethical & eco garment.

Makoko presented at a Pipeline Angels Pitch Summit.

 


 

Twist Cropped Sweater, by VOZ.
By Osvaldo Ponton. Twist Cropped Sweater, by VOZ.

VOZ clothing and accessories make beautiful gifts that not only will delight your loved one, but will also support the livelihoods, well-being, and cultural values of rural indigenous women in Chile.

Founded by Jasmine Etoile Aarons, VOZ pays living wages for every textile and sewn garment. The clothes are made using beautiful sustainable fibers -- baby alpaca, wool, and pima cotton -- with traditional artisanal weaving processes.

Hand-loomed  Copihue Pima Cotton Duster with Liquid Silk Slip, by VOZ
Hand-loomed  Copihue Pima Cotton Duster with Liquid Silk Slip, by VOZ

Check out the VOZ Hand-loomed Pima Cotton Duster, which looks magnificent over the Liquid Silk Slip. We love VOZ handcrafted sweaters. And the Charmeuse Palazzo Pants are everything!

The primary VOZ rural artisan education center is located in Temuco, Chile where they work with Mapuche artisans—the largest indigenous group in South America. It is the only indigenous group that was never conquered by the Spanish.

VOZ is a Pipeline Angels portfolio company.


 

Viewing traditional horseback riders with Tastemakers Africa in Morocco.
Tastemakers Africa in Morocco.

Give a trip that goes farther and deeper and gets closer to the hearts of people and places in Africa. A Tastemakers Africa Tour is not just a beautiful travel adventure, it is a community experience that connects you with the people and the culture in unique ways, with a premium placed on working with locally owned and operated businesses.  

Viewing contemporary art and design with Tastemakers Africa in Dakar.

Cheraé Robinson, founder and CEO of experience-led travel platform Tastemakers Africa, was originally inspired to shift travel away from the Western perspective and approach, to connect travelers with creative locals and trendsetters.

Go shopping with a Ghanaian designer in Accra. Stroll through a market in Johannesburg with a local artist hunting for handcrafted treasures. Go clubbing with a local musician in Lagos. Get deep into Dakar architecture and design.

Curated itineraries will connect your lucky giftee to some of the most exciting places and people on the continent, including tours led by local influencers in South Africa, Kenya, Zanzibar, Morocco, Ghana, Nigeria, and Senegal.

Tastemakers Africa is a Pipeline Angels portfolio company.

 


 

Children in Malawi. Courtesy of Yamba Malawi.
Courtesy of Yamba Malawi.

Malawi is one of the poorest countries in the world. Yamba Malawi  empowers children and their communities to move out of extreme poverty into livelihoods that help them improve food security, health, education, the environment, and the local economy.

Leveraging over thirteen years of community relationships, Yamba Malawi has intimate knowledge of the challenges facing Malawi’s youth. Utilizing their experience with both direct support for children and economic development, Yamba Malawi created its Childhoods & Livelihoods Program to uplift Malawi’s most vulnerable children by building local businesses and by enabling investment in children’s care. 

"In Malawi, 7 million children live on less than 2 dollars a day. We can change this," says Yamba Malawi board member Soraya Darabi. Make a gift to help vulnerable children get the care they need.

 


 

Arborist scales a giant sequoia.
Arborist scales a giant sequoia. Courtesy of Archangel Ancient Tree Archive.

Give an Archangel Ancient Tree. It will give your loved one a legacy and help save our planet.

There are trees that have survived for thousands of years, however, despite our planet’s perils. They are Champion Trees. The Archangel Ancient Tree Archive has found a way to clone these trees, with the hopes that their clones possess the same survival abilities.

Archangel Tree archive (AATA) is planting Champion tree forests now at select locations around the world. One of AATA’s goals is to plant these ancient trees further north from their original habitats, to compensate for climate change.

Give an Archangel Ancient Champion Tree Sapling. AATA will plant one Champion tree cloned sapling on a protected parcel of land to grow on for generations to come. AATA will send your tree-loving loved one a Certificate of Planting via email.

Giant twin sequoia trees.
Twin sequoias. Courtesy of Archangel Ancient Tree Archive.

If you’re feeling a bit more flush, Give an Archangel Ancient Tree Grove. AATA will plant a grove of 500 Archangel Champion trees to help clean your community. This includes the original cloning and seed-propagation to lab cultivation to packaging and shipping and planting, to land use agreements.

Giant twin sequoia trees.
Twin sequoias. Courtesy of Archangel Ancient Tree Archive.

And if you can step up even further, Give an Archangel Ancient Tree Forest. AATA will plant a whole forest of 15,000 Archangel Champion trees. This includes everything from the original cloning and seed-propagation to lab cultivation to packaging and shipping and planting, to land use agreements, and planted sapling maintenance through the two-year viability period.

The Man Who Planted Trees, book by Jim Robbins, tells the truly fascinating and powerful story of David Milarch and his founding of the Archangel Tree Archive. This makes a wonderful gift addition for your tree-loving, planet-loving loved one.

And, of course, you can simply Donate to AATA. They are a gift to the world.

Learn more in this beautiful short film, directed by Michael Ramsey and in Beautiful New Forests Planted with Ancient Trees.

Secuoyas gigantes, giant sequoias.
By Vicente Villamón. “Secuoyas gigantes, giant sequoias.” Mariposa Grove, Yosemite National Park. California.
Read more about Beautiful Gifts all this week on BeautifulNow, including The Most Beautiful Travel Gifts and The Most Beautiful Wellness Gifts. And check out more beautiful things happening now in BN Wellness, Impact, Nature/Science, Food, Arts/Design, and Travel, Daily Fix posts.
Cherae Robinson, founder, Tastemakers Africa.
Cherae Robinson, founder, Tastemakers Africa.

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