{Fair Trade Love Story} Clara

This post, in addition to being my debut on the blog, marks my one year anniversary working at Four Corners… what a year! I can’t believe how much this small shop has changed my life and I am pleased to share this special Valentines Day edition of my Fair Trade Love Story.

After roaming the world for a few years after college, I found myself back in Milwaukee, unemployed. Thanks to the unwavering kindness of our President, Mike Howden, I was hired on the basis of being a warm body able to use the computer so the volunteers who had been running the store could take some time off. Little by little, after many days of doing a whole lot of nothing, I started moving products around the store, making changes in displays and reading the fair trade literature scattered around. While my parents had been drinking fair trade coffee (actually, they were convinced after a presentation given by Four Corners years ago) I’d never given fair trade a thought. An avid (some would say obsessive) thrifter, known to frequent a good farmers market and partake in local craft brews, I’ve tried to be aware of my consumerist consumption for a while. But fair trade had never been on my radar. I guess in my mind, magical mice made the shirt I was wearing… I couldn’t have been more oblivious.

The turning point for me was when I started ordering products for the store, and then became manager. I spent long hours exploring the vendor page of the Fair Trade Federation website, pouring over the incredible textiles, jewelry, clothing, and baskets that were all fair trade. I found that all of the vendors we work with are dedicated to changing the status quo, not just selling a product, but working closely with their artists to better their communities. Reading the newsletters, websites and blogs from these organizations, you see the dedication, the schools built, kids fed and women employed by each one. Faces are put with products, and I often feel a connection with another person on the other side of the globe when I unwrap shipments. The thought that we are all connected, no person is an island, is overwhelming at times, but it thrills me that our little shop in Milwaukee can give people in Guatemala, Kenya, Vietnam, a place to sell their wares to an entirely new audience.

My fair trade love story would not be complete without Four Corners of the World, and I look forward to all of the new things we have planned for this coming year!