Tanja Cesh | Co-Founder

Born in Hollywood, CA, the daughter of German immigrants, it didn't take long to realize that hope and wanderlust were in my blood. "Pursue your dreams" was always a strong theme in my family. We were often encouraged to go after what was best for the soul and spirit, which naturally fed my artistic bent and insanely curious nature. After studying art and design in college, I spent most of the last twenty years in various design and fashion avenues cultivating my love for beautiful design. While appreciative of those extensive opportunities, the time had come to shift my focus to something new and different, it was time to feed my soul.

So, in 2010, I took a self-declared hiatus and went to South Asia. Having previously spent time in India with International Princess Project (an organization providing employment to women rescued out of human-trafficking), I was increasingly aware of the marginalization of women in the developing world. I could no longer stand-by. I needed to understand the issues that put women so at risk and what was being done for prevention and intervention. Naturally, as an artist, I was drawn to programs that employed women with creative work. As I traveled, I was blown away by the people I met who had started projects and businesses that utilized the talent and enthusiasm of women who likely would otherwise find themselves destitute. However, I also noticed that some of these programs, while providing employment, were frequently lacking in long-term sustainability. Outside partnerships were needed to provide market-savvy designs to enable growth and opportunities for more women. That's how the idea of GIVEGIVE began.

Annalisa Oswald | Co-Founder

I grew up in the Midwest, where I learned that being creative was just who you were and how you lived. From my mom, an art teacher, I learned to draw and paint and make things. From my dad, an auto-worker with a penchant for fast cars, I learned to fix things. I also spent hours and hours dreaming of far away places like Nepal, Denmark, and Argentina.

I studied Drawing and Painting at The Ohio State University, taught myself graphic design and web development, and moved to Boston during the dot com boom. It was a wild ride and I had the opportunity to work with some brilliant and wonderful people, but by early 2012, I had been working with startups for almost 16 years and was largely burnt out on tech. I'd just started teaching at the Rhode Island School of Design and was loving all that teaching was — that it was bigger than myself, that I was helping students learn new skills, that it was HARD, and that I was getting back as much I was giving.

When Tanja returned from her trip, we talked about what she'd seen, and what she would do next. I found myself saying "Ooh! We should try..." and "And then we could..." and suddenly we were in it together. Going to Nepal was the most transformative experience of my life, both personally and professionally, and I am grateful to Tanja for the opportunity to join her, shoulder-to-shoulder, on this journey.

At GIVEGIVE, we made the choice to utilize the talents of women in co-ops rather than factory labor, to make sure that our partners are fair trade and support their workers not only by providing good wages and working conditions, but also access to education and healthcare. It's more expensive this way, but it is the right thing to do, and we are proud to operate GIVEGIVE by these principles.