We had the good fortune of connecting with Julissa Perez Vecchini and we’ve shared our conversation below.
Hi Julissa, where are your from? We’d love to hear about how your background has played a role in who you are today?
I was born and raised on the beautiful, tropical island of Puerto Rico. When I was eleven or twelve, I remember always asking my mom to borrow her accessories, while trying to match them with my school uniform. I also loved being around my grandmother while she was sewing, because not only did she teach me her techniques, she developed her own fashion trends for the kids in our neighborhood. Somehow she also found spare time to help take care of those same children while their parents were at work. Her generous heart and caring soul was something that brought me to enjoy learning from her, and taught me the importance of giving back to others.
In the past fifteen years, I dedicated my life to the fashion and beauty industry. Traveling from NYC to Paris and beyond, my vision was to learn and grow from my job experiences until I finally had the opportunity to run my own business.
I am proud to say that I have combined my fashion knowledge, love of travel and passion for helping others. For the past three years, Origins Accessories has been making a tremendous impact in Moshi, Tanzania, East Africa by feeding nearly 100 orphans and families annually.
Alright, so let’s move onto what keeps you busy professionally?
Who we support: Over the past three years, Origins Accessories has supported orphaned children and families in East Africa. Driving through a maze of bumpy dirt roads in the town of Moshi is the Hope Orphanage Center. The Hope Center is a small school founded by Sadick Stephano in 2014, who is also one of the two teachers. What is mind blowing is the fact that the salary for each these two teachers is one hundred and twenty USA dollars per month. As of today, the school has ninety-five children, where thirty-five have been completely orphaned, and the others come from single parent, or very poor families.
How we do it:
Making this trip once a year, we are directly changing lives of the children and families through the sales of our lovingly-made, handcrafted accessories. From each sale we use 40% to buy food, cooking supplies, school supplies, teaching materials and other essentials most of us take for granted. Another option we provide to our customers for supporting these efforts is to make donations via a fundraising webpage https://www.gofundme.com/f/origins-accessories-and-the-hope-orphanage-center?utm_source=customer&utm_medium=copy_link&utm_campaign=p_cf+share-flow-1
Let’s say your best friend was visiting the area and you wanted to show them the best time ever. Where would you take them? Give us a little itinerary – say it was a week long trip, where would you eat, drink, visit, hang out, etc.
First we would hop in the car and visit Rocky Mountain National Park in Colorado (about 2 hours from home), where we would spend the day exploring the natural beauty of Mother Nature. The next day, we would definitely have to visit the amazing Red Rocks Amphitheater where we could check out the rock stars / legends that played in this spectacular venue. If we’re lucky, we could attend a concert! After having all the adrenaline flow through your veins, we would go chill at the Coors Light Brewery. On the third day, if you still feel like you haven’t seen enough wonders, wait until you see The Garden Of the Gods. Walking around this epic place of natural wonders will knock your socks off. At the fourth day if is snowing lets go tubing at keystone.
Who else deserves some credit and recognition?
To Sean Swarner. He helped me believe in myself, encouraged me to follow my passions and never give up. Yes, Sean Swarner, my lovely husband, two-time terminal cancer survivor, first survivor to climb Mt Everest, and only person to climb the highest mountain on every continent, ski to both Poles, and complete the Hawaii Ironman Triathlon. Which he did with one functioning lung.
Website: www.OriginsAccessories.com
Instagram: @originsaccessories
Twitter: @originsaccessories1
Facebook: @originsaccessories