Hi, I’m Catherine!
If you’ve been with us these past 27 years, we’ve likely crossed paths at some point.
Probably via email, maybe in an artisan’s studio, or somewhere else along this extraordinary adventure 🥾
Enjoy our big birthday codes — and I hope my founding story below inspires you in some way! |
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In January 2000, on my birthday, I knocked on the door of NOVICA’s little office-cottage off Montana Avenue in Santa Monica because Rob insisted. I was a human-rights journalist and had already turned down his vague mystery job. But he’d read my news coverage, said NOVICA needed me, and called the meeting “fate.”
When Sadat opened the door that sunny California day, a burst of light flooded out, blinding me for a moment. I can’t explain it, but I remember it like yesterday. Inside, Rob described NOVICA’s mission: I’d be working around the world with artisans who deserved to be seen and heard. The catch was a major pay cut, just as everyone else had demonstrated, to prove I was joining for purpose, not pay. I said yes before he could finish, becoming one of NOVICA’s first employees.
If no one knew we existed, we couldn’t help artisans. So I began traveling the U.S. and the world telling our story to everyone from the Los Angeles Times and The New York Times to the Jakarta Post, hundreds of publications in between, and radio and TV shows.
There were so many surreal moments: meeting my photojournalist idols in the hallowed halls of National Geographic in D.C., after Nat Geo became NOVICA’s largest investor; flying to Ghana, Brazil, Thailand, Indonesia, and the Amazon to meet intrepid journalists while serving as NOVICA’s spokesperson. All helped carry our artisans’ stories far and wide.
Did you know Anne Moore and I dropped by the White House, unannounced, to deliver a handmade gift? A full-scale wire saxophone sculpture from an artisan in Zimbabwe. Outgoing President Clinton must have loved it as much as he said he did, because months later it appeared in a symbolic “departure” photo on the front page of The New York Times, sitting atop Clinton’s otherwise nondescript moving boxes — a gift he’d chosen to keep. We saved that picture and his thank-you note.
At NOVICA’s little cottage in Santa Monica and around the globe, we all worked feverishly across time zones, launching more Artisan Empowerment Hubs around the world. I remember traveling to southern Mexico to introduce National Public Radio’s Gerry Hadden to the Ruiz Bazan family. They showed us how to dye, spin, and weave wool into traditional Zapotec rugs while talking about their hopes, dreams, and willingness to take a chance on this thing called the Internet.
When Gerry’s Morning Edition piece aired, the response literally crashed our servers — in the best possible way. Many thousands of NPR listeners became NOVICA’s first big wave of devoted customers, and have continued helping us spread the word ever since.
Now, on NOVICA’s 27th birthday, I’m sitting at my desk smiling as I write to you, remembering the early days of this unprecedented, upstart, magical, do-good global marketplace that continues to thrive and grow today. BTW, I write most of the email updates you receive from us, and continue to appreciate this personal connection.
We thank you, we love you, please keep spreading the word and changing lives!
Best regards,
Catherine Ryan/NOVICA |
| Catherine with artisan Aphi Mina |
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