We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Dora Witte a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Dora, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. Day to day the world can seem like a tough place, but there’s also so much kindness in the world and we think talking about that kindness helps spread it and make the world a nicer, kinder place. Can you share a story of a time when someone did something really kind for you?

We work with Navajo Nation Artisans based out of Thoreau, NM, which is on the Navajo reservation. We work with them with the understanding that we do provide fair pay for work, which isn’t often the case on the reservation. The Navajo are skilled artisans, and they hand craft and sew many of our products such as our necklaces, slippers, dream catchers and beaded artwork. A portion of sales also go to support the education of Navajo children on the reservation. One of the kindest things anyone has ever done for us was to provide our team with a double wide trailer and land on the reservation to serve as an office space. Chirs Halter, who is the Executive Director at the St. Bonaventure Indian Mission and School, not only gave us access to the Mission’s land to place our office on, but he and his team also worked tirelessly with us to setup the office for our team. This allowed our team to work together and collaborate from an office versus having to work from home. It was honestly one of the kindest things I have experienced in my professional career.

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?

I am a children’s fashion designer, I was born in Warsaw, Poland. At an early age, my Grandmother taught me to knit the most fascinating and colorful patterns. I spent a lot of time as a child at her country house learning to paint the beautiful Polish countryside. The majority of my time was spent in the city with season passes to the ballet and opera with my parents which I absolutely still adore today. All of these creative outlets and my fascination with the rich, layered costumes and exotic designs started at an early age and put me on the path to fashion university. This fascination with fashion led me to Paris. where I lived in Montmartre, just steps away from the famous Salvador Dali and Picasso paint studios, In Paris, I attended the Parisian fashion university ESMOD established in 1841 with a focus on children’s fashion. My first role out of university was as an intern in Givenchy’s fashion house in Paris and I quickly followed that up by joining the baby design team for Burberry. While loving my life and experiences in Paris, I was always inspired by the Big Apple with a dream to live in the city that never sleeps. So, I packed my bags and moved to New York and have been in New York ever since designing children’s clothing and accessories for several well-known brands like Gap Kids, Old Navy and Oshkosh B’Gosh.

I describe my style as Bohemian lux, part traveler, part holiday by the sea. I adore colors, volume, layers and texture influenced by the rich folk culture of Eastern Europe, my magical years in Paris, and the energy of New York City. My latest endeavor has been starting my own small business known as WeeLaMond, an Irvington, New York and New Mexico based children’s fashion accessories company.

I believe in projects with purpose – work that makes a difference in people’s lives. Our latest products are hand crafted by Navajo Artisans. By offering a high-quality product and bringing employment opportunities to the Navajo Reservation, WeeLaMond will make a difference here as well, as a portion of the proceeds from every product sold go to the St. Bonaventure Indian Mission & School to support the children of the Navajo Nation. The goal is to create handmade children’s accessories that encourage kids to learn more about their world and the wide array of people and animals that exist on our planet.

I also listen to my 6 year-old daughter while designing new products. A kids’ imagination is the best source of inspiration!

Okay – so how did you figure out the manufacturing part? Did you have prior experience?

We do manufacture our products, but probably in an unconventional way. I designed every one of our products and we had a decision to make – go overseas and work with a factory that could output high volumes of units, or work with artisans where the work and pay we do from our manufacturing would make a difference in someone’s life. I chose the latter and worked with my Aunt Teresa, who does volunteer work with the Navajos. Through her, we were able to identify a team capable of intricate sewing and beading. We did a series of interviews and found our team! One lesson we have learned is that humans are not always as reliable or as efficient as machines. Another lesson we learned is to be patient and understanding. The output of our team is our most important asset.

Do you have any stories of times when you almost missed payroll or any other near death experiences for your business?

Covid was definitely a close call for our small business and had a major impact both financially and through our manufacturing. Before the pandemic, we had steady business. Once the pandemic hit, and everybody was locked in their homes, major advertisers outpriced us on social ads and left us with little to no inventory for direct online sales. The other issue was that our manufacturing was done on the Navajo reservation. It was next to impossible to get the materials to our team for manufacturing because they were unable to get to the office. with limited sales and limited manufacturing, we had to pause the business and are only just now getting back up to speed.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.weelamond.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/weelamond_/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100063541324167