We recently connected with Lori Novis and have shared our conversation below.
Lori, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. Let’s start with the story of your mission. What should we know?
My husband and I moved to western MA after living and working on the tiny Puerto Rican island of Culebra for almost 8 years. We chose to move to MA for its beauty, deep agricultural roots, and educational and cultural institutions.
I was fortunate to be hired as a school librarian in August 2017 at Franklin County Technical School, Turners Falls, the northern part of MA, where our students lived in rural hill towns, some of them riding a bus for 1.5 hours each way. I learned early on how dedicated these students were to their education and gaining vocational skills that would make them highly employable.
As a native New Jerseyan, I made assumptions about MA — that it had a solid social safety net, etc. Within a few months of employment, there was a request from our guidance office seeking donations from staff so they could purchase heating oil for a student’s family who had none, in the middle of January, when overnight temperatures were below zero.
This was my first wake-up call to poverty in the rural hill towns of western and northern MA. That week, I approached our business office about the demographics of our students, intending to write grants for programs or materials that our students could use. I asked about the level of poverty and was stunned when I was told that 40% of our students were living in poverty. I returned to the school library, looked up at the ceiling, and wondered how I could create jobs. As I was learning about our students, the last paper mill company in Turners Falls was in the news, with a notice of closing.
At this point, two ideas collided — how could I create jobs in the hill towns of western MA using my jewelry skills? This is when the light bulb went off — to create jobs, I needed a market that was robust and constant … years ago, I had made a hand-sewn bead using navy and gold beads, and I had remembered that it reminded me of the official colors of the University of Notre Dame. My jewelry collection which had begun in the Caribbean was pivoting to the collegiate and sororities markets, where we use the official Pantone colors of these institutions.
Ultimately, I felt so compelled to address my students’ poverty as I witnessed their dedication to breaking the cycle of poverty (whether or not they could see that), AND, as I traveled through this region of MA, I realized how rural and isolated these towns and families were. Public transportation did not cater to these rural towns, and even with a proposed East-West Train Line, public transportation for these towns would still be lacking.
I have worked in urban centers where poverty exists, but services and resources are more accessible within the immediate area, and there is a greater network of public transportation.
Rural poverty is more challenging, and, by its very nature, more invisible. It is this invisibility that struck a chord with me and called me to action. I can empathize with the invisibility of poverty because I feel like my own family experienced it at times while growing up in a middle-class NJ suburb. I remember picking up my dad from the Edison train station on his commute home from NYC and heading to Cumberland Farm for a gallon of milk with coins.
Today my company’s mission is to Empower Women by Employing Women, starting in the rural hill towns of western MA, where poverty is as high as 40%. Once an artisan is trained, they can work from home, removing the barrier of lack of transportation. Once we are more established, I would like to begin a mentoring program for our artisans.
Lori, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?
Before moving to the exquisitely tiny island of Culebra, PR, in 2009, I enrolled in my first jewelry-making class in Pennington, NJ, with some teacher friends. My goal was to be able to sell jewelry on this very touristy island as I did not have any employment lined up other than owning and managing our guesthouse, Mango Fish.
This jewelry class taught us how to hand sew a small pendant using 72 glass and crystal beads, 48 of them almost as small as a poppy seed. The color combinations were endless and, for me, thrilling, as I have been drawn to art from a very young age.
The beads I created drew upon the natural beauty of Culebra’s many beaches and volcanic landscapes. I had accounts with two gift stores on Culebra and then began selling jewelry to El Yunque, the U.S. National Rainforest on the main island of PR. We created unique travel keepsake jewelry that would forever be a reminder of one’s travels, and continue to sell to El Yunque and a Culebra gift shop.
We relocated to western MA in 2016 and from that time our mission of addressing poverty in the rural areas of MA has been our driving force. Having lived on a very tiny isolated island (4 x 6 miles) tapped into the deep creativity I have always had … our mission demanded that we create products with BIG return markets, thus the Proud of U. Collection.
The Proud of U. Collection uses the official Pantone colors of institutions (universities/colleges/high schools) and organizations (sororities/Rotary Club/honor societies) and creates captivating hand-sewn beads that are incorporated into jewelry and gifts: necklaces, bracelets, earrings, pins, key rings, bookmarks and tassel charms. The collegiate and sorority markets are robust, with over $ 1 billion in annual sales. We knew we tapped into something transformative.
We are super particular about matching our beads to the official Pantone colors of these groups, so we may buy a dozen beads or more before we are satisfied.
We set ourselves apart from others with our clever and beautiful products, our attention to detail, and product development that has become exponential. In place of paints and a paintbrush (whose possibilities are endless), we use beads to capture a place, people, or a moment — the possibilities are astounding!
We have made captivating beads for: museums, schools, horticultural destinations, Irish and African-American heritages, teachers, nurses, moms, and LGBTQ+. We are only beginning.
Our collections provide discriminating gift-givers with lovely and distinct choices, and custom pieces are happily created. Over and over again, we have heard browsers say, I have never seen anything like this … and they are always impressed with our graduation cap tassel charm.
Our products are proudly handcrafted in western MA, empowering women by employing women; once an artisan is trained, they can work from home, removing the barrier of lack of transportation, a big challenge in rural areas. For many, purchasing a gift that gives back is essential to their buying decision.
We’d love to hear your thoughts about selling platforms like Amazon/Etsy vs selling on your own site.
We recently launched a new e-commerce website using Shopify. Shopify came highly recommended to us by a small business consulting company, Grati Consulting. Shopify is where we first launched our products, but it was never fully completed or worked when I tackled it on my own.
Shopify is an amazing platform for any industry, product, or service. It will meet a company’s growing needs and you can easily incorporate your brand.
Although we are on Etsy with a few products, we feel that we have more artistic and marketing control over our website, and we will generate more revenue on our website.
We will consider joining platforms like faire.com (B2B … makers to retail stores) and findgreek.com (for licensed sorority products).
These sales streams are always under review, and perhaps we would be on more if we had a larger team! It’s surely a goal.
We’d love to hear a story of resilience from your journey.
In March 2020, we attended a large collegiate trade show — it was the first time we would be attending. Trade shows are costly and labor-intensive. And how do you stand out as a newcomer?
About one month before the New England Buying Consortium, I hand-wrote and mailed 75 cards to a variety of schools, asking them to stop by for a sample bead that we had made for their institution. We spent a lot of time and money targeting certain schools, procuring their Pantone-based beads, and then manufacturing the beads. Many schools stopped by.
The weekend following this trade show, COVID-19 became part of our vocabulary. There was radio silence from trade show attendees. Disbelief and shock were settling in. Not knowing what was happening, I thought of ways I could still engage with these institutions without selling to them. We all felt so helpless; schools and most public places were closing, including campuses. Hospitals were overwhelmed overnight. Having a social work and psychology background, I felt compelled to help somehow.
Within one week, I set up a MailChimp account so that I could communicate with the trade show attendees (almost 400 educational institutions). If I found articles on addressing mental health during COVID-19, I did an email blast. I remember The New York Times running an article by astronaut Scott Kelly — What My Spacewalk Taught Me About Isolation
Feel as if you’re drifting in space? I know what that’s like (Opinion, April 27, 2020), who was in space by himself for over one year, I sent that article.
My therapist friend offered to chat with folks for free over the phone or via Zoom if they were struggling with this sudden social isolation. I sent her information to these institutions (with her permission, of course).
I sent photos of my home garden, including a mammoth sunflower, towering more than 10 ft. tall. I wanted people to know that I was thinking of them. I did this at least monthly for one year until we were able to gather again in person, masks-in-hand
Although I was not generating money through sales (and I lost three jobs during COVID), I found ways to remain productive and to work on my business. Free business webinars became a weekly affair (sometimes 2-3 times per week). This kept my mind active and engaged, and I love learning. What better time than now? Time was abundant.
Could I have easily closed the business I had just incorporated in January 2019? Of course. But returning to our company’s mission was my lighthouse, and I was not about to give up so early.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.mangofishinc.com
- Instagram: instagram.com/mangofishinc
- Facebook: facebook.com/mangofishinc
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lori-novis/
Image Credits
Lori Novis