March 27, 2023 • 35 mins
Episode Summary:
Joanna shares her fruitful journey in building Soko Kenya, diving into the world of fashion as a vehicle for poverty reduction, positive change, and positive impact. Her idea to build a clothing factory in Kenya started off with 4 employees and has now grown to 150 employees with a sewing training program for employment, a charity, and period poverty school program. Joanna truly embodies success in the sense of doing what she always wanted to do with more great things to come!
Show Notes:
In this conversation Joanna shares how she dived into the world of fashion as a vehicle for poverty reduction, positive change, and positive impact. With the mindset to just give it a try, Joanna muscled enough courage to uproot herself to Kenya at age 24, which has now become 14 years in Kenya.
With a little knowledge on fashion and clothing manufacturing, Joanna's eagerness to learn and adapt allowed her to hit the ground running building Soko Kenya with 4 employees, which has now grown to employ 150 people.
In this conversation, Joanna shares her take on success as continuously learning, improving, and addressing the challenges of her employees and the community, which has allowed her to further push the envelope and branch out into new initiatives and partnerships, while doing what she loves.
Topics Covered:
- The trip to Kenya that sparked the idea for Soko Kenya
- Defining success as doing what you always wanted to do
- Sustainability put into practice, not just ticking off a checkbox
- The Kujuwa Initiative and addressing period poverty
- The power of the unconscious mind
- Disconnecting career from self worth
Guest Info:
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Joanna Maiden (00:00):
She said to me, how would you feel about
(00:01):
managing the production of mycollections?
And I have these four greatpeople.
And so that's how it started.
Three out of the four still workfor me today.
One of them's retired, but theother three are supervisors
managing teams of up to 50.
We really grew organicallytogether.
Stephanie (00:24):
I am Stephanie Evans, and this is Diaries of a Modern
Trailblazer.
Take note of the journey and beinspired to forge your own
amazing path.
Hi Joe.
Thanks so much for joining me.
I know that we are in twocompletely different countries.
(00:45):
You're out there in Kenya.
I'm here in the United States,and I so appreciate you joining
me on this podcast.
So let's just kick it off.
I wanna know more about who youare, what's your background.
Give us context about who youare.
Joanna Maiden (01:02):
Stephanie, thanks so much for having me.
Our paths have crossed for overthe past few years, but it's so
great to be here with you now.
So a bit about me, as you'llhear from my accent, I'm from
the UK but I've been in Kenyasince 2009.
So I was born in the UK and Ilived on the outskirts of London
(01:23):
until I was about 24 when Imoved to Kenya.
And just a bit about, I guesshow I ended up moving to Kenya,
which is really linked to how Iwas as a child I guess, which
was like from a really youngage.
I just, I had a really deepsense of inequality and
(01:44):
injustice and I really struggledto grapple with the kind of
magnitude of it and understoodthat by chance I was born into a
white, middle class Britishfamily.
And I felt like I had a realresponsibility because of kind
of my opportunity for education.
(02:05):
Alongside that, I was alwaysreally fascinated with the
fashion industry and the complexsupply chain and the design
process, the construction ofclothing, all of that stuff,
which you know about Stephanie,fashion weeks and trends, but I
couldn't see how the two linked.
And at the age of 16 I startedto see the two come together,
(02:27):
the two being the social justiceaspect and the fashion industry.
At school I was studyingeconomics with a focus on,
development, and the impact ofthe global north on poverty and
climate devastation.
I also was studying fashion andtextiles at the same time.
(02:47):
And I started to ask myself iffashion could be a vehicle for
poverty reduction and forpositive change and positive
impact.
And after finishing a degree infashion and textiles, and
spending a handful of years inthe fashion industry in London,
I had this opportunity to moveto Kenya.
(03:10):
Actually I didn't have anopportunity to move to Kenya.
I had an opportunity to come ona three week trip that was
linking, buyers from Europe withartisans in East Africa.
And the idea, for Soko, Kenyawas born.
It was naive, it was hopeful, itwas an idea but it was whether I
(03:31):
could, the idea was could Ibuild a clothing factory that
was founded and rooted in makinga positive difference?
To its employees, to thecommunity surrounding the
factory.
I started with four people andwe grew organically.
I now employ 150 and have acharity with the Sewing Training
(03:51):
School and a period povertyschools program.
So that's a bit of a nutshellabout me.
Stephanie (03:57):
That is awesome.
How old were you when you cameto Kenya and thought about
bringing this concept together?
Joanna Maiden (04:08):
So the first time I came, I think I was around 22.
I came for those three weekswith my husband and at the time
we were thinking about having abreak from London, a kind of
opportunity to step out of kindof plan that we saw ahead of us
(04:30):
progressing in our careers,getting a mortgage, having
children.
We were like, let's.
A creative kind of couple ofyears out.
A couple of years turning into14, 13, 14 years, soon to be 14
years.
So when we actually moved here,we were 24.
Stephanie (04:47):
Wow.
That is quite a change.
And very bold.
And so what were the biggesthurdles and challenges that you
faced when you first moved toKenya coming from the UK?
Joanna Maiden (05:03):
It was a totally new culture.
I knew nothing really aboutfashion, clothing manufacturing.
I started really learningeverything that I could about
everything.
What fabric could be sourcedlocally?
Can we buy boxes?
How do we buy boxes?
Everything.
And how do I establish myselfand my husband in this new
(05:25):
country?
Stephanie (05:27):
With four people, how did you determine that was
pretty much what you needed asfar as resources to get things
started?
Joanna Maiden (05:38):
So the first step was that there was a small
clothing brand who employed, ona casual basis four local
tailors.
And she didn't want to managethe production of her collection
anymore.
That was the first step.
She said to me, how would youfeel about managing the
production of my collections?
(05:59):
And I have these four greatpeople.
And so that's how it started.
Three out of the four still workfor me today.
One of them's retired, but theother three are supervisors
managing teams of up to 50.
We really grew organicallytogether.
As an order came in, I justslowly grew the team.
Stephanie (06:20):
For them to still be with your organization and grow
with you and to that front, wehad talked about responsibility
with money and people.
How do you measure success onboth fronts while growing this
business, growing this factory,and driving the social impact
(06:42):
around it?
Joanna Maiden (06:45):
So I think the big thing for me, so if we think
about success is that we'redoing what we always wanted to.
It's possible to run asustainable, ethical business
built on producing beautifulhigh quality clothes, that
everyone can feel proud ofwhilst putting people, our team
first.
(07:05):
That's my grounding, that's mysolid ground.
As long as we keep doing that,we're succeeding.
But in terms of the businesssuccess, I think what's, really
important is feeling proud andaligned with the brands that we
work for.
As we know, the fashion industryis murky.
(07:26):
It's got a lot of issues with itin terms of how brands run their
businesses, and so it's reallyimportant to me that we build
partnerships with brands thatare aligned with us.
We can feel passionate aboutthem and they can feel
passionate about.
And alongside that, myresponsibility for my employees
is keeping everyone in jobs.
(07:46):
Having a wide customer base tosupport security and
sustainability of the business.
Success is basically about neverstanding, still always learning,
always improving how we work,improving how we support our
team.
And so an example of that is,last year was a really great
business year for us.
(08:08):
The year started with it lookinglike we were gonna have to make
some redundancies that by theend of the we'd grown had some
new really exciting brandpartnerships, which meant that
we had some extra money.
And with that extra money wecreated a pension scheme.
And each of our employees nowhas a pension backdated to when
(08:29):
they started working with usthat we put in a lump sum.
Sustainability feels like it'sput on everything these days.
Sustainability isn't aboutticking box.
In my opinion.
It's something that is actuallyabout a mindset.
In the factory, we pay everybodya living wage.
And we provide a hot meal everyday.
(08:51):
We have free childcare forpeople with children up to
school age.
We have a company doctor Butlast year I was realizing that
my team, though they have all ofthis support, they still very
much live to hand to mouth.
And part of the reason for thatis the statistic is that every
(09:12):
employed person supports sevenpeople.
Stephanie (09:15):
Oh, wow.
Joanna Maiden (09:15):
So that's not just.
that's not just your spouse whois unemployed maybe, or your
children.
It's, you've got a good job andyour brother is unemployed.
He comes to you.
He can't support his family, etcetera.
And I started thinking, okay,we're giving people a good job
and we're paying them a livingwage, but what happens when they
(09:36):
retire?
And actually ourresponsibilities should be, for
their life, if someone workshere we've been going for 13
years, if someone reachesretirement age and then the
state pension isn't a reliableand isn't a lot of money, that's
not, we haven't been responsiblycaring for that person.
(09:57):
So I think for me it's, successis about constantly being
constantly learning, constantlyseeing us improve what we offer
and seeing the challenges in thecommunity and for our employees
(10:17):
and trying in every way we canto support that.
And then we also have a charity.
In terms of success, in terms ofour social impact are reaching
in the community and it's notjust within the doors of the
factory.
And so some examples of that arewe do training in the community
(10:37):
about kind of money managementgetting out of debt around
sexual reproductive health andrights and family planning.
And we do our school's workwhere we take offcut fabric from
the factory, so the fabric thatwould be fabric waste, and we
use it to make a water sanitarypads that we then donate to
(10:58):
girls in school alongsidetraining.
So we do a weekly after schoolclub which is basically a very,
an open space.
Young people to be able to askany questions, for there to be
no kind of embarrassment orshame about not knowing anything
or sharing things that youdon't, you wouldn't feel safe
talking about in your home ordirectly amongst your peers.
(11:20):
And the, it's called the KujuwaInitiative and Kujuwa means
knowledge.
And the reason that we started.
That project is because we were,we're passionate about
supporting women and we wereseeing that when we were doing
training with women in thecommunity around sexual
(11:41):
reproductive health or moneymanagement we kept getting
feedback from them that women intheir thirties with children
saying, I wish she'd reached meearlier.
If I'd had this knowledge, thenmy, the trajectory of my life
would've been different.
And I now have more childrenthan I necessarily would've
planned for.
A lot of them are singlemothers.
(12:01):
And so as a team, we looked athow can we support these women
before they get there?
And we saw that around the ageof puberty the school attendance
was starting to drop.
And there are multiple reasonsfor that.
But one big one was that wasaccess to sanitary products and
that they, not feeling confidentto ask their parents or talk
(12:24):
about it.
And also many parents just nothaving the money to support
their children in that way.
And so we looked at if we canprovide the product and open up
the conversation to remove theshame and stigma around it, then
maybe we could see those girlsbecome women who had taken a
different path.
We are seeing girls who we'vegotten a number of examples of
(12:46):
girls who had just started theirperiod and suddenly closed down,
wouldn't put their hands up inclass because they were afraid
of being asked to stand up andnot sure if they bleed through
their clothes and would be laughat.
And part of our support is we dotraining with the girls, but
also with boys and teachers andparents because a girl can be
(13:08):
all empowered and, understandeverything and feel confident in
herself.
But if there's not an openconversation in the community
around her, she's going to shutback down.
Yeah, so that's a bit of aboutit success and the impact we are
trying to have.
Stephanie (13:25):
Yeah, that's honestly one of the things that drew me
to reach out to you because atPamoja we are working together
with the Kujuwa Initiative and aportion of our proceeds are
donated to that charity.
And so I just love to hear allthe great things that are in
store with the Kujuwa Initiativeand just hearing the outcomes.
(13:49):
And, it's something that wedon't really have much exposure
to out here in developedcountries like period poverty is
a thing and it really doesimpact communities and girls and
their overall trajectory ineducation at the end of the day.
(14:10):
So I don't know if there'sanything else you wanna share
around that, but definitelywould love to hear your
perspective on it.
Joanna Maiden (14:21):
Yeah, so I think what the kind of stories that
were coming out were just sodisconnected from the global
north and there obviously is,that there is period poverty and
charity supporting that in thestates and in Europe But we were
finding that girls were, goingto school without wearing, who
were going through puberty,whose bodies were developing,
(14:44):
going to school withoutunderwear.
Their innocence was being abusedthrough men exchanging period
products for sex.
And they're just, theconversation is really It's,
there's a lot of shame aroundit.
And I think also a lot ofmothers don't really understand
their bodies and how the periodcycle works and how you can
(15:07):
track it.
And there are still a lot ofstories in the community around
like old wives tales.
If you contract HIV and have sexwith a virgin, you.
You are, you are cured.
Oh.
And so there's a lot of workthat, amazing work that my team
does around basically allowingany question, any conversation
(15:30):
to be open.
And to be honest, cuz I don't Idon't go very often as a white
woman, my face isn't thathelpful in the community
schools, and I'm, I am, I'mhappy for the team to do that,
but when I do go and stand atthe back, I'll find myself
blushing with how open andhonest the conversation is,
(15:50):
which still shows, how eventhough I was raised in a family
where it was, it was an openconversation.
I was, taught at school aboutit.
There still is just this kind ofunderlying, embarrassment around
talking about anything to dowith sex and bodies and puberty.
(16:11):
And so it's amazing to see thatour team have created such a
safe environment that theseyoung people who really have
never been able to ask anyquestions or talk about it can
do that so freely.
Stephanie (16:24):
One of the things you had mentioned was, sometimes you
finding yourself being theminority in the room the white
woman from the UK.
Like how has that been for youliving in Kenya?
Joanna Maiden (16:39):
So Kenya's British colonized country with a
a sad history around how thatall happened.
Kenyans as a people are reallylike open and accepting.
I don't feel that I that I'mseen like that, but I'm very
aware of that history.
And I think it really was aboutUm, like as we know in life, we
(17:06):
can't control how we're viewed,you know?
People will form their opinions.
And I think for me, I made surethat I was focusing on my
personal values, what I wasdoing and why.
I did and do a lot of personalwork, a moral inventory,
educating myself being open tolearning and change and standing
(17:26):
in my personal beliefs and myinternal truth.
And I think being conscious ofit and aware has really it's
just a big part of it.
And I think.
I think there's, as I've said,there's the part of continuing
to educate and learn and listento books that are maybe quite
uncomfortable.
(17:46):
And to also, kind of thiscontinual moral inventory.
And it was really interestingbecause when I first started, I
remember I'd meet with the team,we'd have an issue and I'd meet
with the team and say, so whatare we gonna do?
Like, how are we gonna fix it?
And they would say you are theboss.
(18:07):
You tell me, you tell.
And I was like I don't knowthat.
No one knows the answer.
There isn't a right answer.
We, and I think that culturallyas well, there's a very, it's a
very hierarchical culture.
The education system doesn'treally have much space for kind
of outside kind of creativethinking.
It's very about follow, copyingand learning.
(18:28):
And That's also been reallyinteresting.
I don't look like a big boss interms of the culture of what a
big boss looks like here.
Stephanie (18:37):
Yeah.
Joanna Maiden (18:37):
They tend to be, have a kind of much bigger
presence than I do.
I'm ultimately a gentle soul anda kind of empathetic soul.
And so yeah, it's also been mefiguring out how to step into
the shoes of someone who, runs abusiness that employs 150
(18:59):
people.
And I have an amazing managementteam.
There's, there are four of usand it's, it, we, it's very it's
very open that, I'm, there maybe very few decisions that kind
of stop with me.
but mostly it's a collaborative.
We make a lot of collaborativedecisions.
There's a lot of room for me tobe wrong all the time and all
(19:22):
of, those things.
So I think with all of that,it's about continuing.
We ne we never stop learning, dowe?
We never stop.
That's key changing.
Yeah.
Stephanie (19:36):
Circling back to values and personal beliefs,
what motto do you live by?
Joanna Maiden (19:43):
That's a really interesting question and I don't
think there is one that I liveby.
Cause I feel like I'm foreverevolving into a new person.
But one thing that I've beenworking on recently in myself is
the belief.
The belief that I don't have tograft.
Like I'm a really hard worker.
I always have been, and I thinkI, we're raised in a society
(20:07):
that teaches us that's how youget ahead.
And what I'm playing aroundwith, I guess in my mind, in my
life is adding play andadventure into everything I do.
His play.
And that doesn't, I don'tnecessarily mean literally.
a spreadsheet can be, aspreadsheet can be playful and
(20:30):
adventurous for me.
Stephanie (20:31):
Yeah, it can.
Joanna Maiden (20:32):
I love a spreadsheet.
But I've been like honing in my24 year old me who moved to
Kenya with a dream, with littleexperience It was fine to give
something a go fine to make amistake.
Cuz we really came and said, ifthis doesn't work then we can
just go home.
Like we won't go home with atail between our legs cuz we've
(20:53):
failed, we'll go home havingsaid that, we've had a, like an
amazing experience and loads.
Like I wanna get some of thatback.
And I think, with age, like Ihave three children, I'm 41.
It's easy to feel that less andfeel more of the kind of burden
of like age and responsibility.
(21:17):
But yeah, so it's, I think it'sadding play and adventure, fun
into everything and trying tolook at it through that lens
rather than the lens of, I haveto work really hard and I have
to do everything I can to makeit work.
Cause actually I don't believethat anymore.
Stephanie (21:38):
Yeah.
And just to continue on withthat notion, can you share an
example of how you are bringingplay and fun into your life?
Joanna Maiden (21:51):
Yeah.
I listened to this reallyinteresting podcast about the
power of the unconscious mindand it was about how we.
I'm terrible at remembering anystats, but how basically our
unconscious mind has the abilityto solve problems so much faster
than us, like cognitively tryingto fix something or trying to
(22:15):
work out how to solve it.
So we live on a creek, going fora swim or a walk or like dancing
is fun and playful andadventurous.
And it also is so powerful interms of the creativity it
bubbles up and the space itallows our minds to, to connect
(22:40):
dots and come up with solutions.
So that's one of them I wouldthink I can't go for a swim or a
walk cuz I've gotta be, graftingaway and actually recognizing
that, letting go of the doingstuff cuz that's, my, and that
partly for me also is aboutstepping into my role of,
(23:00):
actually my role is not to bescurrying away, it's to be being
strategic and be thinking.
Like you said, the, like we weretalking about what success is
and how to ensure sustainabilityfor my organization, and that
comes from thinking outside thebox.
(23:22):
That doesn't come from, likere-looking at a spreadsheet that
I've edited a million timesalready.
Stephanie (23:28):
Yeah.
And then not only that, it's asI think about it, how do you
bring joy into your life?
Just those little things thatare so simple can make a
difference in impacting yourlife and others around you
positively.
So that's so awesome to hear.
I was doing a little diggingaround background research on
(23:52):
you, and there was somethinginteresting that I came across
and you had mentioned that ittook about 13 years to get over
the fear of what people maythink of you.
And I.
Kind of feel that sense in a wayas I'm on my entrepreneurial
journey, I feel like we findourselves in these spaces that
(24:16):
ultimately limit our ability togrow.
So just from your experience andyour perspective, how do you
push that boundary?
Joanna Maiden (24:25):
I think again, it's about Doing a lot of
personal work.
So I will, like, wheneversomeone, whenever I get some
sort of compliment or somethinggoes well, I've started to
record it so that I can go thereand remember things that are
true when I'm having a wobble.
I've also, it's so cheesy, butI've I've got some affirmations
(24:48):
that I've created for myselfthat I've put on a voice memo
that I listen, that I listenedto the other day.
My husband actually overheard melistening and I was like, trying
to stop and he was like, oh,this is so embarrassing.
But yeah and apparently have iton repeat.
So repeat it for two minutes andlisten to it every day.
(25:09):
And that's the kind of power ofthe unconscious mind start part,
work as well of they're thingsthat I believe and I think
sometimes affirmations can feela bit painful if you don't
believe them.
Yeah.
And I love someone said ratherthan, it's like I, my, my nine
year old is actually doing thisas part of school and she's got
(25:31):
it on her.
She's written some in themirror.
So like her one she's put on forexample, is I am smart and I
don't think she really believesthat she's very smart, and I
think that's why she's put it onthere.
But the turning it into May, Iknow that I am smart, like I
don't yet, but I want to.
so may I know that may I know Iam smart.
(25:51):
May I know I'm capable.
May I know I've got this.
May I know that I've done thegroundwork.
Yeah.
Like I'm thinking about youStephanie.
It's like imposter syndrome justpops up so quickly.
And so unexpectedly and it'slike those statements or even
like I I haven't done it in myhouse cause there are too many
(26:11):
people around, writing it on themirror and seeing it in the
morning it does.
It does make a difference.
Stephanie (26:18):
Yeah, that is a great reminder because I actually do
have some written down and Ihaven't looked at them in a
while, and I really need to pullthat out again.
Like I have digital affirmationsthat are sent to me on my phone,
but there's some that I'veactually written down and I used
to speak them out loud everysingle day.
And it is powerful.
(26:39):
And to your point, likesometimes it's hard to believe
that.
It's really you and that you'recapable of doing it.
So yeah, I'm definitely gonnatake that into consideration for
sure.
Just thinking about that, likesometimes we do place so much
(27:01):
judgment and burden on ourselvesfailure is a thing and it's
real.
And I'm just curious, how hasfailure been a pathway to
success for you?
Joanna Maiden (27:12):
I think, this is the theme of what I'm saying, I
think, but I think it is it'sabout learning and I think
there's another kind of big bitof work that I've done on myself
is disconnecting my career frommy self worth.
And if I'm not okay just asJoanna Maiden as the woman, like
(27:33):
not Joanna Maiden in there,founder of Soko Kenya, the wife.
the mother, the friend, just meand my person.
If I can.
If I can deeply know my ownvalue and not have it so
connected to my success orfailure I feel like that is and
so important and life changing.
(27:53):
And as women we need to.
We get given so many hats and wetake so many hats and how do we
yeah.
Not, how do we separate what wedo from like our value?
Yeah.
And so I think it's about whatwe can learn from each of those
things.
(28:14):
And it not mattering too much,which is so easy to say right
now talking to you.
Cause yeah, things matter andlike messing up matters, but it
doesn't.
We've gotta hold it, hold itmore lightly.
And also just, I think for me,recognize that I'm only one
(28:36):
person, that I'm a human.
And allow myself the grace to bethose things.
Stephanie (28:44):
With all those hats that you wear, how do you even
disconnect and take the time foryourself?
Joanna Maiden (28:53):
I think I'm really considerate about that
these days.
I have I think that with thebirth of my third child.
I was like I literally can't doit.
And so it forced me cuz I, Icould just about before that
and, but actually I was justrunning on empty all the time.
(29:15):
And so it's forced me.
And so I think for me it's, Italked about dancing with my
friends getting outta my headinto my body, dancing, swimming.
I, since the new year, I've gota bit outta practice a bit, but
before the new year, I wasconsistently every morning
setting an alarm on my.
(29:36):
And doing a five minutemeditation, like sitting in
silence with my eyes closed.
And I could tell myself fiveminutes is pointless.
This is a joke.
Allowing all the things that Ineeded to do to pass through my
mind.
And be okay to not be doingthem.
And I found that such a goodpractice that I need to bring
back in, but Yeah.
Stephanie (29:58):
Reminder to self!
Joanna Maiden (29:59):
I know.
Yeah.
Stephanie (30:03):
Yeah.
One of the questions that I loveto ask is, when you think back
and reflect on where you've beenand where you are now, in
hindsight, what advice would youtell the younger version of
yourself?
Joanna Maiden (30:19):
I think it would be to back myself to know that
it's all possible, anything'spossible and that I can do it.
And I feel like I held myselfback so much by not kind of
believing enough in myself.
And yeah, and I feel like as wewere talking about earlier, the
(30:41):
imposter syndrome comes in, allthe stories come in, you haven't
done this before.
Who are you?
All of that stuff.
You're in a country that isn'tyour home, what do you think
you're doing?
You don't, you dunno anything.
And just really finding thatdeep sense of confidence and
belief that I can do it.
And And it's not a failure it'sjust a growing, experience and
(31:04):
knowledge.
if I try and it doesn't work, itdoesn't matter.
Stephanie (31:09):
There's always other things to do.
Joanna Maiden (31:12):
Yeah.
And it's not a failure it's justa growing, experience and
knowledge.
Stephanie (31:18):
Definitely.
Yeah, that, my last guest wewere talking about that, like
how failures are opportunitiesto learn and just overcome
challenges.
And as we wrap it up, what'snext on the horizon for you.
Joanna Maiden (31:37):
Yeah.
So I'm always excited.
There's always the new, what'snext?
I love that.
We're sampling at the moment fora handful of new international
brands who I like love.
I feel if it was 16 year old meand those brands were around
then I would never believe, it'slike they're so aligned.
(31:58):
They're so cool.
And so that feels reallyexciting.
And in terms of the charity sidewe have got some great corporate
partnerships, obviously, likePamoja.
I'm really excited aboutPamoja's future
Stephanie (32:15):
Yes.
Joanna Maiden (32:15):
To grow that together.
And we've received the kind ofquality standard mark in Kenya
for our pads.
We're the second organization inthe country that has got it for
washable sanitary pads.
And so we're looking at havingthem more widely distributed
around the country.
Stephanie (32:34):
Wow, that's amazing.
Joanna Maiden (32:36):
Yeah.
There are lots of schemes that,that donate disposable pads to
communities, to school girls,but obviously, you have to give
them every month.
They go into, rubbish dumps thatare completely unregulated and
when the money runs out, the,the girls don't have access to
(32:56):
them anymore.
So we're really excited aboutcreating partnerships and
basically encouragingorganizations and businesses to
shift from disposable toreusable pads.
And, we price them in a waythat's really affordable.
So one of our pads, the cost ofit is equivalent to one and a
half months of disposable pads.
(33:17):
So it really does make sense.
Yeah.
Yeah, so that's really excitingand we've got some partnerships.
Some period product brands andsome other businesses coming
through to expand our communitywork.
So we're in a season of beingreally open to building
partnerships and, bringing newbrands on board and really
(33:38):
getting our name out there andsharing proudly about the kind
of positive change we're tryingto have by supporting women in
jobs to let themselves out ofpoverty.
Stephanie (33:50):
That's so awesome.
It's like the year of greatthings to come.
And then just for the audienceif they wanna learn more, how
can they learn more about thegreat things that you're doing?
Joanna Maiden (34:03):
Yeah, so we're on we have a website for the
business and the charity.
So the business is Soko Kenyaand the charity is Kujuwa
Initiative.
And we're on social media onLinkedIn and Instagram.
So we're easy to find if youlook for us.
Yeah, and we're just always,we're grassroots doing our
(34:24):
thing.
And we just always ask people tospread the word about what we're
doing.
And we're really grateful forthat.
Stephanie (34:31):
For sure.
We'll definitely have the linksin the notes for the podcast, so
definitely click through on themand check out the amazing things
that are being done.
Thank you so much, Joe.
This has been an amazingconversation and I so appreciate
you.
Can't wait to actually meet youin person.
Make a trip out there to Kenyatoo.
Joanna Maiden (35:00):
Stephanie, thanks so much.
It's been such a pleasure tochat to you and yeah, I'm
excited about our kind ofrelationship going on and on for
years because it feels like it'skinda grown over the last few
years.
And on May it go.
Stephanie (35:15):
And that's a wrap.
So own it and make moves.
One day, I wanna share yourjourney on this podcast.
She said to me, how would you feel about
(00:01):
managing the production of mycollections?
And I have these four greatpeople.
And so that's how it started.
Three out of the four still workfor me today.
One of them's retired, but theother three are supervisors
managing teams of up to 50.
We really grew organicallytogether.
Stephanie (00:24):
I am Stephanie Evans, and this is Diaries of a Modern
Trailblazer.
Take note of the journey and beinspired to forge your own
amazing path.
Hi Joe.
Thanks so much for joining me.
I know that we are in twocompletely different countries.
(00:45):
You're out there in Kenya.
I'm here in the United States,and I so appreciate you joining
me on this podcast.
So let's just kick it off.
I wanna know more about who youare, what's your background.
Give us context about who youare.
Joanna Maiden (01:02):
Stephanie, thanks so much for having me.
Our paths have crossed for overthe past few years, but it's so
great to be here with you now.
So a bit about me, as you'llhear from my accent, I'm from
the UK but I've been in Kenyasince 2009.
So I was born in the UK and Ilived on the outskirts of London
(01:23):
until I was about 24 when Imoved to Kenya.
And just a bit about, I guesshow I ended up moving to Kenya,
which is really linked to how Iwas as a child I guess, which
was like from a really youngage.
I just, I had a really deepsense of inequality and
(01:44):
injustice and I really struggledto grapple with the kind of
magnitude of it and understoodthat by chance I was born into a
white, middle class Britishfamily.
And I felt like I had a realresponsibility because of kind
of my opportunity for education.
(02:05):
Alongside that, I was alwaysreally fascinated with the
fashion industry and the complexsupply chain and the design
process, the construction ofclothing, all of that stuff,
which you know about Stephanie,fashion weeks and trends, but I
couldn't see how the two linked.
And at the age of 16 I startedto see the two come together,
(02:27):
the two being the social justiceaspect and the fashion industry.
At school I was studyingeconomics with a focus on,
development, and the impact ofthe global north on poverty and
climate devastation.
I also was studying fashion andtextiles at the same time.
(02:47):
And I started to ask myself iffashion could be a vehicle for
poverty reduction and forpositive change and positive
impact.
And after finishing a degree infashion and textiles, and
spending a handful of years inthe fashion industry in London,
I had this opportunity to moveto Kenya.
(03:10):
Actually I didn't have anopportunity to move to Kenya.
I had an opportunity to come ona three week trip that was
linking, buyers from Europe withartisans in East Africa.
And the idea, for Soko, Kenyawas born.
It was naive, it was hopeful, itwas an idea but it was whether I
(03:31):
could, the idea was could Ibuild a clothing factory that
was founded and rooted in makinga positive difference?
To its employees, to thecommunity surrounding the
factory.
I started with four people andwe grew organically.
I now employ 150 and have acharity with the Sewing Training
(03:51):
School and a period povertyschools program.
So that's a bit of a nutshellabout me.
Stephanie (03:57):
That is awesome.
How old were you when you cameto Kenya and thought about
bringing this concept together?
Joanna Maiden (04:08):
So the first time I came, I think I was around 22.
I came for those three weekswith my husband and at the time
we were thinking about having abreak from London, a kind of
opportunity to step out of kindof plan that we saw ahead of us
(04:30):
progressing in our careers,getting a mortgage, having
children.
We were like, let's.
A creative kind of couple ofyears out.
A couple of years turning into14, 13, 14 years, soon to be 14
years.
So when we actually moved here,we were 24.
Stephanie (04:47):
Wow.
That is quite a change.
And very bold.
And so what were the biggesthurdles and challenges that you
faced when you first moved toKenya coming from the UK?
Joanna Maiden (05:03):
It was a totally new culture.
I knew nothing really aboutfashion, clothing manufacturing.
I started really learningeverything that I could about
everything.
What fabric could be sourcedlocally?
Can we buy boxes?
How do we buy boxes?
Everything.
And how do I establish myselfand my husband in this new
(05:25):
country?
Stephanie (05:27):
With four people, how did you determine that was
pretty much what you needed asfar as resources to get things
started?
Joanna Maiden (05:38):
So the first step was that there was a small
clothing brand who employed, ona casual basis four local
tailors.
And she didn't want to managethe production of her collection
anymore.
That was the first step.
She said to me, how would youfeel about managing the
production of my collections?
(05:59):
And I have these four greatpeople.
And so that's how it started.
Three out of the four still workfor me today.
One of them's retired, but theother three are supervisors
managing teams of up to 50.
We really grew organicallytogether.
As an order came in, I justslowly grew the team.
Stephanie (06:20):
For them to still be with your organization and grow
with you and to that front, wehad talked about responsibility
with money and people.
How do you measure success onboth fronts while growing this
business, growing this factory,and driving the social impact
(06:42):
around it?
Joanna Maiden (06:45):
So I think the big thing for me, so if we think
about success is that we'redoing what we always wanted to.
It's possible to run asustainable, ethical business
built on producing beautifulhigh quality clothes, that
everyone can feel proud ofwhilst putting people, our team
first.
(07:05):
That's my grounding, that's mysolid ground.
As long as we keep doing that,we're succeeding.
But in terms of the businesssuccess, I think what's, really
important is feeling proud andaligned with the brands that we
work for.
As we know, the fashion industryis murky.
(07:26):
It's got a lot of issues with itin terms of how brands run their
businesses, and so it's reallyimportant to me that we build
partnerships with brands thatare aligned with us.
We can feel passionate aboutthem and they can feel
passionate about.
And alongside that, myresponsibility for my employees
is keeping everyone in jobs.
(07:46):
Having a wide customer base tosupport security and
sustainability of the business.
Success is basically about neverstanding, still always learning,
always improving how we work,improving how we support our
team.
And so an example of that is,last year was a really great
business year for us.
(08:08):
The year started with it lookinglike we were gonna have to make
some redundancies that by theend of the we'd grown had some
new really exciting brandpartnerships, which meant that
we had some extra money.
And with that extra money wecreated a pension scheme.
And each of our employees nowhas a pension backdated to when
(08:29):
they started working with usthat we put in a lump sum.
Sustainability feels like it'sput on everything these days.
Sustainability isn't aboutticking box.
In my opinion.
It's something that is actuallyabout a mindset.
In the factory, we pay everybodya living wage.
And we provide a hot meal everyday.
(08:51):
We have free childcare forpeople with children up to
school age.
We have a company doctor Butlast year I was realizing that
my team, though they have all ofthis support, they still very
much live to hand to mouth.
And part of the reason for thatis the statistic is that every
(09:12):
employed person supports sevenpeople.
Stephanie (09:15):
Oh, wow.
Joanna Maiden (09:15):
So that's not just.
that's not just your spouse whois unemployed maybe, or your
children.
It's, you've got a good job andyour brother is unemployed.
He comes to you.
He can't support his family, etcetera.
And I started thinking, okay,we're giving people a good job
and we're paying them a livingwage, but what happens when they
(09:36):
retire?
And actually ourresponsibilities should be, for
their life, if someone workshere we've been going for 13
years, if someone reachesretirement age and then the
state pension isn't a reliableand isn't a lot of money, that's
not, we haven't been responsiblycaring for that person.
(09:57):
So I think for me it's, successis about constantly being
constantly learning, constantlyseeing us improve what we offer
and seeing the challenges in thecommunity and for our employees
(10:17):
and trying in every way we canto support that.
And then we also have a charity.
In terms of success, in terms ofour social impact are reaching
in the community and it's notjust within the doors of the
factory.
And so some examples of that arewe do training in the community
(10:37):
about kind of money managementgetting out of debt around
sexual reproductive health andrights and family planning.
And we do our school's workwhere we take offcut fabric from
the factory, so the fabric thatwould be fabric waste, and we
use it to make a water sanitarypads that we then donate to
(10:58):
girls in school alongsidetraining.
So we do a weekly after schoolclub which is basically a very,
an open space.
Young people to be able to askany questions, for there to be
no kind of embarrassment orshame about not knowing anything
or sharing things that youdon't, you wouldn't feel safe
talking about in your home ordirectly amongst your peers.
(11:20):
And the, it's called the KujuwaInitiative and Kujuwa means
knowledge.
And the reason that we started.
That project is because we were,we're passionate about
supporting women and we wereseeing that when we were doing
training with women in thecommunity around sexual
(11:41):
reproductive health or moneymanagement we kept getting
feedback from them that women intheir thirties with children
saying, I wish she'd reached meearlier.
If I'd had this knowledge, thenmy, the trajectory of my life
would've been different.
And I now have more childrenthan I necessarily would've
planned for.
A lot of them are singlemothers.
(12:01):
And so as a team, we looked athow can we support these women
before they get there?
And we saw that around the ageof puberty the school attendance
was starting to drop.
And there are multiple reasonsfor that.
But one big one was that wasaccess to sanitary products and
that they, not feeling confidentto ask their parents or talk
(12:24):
about it.
And also many parents just nothaving the money to support
their children in that way.
And so we looked at if we canprovide the product and open up
the conversation to remove theshame and stigma around it, then
maybe we could see those girlsbecome women who had taken a
different path.
We are seeing girls who we'vegotten a number of examples of
(12:46):
girls who had just started theirperiod and suddenly closed down,
wouldn't put their hands up inclass because they were afraid
of being asked to stand up andnot sure if they bleed through
their clothes and would be laughat.
And part of our support is we dotraining with the girls, but
also with boys and teachers andparents because a girl can be
(13:08):
all empowered and, understandeverything and feel confident in
herself.
But if there's not an openconversation in the community
around her, she's going to shutback down.
Yeah, so that's a bit of aboutit success and the impact we are
trying to have.
Stephanie (13:25):
Yeah, that's honestly one of the things that drew me
to reach out to you because atPamoja we are working together
with the Kujuwa Initiative and aportion of our proceeds are
donated to that charity.
And so I just love to hear allthe great things that are in
store with the Kujuwa Initiativeand just hearing the outcomes.
(13:49):
And, it's something that wedon't really have much exposure
to out here in developedcountries like period poverty is
a thing and it really doesimpact communities and girls and
their overall trajectory ineducation at the end of the day.
(14:10):
So I don't know if there'sanything else you wanna share
around that, but definitelywould love to hear your
perspective on it.
Joanna Maiden (14:21):
Yeah, so I think what the kind of stories that
were coming out were just sodisconnected from the global
north and there obviously is,that there is period poverty and
charity supporting that in thestates and in Europe But we were
finding that girls were, goingto school without wearing, who
were going through puberty,whose bodies were developing,
(14:44):
going to school withoutunderwear.
Their innocence was being abusedthrough men exchanging period
products for sex.
And they're just, theconversation is really It's,
there's a lot of shame aroundit.
And I think also a lot ofmothers don't really understand
their bodies and how the periodcycle works and how you can
(15:07):
track it.
And there are still a lot ofstories in the community around
like old wives tales.
If you contract HIV and have sexwith a virgin, you.
You are, you are cured.
Oh.
And so there's a lot of workthat, amazing work that my team
does around basically allowingany question, any conversation
(15:30):
to be open.
And to be honest, cuz I don't Idon't go very often as a white
woman, my face isn't thathelpful in the community
schools, and I'm, I am, I'mhappy for the team to do that,
but when I do go and stand atthe back, I'll find myself
blushing with how open andhonest the conversation is,
(15:50):
which still shows, how eventhough I was raised in a family
where it was, it was an openconversation.
I was, taught at school aboutit.
There still is just this kind ofunderlying, embarrassment around
talking about anything to dowith sex and bodies and puberty.
(16:11):
And so it's amazing to see thatour team have created such a
safe environment that theseyoung people who really have
never been able to ask anyquestions or talk about it can
do that so freely.
Stephanie (16:24):
One of the things you had mentioned was, sometimes you
finding yourself being theminority in the room the white
woman from the UK.
Like how has that been for youliving in Kenya?
Joanna Maiden (16:39):
So Kenya's British colonized country with a
a sad history around how thatall happened.
Kenyans as a people are reallylike open and accepting.
I don't feel that I that I'mseen like that, but I'm very
aware of that history.
And I think it really was aboutUm, like as we know in life, we
(17:06):
can't control how we're viewed,you know?
People will form their opinions.
And I think for me, I made surethat I was focusing on my
personal values, what I wasdoing and why.
I did and do a lot of personalwork, a moral inventory,
educating myself being open tolearning and change and standing
(17:26):
in my personal beliefs and myinternal truth.
And I think being conscious ofit and aware has really it's
just a big part of it.
And I think.
I think there's, as I've said,there's the part of continuing
to educate and learn and listento books that are maybe quite
uncomfortable.
(17:46):
And to also, kind of thiscontinual moral inventory.
And it was really interestingbecause when I first started, I
remember I'd meet with the team,we'd have an issue and I'd meet
with the team and say, so whatare we gonna do?
Like, how are we gonna fix it?
And they would say you are theboss.
(18:07):
You tell me, you tell.
And I was like I don't knowthat.
No one knows the answer.
There isn't a right answer.
We, and I think that culturallyas well, there's a very, it's a
very hierarchical culture.
The education system doesn'treally have much space for kind
of outside kind of creativethinking.
It's very about follow, copyingand learning.
(18:28):
And That's also been reallyinteresting.
I don't look like a big boss interms of the culture of what a
big boss looks like here.
Stephanie (18:37):
Yeah.
Joanna Maiden (18:37):
They tend to be, have a kind of much bigger
presence than I do.
I'm ultimately a gentle soul anda kind of empathetic soul.
And so yeah, it's also been mefiguring out how to step into
the shoes of someone who, runs abusiness that employs 150
(18:59):
people.
And I have an amazing managementteam.
There's, there are four of usand it's, it, we, it's very it's
very open that, I'm, there maybe very few decisions that kind
of stop with me.
but mostly it's a collaborative.
We make a lot of collaborativedecisions.
There's a lot of room for me tobe wrong all the time and all
(19:22):
of, those things.
So I think with all of that,it's about continuing.
We ne we never stop learning, dowe?
We never stop.
That's key changing.
Yeah.
Stephanie (19:36):
Circling back to values and personal beliefs,
what motto do you live by?
Joanna Maiden (19:43):
That's a really interesting question and I don't
think there is one that I liveby.
Cause I feel like I'm foreverevolving into a new person.
But one thing that I've beenworking on recently in myself is
the belief.
The belief that I don't have tograft.
Like I'm a really hard worker.
I always have been, and I thinkI, we're raised in a society
(20:07):
that teaches us that's how youget ahead.
And what I'm playing aroundwith, I guess in my mind, in my
life is adding play andadventure into everything I do.
His play.
And that doesn't, I don'tnecessarily mean literally.
a spreadsheet can be, aspreadsheet can be playful and
(20:30):
adventurous for me.
Stephanie (20:31):
Yeah, it can.
Joanna Maiden (20:32):
I love a spreadsheet.
But I've been like honing in my24 year old me who moved to
Kenya with a dream, with littleexperience It was fine to give
something a go fine to make amistake.
Cuz we really came and said, ifthis doesn't work then we can
just go home.
Like we won't go home with atail between our legs cuz we've
(20:53):
failed, we'll go home havingsaid that, we've had a, like an
amazing experience and loads.
Like I wanna get some of thatback.
And I think, with age, like Ihave three children, I'm 41.
It's easy to feel that less andfeel more of the kind of burden
of like age and responsibility.
(21:17):
But yeah, so it's, I think it'sadding play and adventure, fun
into everything and trying tolook at it through that lens
rather than the lens of, I haveto work really hard and I have
to do everything I can to makeit work.
Cause actually I don't believethat anymore.
Stephanie (21:38):
Yeah.
And just to continue on withthat notion, can you share an
example of how you are bringingplay and fun into your life?
Joanna Maiden (21:51):
Yeah.
I listened to this reallyinteresting podcast about the
power of the unconscious mindand it was about how we.
I'm terrible at remembering anystats, but how basically our
unconscious mind has the abilityto solve problems so much faster
than us, like cognitively tryingto fix something or trying to
(22:15):
work out how to solve it.
So we live on a creek, going fora swim or a walk or like dancing
is fun and playful andadventurous.
And it also is so powerful interms of the creativity it
bubbles up and the space itallows our minds to, to connect
(22:40):
dots and come up with solutions.
So that's one of them I wouldthink I can't go for a swim or a
walk cuz I've gotta be, graftingaway and actually recognizing
that, letting go of the doingstuff cuz that's, my, and that
partly for me also is aboutstepping into my role of,
(23:00):
actually my role is not to bescurrying away, it's to be being
strategic and be thinking.
Like you said, the, like we weretalking about what success is
and how to ensure sustainabilityfor my organization, and that
comes from thinking outside thebox.
(23:22):
That doesn't come from, likere-looking at a spreadsheet that
I've edited a million timesalready.
Stephanie (23:28):
Yeah.
And then not only that, it's asI think about it, how do you
bring joy into your life?
Just those little things thatare so simple can make a
difference in impacting yourlife and others around you
positively.
So that's so awesome to hear.
I was doing a little diggingaround background research on
(23:52):
you, and there was somethinginteresting that I came across
and you had mentioned that ittook about 13 years to get over
the fear of what people maythink of you.
And I.
Kind of feel that sense in a wayas I'm on my entrepreneurial
journey, I feel like we findourselves in these spaces that
(24:16):
ultimately limit our ability togrow.
So just from your experience andyour perspective, how do you
push that boundary?
Joanna Maiden (24:25):
I think again, it's about Doing a lot of
personal work.
So I will, like, wheneversomeone, whenever I get some
sort of compliment or somethinggoes well, I've started to
record it so that I can go thereand remember things that are
true when I'm having a wobble.
I've also, it's so cheesy, butI've I've got some affirmations
(24:48):
that I've created for myselfthat I've put on a voice memo
that I listen, that I listenedto the other day.
My husband actually overheard melistening and I was like, trying
to stop and he was like, oh,this is so embarrassing.
But yeah and apparently have iton repeat.
So repeat it for two minutes andlisten to it every day.
(25:09):
And that's the kind of power ofthe unconscious mind start part,
work as well of they're thingsthat I believe and I think
sometimes affirmations can feela bit painful if you don't
believe them.
Yeah.
And I love someone said ratherthan, it's like I, my, my nine
year old is actually doing thisas part of school and she's got
(25:31):
it on her.
She's written some in themirror.
So like her one she's put on forexample, is I am smart and I
don't think she really believesthat she's very smart, and I
think that's why she's put it onthere.
But the turning it into May, Iknow that I am smart, like I
don't yet, but I want to.
so may I know that may I know Iam smart.
(25:51):
May I know I'm capable.
May I know I've got this.
May I know that I've done thegroundwork.
Yeah.
Like I'm thinking about youStephanie.
It's like imposter syndrome justpops up so quickly.
And so unexpectedly and it'slike those statements or even
like I I haven't done it in myhouse cause there are too many
(26:11):
people around, writing it on themirror and seeing it in the
morning it does.
It does make a difference.
Stephanie (26:18):
Yeah, that is a great reminder because I actually do
have some written down and Ihaven't looked at them in a
while, and I really need to pullthat out again.
Like I have digital affirmationsthat are sent to me on my phone,
but there's some that I'veactually written down and I used
to speak them out loud everysingle day.
And it is powerful.
(26:39):
And to your point, likesometimes it's hard to believe
that.
It's really you and that you'recapable of doing it.
So yeah, I'm definitely gonnatake that into consideration for
sure.
Just thinking about that, likesometimes we do place so much
(27:01):
judgment and burden on ourselvesfailure is a thing and it's
real.
And I'm just curious, how hasfailure been a pathway to
success for you?
Joanna Maiden (27:12):
I think, this is the theme of what I'm saying, I
think, but I think it is it'sabout learning and I think
there's another kind of big bitof work that I've done on myself
is disconnecting my career frommy self worth.
And if I'm not okay just asJoanna Maiden as the woman, like
(27:33):
not Joanna Maiden in there,founder of Soko Kenya, the wife.
the mother, the friend, just meand my person.
If I can.
If I can deeply know my ownvalue and not have it so
connected to my success orfailure I feel like that is and
so important and life changing.
(27:53):
And as women we need to.
We get given so many hats and wetake so many hats and how do we
yeah.
Not, how do we separate what wedo from like our value?
Yeah.
And so I think it's about whatwe can learn from each of those
things.
(28:14):
And it not mattering too much,which is so easy to say right
now talking to you.
Cause yeah, things matter andlike messing up matters, but it
doesn't.
We've gotta hold it, hold itmore lightly.
And also just, I think for me,recognize that I'm only one
(28:36):
person, that I'm a human.
And allow myself the grace to bethose things.
Stephanie (28:44):
With all those hats that you wear, how do you even
disconnect and take the time foryourself?
Joanna Maiden (28:53):
I think I'm really considerate about that
these days.
I have I think that with thebirth of my third child.
I was like I literally can't doit.
And so it forced me cuz I, Icould just about before that
and, but actually I was justrunning on empty all the time.
(29:15):
And so it's forced me.
And so I think for me it's, Italked about dancing with my
friends getting outta my headinto my body, dancing, swimming.
I, since the new year, I've gota bit outta practice a bit, but
before the new year, I wasconsistently every morning
setting an alarm on my.
(29:36):
And doing a five minutemeditation, like sitting in
silence with my eyes closed.
And I could tell myself fiveminutes is pointless.
This is a joke.
Allowing all the things that Ineeded to do to pass through my
mind.
And be okay to not be doingthem.
And I found that such a goodpractice that I need to bring
back in, but Yeah.
Stephanie (29:58):
Reminder to self!
Joanna Maiden (29:59):
I know.
Yeah.
Stephanie (30:03):
Yeah.
One of the questions that I loveto ask is, when you think back
and reflect on where you've beenand where you are now, in
hindsight, what advice would youtell the younger version of
yourself?
Joanna Maiden (30:19):
I think it would be to back myself to know that
it's all possible, anything'spossible and that I can do it.
And I feel like I held myselfback so much by not kind of
believing enough in myself.
And yeah, and I feel like as wewere talking about earlier, the
(30:41):
imposter syndrome comes in, allthe stories come in, you haven't
done this before.
Who are you?
All of that stuff.
You're in a country that isn'tyour home, what do you think
you're doing?
You don't, you dunno anything.
And just really finding thatdeep sense of confidence and
belief that I can do it.
And And it's not a failure it'sjust a growing, experience and
(31:04):
knowledge.
if I try and it doesn't work, itdoesn't matter.
Stephanie (31:09):
There's always other things to do.
Joanna Maiden (31:12):
Yeah.
And it's not a failure it's justa growing, experience and
knowledge.
Stephanie (31:18):
Definitely.
Yeah, that, my last guest wewere talking about that, like
how failures are opportunitiesto learn and just overcome
challenges.
And as we wrap it up, what'snext on the horizon for you.
Joanna Maiden (31:37):
Yeah.
So I'm always excited.
There's always the new, what'snext?
I love that.
We're sampling at the moment fora handful of new international
brands who I like love.
I feel if it was 16 year old meand those brands were around
then I would never believe, it'slike they're so aligned.
(31:58):
They're so cool.
And so that feels reallyexciting.
And in terms of the charity sidewe have got some great corporate
partnerships, obviously, likePamoja.
I'm really excited aboutPamoja's future
Stephanie (32:15):
Yes.
Joanna Maiden (32:15):
To grow that together.
And we've received the kind ofquality standard mark in Kenya
for our pads.
We're the second organization inthe country that has got it for
washable sanitary pads.
And so we're looking at havingthem more widely distributed
around the country.
Stephanie (32:34):
Wow, that's amazing.
Joanna Maiden (32:36):
Yeah.
There are lots of schemes that,that donate disposable pads to
communities, to school girls,but obviously, you have to give
them every month.
They go into, rubbish dumps thatare completely unregulated and
when the money runs out, the,the girls don't have access to
(32:56):
them anymore.
So we're really excited aboutcreating partnerships and
basically encouragingorganizations and businesses to
shift from disposable toreusable pads.
And, we price them in a waythat's really affordable.
So one of our pads, the cost ofit is equivalent to one and a
half months of disposable pads.
(33:17):
So it really does make sense.
Yeah.
Yeah, so that's really excitingand we've got some partnerships.
Some period product brands andsome other businesses coming
through to expand our communitywork.
So we're in a season of beingreally open to building
partnerships and, bringing newbrands on board and really
(33:38):
getting our name out there andsharing proudly about the kind
of positive change we're tryingto have by supporting women in
jobs to let themselves out ofpoverty.
Stephanie (33:50):
That's so awesome.
It's like the year of greatthings to come.
And then just for the audienceif they wanna learn more, how
can they learn more about thegreat things that you're doing?
Joanna Maiden (34:03):
Yeah, so we're on we have a website for the
business and the charity.
So the business is Soko Kenyaand the charity is Kujuwa
Initiative.
And we're on social media onLinkedIn and Instagram.
So we're easy to find if youlook for us.
Yeah, and we're just always,we're grassroots doing our
(34:24):
thing.
And we just always ask people tospread the word about what we're
doing.
And we're really grateful forthat.
Stephanie (34:31):
For sure.
We'll definitely have the linksin the notes for the podcast, so
definitely click through on themand check out the amazing things
that are being done.
Thank you so much, Joe.
This has been an amazingconversation and I so appreciate
you.
Can't wait to actually meet youin person.
Make a trip out there to Kenyatoo.
Joanna Maiden (35:00):
Stephanie, thanks so much.
It's been such a pleasure tochat to you and yeah, I'm
excited about our kind ofrelationship going on and on for
years because it feels like it'skinda grown over the last few
years.
And on May it go.
Stephanie (35:15):
And that's a wrap.
So own it and make moves.
One day, I wanna share yourjourney on this podcast.
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