Our Partners
Since the beginning (in 2011), we at 2nd Story Goods have created our original products in collaboration with our staff and makers in Haiti. More recently, we have partnered with a few other social businesses with the hope of helping to grow each other’s impact. First came Atelier Calla in 2017. Then Singing Rooster in 2018.
And then, in 2022, we formed a partnership with Not I But We as well. All of these are independent social businesses that we believe in with everything inside of us! And all of them (with the exception of Not i But We - the story on that below!) are based in Haiti as well!
We became friends in 2017 and were both nominated for Entrepreneur of the year in haiti in 2018. This put us in a group of other entrepreneurs for training workshops. We bonded and have stayed friends since then.
With Atelier Calla, we respect the work and the heart behind it!
Singing Rooster is a social enterprise nonprofit supporting small producers in Haiti: Haitian coffee farmers, Haitian cacao (chocolate) farmers, and Haitian artists. We found them when we were researching coffee for the Kafe Lakay. They visited with us in Gonaives and explained the heart behind their work. They are in the business to see the farmers progress and get the best possible price for their yield.
They write ”Haiti won independence from France in 1804 to become the world’s first black republic. Ever since, they’ve been fighting for economic sovereignty. Coffee is a significant path towards this goal, where heirloom Haitian Arabica Typica coffees are rare, specialty coffees. Haiti was once one of the world’s greatest producers of coffee; Singing Rooster is helping put #haitiancoffee back on the map.
In 2024, our Marketing Director Olivia visited Oaxaca, Mexico. While she was there, she sought out opportunities to connect directly with makers, build relationships, and find beautiful products that she knew that you, our 2nd Story Goods community, would love!
During her time there Olivia got to learn about the process of using natural dyes; many families in the area grow their own plants for and cultivate natural dyes on their farms, like indigo for blue, mosses for green, and bark for brown, as well as the coolest one ever, cochineall (for red) which comes from a bug that lives on cacti and produces a special deeply pigmented acid.
She also got to learn about the use of looms to weave intricate textiles. She was stunned by the well worn wooden looms, large and small, in their open air workshop. You know that finish wood gets when it has had years of touch by human hands and it becomes smooth and nearly golden?
That was the feel of these looms, likely in their family for generations.
The beauty of the culture, art, scenery, and people of Oaxaca cannot be overstated. It is our honor to bring you a few of these special pieces.
Our first partner outside of Haiti, Not i But We is very special to us! Not i But We was born out of the fundamental need to see economic justice for survivors of human trafficking in South Africa.
Our relationship started in their beginnings when in 2019, the founder Madison, while working with survivors in South Africa and writing the business plan for NiBW, came to visit our space in Haiti to learn from our model.
In 2021, Olivia, our Marketing Director at 2nd Story Goods, went to South Africa to visit Not i But We. Soon it was clear that we were going to be making an exception to our rule that all of our products are made in Haiti in order to support this amazing organization as they find more space in the US market!