Celebrating 15 Years of Starfish Project

We are mere days away from our 15 year anniversary at Starfish Project. As I write today, women are joyfully bustling about as they gather around desks and lunch tables passing around delectable treats. The giggles are contagious. As I smile along, treats of vinegar-soaked eggs and tofu are delivered to my desk. It’s hard to describe the culture of our office other than to say we’re a family. The good, come-as-you-are, love-and-be-loved kind of family. So much life - joy, tears, healing, and growth happens between these walls and within each heart as we are busy about crafting, photographing, and writing about jewelry. How do you celebrate 15 years of building a family?

This week we celebrate by welcoming a new woman into our program and our family. Rey has just begun her journey of experiencing freedom at Starfish Project. She’s still finding her footing and looks upon our daily dance breaks as if we have lost our minds. Yet she is here - she is no longer there, in the darkness of the brothel, and this family will take her in. The hesitation to engage with someone new and fear triggers, for both Rey and the current women of Starfish Project, will be set aside and soon she will be called a sister. That is something to celebrate!

Here at Starfish Project, with your support, we have created a family that welcomes even the most marginalized with dance parties, home-cooked treats, and opportunities to hope for more in any area of life. We have created this community together and each new woman who joins us brings another piece. We are so proud that our jewelry business, now mostly run by women who have escaped human trafficking, is leading the way in on-trend designs and industry-leading quality for ethical fashion.

Yet, there are still many women and girls in exploitation today. We desire to see each one experience freedom. With your help, we can! You are an incredibly important part of this family. Your purchases are investments into this powerful mission. We couldn’t do this without you.

This year we celebrate 15 years of experiencing freedom, establishing independence, and developing careers with incredible expectations for more. In our fifteenth year, we aim to add 15 more women to our family. That’s 15 women, that will not only experience freedom from exploration and human trafficking but join a family where they are, as Mae Lee and June describe it, “known and delighted-in.” Like our Known and Delighted-In Earrings, each beautiful, storytelling piece in our new collection is named after and inspired by lives transformed here at Starfish Project.

Shop, read, share and join us this month as we celebrate our incredible Starfish Project family. Thank you for restoring hope with us for fifteen amazing years!