One look at tiny Marzia and you know that she’s one of a kind. Her colorful clothing tells you right away that she’s a lighthearted soul with a fun personality. Her bright smile and sweet laugh draw you in with hopes of learning more. What she lacks in stature — she’s tiny! — she makes up for in laughter and heart.

Marzia was only 6 months old when her parents moved their family from Afghanistan to Pakistan to escape civil war nearly 25 years ago. Her parents and six of her brothers and sisters remain in Pakistan to this day. A sister has moved back to Afghanistan.

But Marzia arrived in the United States in March 2016 with her husband, Abdul; her baby daughter, Aamana; and her hearing-impaired mother-in-law, whom she helps care for. Two years later, Marzia and Abdul have settled into jobs and are expecting their second child.

Because her family was poor, Marzia attended school only through the third grade, when she needed to go to work sewing clothes. Her seamstress skills are put to good use at GAIA, where she works on our text pouches and tops.

Marzia’s innate joy shows in her attitude about her new life, her delight in her co-workers, and even her beautiful handwriting. It’s hard to imagine that there was a time when she was frightened and struggling, but she is honest about that recent history. It wasn’t that long ago — only a couple of years — that she and Abdul were unsafe and desperate to be selected to come to the United States.

It didn’t matter to Marzia that the only word she knew in English was “hi” or that she didn’t know where Dallas was on a map. She knew only that there had to be a better place for her and her family than Afghanistan. And she wasn’t wrong about that. 

Beaming, she says, “I am so excited to have a fun job. I work; I go to English classes. My husband is happy. Maybe our children will grow up to be teachers or doctors.”

Each of our refugee artisans has a unique story. Read more here.

Teeming with kids of all ages, even through the summer, Jack Lowe Elementary School in central Dallas is a lively place. It’s where founder and managing director of the Vickery Meadow Summer Reading Academy Dalene Buhl comes each morning to oversee unique programs in English language phonics, reading, and writing, with extracurricular nutrition, music, PE, tap dance, and art.

New on her roster this year: GAIA for Girls. With great enthusiasm, she supervises nine girls, grades 7 through 10, in our jewelry-making venture and lives up to her unofficial title of 'Chief Optimist'. Buhl and her colleague Gail Stoke were instrumental in helping us create the GAIA program intended to empower girls and their mothers to help their families, and Buhl beams when she talks about the potential long-term impact on the young students. The program not only provides income for the girls and their families, she says, but it also stimulates their creativity, builds their confidence, teaches them about business from inception to production and beyond, and plants seeds of curiosity and independent determination for their futures. Talk with the girls and you can almost see those seeds sprouting.

In some ways, these teenagers are very typical. In one moment, they giggle shyly; in another, they boldly offer their opinions. Like other teenage girls, they enjoy television, sports, music, and their friends. But in other very significant ways, they are unlike many teenagers you know. Their hardships can be difficult to fathom. Some come from families who live on less than $800 per month (let that sink in for a moment). Others have parents who are disabled, ill, or have died. Yet despite their burdens, these girls have strong spirits and palpable ambition. That’s how they ended up in the program in the first place: They felt frustrated by their families’ situations and determined to find a way to help.

The girls say that working together, designing and crafting text bracelets for GAIA for Girls has not only been good for their families, but it’s also strengthened their friendships and given them the satisfaction of making something beautiful. There’s a lot to love in this little group. Says 13-year-old Norhafizah, whose family immigrated to the United States from Malyasia: “We have talents that are rare in the world! We are uniquely awesome!”

Below, you can get to know a few of these sweet girls a bit better.

Emmanuel

Age: 13
Home country: Myanmar
Loves: Reading, dancing, sleeping, and watching cartoons
Goals: To be a doctor, travel the world, and live a happy life
Favorite part of GAIA for Girls: “Designing and crafting the bracelets!”

--------------------

Rebecca

Age: 12
Home country: Myanmar
Loves: Cooking, sewing, singing, dancing, and reading
Goals: To become a doctor in order to help others
Favorite part of GAIA for Girls: “I like that [my sister, Emmanuel, and I] are helping our parents.”

--------------------

Tay Mo 

Age: 14
Home country: Thailand
Loves: Playing soccer and the violin
Goals: To be successful in and outside of school; to be a leader in my family
Favorite part of GAIA for Girls: “Being creative and making something beautiful is a good way show your true colors.”

--------------------

Dar

Age: 13
Home country: Burma
Loves: Watching K-pop, singing, and dancing
Goals: To become a doctor and help others
Favorite part of GAIA for Girls: “Helping my parents with the finances. This is a good opportunity to learn and earn money.”

--------------------

Norhafizah

Age: 13
Home country: Malaysia
Loves: Playing badminton, swimming, exercising, dancing, singing, and eating
Goals: To go to college and get a good job after
Favorite part of GAIA for Girls: “Because I often like to waste my time watching movies and eating and playing and sleeping, this is good for me. I like being creative, and this keeps me active.”

--------------------

Marisol

Age: 15
Home country: United States (first generation)
Loves: Listening to music, playing the piano, doing crafts, and helping in school Goals: To go to college and eventually own a business
Favorite part of GAIA for Girls: “As far back as third grade, I was designing bracelets and selling them to friends at school, so I am really excited to make it an actual job.”

Shop the GAIA for Girls collection now.

In March 2003, troops from the United States, the United Kingdom, Australia, and Poland invaded Iraq. This first stage of the Iraq War, called Operation Iraqi Freedom, was meant “to disarm Iraq of weapons of mass destruction, to end Saddam Hussein’s support for terrorism, and to free the Iraqi people.” A decade later, the country still raged with internal war. Cities were destroyed, the threat of deadly violence from Al-Qaeda was everywhere, and a young woman named Saja and her husband, Ahmed, decided to seek safety in Turkey. 

You wouldn’t guess that fact by looking at them. They are a peaceful, beautiful pair with two sweet children, a 5-year-old daughter named Jomana and a 3-year-old son named Ramy. Jomana will start kindergarten in the fall, and Ramy is into taking things apart. They are much like most other children you know, only they speak both Arabic and English. Saja and Ahmed arrived in the United States in December 2014, after living in Turkey nearly two years. 

Temporarily in Turkey

 Saja’s story doesn’t involve a covert night-time border crossing or desperate years in a refugee camp, but that doesn’t mean her journey as a refugee has been easy. Though she and Ahmed were able to drive across the Iraq/Turkey border and set up house in Istanbul without trouble, neither of them spoke Turkish and they were told they would not be allowed to work. In Iraq, Ahmed worked as a photographer — sometimes with the press — and owned a banner-making business. After a few months in Turkey, “we ran out of money,” Ahmed says. “Life was really hard there.”

Luckily, Ahmed is a resourceful man who is quick with languages. He not only learned Turkish, but he found a way to earn money. He also sought asylum for himself and Saja in the United States as war refugees.  

After completing their application, they waited six weeks for a phone call, after which they traveled about six hours from their home in Istanbul for their first interview. By this time, Saja was nine months pregnant. Ahmed remembers that day well: “On September 25, they made a detailed interview with us — Why did you leave Iraq? What is your story. How many brothers and sisters you have?” he says.

“They needed to know if we had a good reason to leave. I told them the truth. ‘I am afraid. I was working with the press and with the Americans, and I am really afraid they will come and end my life.’” 

Two days later, Saja and Ahmed welcomed Jomana into the world. 

The Waiting Game 

Saja and Ahmed were given a case number to follow on a website. He was told it would be months before a decision was made, but even so he eagerly checked the site every week. “After six months, I see that we have been selected!” he recalls. 

Saja says she looked at the site and she shouted with glee and cried. “We were excited,” she says, “but at the same time a little bit sad. I was thinking, “But when will we ever see our family again?’”

Another interview and many security screenings followed that happy day. Another six months pass before they find out that they would indeed be granted refugee status and move to the United States. After saying goodbye to their friends, Saja, Ahmed, and Jomana boarded a U.S.-bound plane. Their trip to Dallas included a six-hour layover in the Netherlands and a night in New York. They requested Dallas because they already had friends here and knew making a new life would be easier if they knew at least someone.

Well and Happy in Dallas

Since arriving in Dallas, Saja and Ahmed have worked terrifically hard to establish a rich, full life. Ahmed works at Walmart and they’ve had a second child, Ramy. He is still taking photos and is interested in website design. The couple is saving for a house and dream of the day when they can buy a new car. 

 Though Saja didn’t work outside the home in Iraq or Turkey, she went to work in Dallas creating jewelry for Melt Goods before joining the GAIA team in January 2018. She is the only one of our refugee artisans who knows how to cut, sand, and polish the brass we use for our earrings. She says that someday she’d love to run her own jewelry business.

On the day that we sat down with Saja and Ahmed to talk about their story, they were headed to the beach in Galveston, Texas, for a weekend away with friends.

“It’s a good life,” says Saja. “We are happy.”

This Spring, the GAIA family moved into new digs! After outgrowing our former workshop & studio, we were so excited to find a bigger home — in a beautiful old carriage house in Uptown Dallas, no less — and open our first retail store. There we are selling not only our own handmade collection but also a carefully selected assortment of items from like-minded companies.

Recently, our founder Paula spoke with D Magazine about the new shop and showed off our pretty new place. Read that story and see lots of photos.

To celebrate our opening — and get some beautiful photos of our team in the new space — we brought the whole GAIA family together. It’s something we are rarely able to do, and so it was an extraordinarily special day of laughter, loving on babies, and sharing food from all over the world. Women from seven countries — Burma, Syria, Afghanistan, Iraq, Tunisia, Congo, and the United States — celebrated sisterhood and christened our happy new home. By the end of the gathering, our hearts (and bellies) were full.

Every one of us is so grateful to do what we do, and we welcome you to drop by 2417 Mahon Street in Dallas to shop our curated collection in person or shop goods made by our refugee artisans online now.

Of all the red-letter days in a calendar year, World Refugee Day is the nearest and dearest to our hearts. In a big way, it’s a day for GAIA to do something special in honor of the 65 million people around the world who have been displaced due to violence and oppression and celebrate their resilience. On a more personal level, it’s a day for us to celebrate the resettled artisan women who are the very reason GAIA exists.

This year, World Refugee Day fell on June 20. To mark the occasion, we partnered with another local socially-minded brand Mon Amie to host a fun event at our new headquarters.

Mon Amie is a division of Fossil, which is also based in the Dallas area. The name is French for “my friend,” and the company is certainly our friend — and a friend to many women worldwide. It shares our style-with-purpose mission. While we work to empower resettled refugee women and girls through well-paying, meaningful employment, Mon Amie empowers women and girls in developing communities around the world by helping provide access to food, water, education, health care, and business opportunities. So when the like-minded folks at Mon Amie reached out to us with the idea of a pop-up event, we were definitely on board!

Together we packed the GAIA house for a Wednesday evening of snacks (that was indeed a macaron tower!), sips, and a special craft workshop headed by Huda and Bothina.

Visitors browsed the watch brand’s summer styles and all the GAIA goodness we have to share, while Huda and Bothina led the group in a #CreateForaCause workshop. Social media influencers, including Lee Cordon, Denise Johnson, and Stephanie Drenka were among our many lovely guests who made tasseled key rings to take home.



It was such a fun way to celebrate World Refugee Day — and kick off summer. Everyone who attended had a blast, and all agreed that they found a new appreciation for the handiwork our artisans do: It’s a whole lot harder to make a tassel that's built to look pretty AND built to last!

Summer is in full swing, and we’re eagerly packing our bags for some long weekends away.

Where are we going? What will we wear? We’re so glad you asked!

We cruised Forbes’ list of top travel destinations for 2018 to choose our not-so-far-away destinations and then paired them with GAIA tops and accessories and bottoms and shoes from our friends at Cabana. Every beautiful GAIA item is handmade by a refugee artisan rebuilding her life in Dallas, Texas (a great place to visit, by the way).

Check out these gorgeous U.S. spots and the outfits to match.

Asheville, North Carolina

We’ll breathe more deeply and rest more soundly when we nestle into nature in the Blue Ridge Mountains. We’ll at least drop by the Biltmore Estate, even if we don’t get to stay there.

Top + Earrings + Bag + Bottom + Shoes

Detroit, Michigan

The idea of Motor City and the birthplace of Motown really gets our motor running. It’s a city seeing a revival — and you know we love a good starting-over story. Top of our list: a ride on the Q-Line streetcar.

Top + Earrings + Bag + Necklaces + Bottom + Shoes

New Orleans, Louisiana

The Big Easy can get a bit sweaty in the summer months, but we don’t mind. Hotels and restaurants are plenty air conditioned, and if we really need to cool things off, we’ll grab a frozen daiquiri.

Top + Earrings + Bag + Necklace + Bottom + Shoes

Palm Beach County, Florida

As if miles of sandy white beaches weren’t enough, Palm Beach County is more than fun in the sun. We’re hitting Delray Beach for its incredible Japanese gardens and the must-see costume museum in Boca Raton.

Top + Earrings + Bag + Bottom + Shoes

San Juan, Puerto Rico

The U.S. territory still needs our help after last year’s hurricane. One way to give back is to go stay. We’ll book a room, make some dinner reservations, and plan daytrips to rainforests and rum castles.

Top + Earrings + Bag + Necklace + Bottom + Shoes

Curious about the refugee artisans who create our tops and accessories? Get to know them here.

If you follow GAIA on Instagram, you may have noticed a few new things for the smaller set. Maybe you spotted a sneak peek on an Instagram post with colorful arm candy that read: “New bracelets for the littles — likely to be borrowed by the bigs!”

Yes? No? Either way, we’re here to give you the scoop on those bitty bracelets.

 With four messages — XOXO, CUTIE, I ❤️ YOU, and BFF — the bracelets are handmade by refugee youth in Dallas as part of a new GAIA initiative to provide work to local refugee girls and their mamas. We weren’t looking to start something new when opportunity knocked, but we know a need when we see one.

When we learned through volunteers from Preston Hollow Presbyterian Church working with students in the Vickery Meadow area of Dallas that a group of teens were frustrated by their mothers’ inability to find work, we took notice. When we heard that the students were asking how they could help, trying to determine what they could do to generate work, earn money, and improve their circumstances now that they are here in the United States, we all began to brainstorm together ways to engage these girls.

With wheels turning, we thought, What if we create a new collection for GAIA? We had considered expanding our existing Kids collection to include jewelry...Wouldn’t it be kind of perfect to offer bracelets for younger girls, made by older teen girls working to affect change in their own lives? And so we designed these cute new bracelets with the girls skills in mind, and partnered with the volunteers to train the girls and get them up and running. They were thrilled!

The students are really driving this initiative. These girls have grit. They have moxie. They are bright, eager and excited to work for what they want. Many of their families have survived serious trauma either before or after arriving in the country, and yet they are positive, energetic spirits who inspire us.

Look into their faces and you see tomorrow’s entrepreneurs. They will surely go on to be fashion designers and restaurateurs and captains of industry of all sorts. Watch their industrious hands and you know you are watching the creation of something much bigger than jewelry. That makes our hearts sing!

This new initiative truly exemplifies what GAIA is all about. The students get to help their families and we get to further support refugees in Dallas — and ensure a brighter future for these teens, because we know that empowered girls become empowered women.

* Special thanks to the dedicated mentorship provided by PHPC tireless advocates, Dalene Buhl, Gail Stoke, and Rev. Kathy Lee-Cornell, and our friends at Tasby Middle School, Preston Hollow Presbyterian Church, and the Vickery Meadow Youth Development Foundation.  ** Please note that absolutely no child labor laws are violated in this project.

More Neat New Things for Kids

The darling bracelets aren’t the only kids’ news we have for you, however.

We’re excited to offer monogrammed diaper pouches and the sweetest kids clothing from Folklore, another Dallas-based company with a mission for helping women improve their lives. Handmade in Guatemala with upcycled cotton from the New Denim Project, the striped skirts and dresses coordinate with some of our tops for a mother-daughter look that cannot be beat.

With diaper pouches that coordinate with large pouches for mama’s stuff, and large pouches that coordinate with little mouse purses, and pom-pom bags that match our mini hearts and mini kitties, there’s lots more mommy-and-mini goodness from GAIA. 

Shop the entire GAIA’s kids’ collection.

As a lead up to Valentine’s Day, online retailer Maisonette shared a little GAIA love in its Stories section. In her piece, Phoebe de Croisset explored our company’s roots, why our mission is so important, and what founder Paula wants for the future of GAIA.