Celebrating Women and Wellness this International Women's Day

As we celebrate International Women's Day today I am reminded of two of the important reasons why I started Mala and Mantra seven years ago, women and wellness.

One of my lifelong ambitions has been to help raise up talented women artisans across the globe by providing them with fair wages for their hard work while helping to sustain them and their families and ultimately lift them out of poverty. 

I started Mala and Mantra in 2013 working with local women artisans in Southern California.  Once I realized we would need to be prepared for larger production I  decided to reconnect with a social entrepreneurship in the Philippines I had met in 2009 and build a working partnership. 

The women’s artisan cooperative provides sustainable income, pays fair wages and provides a safe work environment for a group of Filipino women artisans. By purchasing production from the women’s co-op, Mala and Mantra supports these women and their families and ensures them of sustainable income, while expanding their livelihood.

I feel strongly about supporting women artisans as I believe women will make sure to keep their families fed, provide them with care and nurturing, and most importantly put their children to school and provide them with the best education they can afford.

I am a fortunate daughter of a Filipino woman who immigrated to the United States for higher education and a better life.  My mother helped provide for her family and made sure along with my father all of her children were well taken care of and received the very best education they could and sometimes could not afford.  I attended private schools my entire life and through the process knew how fortunate I was as many other children in the Philippines were not given the same opportunities as myself. I am grateful to have a strong woman as a mother who paved the way for me.

One of my more recent goals in the past decade has been to empower the world through wellness.  The practices which mala beads help support, meditation and mindfulness, have personally helped me in the past decade deal with many of life's challenges.  I believe if provided with the right tools and guidance one has the power within to achieve personal enlightenment, which is the goal in meditation.We strive to provide mindful living tools like mala beads to help start, develop, or nurture a meditation practice.  

Every mala we create is designed with intention and comes accompanied with a mantra which I write based on the holistic properties and energies of the particular gemstone used.  We hope our mantras provide a message of wellness to the wearer and serve as a reminder to be present and mindful.

Please join me and Mala and Mantra in celebrating International Women's Day today.  Let's show gratitude to all of the women in our life who have nurtured, inspired, supported, and lifted us up to be our best selves. 

To learn more visit:  https://www.internationalwomensday.com/About

Namaste,

 -JPC

Founder + Creator