Roommates Alyssa Rose and Kiera Maloney launched their online marketplace, Radiate, on Wednesday. Casey Chun/The Fordham Ram
By Cailin McKenna
Alyssa Rose, FCRH ’17, returned from the Dominican Republic two summers ago with a collection of stories about local artisan women and a backpack full of their beautiful, unique goods. Her experiences in the Dominican Republic shed light on an important economic and social issue affecting women and artisans across the developing world; the fact that many of these artisans’ income are largely dependent on the tourist industry.
With her roommate Kiera Maloney, FCRH ’17, the two students set out to reinvent the relationship between economical sustainability for these artisans and how the general public consumes their goods. In their dorm room on May 7, 2014, Rose and Maloney used their love for travel and social justice to develop a platform for artisans to share their stories and their authentic goods with a consistent base of consumers around the globe.
“We wanted to create an online platform where artisans have steady traffic for selling their goods, and consumers have a reliable source to buy unique goods,” said Rose. “We wanted to empower women through ethical business practices.”
The result was Radiate, an online marketplace that has a central mission to empower women from developing regions. It does this by providing an avenue of increased income while creating a new and dynamic practice of exchanging new and artisanal goods.
“The main motivation for Radiate was to start something that was most sustainably good,” Rose said. “This is a good way to empower women to create their own way of income without being reliant on other organizations such as NGOs.”
Almost a year later, this undertaking has become a reality with the launch of their online marketplace on Wednesday, April 15. The website offers a limited selection of products including Radiate stickers. By the end of the summer, the marketplace will be fully stocked and able to offer authentic goods at budget-friendly prices, along with providing a source of sustainable income to artisans.
The artisan women Rose and Maloney have met through their travels to Ecuador, Guatemala, Haiti, Senegal, Nicaragua, the Dominican Republic and in the Navajo nation in New Mexico have inspired the roommate duo to reimagine the way consumers view production and the way products are sold. By creating a relationship between consumers and artisans, they say they are able to connect individuals and create a sustainable way of life for many artisans in the developing world.
“Whenever we return from travels and bring back artisan goods, people are always asking where they can get similar goods,” said Maloney. “It’s a natural link to put those markets together.”
In January, Rose and Maloney launched a two week long Indiegogo campaign that raised over $1,800. Fully-funded by their family and friends, the Radiate team was able to put the money toward licensing fees and the website (radiatemarket.com). They will use the remaining funds to set up a network of artisans with initial supplies.
“We came up with the idea to use radiate as our name when we were having a conversation about some of the people we look to for inspiration and commenting about the way they just exude all of these positive qualities that we really admire,” said Rose.
The Radiate model will create a cohort of five artisan women from a single region of the world.
This summer, Rose and Maloney will spend a month in the Dominican Republic to meet with artisans, set them up with initial amount supplies and create a plan for communication and shipping.
The online marketplace will allow these artisans to build their own businesses over the course of three years and gain access to a wider consumer base. After three years, the program will establish and promote individualized websites for selling goods. The team will work with these women to promote environmental and economic sustainability, ethical business practices and a greater understanding of their diverse cultures.
“I support small businesses and by buying from these businesses and other people, we can redesign how we buy goods,” said Maloney. “We don’t have to buy from large factories or chain stores, it can be from people.”
Radiate is already attracting the attention of organizations around campus as the company has received numerous awards, including being a finalist in the Social Innovation Challenge. It was also recently selected as part of Fordham Foundry, a business incubator.
Rose and Maloney are also bringing this economic and social justice issue to the forefront and encouraging other students to get involved to make a difference. Their slogan “what will you radiate?” asks students to take initiative, and in turn, make a difference in the world.
In addition to radiating joy and prosperity with the goal of empowering women around the world, Rose tries to radiate sunshine by maintaining a positive attitude and finding happiness in the little things. Maloney tries to radiate good vibes in order to promote a sense of calmness that others can take part in. “We love this definition of the word radiate that is ‘to emit in rays; to project or glow’ and we think each person radiates and glows some quality,” said Maloney.
