INTERVIEW: Mahlet Yohannes launched Silks of Sheba to celebrate her African heritage

INTERVIEW: Mahlet Yohannes launched Silks of Sheba to celebrate her African heritage


Original Article

Mahlet Yohannes is the founder of the lifestyle brand, Silks of Sheba. She is an up-and-coming entrepreneur with a career background in aviation & hospitality industry.

Silks of Sheba is influenced by Mahlets many years of traveling across the world. I immersed myself in the different cultures, languages, and experiences that I encountered throughout my career. In the past 10+ years, I have been lucky enough to visit more than 70 countries. This has been a wonderful way to see the world and become immersed in the design community says Mahlet. She launched Silks of Sheba to celebrate her African heritage while empowering local artisan communities and supporting nonprofit charities that build water wells in rural Africa.

Silks of Sheba is a line that reflects an effortless sense of style that upholds the dynamic heritage and cultural background of Africa. As a completely female-driven company, she aims to contribute and support women. Women from all walks of life inspire her daily and wants to create stylish, diverse accessories suitable for versatile lifestyles. The scarves are a wearable work of art. Mahlet works closely with female artisans who each will design a limited edition, full of colorful metaphors, and each silk scarves has a story to tell.

Mahlet is a strong advocate for universal and equitable access to safe and affordable drinking water set out by the U.N sustainable development goals (SDGs). And in the spirit of women helping women, a percentage of the proceeds are marked for donation to a pre-selected nonprofit organization that builds affordable water wells in rural Africa. Mahlets goal is to help communities, especially women and young children have access to clean water.

 

When did you first realize you wanted to launch your own fashion label?

While I was pregnant with my son, Malachi. I worked my whole life after college and life was about to change 360% as a new mother. I needed to create something of my own that will give me the flexibility of working from home and still be productive. I have always had a thing for silk, accessories and fashion in general, so I decided to start small by launching custom designed silk scarves.

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