For Liya Kebede, lemlem was founded on the desire to help others. The supermodel has devoted her label to creating an artisan-driven collection entirely made in Africa, where the brand is committed to elevating artisanship and expanding production and jobs across the region. For Kebede, the coronavirus epidemic puts not only her own business at risk – but also the livelihood of the community that she supports. Below, Kebede shares her trips for remote work and how she is navigating this difficult time.

On her tips for staying connected

We closed our New York offices and shifted our team to virtual work quite early on in March to help keep our employees safe and try to do our part toward social distancing and flattening the curve. We’ve been checking in with the team regularly using Zoom, Gchat and other resources, not only to keep essential aspects of the business flowing, but to make sure everyone is staying healthy and connected and to share emotional support during this time.

We’ve had some solid practice with working virtually. Because our main suppliers are small workshops in Africa, for years we’ve been trying out different platforms and solutions to communicate with the workshop leaders and artisans – doing everything from discussing business strategy to sharing designs, and production techniques, and doing virtual quality checks. Our main learnings over the years: be precise and concise and follow up calls with an email highlighting the key points so everyone has a point of reference.

On how the virus impacted her business 

Dramatically. As a small business with a commitment to ensure artisans in Africa have sustained employment in good times and bad – every sale helps keep lemlem in business so we can continue building a lifeline for artisans in Africa. With the sudden and abrupt contraction of the economy, we know every industry is facing intense pressure and difficult cutbacks. Small businesses like ours are especially hard hit as retailers, warehouses and shipping channels close. We recognize this is a time of great uncertainty for every customer and we’ve been offering special sales and communications with the fervent hope that we can make it through this crisis together and get back to sharing our beautiful collections and helping our customers step back out into the sunshine when it is healthy to do so again.

At the core of our long-term business goal has always been our commitment to bring the best of African artisanship to the world market and create opportunities for craftsman to have a stable livelihood.  The crisis has reinforced for us what we value and what our business model is all about.

On her message for the fashion industry

Stay hopeful. Lemlem was built on small acts of support, creativity, and kindness and we’re inspired every day of this crisis by the acts of compassion and love we see going on around the world each day as people do and give what they can to help others.  That’s our message to others. Beyond the business and the fashion, let’s keep aspiring to make a contribution and do good for others each day.