on november 9th, women for women international hosted their annual gala in new york city. it was an evening of cocktail dresses and champagne toasts—but the best surprise came when our friends from the task force for business and stability operations (TFBSO)—the organization without whose help, our aid to afghanistan would not be safely possible—presented us with a bag of our very first samples from afghanistan.    

in mid-october, katie hatch (design director, accessories) and myself, avani shah (manager, development and production), traveled to bosnia for a one-week discovery trip. in a nutshell, the trip was an amazing experience.

our reason for going was to source product to put into development for upcoming hand in hand collections. the trip was very productive and really put things in perspective in terms of what we can achieve in bosnia.    

in august 2010, four members of the kate spade new york team journeyed to kabul, afghanistan as part of a mission to establish sustainable employment opportunities for the women in this country. along with women for women international founder zainab salbi, our team included craig leavitt (chief executive officer), sydney price (senior vice president, merchandising), kyle andrew (senior vice president, marketing) and myself, johanna saum (public relations manager). together we embarked on a trip that was overwhelmingly educational and memorable.