\u201cMaking these fabrics isn’t the artisans\u2019 main source of income,\u201d Arias explains. \u201cIt\u2019s one of them, but their main source of income is tourism, and that wasn’t happening in the early months of the pandemic. Nobody was going to the countries nobody was visiting, and so they were just really trying to find ways to improvise and just work with what they have to earn a living.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Even with the challenges that her business faced, Arias knew others were struggling more, so she stepped up to help. For each mask sold, she has given one away to farmworkers in North Carolina. That mask also came with information about how to prevent the spread of the coronavirus. The Farmworker Health and Safety Education Program at NC State\u2019s North Carolina Cooperative Extension<\/a> partnered with Arias to organize the effort and hand out the masks. <\/p>\n\n\n\n For Arias, who was born in El Salvador, supporting the Latinx community during the pandemic felt especially fulfilling. She says farmworkers have given cooperative representatives positive feedback about the 550 masks that have been donated so far. <\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cThe farmworkers are out in the sun for a really long time, and so one mask isn\u2019t enough, and that first mask gets dirty. And so they have to constantly change their masks,\u201d she says. \u201cAs far as the designs, it didn’t hurt that the mask had nice aesthetics to it.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n Although Arias says sales are starting to return to normal as weddings and other special events return, Descalza is still selling masks. <\/p>\n\n\n\n To learn more about this effort, Lisbeth Arias, Descalza, and the Farmworker Health and Safety Education Program, please read the story below (originally published July 15, 2020).<\/p>\n\n\n\n By D’Lyn Ford<\/p>\n\n\n\n NC State alumna Lisbeth Carolina Arias designs custom clothing with handwoven fabric from Latin America.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Her company, Descalza, connects her with an international community of people who have shaped her life: friends and mentors from 4-H in North Carolina; a co-op in El Salvador, where she was born; weavers in Guatemala she met during an NC State internship; and customers in New York, where she moved for a year to gain design experience.<\/p>\n\n\n\n As the pandemic began this spring, Arias made alterations to her company, which sells online and through pop-up stores in North Carolina and New York.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cSince Descalza makes statement pieces, these pieces are usually worn whenever you know the spotlight\u2019s going to be on you, so most of these events are very special events, from weddings to galas to prom to formals,\u201d Arias says. \u201cWhen COVID-19 happened, basically these events stopped happening.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Plans for a pop-up store in California were canceled. Home with a newborn, Arias and her mother, a skilled seamstress, saw other clothing companies making masks. So did her social media followers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cI said, \u2018If customers are sending me messages on Instagram asking for these, then there\u2019s a demand for it,\u2019\u201d Arias says. \u201cBut I didn\u2019t want to just make these masks. Descalza\u2019s very centered around community. I wanted to find a way where we could work together with someone else.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n She talked with longtime friend Roberto Rosales, an educator with North Carolina Cooperative Extension\u2019s Farmworker Health and Safety Education Program<\/a>. Rosales works with farmers and farm labor contractors to provide workers with instruction on safety practices and protective equipment, including masks.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Ever Jimenez Mu\u00f1oz wears a fabric mask from Descalza at Nichols and Nichols Farms in Wilson County, distributed through N.C. Cooperative Extension\u2019s Farmworker Health and Safety Education Program. Bilingual educator Roberto Rosales explained COVID-19 precautions to H-2A workers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cI thought of just reaching out to him and asking if there was a need for them. Maybe they have it all set and they have an abundant amount of masks, which is great, or maybe not.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Rosales told her that an estimated 75,000 workers contributed to North Carolina agriculture last year. With new workers arriving throughout the season, Rosales\u2019 goal is to provide farmworkers with masks along with information about preventing the spread of COVID-19 as they work, travel, shop and live together in farm housing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cWe\u2019re planning on doing the distribution of masks through our farmworker training so that it\u2019s actually an ideal partnership where we\u2019re directly taking the masks to workers that it\u2019s providing a service for,\u201d Rosales says.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The fabric masks distributed to workers will include bilingual information and illustrations of correct mask use.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cWe are selling masks through the website and basically advertise it as a BOGO sale, which is a play on words because most people, when they hear BOGO, they hear \u2018buy one, get one,\u2019 but for us, it\u2019s going to be \u2018buy one, give one,\u2019\u201d Arias says.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cSo for every mask that you purchase from Descalza, one mask is made for a farmworker and donated to them.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Those who order masks will also receive information about farmworkers and Extension health and safety programs offered through NC State.<\/p>\n\n\n\n It\u2019s no wonder Arias thought of Extension when she wanted to contribute to the community. She has deep roots in 4-H and Juntos, two other programs offered through NC State.<\/p>\n\n\n\n When she was 9, a woman from her church in Sanford started a folklorico group, sharing dance traditions from Mexico and Central America. Arias was drawn to the dancing and the colorful dresses. Practices took place in garages and parking lots \u2013 until leaders asked Bill Stone, then a Lee County Extension agent, about providing rehearsal space. Stone agreed and asked if he could offer 4-H programs<\/a> to the group, and a partnership began.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cI remember being involved in 4-H from the end of middle school through high school and doing these different programs with them, participating in public speaking,\u201d Arias says. \u201cAt the time I didn\u2019t see that these activities and experiences that they have for 4-H\u2019ers were helping me develop skills that I now use as a businesswoman.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cI never thought I would still be talking about 4-H right now. I\u2019m 28 years old, and I\u2019m still somehow connected.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Cintia Aguilar, Extension community and rural development program manager, has witnessed Arias\u2019 growth since 2013, when they met through Stone.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Arias was featured in a fotonovela explaining how 4-H participation could teach life skills and prepare young people for college. Then, she was recruited to volunteer with Juntos, a program to help Latino students graduate from high school and enroll in college.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201c4-H is a lot about giving back to the community,\u201d says Aguilar, who directs Latino programs and co-founded Juntos with Andrew Behnke, a former faculty member, and Diana Urieta.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cI know in Lisbeth\u2019s case, I think she has had such a wonderful role model in her mother. She brought that with her, but I think also the culture of Extension, 4-H and the Juntos program contributed to her actions to help others and promote and seek educational opportunities.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Since its start in CALS, Juntos<\/a> (Spanish for \u201ctogether\u201d), has expanded to other states and is managed by NC State\u2019s Division of Academic and Student Affairs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n While studying fashion and textile design at NC State, Arias, who came to the U.S. from El Salvador at age 2, found new ways to connect with her culture and her family.<\/p>\n\n\n\n She had several internship experiences, one with Mayan women in Guatemala.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cWorking with these women left an imprint on me, and I knew I wanted to go back to those textiles. I just didn\u2019t know how,\u201d Arias says.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Kate Annett-Hitchcock, an associate professor of textile and apparel, technology and management, first encouraged Arias to follow her instincts. Arias found more inspiration at the North Carolina Museum of Art\u2019s Ebony Fashion exhibition, where she met Precious Lovell, then an associate professor of art and design at NC State. \u201cI asked her to be my mentor because of the African textiles I saw on her table,\u201d Arias explains. \u201cI knew she was just as passionate about indigenous textiles as I was.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n And her mother, who had worked as a seamstress for manufacturing companies, had valuable knowledge to share.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cShe didn\u2019t get to go to school when she got to this country; she went straight to work,\u201d Arias says. \u201cGoing to school was my job. A lot of times she felt the language barrier holding her back from helping me with my studies, but when I started to show interest in apparel development and taking classes on how to sew, she felt that finally she was able to help me with my homework, because when it comes to sewing, you don\u2019t need a language, you just need your hands and your tools.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cShe felt like she was contributing to my education. In reality, she\u2019s always been contributing, just having her support, but she felt that now there was something that we can bond with.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n After earning her degree in 2015, at the urging of mentors, Arias moved to New York for a year to get fashion industry experience.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cBasically, what I got out of New York was validation, that I was capable of creating designs that were aesthetically pleasing, that were functional,\u201d Arias says, adding, \u201cI had this epiphany that if I can work this hard for someone else\u2019s dream, then I can work this hard for mine.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Arias returned to the inspiration of the Guatemalan weavers. She found a group of weavers for her business through her former design professor and connected with another weaving co-op in El Salvador on a trip to visit her family. The bright, woven fabric was a perfect fit with her design vision.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cWhen I started Descalza, I knew that fashion is a way that we express ourselves, and as immigrants in this country, we\u2019re always trying to move forward but at the same time, we don\u2019t want to let go of our roots. These textiles represent that. They kind of reconnect us to our history, to our ancestors.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n She launched Descalza<\/a> in 2017. Why did she choose the name, which means \u201cbarefoot\u201d in Spanish?<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cFor me personally, it reminds me of the artisans,\u201d Arias explains. \u201cA lot of times they tend to work without shoes and they see the shoes kind of as an inconvenience.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cHowever, a couple years ago, someone asked my mom the question on why Descalza, and I love her version a lot as well, because she said that as immigrants, you start out here in this country descalza, meaning that you start out here with nothing. Then as years go by, you make something out of yourself. You make something for your family.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n That\u2019s a goal Arias aspires to reach.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cAt the end of the day, what I want to do \u2013 with 4-H, Juntos or Descalza \u2013 is be that reflection for my community because oftentimes, especially in states like North Carolina, you don\u2019t often get to see someone like me in the spotlight or someone like me starting their own business.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cI just want to be that reflection so that my community can see that you\u2019re capable of doing it, that you\u2019re capable of starting in this country, like my mom said, descalza and making so much out of yourself, for yourself, for your family, and for those that are looking at you.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false,"raw":"\n\n\n\n\n By Sarah Stone<\/p>\n\n\n\n When the pandemic began, Wilson College of Textiles alumna Lisbeth Arias faced challenges in maintaining sales at her business. By applying NC State\u2019s Think And Do approach, she has been able to both stabilize business during difficult times and improve quality of life for members of the Latinx community. <\/p>\n\n\n\n The fashion designer and owner of Descalza<\/a>, began creating and selling face masks with the fabric she typically uses to create special occasion garments. Arias, who graduated with a Bachelor of Science in fashion and textile design<\/a> in 2015, says this pivot wasn\u2019t just about keeping her business stable. Sales of these masks have also provided income to the Latin American artisans who weave Descalza\u2019s fabrics. <\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cMaking these fabrics isn't the artisans\u2019 main source of income,\u201d Arias explains. \u201cIt\u2019s one of them, but their main source of income is tourism, and that wasn't happening in the early months of the pandemic. Nobody was going to the countries nobody was visiting, and so they were just really trying to find ways to improvise and just work with what they have to earn a living.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Even with the challenges that her business faced, Arias knew others were struggling more, so she stepped up to help. For each mask sold, she has given one away to farmworkers in North Carolina. That mask also came with information about how to prevent the spread of the coronavirus. The Farmworker Health and Safety Education Program at NC State\u2019s North Carolina Cooperative Extension<\/a> partnered with Arias to organize the effort and hand out the masks. <\/p>\n\n\n\n For Arias, who was born in El Salvador, supporting the Latinx community during the pandemic felt especially fulfilling. She says farmworkers have given cooperative representatives positive feedback about the 550 masks that have been donated so far. <\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cThe farmworkers are out in the sun for a really long time, and so one mask isn\u2019t enough, and that first mask gets dirty. And so they have to constantly change their masks,\u201d she says. \u201cAs far as the designs, it didn't hurt that the mask had nice aesthetics to it.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n Although Arias says sales are starting to return to normal as weddings and other special events return, Descalza is still selling masks. <\/p>\n\n\n\n To learn more about this effort, Lisbeth Arias, Descalza, and the Farmworker Health and Safety Education Program, please read the story below (originally published July 15, 2020).<\/p>\n\n\n\n By D'Lyn Ford<\/p>\n\n\n\n NC State alumna Lisbeth Carolina Arias designs custom clothing with handwoven fabric from Latin America.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Her company, Descalza, connects her with an international community of people who have shaped her life: friends and mentors from 4-H in North Carolina; a co-op in El Salvador, where she was born; weavers in Guatemala she met during an NC State internship; and customers in New York, where she moved for a year to gain design experience.<\/p>\n\n\n\n As the pandemic began this spring, Arias made alterations to her company, which sells online and through pop-up stores in North Carolina and New York.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cSince Descalza makes statement pieces, these pieces are usually worn whenever you know the spotlight\u2019s going to be on you, so most of these events are very special events, from weddings to galas to prom to formals,\u201d Arias says. \u201cWhen COVID-19 happened, basically these events stopped happening.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Plans for a pop-up store in California were canceled. Home with a newborn, Arias and her mother, a skilled seamstress, saw other clothing companies making masks. So did her social media followers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cI said, \u2018If customers are sending me messages on Instagram asking for these, then there\u2019s a demand for it,\u2019\u201d Arias says. \u201cBut I didn\u2019t want to just make these masks. Descalza\u2019s very centered around community. I wanted to find a way where we could work together with someone else.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n She talked with longtime friend Roberto Rosales, an educator with North Carolina Cooperative Extension\u2019s Farmworker Health and Safety Education Program<\/a>. Rosales works with farmers and farm labor contractors to provide workers with instruction on safety practices and protective equipment, including masks.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Ever Jimenez Mu\u00f1oz wears a fabric mask from Descalza at Nichols and Nichols Farms in Wilson County, distributed through N.C. Cooperative Extension\u2019s Farmworker Health and Safety Education Program. Bilingual educator Roberto Rosales explained COVID-19 precautions to H-2A workers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cI thought of just reaching out to him and asking if there was a need for them. Maybe they have it all set and they have an abundant amount of masks, which is great, or maybe not.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Rosales told her that an estimated 75,000 workers contributed to North Carolina agriculture last year. With new workers arriving throughout the season, Rosales\u2019 goal is to provide farmworkers with masks along with information about preventing the spread of COVID-19 as they work, travel, shop and live together in farm housing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cWe\u2019re planning on doing the distribution of masks through our farmworker training so that it\u2019s actually an ideal partnership where we\u2019re directly taking the masks to workers that it\u2019s providing a service for,\u201d Rosales says.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The fabric masks distributed to workers will include bilingual information and illustrations of correct mask use.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cWe are selling masks through the website and basically advertise it as a BOGO sale, which is a play on words because most people, when they hear BOGO, they hear \u2018buy one, get one,\u2019 but for us, it\u2019s going to be \u2018buy one, give one,\u2019\u201d Arias says.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cSo for every mask that you purchase from Descalza, one mask is made for a farmworker and donated to them.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Those who order masks will also receive information about farmworkers and Extension health and safety programs offered through NC State.<\/p>\n\n\n\n It\u2019s no wonder Arias thought of Extension when she wanted to contribute to the community. She has deep roots in 4-H and Juntos, two other programs offered through NC State.<\/p>\n\n\n\n When she was 9, a woman from her church in Sanford started a folklorico group, sharing dance traditions from Mexico and Central America. Arias was drawn to the dancing and the colorful dresses. Practices took place in garages and parking lots \u2013 until leaders asked Bill Stone, then a Lee County Extension agent, about providing rehearsal space. Stone agreed and asked if he could offer 4-H programs<\/a> to the group, and a partnership began.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cI remember being involved in 4-H from the end of middle school through high school and doing these different programs with them, participating in public speaking,\u201d Arias says. \u201cAt the time I didn\u2019t see that these activities and experiences that they have for 4-H\u2019ers were helping me develop skills that I now use as a businesswoman.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cI never thought I would still be talking about 4-H right now. I\u2019m 28 years old, and I\u2019m still somehow connected.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Cintia Aguilar, Extension community and rural development program manager, has witnessed Arias\u2019 growth since 2013, when they met through Stone.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Arias was featured in a fotonovela explaining how 4-H participation could teach life skills and prepare young people for college. Then, she was recruited to volunteer with Juntos, a program to help Latino students graduate from high school and enroll in college.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201c4-H is a lot about giving back to the community,\u201d says Aguilar, who directs Latino programs and co-founded Juntos with Andrew Behnke, a former faculty member, and Diana Urieta.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cI know in Lisbeth\u2019s case, I think she has had such a wonderful role model in her mother. She brought that with her, but I think also the culture of Extension, 4-H and the Juntos program contributed to her actions to help others and promote and seek educational opportunities.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\nLearn More<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
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![\"Ever](\"https:\/\/cals.ncsu.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/31\/2020\/07\/Ever-Jimenez-Munoz-v2.jpg\")
A Foundation in 4-H<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
Internships and Homework<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
Working Barefoot<\/h3>\n\n\n
![\"Masks](\"https:\/\/cals.ncsu.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/31\/2020\/07\/Descalza-mask_5colors-272x300.jpg\")
Learn More<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
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A Foundation in 4-H<\/h3>\n\n\n\n