Me playing mermaid with the Mermaid Red Carpet Necklace
The community of sea-inspired jewelry lovers is vast, tightly knit, and passionate. Being a part of it through creating Betty designs has brought delight and immeasurable value to my life, my team, town, countless customers, and many more than I ever imagined we could impact.
The spread of our deep values through creativity, craftsmanship, and love for the water is of course, not solely my own doing.
From the outset, Betty Belts has been a female-based international business, which focused on creation of ocean-centric products, made with skill and care by our team of artisans in Bali. This architecture is what enables us to demonstrate the company goals of female empowerment, social, and environmental sustainability.
We are not only proud of the people and work being done in our Bali studio, they are part of our family. I take job stability very seriously, and all of us work together to ensure our people are well taken care of in every way possible.
Part of our Bali family of Artisans in ceremony dress.
Over the years (for well over a decade now)our people have grown together as a family of Bettys. I as the founder and designer am personally at the head of our small company. However, we do not fall within the classification of being a Cottage Industry entity, which term, generally speaking, describes handicraft goods or products created by a sole artisan in their home or home based workshop.
Betty Belts was designed and created to be a catalyst for change, with an express goal of the alleviation of poverty and promotion of environmentally sound practices in the communities we are invested in. This complex and challenging task (changing lives and our world for the better), would be impossible were I to spend my time personally fabricating each piece, much as I would enjoy doing that.
Here is a little video about one aspect of our greater and oft unspoken purpose.
Intentionally, me being a solo Artisan company is not what Betty Belts was ever about. However, the respect and appreciation which I have for hard working talented artisans is why we also collaborate and support those, by selling their products in our Ventura retail store. I see craftsmanship and artistry as being integral to our identity as a socially and environmentally sustainable themed company.
We’re grateful for the opportunity to continue growing and creating for a community which participates, understands and appreciates that which fosters joy, and love for the ocean, people, and planet.
Mahalo,
Donna Pu’u
Olivia on a warm beach day at home
