CO Artivist in Action: Mara Jewelry
There are many people giving back to their communities these days. As I was scrolling through my Instagram, Jessi Kauffmann’s earrings caught my eye. I wanted to support her work by sharing it with the Platform community.
Jessi currently works for New Belgium Brewing, and lives in Fort Collins, CO.
Loving and supporting others through empathy and understanding is how she approaches every day.
Some of her favorite things include hiking, climbing, practicing/teaching yoga & mindfulness, and her new pup Mila!
In her own words, Jessi explains how her Artivism originated out of the COVID-19 crisis.
“This project was born out of awareness of my privilege during a time of immense uncertainty for so many people. I am incredibly lucky to work for a company that genuinely cares for its employees, and was put on paid leave right away. When things really started shutting down, I was overwhelmed with empathy for those who already had enough to worry about, now losing one or more jobs, those immunodeficient but unable to physically distance due to a job deemed "essential," those without a safe place to go, the list goes on. My heart went out to the world, but I knew I had to start small. I had consequently started messing around with making some jewelry pieces for fun, coming back to an old hobby I had in high school. Not thinking anyone would really be interested, I figured I'd make some fun earrings and put them out on my Instagram/Facebook with the intention of donating any proceeds. I quickly became overwhelmed with the amount of support and interest I received, and thus Mara Jewelry was born! I'm currently donating to local non-profits, projects, & fundraisers that are in some way linked to the COVID-19 pandemic, whether they are affected themselves, or raising money to aid those in need. It's so encouraging to see people step up in so many ways during this time, and though it's small, I'm happy that I can promote feeling beautiful, all the while giving back.
Most of the pieces are one-of-a-kind, due to an awesome donation of lots of beads/supplies from a coworker and friend!
I made a very simple instagram for it, as well as a website for those without social media accounts!
Cheers beautiful womxn, thank you!” ~ Jessi
