This Saturday, I am releasing an all new charm necklace! It is my very first collaboration and it's with Girls Garage, an organization that I have been donating to since the end of 2020.

Girls Garage is a women-led organization that offers free and low-cost programs in carpentry, welding, architecture, engineering, and activist art to a diverse community of girls and gender-expansive youth. They provide a supportive and safe environment for girls as well as career and academic advising! 82% of teen girls and gender-expansive youth identify as girls of color and all teen participants attend the program at no cost to their families.

There is nothing more empowering and inspiring to me than an independent woman. I was raised by a single mom, and she has been an amazing role model, showing me first hand the ability and strength of women. Then in college, I was lucky enough to live with 4 fiercely independent women, all in architecture school, who taught me how to think and fend for myself, problem solve, and that everything is often figure-out-able if you try. I remember once the door frame to my room in our house warped due to the heat and my door became jammed, trapping me in my room. Instead of calling the landlord or a handyman as I panicked, they calmly handed me tools through my window and talked me through how to take the door hinge pins out and simply remove the door.

This can-do attitude and willingness to research allowed me to do things like order, replace, and install the side mirror on my car by myself after a drunk biker had smashed into it. It may seem small, but not only did it save me a lot of money, I also felt so damn accomplished afterward.

The design of this necklace includes 5 charms that represent typical tools that Girls Garage teaches their girls to use. For me, the necklace also represents how I got started making things and tools that I first learned how to use. Every time you learn how to use a new tool, it opens your eyes to a world of possibilities and new ideas. It’s so empowering.

All 5 tools are basic yet powerful tools that are the foundation of many projects. Each charm was drawn digitally, then carefully cut out of paper to create prototypes. Together with Girls Garage, we went back and forth to decide scale, length, and tools, and after a few iterations, landed on this intricate design. Every charm is made of thin stainless steel with tool details etched into the face.

With this limited edition collaboration, 20% of every necklace sold will be donated directly to Girls Garage to support their mission of providing more guidance and technical skills for girls to create a real impact in their communities and build the world they want to see.

The 2022 TOOLS CHARM NECKLACE is available now!