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Meet Anita

Ana (her friends call her Anita) is both a grandmother and social worker who dedicates her life to children and adolescents. As a social worker, she fights against the violence of women by working with the Women's Center Ixchen y Aconifa. She lives with her daughters Christian and Maria as well as with her grandchildren. She enjoys spending time with her family.

Her favorite Nica Life Product is the Teal Spike Tiny Charm

Her favorite inspirational word is- Accion (Action).

Meet Cristian 

Cristian has been working with Nica Life since we began in 2015! She is a mother of three children- 2 boys and 1 girl. She lives with her mother Anita and sister Maria in the community of Adelita, just outside of Granada. She is very talented with wire wrapping and makes many of the earrings & rings for Nica Life. 

Her favorite inspirational word is- Motivacion (Motivation) 

Meet Elena 

Elena is a mother of two children, one of which who has down syndrome. She lives with her family in a remote district of Granada near the Isletas. Her favorite spot in Nicaragua is the beautiful and lively Central Park in Granada.

Meet Fatima

Fatima works in her house making jewelry for Nica Life. She loves this work as it allows her to make a living even though health problems sometimes make it hard for her to get out of the house. Despite these struggles, she loves to give back to her community. She spends some days volunteering at a nearby nursing home. She also loves to learn. She is often asking to learn new skills and is one of the first to sign up for training.

Fatima's favorite product is the Teal Day to Night Necklace

Her favorite inspirational word- Creatividad (Creativity)

Meet Javiera

Javiera graduated from a hospitality and tourism school in Granada. Before the 2018 crisis she worked at a restaurant as a waitress, but after losing her job she used the opportunity to learn how to make different styles of bracelets. She is the newest member of the Nica Life team, but a very important one! She supports packing our handmade items to be sure they ship to the states in time. She also handles making emergency items when we run out- she makes sure we can quickly get back in stock on all your favorites! :) Javiera's favorite place in Granada is the lakefront of Lake Nicaragua and her favorite food is vigoron.

Meet Jeaneth 

Jeaneth has been with Nica Life since 2015 and works at home making Nica Life jewelry. She helps raise her nieces. It is common in Nicaragua for extended family to stay together and share the work of earning money and raising children. She tells us that she loves children and may have her own one day when she has more financial stability.

Jeaneth's favorite product is the Multicolor Dot Wanderlust Necklace

Her favorite inspirational word is- Sonar (Dream).

Meet Keyri

Keyri has a degree in graphic design, but struggled to get a job when she graduated during the worst of the civil unrest in 2018. In January of 2019 she joined the Nica Life team. She likes making jewelry and is always excited for new product launches because of her passion for design. She enjoys cooking, watching movies,and spending time with her dog. Keyri's favorite part of Nicaragua are the beautiful church porticos of Granada.

Meet Lisseth

Lisseth has three children and loves to spend time playing and studying with them. Her favorite place is Lake Nicaragua where her kids can play in the waves on the Lakefront. Lisseth joined Nica Life when she lost her job during the most disruptive part of civil unrest in 2018. She is skilled at jewelry making and enjoys working at home with her children.

Meet Maria

Maria has been with Nica Life since we began in 2015! She works at home with her mother Anita and sister Cristian. This allows her to spend her day with her young children. Maria is very skilled at jewelry making and is very detail oriented. She is often entrusted to make the example pieces for the other artisans.

Her favorite inspiration word is- Esfuerzo (Effort)

Meet Massiel

Massiel is from the small town of San Juan del Orient, known for its ceramic arts & crafts. Before the civil unrest crisis, she was teaching Spanish to tourists in Granada. In 2018, the school closed. She joined Nica Life in Jan of 2019 and tells us that its a relief to have found stable work. She has a passion for arts and crafts that comes from the culture of her hometown, and excels at jewelry making. One of her favorite places to visit in Nicaragua is Laguna de Apoyo.

Meet Mercedes 

Mercedes lives in a small town at the edge of Laguna de Apoyo. Mercedes studied sustainable tourism and was teaching Spanish to foreign visitors until the crisis in 2018 when the school closed. She joined Nica Life in January 2019 and has excelled at jewelry making. She enjoys folk dancing and attending church in her free time.

Meet Milagro

Milagro has a degree in Science and Literature and was teaching Spanish in Granada until the crisis in 2018 caused the school to close. She joined Nica Life in January of 2019 and is glad to have found a stable job. She enjoys spending time with her family and doing arts and crafts with her son. She has been enjoying jewelry making as well! Her favorite spot in Nicaragua is the Island of Ometepe, with the two beautiful volcanos.

Meet Santa 

Santa came to Nicaragua with the European Volunteer Service Program- Youth in Action. Her passion caused her to become involved with different women's entrepreneur groups that were working in the arts & craft field. In 2015 she joined Nica Life and used those skills to develop processes for artisan training, quality control, and artisan career development. In 2019, her role expanded when she became our Director of Programs and developed our Well-Being & Empowerment Program. Santa is deeply involved in the community in Granada. She works with UPNicaragua, teaches one of the fellowship modules, and is involved in Vital Voices. She loves trying local coffee shops everywhere we go!

Meet Eva

Eva was a preschool arts teacher for 11 years. In 2018 a lack of funds forced her school to close. She is now putting her creative talents to good use with Nica Life! She loves that she is able to work from home while watching her two children. In 2019 Eva was promoted to Artisan manager, because of her excellent teaching skills. She is responsible for training Nica Life artisans and creating development plans to help them succeed. She also manages quality along with Norman.

Meet Norman

Norman had worked in the Garden Cafe for years as a waiter, cashier, and accountant when the crisis in 2018 forced them close for a short time. As soon as they reopened Norman was rehired in a part time role. To fill the rest of his hours, Norman joined the Nica Life team supporting quality checking and packing. It was quickly apparent that he excels at numbers and detail management. In late 2019 Nica Life was able to offer him a full time job taking advantage of his Business Administration Degree. He is now our Financial Manager and is responsible for tracking all finances, inventory etc. He also works on Quality Management. He is taking advantage of the Nica Life Education Programs by studying English- which helps the U.S. team tremendously!

Meet Margarita

Margarita is a licensed psychologist and specializes in working with families. She has joined the Nica Life team as a part of our new Well-Being & Empowerment Program. She is working with the artisans and their families to help with them cope with stress, including stress that comes from living through civil unrest. The goal of this work is "to make sure that we live, not just survive." This work is her passion.

Meet Fabiola

Fabiola is a licensed yoga teacher. Her method focuses on meditation and overall well-being. She specializes in working with companies to develop health programs for their employees, yoga & meditation for children, and prenatal programs. She started working with Nica Life in 2019. Her program was so beneficial that Nica Life decided to incorporate it into a long term program when the Well-Being & Empowerment launched in October.

Meet Anslee

Anslee graduated with her Communications degree in 2018. Throughout college she had worked in a women's fashion retail store and enjoyed it. When she started thinking about what she wanted in a career she knew she wanted it to incorporate fashion, the marketing skills she had developed, and giving back. Nica Life met her in late 2019 and it was the perfect fit! Her passion is traveling and she tries to plan a trip every year. Since she is fairly new to Atlanta, she loves exploring and trying new restaurants.

Meet Liz

Liz studied business and was a Brand Manager for ten years before starting Nica Life. She likes product development, marketing, and strategy but her real passion is the mission. She spent 2019 working on the Living Wage study and loved the chance to support Santa in the development of the Well-Being & Empowerment Program. Her favorite spot in Nicaragua is Popoyo Beach. She loves her fur baby, Sabi, and is always up for trying local coffee shops with Santa!

Liz's favorite products are- the new rings that she developed to support the Well-Being Program

Her favorite inspiration word is -Strength

Meet Jerry

Jerry's connection with Nicaragua began with his family, where his aunt and uncle live, but when he and Liz founded Nica Life, it became so much more. Jerry's background is in strategy and operations consulting and he enjoys bringing that experience to all aspects of Nica Life. However, he also likes to be creative and oversees the design and development of all of Nica Life's hand made displays. Jerry's favorite thing to do in Nicaragua is hiking Ometepe and exploring all the great outdoors Nicaragua has to offer.

His favorite Nica Life product is the Carlos Bracelet, which was inspired by a gift one of the artisans' sons, Carlos, made for him!

His favorite inspiration word is - Grit