"Paper beads. Two women. One conversation."
where we began ...
A Lifelong Connection To Empower Women.
In her previous professional life, Tera Herman, spent 25 years working to create opportunities for women to lead in a manufacturing world. Her desire to educate and engage woman, led to serving on many non-profit boards.
This desire to give back and do something that matters led to a connection with the founders of BeadforLife (BFL), a non-profit whose mission was to create sustainable opportunities for women in Uganda to lift their families out of extreme poverty by selling handcrafted beaded jewelry. After several conversations, Tera decided to travel to Uganda to attend the first BFL mission trip. Her sister Heather, who was giving back every day, as the ONE KIND WORD lady with the Mr Rogers Foundation, decided to join Tera. From the moment they stepped onto Ugandan soil, they knew their lives would be changed forever.
As BFL community partners, Tera and Heather hosted speaking engagements in their communities. At one of these engagements,Tera met Robin, a kindred spirit working on a model to build remote maternal health clinics in Nepal. After hours of discussions, the two combined their passions with the BFL model, and MAHENDI was born. Each lacked essential traits, skills, and resources that the other possessed or could access, making their partnerhsip a powerful force for change.
At the heart of everything we do is the original symbol, adapted from an ancient talisman of protection. MAHENDI products represent a philosophy and mission to empower women.
While the universe has taken BeadforLife and Robin in a new direction, they remain part of our soul and the reason MAHENDI exists.
In November of 2018, the MAHENDI team made the decision to broaden our reach not only to maternal health causes, but to the safety and protection of all women, girls and our communities.
We believe safety is a universal human right, and we are proud that MAHENDI can now be a symbol of protection for all!
Our Founders
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