Mahlet Afework recently hosted an inspiring TED talk where she comments about the beauty and culture she admires from her country Ethiopia. In her talk, she mentions how even though the country isn’t recognized by high fashion, from her perspective, it definitely is a fashionable center and explains the reasons behind it. Not only does the country have more than 80 ethnic groups and hundreds of different cultures and traditions, but each group brings along its set of colors and fabrics that are recognized in its fashion. Mahlet saw the unique beauty that each design could create and it was then when she started her quest; to marry ancient tradition and craftsmanship with global fashion.After many years of work, she has become one of the countries most recognized sustainable fashionistas and women supporters.

Today, Mahlet is located in Addis Abada with a popular clothing line and has been involved in art since she was 16. She started finding her true calling from ayoung age, trying out to be a musician, a model and also studied nursing. Event though this all made her happy, she left it all to persue her dream of getting professional fashion designer degree. Not only did she achieve this, but she also completed her initial quest, combining ancient traditions with the modern. In fact, her designs have become so popular that her cutting edge style has allowed her to win Origin Africa’s design award, the designer of the year award in 2012 and being invited to showcase her work in African Fashion Week New York in 2012.

Mahlet decided to differentiate herself by working exclusively with hand woven fabric. Nothing is externally bought and the designs are made only by women, Also, these designs are not traditional by are very exotic and wearable at the same time. She believes that her way to give back to society, specifically to women, is by working with these hand woven fabrics made by women only, since she feels that it supports them in a society where men usually dominate these kind of jobs.

After having succeeded in the fashion industry, Mahlet decided that she was ready for more, and became a beneficiary of the international trade center’s women and trade programme. Here, she supports women and helps them connect to regional and global markets. Mahlet believes that the least she can do after being a nominated women with a voice is to help and support those who are in need.