Art, creativity and design have always been an integral part of designer Linda Hackett’s life. As young as kindergarten Linda was creating her own dolls and their houses, mostly made of found household odds and ends. Drawing, painting and ceramics filled much of her spare time throughout elementary school, and in middle school she began designing and sewing her own party dresses, learning at the side of her mother, an accomplished seamstress.

In adult life, Linda continued with her passion for art, design and fashion while living in Brazil. To make ends meet between modeling jobs, she and her best friend made fancy silk bras, creating each unique piece from specialty lace which they sewed by hand. Later, working behind the cameras, Linda made backdrops which she custom-dyed for photographers and created one-of-a-kind decorative pillows from vintage fabric.

In both businesses, she relied on her talent for dying fabric to color perfection and her keen sense of aesthetics to create visually pleasing goods, either to her clients’ specifications or for her own designs. Never one to sit still, during her early adult life, Linda worked simultaneously as a costume designer/wardrobe stylist for print media, commercials, movies and television.

It wasn’t until after a self-described “mid-life crisis” and a 2008 visit to Kenya that Linda launched Global Girls, which allowed her to marry her design interests and her desire to add a humanitarian component to her work. Global Girls supports women artisans, offering them sustainable employment for their work in traditional crafts. Linda designs the intricate patterns for the sandals, belts and dog collars that Global Girls offers, and she works hand-in- hand with her artisans to execute them. Linda also makes one-of-a- kind handbags in the US from vintage African cloth she sources while in Africa; she sells the bags to upscale fashion boutiques nationwide.

After completing her recent 29th journey to Kenya, Linda says with all certainty, “in Africa, women truly are the backbone of the community.

Empowering women is rewarding and life-changing.” She returns to Kenya every six months, for one month at a time, to create new styles and work on production.