Reese Fernandez
Reese Fernandez leads a weekly meeting of the Rags2Riches management team. (Photo: Marc Latzel)
At Rags2Riches head office in Cubao Center, Reese Fernandez meets the R2R management team to push the business forward. (Photo: Marc Latzel)
Rags2Riches handbags on sale in a shop in the upmarket Shangri La Hotel in Manila (Photo: Marc Latzel)
Women weavers at the Payatas Women Empowerment Center. The women’s work will become part of upmarket Rags2Riches products sold in designer shops. (Photo: Marc Latzel)
Reese Fernandez (right) with a rug weaver at the Payatas Women Empowerment Centre. The rugs created here are then transformed to become Rags2Riches fashion accessories sold in designer shops. (Photo: Marc Latzel)
In a Rags2Riches showroom in Manila, Reese describes her project to some customers. (Photo: Marc Latzel)
Near the mountain of rubbish at the Payatas site, men compress hand-washed plastic foils for resale. (Photo: Marc Latzel)
Rags2Riches, the social enterprise cofounded by Reese Fernandez, makes it possible for young mothers to make fashion products at home while minding their children. (Photo: Marc Latzel)
Rags2Riches makes it possible for young mothers to make fashion products at home while minding their children. (Photo: Marc Latzel)
As a child, Reese Fernandez moved around often with her missionary mother. Exposed to the suffering of others, she was inspired to find solutions to solve social problems. Fernandez went on to win a scholarship to attend Ateneo University where she took a degree in management. Deeply committed to helping others to improve their lives and alleviate poverty, she has used her skills to train people to become social entrepreneurs, giving them the means to confront many challenges, from rebuilding housing after a cyclone to teaching organic agriculture to farmers.
Project Goal
Establish an innovation centre in order to assist impoverished women to earn a decent wage by creating ‘eco-ethical, elegant’ products.
Project locationPhilippines
CategoryEnvironment
NationalityFilipino
Born1985
reese.fernandez@gmail.com