In 2019, I had the opportunity to travel to southern India for a month to work with Invisible Girl Project. While I was there, I met hundreds of girls whose lives had been changed through the work of Invisible Girl Project. I heard story after story of rescue, intervention, care, and empowerment through education (RICE).

When I returned to the U.S. later that summer, I knew that I wanted to continue to use my voice and actions to raise awareness and support IGP, but I wasn't sure how. I began working with polymer clay in 2019 and fell in love with the craft, but had no intentions of selling anything I was making.

When the IGP team went to India in January of 2020, I committed to pray for them daily. One morning after I finished praying for the team, I opened my Bible and began reading in the Psalms. As I was reading and meditating over the scripture, I was captivated by Psalm 146:5-9,

"Happy is the one whose help is the God of Jacob,
whose hope is in the Lord his God, the Maker of heaven and earth, the sea and everything in them.

He remains faithful forever, executing justice for the exploited and giving food to the hungry.

The Lord frees prisoners. The Lord opens the eyes of the blind. The Lord raises up those who are oppressed. The Lord loves the righteous.

The Lord protects foreigners and helps the fatherless and the widow, but He frustrates the ways of the wicked."

I wept. I was thinking of the countless fatherless girls who I met and the widows who had the very difficult decision of whether or not to pawn their daugther off for marriage in order to alleviate the "burden" of having another mouth to feed. Some would choose to discontinue education for their daughters and force them to work in the fields for less than a day's wage. I was burdened for the girls who were oppressed; who seemingly had no way out and felt like their life didn't matter.

It was that morning in January that 146 Designs was born. I knew that I could use my gifts and talents to raise awareness and monetary support for those who are marginalized and oppressed in India.

Since May of 2020, 146 Designs has donated thousands of dollars to IGP's RICE program.