Today we’d like to introduce you to Latoya Tucciarone.
Latoya, please share your story with us. How did you get to where you are today?
Even though SustainAble opened in November 2017, our story goes back more than 20 years ago! I grew up with an innate love of culture. I think it was because of the African artifacts my parents had all around the house coupled with the wonderful sounds of music from all over the world. I just knew from an early age that the world was a beautiful place that is meant to be enjoyed and preserved.
I was the kid in high school who was NOT a star athlete but the president of our International Club (I know you can’t handle that coolness!). Even at the age of 16, I wanted to unite the world! 2001 was the year that I got to travel the world for the first time. I went to Johannesburg, South Africa with a group of friends from college for a month. It was a life changing experience because I experienced what it was like to fall in love with an actual group of people and their culture. I began to see with my own eyes how big and beautiful the world really is!
Fast forward a decade, throw in marriage, kids, a successful photography business, more trips around the world and here I am, that same young girl (well not so young) who wants to unite the world! SustainAble was born out of a deeply held belief that all men and women are made in the image of God and have inherent worth and value, skills and talents. We all have something to offer each other. To me, the retail industry is the perfect place for the world to meet. Marginalized people groups all over the world have been creating magnificent works of art for centuries!
Unfortunately, a lot of these groups live in some of the poorest places on the globe. Commerce gives us the opportunity to bring dignity and financial stability to these people groups, while also getting to have a beautiful piece of their culture in our homes.
We’re always bombarded by how great it is to pursue your passion, etc – but we’ve spoken with enough people to know that it’s not always easy. Overall, would you say things have been easy for you?
Hahahaha! It has not been a smooth road but it has been a great road! My husband and I have been talking a lot about the journey or the process of getting to a destination. It is so easy to miss the beauty of the journey because you are just fixated on where you think you “should” be or on what you “should” have accomplished. Social media makes it VERY easy to look at what everyone else is doing and not appreciate your own personal journey. I am definitely still on that journey to make my business everything I want it to be.
It is a hard road because I want to change the way people thinking about their purchasing power. We have the ability to use our finances to bring dignity and economic stability to so many marginalized people in the world but we often don’t think about it like that and choose options that are more convenient for us but perhaps detrimental to the maker on the other side. A big piece of what I do is also educational. I want people to understand the power they have and then I want to give them a platform to use that power for the good of others and themselves! They get to bring beautiful handcrafted things into their homes and that’s wonderful!
Another challenge is the fact that I am what you call a solo-preneur so I’m doing everything myself! That is SO hard. Most days I just feel like I’m in an echo chamber so I question myself a lot! Ha! The beauty of that though is that I have had to really trust my gut and go with it. The more you practice doing that, the better you get at it!
Lastly, another huge challenge has been funding. I think this is an issue that a lot of African-American owned businesses face, especially female-owned companies. In fact, Forbes just wrote an article in September of last year called Black Women Entrepreneurs: The Good and Not-So-Good News. The article does a great job of addressing the fact that many black female businesses are under-funded so growth/scalability often happens at a slower rate compared to non-black owned businesses BUT the article also does a brilliant job of highlighting the amazing ingenuity of black women in business. Dell Gines says for black female entrepreneurs we “do it with only a toothpick and napkin” We always make it happen. It just isn’t easy! This is why it is SO important for all of us to support businesses owned by women of color!
We’d love to hear more about your business.
SustainAble Home Goods and Accessories is a home decor store that specializes in fair trade and ethically sourced items for your home.
We believe in:
Sustaining Jobs
Sustaining Communities
Sustaining Craft Cultures
and Sustaining our world
We accomplish this by offering our customers a curated collection of beautifully made, unique home decor pieces made both globally and locally.
As I have mentioned before, I deeply believe that the way to end world poverty is not through aid but through trade. Most cultures of the world are craft cultures so being able to tap into those crafts and offer a marketplace here in the US, we are helping to sustain jobs and bring ecomonic stability to vulnerable communities. I am immensely proud of not only of our mission but of the products that we sell which are all just works of art! I often times can’t believe that I get to curate these pieces and help them find their forever homes!
What were you like growing up?
Growing up I was the youngest of 3 and the only girl. I was not the kid who was going to sit in front of the TV all day! My imagination was too wild for that. I would spend copious amounts of time outside concocting stories and adventures in my mind! It’s funny, I see so much of myself in my oldest daughter now that I think of it! I loved music, art, John Cusak, the Cosby Show (sniff, sniff) and hip hop. On the outside, I was talkative and outgoing but on the inside, I really treasured quiet moments alone lost in a daydream.
I moved to GA from southern CA when I was 14. That was a HUGE culture shock. I had no concept of what the “south” was until I got here. I still often struggle with which place to identify with when people ask me where I am from! HA! I love Atlanta though. I have traveled all over the world and there is still no place like home. I have been told since I was young that I have a “lust” for life and experiences. I love that in Atlanta you can experience so many different cultures, opinions, beliefs and ways of life. Atlanta is and always will be home.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.yoursustainablehome.com
- Email: latoya@yoursustainablehome.com
- Instagram: @sustainablehomegoods
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/sustainablehomegoods/
Image Credit:
LaToya Tucciarone
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