With a childhood marked by fashion, today Valery has achieved one of her biggest dreams, having her own clothing brand related to caring for the environment and women’s empowerment, which is what led her to become part of the Wiese Foundation’s Entrepreneurship Fund.
Defining the personality of an entrepreneur like Valery is complicated. Since the mind and soul of those who dare to risk everything is, as she herself calls it, “a carousel of emotions to which few are willing to subject themselves”.
An entrepreneur prepares
One of the first key aspects for entrepreneurship is preparation, either technical or practical, since the entrepreneur must know what they are dedicating themselves to and understand where they are heading. In general, and sometimes as a key factor, molds are broken, and passion prevails. Valery is passionate about fashion, and now she dedicates her life to it.
And the thing is, while initially Valery studied business administration, a major that her parents supported, she always wanted to learn arts related to fashion design, a career that no one in her family supported as having technical value.
“This gave me courage and motivated me to start my own brand in Arequipa. I began to make good money, enough to travel to Lima and develop even more professionally”, remembers Valery.
The young Arequipeñan, who is 31 years old, always knew what she wanted since she was a child. To be able to achieve it, she had to leave her native city and travel to Lima, the capital of Peru, determined to start from scratch and risk everything to achieve her dreams.
“When I arrived in lima, it wasn’t as I expected. I lost money, but in spite of this, I kept studying and preparing myself for the career that I liked so much”, recounts the CEO of Estrafalario.
Experience, basis for the reason for being of the entrepreneur
Another important aspect to keep in mind on the path of entrepreneurship is experience. After understanding and knowing about the realm of business, it is necessary to get hands-on experience with its primary process. It is not about directing, but rather about understanding the development and being a part of it.
Valery gained academic knowledge, which helped her to understand the field of textiles. However, her previous jobs, her visits to the production factories of clothing, and even her approaching of the producers of raw textile material opened up a realm of possibilities for the venture that she would start years later.
A social business should have giving back to the community as its reason for being. In general, these are usually connected to the objectives for sustainable development of the United Nations. On the other hand, they can also be related to a problem identified in the field in which the entrepreneur works. This was the case for Valery, who, after having dedicated months and years to her preparation, realized that her industry was one of those that causes the most pollution.
This occurred when she was invited to visit the market Voices for Climate, an event born of Peru’s hosting of the Conference of Parties (COP20), in which topics related to the environment and conservation were presented. There she found out that fashion is the industry that causes the second-most contamination in the world.
After this visit, Valery knew the social purpose that she was to fulfill on this planet. That is how she decided to create Estrafalario, a venture that not only cares for the environment, but also fights for the empowerment of women.
Estrafalario’s current business model seeks to produce a social and environmental impact, economically helping women in situations of vulnerability and reducing the generation of waste from the clothes they make.
“After finding out that I had been preparing myself for one of the highest-polluting industries in the world, I decided, in 2016, to launch Estrafalario. With sustainable practices for take actions that affect the planet”, emphasized Valery.
This social goal allowed her to be part of the first cohort of the Wiese Foundation’s Entrepreneurship Fund, where she strengthened her talent.
“One of the best decisions I have made was to apply to the Wiese Foundation’s Entrepreneurship Fund, not only because we won, but also because of all the help they have given us along the way, they helped us to keep learning and making good decisions for growth. I am eternally grateful for the support of the Foundation because without the Fund and with the pandemic, we would have been left without a contingency plan”, recounts Valery Zevallos.
The entrepreneur as human being
Once inside the world of social entrepreneurship, it is important to not leave behind the most elemental aspect of all, the human being. An entrepreneur is not just another executive of their brand. And while business leaves its mark on those who dare to venture into this world, it is necessary to remember that behind it all exists humanity.
Like Valery, an entrepreneur seeking to be a reference for sustainable fashion in Peru, an unconditional and loyal friend to those who surround her, and a human being who fights against injustice. A free spirit willing to make the world a better place for all.
“I am a happy, optimistic person, who always sees the good in things. We should always be grateful for the good and bad that happen in life, that helps me to be empathetic, to be someone who seeks to make a difference through my art. I have great hope to contribute to my society and to impact those who need it, to in that way help make the social gaps narrower. Social differences affect me greatly, through my business I want to transmit a message that reaches all the corners of my country”, ends Valery, entrepreneur, die-hard dancer to good music, yoga enthusiast, and dominator of waves.
About Estrafalario
Estrafalario is an urban fashion brand that offers clothing and accessories of versatile and original designs. This brand is aimed at women who are economically active and, in difference to its competition, Estrafalario offers its consumers the possibility of generating a social and environmental impact through their purchases.
Estrafalario works to empower the women of the Annex of Chorrillos prison, offering them decent work and training the adolescent mothers of the INABIF. At the same time, it extends the life and use of the garments it makes, using versatile designs, generating a circular economy, recycling and/or using organic fabrics and offering a fair wage to the providers of its production services.
About the Entrepreneurship Fund
The Entrepreneurship Fund is an initiative of the Wiese Foundation that invests in ventures with clear potential for growth, self-sustainability, and social impact, whose mission is to address a relevant social problem in the country.
Empanacombi, Estrafalario, Llama Pack, and Pixed were the four businesses carefully selected in this first edition by the Wiese Foundation, together with NESsT, which fulfilled three important requirements: having been created with the mission of addressing a relevant social problem for the most vulnerable communities in the country, finding themselves in the first stages of their operation, and demonstrating the success of their business model in terms of potential for economic growth, self-sustainability, and social impact.
