Andra and I first met in the summer of 2013. That’s when our story began.  Two women sitting in an empty café, getting to know each other’s stories. How we felt about life in Vienna, how we got here and why we decided to stay. A first meeting, which lead to a second one. This time we started unveiling the challenges we had faced as migrants over time: exclusion from groups, rejection from jobs, the bad perception of us as migrants in general, a perception created by the mass-media and its effects on our successes. In time, these things turn into real issues, into problems of self-esteem, into lack of confidence, into wrong decisions.

The third meeting Andra had an idea, which she shared with me: the idea of Younited Cultures. Looking for input and feedback, she saw in me not just a good analytic and strategic person, but also a partner.  In order to create the world we were both envisioning, we discovered we both wanted the same thing: Why not turn things around for ourselves and people like ourselves? Why not show the positive successful migrant stories that we know about? The stories that the media never writes about, stories that inspire and give hope that we can change the perception about migration, by simply exposing these role-models to the general public? And why not do it in an elegant way?

Why not transport these stories through products, custom-made, based on the stories of these migrant role-models?  Stories that would not be forgotten and put back in the library shelf, but stories that you could constantly be reminded of, stories that were meant to be seen by people. And so it came to be a story on a scarf: beautiful elegant accessories that would send out the message of celebration of cultures.

The first stories came to life in the summer of 2014, followed by a first YC collection of accessories in 2015. The stories we collect turn into products, and the products turn back into stories as they are told and re-told by those who wear them. Wear a story! Wear & Care about showing the positive image of migrants. Let’s act. Let’s celebrate!