Filipino American Carissa Villacorta leads community support to Abra tribe Lola Weavers
New York-based author and community builder Carissa Villacorta has always supported advocacies that uplift the Filipino community wherever she may be. But helping Filipino families back home has always been key.
She would wear, advocate and promote Filipino-made products in her circles from her time at the Philippine Consulate General on Fifth Avenue, to events in The Hamptons, Lincoln Center, The Yankee Stadium, or The Harvard Club.
When she was selected as Executive Director of a national non-profit for Filipino Americans in 2019, she wore weaves made by the Tinguian Tribe of Abra but didn’t speak about them as she focused on starting her new role and raising her newborn.
In 2021, months into the pandemic, Villacorta heard that the elder weavers’ markets in Manila have closed because of the lockdown restriction. They needed demand for their supply – very ably produced by their weaving hands and home industries. American economies were opening up and people were going out again. With Philippine Independence month coming up, people were slowly attending in-person events again.
At the same time, the new Sendwave Mobile Remittance App was gearing up to introduce itself to the Filipino market. Their model would be supportive of Filipino families, causes, and industries because they don’t charge any remittance fees while offering excellent foreign exchange rates.
Villacorta thought the product and application, the cause and the solution, and the demand and supply could work together. The two initial tapis she posted to share to friends caught support and admiration from friends in Hawaii and Oregon.
For the past five months, Villacorta and her friends implemented a reverse balikbayan system where it was the weavers who sent the goods from the remote villages to the bustling cities. She would lug her luggage of heartwoven pieces around and across cities to see who would appreciate them as art. Soon, the Lola Weavers’ works were seen around the Metropolitan Museum of New York, the Washington Monument of DC, and the Hollywood Hills of California. Somehow they fit in and stood out in the art and on them, the tradition lives on.
The non-profit practitioner and budding social entrepreneur refers to the owners of each heartpiece as an advocate, an investor in their tradition, and a supporter of their livelihood.
“Even though not every Filipino sends to the Philippines, Lola Weavers is a way for all of us to have a reason to remit, and Sendwave makes us easy to do that – to actually support the community, move the economy and encourage the family,” said Villacorta.
In addition, Sendwave is giving an additional $10 (or about PHP 500) to the community, to encourage Filipinos overseas to keep sending, keep gifting, keep giving.
“Even beyond the weaving community, Sendwave supports the Filipino family by giving them a remittance option that’s fast, free, safe, and easy. Especially these holidays, we can use all the money we can save,” said Dan Santos, Sendwave’s US Growth Manager said.
We are very passionate to help make this available for Filipinos in America, the UK, Canada, and parts of Europe (and soon, the world) because it’s hard enough to be away from family. Charging no fees and making the remittance process easy is our way to support.
For every new Sendwave user that uses the code FILIPINO, they will give an additional $10 or Php500 to their first recipient. All they have to do is download the app on App Store and Google Play and set up their account.
In addition, Sendwave is partnering with Filipino individuals and organizations through a referral program.
Founded in 2014, Sendwave was started by two engineers from Brown University, Drew Durbin and Lincoln Quirk, who wanted to make sending money across the seas as simple and affordable as sending a text message – with cash.
Since then, Sendwave has grown to over 400,000 active users responsible for up to half of all remittances to major African markets.
More than just offering users convenient and reliable money transfer services, Sendwave also assures its customers that each transaction is secure and that their personal information is protected with the highest level of encryption and leading debit card processors.
Instead of days, senders can expect their cash transfers to reach their recipients in the Philippines in minutes or within the day without compromising on cost, ease, and safety.
Currently, Sendwave is licensed across the United States and backed by many world-renowned investors. The company also appeared on the Y-Combinator List of Top Companies, along with Airbnb and PayPal.
Carissa Villacorta is a major organizer of PH Time Is Now.
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Source: Good News Philippines
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