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Aurora James

Aurora James

Creative Director, Activist, Fashion Designer & Founder of the 15 Percent Pledge

Aurora James is a Canadian creative director, activist, fashion designer, and founder of the 15 Percent Pledge.

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Bio

Full Bio

Aurora James is a Canadian creative director, activist, fashion designer, and founder of the 15 Percent Pledge.

After traveling across Africa in 2011, James spent the next few years experimenting with design. She then launched her fashion brand Brother Vellies in January 2013, with the goal of preserving the shoemaking craft across Southern Africa, as well as creating new jobs for artisans in the workshops that she partnered with James travels to Africa every few months to work with local artisans and to further develop Brother Vellies’ collections. Brother Vellies has been worn by activists, celebrities, artists and musicians, including Beyoncé, Solange Knowles, Nicki Minaj, and Elaine Welteroth. In 2015, James won the CFDA Vogue Fashion Fund prize.

She is a part of the 2021 Forbes Power Women’s Summit. In 2020, in the wake of the murder of George Floyd and the wave of Black Lives Matter activism that followed, James launched an initiative called the 15 Percent Pledge. The 15 Percent Pledge Foundation was then created as a non-profit organization to urge major retailers to commit 15 percent of their shelf space to Black-owned businesses. The goal of the foundation is to advocate on behalf of Black-owned businesses and to build generational wealth in black communities. The foundation had over 20 large companies pledged within their first year.

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Topics

Topics

An Evening With Aurora James

Videos

Videos

Aurora James on the Future of the 15 Percent Pledge | Women Changing The World | PEOPLE
Meet Aurora James: How this young fashion designer is breaking barriers

Books

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