At Alpacas of Montana we believe in elevating people’s voices, lifting people up, empowering each other to do our best and pulling up seats to the table for women. For International Women’s Month, we are featuring all of our incredible ladies, their talents and their voices.
Meet the Ladies of Alpacas of Montana:
Sonia Antar:
Sonia Antar is a fierce, kind, wise, powerful and creative woman who makes everyone around her a better person. Women’s Month is all about women supporting women and celebrating one another. Sonia believes that Women Supporting Women meanshaving each other's back in all aspects no matter the setting. Whether in a professional, social or personal matter. We live in a culture where women are often put against each other and the scarcity mentality is often projected upon our gender. The scarcity mentality is the idea that every woman exists within a spectrum of competition. This mentality usually assumes there are finite resources both tangible and intangible and that every opportunity or resource obtained by one person or group comes at the expense of another. I believe that this mentality is outdated and damaging to the progression of our gender (we told you she is wise). Sonia enjoys working with Alpacas of Montana because of Julia – our Marketing Manager – and the concept of using natural resources to create one of a kind and practical fashion. Alpacas of Montana never photoshops any bodies, faces or faults and Sonia values this because she thinks that it’s important to display, show and celebrate the many faces and shapes of mankind because representation is important and absolutely needed. Sonia would like to shout out a local Bozeman company that she loves called Rarebird, which is a mom and daughter owned store in downtown Bozeman. They have been extremely supportive to Sonia and many other fashion creatives within Bozeman. Learning, creating and sharing truly brings joy to Sonia’s heart. Her instagram page @everythingbozeman, and is a platform in which she has been able to do just that. Give her a follow and continue to follow along on our page as Sonia reps Alpacas of Montana as the complete powerful beauty she is.
Carly Svenvold:
Carly Svenvold is a bold, brilliant, beautiful engineer, adventurer and dog mom. Many things set her soul on fire, but mainly she loves to rock climb, ski, fish, and spend time in nature with her dog and partner, but she also loves to bake, make art, DIY home projects, and play the piano. Carly believes that Women Supporting Women means that we're all in this shared experience of womanhood together - the more community we foster, the more progress toward our shared goals we can make. To Carly, supporting women means so much more than being a cheerleader on the internet. Kind words are well and good, but it's incredibly important that women support women in reality - whether that's purchasing from woman-owned businesses, actively seeking professional collaboration with women, or promoting inclusivity in our everyday actions. She enjoys working with Alpacas of Montana because every person on the team is truly genuine. She says that it's obvious that they care deeply for both the people and the animals that make up the core of the business. In response to Alpacas of Montana never releasing photoshopped or altered images, Carly says, “As a young woman, I am no stranger to the harms that body alterations in photos can do to a person's psyche. Real bodies are worthy bodies, and more than that, they are bodies that should be celebrated. Julia and the Alpacas of Montana team's commitment to marketing with authentic, unphotoshopped people provides the representation that us normal folks crave in today's media environment, and they are setting the pace for the new industry standard.” We asked Carly if there were any companies she would like to shout out to continue uplifting female voices and she would like to shout out an organization called She Jumps: their mission is to create safe, educational outdoor experiences for people, specifically young women, that nurture growth and transformation. We are so grateful to have Carly on our team!
Sarah Fabritz:
Sarah Fabritz is a free spirit with an impeccable eye and tremendous creativity. Sarah believes that Women Supporting Women means being each other's cheerleaders! Being there for one another when we have doubts, questions, need advice or guidance. There are so many who have been there and done that, that we should lean on each other and know we’re not alone. She loves how down to earth and caring not only James and Sarah are, but the entire team. “You can see how important it is to them that the most ethical and sustainable methods are executed on both the farm and in product production.” Her soul is set on fire through creating. Digital content is her current focus, but she also loves organizing, interior decorating, low waste lifestyles, and thrifting. Sarah loves that we’re changing what beauty standards are in marketing because it means we’re finally getting real with what REAL looks like! We can relate, we can stand out and not be afraid or ashamed, we can embrace who we are wholly and be proud of it. Sarah would like to shout out SkyOro – a women-centric community space, created with the purpose of manifesting experiences that unlock the innate power and gifts within you. They’ve created access to unimaginable opportunities through powerful connections with diverse people and ideas, and they’ve also allowed us to use their space for our photoshoots! As a model, volunteer and reel master, Sarah is a huge part of our team. We are so happy Sarah is a member of our team and that her reach in the company is vast.
Annie Buchwald:
Annie is funny, brilliantly wise and the kindest, hardest working lady out there. To her, Women Supporting Women means helping support each other through rough patches without placing our own values on their situation - supporting each other through rough patches in relationships in positive ways, encouraging friends to find the path that is best for them without placing our own judgements on their options, giving them strength when they've lost their own, sometimes just being there to listen, hug or hold hands quietly when words can't help, celebrating successes THEY have achieved without making it about or comparing to yourself, to offer healthy distractions in times of sorrow or stress, to find ways to enjoy and celebrate life's little and big things and to just enjoy each other's company and create joy and FUN together. We are sisters not competitors! Annie’s soul is set on fire by building personal and deep relationships with animals and getting out in the solitude of nature. Service is her love language and it has become the driving force in her retired life. She loves pushing herself hard outdoors, be it pleasure or work. Annie loves AOM “because of the compassion they have for their animals, their land, and the people they do business with.” She loves our open stance on social justice that is woven into all aspects of the business and the quality across all avenues. Annie loves that we don’t heavily edit our content because it means you keep it real with no apologies. That means she can keep it real with no apologies when she works with people in the company. Every person has uniqueness that makes them special and AOM lets that realness shine. It makes AOM all-inclusive and welcoming to everyone and offers space to celebrate each person's authenticity rather than covering up who they really are. Annie wants to shout out Recherch's Organics as both a lover of Hillari's products, but also as a lover for how much she supports women of the community. Annie’s heart shines in the most beautiful ways and she adds so much to each of our days.
Bukola Saliu:
1) What does "women supporting women" mean to you and why do you think it's important we all have each other's backs?
To me "women supporting women" means recognizing opportunities to elevate each other. I was thinking about this the other day-- When I was writing my book, my friend Katie helped make a number of introductions for me that were critical in getting it published. She also did the illustrations for my book shortly after giving birth to her second child, and she cleverly incorporated her kiddos' feedback on aspects of the illustrations to help make them beautiful (e.g., her son gave his very important feedback on the carcass composting dump truck illustration). Talk about a powerful woman I admire. I did not ask her to nor did I expect her to, but we have been going out of our way to help one another since we both met one another in grad school back in 2015. More recently, I have been in the position to now make a number of introductions for her that are helping her chart a path forward for herself on a similar project. I'm making it sound reductive and transactional a bit, but my point is, when we have seen opportunities to help the other out, we don't hesitate for a second to do so. I try to approach all of my relationships that way-- especially when it comes to advocating for the advancement of opportunities for women. There are still inherent biases in our broader systems-- hiring processes, etc, so I push for people to be conscious of those so that they're not discounting women "because she seemed too meek" or on the flipside, "she seems pushy"-- two descriptors you'd never hear used for men. I've been heavily criticized in professional settings when I call people out on their internalized biases, but I don't really care. It's not okay, and I won't be complicit in that behavior because I've been on the receiving end of it, and I wouldn't wish that on anyone. I used to assist the president of Hunter College back in graduate school as part of my fellowship to advise her on the McNulty Scholars-- which was a scholarship specifically geared towards engaging undergraduate women in the STEM fields. Helping women feel empowered to enter fields they love and making it more accessible to understand the implicit challenges was healing for me, because it was a way to be the support system I wish I had when I was first entering the field. In terms of my knitting work, it's the same thing-- I try to catch whenever I'm feeling rivalrous with other women because it doesn't serve me or anyone else to compete with other women when I could better focus my time on seeing how we can help one another. It's ingrained in our society that you have to fight for your seat at the table as a woman, but I've been more focused on finding ways to bring another chair with me so I can bring along my stellar friends and colleagues. I know they'd do the same for me.
2) What do you enjoy about working with Alpacas of Montana / what about the company do you admire?
There's a lot that I really enjoy about AofM-- For one thing, I really appreciate their values as a company and as people. In my first conversation with James we talked about knitting a little bit, but then we went on a million tangents about everything from wildlife friendly farming to our shared love of the brilliant Jane Goodall. I value my conversations with James and Sarah because they care a lot about their team. They are respectful of our creative ideas and open to having us contribute to what kinds of designs are turned into lines that they sell. I really appreciate that creative flexibility, and I also appreciate their respect of our intellectual property. Rebekah has been crocheting and knitting for AofM for a lot longer than I have, and they made it very clear that her designs are to be respected. I really liked that because it showed me that they would treat my designs with respect as well, and they have. I can't wait to keep developing more knits for them and helping the whole company grow. Everything, from their animal husbandry to their business ethics, makes me happy to be a part of the team. I would knit all day long if I could, and Alpacas of Montana has been nourishing my love of knitting in supportive, creative ways.
3) We never photoshop or alter any bodies, faces or "faults" in any way because we believe in all of our authentic selves and that we can do the "marketing" of women's beauty in different ways, what does this mean to you?
It's so important for our mental well-being to NOT participate in that kind of image distortion. There are numerous peer-reviewed studies demonstrating the negative impacts of "the social media effect" on our mental health-- and we're adults with fully formed brains! I think about how bad I felt in high school when I'd read glamour magazines and questioned why I didn't look like the cover models, but now those types of photoshopped images are being teleported right into our phones 24/7, and it's damaging young people's notions of what is "normal" to an extreme degree. I refuse to contribute to any sort of body dysmorphia in women of any age, which is why I don't like filters. The more we can do to showcase our perfectly imperfect selves, the more we can run counter to some of the terrible distortions of reality that get perpetuated.
4)Do you have any other brands, companies or accounts you'd like to share for people who are looking for women who uplift each other, pull up seats at the table for each other and/or are doing important work to carve paths for women to be leaders?
Speaking of highlighting my friends-- Katie Shepherd Christiansen of Coyote Art & Ecology is my talented and brilliant colleague. She createdThe Artist's Field Guide to Yellowstone, illustrated the wildlife, ranchers, and conflict-reduction tools of my book, and is working on her next project, an Almanac of the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem, which will integrate art and ecology to reconnect people to the landscape.
5) What sets your soul on fire? What're your hobbies, passions, joys?