Staying true to its roots as a company founded by a strong female entrepreneur, Stacy’s Pita Chips made its biggest effort yet to support strong, hard-working women throughout Women’s History Month in March 2019 and beyond with the launch of The Rise Project. Stacy’s launched its third annual collection of limited-edition bags that feature original artwork from noteworthy female artists. Studies have shown that women continue to lack equal access, growth opportunities and financial investment – receiving only about 2 percent of all venture funding, despite owning 38 percent of the businesses in the country.

Due to the altruistic nature of the project, we carefully selected six female artists to each depict a phase in “The Rise”—our name for the unique journey women business founders take when driving towards success. The phases of The Rise are Inspiration, Courage, Grit, Nourishment, Success and Community. We selected each artist based on their correlating phase. We then collaborated with the artists to create visual metaphors for each phase.

For the Inspiration phase, we selected Nomoco from Fukuoka, Japan for her dreamlike watercolors. Amrita Marino was chosen for the Courage phase, an engineer turned illustrator who originally hailed from India. The metaphor to represent courage is a trapeze—which requires strength and grace when taking the leap of faith. Alexandra Bowman represents the Grit phase because of her humanistic and hand-drawn style. For Grit, we created a challenging, winding path that leads to otherworldly success... to the moon! The art conveys the message that when they remain focused and true to themselves, avoiding noise and distraction, and taking things one-step at a time—strong female business leaders will reach their goals.

For the Nourishment phase, we worked with Jane Beaird of Quiet-Creature. Thinking about the fragility of gardening led to the image of women holding budding plants in their hands. Being a nurturer of something so delicate is reminiscent of an entrepreneur carefully tending to her dream business, as well as herself. The fifth phase in the Rise Journey is Success. For this, we selected artist Jade Purple Brown who uses a mixed media approach to ensure that the artwork is bold and impactful. By using one central figure and bold uses of color, this imagery represents strength for all women. The sixth and final phase in the Rise Journey is Community. We were inspired by Eleni Kalokati’s whimsical, yet sophisticated, interpretation of the female form. The theme of the design is “lifting as we climb.” Eleni used a cross-section of people from around the globe to create an elegant web of support to represent Community.

The Stacy’s Rise project drives support for women entrepreneurs with a $100K commitment from Stacy's in the form of micro-grants. What’s more, supporters can help match the brand’s $100K commitment by donating $10 —and claim a bag and collector’s print as a thank you. All proceeds directly support United Way in the funding of these essential micro-grants for women entrepreneurs.