Megan Malley comes to Threads of Peru as a graphic design intern from Seattle, Washington. Having recently graduated with a BFA in Graphic Design from the University of Notre Dame in May 2013, Megan is excited to use her unique skill set to help preserve the ancient handmade textile traditions of the Sacred Valley.
Megan is an avid hiker and photographer
Megan has spent time on six different continents, from studying and living with a host family in Toledo, Spain to conducting design research on xenophobia in Johannesburg, South Africa. She also spent 10 weeks living in Kathmandu, Nepal, as a product design intern for a Fair Trade nonprofit organization dedicated to improving the lives of local artisan women. Her travels have taken her throughout all regions of the United States and British Columbia, most of Western Europe, parts of Mexico and Central America, the Northern and Southern tips of Africa, all over Nepal, and the entire Eastern coast of Australia. She is very excited to be experiencing South America for the first time, especially in a place as stunning as Cusco.
Megan’s interest in Threads of Peru lies in her passion for traditional artisanship and its ability to tell the story of a place and its people for over thousands of years. The approach taken by Threads of Peru is a business model, not a charity, creating a sustainable solution to the cycle of poverty that traps many families in the rural communities of the Sacred Valley. Megan believes in the way the organization helps the artisans help themselves and in its ability to bring awareness of the vibrant Andean culture to a Western market.
Megan is thrilled to become a part of such an innovative and passionate team and to immerse herself in the beautiful Cusco community.