Founder Hayley Besheer Santell just featured on CanvasRebel!

CanvasRebel interviewed our founder Hayley a few weeks ago, and the article is full of juicy behind-the-scenes details about how she started MADI Apparel, a resilience story from her personal journey, a lesson she had to unlearn, and more.

CanvasRebel's mission is to create a space for artists, creatives and entrepreneurs to be able to learn from their peers through the magic and power of storytelling.

Below is a sneak peak from CanvasRebel's article, click here for the full feature.

"We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Hayley Besheer Santell. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Hayley below.

Hayley, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today How did you come up with the idea for your business?

Shortly after graduating with two (mostly unrelated to my now career) undergraduate degrees, I stumbled upon a blog listing this shocking statistic – new underwear is the number one most requested yet least donated item of clothing. When this fell into my lap in 2012, I could think about nothing else but that fact for months. Ironically around the same time, a family member confided in me that she was once – 30 plus years prior – a victim of domestic violence. It became an emotional time for me, and it was only then that I learned domestic abuse can happen to even well-educated women surrounded by close supportive family members, even the strongest women that you (I) look up to. After diving in more, researching how I could contribute in the realm of domestic violence, I learned that underwear tops the most urgent needs list at the majority of shelters and orgs serving women and young women globally. It’s the only item they can’t receive used, and thus, it’s rarely donated. I thought, wow – did the light bulb about underwear really just blink a second time? Here’s the problem I found: billions of people go without underwear every day, not by choice. And what’s the impact? Young women kept from school and employment during menstrual cycles, and women healing from crisis situations like domestic violence, rape and post incarceration facing lack of hygiene, lack of comfort and lack of dignity."

For the rest of the article, click here.