RAICES Picks: Valentines Day

From Phenomenal — a values-driven, 360-degree media company that centers women and historically excluded communities — in collaboration with Netflix’s “To All The Boys I’ve Loved Before,” this series of 8 letterpress cards are designed by Grace Cho and Erin Fong and handmade with love in Oakland, CA.

Customizable Black love tarot cards designed by illustrator Alexis Nicole Neely. We encourage you to send these cards to those you care about who manifest love beyond romance, binaries, and capitalism and into the ever-expansive realms of justice and liberation.

Originally from Port-Au-Prince, Haiti, Didier William is a painter and printmaker whose mixed-media image-making process draws from memory, oratory, and historical archives to reimagine narratives of the Black diaspora. Here, the artist’s signature field of eyes is printed in metallic ink on alternating lines of text stating immigrant love, queer love, and Black love. 20% of proceeds from the sale of immigrant love, queer love, and Black love will fund the Caribbean Equality Project’s (CEP) Covid-19 emergency relief fund for Black & Brown queer and trans people.

Julio Salgado is the Co-Founder of DreamersAdrift and the Migrant Storytelling Manager for The Center for Cultural Power. His status as an undocumented, queer artivist has fueled the contents of his visual art, as reflected in his collection of digital prints for sale.

As a mom, model, and entrepreneur who advocates for body diversity and self-acceptance, Iskra Lawrence founded Saltair as a way to make sure every person can feel comfortable in their own skin.

“As immigrants, my partner and I found Our Place in America by cooking and sharing food with new friends who became our chosen family. That’s why we started Our Place: to build a bigger table, one that would have room for all of us.” Shiza Shahid, Co-Founder

Honoring Tradition: Throughout the world, preparing and sharing food binds communities, continues traditions, and tells the story of our heritages. For friends (and co-founders) Eunice and Dave, cooking for and eating with family has carried their Korean and Vietnamese traditions across oceans and into their own homes.

Born in Ghana, raised in South Africa, and now living in Brooklyn, New York, Nana Quagraine always loved the unique contemporary African design items she found on trips home. But she realized these designs were largely hard to access globally. Nana launched 54kibo in 2018 along with a team committed to sharing the endless creativity in Africa and its Diaspora.

Growing up in Trinidad and Tobago, the Maloney brothers enjoyed eating chocolate made from the cacao trees that they had grown and picked themselves. Upon arriving in the U.S., they decided to bring a type of chocolate that elevates the taste, coupled with a level of unparalleled refinement and quality to the selections available.

Artisanal chocolate handcrafted by Haitian women using ethically sourced cacao grown by more than 3,000 Haitian farmers originally trained by volunteers from Agronomist and Veterinary Without Borders.

For many years during her family’s visits to Jordan, Wafa Nemry’s last stop was always the confectioner semiramis for a final pickup of chocolates and sweets. In 2017, she had the idea to bring the goodness of semiramis to Houston, Texas. With that, Lunaria was born, bringing the tradition of hospitality to the U.S.

Directed by Daniel Kwan and Daniel Scheinert, collectively known as Daniels, and produced by frequent RAICES Creative Partner A24, the film is a hilarious and big-hearted sci-fi action adventure about an exhausted Chinese American woman (Academy Award Nominee Michelle Yeoh) who can’t seem to finish her taxes.

In Flee, flimmaker Jonas Poher Rasmussen tells a poignant story of belonging and the search for identity, Forced to leave his home country of Afghanistan as a young child with his mother and siblings, Amin now grapples with how his past will affect his future in Denmark and the life he is building with his soon-to-be husband.

After 17 years in exile, Walter finally reunites with his family after being forced to leave Angola for New York City. As they attempt to overcome the personal and political hurdles amongst them, they rely on the muscle memory of dance to find their way back ‘home.’ Farewell Amor is an immigrant story that has come to define the American landscape since its inception.

Dark Matter Coffee adheres to a philosophy where quality coffees are sourced based on traceability, innovation, and social responsibility and has developed long-standing direct partnerships with farmers in El Salvador, Guatemala, Colombia, and Mexico.

Numi was founded in 1999 by brother and sister Ahmed Rahim and Reem Hassani with a vision to share the transformative, healing power of tea with the world. They named their company after the steeped dried desert lime they drank in their early childhood in Baghdad, Iraq. The drink symbolizes hospitality and community.

Founded in 2016 by Karla McNeil Rueda, an Honduran woman, Industrial Engineer, and Culinary Artist. She started Cru Chocolate to make them for herself and for people like her who refuse to compromise their ethics and taste for a drink.