Community Highlights: Meet Cathy Gomes of 700 Rivers

Today we’d like to introduce you to Cathy Gomes.

Hi Cathy, it’s an honor to have you on the platform. Thanks for taking the time to share your story with us – to start maybe you can share some of your backstory with our readers?
My name is Cathy and I am the founder and CEO of 700 Rivers. My family immigrated from Bangladesh to the USA right before I was born and I definitely grew up as a product of two cultures. When I was in college, I learned Bangladesh is a top country for human trafficking. In Bangladesh, thousands of women are stuck in human trafficking and remain stuck because they do not have an education or job skills to fall back on to financially support themselves. As a woman of Bangladeshi descent, this felt very personal to me. At the time, it seemed like such a large, multi-faceted issue that I wanted to help fight but it just seemed too big to tackle. It also seemed to have nothing to do with chemical engineering which I was studying so I had no idea how I would even approach the issue. Nonetheless, this fact never left my mind, even as I graduated college and “entered the real world”.

As I did more research on the subject, I realized the best way to fight human trafficking and poverty is through meaningful jobs and employment. The more passionate I became about this, I realized I could use my background to help create jobs. And thus 700 Rivers was born. 700 Rivers works with Bangladeshi women that have escaped human trafficking and helps them get access to mental health counseling and employs our artisans to make all natural soaps. We offer our artisans a fresh start in life and employ them with fair, living wages, a safe work environment, and dignified work for the first time in their lives. 700 Rivers’ hand-crafted soap also celebrates the rich and diverse ingredients local to South Asia that tell the beautiful story of Bangladesh such as clove, cinnamon, orange, turmeric, lemon and lavender.

Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way. Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
This definitely has not been an easy journey. We launched our soap line in Dec 2019 only to be met with a global pandemic months after our launch. During the global shutdown, we had to quickly adapt to our artisans in Bangladesh staying at home to remain safe. During this time, we temporarily pivoted to employing our artisans to sew fabric face masks from home. We also donated many of the face masks made during this time to a local orphanage in Bangladesh that housed 400 children so they could receive some protection from the global pandemic as well.

Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next you can tell us a bit more about your business?
At a quick glance, 700 Rivers might just look like a soap company, but we are so much more. 700 Rivers is a global, ethical, and sustainable lifestyle brand that always puts people and the planet first. We create high quality, 100% natural soaps that are handcrafted by Bangladeshi artisans that have escaped human trafficking and are now employed with dignity, a safe work environment, and fair living wages. We want our customers to enjoy getting a fresh start to their day with their 700 Rivers soaps knowing that their purchase is helping a woman across the world get a fresh start in life.

We are also very focused on create eco-friendly products by design. All of our materials are skin-friendly and eco-friendly and our packaging is 100% biodegradable. We are big believers in going plastic-free and always choosing natural materials as often as possible. As our business is expanding, you’ll also see 100% natural bath bombs, bamboo straws (natural and reusable straws that allow you to ditch any single-use plastic straws), and so much more to help our customers live a more ethical and sustainable lifestyle!

Where we are in life is often partly because of others. Who/what else deserves credit for how your story turned out?
My family deserves so much credit in sharing the success of where 700 Rivers is today. My parents are my biggest inspiration. My parents sacrificed everything they had and knew in Bangladesh to bring my sisters and I to the USA. Growing up in the USA, my sisters and I all got a great education and successful careers. This is significant to our family because in Bangladesh, women’s education and careers are not equally prioritized as they are for men. I have always known how fortunate I am for being able to grow up in a land of equal opportunity but I thought about the women in Bangladesh (and all over the world) that do not have the means to uproot their lives to a country of opportunity and what options that leaves them to consider. These systemic cycles of inequality lead to vulnerability such as human trafficking and poverty and this is exactly what I work to fight against. I am so fortunate because my parents fought for my equal opportunities so I will work to create equal opportunities for women around the world too.

Pricing:

• All our products are less than $20.00
• Each soap bar is $10.00

Contact Info:

• Email: [email protected]
• Website: https://www.sevenhundredrivers.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/700rivers
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/The700Rivers/

Image Credits
Putt Photography Jeannene Lang Joseph Ryan Gomes