Daily Inspiration: Meet Laurel Murrieta

Today we’d like to introduce you to Laurel Murrieta.

Hi Laurel, please kick things off for us with an introduction to yourself and your story.
Ten Thousand Villages was started by a local church in July of 2006. We have been on South Lake Avenue in Pasadena for 19 years. I joined Ten Thousand Villages in 2022 and soon became the manager of the store. Our store is a non-profit, so we have a Board of Directors that help run the store and a group of lovely volunteers that give their time to help keep costs down. we are proud to sell products from around the world made in emerging countries. Our company was designed as a “Maker to Market” business where we help these artisans sell their fair trade wares in stores across the United States.

Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
Retail is never a smooth road. We miraculously made it through the pandemic with generous donations and a team that had to pivot and create a website very fast. Just when things were running pretty smoothly we had the Altadena fires, our neighbor city and many of our customers are living all over Los Angeles county now. The most recent problem is all the notifications from our vendors about the high tariffs that will affect everyone someway with higher prices. Our goal is to work through all the challenges as best we can and try to be here for our wonderful community and artisans that we support.

Alright, so let’s switch gears a bit and talk business. What should we know about your work?
We are very different from most retail shops in Los Angeles county. Our focus is on fair trade and buying only from Fair Trade Federated organizations. Our mission is always to support our artisans by helping them make a better wage using the best practices for the environment. We are proud of our mission and all the good that comes from purchasing at our store. We love all the beautiful home decor, jewelry, cards, kitchen ware and self care products that we carry.

Is there something surprising that you feel even people who know you might not know about?
In our 1500 square foot shop we represent over 30 different countries around the world from glassware hand blown on the West Bank to good luck pigs from Chile.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://tenthousandvillages.com/pasadena
• Instagram: villages_pasadena