A Founders Note: why Chimuk exists

My only intention was to create a space where women could gather... to laugh, to create, to grow. As we nurtured small ideas together, we began teaching ourselves to knit through YouTube, stitch by stitch. 

 Watching the women bloom into new, empowered versions of themselves over the past 8 years has been, without a doubt, the best part of this project. Witnessing their kids grow up in the clinic, with a working mother as a role model has been an added bonus.

 I didn’t know anything about fashion; but I knew how to build community and engage women, so that’s how this program started.  

I have had to shift my brain from public health to branding & marketing. The path hasn’t been easy, but it has been deeply joyful, filled with meaningful collaborations in the process. 

 I can honestly say that building Chimuk has been the single greatest creative experiment of my life. 

Thank you for being our ally and thank you to the women who show up consistently, to be agents of change in their own lives.

 Katie Baric, 

MPH Cofounder & Executive Director. 

Hands on Peru / Chimuk