Students of Fair Trade

Student Experience Profiles. Volume 5.

                                Featuring: 

Daniel Stroie 

Class of 2017 

Finance Major 

1. How did you initially get involved with Amani? 

I got involved with Amani through taking the class Fairtrade & Microfinance. We were given the assignment of coming up with a project, and my project was to take Amani to Lincoln Center.

2. What was your favorite part of managing Amani? 

My favorite part was that we had a lot of freedom and we had to figure out the procedures for selling at Lincoln Center since we were the first to do this. 

3. What makes Amani stand out from other Fair Trade organizations? 

Amani stands out because it gives students an opportunity to connect what they are learning about in class with real life experience. It may be a bit stressful to think about how artisans in India directly rely on one's success with the company, but I think that this a great motivator to do well. It takes the student's focus away from simply getting a good grade, and more towards succeeding with the business.

4. Do you plan to continue your advocacy for Fair Trade post graduation?

I do not know exactly what I would like to do post graduation, whether it will be working for a fair trade organization or business, but I will definitely continue to speak to people about fair trade whenever the opportunity comes up!

5. Do you have any advice for students whose experience with Fair Trade and Amani are just   

beginning? 

Take it seriously. Even if you are not super excited about fair trade, this is a great experience. You are managing a business and can take it as far as you want to. It is a great opportunity to work on people skills (when selling Amani products), work on supply chain management (through speaking to the artisans), and honestly anything you can think of that has to do with running an international business.

6. If you attended the class trip to India, can you please tell us a little bit about your experience there? Your favorite part? A key takeaway? A realization you may have had? Anything you’d like to share about the trip with other students. 

I did go on the trip! It was a great time, it was a good trip where we were primarily there to meet with artisans, but there was some sightseeing mixed into the trip. My favorite part was meeting with Lakshya because we were given the opportunity to help them design new products and their website. It was also my favorite part because they were so excited to work with us and they were very open to our suggestions. It is a great trip that brings together all that we learned and worked on in the class. On the trip, I finally understood all the components to the class and why it is so important to help Amani stay afloat.