Francesca Kennedy the founder of Ix Style discovered the once beautiful Lake Atitlan of Guatemala where her grandfather lived and where she was baptized in as a child overrun with blue green algae in 2010 and a new generation of children collecting the contaminated water. Francesca turned what NASA deemed one of the worst natural disasters to occur on the planet as you could see the contamination from space into action. Francesca launched Ix Style her fashion company that makes huarache sandals, bags and jewelry by Mayan artisans. Ix is the Mayan word for water. For every purchase, Ix donates to provide clean drinking water to children in Guatemala where Francesca's family is originally from. Join the thousands who have viewed The Gap's acclaimed video below about Ix's water mission + work with artisans. Francesca has risen to the top of the fashion industry as a social entrepreneur. Based in New York City, her designs have appeared in numerous publications including Vogue, Harper's Bazaar, InStyle, Financial Times, LA Times + dozens more. Francesca has co-designed styles with Gwyneth Paltrow for Goop & sold exclusive styles to J.Crew, Anthropologie, Gap, ShopBop, Holt Renfrew + hundreds of stores worldwide. Richard Branson was one of Ix Style's first customers. Academy Award winner Amanda Seyfried, actress Jamie Chung + fashion designer Rachel Roy are all customers and supporters of Ix Style. As a social entrepreneur, Francesca is one of the most sought after speakers internationally, speaking at the industry's largest conferences, events and she will present a TED talk in December. Francesca is a Stanford Latino Entrepreneur Leader, Access Latina accelerator winner + grant recipient, and Long Island Hispanic Chamber of Commerce's Entrepreneur of the Year. Francesca will also appear on Harvey Weinstein's new Shark Tank style TV show called Project Runway: Fashion Start Up that airs Fall 2016. Stay tuned!
