In April of 2022, I met with Lola at a local festival celebrating Tajik culture and heritage. I saw that she was selling hand-crafted clothing. She currently is married and claims to be self-employed through the selling of her goods.

Similar to the stories of many other local artisans in the area, Khilola picked up the skill for her craft through family tradition. She currently sells her goods at any central Asian festival she can find. Because central Asians are such a minority, these festivals only occur so often. This limits how many goods Khilola can sell and how many Tajiki people can purchase goods that remind them of their home country. We helped Khilola by expanding her business and selling her goods on our website. Because of this, she gets much more exposure for her goods and many more Tajik people can purchase goods that make them feel closer to home. Khilola is only of many local artisans that we have helped expand and gain more exposure.