It's the Simple Show. You've got episode 82. I'm Tish Hawson Writer, and on the simple show we talk about books, travel in life at home. But for the next few episodes, for a special summer series, we're departing from our usual rigmarole and talking with creative women who do interesting work. Let's celebrate the great things we get to enjoy in life because of

women getting out there and doing good work, both big and small, behind the scenes, and out there for all of us to see.

Next up in this series is Liz Bohannon, founder of Seiko Designs. They're the company behind those cool,

strappy sandals with interchangeable ribbons you might have already seen in stores.

They also make leather bags, accessories, and a wide variety of sandals now, and they've got a great social good model that's allowed a ton of young women in Uganda to go to college when they

otherwise wouldn't have had a chance. Liz has been on Shark Tank, and she still travels back and forth

all the time between Uganda and her home

in Portland, juggling her role as founder and CEO while also having a new job title, Mom.

Welcome to Women's Work.

I want to know a little bit the backstory of how you started SACO because I see these shoes

everywhere, which is super cool.

So I know you're, you know,

an entrepreneur and it just kind of exploded yet. I mean, they're everywhere. So tell me your

backstory. Well, that's very sweet of you. We're still a small enough brand that to hear someone say

that they're seeing them everywhere, it gives me a little bit of like, wait, yeah, that's awesome.

So I appreciate that.

I still completely nerd out when I see total strangers walking by me in another city or in the

airport. That's always a pretty fun feeling. So I grew up in the Midwest and I went to journalism

school and found myself becoming increasingly interested and passionate about issues that were facing

women and girls that were living in extreme poverty and in conflict and post-conflict zones.

And so I graduated from college and kind of did the classic millennial thing, I think,

and got really angsty and tried to find this dream job that was going to allow me to travel the world

...