Hi, and welcome to a new episode of Women Who Travel, a podcast from Connie Nass Traveler.

I'm Meredith Carey, and with me, as always, is my co-host, Valle-Aricoglu.

Hello.

Here at Traveler, we've long been obsessed with the Ghanaian brand Axe, which uses women's

weaving techniques often passed down

through generations to make ultra-colorful and sustainably produced handbags. Today we're joined by

the brand's founder and designer Akosua Afrii Kumi calling in from Kumasi, Ghana. Thank you so much

for joining us. Yeah, thank you. So to get started, I just want to ask a very

simple question, but also I think probably has many answers to it, which is what is life like

in Ghana right now? Yeah, life is really simple in Ghana. The sun is constantly shining. I couldn't be happier to be here

because my mom is actually stuck in the UK in the lockdown and it's snowing and she's constantly

complaining out. She can't wait to come back. So yeah, Ghana, the life here, it's super, super

simple. With the whole pandemic, everything has kind of changed a little in terms of we are not going out as much.

There's a lot of restrictions, slight restrictions, not as in other countries around the world.

But I love being here. This is where my family lives this is my home

so I've always been really drawn to live in somewhere that the sun is constantly shining I guess

that's where I get all my inspiration from and yeah yeah, I would say life is good here. I'm

happy. I am sitting in my window, staring at the snow, trying to get as much sunlight on my face

as possible. So I am very jealous of the near constant sunshine that you are experiencing.

But to rewind back to the beginning, you know, I'd love to know how Axe got its start

or even to go back further how you got into design in the first place.

Yeah, so, of course, I lived in Ghana when I was growing up.

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