Women's Stories

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WE Center for STAR Women

WE provides technical support, business training, and access to microcredit loans to refugee women in San Diego.

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A Passion for Cleaning and Crafts

Safia Ali has many skills and talents, and she has put them all to work to support her family in the 22 years since she left her native Somalia. Her dream of self-sufficiency is now focused on two of her lifelong avocations - cleaning and crafts - and with funding and technical assistance from the WE Center for STAR Women, she is vigorously pursuing both.

Safia is the proud proprietor of Sophia Cleans, a home cleaning and business cleaning firm she launched under an Americanized version of her name. Her business philosophy, as stated on her Website (www.sophiacleans.com), combines marketing savvy and personal dynamism: “It's not just a job, but a passion, and I know you will see the difference in your home.”

Her second start-up company is Somalian Arts & Crafts, an importer of African clothing, jewelry, baskets and wood carvings. Safia sells her wares at craft fairs, farmers markets and recently at a trunk show at the Mingei International Museum in Balboa Park, arranged by WE.

Safia fled Mogadishu in 1985 as a political refugee. Her family first settled in Egypt, before coming to the United States in 1991. She has since become a U.S. citizen. In addition to her two other businesses, Safia drives an airport shuttle for rental car companies.

“I love San Diego so much,” Safia said. “If I wasn't here, I wouldn't have started my businesses. We are part of a strong community, and we have wonderful people like Mouna (Isaac, director of the WE STAR Center) to help us.”