Wearing the World

January 15, 2016 | by the Office of Marketing and Communications

As a hometown representative for the philanthropically minded startup clothing brand Serengetee, Amanda Stamm was tasked with promoting the company through social media.

She did that job so well that the company’s founders invited the senior marketing major to join them on a week-long trip to Guatemala last summer to visit the company’s artisan fabric-makers and see Serengetee’s unique business plan in action.

The trip was Stamm’s prize for taking top honors in the company’s annual competition to select the best student promotional project. Stamm’s three-minute video, featuring her original ink-and-paper illustrations and voice-over narration, won first prize from among more than 1,500 entries submitted by Serengetee student representatives.

“I’m so proud of it,” Stamm said of her project. “I had never done anything like it before. I just thought of it as a commercial for this great company with a cause.”

Serengetee’s T-shirts, caps and other products are made in the United States using fabrics produced by artisans in more than two dozen countries. The company donates a portion of proceeds from each product to charities supporting the artisan’s community.

Stamm began working for Serengetee in 2014, first as a hometown representative, doing grassroots marketing via social media, then as a captain, responsible for advising other representatives. Her promotional video includes her personal salute to Serengetee, accompanied by a series of sketchpad drawings, inspired by her love of illustration.

When she learned on Facebook that her video had taken top honors in the competition, her initial reaction was disbelief.

“I thought, ‘This can’t be real,’ so I double-checked it just to make sure. Then I literally started screaming,” she said. “I mean, what are the chances?”

Her trip to Guatemala gave her the opportunity to see Serengetee’s business model in action. She met local fabric-weavers and visited the company’s philanthropic partner in Guatemala, Mayan Family, a health and education organization working in that country’s highlands.

“It was such an incredible experience to see how Serengetee works from the inside,” Stamm said. “And the people I met in Guatemala were so warm and generous.”

Stamm said her experience has inspired her to seek a marketing position with a company that shares Serengetee’s commitment to doing good in the world.

“I want to do something creative for a company with a sense of social responsibility,” she said.

Connect with #elmhurstu