March 12, 2026
Crafting Change: Julie Colombino's Journey from Disaster to Dignity in Fashion
Send a text In this inspiring episode of Living the Dream with Curveball, we sit down with Julie Colombino Billingham, the visionary founder of Du Main, a solar-powered fashion brand dedicated to empowering women in Haiti. Born from the devastation of the 2010 earthquake, Julie's journey from disaster responder to entrepreneur is a testament to resilience and innovation. She shares how Du Main not only creates beautiful, ethically crafted handbags but also provides dignified jobs, shifting th...
In this inspiring episode of Living the Dream with Curveball, we sit down with Julie Colombino Billingham, the visionary founder of Du Main, a solar-powered fashion brand dedicated to empowering women in Haiti. Born from the devastation of the 2010 earthquake, Julie's journey from disaster responder to entrepreneur is a testament to resilience and innovation. She shares how Du Main not only creates beautiful, ethically crafted handbags but also provides dignified jobs, shifting the narrative around Haiti from one of poverty to one of artistry and talent. Discover the significance of sustainable fashion, the challenges faced as a female entrepreneur in a male-dominated industry, and the impact of global partnerships on her mission. Julie also discusses her upcoming memoir, *From Lost to How*, which chronicles her experiences and lessons learned over the past 15 years. Tune in to learn how your purchasing decisions can make a difference and support ethical fashion that empowers communities.
Want to be a guest on Living the Dream with Curveball? Send Curtis Jackson a message on PodMatch, here: https://www.podmatch.com/hostdetailpreview/1628631536976x919760049303001600
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> Curtis Jackson (also known as DJ Curveball)>Welcome to the Living the Dream podcast with Curveball. if you believe you can achieve. Welcome to the Living the Dream with Curveball podcast, a show where I interview guests that teach, motivate and inspire. Today I am joined by Julie Colomino Billingham, and she is the founder of Du Main, which in Creole means two hands. It is a women owned fashion brand, solar powered fashion brand, and it was founded after the earthquake in 2010.
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> Curtis Jackson (also known as DJ Curveball)>When Julie saw all the devastation, she wanted to start a company that gives dignified jobs and wealth and opportunity. So we're going to be talking to her about our company and everything that she's up to and gonna be up to. So, Julie, thank you so much for joining me.
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> Julie Colomino Billingham>Thanks for having me.
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> Curtis Jackson (also known as DJ Curveball)>Curtis, why don't you start off by telling everybody a little bit about yourself?
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> Julie Colomino Billingham>Sure. so like you said, I have a fashion company in Haiti, and it's been going strong for about 15 years now. But it really started, you know, not, not in any way that I set out to start a fashion company. I'm a trained disaster responder. And so when the earthquake happened in 2010, I just deployed, thinking I would spend a couple weeks in Haiti. And it kind of just changed my life. And so I went from being a. I was a professional ballet dancer and I worked for a charity in Orlando, Florida, to having a business in Haiti. So my life really radically changed, about 15 years ago.
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> Curtis Jackson (also known as DJ Curveball)>Well, talk about how your company provides luxury design with ethical craftsmanship.
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> Julie Colomino Billingham>Yeah, so when, you know, when we first started our company, we were just making, we were making bags and leather accessories that, you know, were nice, nice to have. And, they were okay, I guess. But over the years, we decided we really wanted to tell a different story about Haiti or one that really showed the craftsmanship and artistry, the wisdom of the Haitian people. We wanted to incorporate, basket weaving into the leather. So we, we really focused on design and craftsmanship.
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> Julie Colomino Billingham>And now we have about 45, craftspeople in our factory in Haiti, handcrafting these, like, really beautiful bags. and we hope just to tell a different story. You know, a lot of people when they think about Haiti, they think about poverty and corruption and political instability, and all of those things are very true. But there's also a whole other side to the island that people don't know about, about the resiliency and the artistry and the talent. And that's what we hope. Our handbags. That's the story that we hope that they tell. And we're pretty excited we became fair trade verified last year, and through that, it opened a lot of doors. And right now, we're selling in Nordstrom's. And so that's been a really great opportunity to get the bags in front of a whole new audience of people who now can choose ethical fashion instead of mass production.
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> Julie Colomino Billingham>And we think that's pretty exciting.
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> Curtis Jackson (also known as DJ Curveball)>What. Can you explain the significance of, providing jobs instead of charity?
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> Julie Colomino Billingham>Sure. Absolutely. so, I mean, my kind of revolutionary moment was when I was in Haiti. I was, you know, providing charity and handing out water. Intense. And I was in this camp about six weeks after the earthquake, and this woman grabbed my arm, and she said, hey, white lady, I don't want any water, but I need a job. And it was like this catalytic moment where I realized that Haiti, yes, did suffer from the earthquake and this terrible natural disaster, but even before the earthquake, it was suffering from this poverty that was all around, and it was suffocating, people because there were so few opportunities to work. And I just really decided that I was going to listen and learn. And instead of bringing all the things that I thought I knew about development, I thought I knew about disaster response, and I just said, leave it all at the door. Listen to the people of Haiti. And that woman, you know, really revolutionized my life.
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> Julie Colomino Billingham>And then I just heard that kind of constant, that constant whisper throughout the tent camps, we need jobs. We need work. We need jobs. We need work. And I found out that There was a 79% unemployment rate in Haiti. And that is just outrageous. I mean, 79% unemployment is a pretty horrific stat. And so we decided that, okay, if we're going to, you know, help bring economic freedom to not only, earthquake survivors, but all these incredible, talented artisans in Haiti, we would have to open up our own factory. And creating jobs changes everything. Because when somebody's financially free and no longer the recipient of charity, they live their life with pride and dignity, just like you or I or anybody else wants to do. I found all over the world, no matter what country, no matter, you know, what economic level, all people want to work. They want that dignity.
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> Curtis Jackson (also known as DJ Curveball)>What does your company do to ensure that your products are sustainably and responsibly made?
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> Julie Colomino Billingham>so we use, what's called overrun or dead stock leather. So we responsibly source all of our leather. And, basically what that means is, like, if, let's say, a big brand like Michael Kors does a run of 100,000 square feet of red leather, and they only use 80,000 square feet, sometimes that 20,000 square feet of leather would either be burned or thrown away. Well, we buy that excess leather and we make our bags from that to help, ensure that there's little or less waste in the world. We also try to source everything from the island of Haiti, sorry, the island of Hispaniola.
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> Julie Colomino Billingham>So either on our side or on the Dominican Republic side. And of course, everything because we're fair trade is made, ethically and responsibly. We pay living wages, of course. We use solar powered energy in our factory, so it's 100% solar powered.
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> Julie Colomino Billingham>and we've just kind of created our own ecosystem to, to maintain, you know, health of our community and health of the little part of the island that we're responsible for.
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> Curtis Jackson (also known as DJ Curveball)>Well, talk about the challenges you have faced as a female entrepreneur running a fair trade verified, solar powered factory in Haiti.
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> Julie Colomino Billingham>Well, yeah, there's been so many, I think, as a female, you're. I've, what I've noticed is, you know, you're not as respected at the table. and also I'm a foreigner, I'm American and going into Haiti, so I was a foreign woman, in Haiti in the fashion industry. And so it just, I kind of had all these little dings against me. believe it or not, sometimes I kind of thought fashion would be more female dominated, but it's actually a very male dominated industry as well. so like, access to funding has always been a challenge. and also not just being female, but being based in Haiti, people, you know, don't feel comfortable investing in a Haitian brand, because of all the turmoil.
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> Julie Colomino Billingham>and we've also just seen, you know, you just, you don't take it as seriously. You have less, less, access to capital, which is really the biggest one. but we've managed for the past 15 years and we'll keep going, Curtis.
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> Curtis Jackson (also known as DJ Curveball)>Okay, well, let's talk about, upcycling and circular design. Talk about how that plays a role in your company.
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> Julie Colomino Billingham>So, you know, quite honestly, we don't upcycle as much as we used to. but prior to about four years ago, our main product used to be recycled tire sandals. We used to cut the sidewalls of tires out and make that as the sole of our sandal. And that was the product we made for almost a decade. But due to the, I know this sounds very strange, but the increasing gang violence in Haiti, we can no longer safely collect tires. so we can no longer make our recycled tire sandals. So now we, we fully Focus on making handbags for export. But something that we did start doing was making leather school shoes for Haitian children. We really wanted to make a product that was for the local community, for the local market. Haitian children have to wear school uniforms and that includes a very particular pat, you know, leather, kind of like a Mary Jane shoe. And so, a lot of people, a lot of kids, you know, couldn't have access to that, didn't have access to these shoes.
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> Julie Colomino Billingham>So we decided we would start making them in country. And we've produced thousands and thousands of pairs of school shoes for kids. And that's been really exciting for us, really fun part of our business.
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> Curtis Jackson (also known as DJ Curveball)>Well, let's talk about the global partnerships that you've developed and how they are impacting your mission.
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> Julie Colomino Billingham>Okay. so I would say right now, or I mean, we can start at the beginning. In the early days, we partnered with the United nations and when USAID was a thing, they were the first investors of our factory. So, those partnerships were very, very important. USAID gave us our first grant to employ the first 12 women, that we had at our, at our factory. So, the, the partnerships really mean everything because doing, you know, building a business on your own is absolutely impossible. But building a business in the developing world without that kind of support, I, I don't know how it would be possible. And if you fast forward to today, the partnerships like, particularly with Nordstrom, I mean it's like 5x star sales and it's given us access to a whole new line of customers and, and people who can learn the story of Haiti, learn about ethical manufacturing. You know, put, put these bags that are made in Haiti in their hands and, and, and get to experience what Haitian craftsmanship is like and hopefully, you know, share the story of, of Haiti and, and people who are making these products and manufacturing in a whole different way that is respectful of the planet. It's not mass produced by, it's not made with polyethylene or pu, which is a plastic. These are genuine products. So the partnerships amplify our voice is really, I guess, the best way to put it.
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> Curtis Jackson (also known as DJ Curveball)>Well, talk about your upcoming memoir. Tell readers what they can expect when they read it and where to get it and what you hope readers take away from it.
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> Julie Colomino Billingham>Oh, thanks for asking. Okay, so I just published a memoir, From Lost to How a Fashion Business Rose from Hades Rebel and really how it started. It was my journal from 15 years ago. And so I just couldn't believe the depth of devastation that I witnessed in those early days, I couldn't process it, so I just had to write a lot of things down.
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> Julie Colomino Billingham>And then as the years progressed and we started, you know, building this business and, realizing that, oh my gosh, we really have something here, I wanted to document all the mistakes that we made in hopes to make almost like a textbook to help young entrepreneurs or people in the developing world, learn from our mistakes. So I very meticulously wrote down every challenge, every mistake I made, everything that I would have done differently in hopes to help others. And then as I got older, I started realizing that my life, and the things that I've gone through in my life, have been dramatically affected by living in Haiti. I met my husband in Haiti. I, you know, I built a family there. My. So it's just like all these things. And my publisher said, you know, this isn't a textbook, this is a memoir. So we really just try to openly discuss all the different challenges. And then the other thing that I did was I interviewed about 50 people from my Haitian colleagues, to volunteers, to customers, to donors, to different people to get all the different perspectives of all the different types of people it takes to build something like this.
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> Julie Colomino Billingham>So in the story, you can read, about a ton of other stories and especially my Haitian colleagues, each one of them has an incredible story. and because some of them don't speak English, I feel really proud that, you know, their, their stories have been translated and available for people to, to, to read and to understand because they're really amazing.
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> Curtis Jackson (also known as DJ Curveball)>Well, tell us about any upcoming projects that you're working on that listeners need to be aware of.
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> Julie Colomino Billingham>Oh my gosh. Well, we're just continuing to, to make new collections. We'll, we'll have a new collection coming out in spring of 2026. we recently did a collaboration with my husband. He, he's on a television show called Special Forces.
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> Julie Colomino Billingham>And he did a very male focused luxury, travel line. So we're mostly a women's brand, but he wanted to help us incorporate some men's products.
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> Julie Colomino Billingham>So we just launched, a new collection with him, which was really fun. And yeah, we're gonna just, hopefully just produce more and more handbags, get more customers, get more people interested in the brands, and create a ton more jobs.
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> Curtis Jackson (also known as DJ Curveball)>We'll throw out your contact info so people can keep up with everything that you're up to.
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> Julie Colomino Billingham>Okay, well, our website is deme.com which iS-E-X m a I n s.com and our Instagram handle is Domeeofficial.
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> Curtis Jackson (also known as DJ Curveball)>All right, close us out with some final thoughts.
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> Curtis Jackson (also known as DJ Curveball)>Maybe if that was something I forgot to talk about that you would like to touch on, or any final thoughts you have for the listeners.
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> Julie Colomino Billingham>Oh, my gosh, Curtis, you've asked so many great questions. the last thing I would just say is that, you know, every person has so much power with the way that they. With the way that they, consume goods, what. What they buy. It really, really makes a difference when you buy something that is made fair trade, and it impacts other people's life. So I just, you know, I learned in Haiti, like, how the kind of woman I wanted to be, the responsibility I wanted to have in my life and, you know, the power that I have as a. As a consumer. And so I just wanted to say to all of our customers and anybody who buys fair trade, thank you. And if you haven't yet experienced a brand that is, you know, making things ethically and ensuring that everybody on the manufacturing line makes a fair wage, check it out. Because, you know, buying less and buying better really does impact your soul.
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> Curtis Jackson (also known as DJ Curveball)>Absolutely. Ladies and gentlemen, check it out.
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> Curtis Jackson (also known as DJ Curveball)>And please share this episode to as many people as possible out there. Also, please be sure to visit www.craveball337.com for more information on the Living the Dream with Curveball podcast and share the show to as many people as you know. Thank you for joining me and listening and supporting the show. And, Julie, thank you for all that you're doing and making the world a better place. And thank you for joining me.
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> Julie Colomino Billingham>Oh, thank you, Curtis. It was really fun.
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> Curtis Jackson (also known as DJ Curveball)>For more information on the Living the Dream with Curveball Podcast, visit www.craveball337.com until next time, keep living the dream.
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