Luxury from behind bars

ENAR

While doing research for her master’s thesis on women and prostitution at Saint Joseph University in 2000, Sarah Beydoun probably never thought she would end up being the creative director and founder of Sarah’s Bag — a high end handmade brand of handbags and fashion accessories. The business currently employs 200 underprivileged women, has its own boutique in Gemmayze and 22 global points of sale. It all started in 2000 when, upon the advice of Dar Al Amal — an NGO she was working with for her thesis at the time — Beydoun got a permit to work with women in the Baabda prison on a social project to empower them through income earning. The beginnings  Beydoun started working with four women in prison, two of whom were Mexican and were already skilled in embroidery. She trained and paid them in exchange for embroidery handwork. Starting with bracelets, which Beydoun