Precious Hands LLC is a for-profit company based in Antigua, Guatemala and Louisville, Kentucky, USA and is owned and run by Irma Yolanda Zuleta (Antigua, Guatemala), John Barker (Louisville, Kentucky), Pat Sellers (Louisville, Kentucky), Alfredo Hernandez Lopez  (Antigua, Guatemala), Luc Verhaak (Cincinnati, Ohio) and Amber Sellers (Los Angeles, California) and Mauktik Kulkarni (Louisville, Kentucky). In Antigua we work closely with the artisans, who live in the surrounding communities, in all stages of creating their handmade goods. In Kentucky we use United Parcel Services’ worldwide distribution center, headquartered in Louisville, to market, sell and distribute our handmade goods world-wide.

Our mission is to help artisans make an honest living and prosper by helping them to produce, market and sell their handmade crafts to world-wide markets. We accomplish this in Guatemala by working closely with the artisans in all aspects of production and in Louisville by making available to them world-class marketing, sales and distribution technologies.

John is Argentine-American, born in the US and has lived many years in the US, Europe and Latin America. Though he was trained as a Surgeon and Scientist he says his true vocation is as an entrepreneur and philanthropist.

As an entrepreneur Dr Barker has started, built and run several successful companies in such diverse areas as medical technology, real estate, import-export, food service and retail. As a philanthropist he has organized and participated in many medical missions and shipped donated medical and educational supplies throughout Central and South America. In addition he established and runs scholarship exchange programs between the US, Latin America and Europe.

In 2007 Dr Barker joined forces with Irma Yolanda and Leslie Ecklund to start Precious Hands LLC to apply his entrepreneurial know-how with his philanthropic desire to help artisans make honest, fair and sustainable livings from their craft. With Yolanda based in Guatemala and Leslie Ecklund and Dr Barker in the US together they are creating important synergies to provide artisans the tools and resources they need to produce, market and sell their handcrafted products directly to customers around the world.

Leslie Ecklund

Leslie’s taste for simple silhouettes, combined with her innovative use of fabrics, is a breath of fresh and fanciful air in the design of her Che Nena! line of handbags. The crux of Leslie's flare for design emanates from the cumulative life experiences she treasures from her childhood. She had the great fortune of traveling and living in such diverse places as Santa Barbara, California; Alicante, Spain; Buenos Aires and Cordoba, Argentina; Gaeta, Italy; Paris, France;  Williamsburg, Virginia; Newport, Rhode Island; and in the great expanse of the midwest, Benson & Minneapolis, Minnesota.

The richness of this eclectic world-wide mix explodes on the Leslie's working canvas, making her design sense irresistible to audiences across the globe.  In her own words "When you carry a Che Nena!  Bag, you will be defined by an inherent worldly flare for color, pattern coordination, style sense and utility". Leslie’s love for “functional style” and an irresistible magnetism for “sexy design elements from around the world” keep her endlessly inspired to create more. 

Connecting with artisans in Guatemala, Leslie's background and her sassy-sexy style collides with 1,000 years of Mayan color and richness to create a design look and feel that some would say "makes the volcanoes dotting the Guatemalan country side seem boring".

Pat Sellers

From an early age Pat has always had an interest in learning to speak Spanish. This interest has led him to aggressively pursue studies in basic and conversational Spanish and even enroll in immersion language courses and participate in humanitarian aid missions in Latin America.  In addition to learning enough Spanish to get by in his travels these experiences also sparked his interest in assisting the less fortunate. Recognizing that the best assistance is help that helps people help themselves he has joined forces with the founders of Precious Hands to build the business and in doing so build the prosperity of our business partners, the artisans of Guatemala.

Edgar Alfredo Hernandez Lopez:

Born and raised in Antigua Guatemala, Alfredo has been involved in all aspects of the handicraft industry from an early age. He has worked as an artisan in several different mediums such as ceramics, wood work, leather and jade. Even though in the past several years he has focused most of his efforts in management, overseeing production and international sales he still finds time to get his hands dirty designing and creating photo and mirror frames, and a variety of different types and sizes of notebooks and writing supplies.

Alfredo’s first-hand experience as a Guatemalan artisan and in sales and export gives him a unique perspective, enabling him to work closely with both producers and clients alike.

Luc Verhaak

A native of the Netherlands, Luc worked 15 years for a large multinational company in Europe and North America. His diversified business experience includes sales, marketing, new product launches and concept development.

Luc earned his bachelors degree in Business Administration from the University of Leiden in the Netherlands, one of the oldest and most respected universities in Europe.

Luc’s passion is travel and sailing. He has traveled extensively in Europe, Asia, Australia, and North, South and Central America and has sailed across the Atlantic.

His many years in international business made Luc into a believer that business can be used as a tool to improve our planet. In his words "I am convinced that by combining smart business practices, new technology and an entrepreneurial spirit we can create new business models that are both sustainable and socially responsible". These new models can be designed to cultivate more equitable global trade while protecting the environment and ensuring a fair return for workers in the developing world.

While on a humanitarian mission in Guatemala Luc fell in love with its people and the country side. When asked to join Precious Hands, Luc saw it as a perfect opportunity to combine his many years of international business experience with his ideas of creating new and better business models.
 

Amber Sellers

After graduating she moved to New York city where she assisted many of the worlds top Fashion Stylists before making a name for herself in the Editorial and Advertising world. In 2006 she began design consulting and product development for several emerging designers.

Amber's wide ranging knowledge of Design, Production, and Trend Forecasting paired with the craftsmanship of the Guatemala Artisans will be an asset to Product Design for Manos Preciosas.

Mauktik Kulkarni

Born in the United States and raised in India, Mauktik was trained as an Electrical Engineer. After moving back to America, he pursued advanced degrees in Biophysics (University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign) and Neuroscience (Johns Hopkins University). He currently works for a biotech start-up company in Louisville Kentucky developing technology for early detection of Alzheimer’s disease.

Throughout his adult life, Mauktik has been involved in social projects in some shape or form. While in India, he served as a grass-roots volunteer for the National Literacy Mission. He also raised money for the National Association for the Blind.

In the US he joined the Association for India's Development (AID), one of the largest non-profit organizations in India. As a AID volunteer, he helped to organize street-shows and concerts to raise awareness about the socioeconomic issues and the importance of sustainable economic development in the rural as well as urban parts of India.

Mauktik has traveled extensively through Asia, Europe and North and South America. After his university studies he traveled on a motorcycle for 5000 miles in forty days through South America to gain first-hand experience of Latin American cultures. This travel experience helped him appreciate the warmth of the Latin American people about which he wrote in a recently released book titled “A Ghost of Che”.
Through his associations with various humanitarian missions and his travels in developing countries, Mauktik has realized that the best way to “raise the tide that will lift all boats” is through sustainable economic development. It is with this in mind that Mauktik joined Manos Preciosas.