Zena Bash: Interactive Puzzle

Zena (Formerly Tribe + Glory) needed a way to help guests experience the journey of their artisans, and the challenges they face, in a fun and approachable way. 

Hosted at Bloomingdale’s flagship store in the heart of NYC, Zena’s guests arrived to take part in an interactive event that would guarantee smiles and laughter--while also learning about the women at the core of Zena’s mission. 

Each guest was assigned a Zena Artisan Avatar, where each avatar mirrors the real-life stories of a few incredible women part of the Zena program--showcasing how these women pulled themselves from below the poverty line to support their family and manifest their dreams. 

While Bash entertainers read aloud each avatars’ unique stories,  Zena’s guests learned all about their avatar’s one of three goals: open a Restaurant, open a Clothing Shop, or create a Cattle Ranch--and were expected to achieve these goals by completing a puzzle.

To get their puzzle pieces, the guests competed in a fun game of trivia. For each question answered correctly, they would earn one piece of the puzzle. But there was a catch: they had to roll a dice for each puzzle piece earned, and one unlucky roll meant risking one or all of their collected pieces. 

Once the puzzle was complete, they had successfully helped their avatar achieve their goal. 

This experience highlighted how these female entrepreneurs have to succeed--with a lot of hard work and a touch of luck--and hit a chord with guests.They expressed real emotion upon completing their puzzles, knowing these female entrepreneurs facing extreme poverty and gender inequality as they work tirelessly to achieve their goals.

About Zena:

Zena believes that investing in female entrepreneurs has the power to change the stories of extreme poverty and gender inequality. Female entrepreneurs living in rural poverty are facing two major barriers to business opportunity: lack of education and lack of capital. They set out to change that. Zena products are handcrafted by female entrepreneurs in Kamuli, Uganda who were previously living below the poverty line. Through short term apprenticeships creating our products, the Zena women earn a living wage to support themselves and their families above the poverty line, access business education AND save monthly towards the start-up capital they need to start their businesses.