Leila Juma has only been in the United States for seven months. But she has picked up life right where she left off, importing and selling sandals from the shoe store where she used to work in her native Nairobi, Kenya.

Juma came to the United States in the summer of 2006, following her political refugee father, who had fled Kenya three years earlier for reasons that he now declines to specify. She got the idea for her company, Asili Traditions (www.asilisandals.com), after walking the streets of San Diego this summer, where she saw women wearing African-style shoes. The IRC gave her an initial grant of $500, enough to buy the sandals and have them shipped from Kenya.

"Asili" means "pure tradition" in Swahili, and many of the designs in her sandals are inspired by life in Kenya, used in everyday wear or more traditional events, like weddings.

"I just got my business cards yesterday," she says happily. "The more people know about it, [the more the sandals are] going to sell fast, that's my hope."
--Gabrielle Coppola