Lola Karimova-Tillyaeva and Female Empowerment
Lola Karimova-Tillyaeva is a great figure for young woman to aspire to – someone who has blazed a path for others to follow. She has managed to pursue her ambitions in numerous fields of endeavour without sacrificing that which is most important to her; her family.
Being parents, Lola Karimova and Timur Tillyaev have a deep
understanding of what children require to thrive. In their native land of Uzbekistan many children are forced
to forego the opportunity of pursuing their own ambitions. Recognising this
parlous state of affairs Lola
Tillyaeva and Timur
Tillyaev decided to act. In 2002 the couple launched the You Are Not Alone
foundation. The guiding principle has always been philanthropy. Where
charity eases the immediate needs of the recipient, their foundation pursues a
longer-term approach.
Lola Karimova and Timur Tillyaev target their assistance
towards improving the health and educational outcomes for underprivileged Uzbek
youngsters. In this way, they aim to empower them to one day achieve autonomy
over their own futures. Or, as the pair put it themselves,
“to help unlock the
children’s potential by providing them with an all-round education, and to prepare children for
independent life, encouraging them to become
self-reliant, confident and emotionally stable you adults.” (https://www.lolakarimova.com/about-the-foundation).
To this end, You Are Not Alone originally made orphanages a priority. Timur Tillyaev and Lola Karimova-Tillyaeva have consistently focused upon improving the quality of care and the variety of services provided by Uzbek ‘mercy homes.’ Whether this be the provision of new equipment and furniture or a total refurbishment, the goal is always the same – “to ensure that vulnerable children grow up in a caring and loving environment,”
In terms of schooling,
they have also funded thousands of children right through primary and secondary
education. For those that standout, some are also offered the opportunity to
pursue university education.
This commitment was
recently recognised when Lola
Karimova-Tillyaeva was awarded the coveted Fashion
4 Development award at the 9th Annual First Ladies luncheon in
New York. In presenting the prize, the organizers pointed to how, You Are
Not Alone was working to “support the UN
Millennium Development Goals and ‘Every woman, Every child.’” (http://www.fashion4development.com/aboutf4d).
Yet Lola Karimova has
also found great success in the cut-throat world of perfume making. Since 2013,
Lola Karimova-Tillyaeva’s maison de
parfums, The
Harmonist, has won quite a reputation for itself.
Inspired by her Uzbek childhood and the exotic scents of the Silk Road,
she crosses the globe in search of rare, subtle ingredients from which to
distil her fragrances.
By
anchoring this ambitious project in the venerable Eastern tradition of Feng
Shui and its quest for balance, Lola Karimova has managed to produce a
range of fragrances which speak to the unique life forces of the individual
customer.
As Lola Karimova-Tillyaeva explains
the process,
“Creating a scent is very much like creating a
piece of music – notes blend into
chords, and the chords harmonize into a full-blown melody. Just like a good piece of music, a good fragrance
encompasses a wide range of tonalities,
the notes of different scents, if you will,”
(https://www.lolakarimova.com/the-harmonist).