DUBAI: Elisa Sednaoui Dellal might be known for lending her face to prestigious brands such as Chanel, Armani and Roberto Cavalli, but the Egyptian-French-Italian beauty is more than just a model.
Alongside her extensive career in fashion and cinema – she has appeared in and directed films – Elissa Sednaoui is a longtime philanthropist.
Recently, she teamed up with Italy-based coffee roasting company Caffè Vergnano for a good cause.
The 33-year-old designed a limited edition coffee can in an effort to raise funds for the Women in Coffee project through her non-profit educational social enterprise Funtasia.
Founded by Caffè Vergnano in 2018, the Women in Coffee project is a platform created for women coffee producers, importers and exporters. The aim is to promote awareness of gender equity issues in coffee-producing countries.
“Funtasia promotes the same values that we are trying to carry forward with our Women in Coffee project: Gender equality, female entrepreneurship, culture and inclusion,” said Carolina Vergnano, owner of Caffè Vergnano.
The Italy-born beauty, who spent much of her childhood in Egypt, is a staunch advocate of education, and is on a constant quest to raise awareness and funds for different programs benefiting underprivileged women and children through her non-profit.
Funtasia, which was founded in 2013, has supported more than 5,920 children and youth and trained over 700 adults in both countries, according to its website.
Just recently, Sednaoui Dellal teamed up with Italian clothing store Spazio Bra on a range of limited-edition black and white T-shirts that saw 100% of the proceeds go to Funtasia education programs in Italy and around the world.
Meanwhile, in 2020, the model and philanthropist launched a new collaboration with France-based accessories label Josefina that featured leather carryalls, pouches, backpacks and accessories handcrafted by artisans in Spain. All the profits from that collaboration also went toward Funtasia.
Indeed, the model is always coming up with creative ways to benefit her social enterprise. Last year, she partnered with former Princess Alia Al-Senussi of Libya to guest curate the “Contemporary Curated” auction at Sotheby’s London, with the sale of ten of the works collected for the auction going toward Funtasia.
