Meghan Markle Becomes First Outside Investor of Company Featuring Handwoven Bags From Rwanda

After famously leaving U.K. royal life behind, Meghan Markle is expanding her business portfolio and investing in multiple woman-owned companies, including handbag company Cesta Collective.

On Thursday, Aug. 28, in a new interview with The New York Times, the Duchess of Sussex announced she is officially the first outside investor of the company, which specializes in handwoven basket bags made by a collective of women in Rwanda before they are sent to Italy to be finished.

In a statement, Markle said Courtney Weinblatt and Erin Ryde, who co-founded the luxury bag company in 2018, have "a really incredible and strategic business."

“The quality of a brand’s products, the supply chain, ethical standards and practices—these are all things that I consider before making an investment," the Duchess of Sussex continued. "With Cesta, I really started to understand how many women’s lives were being impacted and uplifted through their work. That was incredibly important to me.”

Markle also said in the same statement that "Erin and Courtney have a great pedigree from their careers working in fashion and have created beautiful products that equally help so many others."

Prior to launching their company, Ryder worked as a brand director while Fasciano was an editor and marketing director.

“That was something I could get behind and support," Markle continued.

As Markle expands what The New York Times referred to as "a small portfolio of female-run companies," she is also opening up about the moment she realized she has incredible influence over fashion and fashion brands.

“Times where I know there is a global spotlight, and attention will be given to each detail of what I may or may not be wearing, then I support designers that I have really great friendships with, and smaller, up-and-coming brands that haven’t gotten the attention that they should be getting,” she told the publication at the time. “That’s one of the most powerful things that I’m able to do, and that’s simply wearing, like, an earring.”

The publication also detailed another instance in which Markle wore a Cesta bag during a 2023 dinner date she had with her husband, Cameron Diaz, and Gwyneth Paltrow. Cesta’s founder Erin Ryder told the publication the brand "noticed an almost immediate uptick in interest" as a result.

In an exclusive interview with People, Cesta co-founder Fasciano told People that prior to becoming an investor the Duchess of Sussex was a "dream customer."

“She genuinely understands our brand and where we want to take it,” she told the publication.

In the same New York Times interview, Markle said that she spends a good majority of her time "just Googling, looking for brands.“

"When people are online looking for things or reading things, I’m trying to find great new designers," she explained. "Especially in different territories.”