Wilglory Tanjong ’18, founder of Anima Iris, shares story behind her "Afro-centric" brand at PASA event

Wilglory Tanjong ’18, owner and founder of luxury handbag company Anima Iris, sat down for a Q&A on Sunday, Nov. 13, at the Carl A. Fields Center for Equality and Understanding with Max Jakobsen ’24, president of the Princeton African Students Association (PASA).

The event was co-hosted by the Black Business Association (BBA), PASA, and the Princeton Association of Black Women (PABW).

Victoria Agwam ’23, co-founder and co-president of BBA, and Elizabeth Poku ’24, external relations officer of BBA, introduced Tanjong, who entered the room to applause from the audience.

Jakobsen then called for a moment of silence to honor PASA member Misrach Ewunetie ’24, who passed away last month. Following the pause, Jakobsen thanked the crowd, and Tanjong encouraged audience members to reach out for support.

“Definitely do know that myself and other Black alumni are thinking about you guys, are standing alongside you, ready to support [you] in any ways that you guys might need from us,” she said.

When she was an undergraduate at the University, Tanjong majored in African American Studies. After graduating, she went directly into the corporate world — but found that it wasn’t the right fit. “I understood what kind of car I could have, maybe what kind of home I could have,” she said. “I just wasn’t excited by that.”

Tanjong took a leave of absence from her job just a few months after starting.

Jakobsen asked Tanjong how she was able to go on the leave of absence that eventually led to the inspiration to found Anima Iris. “A lot of people don’t know this, but a lot of these corporate jobs have — essentially — insurance for you,” Tanjong told the crowd. “So it’s a disability leave of absence.”

After a formative few months during her leave of absence, which she spent traveling in Africa and meeting with entrepreneurs as a part of a video series called “African Hustle,” Tanjong eventually ended up in Dakar, Senegal, where she met a community of artisans.

“All these materials come together, and they can make jewelry and can make my handbags and it was just so amazing to me,” she said.

She fondly recalled her experience in Dakar. The artisans she met made 50 handbags she brought back to the United States, where she returned to her corporate job for a few months before quitting to work on Anima Iris full-time in March 2020.

“I closed my laptop and didn’t look back,” she said.

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Tanjong also discussed the challenges she faced while getting her M.B.A. at the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania, where she studied while simultaneously running a cross-continental business. During a given week in 2019 she would attend her classes, and on the weekends she would fly to Senegal to be on the ground with her artisans in their atelier. “I would do that twice a month, I would go to Africa for the weekends,” she said.

When describing her approach to crafting Anima Iris as a brand, Tanjong emphasized the importance of the brand’s Afrocentrism.

“We can change the way people see Africa through luxury retail, provide jobs, and take money from people buying these bags and recycle that back into these families,” she said. “That could change so much.”

“I had this vision of building the next big Gucci, Chanel, etc. — but coming out of Africa,” she continued.

Notably, Beyoncé posed with the bag on Instagram in 2021.

Chisom Nwadinobi ’25, who attended the event, told The Daily Princetonian she felt inspired by Tanjong.

“Her notion to create [an] African, luxury Black brand is very inspiring and makes me want to mobilize and utilize my time at Princeton and make sure I come out of here with something bigger than just a degree,” Nwadinobi said.

To Jakobsen, Anima Iris facilitates African pride. “I think a lot of Africans share this experience of having parts of your culture not feel valued and not feel celebrated,” he said.

“What your brand does,” Jakobsen continued at the event, “is it actually makes people feel proud of their heritage and proud of their country. People are proud that this is a bag that is handmade in Senegal, in Africa.”

After the event, Camille Reeves ’23, editor-in-chief emerita of Tiger Trends, Princeton’s fashion magazine, told the ‘Prince’ that she views West Africa as the “next big market in the fashion industry.”

“I’m so glad [Tanjong] was able to make that point, and really say, not only is taking African designs into your inspiration important, but employing and empowering African communities in your work is equally if not more important,” Reeves said.

On Wednesday, Nov. 16, Tanjong will lead a promotional campaign for Anima Iris, where she will be driving around New York City in a branded truck, using a bullhorn to encourage people to come to her pop-up shop. At the event, she remarked on how that reminds her of her time as an undergraduate.

“I was on a bullhorn [at Princeton],” she laughed. “I was doing student activism, yelling at President Eisgruber.” Tanjong was involved with the Black Justice League (BJL) during her time at Princeton, a Black student activist group that led protests on campus, including a 32-hour sit-in of University President Christopher Eisgruber ’83’s office in Nassau Hall.

Anima Iris’s pop-up shop will be on Friday, Nov. 18, and Saturday Nov. 19, and PASA is planning to organize a trip to visit.

Hope Perry is the head podcast editor and a staff news writer at the ‘Prince’ who has covered USG, U.S. politics, and student activism. Please direct any corrections requests to corrections at dailyprincetonian.com.