Our Story

My name is Suzanne Gunn. My husband Randy, my two children, Alex and Wesley, and I, run TivonaWorld.com located at the Independence Center Mall next to Buckle.

Tivona Naturals was born out of a passion after losing my mother to cancer. During that time, our lives changed to discovering more about natural and organic products that we later created into marketable products. This discovery led us to make ethical, pure, safe, natural, and organic products that are healthy for all skin types. After my mother’s passing, I ventured into healthcare and found my love for oncology, which I later continued on to becoming a Nurse practitioner.

Our mission and goal for Tivona (which is Hebrew for Love of Nature) is to preserve our environment by using natural fabrics, and organic and upcycled products. Most important, we want to create a bridge to share our passion for African fashion, culture and handcrafted products with the World.

Our mission to promote Africa helps create jobs and income, which in turn has a much needed social impact that benefits impoverished communities. We also believe in giving back locally by providing space for local artisans in our store as well as creating ripples of energy with our newest venture of giving self-care and love gifts to small businesses and non profits.

Tivona World creates modernized African inspired clothing that embraces identity, pride, and joy across all races.

We live in a space where our cultures are intertwined, making fashion a reflection of love, boldness, and inclusivity. The best part of why we embrace our mission is that we get to watch with pride as other cultures and ethnicities use handcrafted products and wear Tivona clothing with boldness and fearlessness.

I love to wear silhouettes that have an African tone. Every time I wear them at the store or at a vendor show, the compliments are endless about my African inspired attire. I continually get many requests to reproduce these African inspired clothing. More than often, I end up selling pieces that I wear at events because the client loved it that much.

I am from Kenya, my children, along with some of my friends and others I know from Africa have mixed children. Our families and friends find themselves enveloped in the culture of their loved ones who are from a different ethnicity. These loved ones always want to know more about these cultures and want to wear similar African inspired pieces and make it a part of their own style.

We source most of our accessories from Africa and we realized that we can change the lives of African artisans by paying 100% for their upcycled, earth sustaining, handcrafted jewelry, bags and accessories. I used to think that changing the earth meant I had to have all the resources in the world to give back, but I realized along the way, during medical missions, that we had the opportunity to change some of these artisans' lives by promoting their beautiful handcrafted products in our store, thus enriching their villages.

Tivona World garments use accents of African fabrics called Ankara ( an-kar-uh,) also known as Kitenge (ki-ten-gee).

The fabric is 100% pre shrunk natural cotton fabric renowned for its vibrant patterns. Ankara originated in Indonesia. In 1846, Dutch entrepreneur Pieter Fentener Van Vlissingen mechanized the method used to make prints on batik (ba-teek)—a popular cloth worn in Indonesia. The fabric then gained identity when it was traded in African shores mainly to African royalty and then later personalized and adapted all over Africa. Ankara is colorful, versatile, easy to care cloth and instantly recognizable because of its patterns. Plus, who dosen’t like to stand out and be extraordinary?

Tivona World clothing embraces identity, pride and joy across all ethnicities. The best part of why I do what I do, is watching other cultures and ethnicities wear Tivona clothing with boldness and fearlessness.

My husband and I are visionaries that believe we can change the world we live in with every daily action we take. I believe each one of us can cause a ripple in our own uniqueness that can touch and uplift lives everywhere. We have certainly seen lives uplifted in supporting jobs in many African communities. These works have also opened doors for us to work with many creative artisans that dwell in our local community right here in Missouri and Kansas.