Christiane Rwagatare, a native Rwandan who received a business education in Romania, is the founder and creative director of Rutongoarts. She returned to Rwanda immediately following the genocide in 1994 with the goal of helping her people rebuild their lives. She began the workshop in 1997 as a way to provide livelihoods for these women, most of whom learned embroidery as schoolgirls in colonial schools run by Belgian nuns. The artist who worked on the submitted work entitled "Respected Chief" is Esperance Mukakabuci.