Maya Persaud founded ESPERO France out of a need – she wanted to help the growing number of refugees arriving in Paris who needed help integrating into the culture.   Persaud, a Texas-born former model who grew up in Hawaii and had worked in Paris, London, Milan, and New York, was living in Paris. She created a fruitful partnership between fashion and refugee support through ESPERO, which trains refugees so they can work at fashion companies in Paris or start their own businesses. It also provides them with support in learning French, getting their documents in order, and securing housing.  Bonjour Paris spoke with Persaud about ESPERO and FABRIC – a documentary film about ESPERO, which has its premiere this month and also made a splash at the Cannes Film Festival in May.     View this post on Instagram   A post shared by ESPERO ATELIER (@esperoatelier) This conversation has been edited for length and clarity.   What first drew you to working with refugees in the fashion industry, and why did this work become important to you?   I first became aware of the refugee crisis in 2014, when the war in Syria was dominating the news, and there was widespread media coverage of people traveling along refugee routes into Europe. My initial reaction was that it would be a shame if these talented and resilient people couldn’t find their place in French society.  At the time, I had volunteered with NGOs, helping translate asylum seekers’ stories from French to English. I remember thinking, “If I can do something, why not?” That led me to become more involved. Around the makeshift refugee camps in the Paris area, a group of us started a beekeeping project. We realized that while many refugees were lawyers or social workers, there were also practical skills that France needed, such as farming and agriculture, and we wanted to create opportunities around those skills.  Still from “Fabric”