I smile and say Thank You

Empowered? Ecstatic? Enthused? Definitely. I couldn’t say any less. But I can say a LOT more....

How blessed am I to have worked with such a great crew of volunteers and all of the CWoW staff over the past few months to kick off this amazing event last night?! At first, I wasn’t sure how it was all going to turn out, but after our first meeting with the event volunteers, I was totally on fire! As we all sat and brainstormed, the team had ideas left and right for how this event could play out. Eventually a lot of those ideas came to life at the History Center last night in downtown Fort Wayne, IN.

The runway was set and ready to go early in the day, and all the fashion outfits shortly followed. The silent auction was set up as the food was being displayed. Our Henna artist brought all her goodies for people to do tattoos throughout the night...an art that has its origins in parts of India, Pakistan & Africa. People started showing up, wine was poured, and then BOOM! The first belly dancer took the stage. Graceful, moving, steady. A true celebration of her art, her inner goddess. A celebration of Middle Eastern culture. 

TRJE Remix Djembe Drummers kicked off next, with West African beats that made me dance anywhere and everywhere I happened to be in the room. Accompanied by African song, they put on a spectacular presentation that was truly breathtaking.

Then came the models, to the beat of the drums, showcasing global outfits from around the world (Japan, Ghana, Tajikistan, Sierra Leone, and many more), some of which were live auctioned at the end of the night. Oh, the live auction... how much more CHEESE could there have been?! Nicole Moore and Hope Sheehan played that up in style with such tenacious energy! We didn’t have enough crackers for all that cheese!

Many times throughout the night, I stopped and caught myself with the hugest grin spread across my face at everything that was going on. The energy emanating from everyone there was astounding. This really was a celebration of cultures around the globe. It was an awareness of the beauty that exists in other areas of the world - the beauty that we don’t get to experience every day. It is in the celebration and the awareness of women around the world that we are able to stand in solidarity with them, and empower them. I am delighted to say that this was a success! I am also delighted that all of last night’s proceeds will go to benefit the Mwangatu Women in Kenya. It will be put towards the next mission trip there to continue working with them in sustainable business practices, training, and product development.

So I smile. And I say Thank You. Thank you to our fundraiser committee (Paula, Liz, Jordan, Clydia, Caroline). Thank you to the staff that helped put this on (Lorelei, Hope, Nicole, Kayla, Robin, Melissa). Thank you to all of the models and volunteers for the evening. And thank you to everyone who came and participated last night. You are all helping to change the world. You are all helping to empower women around the world, and especially in Kenya by being a part of this particular event.

Your moment of zen:

TRJE Remix

Inner Goddess

Silent Auction

The Girl Effect

Recently at our Creative Women of the World (CWOW) staff meeting we challenged ourselves to each come up with our own personal mission statement to present to the group.  I mulled over several ways to approach this and this is where I finally settled…

“I will live as though I have a thousand daughters, even though I have none, because every girl is my daughter and when she sees me, or engages with me, she's looking to me for how to live. So I will live, I will smile, I will laugh, I will speak, and I will pray as though her heart and soul depend on it.”

I had posted this as my status on facebook recently because for as long as I can remember, a piece of my heart has been dedicated to encouraging and cultivating self-esteem in girls.  I’ve always considered myself lucky.  Not just lucky, but blessed.  I grew up with a mother whom I never heard say a negative thing about herself.  I’ve always credited that to part of the reason why I have good self-esteem.  I don’t think we realize the impact it has on young girls for them to hear us put ourselves down.  I personally challenge myself to have an awareness of how I carry myself, treat myself, and talk about myself in the presence of others.  You never know what tiny impressionable ears are listening…

One of the things I love most about working at CWOW is the impact we have on women’s lives.  A meaningful and measurable impact.  Did you know that when you invest in a developing country, if you invest in its women and girls, 90% of your investment goes back to the community?!  That, to me, is a really empowering statistic!  A few years ago I saw this incredible little video called “The Girl Effect”. It really struck me. Hard. In the deep places of my heart.  Here is an excerpt from their website:


    Here are three solid reasons why we want you to invest your time, energy and capital in an adolescent girl…

1. Girls are agents of change

They play a crucial role in solving the most persistent development problems facing the world today. By investing in their economic potential through education and by delaying child marriage and teen pregnancy, issues such as HIV and Aids can be resolved and the cycle of poverty can be broken. To learn how a girl's success is the world's success, watch the girl effect film.

2. People assume girls are being reached

They're not. The reality is that children's programs focus on 0-5 year-olds, youth programs tend to focus on males and older groups, and women's programs don't typically capture adolescent girls. Programs that do reach girls rarely address the ones most at risk. To break the cycle of intergenerational poverty, programs must be designed for, and measure the impact on, girls. 

3. The cost of excluding girls is high

In India, adolescent pregnancy results in nearly $10 billion in lost potential income. In Uganda, 85% of girls leave school early, resulting in $10 billion in lost potential earnings. By delaying child marriage and early birth for one million girls, Bangladesh could potentially add $69 billion to the national income over these girls' lifetimes.

I encourage you to check out the website www.girleffect.org to learn about how we can impact our world for and through our girls.  It’s one of my favorite resources.  As I continue to read and learn about the oppression and violence against women around the world, especially in human trafficking situations, it stirs me.  It’s tremendously hard to read graphic descriptions of what is happening to our sisters.  It makes me almost sick sometimes.  It is fearful and discouraging.  But then I hear the rumble…it’s off in the distance, like a low growl, but I hear it.  It’s the sound of strength and empowerment.  And the more I read and learn, the more I hear and see women and girls all over the world fighting for change, and equality, and peace, and education, and safety, the louder that rumble gets…until it’s a roar loo loud to ignore.  I can’t ignore that I was wired with a fire inside me to do what I can, however small, for our mothers, and grandmothers.  For our sisters and our best friends.  And for our little girls.

I hope I have a daughter someday.  I hope that if I do, I can watch her grow strong, and smart, and confident, and creative. I hope that she challenges me to make this the best world it can be for her.  I hope that I will live and laugh and speak and pray in a way that encourages and empowers her.  But for now I will live as though I have a thousand daughters, even though I have none, because every girl is my daughter and when she sees me, or engages with me, she's looking to me for how to live. Thank you for that reminder, child.  I will do my best to make you proud.

*This blog post is dedicated to my beautiful sister-in-law, Anna, who is a shining example of a mother and sister and friend.

Why Do I Get Out of Bed for CWOW...

     Why do I get out of bed energized each day? Because I have learned to be awake to life. I've found a way to connect around the world that eases suffering by creating a practical approach to sustainable living for women in extreme need.This is why I wake up in the morning. I know my words paint a happy-trees and fluffy-clouds vision of the world, but my life has been a radical example of how someone sparked by vision can help to change the lives of women everywhere. So what can I tell you about this radical shift in my life? Why do I help Creative Women of the World? For many years, I worked tireless for more money, more opportunity, to be the best, to be number one in the corporate world. I went from $8.00 per hour to making north of six figures. I set out to achieve and I did, but when I got there I felt empty. Things, and money were not important anymore. 

     The sad part about my journey is that I told myself that if I had money, and awesome career achievement that somehow I would be happy. I always held on to the idea of more made me better. I remember snickering at the myriad of self-help gurus on PBS specials that fulfillment was more important than money. I would laugh and say, ‘Clearly they never lived in a trailer with the floor falling out in the middle of winter. I am sure that happiness is easier to feel from your beach house in Malibu.’ But I eventually discovered that it’s absolutely true! So I let go of all of it and trusted faith that the path would reveal itself to me. And it did. I met an amazing woman named Lorelei VerLee, and I helped her flush out a concept of self-sustaining business model for women around the world.

     Why do I choose to help women in extreme need and or extreme poverty? These individuals understand the glorious abundance of enough. I have met several of these women in Haiti, and not one of them said they wanted to make millions and dominate the global market in embroidery. They consistently say the following: we want access to clean water, we want access to education, we want good food, we want a house with a roof and a floor and possibly even windows, we want to see a doctor when we are sick, and we want to work for it all. They all understand the concept of enough, while it took me 15 years to discover that same truth, that my obsession with excess was not going to make me happy. So, of course I will help them. I remember thinking to myself, if I can go from $8 per hour to six figures, I can certainly help these women achieve their dream of having simply enough of the things we take for granted. I can use my skills to encourage them and coach them in basic business. That is why I get up in the morning.

Empowered

"WHY are sponsors going to support this?" Hope asked me, as I sat with a group of ladies at Creative Women of the World (CWoW) the other day, explaining that we're working with women in Kenya, and how we're going back again in the fall to work with them again. This is why everyone should support this, and come to our global celebration event, right?! As I'm trying to get people on board with what CWoW is doing for the world, as I'm trying to tell people why coming to our upcoming event is important, I missed the whole point of everything... where is the connection? People here don't really know who Grace is, or what truly happens in the lives of women when we give a part of our lives to help them develop theirs. So in an effort to connect my little piece of CWoW in Kenya with the rest of the world (or at least those of you who follow my blog), I've put together this short 6-minute video. You'll notice the Mwangatu Women are not included in the video, except for their hands. This is what they requested.


I'm heading back again in September, and some of the things that we'd like to accomplish on our next trip are:

• Bookkeeping help & ledger training.
• Quality & design improvement. (Still working with them on quality zippers & sewing.)
• We'd like to bring them sewing machines & at some point in the future give them sewing classes & training so they don't have to outsource that part of their work. This will decrease overall production costs.
• We'd like to research a place for them to set up an actual brick & mortar shop in the Nairobi area so they have a place they can go to work and call their own.
• We're also in the process of researching other types of products they can make to sell both in Kenya and US. If CWoW is going to be able to market and sell their products, we have to give them an idea of what's marketable in the US.
• Additionally, we spend time going to different businesses in Nairobi to see how we can collaborate with them in product development.
• Always encouraging, loving, and building relationships with them!

These are just a few of the goals we have for going forward with the Mwangatu Women in Kenya, and Grace Mwangi is the leader in all of it. We could not do it without her help, and we love being able to continue working with her. We also could not do this without all the continued support from our sponsors and friends! You all are so integral to the change being made in the world.

So this is WHY we do what we do. For Grace. For the Mwangatu Women. For every woman around the world who is fighting so hard to just survive.

Tune into Indiana News Center for another look inside Empower Her World: A Celebration of Fashion & Culture and why it's so important for you to be a part of it!