Earlier this week, I had the pleasure of meeting Bena Burda, the founder of Maggie’s Organics. Maggie’s Organics was founded in 1992 on the premise that workers should be treated ethically and that clothing should be durable, affordable, and constructed of environmentally sustainable materials. Yes, Bena’s been in the game for that long. And she was talking sustainability before sustainability was talking sustainability. It’s always nice to meet with entrepreneurs that have such a vast amount of knowledge and experience and I look forward to getting to know Bena more and more! Make sure you check out her company at http://www.maggiesorganics.com.

I attended Seth Godin’s, Pick Yourself – Live in Tribeca, event in New York on May 16th as referenced in my previous Pick Yourself post. People from all over the world came together this day to hear Seth Godin speak, in addition to asking whatever question they wanted to ask him (He was exceptional at finding the root of every question that someone asked that was personal to their business, lives, or circumstance). Over the past two years, I’ve become a fan of Seth’s blog, as well as, several of his books like Purple Cow and Tribes. So it was quite the experience to hear him in person and get to take in some of his knowledge as he answered countless questions from the audience.

I returned from my trip to San Francisco last Thursday. The trip was awesome and I’ll be sharing more and more about my experience over the next few weeks. For now, check out some of the visuals from the journey.

I’m beyond excited to head out to San Francisco on Monday morning! The purpose of the trip is to attend the “Ahead of the Fashion”(AF) event that takes place on Tuesday at the Julia Morgan Ballroom. “Ahead of the Fashion” (AF) is a growth accelerating program for early stage technology start-ups in the consumer, fashion, and retail industries, as well as fashion designers. It promotes a monthly event and in its accelerator program it provides a selected group of companies advice and access to capital in partnership with industry experts and investors that have experience and relationships in the technology and consumer industries. I sent in an inquiry concerning submitting an application for the last cycle, and even though we didn’t get ours in, they still invited us to attend their May event (we aren’t pitching but still)! God is so awesome. As the founder of a fashion brand that sells through an online platform/community, it’s hard to find incubators and resources that are directly aligned with our company. Today, most tech incubators are focused on disruptive and innovative tech companies, not consumer goods. While most fashion incubators are strictly focused on fashion designers. So to find an accelerator that is focused on both is amazing.

This picture is not about the University of Michigan. It’s simply about higher education period, and what we must do to place our young people on a path to get there. #Merit

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Even before an official brand launch, many have already pledged their support for Merit! Merit creates fashion forward products that help committed, disadvantaged youth attain a college education. 20% of Merit’s revenue provides college scholarships for underserved youth. You can join the Merit Community here at MeritGoodness.com as we gather the troops and prepare for launch.

This is such a wonderful and remarkable story! Meet Feleke. A 12 year old boy from Arusi, 6 hours south of Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. He lives in a mud house without electricity. He is the youngest of 8 sibs. His parents are farmers. They are very devoted to their Ethiopian Orthodox Christian faith.

Let’s let Dr. Rick Hodes, an American doctor who has lived and worked in Ethoipoia for over 20 years, tell Feleke’s journey to Ann Arbor:

I’m trying to get to Paris. What’s your inspiration this week?

So how crazy is the guy at 4:26? (He has a parachute, but still.)

What are you going to learn today?