Admittedly this isn’t a typical post but I wanted to write about a topic on my mind. Happy Women. Today, April 8th, is Equal Pay Day. The date is significant because April 8th represents the number of days into 2014 that a woman has to work to bring home what her male counterpart earned in […]
Starting a home accessories business involves many moving pieces ranging from how you make your product to how you market your product. Today I’d like to discuss how you market your product. Good photographs are a must! And I’m very lucky because I have an incredible photographer, Mark Kerckaert, as part of the team. However […]
I happen to know some really great people and I’m excited to use this space to introduce you to some of them, people who have really helped me on my journey. One of these people is Kate Theis. Sadly though, this post has a heart-breaking ending. This is my tribute to Kate. I met Kate […]
Meet Christopher Schubert of Rancho La Vina, growers of the most truly delicious walnuts known to animal and humankind. No kidding. These walnuts kick all other walnuts’ shells. To be honest I wasn’t particularly hip to the super powers of walnuts until I met Christopher. But without much arm twisting needed, Christopher convinced me to try my […]
I’ll be the first to say that biology does not make family. Featured in this post is my incredibly clever and strikingly handsome grandson Adrian. Adrian, however, is not my biological grandson. His birth father is my former foster son, John. John no longer parents Adrian so its up to me and Adrian’s awesome mom, […]
Hollywood Arts grew fast in the next year. By year two we had connected with over 300 young adults, homeless or at-risk of homelessness. Our teaching pool had grown and more staff was hired. At the same time, we developed new programs to meet the needs of our young students. We created career-based mentorships where […]
Hollywood Arts was six months old and programming at partner nonprofits serving homeless youth when I got the idea to do a seated dinner…one of those large fancy galas that most charities don’t take on until years into operations. I somehow managed to convince my board chairman Gregory Butler to go along with me and […]
Excited to reopen my studio and in respect for my desire to continue to reach at-risk youth, I went to breakfast with friend and Los Angeles Council President Eric Garcetti to share my news. I wanted to open the studio in a neighborhood where I had relationships with nonprofit organizations. Eric introduced me to real […]
Living in Lamu. I’ll never forget the first words I learned to say in Swahili mostly because I thought them to be the funniest: Saa ngapi? What time is it? All the boys walked around the island wearing oversized American-style watches asking each other “saa ngapi?” “what time is it?” when they met. As if […]
By my 35th birthday I had built my first charity, the Open Museum of Los Angeles (which worked with community members to organize two exhibits: a city-wide anniversary exhibit on the LA Riots and on the photography of location scouts); had completed the Coro Fellowship in Public Affairs; and put together a concept/strategic plan for […]