It’s pretty amazing to see where we’ve come in just one week. We know that it takes time to develop new habits and proper procedures in order to run a sewing center. This week we wanted to gauge their knowledge and their abilities. We are trying some really different techniques that most Indians don’t  teach. First is the “WHY”. In typical Indian culture, schools rely on repetition and rote memory. Children are not encouraged to ask why. If they do, teachers see it as a form of disobedience. With our partnership with Stitching Sparrow, we want to teach “why” so that the things that our women learn are internalized and they will hopefully be more motivated to do it the correct way. One of the very first activities we had them do was to observe their surroundings for inspiration of shapes. This is a new concept for many Indians to be inspired and think differently. It was really fun to see them walking around and finding inspiration.

This is what we do on a daily basis:

• Pray and read a passage from the Bible
• Take Attendance
• Take out Tools
• Clean and Oil Machines
• Practice Yesterday’s Lesson
• Instruction
• Tea Time
• Design Lessons
• Lunch
• Embroidery Lessons
• Clean Up

We also had the women draft up their policies and procedures. In the end we want this sewing center to be theirs. Not what something a foreigner built and made them do, but a partnership where we empower them according to their skills and talents.

Cleanliness seems to be relative here in India. Our hope is to set an example of cleanliness so that we can help them improve their own family’s health and also eventually pass inspections for the certifications that we will need. I take for granted our standards of clean in the West. The idea of cleaning a bathroom in India is to take some water and pour it all over the toilet and splash it on the walls. That’s how most cleaning is done in India. As the women saw how I took a brush to the tiled walls and scrubbed them, they were astounded by how “new” everything started to look. After 1 hour and three of us scrubbing down our bathroom, it was near sparkling clean. They got the picture.

At the end of class we also asked the women what their hopes and prayer requests were. A couple of them needed a new house because their roofs were leaking. Some have debt that needs to be paid due to emergency health related bills. Many also had sick children or husbands since the weather has changed. Our hope is that our women will be able to learn how to manage their financial needs and use their form of employment as a means to help their families out.

Monday marked the first full day of our training. Last Friday was more of an orientation to see where the women were in their skills, and  to establish some grounds rules. We also didn’t get a whole lot done because the machines were not in proper working order and we still needed to get power to them in our space.

As things go 4 out of the 8 only showed up on Friday. According to some strange Indian/Hindu culture people don’t like to start things on a Friday. One of the 4 women that was missing was ill so we decided to visit her on Sunday. Apparently she was having a allergic reaction in her feet so she couldn’t walk. We visited her home and prayed for her healing. Calvina had an opportunity to photograph her cooking a meal for her family.

By Dalit standards, her home was typical. It was a building made out of asbestos sheeting with two rooms. One for the family to sleep and one for her to cook. Her stove consisted of 4 bricks that she lay on top of a concret top and a place to add kindling. Her sons brought in long-logs that served as fuel for the fire. These sticks protruded out of the fire. A hole at the top of her kitchen served as mere ventilation to the smoke.

There was no cutting board. Just her knife and her hands to cut up the vegetables that went into her curry. Her boys ran to the nearby well to fetch her some water to wash the vegetables. She then added curry powder, garam masala, turmeric and other spices to the mix and let it simmer.

To her this is normal and a way of life. She seems happy even though she is the sole provider of her family. Her husband needs constant medical attention due to a brain illness. Our hope is to employ her so that she can feed her families and give her boys a way to go to school.

I know that it’s been a long-time coming, but we’ve finally launched our Indiegogo! So what does that mean? IndieGogo is a crowd-funding platform to help fund creative projects like ours that just need a little boost from friends and family. For every contribution there are some awesome things that you will be getting in return! We are trying to raise $15,000 to kickstart our project in India. Here are our goodies!

$5 ///  Ellie’s Friends :

• shout out on Ellie Fun Day facebook
• a digital wallpaper download from Ellie Fun Day

$25  ///  Ellie’s Poster Club :

• a limited edition Ellie Fun Day  poster. This was designed and hand-drawn especially by my good friend Akiko Ito for Ellie Fun Day.

$40 ///  Ellie’s Shopping Club : Ok, this is not just any ole shopping bag. First off, it’s made from jute (which is an eco-friendly fiber) with a water protectant liner. We are collaborating with Freeset Global to bring this bag to you. Freeset is a fair trade business offering employment to women trapped in Kolkata’s sex trade.

• a limited edition Ellie Fun Day and Freeset Collab burlap totebag.

$60 ///   Ellie’s Swag :

• both the limited edition Ellie Fun Day totebag and poster

$96 ///   Ellie’s Blankie:  This is a limited edition run blanket made in the USA. All proceeds from this blanket will help fund our venture in India. The front side is made from an ultra- silky Cotton and Silk. It features adorable little flaps that little ones will love to play with. The backside is 100% ORGANIC COTTON FLEECE that is super snuggly and soft. This is entirely machine washable.

• premier Ellie Fun Day Blanket (retails for $110). Pick ONE, either the ELLIE or the SHARKIE

$150 ///  Ellie’s Blankie Club :

• 1 Ellie Fun Day blanket
• 1 limited edition Ellie Fun Day poster
• 1 Ellie Fun Day Burlap Totebag

$325 ///   Ellie’s Blankie Swag : This is a great deal if you have many upcoming baby showers! What a great way to have a gift that keeps on giving

• 3 Ellie Fun Day blankets
• the limited edition Ellie Fun Day poster
• 1 Ellie Fun Day Burlap totebag

$365 ///   Ellie’s Heirloom Blankie: We will work with you to create a one of a kind blanket for your loved one that will be treasured for a lifetime. This is truly a special gift that will bring lots of oos and aahs… for generations to last.

• everything from Ellie’s Swag ( 1 totebag & 1 poster)
• plus 1 customizable, heirloom blanket, hand-sewn by Sarah, which includes a design consultation.

$1,000 ///   Ellie’s Photo Friends : If you’ve ever wanted your child to be a model in an ad, this is the time! We will work with you to get just the right shot and you will have the photos to prove it! (limited to the Sacramento and SF Bay Area)

• 1 Calvina Photography Session Package and we’ll feature your child (5 and under) in an Ellie Fun Day promo
• plus everything from Ellie’s Blankie Swag

 $7,000 ///   Ellie’s Tour : hear stories of transformation and gain an in-depth perspective on our development work. Let this trip also be an opportunity for you to dream of how you can bring change to our world!

• everything from Ellie’s Blanket Swag
• and one trip to India to meet the women who are making the blankets

Please go to our INDIEGOGO PAGE to support us! Thanks friends and family!

In approximately 4 days my husband and I will be heading with two dear friends to India. This pilot trip really is about setting out to do the impossible. In this season of recession, some people have called us crazy to start up a new company. Though we understand the difficulty, we can’t help but to see the amazing opportunity.

Some of you already know that Calvina Nguyen, from Calvina Photography will be joining us on this pilot trip to help tell our story from the very beginning. I’m ecstatic to have her and I can’t wait to see the stories that will come out of it.

Another dear friend of ours, Nate Chan from Yours Truly will also be a part of this pilot team sharing our journey through video (he shot our awesome teaser video!). They’ve been featured in WIRED MAGAZINE , MTV and many other industry mags.  Nate has profiled numerous up and coming indie bands as well as Grammy award winning Lady Antebellum. We are incredibly honored to have him join us.

Please spread the word and follow us for updates, pics and videos!

Oh Kolkata…

After two days of Kolkata, I couldn’t help but feel overwhelmed. The chaos, the poverty, the amount of effort it takes just to get something done. I was reminded that we have a long road ahead filled with many challenges. I had to take a few deep breaths, relax myself, remind myself why we’re doing what we’re doing.

A few glimpses into our day:

We were trying to find bottled water to drink, but not all bottled water comes from a reliable source. Back home, I casually go to the tap or buy a reputably branded bottle from a large retailer. But we had trouble finding a store that even resembled a 7-11. And many of the bottles sold by street vendors seemed like that had already been used and just refilled with tap water. It took us a while, but we found a store and got our water rations for the week.

In our efforts to find the stores, we used addresses off Google and a random map we found at home. As we were roaming the streets looking for the stores, the map we had didn’t seem to have all the streets and the street names didn’t all match up. Later we read in a tour book that there are very few maps for Kolkata because most of the street names have changed [after British rule] and there are just too many little alleys to put on a map.

When we walked back last night, all the streets near our guest house were lined with people sprawled out on the side walk. They weren’t in line buying Harry Potter tickets or protesting the wealthy one percent. They were bathing in the gutter water, sleeping on thin straw mats and for a few, embracing the one whom they could call their own. It was sobering moment for everyone on our team.

Tomorrow we meet with Sari Bari who free women in the sex trade by making handbags and home textiles. We’re so encouraged by the work they’ve been doing and look forward to learning and observing. Companies like this remind us that though the challenge is great, there are courageous people willing to go into hard places to make a difference.

Thanks for following! More to come!

Follow Calvina Photography for more pics.

To say we love the poor doesn’t mean much until we do something about it. And Beth did something about it. Right out of college, Beth from Sari Bari, decided to move into the heart of the red-light district in Kolkata and has given up her twenties to defend the powerless.

She picked us up from the metro station and walked us through weaving alleys, shouting storeowners and bathing children. We noticed that the closer we got to our destination, the brighter the houses got. It was more alluring, yet more dilapidated than other neighborhoods.

There are no signs to Sari Bari. This is for the safety of the women. We proceeded up a dark narrow stairway to arrive on a brightly sun-lit terrance. At the center of a very worn down building, there was the gentle hum of women sewing. These beautiful sarees were being hand sewn, stitch-by-stitch into blankets, bags or scarves.

Beth speaks a few words in English to her operations manager and then gives a loving embrace to one of her girls. She’s both a mother and a manager. A coach and a counselor. Beth supervises, mentors and cares for over 50 former sex-trade workers, helping them find a way out of the trade.

We’ve spent two days with two organizations, Sari Bari and Freeset, hearing about their work providing freedom for women in the sex-trade. Many of these women are kidnapped, lied to or blatantly sold by their husbands or parents into slavery. There are several red-light districts in Kolkata where up to 20,000 men seek out the services of over 10,000 women daily (many of whom are barely teenagers).

What Sari Bari and Freeset do is provide gainful employment as an alternative to the sex-trade. Sari Bari makes bags and blankets out of recycled sarees. Freeset makes jute bags and organic, fair-trade cotton t-shirts (we’re offering their burlap bag as one of our Indiegogo perks!). Both organizations provide health coverage and basic education in reading, writing and math.

It’s been tough learning about how girls (not women) are being exploited. Kerry, the founder of Freeset shared about how they often get destitute women walking in with all the life sucked out of them. However when we observed the women, there were so many contagious and genuine smiles. They worked hard, laughed intermittently and you couldn’t help but feel like you were among family. You knew lives had been changed.

Annie, Kerry’s wife, spoke about a woman who was mute and had been working in the sex-trade for many years. Because of her physical disability and her age, she was barely making 25 cents USD per “transaction.” She came in broken and her saree was filthy. Annie gave her a clean saree, a few full-days wages and brought her into the Freeset family. After three years, she still can’t speak, but she can smile and she’s one of the hardest workers in the group.

This post could go on forever with stories and impressions. But what we saw were people courageously standing up for the poor, restoring broken lives and loving people that others have thrown away. They were willing to move their entire families to the worst neighborhood in Kolkata because of a simple call to follow Jesus and love the poor.

Unfortunately, we couldn’t take any photos within either Sari Bari or Freeset because many of the women are still at risk from former owners, pimps and lenders. We’ll share more in the next few posts, but both these organizations were amazing inspirations and ridiculously generous with their time and resources. It’s been both supremely humbling and encouraging to be with them and a huge blessing to connect with leaders who have been doing it for more than 10 years.

Thanks for journeying with us… more to come!

Today we began the first of several visits to cotton mills. Sourcing is such a critical issue for us. On one end, it’s about finding really high quality materials so we can produce a really amazing blankie. But on the other end, we need to know how the cotton was made and who it was made by. We can’t enable freedom on one end and facilitate oppression on the other.

We were driven by the owner of the company to the outskirts of Kolkata and took a thorough tour of the plant. It’s pretty amazing to see the entire cycle: from processing the raw cotton to weaving the fabric to finishing the product. It gave us a very comprehensive view of the manufacturing process.

As we mulled over different fabric samples we had a really interesting conversation with the owner about the overall work environment in West Bengal. He shared that the communist party has been in power for over 30 years (Indian states are independently governed by different political parties, one of which includes the communist party) and their staunch commitment to socialism has left the state and its people in poor shape. Hard work is rarely rewarded and city development has been severely limited.

The owner also shared about how Bengali’s are very resistant to change and that relationships need to be cultivated over many years before you can make any type of progress. But once you have their trust you have it for life.

Even though we won’t be working in Kolkata, we were reminded that there are larger issues to deal with than just “making a blanket” – we’re here to both empower people and develop communities. Because of this, our road ahead may be a little longer than others. But our hope is to see lives changed and for this we’ll walk the longer, less traveled route.

Today we got a chance to catch up and rest. We filmed another video – but this time on the streets of Kolkata. I didn’t quite anticipate how much attention I’d attract! Storeowners, pedestrians, street people all stopped to see if we were doing a local news report. It was a bit daunting to get that much attention since we already get a fair amount of stares for being foreigners. Overall everyone was friendly and just wanted to talk to us or be on camera.

In the afternoon, we went back to Freeset to spend time with a couple of their operations managers. We’re SO blessed by Freeset; they’ve welcomed us with open arms, treated us like their children and shared all their past mistakes and triumphs. It really can’t be overstated how helpful and loving they’ve been.

We met with Sandro who is a native Brazillian and moved to Kolkata just to work with Freeset as their operations manager. He oversees the whole production of the bags from start to finish. He sat down with us, gave his best advice and let us pick every part of his brain. He shared openly about the joys of working at Freeset and the struggles of living in India.

Sandro also told us that a big challenge is the differing standards of quality. What we think is acceptable quality is different than what the women think is acceptable quality. Some of this is cultural. But in the end, it’s still a significant gulf to cross.

Many of the Freeset women have no education and need to learn fine motor skills in order to achieve the tasks that they are given. Even handling a pair of scissors can be a challenge. Kerry and Annie not only provide a job, but they educate their women and love them like their own. Just recently they had to house a young girl who was beaten by her brother and had no where else to go.

To see where they are today is an enormous encouragement. After 10 years of blood, sweat and tears, they’ve been able to create a sustainable business and produce quality products that are sold all over the world. It’s a story of faith and endurance. Their willingness to sacrifice western comforts and intentionally live among the poor has been an inspiration to us.

As we were leaving, Annie (one of the founders), sneakily slipped a card into my purse and said, “This is for you guys.” Later when I opened it up, it contained a very generous gift and the card read, “Please accept this to help as you start-up your business. May His Freedom Reign, Blessings Kerry & Annie.” I am so humbled by their generosity and it’s something that I will carry with me always. Thank you Freeset for paving the path for us.

On our last day in Kolkata, we visited two starkly different places. The first was the Queen Victoria Memorial built to honor the British matriarch during the British occupation of India. It was palatial, made of pure white marble. It’s surrounded by sprawling gardens, palm trees and reflection pools – all fit for queen. Next to the Taj Mahal, the Memorial would be the crowning architectural achievement in India.

Our second visit was to Mother Teresa’s Missionaries of Charity in central Kolkata. After Mother Teresa passed away she was entombed right in the main worship area. The building is understated but immaculate – definitely not like the surrounding area. Her tomb was simple and white with orange flowers neatly spelling out the phrase: Prayer is longing for God.

There were several other pilgrims paying their homage and a sense of solemnity filled the small room where she lay. As I walked through the humble museum of her belongings, her level of sacrifice is unfathomable to me. She said her final goodbyes to her mother and sister at the age of 18, never to see them again in order to serve the poorest of the poor on the streets of Kolkata.

I’ve heard many stories about Mother Teresa, but nothing really sunk in until I saw the place (and the people) she spent years serving. Walking through the city and seeing a 2 year old begging on the street by motioning with their hand to her mouth and saying “food” makes it all very real. It puts into context Mother Teresa’s act of obedience to God and the sacrifice she made to love the poor.

One quote that struck me was from Mother Teresa’s Nobel Prize acceptance speech:

What can we do to promote world peace? Go home and love your family. Around the world, not only in the poor countries, but I found the poverty of the west so much more difficult to remove. When I pick up a person from the street, hungry, I give him a plate of rice, a piece of bread, I have satisfied. I have removed the hunger. But a person that is shut out, that feels unwanted, unloved, terrified, the person that has been thrown out from society – that poverty is so hurtable and so much, and I find that very difficult.

It’s a little bittersweet to bid farewell to Kolkata. What started as shocking became more understandable. What I’ve seen here and the work that has been done through our courageous friends has left an indelible mark on me. Their commitment and selflessness has really put everything into perspective. I’m reminded that clean water, food to eat, even a place to rest my head on are pure luxuries. I’m thankful for my time in Kolkata and look forward to what lies ahead in Trivandrum.

In honor of our return from India and in the spirit of Christmas we are hosting a Mommy and Me Giveaway contest!
(can we get a YAY?)

Here is what we’re giving away!

FOR BABY

#1 One Ellie Fun Day blanket of your choice (Ellie or Sharkie) Retail $95

#2 Chewbeads: some might argue this is for mommy as well! Retail $29.50

FOR MOMMY

#3 Deep Steep Organic Bubble Bath in Lavendar Retail $10.95

#4 EOS Organic Lip Balm in Sweet Mint Retail $3.29

#5 Emerson Made Silver Dollar Indian Tunic  Retail $168.00

How to Enter:

One of our core values at Ellie Fun Day is RESPECT for both people and the planet. So we started to do some research and  came upon a really interesting company that hand looms organic cotton and dyes it in Ayurvedic medicinal solutions. Ayurveda has a 5000 year history of treatment of medicinal plants for various ailments. All very similar to Traditional Chinese Medicine.

… Drumroll please…

We also have a surprise gift for the BEST Favorite Baby Memory!!

Thank you everyone for such an awesome comments. Much thanks to EmersonMade for sponsoring!

We would LOVE it if all of our fans can continue to SPREAD THE WORD about our IndieGogo. Buy a blanket, a tote, an awesome poster...all to help fund a great cause!

I always thought that it was fun to see what goes on behind the scenes of a photoshoot. To be honest with you, I’ve been on many photoshoots that I’ve art directed and many times they’re pretty calculated and staged with lots of lights and makeup.

For Ellie Fun Day due to time and resources we had to be more creative with what we had. First off, booking a studio would cost us hundreds of dollars and lots of other not so fun paper work. After some discussion with my in-resident photographer Calvina, we thought that my loft would be the best place since we had tons of natural light and the right flooring.

After some “minor” furniture rearranging we managed to get our set-up where we had a nice clean wall and floor for our main shoot. (notice how Nate, our videographer, used my stool and clothespins to hold up the blankets!)

For the bedroom shoot I cleaned out my guest room and kept the palette nice and clean with bright whites and a fluffy bed. This is where you see our teaser with the adorable Isaiah.

Wardrobing kids is always fun. I wanted to keep the feel simple and make sure that the kids and the blankets stood out so I kept them in whites and neutrals. Surprisingly it’s extremely hard to find just simple white tees and bottoms for them.

To keep the kids happy and entertained we had a good sampling of organic pops, Goldfish and juice boxes to keep them happy. Note to self for future shoots, bring out goodies AFTER the shoot to keep them clean.

One of the biggest challenges with shooting kids is that you can’t direct them as much as adults so you’re looking to create spontaneous and fun moments for them. It’s really the job of the photographer to capture them at just the right moment and Calvina did a fabulous job.

The two sisters, Audrey (older) and Emily (younger) are daughters of my dear friend Corrine (we go all the way back to 6th grade). They’re hapa-babies as we call them, half Irish and half Chinese. They are both as rambunctious as the photos show and Emily had the total gigglies the entire time. I was scared at first that they would be camera shy, but it was quite the opposite. When we took a break to shoot Isaiah in the bedroom, Emily started to cry because she couldn’t be a part of that shoot!

I can’t wait to do the next Ellie Fun Day shoot, we have some interesting ideas brewing… love to hear some of your thoughts on what you’d like to see next as well!

Today was a culmination of a lot of experiences for me. This day seemed to mark the beginning of something. I met our first five potential women that could be sewing our baby blankets. We prepared an initial intake interview to get a sense of their current situation and I had a simple sewing sample for them to complete to assess their skill levels.

I greeted each and every individual women by shaking their hands and learned their names…Rani, Rachel, Latika, Beena, and Philomina. Most of these women were my age or younger, but looked 10 times their years. They have never been employed in their lives and their husbands are either day laborers or do menial side jobs. Many of them survive on 500 rupees a week = $10. One of them is HIV+. They struggle with making ends meet and very few of them have savings. But despite their condition I was met with beams of joy.

I’ve blogged about my own personal stories and interactions with others but I haven’t talked about the people that I brought with me. They all served a very important role in this whole possibilities project. We started this trip as friends and came out as soul mates.

NATE CHAN: This was one of Nate’s first forays into the depths of a foreign country and he’s always had a heart to tell stories visually through film. When I first asked Nate to join us on this trip it wasn’t a hard sell, he was quick to say, “Sure! Why not, I have the time and this seems like a good experience for me.” This pretty much sums up his own life, simplicity. He lives with the mindset that if I wanted to move to another country in a heart beat, I can just pack up my one suitcase and go. (This guy is currently at SXSW shooting some famous rockstars with Yours Truly)

Nate loves:

• tote bags: everywhere we went, he kept on saying, oh I love this bag. He also lives in the Mission and everyone in the Mission carries tote bags.

• kids: wherever we went he’d always have an eye for the kids and tell us what he saw through their lens. After one of our dinners we had a ton of leftovers and we decided to bring it back for someone that was homeless. Nate prayed and asked God for the right person to give the goods too and his heart went to the kids that lived down the street from us. He was utterly touched by how joyful they were by such a simple gift of our leftovers. I think that experience has left an indelible mark on Nate.

• well-made goods: we talked endlessly about all these Indie made products that had a cult following and how everything Nate buys something, in a couple of months, it ends up in Urban Outfitters

• Chinese-Indian food: Nate and I seem to have the same taste in food. We always ended up ordering the same dish! He was most concerned about the level of spiciness but he was the most adventurous of us all!

• lipbalm: I don’t know how many times we went searching for lipbalm for Nate on this trip. Everywhere we went, there was no lipbalm and poor Nate kept on asking for it. We even offered some of our own lipstick for his use.

• wandering: yes, in a large city like Kolkata, we were always asking the question “Where’s Nate?”

CALVINA NGUYEN: I don’t have to say much for her talent because her photos speak for themselves. She’s really caught the whole essence of our trip and I get compliments all the time from her amazing ability to document our whole process. I am so utterly indebted to her not just as a photographer, but as a friend. She’s championed our cause and been such a cheerleader for us during this whole process. She’s talked me through tears of struggle and has been excited with me throughout this whole journey. I love this lady.

Calvina loves:

• mango lassi : we were extremely cautious wherever we went to eat or drink. Every meal, Cal wanted to try a mango lassi, we warned her about “milk products” and anything that involved ice. She was good and decided to wait until we got home to try one!  She decided NOT to heed our caution and ventured to try one. Ask her if she experienced Delhi Belly after that one.

• tea: did I tell you we spent close to an hour in a supermarket looking for the right milk tea? Cal needed to know every single detail about this tea..”was it organic? is it loose? is it roasted? is it..?”

• making her own EVERYTHING: I’ve learned from this gal that she uses apple cider vinegar to wash her hair, she makes her own deodorant and that she can turns dirt into wine … well, I kid about the last one.

• wandering: her and Nate wander together…we worried a bit for them especially in Kolkata. We teased that if we left them at any spot, they’d be clueless. But her wandering also got us to discover some cool places that we would’ve never thought to go!

ELTON LIN: I don’t have many opportunities to boast about the love of my life. I won’t get too gushy. But having him by my side has made me more confident in what I’m doing and knowing that he’s my partner through this thick and thin makes the world of a difference.

Elton loves:

• chips and ramen: yes, I knew this about him BEFORE the trip, but at every convenience store we stopped at he had to check out the ramen and chips, and since it was in India, everything was curry flavored. We’ve learned to bring our own Shin cups for the next trip.

• toilet paper: I don’t know how many times we’ve run out of toilet paper and he’s had to go and replenish it.

• bottled water: the first day we were there we were desperately searching for bottle water. We walked high and low for a supermarket and FINALLY Elton found one after an hour. Upon our arrival back to our room, we asked the front desk where he purchased water and he pointed to a small store across the street. Hilarity.

• dogs that look like Pumpkin: my brother-in-law has a dog named Pumpkin that looks alot like the dogs in India. Every time we saw a dog like Pumpkin, Elton wanted to either pet it or feed it. Upon my stern warning of getting rabies, he conceded to not pet them. Yes, the strict wife I am.

• his wife (ok I had to slot this one in..but it’s a good story): one of the days during training I was feeling rather light-headed and tired. It was probably a culmination of travel and little sleep. As I was getting up to stand I grabbed his arm to steady myself and he helped me gain my balance to walk outside for some fresh air. He also sat with me and brought me some water. It was such a simple act, but what was even more interesting was that the ladies that we were training were in awe. They noticed that my husband took care of me. They said that no husband they’ve seen here in India does that for their wife. The wife ALWAYS serves the husband no matter what. I feel blessed to have him.

We set out on this journey with the question, “Is this dream even possible?” So far all arrows have been pointing us in the direction of “Yes”. Just seeing the success of our friends has given me hope that we CAN do something worthwhile, we CAN change the system and we CAN do it together. Thank you friends for supporting us! This is just the beginning of so many more possibilites to come.

This was another monumental stepping stone for us! We finally packed and shipped all of our blankets, totes and posters off to their new owners. Having a large community of friends and family come and help us was a huge help indeed. We packed and shipped out over 150 packages!

 Our hangtags were letterpressed by our friends over at Wonderflower Press. We hope to have a mini-short of the process of that soon! Thanks Matt and Alison!

Hand-stamped “special delivery” on each box!

The hang-tags were all hand-punched by two of our burly guy friends, Sergio and Leo…we broke two of these punches in the process!

I owe alot to this babe, Grace of Red Jasmine Weddings, and mama of my two cutie pie god-daughters. I’ve known this girl since college…(she got me through genetics!) and she’s the left brain to my right. At 3 am the night before we were duking it out as to how to print postage…she was striving for functionality, I was striving for aesthetics. Guess who won? She managed to pull off our shipping and merge our crazy Excel docs into something automated. It’s a masterpiece in itself.

I am greatly indebted and honored to all of our friends that made it out to help us on this big day! Thank you Ellie Fun Day packing team!

photos courtesy of Sergio Brizuela

So I was graciously given 2 copies of “Start Something That Matters” written by Blake Mycoskie of TOMS shoes. One to review and one to GIVE AWAY! For all of you that don’t know who Blake Mycoskie is, he is the founder of TOMS shoes. For every shoe you purchase TOMS gives one away to a child in need. They now have branched out to glasses and books. I’ve truly come to look at Blake as a forerunner in social entrepreneurship. (I’ve even emailed him for advice about Ellie Fun Day and he’s responded!) Thanks BLAKE!

Let me tell you a little about how Ellie Fun Day has started using some of Blake’s pearls of wisdom to “Start Something that Matters”.

ONE > FIND YOUR STORY

Everyone loves a good story. I’m so visual I often only remember something told in the format of a story. I’m so not a numbers or facts kind of gal, but if you tell it in the form of a story, I will remember it! The story of how Ellie Fun Day started was simple. I loved my baby blanket as a child, and I’ve always dreamed of creating something that mattered. Something that would empower a group of people. We’ve come a long way since then!

TWO > FACE YOUR FEARS

I’ve learned that fear was initially there to protect us. It was our “fight-or-flight” mechanism. You run from a saber-toothed tiger because he will come and make you his dinner. We no longer face those types of fears, but often times that type of fear follows us into starting a business. But I’ve come to learn that what you fear will not kill you. I often fear failure. I’m a perfectionist. I fear that Ellie Fun Day will not succeed, I fear that I will disappoint the women that we’re working with, and I fear I’ll lose everything and live in a shoebox for the rest of my life. These things are not entirely in my control. I can only do my best with the resources that I’ve been given. And in the end I can say, I’ve learned and grown so much from this journey.

THREE > BE RESOURCEFUL WITHOUT RESOURCES

As a startup we can wait around till some big VC decides pour in money so we can hire a ton of experts to get us going. That is entirely not the reality. I’ve learned that as an entrepreneur I’ve got to learn to do everything myself and I need to go and find the answers. Do you want to know what my secret resource has been? This resource has given me legal advice, told me how to fix my website, where to buy organic textiles, how to set up a sewing center, what are the best ways to structure a social enterprise…ALL FOR FREE! And do YOU know you have access to this as well? It’s called GOOGLE. (large props to Sergey and Larry!) If you don’t know…Google it…someone out there likely has the answer. We’ve also developed an awesome network of friends that believe in our cause and we couldn’t have gotten to this place without them.

FOUR > KEEP IT SIMPLE

I’ve learned from my past life as a graphic designer that simplicity is the key to success. Some of the best designs are simple. Nike logo anyone? So many people have asked us, are you going to make adult sized blankets? bibs? clothes. I would love to say “Yes” to all the above, but we need to keep it simple at the start. Baby blankets are my passion and I’d like to put forth a good product built on reliability and good design. I can’t spread myself too thin trying to do all the other things. Eventually we would love to go beyond baby blankets, but at this point we are about baby blankets and saving lives.

FIVE> BUILT TRUST

Part of building trust is being transparent and admitting mistakes. Who likes being wrong? I sure don’t. But I’ve learned from many mistakes already and it’s made me more aware of the areas that I need improvement on. We’re taking ALL the feedback from our blankies and improving on it. We’re not perfect, we’re learning as we go, but we value you as our friends to help us along the way by telling us ways we can be better.

SIX > GIVING IS GOOD BUSINESS

People love our blankets partially for the design, but when they hear our cause, they’re JAZZED! I have had high schoolers come up to me and say “I want to be you.” I’m utterly grateful, but what I’m encouraged that THEY realize they can also do something that matters and that I’m just an example of an everyday person with a dream that decided to go for it. Being in the “giving” business has been advantageous for us as well. EmersonFry‘s awesome partnership for our mommie and me giveaway is an example of how they saw that we were more than just a baby blanket company and decided to sponsor our giveaway.

OVERALL RATING: 4/5 stars. This is a great feel good book to get you going on starting your own business. If you’re needing a motivational speech, Blake does it well and simple. This is not necessarily a mechanics book for entrepreneurs. There are plenty of those out there. This is just a one man’s journey and how he made it possible through lots of hard work and help.

HOW TO ENTER OUR GIVEAWAY:

WINNER GETS “Start Something that Matters” Book and $50 to Start / DO something that matters AND be a guest blogger on what you’ve done.

** RULES**

$50 cannot just be given to a charity, it must be used to START/DO something no matter how big or small. Even baking cookies for your lonely neighbor is doing something!! We will feature your story on our blog after you’ve used your $50!

How to Enter:

10 EASY Ideas to “Start Something that Matters“

1.) Buy books for your local preschool in need

2.) Purchase toys for a local women’s shelter

3.) Do a carwash to fundraise for your own “Start Something that Matters” project

4.) Start a one-for-one donation for the local Boys and Girls club. For every ball donated, you will match it

5.) Find a children’s hospital that allows you to visit and give away balloons to kids that are on the mend

6.) Buy a $50 grocery card for a friend who is having a hard time making ends meet

7.) Start a garden and give the extras to a local soup kitchen

8.) Treat the homeless person that you see regularly to a nice dinner

9.) Volunteer at a pet-shelter and donate some treats for the animals

10.) Organize a beach clean-up day and treat all volunteers to a picnic

See it’s THAT easy to “Start Something that Matters”! So go and enter by 8pm PST today!

This past Friday we had a chance to set up a pop-up shop at The Slave Next Door event hosted by Project Peace. This event specifically highlighted the issue of modern day slavery  in our own backyard. We were really floored when we heard the story of Minh Danh. She was sold for sex by her own parents right here in San Jose, California. We first heard about Minh’s story on Dateline NBC, but to hear her speak, opened our eyes wider. She was eloquent and dynamic, and spoke not as a victim, but an advocate. The speaker that came up after her, Kevin Bales, of Free the Slaves,  said that it was equivalent to meeting Harriet Tubman or Frederick Douglass, slaves that freed other slaves. It was a historic moment for us all to witness.

One large takeaway from Dr. Bales was that human slavery goes hand-in hand with ecocide. People that exploit people also exploit the land alongside of them. His solution to this massive problem was to stop our need for excessive consumption. He said that if everyone were to consume the way U.S. citizens consume it would take up 5 earths. Seriously eye opening.

The other component of the event was a fair-trade bazaar that featured many different organizations that sourced fair-trade products from around the world. We were happy to be across the way from our friend, Fay Johnson at Slavery Footprint. They have an amazing site that helps you calculate how many slaves work for you according to the items that you own. I soberly calculated 51 with all of my goods. I highly encourage everyone to take this survey as it’s an amazing and beautiful site, but also helps us to personally take action in our corner of the world.

And we have a winner for our “Start Something that Matters” contest!

Gabi B said.

“I would like to rent out a room in a convention centre, church, etc.. and give a presentation about the north Koreans and there struggles and also tell people how they can help and get involved. I want to start a non profit org. to help the NK orphans and mothers and I think that if I just started going to different places and speaking it would bring me that much closer to my goal and hopefully encourage others to help. I would use the money to help pay for the auditorium or centre fee.”

This topic is near and dear to us. We ourselves have struggled with having children of our own and have a large heart for adoption. We have so many friends with awesome stories here and here. These pics are just a snippet of the joy that these children have brought to so many of us!

Choi Boi 

Lil E

Yes, sometimes at Ellie Fun Day we like to throw parties for special friends. My dear friend Traci at 45 Wall Design was celebrating a special birthday, so her husband Herman decided to enlist me and her cousin-in-law, Rachel to come up with something fabulous for her. We were brainstorming ways to bless Traci and their new Eichler and came up with the idea of showering her with blessings.

We enlisted all of her friends to write a phrase of blessing for her and the new house. I printed them onto raindrops that hung from the linen cloud mobile that I sewed. The light was just perfect in her atrium.

As I’m all about recycling and being sustainable I found these GORGEOUS Wasara Plates at Branch in SF. They’re entirely tree free and made out of sugar cane, bamboo and reed pulp. I can’t say how lovely they are to see in person, especially the package that they come in! The shapes that they come in are just so elegant. I also found compostable forks and knives from Birchware via Amazon. I hand stamped Traci’s initial using an inkpad and then wrapped the knife in Japanese Washi Tape.

I love flowers so dearly and a party isn’t a party without flowers. Sticking with the theme I used billy balls, peonies, anemones, ranunculus and Star of Bethlehem with a Gemini filler. They turned out lovely!

These lovely critters I found at Michaels and used a white spray paint to cover them. As for the party hats…I used the same paper from the rain drops and then made a fringe with white tissue paper for the tassels. I think that this was my favorite part of the whole party. It just gave a whole new element to fun and party. The tree stumps (do you recognize them?) our dear friend Al had an old pear tree that he was cutting down and he offered to cut some of these for our pop-up shop.  I thought they were the perfect little element to give variation in height.

For the drinks we served a classic and pink lemonade with fun yellow straws and these lids we purchased via Etsy. I printed out little flags on craft paper that read “We Heart Traci”.

For dessert we decided to go with Traci’s favorites. We were a little sneaky and checked out her Pinterest board and came up with this Strawberry Rhubarb Crisp in a jar. They were super easy to make.

Kara’s cupcakes with Cloud Toppers and raindrop fondant.

Traci’s favorite kettlecorn in cones and finished with washi tape. I bought a foam board from Michaels and wrapped it with tissue. To get the cones to stand up, I used floral wire inserted into the board then I slid the cones through the bottom and filled the cones with the kettlecorn.

The pièce de résistance were these cloud macarons that my friend Lisa made! They were the most adorable things I’ve ever seen! Yes, she is for hire! We found instructions here.

Thank you Herman for these lovely photos and allowing us to bless Traci in this way!

I write often about the challenges of being an entrepreneur. What I don’t talk much about is all the different things that I do on a day-to-day basis. Sometimes I think that I have multiple personalities due to all the different things that I have to do.

CLOWN : yes, I often times make a fool out of myself just learning new things. I’m learning from making lots of mistakes, but recovering quickly. Most recently on our first run of blankies there was a slight mistake in one of our patterns which in turn meant that we needed to recut them. Good thing we had extra fabric! I know I won’t be making that mistake again.

GENIUS : not!…but I’d like to tap into other’s that have blazed that path before me to learn from their smarts. I’ve realized that it’s not the smarts that will get us to where we want, but it’s perseverance and patience. Knowing when to push and when to wait has been some of the hardest learning experiences for us.

NETWORKER : genuine networking comes from genuine friendships. I can’t stress this enough. I’ve met people that I can tell are just talking to me just for their own purposes. On the other hand, everyone that is helping us are really dear friends of ours that believe in what we do. I  have been more than happy to return the favor on many accounts.

SUPPLY CHAIN SPECIALIST / PRODUCTION GRITTINESS : Global sourcing has been an adventure in itself. Finding organic cotton is equivalent to finding a needle in a haystack. Again, networks help in this instance and so does just good ole hard research. I’ve found that just looking for experts in the field have lead to many other resources. I remember actually speaking to a man that was the head of the organic farming institute in America. It was such a joy to just hear his own story and passion behind what he’s doing and he was more than happy to send me along to the right people.

PR / MARKETING / PUBLIC SPEAKER / INSPIRER : I don’t think that we set-out to intentionally be all “PR-like” in our communications. I just want to be honest in our vision and also inspire others to do something that matters. What I hope and aspire to tell is that ordinary people CAN do GREAT things, it’s all about just trying.

DREAMER/CREATIVE: as much as I am a creative, I honestly get to “design” about 10% of the time. Running a business does require a different type of creativity that I’m learning. For example, how do I use just the resources that I have to achieve the results needed. When resources are limited, that’s when people start getting creative. Dreaming helps me keep my passion alive. There are days where I have to remember what the dream is or else I start to lose myself in the details.

How have you survived in your business? What are some of your different personalities that you’ve had to take on?

Did somebody say “chocolate”? My pulse immediately started racing…pangs of desire formulated in my mouth…”must…..get…some…now.”

So it was a natural progression of mine when I heard that the first fair-trade and organic chocolate factory was just right around the corner from where we were staying in Seattle. We followed our noses to this historic brick building that housed Theo Chocolate. Rich cocoa smells lead our way to the entrance. We were met by fun and overly-exuberant Theo-ites ready to take us on a a tour of their oompa-loompa factory. We spent a good amount of time just learning about HOW chocolate was made. (I think that I took for granted the process of how this food of the gods made it to my own mouth… I never gave much forethought to the craft behind it, maybe because I was just too busy having a food-gasm)

Handi-dandi infographic via Ile de Chocolat on HOW chocolate is actually made. It’s amazing, the process and flavor is a lot like coffee beans and wine. There is some roasting and fermentation involved.

Hand mixing flavors into the chocolate. (I think that orange was going into this one)

Top Learnings

• Look for percentage of cocoa on the labels. chocolate candy can be called chocolate with as little as 10% of cocoa…the rest is well…NOT chocolate.

• Fair-trade and organic does matter. Fair trade chocolate only accounts for less than 1% of the chocolate market…imagine how the rest of it is sourced.

• Montezuma, the Aztec king that founded drinking chocolate apparently drank 40-50 cups a day!

• Apparently, the higher the cocoa content, the more chocolate becomes a health food. So eat DARK!

So there you have it, a bit of the mystery de-mystified. I have always been enamored by candy as a child and chocolate has been part of my daily diet. (that’s how I keep my girlish figure…shhh.)  I leave you with one of my favorite all time songs from “Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory”.

What’s YOUR favorite flavor or type of chocolate?? Do you like it dark? milk? With nuts?

image: Homage, Christian Peltenburg-Brechneff

Hello Friends! Yes we are heading back to India on Friday. We’ve been busily preparing for this trip to make sure that we have all the right things in place. There are lots of things involved in our next phase of planning. These are some of our big tasks at hand:

• hire the right managers to oversee the production

• train women in sewing and development

• continue to find good organic sources

• work on export/import logistics

We are hoping that as we meet with the leaders, we will be able to establish a clear path and direction for this venture.

Meanwhile, here’s a little insight into what goes into my luggage. I’m a serious traveller, but I don’t travel entirely light. I’ve managed to find the smallest items possible for the needs that I have. Here’s a pick of all the things that go into my suitcase:

SNACKS: 

a. Trader Joe’s Dried Cranberries b. Pringles (just a great package that’s non-smashable)  e. Haribo gummy cola candy  d. Jack Link’s CHOLULA Beef Jerky (this is for Elton obviously)   e. Luna protein bars  f. Vega Electrolytes  d. Skippy All Natural Peanut Butter

FIGHTING THE ELEMENTS:

a. Black Diamond LED mini lamp for power outages  b. Gold Bond (keeps certain places nice and dry!)  c. Ultrathon Insect Repellant (best in sweat and humidity) d. New Chapter Immunity Booster Lozenges e. Tiger Balm f. Epipen (I’m allergic to EVERYTHING)

FAVORITE TRAVEL AIDS:

a. Mini BabyLiss hairdryer (this acts also as a portable clothes dryer too!)  b. eyemask  c. sleep aid (only used for serious jetlag)  d. wooden hairbrush e. GoToob (best toiletries holder, no leaks!)  f. Evian Moisturizer (for the super dry airplane air) g. earplugs  h. The People’s Republic of Tea

TRAVEL TIPS for India: I’ve traveled extensively, but India is in a category of it’s own.

1// Learn to roll with it. India is not about efficiency. Chaos is everywhere, so I’ve learned that allotting time to get to places helps. There are always strikes, power outages and elephants roaming (well I haven’t seen any yet) that might delay you to your destination.

2// You will get used to the smell. Mainly because you will smell like everything else. I think that I’m blessed to also be in Kerala. It’s a beautiful state full of coconut trees and the air seems to be cleaner.

3// Travel with a local. It just helps to know the area and the culture. They will be your best guide to bargaining and getting around.

4.// Give yourself time to adjust. It is a culture shock. Even traveling there after a couple of times, I need to give myself a couple of days to acclimate and get used to the weather, the sounds, and the smells.

5// Visit something out of the ordinary. Last time we visited an organic ayurveda farm and it was such a joy to learn about the beauty of plants and their healing properties. I’m hoping to explore more about this type of cotton and farming!

Look out for the next post to be in India!

What are your favorite travel tips? Where are you headed off to this summer?

The foreign smells that still smack me in the face each time I land in India signified that I was back. Things felt familiar, yet adjusting to the jarring sounds and stares told me I wasn’t in California. After a long 23 hour flight, we settled into our guesthouse and rested up.

Our goal for this trip is to continue our efforts in developing our sewing center that would help empower the untouchable caste women. We met for the past two days with the women to continue assessing their skills and to see what sort of training we needed.

So far they have again exceeded our expectations in their skills and their eagerness to excel.

We had them take apart the sewing machines and clean them. Then we proceeded to test them in more complex sewing skills and embroidery. This time we also tested their eyesight and reading skills. A couple of them were able to understand what they read, a couple of others couldn’t. I realize that improvement in literacy is another side-project that would benefit them.

I was MOST encouraged by this one woman named, Shopa. She is probably one of our more higher skilled women. At the end of our assessment she knew that another lady didn’t have much sewing skills and she told us that she would be happy to teach her what she knew in the meantime. That is true mark of a good leader. I’m encouraged!

It’s been surreal to see the possibilities here in India. The past several days have been filled with meetings and planning to see what we need to get all the right things to make it happen. The largest key factors are the people. We are continually interviewing and waiting for the right trainer, manager to make sure that they have the same vision as our mission. We met with a man that was from the Dalit untouchable community that apparently is skilled in export manufacturing. Our true test of his skills? We had him reproduce the Sharkie blankie from scratch.

We were impressed to say the least. He had no pattern, just our Sharkie blanket. The other indication that he has an eye. The fabric that I gave him was cut in a different direction just to save fabric and he was able to tell. Only a trained eye would know that.

One more indication of the possibility of this happening occurred as I was standing on the road leading up to the entrance to the sewing center. I saw an amazing black, red and yellow swallowtail butterfly . Then I proceeded to see at least 15 or more yellow butterflies fluttering all throughout the road. Then it struck me…this is the beginning of my own personal rebirth.

A couple of weeks back for my final project in my fashion design class, I chose the theme “Chrysalitic Emergence” for my collection. I designed a series of evening dresses that were based on the concept of a caterpillar’s transformation. This was a very personal collection as I feel in this time and place in my life, I’m being transformed into something new and beautiful. But in order for that to happen I needed to purge the ugliness, the self-doubt and insecurities of my past for this to happen.

I am continually amazed by the pieces that are coming together at just the right time for this project. The next two days we are off to meet with Blossom, a women’s undergarment manufacturer and Kara Weaves, a hand loom women’s cooperative.

If you google “Indian Train”, you will see pictures of people jam packed like cattle or standing on top of the cars of the train. So far I have YET to see this in my experience, but our Indian counterparts have attested to this. Apparently some people even stand sleeping up in the bathrooms. Our last experience on an Indian train was on an 8 hour overnight AC 3 tier. That meant that there were 6 bunks, 3 on each side of a compartment; top, middle and bottom. I slept on the top and Elton in the middle. The poor guy is 6′ 2 and barely fit. The other bunks were filled with total strangers. One night I think a policeman slept across from me…I felt somewhat safe. Being the paranoid American, I strapped my bag across my body and prayed that I wouldn’t have to knock someone out in the middle of the night while protecting my goods. It was a good memory for the books.

This time around, I think that I knew what to expect for Indian train travel. It was only a 3 hour train ride to Kochin and we had the “luxury” of sitting in the 2nd class AC train. We got to see lush tropical scenery since we rode close to the coastline of the state of Kerala. Rice patties whizzed by, alongside of quick glimpses of fishing villages. It was truly idyllic.

Our purpose in Kochin was to visit Blossom, a lingerie manufacturer for the local market. We were picked up by Shaji, one of the partners of the company. We were immediately welcomed by his warmth. He and his partner Abey, acquired the company 15 years ago and was able to turn it around to a fully profitable company. They now have over 100 different styles and employ over 100 women in their 3 factories.

We were graciously given flowers and had an opportunity to give a few words of encouragement to his workers. His principles and ethics as a successful Indian business man were encouraging to see. Since bribes and corruption are the norm in this country, it’s hard to stay grounded and true. He has been able to operate a successful business based on integrity, love and trust in a world of greed and deceit.

As we connect and network with people, we often like to hear their life stories. Shaji shared with us a miraculous occurrence of how his 3 year old son was in a bad accident where his two fingers were severed. The doctors tried to reattach them but was not successful. He said that there was no blood supply flowing and the fingers were turning black. All he knew to do was to pray. Then miraculously before his eyes he saw the blood come back and turn from black, to white to pink. I met his son Smith, and saw the scars from the accident to prove it. His two fingers are fully functional and he’s a fine and happy boy.

We feel honored to meet Shaji and his Blossom family. Their willingness to share resources and learnings from their experience is invaluable to our next steps.

Who would’ve known that Design*Sponge would connect two graphic designers across the coasts with similar missions in India. After seeing that Kara Weaves was started by a mother-daughter team passionate about keeping the craft of hand looming alive, I knew I needed to visit them. Chitra, (the daughter based in Boston) and I had a wonderful Skype chat about all the ins and outs of developing a well-designed product while sourcing ethically. She knew my heart as a fellow graphic designer; we want to make a difference in this world with our creative abilities. Their great success is due to Grace Bonney, the blogger of Design*Sponge. After their feature on her blog, things just took off. (Grace, if you’re reading this…we would love to have a feature!) They have been featured in Vogue, Better Homes and Garden and now on Anthropologie’s home goods site, Terrain. It just takes one to be the tipping point.

Chitra’s mother, Indu heads the India side of things. Indu is an anthropologist by nature and was very passionate about keeping the art of the hand loom alive. So much so, she based her phD thesis on it. With the advent of the mechanized power looms and mass manufacturing, this craft is dying. Many of the young people don’t want to take this profession due to the higher paying “office” jobs that the city provides. Sadly, this story was the same when we visited the glass blowers in Murano, Italy. Soon enough, these carefully crafted items will be relics in a museum and our children may not ever know what a handmade product is.

Bringing awareness of these items is something that matters. These handicrafts are a part of our culture and if we don’t try to preserve them then we lose a bit of ourselves in that process.

Everyone was greeted at basecamp with a slideshow of our India trips. 

Friends had an opportunity to send free mail on us at our EFD Post Office. 

Make your own japadogs!

Do S’more so graciously treated us to their goodies!

Everyone had a chance to vote for their favorite upcoming Ellie Fun Day blankie.

The minis had a chance to make some watercolor bubble art.

Big and little kids had the chance to take photos in our teepee. Check out more photos here! 

RECAP {Through the eyes of our intern Karissa, aka Special K}

Everything was set, pristine, and calm as the teepee sat quietly in the courtyard as we awaited to welcome the guests to celebrate Ellie Fun Day’s journey and future endeavors at our Summer Shindig.

And then the children came. It felt as if they all got the batman signal to begin and had run over all at once. Soon there were children with feathers on their heads, aviators on, and bubbles flying all over the place. But no one could deny the japadogs. A sign illustrated how to turn an all american classic into a ‘japadog’ by decorating it with wasabi or sriracha mayonaise, bonito, kimchi and seaweed.

Pure craziness. But underneath the contradicting hotdogs and yummy s’mores was the underlying fact that this was basecamp. Just as the ghost busters got together before attacking the marshmallow man, and the power rangers gathered with that face thing, we rallied our friends in celebration before our next grand venture. The shindig signified a moment in time to recognize our most faithful supporters as friends and co-conspirators. It allowed us to pause and prepare ourselves before we moved out to make a difference.

As I looked around the room I realized, “This is our support system. These are the people that have made this dream a reality.” I was honored to be a part of this dream – to have impact on the world, even if that meant just voting for my favorite blankie, or sending an “I <3 my blankie,” postcard to a friend. The beauty of this shindig was that it recognized the current support system while welcoming new supporters and feedback from others. We invited the shindig go-ers to take the pinky promise, to leave the shindig ready to blanket their world with love.

Will you take the PINKY PROMISE with us? If so, let us know and we will send you a special badge to be part of this movement! 

***** Stay tuned for PART 2 : Ellie Fun Day Dry Goods Shoppe *****

credit: chalk sign hand-drawn by Akiko Ito (our awesome poster and Pinky Promise Badge designer) 

As part of our journey into Ellie Fun Day we are always trying to find ways to fund ourselves to further our purpose. As we travel throughout India we get inspired to bring back good things that we think our friends would love. So as a first time experiment we opened up our very first dry goods shoppe. Everything that was purchased here helps get us back to India to do the work that we need to do.

Wembley bear representing. (I’ve had him since college.)

These handmade wooden combs were sourced through the Kerala State Handicrafts Initiative. They’re beautifully crafted with a smooth matte finish.

Pashmina = ultra luxurious and warm scarves! I fell in love with these once I felt them. On a chilly foggy SF day, they’re so perfect for keeping my neck warm. I think I have a gazillion scarves, but I really NEEDED these.

These Lumberjack and Lumberjill bibs were such a hit! We totally sold out of these. Probably because every hip baby looks too adorable in one of these organic flannel bibs.

India is world reknown for their black teas. This Nilgiri Black tea is from the Nilgiri Mountains that border the state of Kerala. This tea is of the Orange Pekoe species and this batch in particular is of the highest quality due to the unbroken leaf structure. It has a dark and intensely aromatic smell.

I’m so smitten by polka-dots. (Has anyone seen the J.Crew catalog??) These 100% silk scarves are sure to bring your outfits to the next sassy level.

I’m a sucker for Paris…it’s one of my favorite cities in the world. The most magical thing one might see is fireworks over the Eiffel Tower and hence my inspiration for these necklaces! Sparkly pom-poms + tiny bell + silver Eiffel = Fireworks Over Paris. My god-daughters loved them. (note: these were hand-made by me as a “love” project)

My partner in crime, Grace. Again, couldn’t have pulled this off without her! If you are interested in any of these goods, please contact us here and let us know what you want. We’re hoping to get an online shop up soon. go here! Meanwhile check out more pics from our Shindig here.

I was inspired by this post and here to write a letter to my 16 year old self. I encourage you all to do the same! Link us back in our comments! 

Hey you,

Yes, it’s me your older self, 20 years down the road. I saw that you just had your Sweet 16th birthday party. I loved that you designed your own birthday invite by hand out of calligraphy. You know, that’s just a glimpse into what you’ll be doing down the road. You might dabble in the sciences for a little while but remember to keep up the dream of being a designer because one day you’ll come back to it and fall in love.

Your high school mural painting of Van Gogh's Studio

I

t looks like it’s been a difficult year of transition for you. Moving schools when you just made the Lettergirls team and scoring your first straight A’s, I’d be pissed too. I know that sitting with your brother at the lunch table really feels like the end of the world, but don’t worry, soon enough you will find the right group of friends that will love you just as you are. Some of these friends will be there to champion you in many ways and be friends for life. One of them will also be your bridesmaid.

Your high school best friend Corrine. Now her daughters are EFD models!

On the topic of boys. Yes, I know that you also feel like you’re the ugly duckling and that all of your guy friends end up liking your best friend, but trust me, there is one in store for you. One that will blow all of these guys out of the water. He will be the exact type of person that you need and he will not just be the love of your life, but he will be everything you’ve dreamed of but better. He will be your champion, your best friend and your soul-mate. I know that you yearn to be loved and adored like all the “popular girls” at school but you are built for a very special purpose. That special purpose will be revealed slowly in time.

Oh and that prom thing, don’t sweat it, Sr. Prom is overrated even if your date stood you up. Go have a blast with your other friends and spend it on something for yourself. You won’t regret it…oh and that dress you didn’t get to wear? I remade it into something I wear today, and it rocks.

But meanwhile, enjoy being a young person. I know you hate your braces and honking big glasses (trust me, those will be back in.) The eczema will go away and you will look beautiful. Enjoy discovering new things and develop your skills and the things that you truly make you happy. Paint more and revel in the beauty around you.

You ARE beautiful, you ARE loved, you ARE worthy and there is an amazing journey and plan for your life. Just wait and enjoy the ride because you will be doing things and meeting people far beyond your wildest dreams. You DO matter and the experiences that you go through now will make you into a more sensitive and caring person for a greater purpose.

On the subject of popularity. I know that you yearn to be with “those” girls. But the pretty and popular girls may not know what it feels like to be an outcast, but you do and that is what is going to break your heart for a group of people that you will help. That is where you will become a game-changer. All of these gifts and talents in you will be used for that very purpose. Hang on, because the ride is crazy and tough, but know that it will all be for a greater purpose and it will make sense. Trust me, I’m just beginning to see it happen now and it’s exhilarating to know that all of the experiences that you’re going through, now helps me in what I’m doing now.

Yours Truly,

Sarah – 36 years and counting

Over a high-brow NYC lunch, my past client William and I were mulling over some life prodding questions. I posed this question to him “What do you want to do with your life? What sort of legacy do you want to leave?” Apparently that got him thinking. Somehow organic farming was brewing in the back of his mind. This was of special interest to me as we continue our journey of sourcing responsibly and looking for organic goods. I’m not sure if I shared about my own dream about designing organic baby blankets, but somehow our synergies connected.

He got wind that the Santa Clara Unified School District was thinking of leasing part of it’s land. In a vote 5-1 the school board voted to allow an educational organic farm to use the land.

William began volunteering at ground level, clearing the land, digging up old concrete footings. His hope was that this would be a great opportunity for he and his daughter to bond over a meaningful cause and that they did. He is now active on the board of Full Circle Farm, heading up their sales and marketing efforts. The nonprofit is dedicated to the renewal of local, and sustainable food systems for everyone. What inspires me the most about William’s story is that he saw an opportunity and took a risk to invest. He himself was a graphic art director and was laid off during the downturn, but he saw it as an opportunity, a bit of re-birth and renewal for his own life. More recently, they’ve been inspired to work with lower-economic families and help them gain access to healthy fresh grown food through an up and coming program.

I can see how this has become a large part of who he is and how it’s inspired him to continue the full circle of how we grow, get and eat our food.

I’m always amazed to see my food in it’s natural element, unpackaged and coming from the ground. Who knew that kale looks like a mini-palm tree and that ocra had the most gorgeous pale yellow and purple flowers?

FULL CIRCLE FARM

Farm Stand Hours
Wed & Fri: 1:30-7 and Sun: 11-3

Volunteer Hours
Weds & Sat 10am-dark
All ages in Education Garden
Enter at WEST farm gate

Sundays for 16 years+
on the Production Farm from 9-2

Open for Visitors
Monday- Friday 9-5
Saturday 10-dusk WEST GATE ONLY
Sunday 9-3

We were given a spot as one of the 30 entrepreneurs selected out of 300 for The SOCAP12 scholarship! (Check out our profile!) SOCAP’s whole purpose is to bring meaning to the marketplace.

We didn’t quite understand the impact this was until we started digging in deeper with all the rest of the fellows. Many of them are extremely talented and came out of the Ivy League B schools. Intimidated? Just a bit. But I was so aptly reminded that I also did not go to the top design school yet somehow through divine circumstances I ended up in some of the best design firms working with Fortune 500 companies. I am now a freshman again in a new space.

We started our week by showing off our blankets at Google’s Entrepreneurs Week. It was fun to hear how Google is making tools for entrepreneurs. Google-ites are proud of their campus and products. Throughout our workshops there was one prevailing question that we kept on challenging. “What does true impact mean?”

Typically in the tech start-up world it’s about a fast ramp up to buy-out. One entrepreneur challenged that notion because our bottom-line isn’t necessarily for the hottest VC to pay millions of dollars to acquire our companies. Many of us social entrepreneurs are doing what we’re trying to do because we believe in a triple bottom line. That means that social responsibility is at the core of why we do what we do.

I realize that this is a new dynamic in our world today. Most people measure success by how profitable you are as a company, but one must see that profit is just a means of validating you as a company. Profit doesn’t say how you are being responsible as a company. So many companies have decided to only measure their success through profit, which is a dangerous and slippery slope when you start thinking about how they got that profit in the first place.

How do we as consumers start challenging that notion? Does a company exploit factory workers in order to bring you the cheapest goods? Where did the raw materials come from? Were they sustainably harvested? Were harmful pesticides used? There are a lot of questions that we as consumers can ask so that we CAN make a difference.

What are some questions that you would like to ask your favorite companies? Target has been known to “copy” other designers, knock-offs are industry standards. But is that acceptable? Did you know that Coca-Cola was banned from the state of Kerala, India for a time period because it was found that there was a high amount of pesticides? They were also under-scutiny for taking water away from the local farmers. How can we as consumers be the heroes to fight for what is right?

On a lunch break about 4 years ago I walked through a Nordstroms and saw a pair of funny looking shoes that reminded me of espadrilles and decided to pick it up and assess it’s value. Low and behold, it said on the hangtag “One for one” for every shoe purchased a child in need receives a shoe. I thought to myself, now how cool is THAT! A product that does good!

So I proceeded to email the founder Blake Mycoskie and ask him for advice on how should one start a social enterprise. I had the early inklings of starting something, but just didn’t know quite where to begin. I was entirely floored to receive an email back from him. Here is a copy of his letter back to me.

Now fast forward 4 years later, I’m standing at TOMS Shoes headquarters ready to meet their head of giving supply chain manager, Mayura, whom I met at the SOCAP conference last month. Mayura so graciously invited us to visit the newly built headquarters just south of Venice Beach. They truly retained the cool “startup” feel by making the cubicles out of plywood , ping pong tables and having slides throughout the building for fast access. (hmm, I think we need one for our offices too).

What I found truly inspiring was just hearing her talk about a company that truly believes in the cause and her feeling like what she does actually does matter. She explained to me that each NGO that TOMS works with on ground for their shoe drops are heavily vetted to make sure that they are there to help the people in need. For some reason people have the impression that they just drop shoes off randomly and then take off feeling like they’re the heroes. TOMS has faced some heavy scrutiny on all accounts.

To be honest with you, some people might say, but they’re just shoes. Why aren’t you taking care of the orphans? Why aren’t you addressing the issue of AIDS? Why don’t you give water? etc. etc. Well, here’s one piece of information that might change your mind about “just” shoes. Children in Honduras need to wear shoes in order to go to school. No shoes = no education. I think that goes without saying, that’s worth it no?

As EllieFunDay continues to do our groundwork in India, I’ve learned a ton from TOMS. I had the chance to review Blake’s book “Start Something that Matters” and I’ve applied many of their principles to help us get started. Starting with this first piece of advice from Blake,

“I have started six businesses now and experienced naysayers for each and every one. Being an entrepreneur (or any type of creator) takes courage. You have to be willing to stand up for your own ideas and be willing to see them fail.”

Gosh, FAILURE? so many of us run from just the IDEA of failure. So many of us stop short of even trying because we’re afraid of failing. But here’s my question back, “What if you didn’t try? What if you decided to take the safe route? What if you lost money? What if you lost your job? Can’t we all earn money again somehow? Can’t we all find another job that will somehow support us?”

My two cents in all of this is, I NEED to do this because the POSSIBILITY of it working and making a difference far outweighs the loss. If EllieFunDay doesn’t work, I’ve lost some of my life-savings (so what?) but I’ve gained a world of knowledge, connections but more importantly a wealth of relationships that far outweigh the loss. In this year, I’ve already seen my own faith and skills grow in ways that I’ve never expected. If EllieFunDay DOES work, that means that LIVES are changed, cultural systems are overthrown, dignity is given, hope is achieved and a generation of Dalits will get to see what it means to be empowered. Now isn’t THAT worth the risk?

What’s would you risk that’s worth it for you?

Don’t you love the anticipation of Christmas? Advent is a preparatory season leading up to this celebrated day. It has significance because it is a season of looking forward and waiting for something greater; both for the annual celebration of the event of Christ’s birth, and for the time when Christ will come again. This advent calendar is a great way to bring meaning into your holiday season in the midst of the hustle and bustle. Many of these activities are great with family and friends. We’ll be uploading some pics/videos of us doing some seriously silly things, so look out for some more inspiration!

Highlights of Activities:

• Decorate gingerbread men to look like members of your family

• Make a snow globe for a place you would love to visit one day.

• Wrap your gifts with recycled goods and found objects.

Go here to download our FREE Advent Calendar here.

SUPPLIES:

• scissors

• glue

• glue gun or strong adhesive

• foam board 19” x 30”

• paper

• 25 — 1.75” mini-wooden clothespins

• fabric to cover board (optional)

DIRECTIONS:

1.} Set your printer to “no bleeds” and print all pages (if you don’t have this function, print it at 80% so that text doesn’t get cut off)

2.} CUT on the SOLID lines and FOLD on the DOTTED LINES

3.} Glue the two sides of the cards together

4.} Optional: glue fabric to cover foam board

5.} Hot glue the clothes pins (see diagram) leaving approximately 2.5” between the bottom of the first  clothes pin to the top of the next row and 2.5” between  each clothespin

6.} Pin the cards starting with 2.5’ at the top.

7.} Starting Dec. 1st flip the card labelled ‘1 ’ over and do an activity! Follow each card subsequently.

Enjoy! *EXTRAS*

GIFT TAGS (on the last page) :  Cut out gift tags and punch a hole using 1/16” hole punch. String with twine and tie to a gift.

Also follow TWINKLE on her ADVENTures here on our YouTube channel for some fun!

QUICK CONTEST: Comment with links to your pics of your activities! We will have a little surprise for the BEST photo!

EllieFunDay’s 1st Annual “Blanket the World with Love”

A friend of ours put $20 in our hand. “You and Elton need to go on a date! Have a good time!” We didn’t have much money, we were saving up for the wedding. And we were so busy, we had hardly any time to see each other. It was a really simple gesture and yet it meant so much. We’ll never forget it.

We’re starting 2013 off by “Blanketing” the World with Love! We know that our world can be a cold, hard place. And yet the simplest gestures done with love and generosity can be life and world changing! Let’s start the new year as agents of change! So many of you have already taken our “Pinky Promise” to be ambassador’s and to “Blanket the World with Love.”

We’d like to ask all of our friends out in the inter web  to join us in “Blanketing the World with Love”. Here are 3 easy ways to do it (and a few suggestions for you)!

“Blanket with a Gift” 

• donate a blanket to Project Linus
• pay for someone’s latte behind you
• gift someone in need a bag of groceries
• buy a dozen balloons and hand them out to kids in the park

“Blanket with Words”

• compliment a stranger sincerely
• write a letter of appreciation to someone that had a meaningful impact in your life
• send an encouraging email to someone you haven’t talked to in a year
• tell someone at work/school something they do well
• write words of encouragement with chalk on your neighbors’ driveways/sidewalk

“Blanket with Fun”

• invite a friend to have an indoor picnic
• take a hike, even a short-walk at lunch with a friend
• Go to a matinee with a friend

We look forward to your stories and pictures so please share them on our Facebook page! 

We should be blanketing our world with love everyday. But we’re planning ONE day where we’ll all do it together! Mark your calendars – JANUARY 18th! What will you be doing for “Blanket the World with Love” Day? 

It is with great trepidation, excitement and anticipation that I write this post. I’m dutifully preparing our next stage for Ellie Fun Day. There have been doing many things leading up to this momentus moment. We’ve dialoged, prayed, and researched countless hours to get us to this point in time…and it feels like this is just the beginning.

2012 was a year full of connections and excellent building of our skills as social entrepreneurs. 2013 will be the  year of growth for Ellie Fun Day as we will be hitting the ground running to start training our women in India. This year will determine if all of our hypotheses will work! You my friends have a been a large part in our growing success and now we are asking you to SHARE about our journey. The more people that know about what we do, the more women’s lives will be changed!

This Saturday I will journey with my dear friends Calvina and my husband back to Kolkata for one week to shadow under our friends at Freeset. They’ve been an amazing support to us ( they make our EFD bags!) We are excited to hear new stories of Freedom. Amazing people like Kerry and Annie Hilton have uprooted their lives to make a difference in their corner of their world and they have been an inspiration to us. Then we are off to Kerala where our women are to begin training. I will be living in India for a whole 5 weeks to get this kicked-off and started.

In preparation for our time back in India, Elton and I watched an academy award winning documentary “Born into Brothels”. It’s a courageous story of hope in the middle of the red-light district in Kolkata. Zana Brisk, photographer decided to live amongst the people there and teach the children how to use photography as a way to express their emotions and what they see. She faces many challenges due to their economic and social situation. From getting a passport to convincing one of the children to travel to the Netherlands for a photography exhibition. She’s reminded me that the difficulty of what she had to endure was worth it. A true testament to her work is through the story of one of the children, Avijit, who has now become a film student at NYU. He’s even launched a kickstarter to help fund a film of his.

Just through simple decisions of choosing to make a difference, she’s been able to empower a generation that never possibly had the opportunity to. That’s my calling in life is to use my gifts and talents to be given away in a way that matters. That is how I will determine the success of Ellie Fun Day. I can’t wait to see what this year brings! Continue to follow and share about our journey here!