Recently at the New York International Gift Fair, we were thrilled to meet Brigitte McKinnon, a woman who shares a similar purpose of making the world a better place.  Brigitte owns Pure Art, a boutique in Hudson, Canada. The store sells clothes, jewelry and décor from individual artists with all proceeds from the store going to the Pure Art Foundation, which concentrates on eliminating poverty and improving communities in the Peruvian Amazon. Brigitte’s husband and five sons work as a team with the store and foundation. So far the McKinnons have helped 200 children receive an education, and they’ve built five homes and a medical clinic. Next on their list is to open a community center where the artisans can learn how to make crafts that can later be sold to global markets.

Brigitte loves the bright colors of Zulugrass and says that they will work well with the theme of her shop, which is colors of the rainbow, representing their mission of bringing light where there is no light.

What we love about Pure Art is how the entire family works together to support impoverished families in Latin America and now in Kenya!

January, February, and March  are busy months for our U.S. based team at The Leakey Collection.  It is during this time that we attend many trade shows to share our Zulugrass story and to connect with partners who sell our products.  At the end of every show, we always comment on how lucky we are to have THE BEST customers!

We aren’t the only ones who are grateful for our wonderful partners.  The Maasai women are very eager to hear about our store owners across the globe that buy Zulugrass.  Sharing stories from the trade shows has such a positive impact on the women in rural Kenya who take such care in hand beading each piece of Zulugrass.

We recently caught up with Carol Rubin at the California Gift Show, a long-time loyal customer who has purchased Zulugrass for many years.  She has an online shopping site called “Jewels To Go” and along with her own works of art, she carries a nice selection of  Zulugrass and accessories. Here is a little clip of Carol talking about her success with The Leakey Collection.

In addition to Carol’s glowing review we asked her a few more questions:

TLC: What are the top sellers on your site?

CR: Zulugrass strands are very popular because of the variety of colors and the ability to mix it and wear it different ways. Customers continually come back to buy additional colors to add to their collection.

TLC: What are your favorite colors?

CR: I love the vibrant colors like Fiesta and  I also love the  blues and greens this year.

She also told us she would like us to make a black  Zulugrass strand adding bright blue beads in the mix.  This has given us a great idea for a future contest on Facebook- stay tuned…

We also found out that Carol has a female cat named Midori who sports a lion cut as you can see in the photo below.

TLC: Tell us about Midori and do you ever adorn her in Zulugrass?

CR: Midori is an even tempered cat who loves to be petted and loves her food.  I don’t adorn her in Zulugrass but I think I will take her picture sitting in front of a display of Zulugrass.

TLC: I think Midori has just developed a new set of fans and we can’t wait for the picture.

National Wear Red Day was created to bring attention to the #1 health problem facing women… heart disease. Do you know the warning signs of a heart attack?  We created a little video to encourage all women to show us their RED.  Like us on Facebook and during the month of February tell us who you’re wearing red for. We will enter you in a drawing for our RED HOT zulugrass neckace.

We at the Leakey Collection treasure  all of our partnerships that we have built over the years.  We know that when you tell our story and sell Zulugrass you are changing lives here in rural Kenya.

During the recent Gift Show in Atlanta, we did something different. We wanted to hear your stories and experiences so we brought our flip camera and captured some very touching moments.

Meet Janifer, the Zulugrass queen of Kimmans , a beautiful gift boutique in York, PA.

You can connect with Kimmans and The Leakey Collection on Facebook.

Thank you Kimmans!

At The Leakey Collection, we truly value the relationships we have with our partners.   We cherish getting to know store owners and buyers on a personal level, and learn some of their stories that inspire us.

Meet Stacey Horowitz, founder of Shopping for a Change ™, a 501 (c) (3) non-profit organization. We recently caught up with Stacey when she submitted an incredible video in our Zulugrass Holiday Contest, demonstrating how she accessorizes hats.  After checking out her website, her story was one that had some similarities to our mission at The Leakey Collection and we knew we wanted to talk with her more. Here is our interview with Stacey Horowitz:

TLC: Tell us about your “Aha moment”?

Stacey: I was about to turn 50 and I began taking stock of how I would leave this world a better place than the day I entered it; and realized I was not satisfied with the results I saw, so I began contemplating ways to give more of myself to others. What I quickly recognized was that I wanted to make a significant impact and touch as many lives as possible.

TLC: What inspired your decision to do something?

The first time was when my son’s seventh-grade class was engaged in a philanthropy project, which became interwoven throughout their entire curriculum that year. An elaborate process aided the students in focusing their interest on just one particular nonprofit organization of their choosing. I learned a great deal watching my son and his classmates go through this entire process. I also experienced their struggle during their days of raising funds.

The second time was after a vacation with my family over the winter break that truly changed my life.  We traveled to Galapagos Islands and Peru for a relaxing vacation time with my family.

After witnessing the plight of hunger and poverty first-hand in many of these emerging nations, contrasted against all of the spectacular sights, I began to wonder: how is it we are born where we are in the world, and under the conditions in which we are raised. Is it a roll of the dice? Karma? Luck—good or bad? Any of those people I met during my travels could have been me in another time or place.

When I returned from this vacation, I was feeling blue and couldn’t quite figure out why.  After much soul searching, I discovered that my calling was right in front of me.  Immediately I started reading about various approaches to poverty alleviation, and thinking about ways I could utilize my creative talents coupled with my professional experience to combat this widespread crisis of poverty.

I decided to create a shopping network called Shopping for a Change ™.  The mission is to help artisans abroad while providing a way to help charities here in the USA.

TLC: How did you find “The Leakey Collection”?

Stacey: I was looking for artisans to add to the website and a friend of mine suggested that I check out The Leakey Collection. After reading the story of Katy & Philip Leakey and how they were helping local artisans in rural Kenya by designing a beautiful jewelry line called Zulugrass, I knew it was an artisan line I wanted to add to our collection.

We are glad that Stacey chose to include us in her selection.  Her creative style and techniques in showing how Zulugrass can be mixed with many other lines she carries shows how versatile The Leakey Collection is.

Photos by Stacey Horowitz

Not only is Stacey helping the Maasai women, she is helping local charities as well.  She is truly making the world a better place.!

I still remember vividly the orders we had collected from our first trade show and the response when we told everyone the news.

Excerpt from a letter to family

“We had called Sabit with the good news, and word quickly reached everyone here in the valley that we were returning from America with many orders taken at our first trade show.  As we drove up our steep, rocky rive this afternoon, we were greeted by lines of people, beginning with our core staff - Sabit, Tobico, Kawia, Motisia, Ludo, Kasinga and Mr. Sang - followed by several hundred women.  All were singing and clapping as we drove through the crowd.  As each one lined up, most had tears in their eyes, to shake our hands and to personally thank us for the work we brought.

We invited everyone to the veranda and showed them pictures. I could feel the warmth, and I couldn’t wait to pass it along to all of you, our dear family and friends, who worked so hard and gave so much in so many ways. I wished I could paint a picture to capture the joy and warmth that comes from seeing such pure expressions of appreciation, having their efforts rewarded.”

Much has changed since that first order, and over the years you have helped to:

Build classrooms and hire more teachers, improving the quality of education for over 700 children.

Improve the overall health of over 6,000 people, saving many women’s and children’s lives through immunizations, paying for necessary operations, training thirty midwives and health care workers and bringing a stop to malnutrition.

And because we harvest the grass used to make  Zulugrass Jewelry, replacing the action of burning it to assist cattle in reaching the tender grass,  you have helped us save the wetlands and restore natural habitats.

From a need, we planted a seed that has grown over these years and has spread because of your generosity, commitment and partnership to make a difference in the world. So, if you ask yourself if you are making a difference, you can proudly say I AM .

Asante!

This Zulugrass Holiday video was shot at the 16th annual Union Square Holiday Market. With over 100 merchants bringing in some of the most unique gifts ever, this is the place to do your holiday shopping, and is a perfect place for Zulugrass. One of our partners participates in this local event each year and is opening a new boutique called Sage.

Our new Zulugrass distributor in Australia celebrates Zulugrass Holiday from down under.

Happy Holidays!

Stacey Horowitz at Shopping for a Change shows us more creative ways to wear Zulugrass with hats.

Nurturing Nature delivers the 4th Day of Zulugrass for this  Holiday!