Drawings of children from the ‘Tirana Deaf Pupils Institute’ are turned into a wonderful fashion collection.
“They ‘speak’ with their hands! They cannot communicate in the traditional way but they can still feel and create just the way all humans do.”
So says Gentian Minga, the Editor-in-Chief of ‘Living Albania’ magazine. It was Gentian that came up with the idea to use fashion as a powerful medium to release important messages with a social impact. Inspired by the earlier collection of Mirela Nurce, with the “Israel On” campaign, he decided to collect the drawings of children with special needs and turn them into a beautiful collection. With the help of UNDP Albania staff, Nora Kushti and Entela Lako, who provided their support for this project, it now includes deaf children too. This idea was embraced immediately because, for these children, drawings are not just a way to create, but also a way to communicate and spread messages.
Aferdita Paqarada, fashion designer
The project was a ‘Living Magazine’ project masterminded by Gentian Minga as Project Manager and creator supported by Nurce Couture, UNDP Albania, UN Albania and the Swiss Embassy in Tirana. All this was initiated in order to attract attention to these marginalised persons who, given the right opportunities, can play an important part in society. Mirela gave the project a beautiful name “With Innocence On” and with Gentian came up with a meaningful slogan for the project: “PERSONS WITH DISABILITIES BUT WITH UNLIMITED TALENTS”. The primary objective is all about raising awareness but part of the project is also a documentary.
Emina Cunmulaj with innocence of her
The organisers chose Albanian celebrities to support the campaign and raise awareness for these special children. Emina Cunmulaj was chosen to be the ambassador and icon for this collection and project and campaign. Emina is well known in USA and in the past she has graced the covers of ELLE, MARIE CLAIRE and VOGUE magazines. She is very famous in USA for her career as supermodel and she was kind enough to use her fame to make these children famous as well. All the celebrities involved were chosen for a reason. Rezarta Skifteri and Aferdita Paqarada are fashion designers and wanted to show that there is no competition when it comes to contributing to an important cause. So they kindly agreed to wear other designers’ creations. Another supporter is Hueyda El Saied, a dark skinned Albanian television celebrity who well knows what prejudice is all about as demonstrated in her book, “THE COLOUR OF MY SKIN.” She became involved in order to support a cause close to her heart. Emanuela Zaimi is the founder and chief of “Downs Syndrome Albania” and she agreed to wear clothes designed from deaf children’s drawings to send the message that, when it comes to children, and especially those in need, there are no exclusive cases. So she supports all children with the same strength with which she supports Downs Syndrome children. The organisers chose all these personalities for their willingness to give their time to such an important purpose.
Tirana Deaf Pupils Institute children wearing their own and their school friends drawings
Gentian Minga, project manager says: “What we wanted to say with this project was that all these children have many talents and abilities so we don’t have to focus on their disabilities. When we help people in need with money, clothes or food it should be considered as just a temporary type of help. But the slogan of this project is ‘HELP OTHERS TO HELP THEMSELVES’. In the future we want more projects that determine the strengths of people with disabilities and to make these people develop their talents and abilities. So in the future they will be self-sufficient and will be able to earn a living on their own. That would be the best long term solution. We undertook this project also to make some “noise” about the importance of the education for deaf children and children with disabilities in general. There are many parents that keep their children with special needs at home, which is wrong because school is a great way for them to improve as persons and also raises their chances to have a profession tomorrow”.
Aleksandra Puci, psychologist
Mirela Nurce, fashion designer says: “These children do not need to be treated with pity. Many of them are very good creators, they have a great intellect and if they are supported, they can be worthy members of a worthy society. I supported the project also because as an artist I perfectly know what is it like to want to desperately express yourself and you cannot. So, I saw this as a perfect way to make these amazing little artists feel appreciated and important”.
Zeynep was born in Istanbul. Her father Selim Dervisoglu was the founder of the first and biggest knitwear company ‘Selim Triko’ in Turkey. After she finished her primary education in Istanbul, Zeynep moved to Switzerland where she studied German and then ‘Business Administration’ at the University of St Gallen. She then returned to Istanbul where she worked for her family business for several years until she got married and moved to England. In England she represented her family business in the fashion knitwear business and sold knitwear to major department stores in London. After giving birth to her son she took a break from work and just concentrated on raising him. In the meantime she was getting lots of business offers. When she received a job offer of working for a ladies fashion wear company called ‘Barrus’ in Istanbul she couldn’t resist and soon found herself back in the fashion business. Now she is working in the UK as a European partner and distributor of the fashion house Barrus. She works with two very talented designers in a very harmonious partnership. The whole Barrus team is very talented and passionate and she is very happy working with them. Her business experience in fashion added to their talents makes them a great team. They introduced themselves and their collections to the British Fashion Council and were accepted to take part at the ‘London Fashion Week’ this February. They have also been accepted for ‘Paris Fashion Week’ in March and now her dream and her aim is to turn Barrus into a global success.
How did your childhood impact the path of your career?
I was born into the fashion business being the daughter of the founder of the earliest ladies knitwear house in Istanbul, Selim Triko. Growing up in a household engrossed in design, preparation, presentations and marketing to meet the needs and expectations of fashion conscious ladies through the years has helped shape my personal and business interests.
What motivated you to be passionate about fashion?
I’d have to say that as well as presenting me with an interest in fashion my family instilled a passionate drive in me to succeed in life whether in my schooling, fashion or being a housewife. Personally I have been a very keen fashion follower since my youth. It is very helpful to be able to combine my hobby with my career choice.
How difficult has been for you moving from a country to another?
I went to a boarding school in Switzerland at the age of 16. This helped me from an early age to adapt to life’s changing circumstances. It was not easy to begin with but I was fortunate that my brother was at university in the same country and was able to give me much needed support from time to time. Having learned to adapt and to be able to mix with a broad circle of international friends made my decision to get married and move to London in 1994 all the more easier.
How important was the role of your parents in your personal growth?
I believe it was very important to have my parents not only giving me the best possible education but being good role models. So I followed in their steps and was encouraged whether as a wife, a mother or in business.
Do you think that being a woman has had an impact on the way you were educated and raised?
Not in my case as my family educated and raised my brother and I in very much the same way. As with most families of similar background in Istanbul, so it is with my parents – the provision of a good education including learning a foreign language was very important. My brother and I were fortunate to have been provided with a very good education without gender prejudice.
How were you able to get involved with London Fashion Week?
As a follower of fashion and having visited Paris and Milan previously I was very keen to discover London Fashion Week. Through the years I have been invited and visited LFW very frequently. When I was asked to represent the delightful designs from Barrus I could think of no better opportunity then to introduce Barrus in LFW so I made contact with our branding advisor, Kubi Springer who was able to introduce Barrus to the London Fashion Council and thus acceptance into the LFW.
What are your ambitions for this event and what motivated you to be part of it?
My ambition is to establish Barrus and other fashion wear, predominantly sourced from Turkey, into London fashion circles. Unquestionably London is a world recognised fashion centre. I believe establishment and recognition in London will be a platform to global recognition. I believe LFW presents the perfect opportunity to open doors into other London fashion circles.
What are your future dreams?
My dream is to make a success of Barrus and my other fashion house choices, both in London and beyond.
Note: Barrus will have two shows in the London Fashion Week.
The first one is on 19 February and it is for the buyers only.
The second one is open to the public on the afternoon of 20 February.
Anyone interested to attend on 20 February can contact:
It was a very strange Christmas. It started normally, with the seven foot, artificial tree being decked, from top to bottom, with dozens of shiny red and silver baubles. To those were added sparkling, seasonal trinkets, collected over decades, and tired, scalloped garlands of small, golden beads. Dotted between these glittering decorations were four sets of lights, with hundreds of bulbs, all flashing in different ways, entertaining the children, but threatening seizures to anyone over forty.
Grandad’s increasing unsteadiness was the determining factor for action for Mum. She had to duck beneath the spikey branches, to press all four control panels several times, to still the multi-dazzle display, rather than risk spending Christmas day in Accident and Emergency, with her toppling father, instead of serving up the Christmas festivities. It would not have been a first. As she kneeled under the tree, Grandad took the last furtive swig from the bottle of brandy he had hidden behind The Angling Times, at the back of a neglected cupboard. He would dispose of the empty bottle later.
The family joined in the singing of TV carols from regular stars, like Nat King Cole, Mariah Carey and Noddy Holder, as well ruining descants by duetting with the angelic voices of the Kings College’s Choir. There was laughter, and mulled wine, with crisps, mince pies, and lots of chatter. It seemed a typically Christmassy, family scene, in an area in northern England. The only stress, it seemed, was the gentle coaxing away of children from the wrapped presents under the tree. Evidence already existed of small holes, from fingers prodding for clues, to see if Santa had delivered correctly. Hard, lumpy packages meant toys. Soft, squishy ones were boring clothing, and no child wished the latter.
No one thought to ask Mum if she needed a hand. She always did it all by herself. She had two states of operation: silent dedication and volcanic eruption. There was nothing between and one never knew where the first would end. Sometimes it seemed to go on forever; but as she was now fifty, the gap seemed to be closing. They assumed she would ask for help if it was needed; she assumed they would offer. Both were wrong.
Mum had worked hard, after returning from midnight mass on Christmas Eve, to have the house spick and span and the laundry basket empty. She needed every sheet, towel and pillowcase for the returning tribe, whom she loved and valued so dearly; but mostly they took her for granted. She had run out of space for hanging even more laundry that night, and had been so tired, that everyone had marched into breakfast, on Christmas morning, to an accidental change of mantelpiece décor. Instead of the eight Christmas present stockings, which had been hanging over the fireplace, there were seven drying underpants, in various sizes and colours, and a single, dingy, grey sack of unknown origin; they turned out to be Grandma’s giant, holey bloomers.
As the family sat down together, they expected a table centrepiece of the customary, big bosomed, bronzed turkey, with bulging, Mike Tyson thighs.
Grandma had dreamt in 1975 that one Christmas, she would win the lottery while wearing a pair of billowing pantaloons, so they became a traditional, seasonal garment. Much to the mirth of the family, thirty-nine years later, those pants had stretched from 22 to about size 30, and Gran, at ninety years old, had shrunk to a size 8. They swamped her small frame like an open parachute, or a collapsed marquee, padding her out like a Womble; but it was the lunch that Christmas, which made the day turn very odd indeed.
As the family sat down together, they expected a table centrepiece of the customary, big bosomed, bronzed turkey, with bulging, Mike Tyson thighs. Instead, they saw what mum called a “hazelnut roast” in its place.
“It looks like a house brick with bad acne,” said grandad, slipping an unusually heavy angling magazine in his pocket. Someone else asked: “Where’s the giblet gravy?” There was none, said Mum triumphantly, as she placed a large, glass jug of water, containing sliced lemons apples and small pieces of ginger, on the table, instead of the usual bottles of red and white vino.
In place of the traditional banquet they usually ate, there were bowls of steaming carrots, beetroot, cauliflower, shredded cabbage and, as a concession to the season, brussels sprouts, tossed in pumpkin seed oil, not butter, and sprinkled with lightly toasted almonds. A colourful salad was placed at each end of the table. The ham with pineapple and cloves was missing, as were the three different types of stuffing, and the customary giant dish of crusty, fluffy potatoes, roasted in goose fat. There was no bread sauce, nor cranberry sauce, nor pigs in blankets, the little sausages the children loved, wrapped in crispy rashers of streaky bacon. Even the roasted parsnips had gone, mum said, because the caramelised burnt bits everyone loved, were “acrylamide”, and therefore carcinogenic. Having friends who had lost their breasts and lives to cancer in the previous year, she was keen to keep her natural figure and existence.
Grandad scratched his head in silence, as his jacket swung strangely heavily on one side, and the older youngsters looked at each other in confusion. The adult offspring spluttered their indignation at the change, but Mum was adamant that the sparsely set meal was the best of Christmas spread, and cheer, in their little village. Then she struck the jug of water with a ladle, to call attention, and stood up, her hands akimbo, as if ready to do battle. That usually meant she was close to the edge, and ears could get clipped, so everyone was apprehensive, as Mum began her soliloquy.
“Every year, we eat the friends we’ve fattened: the pig, the turkey, the goose. Then we gorge on enough food to feed three times the number of family present. We spend on plastic cards, already empty of credit, and we give presents others already have in quadruplicate, as we fill our arteries with cholesterol and our bodies with tasty, crispy poisons. Is this Christmas? No, it’s commercialism, and I’m done with it. I’m giving notice that we have had the last celebration of excess. Your presents are your clothes, which I’ve washed and ironed, or ones I’ve repaired and cleaned, and your meal is vegetarian. Today, we celebrate family, as family, not as servants of capitalism. We celebrate the gifts of kindness, thoughtfulness, and good health – and whoever wants to leave, can go home now.” She sat down abruptly, and smiled at each family member in turn, searching for dissidence, but there was none. She started to serve lunch, as most mouths remained gaping open, and hands remained in laps. Mum had changed, since she got her social media account, and realised there was life outside of Yorkshire.
Hunger is a great tool for exasperated mothers, when there is no choice of victuals. Everyone ate a little warily at first, and then devoured every morsel, greedily.
Silence fell, as common sense wrestled with what seemed to be an old, destructive tradition. No one moved, but Grandad’s bottle slid through the hole in his jacket pocket and landed loudly on the floor, first to sniggers, and then to great peals of hooting laughter. It broke the ice, and the Christmas spirit returned.
Hunger is a great tool for exasperated mothers, when there is no choice of victuals. Everyone ate a little warily at first, and then devoured every morsel, greedily. Nothing was left, and even the acne-ridden house brick was devoured. Food made with mother love is always tasty, regardless of its content. Mum knew what she was doing, especially when she updated them with her friends’ unfortunate, medical updates, and Grandad and Grandma served pudding, while she put her feet up.
Her adult children then cleared the kitchen, while the children amused themselves with collections of kitchen towel cardboard rolls, empty cotton reels, a roll of rejected wall paper and a few packs of crayons and finger paints. Santa had not sent the Minecraft games, nor the pink CD player or Nike shoes; but there were lollypops to make, and muffins to bake for tea, so that restored their Christmas spirit.
It became their most appreciative Christmas, and set a new, more rewarding pattern of thought, awareness and lifestyle for them all. Grandma hopes her lottery ticket will be successful in 2015, so she can finally ditch the grey, fraying, parachute lingerie, from the family tradition in their home in Slack Bottom, Yorkshire. If she wins, I’ll let you know.
This is a story about my sister Linda, our relationship with each other, and the special bond that is as strong today as it has ever been. How we have been there for each other at a time of need and how we protected each other. It is a powerful and inspiring story of a beautiful person in so many ways, who came through a time of struggle and lacking in self-confidence, to become very successful in her own right, with the magazine ‘Star’ in Albania. I hope that it inspires you as much as she inspires me!
Photo: Endrit Mertiri
When Linda Was Born
The meaning of ‘Linda’ in Albanian is “I am/was born” – and here the story of Linda begins. When she came into this world I was nine years old, and never do I remember to have been so jealous of someone who was about to take my place. Yet before the arrival of Linda, I did not happen to know my own place, and nor did I pretend to have one. My first nine years without Linda used to be full of motion, from one place to another, from one school to another, from a parent to parent and from one family to another.
Linda with our mother and her father
Linda became part of my life at a perfect time, at a moment when I used to be the Cinderella of the family, and apparently a princess was meant to bring even more storms into my life. Surprisingly, the opposite happened. I recall very well the 2nd of September, 1983 as my first Monday back in school, which I actually did not manage to attend. As I was told that Linda was born, I remember sitting for hours and hours next to the window of the hospital, hoping that I would see her before leaving for school.
Linda was the beauty itself, her face like an angel covered with blonde curly hair was adorable to everyone, and everyone wanted to hold her. Our mother was a nurse, a working woman with a mission to save the lives of people in a very small hospital in the north of Albania. While her father (my stepfather) was an officer whose time would be mostly spent serving in the army. Eventually, Linda would become like my first child, as in reality it would be me taking care of her every day; carrying her, feeding her, washing her and getting her to sleep.
It was a miracle to learn what love is while aiding the growth of an innocence such as Linda
This was the pretty side of love – but when Linda would get ill or when some kind of harm happened to her, punishment and consequences would await me. Fear and anxiety would chase me for years even after I earned my “freedom and rights”, because such nightmares get stuck in the subconscious for a long time even after you have tried to erase them from memory. You could wonder how I earned my freedom. In fact, in a family and environment where dictatorship dominated, maltreating a child/female was more than normal, but when Linda grew up it was no different from that of Cinderella’s.
Cinderella’s Sister
All the signs were in favour of my story being like Cinderella’s, and so it could have been if my sister was to be ordinary. Indeed, her coming changed the energy of the family and of the small world we used to live in, especially for me and my brother, Ben, who has a story of his own. Her presence had an extraordinary magic when her father would dare to raise his voice towards me or use his own ways of punishment, having to face the screams of his daughter first; “Don’t you dare touch my sister”. For him, his daughter was a goddess. He was a high-rank in the military of the then communist regime, but a deserter in front of her. Linda’s word was law at home, and when she learned to speak, I started to become a girl full of dreams and faith that this world wasn’t as bad as it seemed, and people might not be as harmful as acknowledged. Linda gave me back the faith that life might become meaningful, as human love was there, next to me.
We both left home at fourteen!
I was only 14 years old when I took my luggage and left home in order to pursue middle-school studies, because in our village there would only be an elementary school. I would be so happy leaving that distant abyss to see another world across the valleys, in a small northern town. The only sadness was the separation from Linda, whose curly blonde hair I was used to pamper.
Linda was only 14 years old, too, when she packed her luggage and left home with her boyfriend, Mikel, who is her husband of today. Here begins a new stage in her life. Angry at her parents and everything around her, she responds to the life by taking decisions that would leave permanent marks in her path of life. “I’m never going back there. I want to live my life the way I want, not like they want” – she said to me determinedly and ended the phone conversation, without telling me where she was. Linda was referring to my mother and her father. Never did she admit to their controlling and critical style of parenting.
A general who you would never see a smile from, you could see him crying like mad after her girly steps.
Linda was a rebel by spirit who you could not control. And the only way to get her listening was through speaking with love. But at that time, as I have thoroughly explained in my book “Don’t Let Your Love Go”, Albanian parents were not prepared for the tests they needed to pass for bringing up their children. In contrast, they thought it strictly unacceptable to give off moments of weakness by manifesting love to their kids. I remember fairly well that Linda’s father would madly adore her. A general who you could never see a smile from, you could see him crying like mad after her girly steps. But as it happens in Albania’s model, when young girls grow up so does the style of parenting. Apparently, Linda was not like those who could surrender to this model and decided to escape with the first boy that proposed to her, with the childish dream that she would always be free and would be surrounded with the love she deserved.
Photo: Blerta Kambo
Did they live happily ever after?
However the dream for the huge freedom and love lasted not so long. At a time when many Albanian girls were being sold on the streets of the world, we completely lost contact with Linda for months and found out that she had travelled to Belgium. The sky fell upon us, and nightmares of all kinds took over us: Linda was only 15 years old, what if she was manipulated, what if she had ended up in… we couldn’t even say the word. Whose fault was it? Linda turned up very soon, and with confident calmness told us: “We (together with Mikel) have started a new life here and everything is good”. My sister had begun her life at fifteen… leaving school on pause. That was the beginning of a new chapter for her, because after three years she would return to Albania in order to start from the beginning once again. “What am I going to do with my life?” she asked. I had gladly seen how much she had grown in those three years.
Linda with her daughters, Elvana & Mishela and her husband Mikel
But what managed to get Linda grown up at an early age was becoming a mother at such a young age. She was only eighteen when she brought to life her first daughter, Elvana. Responding to her intuition, she decided to name her after the daughter I had lost after a very short life five years earlier. Two years later, she became a mother once again to Mishela.
And here we are, a young woman, once full of dreams to follow her passions and goals in life, yet to reach her twenties, mother of two children, no school, no job, no home, with no support from the family (as our mother believed that this was the life she deserved, the life she actually wanted, a view you can often find held by Albanian parents). And if the story were to end here – Would it be a “happily ever after”? Unfortunately not!
The loss of dreams and desire to live!
“I want to do something with my life” she told be one day, as she was smoking a cigarette on the balcony of my home – “nothing has meaning anymore!” “But you have two wonderful girls growing up” I responded but deep inside me I knew that this was not the life for my sister. Once full of energy and vitality, now she would kill her days smoking cigarettes and caring for her two young daughters. Linda continued, “What shall I tell them when they grow up? What have I achieved in life?” I told her that she was only twenty years old and could still achieve a lot in life. Whenever I repeated this to her, the answer was always the same: “But how?”
She cut her curly hair. Her beautiful face began to transform due to consuming two to three packets of cigarettes a day…
No one could provide an acceptable answer. Not even her husband, Mikel, who, just like any other Albanian man, would be trying to keep his beautiful wife under his coercive control. Eventually, Linda began to find the answer in her own way. After relying on a search for the support she could not find, Linda decided to isolate herself in a depressive state, with a lack of desire or vitality for life. She cut her curly hair. Her beautiful face began to transform due to consuming two to three packets of cigarettes a day and her body was suffering from the effects of anorexia. This was alarming to me! It was obvious that she was slowly killing herself every day, and no one was responding to these signals that were a call for help. Isolated in a modest countryside house, back then with a lack of communication tools, unable to escape, with two young daughters who would seek a lot of her dedication. Where could she find that energy and resolve to cope and deal with her situation of feeling at rock bottom?
Return to self!
The signs were so strong, I knew that if we did not take measures to change her life, I could lose my sister. Unforgivable for me, as someone who spoke everyday about helping ourselves and others, but still could do nothing for my sister. She had protected me with her love when we were young, and now it was my turn to get her out of that situation. I knew her strengths and weaknesses, her dreams and limits, I knew her capacity to overcome all of this adversity, too, and all I needed to do was to transmit these messages and make her believe in the resources within her.
Linda with her daughters, Elvana & Mishela and her husband Mikel
I was aware that it was not going to be easy, but these processes need patience, persistence, and faith to not stop until you reach a successful outcome. Linda was extraordinary at absorbing every kind of information, wisdom and message in an excellent way. Everything she would learn, she would begin to apply immediately, with careful steps, but would actually impress me with the creativity and accuracy she had. “Alright”, she said one day, after a lot of ideas and plans we discussed together. “I’ll get back to school and send my daughters to kindergarten, but I need a job to cope with it all.” “Perfect, you can do it all. You are so young and so energetic” I said.
Photo: Endrit Mertiri
The beauty of it is that Linda has always trusted me without question; whatever I would say, she would receive it purely. Therefore, when I started to tell her how wonderful she was, how extraordinary her resources and energies were, how beautiful and magical her presence was, how gifted and talented she was – thank God, she believed me again. And never before had I needed her belief like in those moments when I was telling her how lucky I was to have a sister like her, and how brilliant the future in front of her was. I remind myself of the image, with her hands shaking, holding the cigarette while listening to me speak about the successes awaiting her and capability to achieve, that I would see in her. She would just silently listen, in deep thought, saying nothing, but I knew that her delicate mind of a child was trying to find space in order to assimilate the information she was receiving and eventually make it a natural part of herself.
It went on like this until one day she made my eyes sparkle with a unique confidence: “You know, sister, everything you say for me clicks into place magically, and I believe in your words, for they have a magical, vibrating voice.” There could be no prettier present than seeing her hair growing and glowing again, her walking straightening, with her communication to become more assertive among others. Every day I would see her as a work of art that was being polished.
Within three years Linda exceeded every kind of expectation we could possibly have. She graduated from university with excellent results, having grown professionally with gigantic steps and accepting to work for my magazine at the time – Psikostil, growing the marketing department by 100%. It was impossible for clients to resist her beauty, the intelligence she transmitted as she would speak, the confidence which she permanently kept in herself, the magical charm which was “Made in Linda”, on top of all the social skills she was developing. Never have I seen someone possessing such a talent like Linda’s to make friends. And this was only the beginning of the way back to self!
The detachment happened again!
Photo: Blerta Kambo
I have always believed in the expression “Everything happens for a reason”, and the moment when our paths would separate again gradually came. I had just returned from a trip to London and it had become usual for the staff to have a meet-up morning coffee. “How was your trip in London?” they asked. “I’ve got good news and bad news,” I said, “which one do you want me to say first? “Start with the good news”, said Linda laughingly. “Ok, the good news is that I have decided to leave Albania and I think I will soon live in London.” Their hands froze holding the coffee cups in their hands, and they enthusiastically exclaimed “Wow, this is fantastic…what happened?” Everyone was smiling, while Linda was falling into tears, leaving the cup, taking the cigarette and went out crying. One of our friends there started laughing out loud and turned to speak with Linda: “Don’t be silly, Mirela is not leaving tomorrow, duh. Many people say they will leave and still… this matter takes time, because she is not going to the next town. Do you know what it means to go to London? Does it seem easy to you?” Linda chuckled – “You don’t know my sister very well, my dear, only I do. If she says something today, tomorrow it is done. The ugly truth is that I always believe what she says, and I’m afraid she is serious this time, too.”
The moment had come for us to separate, and the time had come for Linda to create her own, unique pathway. She didn’t need me any longer, but time would prove that in distance we would continuously have the need for each other.
The Rebirth of the Star
Today, if you want to meet someone to teach you what success is, what it means to enjoy life with all you have got, how to be a perfect mother, how to love thyself, how to earn money and how to constantly be surrounded by good friends, I would assertively say that I know a woman which fulfils these criteria. She is a “superstar-woman” and she is my sister.
Photo: Blerta Kambo
After I left, Linda began working as a marketing agent for another Magazine, and day by day she would keep in touch with me, telling me how much passion she would find in this job as she was daily realising how gifted she was in this field. After a few months, she called me with particular enthusiasm, telling me that the earnings she was generating for the company were enabling her to develop career-wise. Her boss had offered Linda to become the marketing director, and this was confirming once again her capacity to grow from a professional point of view.
Photo: Endrit Mertiri
One year later, Linda was making gigantic steps; she was proposed to become the general director of the whole company. “Am I capable of doing it?” she asked me sotto voce. “Yes, you can, and soon you will be able to do more” I replied. After a year, Linda had learned how a business is directed, how the work is managed with tens of people, how clients are met and looked after, how a business plan is made, how human relations are invested in and how a business can become profitable.
After this I took the courage and said to her: “Now I think it is time to start investing in yourself”. I felt the way she was shaking when hearing this – “Do you think I am ready?” she said. “I think that you have been ready for a long time, but we just haven’t talked about this matter” I said to her. Thank God she believed me again, that I was serious. Today, my sister Linda has the most successful magazine in the country, a company called STAR. Star is a space that a star like Linda has created in order to return faith in people, that we are all stars, that the beams and the glittering are inside us. And if we believe in ourselves, then we are indeed a star. Whoever knocks on the STAR magazine’s office is certain that they deserve to feel as such, because we are all unique. All what is needed from us is to believe the one who comes in our life to tell us that “You are a star”!
Photo: Endrit Mertiri
Linda is presently only 32 years old, mother of two daughters (13 and 10), and in her peak of beauty and career and at the peak of dreams and faith for the future. More confident than ever, she has discovered the gift within her; a star that keeps everyone alight. Her beams are now ready to warm even more around her, because in this way she is always in a search for herself and for her purpose in life. As of this day, her star manages to shine in my sky, regardless of the distance, because when we discover ourselves, we know how to resonate and stay connected with the people we love, who have come to our life for a reason. As I see her shining, I think of the countless other women who could be awaiting such a signal, and by reading such stories they can be inspired to change their life now.
I am inspired by everyone I see taking control of their own financial lives. We have far too many victim mentality people who want to blame others for their lack of financial resources. Those people who become victors instead of victims inspire others to take control of their lives… With all the changes in the global economy it is important to focus on your business mission. The greatest businesses either solve a problem or serve a need.
Gill Fielding
My view is that everyone is born with a love of money and an ability to handle it and ‘play’ with it but our society holds wealth in such a low regard that much of our cultural references (from Dickens to the Spice Girls) are about how bad and dirty money is. When we constantly tell young children not to touch money because its ‘dirty’ we are giving them the message to hate it. So most people are born with an open mind and for that they can always learn how to handle it, grow it, flow it, whatever but sadly as soon as you start instilling negativity the mind closes and it becomes too ‘difficult’.
Sue Johnson
We have no idea of the amazing impact we have on our partners – for good and for ill. We do not understand how the human brain responds to rejection or abandonment by those we depend on as a literal danger cue. Emotional disconnection hurts – this kind of emotional pain impacts the brain in the same way as physical pain…. Our society is rife with sensationalist misinformation that leads people into the woods. It is weak to depend on others – you have to love yourself first then find someone and make the best “deal” you can in a relationship.
Kim Kiyosaki
“I have never gone into a business venture with the idea of “making money”as the #1 purpose or goal. Even as an employee—fresh out of college – my main interest was in what I was learning”. Women need to take charge of their financial lives. They need to know what they have, where it is, and how to grow it. To blindly turn that responsibility over to someone else—a husband/partner, a financial planner or advisor—is one of the most dangerous things a woman can do today regarding her financial security.
Vera Ora
There are many challenges in life but our job is to cope and deal with them. Everything that we face it helps us to become stronger. Focus on a good education for yourself and your children, which I believe is the way forward to achieve our dreams, to never give up and to believe that in life everything is possible.
Judy Piatkus
I believe that when you give of your best, people respect and value you and they want to work alongside you. It does not matter what your background is. Not everyone will want to work with you and there will always be those who you do not want to work with. Stick to the battles you know you can win. Visualise what you want to achieve, stay focused and enjoy life. The world is changing very fast now and gradually every door that has been closed is opening and there are many opportunities for everyone to find their passion and give of their best. I wish you success.
Carita Laszlo
Despite the truly worrisome news on global climate change, terrorism and abuse in so many sectors, there is an increasing awareness of our plight in today’s world that is already followed by small-scale positive action, and that is a good sign. One only hopes we are not too late in making the shift on a large scale.
Mimi Kirk
The mind and body are connected. If you carry around anger and resentment, your body will suffer also and you will make life not such a pleasant experience. Don’t be a victim. Don’t dwell on the negative. So many people have overcome disabilities and became world athletes. Business failures one after the other turned people into billionaires, there are so many stories of courage showing us we can each be courageous in our own worlds, it’s our choice. I say choose life. Don’t wait for someone else to make you happy, make yourself happy.
Rakibe Altuntas
I believe that the only individual who can regulate the peace at home is a woman. A strong woman who can make decisions doesn’t waste her husband’s time (or anyone else’s, for that matter). In order for a woman to regulate her environment, she should first regulate herself. Happiness comes from the inside, not from the outside. So you can find happiness more easily if you look for it in what you have. When your husband comes home, he should feel he is in a peaceful environment. It is enough to feed him with your love.
Inva Mula
When you know yourself, you know others too and when you improve yourself you are valuable to society as well. To look after your health and contribute to the awareness of others, we hold in our hands the ability to have a quality life, which is not enabled through financial circumstances but the quest to look after yourself, to have knowledge on the food you eat with the motto “you are what you eat”.And it is to help strangers while never expecting anything in return but to hope that gratitude exists in our universe and it is rewarded in other forms.
Annabel Kaye
A lot of women are taught to follow their passion and that is lovely but you can’t pay the rent with just enthusiasm and passion. It is important that you enjoy what you do, but it is also important that it is something that is capable of making the sort of money you need to live. If you decide to go into a profession or business that is very poorly paid, unless you come up with an amazing new business model or way of delivering it, the chances are you will remain poorly paid. You need to think about the financial side and get to understand how your business is going to make a profit.
Anita Goyal
Love is a choice not a feeling. Love to me is something that we do, not something that just happens to us. When we choose to love, we expand ourselves and there should be no limits to what you are willing to explore to become the best version of yourself. A whole new world opens up when your relationship is full of potential, and happiness that weaves through not only your togetherness but also enriches your individual lives. Relationships are about teamwork where it’s about giving and receiving, always working together to achieve a common goal.
Lidia Frederico
Always do your best with everything that you touch. As with everything, if you do a sloppy job, you will receive a sloppy payback, and that is the Law of Attraction. To ensure you live your life at its fullest, and every morning, give grace and thanks, that you have another day to get yourself together. Make sure that every day you appreciate and validate every person in your life, but to take it to another level, by showing them your full gratitude, even the ones who have irritated you to your core, as they are the ones who bring you the biggest lessons.
Veronica Tan
I think that a powerful woman is not necessarily the one who has the actual power. It is more important to have a strong influence, and to get things done. She has to be the best in her job, be able to contribute, make a positive difference to everything she touches, and add value. Powerful women influence people in a good way and make positive changes. Every women should be empowered and be able to reveal and develop her talents.
Bev James
The formula is having a product or service that you are not only passionate about but also having the skills to market your business. Many start-ups spend months perfecting a product but don’t give adequate time to plan how they will take it to market. You can outsource marketing but no one will know your product or service like you do so I suggest staying close to this area of your business. You can delegate marketing but don’t abdicate – it’s too important.
Countess Paola Kovacz von Csaky
Dreams do come true, but not always in our timing. I would say that ‘patience’ is like a piece of string that keeps unravelling and has no end to it, and that is why it’s called patience. You can never set a limit on it. Find your dream. Stick to it! And keep Going. Never Give it up, even when all the world tells you that you can’t do it. Just do it!
Rebeca Riofrio
No matter how much we research and hear stories, a new beginning in a strange and cold country is as painful as giving birth. Not everything that shines is gold and be wise from day one with who we make friends with. To be able to be active and progressive in any circle we are in and not be afraid in taking risks that goes towards our vision. Be patient and take the time to walk instead of running and taking short crooked paths and have perseverance and self-motivation.
Camilita Nutall
There are “Seven ‘Action Points’ you have to do daily to fight and win. This is not a physical fight – it’s a mental, psychological, emotional and spiritual fight happening first in your mind then in your will to win. It’s about doing it, doing it, doing it – till the job gets done – and having the right association around you daily. Having a ‘Never Give Up’ Attitude is my secret weapon, regardless how things look or what people say. It’s your life – LIVE IT!
Tracey Smolinski
I’m a great believer that women do a fantastic job in the business world and I feel that in the networking scenario women are more open to engage with other people which they see as opportunities. Women are great listeners, show compassion and empathy and are more likely to collaborate together and help and support each other, which is so important in today’s society.
Jo Davison
Many women spend their life running around all over the place and not being fully present for any of it. This is where I used to be, before I decided I couldn’t live this way anymore and feel successful as a mum, wife, and business women. I am sure many small business owners can relate to this, its something we all have to keep balanced. Now I know that women must not wait for someone else to ‘rescue’ them from the busy chaotic life – they need to take time out for themselves as if we burn out, everyone around us suffers!
Sarah Alexander
If you choose to believe that true success is not just about achievement but also about how you show up as a person in every situation, you then have the opportunity to be successful all the time, even when things are not going well in some area of your life. By re-defining success to include higher values such as loving kindness shown both towards yourself and towards others, you are then available for success permanently. As a result you will feel much happier and more successful!
Her mission is to empower more lives every day through her ‘Fight for Your Future’ seminars across the world, her ‘Mind Your OWN Business” Conference in March and the ‘Event of Champions’, in January 2016 (23rd & 24th). Her ambition is to become a globally recognised name where people come to her to be mentored on how to earn more, fight for their future and live and become a CHAMPION! This is Camilita Nuttal and here is her story.
“The Event of Champions” is on 23/24 January. What inspired you to organise this event?
WOW! I wanted to give like-minded people the chance to start the year ‘RIGHT’ with a clear plan for success and with systems and steps to make it happen. I see too many people set New Year plans without any support, correct information or strategies for the proper execution of those plans. By March most of those plans are shelved and people go right back to square one. I wanted to bring a line-up of speakers who care for people ‘first’ before their wallets – so that’s why I chose such an amazing line up of men and women.
The Event of Champions: www.eventofchampions.com is going to be a three times a year event across the UK, then monthly around the world. We will be partnering with some of the world’s best speakers and trainers at these events and catering for both mind, body and spirit focusing on the whole man. Lives will forever be changed!
You are described by many as a ‘Rock Star’ International Speaker – can you tell us how this came to be?
This is funny. At my events I create an atmosphere where people don’t want to leave, we have music and dance and they feel challenged and unstoppable. I am real and speak ‘as it is’ without offending and I create an atmosphere where people want to do business and network. My twelve plus years as a successful leader in the Network Market Industry leading huge sales teams gave me the edge as you had to inspire them to win. People do what they love, remember and feel – so I bring emotion into my speech and create the atmosphere of YOU CAN DO ANYTHING!!
My no-nonsense approach coupled with good humour leaves a lasting impression on people’s minds.
What barriers and problems have you had to overcome for you to achieve what you have today?
Oh, so many. The biggest barrier was the need to believe in myself; believing I could do what I’m doing right now. Growing up in the Caribbean and knowing I was poor always made me feel less than the other person and that I always had something to prove. Another barrier was my broken English; I felt that my English has to be perfect to WOW a crowd. Another was my skin colour (or so I thought). I felt that I was black and that was a disadvantage. The people that were around me were rich and were not black, so that didn’t help. I didn’t know any successful black people so that didn’t help either. I then started to do my research and align myself with ALL people. Then I realised that colour was not the issue, it was my mind set that had to change – and when it did – my bank balance changed too! As far as problems go, it was not having enough money to do the things I really wanted to do. I had really good role models (my mother and teachers) but the fact that I was poor and worst of all had a poor mentality was a huge problem.
You came from a childhood with many challenges – how did this impact on your personality?
Yes, as a child I slept on the floor, had very little going to school and no holidays. At the age of thirteen my mother and I went to the public dump to find glass bottles to sell, just so I could attend secondary school. Those challenges gave me a ‘never give up’ attitude and a determination to win regardless. I have a no-nonsense approach to success and my mantra is ‘If it is to be, it’s up to me’ and that ‘nobody is responsible for the present condition of your life, only you.’ I am bold, use humour as laughter for difficult situations and don’t allow myself or people around me to take no for an answer – never!
I don’t see challenges as I used to – I only now see opportunities to either learn or get better.
You seem to be a fighter and make things happen – is this something that you learned or were you born with this inside you?
I think both. At the age of five I was well aware of my surroundings and what I wanted in life and I told my mother that too. However, because of my upbringing, my mother being the fighter she is, always told me to fight for what I wanted. As far as my mother was concerned, if someone else can do it, so can you. Her famous words to me were ‘Mind Your Own Business’, actually I have a conference in March 2016 called ‘Mind Your Own Business, March 18th – 20th’.
I believe you have to fight for what you want, especially if all the odds are against you.
My signature seminar is ‘Fight for Your Financial Future’ at different locations across the UK in 2016. Even when I got quoted in ‘Think & Grow Rich for Women’, I had been diligently posting on social media for years, sharing positive information when Sharon Lechter picked up my quote. At the same time when I heard Dr. J B Hill, Napoleon Hill’s grandson, quoting me in front of 20,000 people I knew that my time had come (Video on my YouTube Channel).
What is the secret of your success and how you do you manage to keep your feet on the ground?
My secret to success is what I share with my audience at my ‘Fight for Your Future’ Events across the world. Seven ‘Action Points’ you have to do daily to fight and win. This is not a physical fight – it’s a mental, psychological, emotional and spiritual fight happening first in your mind then in your will to win. It’s about doing it, doing it, doing it – till the job gets done – and having the right association around you daily. Having a ‘Never Give Up’ Attitude is my secret weapon, regardless how things look or what people say. It’s your life – LIVE IT!
To keep my feet on the ground I always remember where I’ve come from and I’ve asked God to keep me humble so that I treat people right and keep things in perspective. I don’t take things or people for granted.
You work with your husband Andrew – what are the advantages and disadvantages of working together?
LOL!! Working with my husband most times is amazing but as you can imagine, we do have our challenges.
Advantages:
Someone to cover my back when things don’t always go as planned
Working together helps us to stay on track with our goals
Travelling abroad together is good as I ALWAYS have someone to carry my bag J
I have an on-call chauffeur (but don’t tell him I said that LOL!)
Disadvantages
We try to get each other to fill each other’s roles but that does not always work out. We are both strong and have strong skills but try to get each other to do the opposite. We then end up having very loud discussions (as you can imagine)
Sometimes we both need a break from each other as it can get too much at times
I want things done ‘now’, he wants to wait to check it out – drives me mad!
Camilita and Andrew Nuttall
What are the highs and lows of your story together and how has this strengthened your relationship privately and professionally?
I think the highs of our story together are that we have worked and built three businesses together therefore we understand the business and each other’s roles in the business. This has helped as we stand up for each other in situations and because we want mostly the same things, business or other decisions are easy to make.
The lows…..we sometimes work too much and do not have enough time for ourselves. Because we are both goal and deadline oriented, we can sometimes push each other too much and forget we are a couple first and business partners last. For this reason we do take time to reflect a lot to see where we are both not fulfilling our husband / wife duties.
Who takes what decisions at home?
Andrew will probably say I do, but we both agree on everything. If one is not happy with something we don’t do it and this is as a result of ‘experience’. As we both see things differently – Andrew as a technician and I as an entrepreneur. We discuss, discuss and then discuss more. Most of the time – I win!
What is the biggest success that you have achieved together?
We opened Australia & New Zealand in a network marketing company and did over $1.6 Million dollars in sales in one month! I would also say we developed sales teams in over 30+ countries over the last ten years. One more thing, we managed to travel to over 30 countries together in our 10 years of marriage and lived in Spain, Germany and the Netherlands.
You also mentor and coach many business people – what proportion are women and do you have a positive view about more women becoming entrepreneurs and leaders in business?
Through my proven MSA success system in mentoring, I teach how to realise and monetise your destiny, earning 10 times more money right now with your current position. In this system I mentor both men and women. Mentoring for me is showing your client what to do based on your OWN experience, not on what you were taught. I call it the university of LIFE building 3 successful businesses.
I would say approximately 50% of the people I mentor are women. Women are born entrepreneurs and when you look at history, some of the most successful enterprises started with women. We see business differently, we are natural nurturers and think of the whole picture (family and business).
Statistics now show that under powerful women leaders, business flourishes more and sales retention is much better.
Just look at Oprah, Arianna Huffington or Mother Teresa.
What is your New Year’s resolution?
To empower more lives every day through my ‘Fight for Your Future’ seminars across the world, my ‘Mind Your OWN Business Conference in March and that the Event of Champions January 23rd & 24th. Also to become a GLOBALLY Recognised Name where people come to me to be mentored on how to Earn More, Fight for their Future and Live and Become a CHAMPION!
Andrew Nuttal
I would describe Camilita as Loud and Proud, a force to be reckoned with. Camilita is very focused and goal oriented and her heart’s desire to see other people succeed. She loves to help people attain their goals and make their dreams a reality. Camilita is extremely good at helping people increase their sales and working as a team. She is enthusiastic and a ball of energy. Anybody who hears Camilita would want to go out there and make it happen; no matter what they are doing. Her enthusiasm is contagious, exciting and life changing!
Matteo Brento is the up and coming international Pop Rock star who released his first hit single “Tra Le Pagine” on VEVO, which he recorded in Italy and Albania.
Mateo Brento is an Italian singer and songwriter. Born in Monte Sant’Angelo, Italy in 1988 Matteo considers Tirana his second home. He began listening to his father’s CD music collection when he was a little boy and would sing along. He pursued his music career as a teenager in a rock band performing in Bari, Foggia, Napoli and other cities.
“Singing has been a passion of mine since I was little. Ever since I was younger I have enjoyed performing and singing a lot. As I grew older, it became my primary passion, and soon I had many opportunities to share big stages with other Italian stars,” said Matteo Brento.
“My wish is to convey emotions and to communicate to my fans through my music. Music gives me a sense of freedom and happiness and I hope I can convey that to my fans.”
Matteo Brento rose to fame in 2015 with his appearance in the biggest talent show, X-Factor, watched by millions of people. He was voted in the Best Top 6 and impressed the judges with his powerful vocals, confident delivery and energetic focus. His fans fell in love with Matteo’s emotional interpretation, charisma and great delivery of the songs. His global following spans from Japan to Albania, Kosovo, Macedonia, Italy, Turkey, Greece, USA and more.
“X-Factor was an unbelievable moment for me. My mentor Bleona was really hands-on and helped me better showcase my talent. I really enjoyed working with Bleona. My whole experience at X-Factor Albania was very cool. All the judges were very professional and helped me develop my skills. I learned from all the judges, not just how to be a better artist but also how to be a better person and have the right attitude to handle anything in life. I would like to thank Bleona, Pandi Laço, Miriam Cani and Albanian Skenderaj for helping me find my own voice throughout the X-Factor competition and show my originality and creativity,” said Matteo Brento.
On October 15, 2015 Matteo Brento debut with his popular single “Tra Le Pagine”, influenced by pop and rock. “Tra Le Pagine” is written by Alessandro Di Lascia, produced by Sebastian Production. He is currently working on an Albanian song he is writing, especially for his fans in Albania and Kosovo.
“Recently, I have been performing locally here in Italy. My biggest dream would be to do a duet with an Italian singer or international singer. Also, I would love to organize a concert for my Albanian fans. And later on, I would love to tour Europe and North America in the future,” stated Matteo Brento.
The rising star Matteo Brento is an outstanding young musician with a stunning voice and commanding presence. He is the next generation of music stars representing Pop Rock, a successful genre defined by incredible artists such as Elton John, Paul McCartney and Rod Seward. Matteo Brento is undoubtedly the next big up-and-coming pop rock star.
My goal is to inspire 365 people to do something kind
Libby is a 19 year old Management student at the University of Nottingham. She is a keen fundraiser and volunteer and manages several charity appeals to help disadvantaged or ill people within her community. Notably, Libby is the president of the Nottingham and Derby branch of Free Cakes For Kids and works to ensure that no child goes without a birthday cake! In 2015 she was a winner of two Inspiring Woman of the Year Awards and this interview shows what makes her an outstanding person.
You were a winner of two Inspiring Woman of the Year Awards in December 2015 – how was your experience of it?
I echo the words of all of the amazing women I met on the night when I say it was an absolute honour to be nominated, never mind to come away with two awards! It was such a shock and a magical experience to be surrounded by so many people who have done such amazing things for the world. Even now I am in disbelief, however winning the award has inspired me to never give up and dream big; to continue to launch and grow new projects and reach out to as many people as possible.
How did you start to be involved in charitable activities and what motivated you to take this path?
There has never been a Eureka or pivotal moment in my life which has inspired me to do charitable work. When I was 16 I seized the opportunity and my first major charitable endeavour was skydiving, in aid of the Make a Wish Foundation, and since then I have never looked back. I have always been taught to be kind and consider those less fortunate than myself, I have big aspirations and want to inspire change in the world.
How do you manage time: be a great student and work at the same time?
Kindness is not an act, it is a lifestyle. If you truly care, you will find a way, not an excuse. These two quotes sum up the way I manage my time – it can be a struggle with coursework deadlines looming and a fundraising event on the horizon but with careful planning it is possible. The charity work I do would not be possible without volunteers and supporters who give up their time and energy to help to raise awareness or help those in need, and I am indefinitely grateful to be surrounded by so many generous and kind people. My role as the Education Representative for the Business School helps to keep me focused on my studies as I am involved in making changes to the learning and teaching environment. The Business School staff’s enthusiasm and the amazing pastoral care has been an invaluable asset in learning to organise my time effectively.
Who has supported you to follow your path?
I cannot begin to name all of the people who have supported me, every time someone pledges to sponsor me or signs up to an appeal it gives me a spark of energy and a determination to carry on. My family have always been there for me, be it watching me stand on a plane or just offering a hug and I couldn’t do it without them!
What are some of the challenges that you have faced so far?
Every day comes with its challenges and hurdles. I have organised charity events and invested weeks of time into a fundraising night only for a handful of guests to show. I have had to be accountable for cakes failing to be delivered and act quickly to avoid disappointing children. Working with disadvantaged families and seeing first-hand the vulnerability and fragmentation of families battling adversity can be tough. It is saddening to hear of cases of domestic violence and meet people living in such extreme poverty they are reliant on food banks. However, the stories give me an appreciation for what I have and motivation to go out and make a change, and encourage others to do the same.
You are very young and have achieved a lot already in life, is this luck or a result of your determination?
Whilst I don’t believe in supernatural luck, I believe it is a matter of perception and self-belief. I am lucky because I believe I am lucky – I seize all of the opportunities which are available to me and persevere even when things don’t go as intended. Being young does mean that I have a lack of experience however I have a great network who have been a source of advice and encouragement. I have always been hard-working and ambitious, putting 100% effort into any project or role at the expense of free time to maximise success! Everyone has the potential to do amazing things but many people do not actively seek out ways in which they can help and therefore I intend to give as many people as possible the opportunity to do something great! I am extremely privileged to have the education and experiences I have had and I want to give back, on both a local and a humanitarian level.
What are your goals for 2016?
Inspire 365 people to do something kind. Whether that means them being involved in an appeal, donating to charity, organising their own charity event or simply helping a friend to pick up their bags. Kindness comes in all shapes and sizes and a little bit can go a long way.
Make the most of the experience from volunteering abroad for two months in the summer, positively influence someone’s life and come away having learnt something valuable.
Go to bed every day knowing I have made someone’s life is just a tiny bit better (albeit indirectly!) than when I woke up!
Alex Kelly is an artist, filmmaker and activist committed to social justice. She worked for ten years with a leading Australian social change arts Company called ‘Big hART’ as the Creative Producer and was National Producer from 2012-2014. Alex has worked in a range of roles on documentary films including producing ‘Nothing Rhymes’ with Ngapartji, production managing ‘Coniston: Telling it True’ and directing ‘Queen of the Desert’. In 2013 she was awarded a ‘Churchill Fellowship’ and explored various models for social change documentary impact and engagement in the UK, Canada and USA. Alongside working on ‘This Changes Everything’ Alex is producing a TV series on social movements in Australia and plans to launch a documentary film festival in her home town of Alice Springs, Australia in 2016.
How would you describe the year we are leaving – how did you experience it?
2015 was a year of increasingly amplified crises and also of increasingly powerful responses to these crises by social movements. I was both horrified by world events but also deeply inspired by activists building power across the world. In particular I was affected by the horrific treatment of refugees and asylum seekers across the world but particularly in my home country of Australia. In contrast with the brutal immigration policies there is also powerful resistance inside and outside the camps with people blocking deportations, building campaigns and organisations to support refugees where the government is failing them. In the USA I feel devastated by the recurrent news of young coloured people being shot by police and I am therefore inspired by the fierce, proud and powerful ‘Black Lives Matter’ movement. Globally we have just experienced the hottest year on record and yet we see fossil fuel companies hell-bent on digging up what we know we must leave in the ground if we are able to have a chance of planetary survival. And in tandem we see the emergence of a powerful global climate justice movement connecting the dots between these multiple overlapping crises and demanding a just transition based on the ‘leave it in the ground’ philosophy.
What is the biggest success you achieved in 2015?
I am incredibly proud to be part of the ‘This Changes Everything’ team and in 2015 we rolled out the documentary film globally in a very unusual way and very quickly. We premiered at Toronto International Film Festival on 13th September and two weeks later we held ‘movement premieres’ across Europe. Soon after we opened in cinemas across the USA, Canada, Australia and New Zealand and in late October the film was available online as well as for grassroots screenings around the world. Thousands of people participated in screenings and discussions in the lead up to COP21 and we got wonderful feedback from audiences about what a useful tool it was for their organisations which was everything we had hoped for.
What were the biggest challenges during the year?
The tragic Paris attacks in November had a huge impact on civil society’s plans around the COP21 climate meetings. Finding a way to respond to both terror attacks and imposed state control and violence was a complex challenge. I am very inspired by the way in which French activists and organisers navigated around this and very proud of the climate justice movement globally for being robust and strong enough to connect the dots between issues and solutions.
Artists have a powerful role in society to help us reflect on and challenge meaning, definitions and ideas about the past, present and future.
What is special about working with artists?
Arts and culture are at the core of our society and identity – the stories we tell about ourselves and each other shape our world. Artists have a powerful role in society to help us reflect on and challenge meaning, definitions and ideas about the past, present and future. I enjoy working with people who take creative risk and I love the ways in which a gutsy artistic practice can challenge me to think differently.
What motivated you to work in film and engage with art?
I am driven by a deep commitment to social justice and quite early in my life I became excited by the power of music, media and film to drive big conversations with diverse audiences. I like the ways in which creativity forces us to let go, take risks and come at things in different ways.
Can you tell us more about ‘This Changes Everything’ project?
‘This Changes Everything’ is a book, a film and an engagement project that seems to reframe the climate crisis. At its core, THIS CHANGES EVERYTHING is a revolutionary call. The book and film make the case that we’ve failed to deal with climate change because truly doing so would require deep challenges to the current dominant economic logic. The key message is that the transformative changes required to confront the crisis should not be viewed as punishments to fear but as a kind of gift.
the transformative changes required to confront the crisis should not be viewed as punishments to fear but as a kind of gift.
By proving that the climate crisis cannot be solved without closing the inequality gap and deepening democracy at every level, THIS CHANGES EVERYTHING will wrest the climate issue away from the scientists and technocrats and turn it into an open and urgent debate about the kind of world we want to live in. So basically, THIS CHANGES EVERYTHING is a powerful tool to reframe the climate conversation within educational institutions, among grassroots movements and also in the media.
What is the impact that you are bringing with your work for changing the world?
I hope that I encourage people to believe that change is possible. I think this is critical to people taking action.
What is your big resolution for 2016?
American poet, farmer and activist Wendell Berry says “Stop somewhere and start the thousand year process of knowing that place”. In 2016 I want to pull my focus back from the global to the local. I want to concentrate on protecting the water supply in my town from fracking and standing with senior indigenous people who oppose proposed nuclear waste dumps on their land. I want to bring all the lessons I’ve learnt on the road over the past few years home to Central Australia.
Betty’s story has been very challenging but also inspiring. Having arrived in London alone at the age of 19, learning a second language from scratch, intending to adapt to a different culture, facing many obstacles, differences and, stereotypes that she had to face when she moved from her home country, it was very tough for her. Yet she has achieved many of her dreams and goals. Betty now has the opportunity through her job as a director of Becruit Recruitment to help others, by opening many new doors on their careers and encourage them to believe in their selves, and pushing them an extra mile to work hard in order to achieve their objectives. She says that her father has always been the one person that influenced her life all the way. He taught her that everything is possible, he encouraged her to dream Big and to live a life without limits and be fearless… “You can’t live your life for other people. You’ve got to do what’s right for you” Betty tells us. This interview reveals an insight into how Betty managed to achieve success in life.
Why did you choose England to start a new chapter in your life?
I didn’t really choose England, I came to England by a “lucky accident”. It turned out to be the perfect place for me to learn about the meaning of my life journey … I arrived being a spoilt rebel teenager and turned into a dedicated hardworking entrepreneur. Only after living in England I got, by experience, to learn the meaning of true friendship, what family profoundly stands for and the value of every single penny you earn. That’s England for me: a “Life Master’s Degree”.
I had to make my own decisions, learned from my own mistakes and stand on my own feet…
How difficult has it been for you to start your life from scratch?
At first it was tough, when you don’t speak the language you are trapped. Like a child in a new world that doesn’t hear your voice, it wasn’t until I became fluent in English and was able to communicate with other people and understand them, that I came out of the shadow I was living in. It was hard to start alone and not having someone to give me advice on what to do or not. I felt lost many times and uncertain about life. I had to make my own decisions, learned from my own mistakes and stand on my own feet.
Luckily my heart, values and, faith were always very strong and pushed me in the right direction, not letting me give up on anything I dreamed to achieve. Slowly, year after year I started finding my own way and everything became clearer. This journey has taught me that in order to grow, sometimes you must re-invent yourself, let go, and get out of your comfort zone no matter how hard that may be, it will always be rewarding in the end.
What is the influence of your childhood and home country memories in your actual life?
I believe the biggest influence from my country, Colombia, is the lesson to appreciate what we have and to be grateful for it. Also, the ability to be positive and resilient. I was born in a country that is wrongly stigmatised internationally because of drugs and Narcotics traffic. But on the other hand it is a country where people are extremely positive. Even the less fortunate have something to smile and be grateful for even when they have nothing to eat on their table. They appreciate every opportunity life brings and most people.
The country showed me how to re-start again from difficulties. How to move forward despite the endless obstacles you can possibly have and carry always the spirit of never giving up. Colombians will always find the way if there is a will. These memories have being a huge influence in my actual life and of course I learned how to ‘ dance not only salsa, but dance properly under the rainy days”.
Now you have created your career achievements – what motivated you toward success?
There is always time and space to develop new projects and ideas to keep growing professionally and spiritually. I will never stop wanting to learn and achieve more and more. But my real drive comes from helping and inspiring other people. My biggest motivation has always been through seeing what other people achieved because I have contributed somehow to their progression and development, not only professionally but also personally. For me, success is being able to lead by example and to leave a positive mark in everything you do and everyone you share with.
Success is being able to lead by example and to leave a positive mark in everything you do and everyone you share with.
How would you imagine your life if you were still in Colombia?
To be totally honest, it is hard for me to imagine life without all the lessons I learned in the last decade in London. They have made me the woman I am now. I guess my life could be perhaps more traditional and maybe I could be working in my family company, married in my early 20s and have a big family (and perhaps two dogs running around in the back garden). I don’t really know and I can’t even picture that now, but I am sure that the ordinary path wasn’t my journey. I have always been an unconventional person and I know that anywhere I could possibly be raised I would always live an extraordinary life.
How do you keep contacts with your home country?
I travel home once or twice a year and visit my closer friends and my family but also they come and visit me whenever they have a chance. We keep in contact regularly with all the social media platforms and skype. My family and I are very close no matter where we are in the world we are always together.
How do you see your future?
I see my future bright and successful but I also believe there is still a lot to learn on my life journey and I can’t wait to keep developing as a human being and push each day to be a better version of myself. I will like to keep helping and inspiring a lot more people and contributing to change the world in whatever way I can and possibly have my own little family.
Who is Betty?
Betty is an entrepreneur, director of “Becruit” Recruitment, an international Recruitment boutique firm that brings the world’s brightest women professionals and best companies together in multiple sectors.
Becoming a famous director and being involved in the film industry was one of Vanessa Pellegrin’s earliest childhood dreams. Always being curious and interested to see behind the curtain, to explore issues more precisely than others did, she followed her dream and became a journalist. Raising awareness for gender equality as well as addressing the problems that the term “feminism” faces nowadays are part of her daily routine. When talking to Vanessa, one can hardly fail to notice her firm belief and commitment to these issues and their importance. Although she herself has not been judged for being a successful business woman, she tells us about other problems she tries to fight. The interview reveals an insight into her life as a determined and independent woman, desperate to cause a change of attitudes in our world.
How did you start your career?
I started as a journalist and then progressively changed to production and directing. I am running my own production company now, making corporate films to big features. I am also a petitioner at the UN on the Western Sahara issue. Journalism helped me to get where I am now.
What was your biggest dream when you were little?
Becoming a well-known director, I am probably about to make it come true.
Would you consider yourself a feminist? If so why?
I think the question is no longer asked this way. To some people I will be a feminist only if I am against sex work or if I am a sex positive, if I am including men or not, if I agree with transgender being feminists or not…every group labelling themselves feminists have their own message and their own codes. It is getting confusing, it opposes women to each other and divides. This is probably why women are so reluctant to call themselves feminists. Now if I stick to the definition written in the dictionnary I am happy to say I am a feminist because I believe in gender equality but today it engages more than that.
What can be done to convince men as well as women of the importance of standing up for equal rights?
We need to create a debate, let people ask questions that seem naïve, stop bashing and giving no platform to people who disagree. I don’t think you have a lot of people being against having equal rights, at least in our modern societies but how we comminicate about it will make a difference.
The two protagonists of your current production “The Trouble with the F word” change roles to earn an insight into the other person’s perspective concerning feminism. How did you come up with this idea of swapping two opinions?
It was a long process, first we wanted to do a piece only with Lucy Anne Holmes, the creator of the “No more page 3” campaign but then we thought that the people who disagree with feminism should be also represented and be able to ask their questions. And because men are not very much included into the feminist world, I thought it was a great opportunity to elevate the debate. It was also because Emma Watson came with that initiative: rebrand feminism and include men to it. Whether we agree or not with her, I found this initiative interesting.
Since you broach the issue of men not knowing enough about the true meaning of feminism and their part in it, how would you approach young males to improve their understanding of the topic?
Lucy Holmes who is the creator of the no more page 3 campaign will try to do that. That is her role as she believes feminism is misunderstood so men or women, it doesn’t matter as she will make her point. And until the 28th March, we have a crowdfunding campaign which is live, so people can also set a challenge to our egalitarian presenter if they think he is missing a point. The point is to participate and interact in a crucial question.
Why has feminism become such an unpopular term in your opinion?
Too many groups, too many opposing messages and mainly the fact that people are turned to ridicule or silenced because they disagree with some points of the feminist agenda. We aren’t living in a world promoting debate and free speech, this is sad. A healthy movement should be able to put itself into question.
Where does your strong affection for reporting and exposing issues come from?
I have a journalist background so maybe that is why I like exploring issues in a very deep way. I strongly believe in freedom of speech.
Have you had any bad experiences with prejudices and stereotypes of women yourself?
The fact I am a woman has never been a problem in my career, even in Morocco where I was raised.
What is the most important message that you want the audience to take from your film?
That they are entitled to have their thoughts on the subject, simply.
Vanessa Pellegrin, a journalist and film-maker, the co-producer and Director of The Trouble with the F Word. Born in France and raised in Morocco, Vanessa started to work as a Journalist and became specialised in investigations and reports about current affairs, political conflicts and social issues. First in press and then in TV and broadcast. She came to live in London in 2009 and started to work in Film Production. She Produced and Directed her first film about the influence of Corporations on the freedom of the media and the press, ‘Ownership Rules’ between 2011 and 2012. Since then, she got involved in the production of short films such as ‘Abramacabre’ by Dominic Rossetti (2013) and ‘Nasty’ (2014) by the award winning director Prano Bailey-Bond. She is also a petitioner at the UN regarding the Western Sahara issue.
Five years ago Betsy Pool decided to follow her heart and implemented what others would only have dreamt of doing. Leaving the buzzing life of Los Angeles, and her husband, behind she went off to experience a completely new lifestyle in Damanhur, a community of around 600 residents in a mountain valley in Northern Italy. With each passing day she realised she had finally discovered her ultimate “dream world”.
Originally being a true urban soul who has previously lived in some of the world’s biggest cities, Betsy now shares her story about her vibrant every-day life in Damanhur with us. She provides us an insight into the community’s principles as well as the experience of living in a big collective family with twenty members.
Adventurous as she is, Betsy still gets to travel around the globe in connection with her established “Institute for the Mythology of Humanity” to spread the word and share her message. The following interview gives a valuable insight into her life story as a successful mother, business leader and inspirational woman.
Leaving your home and known surroundings behind to move to Damanhur must have been a big challenge for you. Can you tell us a little bit about this experience?
Sometimes in our lives, we are confronted with what I have come to think of as a “choice-less choice.” This happens when a profound voice deep within speaks with urgency and you know there is something you must do. You can, of course, choose to ignore this voice; but this type of voice is not easily silenced. Listening to it, ultimately, means following your heart.
In 2009 I followed my heart after just such a calling and dramatically changed my life – and the lives of my family – when I led our decision to move from Los Angeles to half-way across the world to invest in the ongoing creation of an alternative and more sustainable society; The spiritual eco-community of Damanhur in Northern Italy.
The decision to come here was not rational, pragmatic, or in any way easy, but it felt like the answer to a calling. I arrived in Damanhur with our six year old daughter for the first time in 2007 just four days after I had first learned about the existence of the Damanhur Community. My husband was working and couldn’t come with us at this point but he also sensed this discovery of a place called Damanhur was significant. Even our young daughter said, “Papa, I think it is important that we go to this place right away. Mommy has been online for three days straight looking at it and sometimes the things you see online are not so good when you get there in person. I don’t want mommy to be disappointed.” So we came, arriving on her sixth birthday.
On arrival, it was immediately clear to us that the Community was engaged in very important work. It also felt absolutely impenetrable. People were friendly but very busy and with the Italian/English language barrier it was not easy to connect. I decided our spontaneous exploration had been a folly and made plans to leave early. Then the ‘Damanhurians’ as they are called started to approach me asking why we were shortening our visit. I had not actually told anyone yet that we were leaving early. Yet, in a Community of 600 like-minded people, a para-telepathic field develops, and people ‘just knew’.
It was at this point that I had my first ‘magical experience’ in Damanhur. I began to meet people whom I recognised. After brief confusion, in which I sorted out that we did not know one another from past work or travels (many were Italians who had never been out of the area), I suddenly realized that these were all people who had populated my ‘dream-world’ for years – and that is the only way I can explain it. Even more extraordinary, the recognition was mutual and extended well beyond a surface knowing. It was almost like “love at first sight” but within a group.
Our family went through a two year immigration approval process and my husband left a well-paid corporate position in the US and I left a successful media career.
This remarkable realisation launched me on a difficult but determined journey: Our family went through a two year immigration approval process and my husband left a well-paid corporate position in the US and I left a successful media career. Basically we walked away from our much beloved Waldorf school community, soul friends and family and an extremely comfortable, affluent life in Los Angeles. As we left the U.S. the economy began to collapse around us. By the time we had our visas in hand and had divested ourselves of three quarters of our belongings, packed a 40 foot container and rented our house, our property value had plummeted, our investments had flipped upside down and our net worth had dropped by nearly 90%. Yet driven by some inner knowing, we were undeterred and confident that this was the right decision.
In this new culture of Damanhur it is often said that the best time to change is when we are happy and comfortable, not when circumstances force change upon us. We had begun the change from comfortable circumstances and by the time we arrived in Damanhur it felt like we had exited the mainstream, just in time.
We had traded a four bedroom house in LA, with beautiful gardens and a big swimming pool, in a great Los Angeles neighborhood, for a big shared house in a beautiful rustic territory, in Northern Italy. Now we live communally, deeply sharing all our resources, and our lives, with others who are not our biological family. We are twenty adults and two teenagers, including our daughter, who is now 14. There are ten languages capable of being spoken at our dinner table. Because of this we are often studied by researchers—sociologists, anthropologists and journalists from all over the world. We’ve even had folks from National Geographic filming our “family” dinner.
How did you realise that living in a smaller, sustainable community was the right path to take for you?
The realisation was initially not so much about the desire to live in a smaller, sustainable Community, though my passion about sustainable living, eco-communities and the ‘Transition Town Movement’ was ignited in the process of this journey. The initial motivation was this inexplicable connection to a group of souls, who from first meeting, we felt profoundly connected to. It has been an amazing ‘educational experience’ beyond my wildest dreams.
Is there anything you miss in Damanhur?
The only thing that I really miss in Damanhur, is having the time to read as I was a voracious reader prior to coming here. Now our life is so full and rich – and we are surrounded by so many varied and intricate stories that are playing out in real life – that I find I have very little time to devote to the fictional story-worlds that I was so passionate about before arriving here.
What can outside visitors learn from your eco-community in Damanhur?
While we never say that we have the truth in our pocket, at its heart Damanhur is a laboratory for research into sustainability: social, spiritual and environmental. We are deeply committed to sharing our research as widely as possible; from the practicalities of Community creation, to areas that can be considered more esoteric, like astral travel or past life research. We have an open university with courses that range from single half-day workshops to three year programs. We have six sectors, or schools, of study: The School for Spiritual Healers, The Mystery School, The Alchemy School, The Damanhurian Art School, The Community School and the Colour-Therapy School. Readers can view the available programs on our university and Welcome Office website.
To people living in urban areas, residing at such a small community might be hard to imagine. Could you describe a typical day in the life of a Damanhurian resident to give us an insight?
I spent my adult life living in cities: New York, Tokyo, London, Vienna, Sydney and Los Angeles. I am a city girl at heart, yet I can honestly say that Damanhur is the most engaging and fulfilling place I have ever lived. I continue to travel frequently in my own work with ‘The Institute for the Mythology of Humanity’ as do many Damanhurians who are part of our ambassadorial team and who are teaching and presenting Damanhur world-wide.
About a third of ‘Damanhurians’ work outside of the Community in regular jobs and career paths and the rest work inside of the Community in cooperative companies, associations, agriculture and individual businesses. While Damanhur may be perceived to be a small community we are, in fact, the largest private land owner in our region with territories purposefully purchased in diverse microclimates to support sustainable agriculture. We are also a magnet for the world’s cutting-edge thinkers. As a result, we are often in very personal exchanges with luminaries from many diverse fields. We also devote time to hosting journalists and media professionals who arrive from all over the world, to study and report on our Community.
Traditional work is but a small portion of our daily life and each Damanhurian is also involved in our School of Meditation. Damanhur’s primary spiritual teachings are outlined and taught through our School of Meditation, which is also open to everyone around the world, without cost, as the knowledge that is transmitted cannot be monetised.
Meditation in Damanhur is really about ‘Medi-ACTION’. Our Meditation research groups meet weekly to explore a wide range of subjects, from art to esoteric physics, from dreams to sexual energy. In addition, we work collectively, donating our time to projects that are of shared importance to the whole Community. The most famous example of this are the Temples of Humankind, a collectively realised underground structure dedicated to the story of Humanity and all divine forces throughout history. The Temples are internationally celebrated and have been called ‘The Eighth Wonder of the World’.
Each Damanhurian also participates in a Spiritual Way – six specific pathways that are dedicated to research and realisation in diverse sectors:-
“The Way of the Monks” and “Esoteric Couples”, chosen by those who (as singles or couples) wish to focus on how they contain and direct their vital energies.
“The Way of the Knights”, which involves security and protection on the Damanhurian lands, as well as construction of the Temples.
“The Way of the Oracle”, which is dedicated to a deepening exploration of the ritual of language.
“The Way of Art and Word”, which involves the transmission of messages and the refinement of the arts.
“The Way of Health”, which creates a pathway of growth through care and wellness.
“The Way of the Art of Work”, which supports and promotes the development of activities and services such as the Way of Health, the Way of Art and the Word, the Way of Business and the Way of Olio Caldo (a Way devoted to sustainability).
Our lives are further filled by our participation in what we call our ‘Nucleo Communities’. Living together is the heart of our social structure. Each nucleo, the large homes that we share communally, has a specific project or “Mission.” My own nucleo, ‘Dendera’, acts as a “window for the world” into nucleo life in Damanhur, by hosting journalists and media who arrive to explore our community. Additionally, we carry out the function of being a connecting point for other eco-communities world-wide, and in the summer we host an ecovillage design course in collaboration with Gaia Education.
Each Thursday, the entire Community gathers in the auditorium at a place called ‘Damanhur Crea’, the former Olivetti factory that the Community collectively bought and restructured into the commercial center and artistic laboratories for Damanhur, which opened in 2004. Our communal Thursday evenings are divided into time spent discussing and making decisions that are of relevance to the entire Community and the presentation for study of Esoteric Physics, a subject in which each Damanhurian maintains a minimum level of competency,
I would say there is no “average day” in Damanhur as one never knows who might arrive on any given day and what synchronicities these unexpected meetings may open!
In what way does the special collectivism of your community affect the way of socialising and communicating with each other?
The social path of living together, as we do in Damanhur, is one of the quickest stimuli for transformational spiritual growth. You are surrounded by ‘mirrors’ who are the other people here, and this very quickly illuminates both your best and also your worst attributes. It is very easy to agree on ideology. The real growth happens in the day-to-day living. When you live with twenty other people and in the evening put a yoghurt in the fridge with the expectation of having it for breakfast the next morning, it’s not likely to be there when you wake up. How do you react? Are you angry? Can you let go of your expectation of a yoghurt, and have a piece of toast, content in the knowledge that you helped to satisfy the need of another in your household? These are the windows of opportunity that help us to step out of our individual personal stories and into a story about the heart of Community.
You are surrounded by ‘mirrors’ who are the other people here, and this very quickly illuminates both your best and also your worst attributes.
You have mentioned the current political situation and making politics responsible for class-divided societies and social dissatisfaction. If you could give one piece of advice to politicians, what would it be?
An excerpt from a telegram signed by the Emergency Committee of Atomic Scientists with Albert Einstein as Chairman reads: “a new type of thinking is essential if mankind is to survive and move toward higher levels.” This quote describes my feeling about the political systems that are in place within our societies at this point in human history. I don’t criticize and I don’t have advice for politicians. I have made the choice not to engage in politics. However, given the opportunity, I would invite politicians, one-on-one, into a dialogue about what the original seed of their inspiration and intention to be in public service was. How has this, or not, aligned with their career and policy choices? What would they change if they could and what prevents them from doing so? The point is ultimately not in how they answer, but in the asking of the questions.
Did being a woman affect your career in any way?
I have never been terribly connected to issues around gender. I don’t think I navigated my career “as a woman,” I navigated my career as a compassionate, open, human being, who looked past superficial work relationships and always tried to connect on a very personal level with my colleagues and associates. I am sure there were times early in my career when the fact I was a woman in the predominantly male oriented backstage theatre world of stagehands, actually worked to my benefit. I was supported and mentored. In turn, I have tried to do the same with the young men and women who have passed through my career life as I became established.
What is the main message the “Institute for the Mythology of Humanity” wants to deliver?
We live in times of fragmented societies and deep social unrest. At “The Institute for the Mythology of Humanity” we believe this is the result of the loss of our core mythology as a species. Our Mission is to tell the story that unites mankind across boundaries of nation, culture, religion and spiritual belief; a story that encompasses the entire history of earth-bound Humanity and represents global consciousness. It is a mythology that has been reserved in esoteric archives for millennia waiting for the right time to re-emerge. That moment is now.
How would you describe the relationship between your success and your mentality?
I don’t believe it is my mentality that has determined the criteria through which I measure success. Mentality is easily influenced by family, educational, cultural and religious norms. Through a constant journey into consciousness, what it means and where I am on this journey, I judge my success based on my well-being and the well-being of those whose lives I touch.
I judge my success based on my well-being and the well-being of those whose lives I touch.
What was the most rewarding moment of your life?
It would be impossible for me to isolate one moment of my life as the “most rewarding.” Highlights have included opening night of the first performance of “Les Misérables”, on which I was the American Lighting designer, during its pre-Broadway tryout at the Kennedy Center in Washington. When the final curtain came down, the audience was absolutely silent, without reaction. Our creative team exchanged bewildered looks as we had thought we had a hit on our hands. Then, suddenly, the audience rose en masse, in the most thundering standing ovation I have ever witnessed. The other highlights, close to my heart, were the day I married the love of my life, 25 years ago, and the day I gave birth to our daughter.
What is the greatest wisdom you can share with us?
I believe that each person who has incarnated on this earth during this shift in consciousness is here with a purpose. Listen to your heart and find your purpose. Become part of the movement to build a new world represented by global consciousness.
Last Friday (15th), the second Business Networking Breakfast organised by Global Woman Magazine, was held in Central London. What an aspiring morning! After receiving great feedback for the first Networking Breakfast on International Women’s Day http://www.globalwoman.co/2016/03/international-womens-day-global-woman-networking-breakfast/ the next event was organised to offer an exclusive networking opportunity for successful women.
Throughout the whole morning, a motivational atmosphere filled the room full of 26 businesswomen, all buzzing from one new acquaintance to the next one. Personal success stories where shared which offered us an insight into each woman’s moving cause and incentive. Even some tears were shed after a very emotional speech! Despite the multinationalism of the group, we all shared the same aim: to inspire, connect and empower women across the world! As Global Women, we understand the need of empowering each other in order to grow our community and spread the word. We see networking as the key to success and women’s empowerment, which makes us even more thankful for this unique chance to connect that morning.
We would like to thank to Crussh for providing us with a delicious breakfast and Total Objects for hosting this event. Most of all, a huge thank you to all the women who attended and contributed to this successful event! Together we can take a stand and contribute to a better society.
A big THANK YOU to Global Woman Club for a truly transformational breakfast morning. I walked away with the importance of being the best that is possible for me and my clients. It was one of the BEST events I have been to that has the migrant woman at the core -and I was very impressed with everyone I met and connected with at this great networking event!
I not only got to reconnect with a lot of people I already have in my circle but got to meet some really great NEW people that I know will become part of my ever-expanding network. I really loved getting to know some of women at a much deeper level too. Thank you for your gift of friendship in such a short time and for the knowing that my heart gets expanded each time I attend one of these events!
“It’s not every networking meeting you attend that has the magic I felt at The Global Woman breakfast. Mirela brought together an amazing group of inspirational women; from every corner of the world, each with their own inspirational story and vision. Although we were all so different, one thing was incredibly clear to me. The common theme running through all of us was that we all want to make the world a better place.
I really believe that when women come together in a safe, supportive environment it will enable us all grow to be the best versions of ourselves. Following your dream/vision can be a lonely place. A group where you know your voice and opinion will be respected, new friendships formed and collaborative projects born has got to be a good idea. By helping each other we will truly empower women to fly and achieve great things as individuals, business owners and as human beings.“
The Global Woman Exclusive Breakfast Event is very personal, open and friendly environment where women with different backgrounds come together. All of the women have unique stories of struggles, hard times but also of their successes. They all share what they have learnt not just in careers or businesses but in life. Real women, real stories, real lessons and insights. An environment where everyone feels inspired by each other’s stories and motivated to make an even greater impact in the world, as together we are stronger, together we go further and together we make a difference.
I think this is the first event for women that I’ve come across where women with so many different backgrounds, ethnicities, ages come together and very openly share their individual stories just to help and inspire each other.
Gloria Halim
Holistic Health Coach, Author, Founder of Rock on Divas
It was really good to see women from different works of life and countries. I think what made it different to other Networking Events was that we each had time to talk about and listen to each other’s journeys. We all genuinely connected on an emotional level as well as a business and supportive level which was absolutely fantastic!
Bringing women together to encourage and support each other not only empowers women but builds them up as a strong force to make a global difference.
Jay Surti
Business Growth Coach and Presentation Consultant, TEDx Speaker and Author
Today was an amazing morning, I really enjoyed hearing all the stories of all ordinary women, living their lives but achieving great things and starting their own businesses. A great opportunity to socialise and network with other people! Today, I’ve seen people coming together – they can make a big difference and change the world!
In her life, Smita Joshi has already accomplished more than most people can even think of. She has succeeded as one of the first to start selling India’s IT services into British and European institutions, is a qualified yoga instructor, speaks six languages and is working on a seventh. Smita is also the author of the “Karma & Diamonds” trilogy, a story about a journey of self-discovery across continents and lifetimes. In this story, Smita shares her own journey of self-discovery and how it has brought success and happiness into all aspects of her life. Smita Joshi was born in the ancient Gujarati town of Porbandar, a town whose fame originates from being the home of Lord Krishna’s best friend, Sudama. Smita describes her childhood self as vibrant and joyful yet at the same time, sensitive and completely conscious of the world around her. “I was only too painfully aware of all that was going on around me but I almost never talked to anyone about my feelings.”
This epiphany, which allowed me to connect with my inner Self, which I call my Inner Diamond, altered my view of life forever
At the age of 7, Smita experienced an abrupt and shocking incident where she thought she was about to die. “Just then, I had my first mystical experience in which I had a spontaneous surge of energy shoot through my little body. I saw glistening beads of lights that looked to me like showers of tiny little sparkling diamonds. I had discovered a deep, mystical connection with the higher realms through my inner Self. This epiphany, which allowed me to connect with my inner Self, which I call my Inner Diamond, altered my view of life forever.” Later in life, a guru in India told Smita, “The ancient Indian seers saw at the core of the human being a brilliant, inextinguishable light, like a sparkling diamond. They called this Atman or higher awareness and it’s a part of the field of pure consciousness, Brahman in Sanskrit. Your Inner Diamond, it is pure, positive awareness.” As a child, unable to articulate what she was feeling about the event, Smita instead learned to stay positive and enthusiastic.
When she was 10 years old, Smita relocated from India to London. “I was ecstatic to come to London. It was a wonderful new world, fascinating and exciting. Like a child in their favourite sweet shop, I had a sense of awe and wonder. There was so much to see, so much to learn and so much to adapt to.” While Smita swiftly came to love London, there were still hindrances to her adjustment to the new country. Though she knew English through her schooling, Smita had never heard it spoken aloud by a British person. When she arrived at Heathrow Airport, Smita said, “The sounds that came out of the mouths of airport officials sounded to me like pure gibberish and hysterically funny and for the next six months, I couldn’t help bursting into fits of giggles whenever an English person spoke to me.” As she grew older, balancing the cultures of her two homes became more complex.
When she was 14 Smita’s uncle, visiting from America, gifted her with his well-worn copy of “The Power of Positive Thinking” by Norman Vincent Peale. The book inspired Smita, as the feelings and beliefs she held at the core of her being were now put into words. Smita had faced criticism and taunting at school for her optimistic and cheerful behavior, but this book validated her naturally cheerful disposition. “Being positive and looking for the best in others was where the joy was and I should not let anyone tell me otherwise. Just one gift of a single book sowed the seeds for a lifetime of personal growth.” Smita went on to read many of Peale’s books and aspires to invoke an awakening like she experienced in her own books.
The only fulfilling place to live from is in being true to my deeper Self
In was in her mid-twenties that Smita began to really grapple with the matters from her childhood. She found herself feeling like a cardboard cutout. While externally she was fine, Smita struggled to relate to people, despite the fact that she intensely desired to form deep and meaningful relationships. “It was then that frozen feelings and emotions, I didn’t know I had, began to thaw and seep through into my daily life, casting a dark, gloomy shadow. That was when my journey of Self-discovery began in earnest.”
At this time in her life Smita also found herself dealing with the differences between a traditional, community-centric Indian culture and the contemporary culture of London. “I had to make some heart wrenching choices about whether or not to marry at the age of 20, to leave home and how to do that without hurting my parents’ feelings. It was at this point that I learnt to listen more clearly to my inner-Self and began to discover this: the only fulfilling place to live from is in being true to my deeper Self.”
The inner diamond Smita awakened in her childhood has prompted her through difficult times over her entire life by revealing a deep insight and powerful, innate awareness. “When I suddenly lost my job or discovered that I had a life-threatening disease and doctors refused to operate on me, I found again that my Inner Diamond showed up and somehow communicated with me to guide my way. I learned to listen, clear as a bell, to this inner voice and allowed it to guide me with its innate wisdom to get through my trauma and pain.”
Smita began to wonder about the scope of the Inner diamond and if she would be able to call on it in day-to-day situations of her life. “I discovered that it surely can, because it’s pure intelligence; it does not discriminate between what we consider the ‘big’ or ‘small’ things in life.” The inner diamond serves as a cornerstone for Smita’s life, as well as her trilogy, ‘Karma and Diamonds’. Smita is certain that everyone has the power of the Inner Diamond within – they just have to actively learn how to access it. Once they have learned how to tap into it, the intelligence of the inner diamond doesn’t just help alleviate adversity, it leads to happiness and fulfilment.
“Happiness is being intimately connected. I feel blissfully happy when I feel truly connected with another, being at one, so to speak. Happiness is making someone else’s world a more joyful experience. It’s exhilarating to dive within and hear the inner voice, clear as a bell; to sense my inner diamond’s luminosity pouring through me and lifting me into higher states of awareness. I love going beyond my comfort zone to discover what more is possible, floating freely on the warm ocean, staring up at blue skies, standing stock-still in Shisrasana, headstand, discovering new places and people of this rich planet…so much to delight in. Ultimately, happiness is simply a choice.”
I love going beyond my comfort zone to discover what more is possible
Connecting with her Inner-Self has helped Smita overcome and resolve matters in all aspects of her life. While in early adulthood she struggled to form meaningful connections, presently, she fosters several fulfilling relationships. Foremost, she cites her relationships with her husband and mum. “With my husband, our relationship seems to grow richer in respect for each other and deeper in love as time goes on. Whenever I talk to him, I’m listening anew for where he is now, in this moment and what new things are unfolding for him and in him. He travels a lot so that when I see him, I’m looking for who he’s become since we were last together. There is so much to admire and adore about him that I can’t help falling deeper in love with him, it seems, on a daily basis. On those occasions that we argue, there’s a background commitment to ultimately resolving or agreeing to our differences. This keeps our young, ten-year romance fresh, exciting and exhilarating. With my mum, I have just one commitment: to improve the quality of her life in every single way that I possibly can. And I do whatever I need to make it so.”
Smita also cherishes her relationships with other global women in her life. Smita believes global women have the power to overcome any situation or background that others may presume to be barriers, by connecting with their hearts. She personally draws on the ancient wisdom of India and integrates it into aspects of her modern life, like when she teaches India’s offering of Yoga to the music of Western artists. Smita has worked with people of many different backgrounds in her professional work and has found that the key to being able to connect and communicate successfully often lies in recognizing the subtleties of different cultures. Smita says that to be a global woman is a rich and colourful privilege.
“I’m in awe of the sheer creativity and power of women. No matter where they come from, or what their stories are, these women are the real movers and shakers of the world. I believe that it’s these women who hold the key to the way in which the world will evolve.”
I envision a world in which the Inner Marriage is awakened and cherished
Energy, in form. That’s who she is “and that’s who we all are” says Allison. “But we enter this world and forget this, consumed with the gravity of Identity (and I mean “gravity” in the dual sense – of a gravitational pull to “be” someone as well as the gravity of this growing global condition)”. In the soul sense Allison believes that she a quester, an explorer. She thrives on creative expression and inspiring others. She truly delights in helping people (including herself) to shift their perceptions about the life around them and the life within them. In this interview she shares her true self and a big vision that she aspires in her life.
What is Synchronistory and what motivated you to start this venture?
Synchronistory is an unprecedented global television event celebrating the history of Civilization from past to present via original music (the universal language) and style (the way we culturally and individually express ourselves). Synchronistory gift wraps the continents and presents them to the people via dazzling “edutainment”. It’s like a global selfie; bringing history to life and showcasing the uplifting side of our multiculti face like we’ve never seen before; live from the 7 continents.
Personally, Sync is a passion project … an outgrowth of divine inspiration motivated by a profound question posed nearly 30 years ago while staring at a map of the world and wondering who on earth we are and what would it be like if we literally connected, in a music-driven event about us all? Back in those days the notion was absurd. About a year later, along came Hands Across America and I realized that a Hands Around the World could also become reality – ideally, as a millennium event. The timing was premature, though. The mighty tech infrastructure wasn’t yet in place coupled with certain catastrophic events that began to bond us globally. Catastrophe has always existed, but unlike any other time in history we’re now experiencing it ensemble; in real time, through the medium of media. It’s a very perplexing conundrum of polarization and harmonization that we’re witnessing within ourselves, reflected onto our worldwide mirror.
It took me several pensive years to realize we neither need a millennium nor a catastrophe like 9/11 as impetus for global connection. When it dawned on me that there was a gaping-wide, open-ended invitation to create our date and make history in synchronicity (Synchronistory), Hands was then reborn as Sync. Now we’re at a complex yet fertile crossroads. In the best sense, we have to go out of our minds to get into our hearts. Talk about clarity and 20/20 vision, I think a “televisionary” event like Sync is ripe for the year 2020.
You’ve been traveling around the world and now live in Europe with a German-based company. What made you leave your home country and why to Germany?
I believe we all have the potential for two births in this lifetime. The primordial one is our physical birth, of which we have no choice (nor a User Manual – incredibly, the most powerful thing we’ll ever use is our Self and we don’t really know how it works!). The second one is the far more challenging Conscious Birth of which we do have choice but often opt not to because it rocks our comfort zones. For me, conscious birth was induced by a territorial one; the search for my true homeland. People refer to Soul Mates. I believe in Soul Places – areas that “speak” to us in a way that alights and aligns us from the inside out. I’ve always had a nomadic spirit. It seems I reinvented my Self by seeking my Soul and actually finding it – in Europe! I love New York and have much affection for America yet I’ve always felt like an outsider, born on the wrong side of the ocean. Every country like every individual has its particular attributes. In terms of business and my company, Germany’s solid infrastructure and strong work ethic are invaluable assets. The region of Bavaria is a blend of sophistication, international business (particularly media) and beautiful nature. And the people are wonderful. I thrive on this trilogy and if I thrive, that good energy permeates to others and promotes a great team spirit. So leaving my birth land for my homeland was borne purely of Inner Prompting. No career prospect got me here, no job transfer or family or lover awaited me. Just Me awaiting my Self, you could say.
I thrive on this trilogy and if I thrive, that good energy permeates to others and promotes a great team spirit.
Can you tell us about your childhood and your life before leaving your country?
My early childhood involved lots of fantasy and dreaming on a big canvas. I’m told I constantly and intently questioned The Universe as a toddler. We lived in a Chicago hi-rise near Lake Michigan for a few years and I was fascinated by the starlit skies and looking through our telescope to find signs of life. My father worked in the Christmas ornament business before his cosmetics career in New York. I recall going to the Christmas trade fairs in July and becoming lost in a wonderland of fake snow and glitter that most certainly influenced my fantasy life. Case in point: I didn’t believe in Santa but I did believe in Star Trek, particularly Captain Kirk. When I was 5 years old I had a huge crush on the series’ star, William Shatner. So every week before showtime I’d put on my fancy little party dress and patent leather shoes and sit in a special chair to watch the program. I actually believed he could see me through the TV screen! It was a letdown to learn the screen only worked in one direction. Now there’s Skype.
Scholastically I was bright but not in the academic sense and I was insecure. America is very competitive. Even moreso for kids vying for Ivy League educations. My high school pushed this big time and I was surrounded by very privileged, brainy achievers. I simply wasn’t up to par so I took refuge in Existentialism and The Performing Arts. I was musically gifted and found my salve and creative voice through these two avenues. I also “gave good party”, which made me very popular. You could say I was a popular oddball. I had a wild imagination and fairly liberal parents who both allowed and encouraged the freedom to explore. I always loved inspiring people and I believe it’s my inherent nature. It’s always sprung from pure and unbridled joy which continues to energize me. Especially via music.
When did you start to realise the power of Spirituality was with you and how did you manage it?
I was aware of “something” as a wee thing. It was like a quiet companion riding alongside my life path. The first real impact came at around 11 years old when Dad became an enthusiast of A Course In Miracles and opened a Health Spa in the Bahamas. He was involved with cutting edge, esoteric, and sometimes prominent names in the Entertainment World and the Wellness / Scientific-Spiritual community. My father’s own potent spiritual quest and unfoldment exposed me to the elements early on. And I didn’t like it. His zeal and enthusiasm turned into (well intended) proselytism. He was a spellbinding guru giving me spiritual indigestion. It alienated me from just the regular dad I needed. So I distanced myself from he and “it” for years thereafter. Meanwhile, those early spiritual seeds became the cherished lily pads on which I later landed during turbulent times. I’ve also been profoundly lucky to know and be guided by a gifted spiritual mentor. Spiritual unfoldment is a privilege, a responsibility, and a constant revelation for me. It’s huge. It’s deep. It’s hard. It’s enriching. It’s slippery like mercury. And there’s no turning back once you open that door. I hold this “mercurial expedition” with great care – and a healthy dose of humor.
It sounds like you were always interested to explore the roads that are less travelled – How do you recognize your path?
I think you recognize the right path when your spirits start to stir … then gently tingle and sparkle … then soar. When you feel slightly uplifted from within and the sensation lingers that’s a clue (different than that of a fabulous meal, great sex or the latest i-thing which all inevitably lose their luster and then you need more). Another clue is when you lose a sense of time because you’re so absorbed by your interest – no matter how insignificant. Sometimes the absorption in that little nothing ignites the eventual something which becomes your full-fledged path.
But recognizing one’s path isn’t always direct or immediate. It can be masked by a curly cue of circuitous roads steered by an imposing ego. So we get sidetracked. But I believe in alchemical transformation and that even a sidetrack can become a right track. That certainly happened to me. Greatest gift of my life. I also believe that any activity or experience which instills wonder, ignites a glimmer of heartfelt joy or passion is a signal – assuming it’s not harmful to you or others (unlike a compulsion, for example).
What are the biggest challenges you have faced following these paths and how do you experience this?
The biggest challenges for me are discerning between the Inner Voice (of wisdom) and the Ego Voice (of will) … of accepting that their coexistence isn’t a paradox (a word that incites conflict and separation) but a partnership (a word that inspires expansion and variety) … of trusting Life and its silences or apparent stillness – gestation is a necessary and natural part of life but society often dictates productivity – so I get antsy, insecure. I’m learning a lot from observing Nature. A tree. There it is, quietly existing. Yet below the surface is life-force in action. I use the metaphor of The Tree for The Me. I meditate to both quiet my active thinking mind and to learn how to manage it rather than it me. I learn to read life through its language of metaphor so it can inform me rather than me imposing my language upon it. Mindfulness brings me into further awareness of minute impulses and inner promptings about what to do or not to do at any given moment. Answers increasingly emanate from a place near my heart. When I “feel” an impulse, a surge of energy, or prompting from this heart area and it doesn’t feel fearful or harmful, I trust the impetus. I also greatly value the logical left brain. It’s a marvelously vital and instructive tool but I emphasize intuitive guidance more and more. Distinguishing between them is tricky but you get more attuned with practice.
I truly believe that beyond Climate Change lies a still more urgent call; Changing the Emotional Climate.
What do you think about the world today – what would you like to change and if you would have the power to change the world how would you like it to be?
I would like the world to be made of chocolate and eat my way around it without getting fat. Fantasy notwithstanding … I think we’re reeling between Crisis and Possibility. We’re morphing into bug-eyed i-beings who are addicted to the next gadget (me too sometimes, but everything in balance) while on the frontier of profound internal awareness. I was recently at a dinner with about 12 people from different nationalities. One person phoned another seated at the far end of the table to pass the balsamic and they wound up in a whole conversation during the meal. It was both amusing and sad commentary about this growing co-dependency. I truly believe that beyond Climate Change lies a still more urgent call; Changing the Emotional Climate. We’re experiencing a Global Identity Crisis in which the world of tech both connects and disconnects us. It’s fusion and confusion! What it means to be a human much less a nation needs to be refined, redefined, so we’re no longer meshed into nor crippled by restrictive thinking. It’s complex but the shift is en route – especially amongst the millennials with numerous illuminating, life-changing endeavors worldwide. And yet … we’re still unaware that we’re a “We”. It’s like a bunch of isolated limbs, organs, and cells that don’t quite get that they’re part of a global body yet there’s a hint something’s off – which tech (dis)connect ironically elucidates. From chaos can emerge calm but birthing it is like a bud through cement. So I’d like to inspire that bud with Sync, and nurture a global home in which our sense of Individuality and Community coexist in harmony.
Your ambition to invite the whole world and humanity to celebrate The Millennium sounds very powerful – where did this derive?
It’s probably a combo of an innate soul-urge coupled with longing for closeness to my parents and my fascination with cultures / travel. These threads have been consistently weaving through my life.
What is your vision for the future and what are your plans to achieve that vision?
I envision Nature and Human Nature coexisting with our respect for this intrinsic link. I envision a transformation from a selfish world to a world of self worth, in which Bling is balanced with Being. I envision a world in which the Inner Marriage (to Self) is awakened and cherished, and that we live more intuitively by learning the new universal language of Life through its innumerable metaphors. And my only “plan” to achieve this is to keep trying to live it … and to launch Sync into the global mainstream. After that I remain “plan” less, deferring to Guidance and Grace to steward the ride thereon. Trusting Life isn’t a flimsy proposition, nor is mounting Sync. It’s a tandem of commitment to the work as well as an astute appreciation that we are not the boss of Life. We are an expression of it. If ever there was a time to put the human back in humanity and take that global selfie, it’s now. And I can’t wait to see what we look like, in the best sense!
I’m a New Yorker by birth and “global goulash” by choice
In the societal sense, I’m a New Yorker by birth and “global goulash” by choice, having lived like a nomad before settling in Europe about 20 years ago where my company is now based. I grew up in an unconventional family. My mother was an abstract artist whose massive paper mache creations revealed a powerful inner female hidden behind her timid demeanor. My father was a cosmetics executive with Revlon and Helena Rubinstein before following his entrepreneurial bent and opening a health spa in the Bahamas, writing a book on holistic health, and forging relationships with spiritual pioneers of the ’70’s. Later he became an actor. And always he remained a musician. Most recently he’s become my dear old Dad.
Mary Ann is a woman who has received many blessings and challenges, the contrast which has produced many extremes when it comes to experiences. Her hearing loss made her appreciate what it really means to be fully present in listening. Her seizures have made her fully appreciate what it means to have full control of her body. Her migraines have made her fully appreciate what it means to be able to embrace a new day with the freedom to decide what to do with pain free moments in the sun.
Being raised in a powerful Caucasian family in the United States provided a contrast of being given access to the best education, the best medical care, the opportunity to meet, fall in love with and marry her husband, Joshua. Yet it also placed her in positions to experience what it meant to be spat on in the 1990’s by both Hispanics and Caucasian people for interracially dating. These extremes of contrasts have led her to feel as comfortable in the White House as in a Tolteca temazcal, or at home having tea in the House of Lords, or participating in the Shinto Oomoto Tea Ceremony in Kyoto, Japan with their spiritual teacher.
It has also made her believe that anything is possible because she has been told that she couldn’t do something and turned it around and done it more times than she can count. Mary Ann graduated from the accelerated Hockaday high school despite her hearing loss, to help negotiate the first treaty in 300 years between Hopi and Navajo Nations. Her story is absolutely amazing and reveals that a woman like her is one in a million and here on this planet for a reason. Discover more in this exclusive interview.
Who is Mary Ann Thompson?
I’d say I’m an ordinary human being who has been surrounded by extraordinary circumstances, people and opportunities that have all led me to become a humanitarian, utilizing both non-profit and for-profit modalities to help humanity consciously create the culture our species’ wishes to cultivate on this planet. By that I mean consciously creating the values, motivations, perspectives and attitudes which define how science, economics, spirituality and more will be defining our times in the 21st century.
My purpose is not to tell people what I think those values should be, but rather to help humanity to be fully empowered to choose for itself where our species wants to go. We – all of us homo sapien sapiens living today – are the first generation on this planet to have no excuse for ignorance. Becoming aware of that fact, taking upon our shoulders the fullness of what that responsibility means, and embracing it, is the first step to also becoming the first generation to intentionally choose what our species will become.
Your story is very unique and it sounds like you came to this world as a special gift. How can you describe your role in the world?
Yes, I was blessed to be adopted because I just happened to be born on Mother’s Day in 1977 at 7:11am and that made Father William Wasson of Our Little Children of The World Orphanages decide that he would make an exception, as his organization usually doesn’t participate in adoption, and allow my family, who started and grew 7-Eleven to adopt me. Five days later they flew me back to Dallas and that changed everything. In those moments, I received many miraculous gifts: my biological mother decided to carry me and gave me life, then she decided to give me a better life when she released me for adoption, then my family provided that better life and all the opportunities that came with it….but while I was hailed as a child protégée in the arts, I would visit Mexico with my parents and witness young children my age or younger painting pottery in the markets and could see they were just as good or better than I was.
This has allowed me to have two sets of perspectives in my life: the privileged one I live every day, but also the one that knows that had I not been adopted, I wouldn’t have had access to the experts who wore rubber gloves and reached into my mouth to teach my tongue the way to shape the words I cannot hear the difference between – like crown and crayon. I would probably have been assumed to possess an intellectual disability and instead of speaking at the United Nations, TEDx and the White House, I would instead be afraid to speak at all. I would probably be selling my pottery in the markets, looking at the glamorous tourists who walked past and thinking about what I would do with the power I perceived them to possess. I allow myself to put my mind behind those eyes on a regular basis and then challenge myself by asking, “Okay, now that you are that person DO the things you are empowered to do and if the means is out of reach, do the things to weave the connections to empower yourself and others to get there.”
I allow myself to put my mind behind those eyes on a regular basis and then challenge myself by asking, “Okay, now that you are that person DO the things you are empowered to do and if the means is out of reach, do the things to weave the connections to empower yourself and others to get there.”
You are the Co-Founder/President of The Memnosyne Institute and The John Philp Thompson Foundation – what does it means for you to lead big enterprises like that?
Both my husband and I pursue our humanitarian work via what we refer to as “Social Acupuncture”. By this, what we mean is identifying the points where an investment of time, capital and energy can combine to have a resounding effect. We identify these “points of potential impact” by identifying how economics, environment, cultures, demographics, religions, etc intersect. We literally map it out in a spider web format. This has led our humanitarian work to incorporate social responsible investing and conscious capitalism as much as philanthropy, and in some situations, even working with all three with a larger eagle’s eye perspective as to how the three can potentially combine to have a magnifying effect.
In our minds, it’s this type of integral approach that will make the humanitarianism of the future more impactful and the outcomes sustainable. For example, The John Philp Thompson Foundation for Non-Chemotherapy/Radiation Brain Cancer Research does not have a ton of capital. So we target cancer fighting research that is already occurring and supplement their funding so they will include a brain cancer research aspect to their pursuits. We take this kind of targeted approach in The Memnosyne Institute, where Joshua and I spend 90% of our lives’ focus, to an even greater degree by forging alliances and collaborations with both for-profits and non-profits who can help us magnify our impact.
A regional example of this is our FoodSourceDFW.org program which is the result of interfaith volunteers from every religion you can think of coming together to interview every north Texas food pantry and homeless shelter they could find. Based on the interviews we discovered that 30% of donated foods was spoiling before it could get to the hungry. Therefore the missing link was in coordinating the relations between for-profit companies and the shelters/food pantries as well as convincing the shelters/food pantries to view each other as collaborators instead of competitors. Once we did this, under the careful guidance of our Director for the Memnosyne Center for Interfaith Inquiry and Initiatives, Rev. Dr. Todd Collier, all of the non-profits benefited from greater food donations as opposed to the donations decreasing as they’d feared.
On an international scale, a major collaborative initiative we are spearheading is the “School Out of A Box” program aimed at bringing high school and university level education to the poorest regions of the world. It involves both non-profit and for-profit collaborators including The Club of Budapest International, Women That Soar, Saba Hamlet for Gender Equality, Be Earth Foundation, and Green Habitat Project, among others – the combined collaborations which are poised to take the program from Mexico to Jordan, from Nigeria to Haiti, from Native American reservations in the USA to Egypt and from much more.
You have now a global influence in many projects for social good – what drives you to contribute for the world and humanity?
Being human does. Recognizing that the many tools that I’ve been given in this life are not just for me to party it up, but rather for helping to forge a new world…whatever that world might be. It is not my goal to achieve world peace, but rather to help develop the tools that will empower humanity to one day achieve that peace. Personally, when people ask me if peace is possible, they usually don’t like my answer because I tell them it will be possible the day that our society discovers how to make it as profitable as war.
We as a species have to rediscover that we want to continue living on this planet with the quality of life it currently provides. By that I meant getting to breathe clean air, taking for granted the water, the nutrients in the earth that yield the crops we eat and getting to live in the shared agreements that enable us to engage in civilized discourse, settle disputes and advance ourselves technologically. But the scary thing is our species continues to evolve the “technological” hardware without putting as much emphasis towards developing the sociological “software” to balance our potential impact on each other and the planet.
People like to say that globalization and capitalism are the enemy. But the truth is money is like a hammer – I could hurt someone with it, or I can build something with it. It is a tool that needs an informed population to utilize wisely. Globalization is the natural direction for our species as well, because with our increasing population, of course our economic systems will evolve to become more interconnected than ever and the outcome is for our environmental and sociological systems to become interconnected – even interdependent.
People like to say that globalization and capitalism are the enemy. But the truth is money is like a hammer – I could hurt someone with it, or I can build something with it. It is a tool that needs an informed population to utilize wisely.
For us to have an accurate understanding of where we are as a species, we must recognize that globalization cannot just be thought about as increasingly interconnected economic systems, but rather the opportunity to intentionally recognize how our cultural, religious and ethnic ideologies will be processing how their geographic locations are now interdependent alongside the whole. This means that for the first time in the history of our species, we must intentionally take upon ourselves the inspiring challenge of creating the culture we want, consciously and with deliberate, informed intention. Make no mistake, what you are doing has a profound impact that can resonate across the globe, requiring from this time in history forward, an educated, informed world population with which to make the decisions necessary.
This does not mean we will agree, but that our debates must become based on understanding the urgency to see past the memetics at work in a given political system, and into the heart of what it means to be an intelligent, caring member of our species. If we do not take upon ourselves this challenge – which in itself defines the challenge of the 21st century, we risk nothing less than the derailing the growing potential of our species as a whole and all the negative impact such negligence will mean for our planet and communities worldwide. Understanding this drives me more than anything, to do my part to help get our species where it needs to be.
Who are the people that have inspired you to follow this path?
While I never knew my grandfather, Joe C. Thompson, his example of using his for-profit corporations to help fight segregation in the south in the 1930’s, 40’s and 50’s has affected me deeply. He understood the reason people feared change, how to articulate the reasons for embracing change in different ways, based on the values and motivations of those he addressed. For example, arguing that integrating the State Fair of Texas would generate more money for all – which eventually helped to rid the “Ku Klux Klan Day” and the “Negro Day” and instead make every day at the largest state fair in the United States fully integrated all the time, and he used a diversity of modalities to change people’s minds.
He was fond of saying, “If you are one of the people who can see seven blocks down the street when most can only see one, then speak to the people about what is two or maybe three blocks down from where they are. If you try and tell them about what you can see so much further down the road, they will not understand you. But you can guide them towards the greater goal for the day they or their children or their children’s children are able to see what you can see today.” I’ve learned to pay attention to those words in just about everything I do.
“If you are one of the people who can see seven blocks down the street when most can only see one, then speak to the people about what is two or maybe three blocks down from where they are. If you try and tell them about what you can see so much further down the road, they will not understand you. But you can guide them towards the greater goal for the day they or their children or their children’s children are able to see what you can see today.”
Another person who strongly inspired me is my father, John Philp Thompson, Sr. Dad would often say, “The easiest job in the world is to be a critic. Anyone can criticize, anyone can say ‘I wish someone would fix this or that’. But you be different. If you recognize a problem, ask yourself, ‘What can I do to help solve it?’ and then do it! This is not always the easiest path, but it is the most rewarding one.” Hearing those words all my life and then later hearing more about what grandad did, what he stood for and encouraged those around himself to stand for, set the bar high for my own life.
My father was also a catholic mystic, so he took dreams, visions, meditation and prayer seriously. From the time I was a little girl, I’d had a dream of a place where there as a building for science, a building for health and medicine, a building for spirituality, a building for the arts, etc, where people could come from all over the world to share their knowledge for the benefit of humanity. I would tell my father about these dreams and he would say, “That is why you are here. That is why you were brought to us and if it is important to you to fulfil your destiny, you will do it by the time you are thirty.” It was a tall order and I would ask, “Why doesn’t Spirit give this vision to someone like you with the power and influence you have?” and he would answer, “Because you have been assigned this task and with the tools to achieve it.”
That is why you are here. That is why you were brought to us and if it is important to you to fulfil your destiny, you will do it by the time you are thirty
The dreams kept repeating into my twenties. One night, while we were in Mexico at Casa Thompson – our family’s shared vacation home there – I dreamed the same dream and complained the next morning that the vision was impossible to achieve. My father told me, “Pray and see what God says about that.” I did, and I had the same dream again, but with a twist: at the end of the dream was my father as a little boy playing with a paper boat in a barrel of water. It was so peculiar it woke me up.
Almost immediately after, my business partner was knocking on the door. I answered it to find him excited and not being able to wait to tell me what he had just seen: He’d asked the people at Casa Thompson to take him to some pyramids off the usual tourist list and they’d taken him to Xochicalco. He said there was a pyramid for science, one for health/medicine, one for arts, etc. He explained that the Native Americans had once travelled on foot from all around the American continents to reach it, setting aside disputes, wars, etc to help those traveling there because they understood that the people headed there were doing so for the benefit of humanity.
Each pyramid’s architecture was designed with multiple cultures blending their styles together representing the unique coming together for the sharing of knowledge. Then he paused and said, “And I don’t know why I am telling you this, as it is the most unimportant part of what I saw, but there was a little boy there playing with a paper boat in a barrel of water.” That floored me! I went to Xochicalco and realized that half the world – North, Central and South America – had achieved the vision I’d had…and they’d done it without all the technology we now possess. In that moment, I realized the dream was not impossible. I shared it with my father and he just smiled, “See, you are on the right path.”
Others who have greatly influenced the life journey and purpose behind The Memnosyne Institute include many spiritual leaders from around the world whom Joshua and I are now blessed to count as close friends, including but not limited to one of our closest spiritual mentor, Ricardo Cervantes Cervantes, (Thlalhuizcalpanteculttli), the spiritual leader of the Tolteca people of Teotihuacan. Our relationship with him and his people are a major part of why we included serving communities of “Indigenous Cultures” as a priority in The Memnosyne Institute’s international, and local outreach. Others who actively participate in encouraging us forward include many elders, such as The Very Reverend James Parks Morton, who serves on our Board of Directors, Gregory Gomez, an apache spiritual leader, the late Her Excellency Oye Aina Olomo who was the first female Yoruba chieftain in all the Americas, and we are blessed with many luminaries on our Advisory Board such as Dr. Ervin Laszlo, Dr. Don Edward Beck, Jan Diedre Strimple, Adolfo Ayuso Audrey, Barbara Marx Hubbard, and Lawrence Bloom.
What is the influence of your family in your life?
It’s easy to assume that we make our own decisions about our life paths, and while my family never lectured me about their values and roles as human rights advocates, I have been amazed to learn how there is an undeniable current of it in every generation. For example, my grandmother’s, (Peggy Philp Thompson), father, John Philp, was made a Knight Templar in the Order of Saint Gregory The Great because of his interfaith work. Decades later, my grandmother helped to sponsor the first interfaith temple in the United States, Thanksgiving Square, located in Dallas. I didn’t know any of this when I began my own interfaith work.
There are still even greater examples wherein the battles fought by previous generations seem to overlap with later generations. For example, Grandad fought the KKK because he had gotten to know many African Americans via the time he was in charge of what was then called “Negro Day” at the State Fair of Texas. He would recognize individuals as being good workers and wanted them to be part of his start up. In the process he got to know many of them and became friends. He then did the math and explained to the State Fair of Texas that it would make a lot more money if integration was permitted. But that was not so popular back in the 1930’s, 40’s, and 50’s to say the least. As a result the Klan would burn crosses, and harass and threaten my grandparents and their children.
At the time they had six children, only three of who grew to adulthood, John, Jere and Jodie. But my Uncle Jodie told me for a seventh grade report I was given years ago, that he recalled being woken in the middle of the night by my grandmother who said, “It’s reading time!”, and thinking she was nuts as she herded all the kids into the back of the house. One night, he snuck away from the group to see what grandad was doing and was stunned to see all the cone hats and burning cross and recalls them turning their heads towards the window where he was looking out. He said grandad shoved him onto the floor, out of sight, and only then did he realize grandad had a hunting rifle hidden in his hand behind the door as he yelled at the Klan to leave.
Later, my Uncle Jodie explained that both his parents explained that they were trying to hide this fight from their children because they didn’t want them to grow up with fear because fear is where hate begins. Decades later, when I was interviewing Uncle Jodie for my homework assignment, and he told me this story, I was flabbergasted. The following day I met a woman at the Brookhollow Golf Club who was a friend of my grandmother’s and the lady explained that she and the other women would share tea and sandwiches while paying bridge with my grandmother, to find out what my grandparents’ schedule was so their husbands could don on the coned hats and white sheets. The woman broke down crying and pointed to me saying that the fact my family had evolved to the part it could interracially adopt wasn’t a surprise to her because she had known my grandparents and what they’d stood for.
When I read the report to my father before taking it to school, he told me that it was a direct answer to a prayer he’d made about whether or not to permit an LGBT human rights march at the State Fair. I’ll never forget what he said, “Now upon learning all this, I know that the issue is not about my religious beliefs, but rather the fact that if I were to deny these people the right to peacefully march I would be doing no less than spitting in my father’s eyes.” Our home received a lot of threatening calls the months that followed, but decades later, Jean Carpenter, who had been the PR person for the State Fair of Texas told me that Dad had done more than his word…he had answered all the death threats and vicious name calling by marching himself.
Years later we learned that the grandson of the KKK’s Grand Dragon who had lead the terrorizing of my grandparents and their children had ended up being the coordinator for our interfaith volunteer programs in Dallas. He would joke, “Well, it took a few generations, but your family won!” So yes, sometimes the times can seem very dark and intimidating, but when the legacy of a family is based on values, stories, and a deep spiritual calling to serve humanity, that legacy is strong enough to permeate through generations and invite the ones who follow to add onto the legacy. What both my grandparents did – not just my grandad – was create a kind of code or creed that demands excellence, ambition, and determination, but not just for one’s self and more importantly refused to separate what one did to make money from what one does as a humanitarian. It’s also quite intimidating, as after knowing what they were willing to risk – the lives and well-being of themselves and their family – to help fight for desegregation, and how it inspired my father to face the threats he faced to stand up for the human rights of those different than himself, there are no excuses to do less in my own life.
Can we know a bit more about your story and the relationship that you have created and invested for years with your parents?
My mother and I did not really get along through most of my teenage years and twenties. However, I have always admired her drive and determination to achieve whatever she set her mind to. For example, when she was attending college, she managed to receive duel degrees in business and nursing while teaching herself to twirl a baton with a stick and still beat out the girls with personal trainers to become the majorette for the school. And she did all this while juggling two jobs, paying for a house for herself, her aunt, who’d raised her, and another house for her brother, his wife and their three children. She did all this and later became an airline stewardess for American Airlines so she could see the world.
My mother taught me a lot about strength, determination and following one’s dreams. I can’t begin to imagine how she accomplished even a quarter of what she did, and am frankly in awe
My mother taught me a lot about strength, determination and following one’s dreams. I can’t begin to imagine how she accomplished even a quarter of what she did, and am frankly in awe. She has had a hard time understanding why my husband and I have made some of the choices we have, but she openly admires the impact we are having as more and more of the seeds we have planted are bearing fruit now. I think it is important to be honest about the fact that not all daughter/mother relationships are easy, but that a level of respect can be attained where there is love and that it is not always necessary for each other to fully agree with the actions or focus the other takes in order to share that love and respect for each other’s character.
My relationship with my father was a profound one for me as he made the conscious decision to, in his words, “Raise you like a son and your natural femininity will take care of itself.” What he meant by that was teaching me how to stand to take command of a room without saying a word; how to shake hands to demonstrate one’s personal strength; and how to read other’s body language. He used to take me to his office and ask me to sit there quietly observing as he had his meetings. Then, afterwards, he would quiz me by asking, “Who had something to offer that didn’t put it on the table? Who was lying? Who was nervous?”, etc. These are the lessons that men have been teaching their sons for centuries, and I am just blessed that my father saw in me a pupil he deemed worthy of his time to teach that way.
“My relationship with my father was a profound one for me as he made the conscious decision to, in his words, “Raise you like a son and your natural femininity will take care of itself.”
However, one of the most profound impacts he had on me was when in high school I was feeling particularly depressed. He must have had an intuition as he never came home early, but that day he came home, found me crying on the stairs and told me directly, “Life is not always fair and while there are many things that others may have done better, you are at the age where you must take upon yourself the responsibility for how you will react to the world. You can go through life blaming all the things or people who hurt you or you can decide here and now that you will not be a victim and have the power to determine your life.” As a teenager, I felt that his words were lacking compassion, and was hurt and angry from them. But looking back, I feel immense gratitude for the lesson he imparted to me. I have had to make the decision after many things in life that despite whatever I might be facing or have faced, that I refuse to think of myself as a victim. There is immense power in that.
I have memories of after having experienced running from an attempted gang rape, survived molestation and stalkers, trying to hide by wearing big frumpy clothes and hoods. I only attracted more attempts to victimize me. But when I made the conscious mental decision to no longer be a victim, I could wear whatever I wanted to wear and wasn’t harassed any more than the everyday woman. This taught me what it is to reclaim one’s power.
How has this experience helped you to become who you are today?
I was able to witness this reclaiming of power on a much greater scale in later years when after hosting numerous indigenous scientists, environmentalists and leaders for the International Summit on Indigenous Environmental Philosophy, we invited the Maori representatives to stay a few extra days to travel from Dallas to Houston to view the Oceania collection at The Menil Collection. It turned out that The Menil Collection had a surrealist’s collection and within it a collection of things famous surrealists picked up in their travels and used for inspiration, (in other words, whatever knit knack Salvador Dali might have bought on vacation).
Mary Ann after her speech at the Global Woman Summit in London
When the Maori leaders went in there, they began to weep and sing. It turned out that back when the British first arrived in New Zealand many of them had a very literal interpretation of the Bible. This led them to believe that women were supposed to have as much pain as possible during childbirth because Eve ate the apple and therefore anything that reduced the pain went against God’s wishes. At the time, the Maori possessed what they called, “birthing flutes” which they believed reduced the pain of childbirth when played. So the British set fire to the flutes and killed all the flute carvers, musicians and midwives who knew how to use the flutes.
We’d had no idea, nor did we know that they had a prophecy that their people would receive their knowledge of the birthing flutes back on September 21, 2012. Thankfully, our Executive Director, Phillip E. Collins, is one of the leading curators in the USA and was able to negotiate access to the flutes for the Maori. Of course we were willing to take any date they gave us, but the museum selected September 21, 2012 and on that day the Maori entered the building carrying photographs and drawings of ancestors who’d mourned the loss of the flutes and their musicians, midwives and carvers studied, played and recorded a sound bank with the flutes. They took the sound bank back to New Zealand and the recorded songs were shared among their people. Knowledge of carving the flutes was accentuated by the flutes being put through an MRI revealing exactly what the shapes were inside and carvers replicated them back in New Zealand.
One of the few female Maori Chieftains, Rangitunoa Black, used the opportunity to heal rifts between families as multiple generations participated in learning how to carve the flutes and eventually the songs were played at a national rugby championship where whole generations of Maori all over their nation heard the flutes for the first time.
A few years later, the Maori received some of us in New Zealand during a cultural exchange we were facilitating between the Maori, Tolteca and Mayan people. While there, they presented me with a “Ticki” – a small woman carved from a whale tooth. They explained that whenever a whale beaches itself, all the Maori tribes have to decide together what is to be done with each part of the whale and they had decided to carve and present me with the figurine in recognition of the small part we’d played in their reclaiming their cultural knowledge. As they placed it around my neck, I began to realize that what had occurred to them had been nothing less than a cultural rape and what was occurring now was a reclaiming of their cultural dignity, knowledge, strength and pride. I recalled what it had been like to relearn how to stand, walk and speak without thinking of myself as a victim, and it allowed me to understand in my own small way the depth of what had occurred there and the sacredness of what we’d been entrusted with. Today, I often wear the piece when addressing any group that is fighting for their human rights as it reminds me that the most powerful place to be is in service to others and through them, to Spirit.
What are the main challenges that you have faced toward your success and how do you manage difficulties in life?
When I was little the type of hearing aids that were available fit in the ears and had a huge box which hung around the neck. So kids would turn it all the way up and shout in my ears. They would also say that my skin color was brown because I never bathed, etc, etc. The long and short of it being that it was quite a daily struggle for me.
So one day my father took me to Turtle Creek, located near our house, and handed me an acorn. He told me that that acorn had the potential to one day turn into a tree. I was amazed as I saw him point to the huge tree behind him. He then told me that the way the acorn achieved this was because it spent its life struggling to reach the sun. He said it never would, but it was in the determination to do so that it dug its roots deep into the earth for the strength to reach high into the sky. He then told me that he and my mother had decided to give me the choice to attend an easier school designed for the deaf and hearing impaired. He said it would be much easier for me, but that I would gain much less. He then pointed out that at Hockaday, where I was going, life would continue to be very difficult for me, but that I would gain much more. He asked which I wanted to do. I realized in that moment that I was actually making a decision that went much deeper than just where I would go for first grade, but rather that I was making a decision that would define my personal life philosophy. I didn’t have the words for that then, but the understanding was there deeply enough that I chose to stick with Hockaday.
It was hard. So hard that upon graduation I crossed the stage to receive an empty diploma to save face and then took an accelerated university level course to finish qualifying. But I graduated from what is considered one of the toughest all girl schools in the nation – and that was something “experts” had told my parents I could never achieve.
I share this because it’s important to let people know how difficult things can be along the journey, and yet how what can seem like an individual decision in life is actually establishing our personal life philosophy. It hasn’t always been easy for me to handle challenges. I’ve dealt with stalkers, molestation, seizures, asthma so bad I spent quite a bit of time in hospitals, migraines so bad they kept me in the dark, throwing up and in excruciating pain for days and nights on end, racism, misogyny, homophobia (I’m bi), a stroke, a broken heart following the end of an engagement, kidnapping attempts, learned to kick- box after duel knee surgery and much, much more. But the biggest challenge I’ve faced is always myself in the end. The way I get through this is I recognize that I am the pen, not the writer, the clay, not the sculptor…that all these blessings and opportunities are tools that the Creator has given me to be in service to world.
This allows me to see life as a collaborative dance with Spirit. This sometimes means a lot of faith. For example, one year the Hopi Nation lost its entire corn crop and without it they couldn’t even trade corn with their Navajo neighbours to obtain the lamb the Navajo traditionally sold for the corn. It was either let them starve or figure out what to do. We reached Anson Mills who agreed to sell their organic heirloom non-gmo blue corn at cost. It would cost us $60,000.97 to afford enough for the whole tribe.
As my inheritance is kept in a trust, I do not have free access to it and must make a business argument for every cent my husband and I receive for our personal, humanitarian and for-profit endeavours at the end of each year. If it wasn’t part of the agreement at the former year end, it is difficult to obtain more. The blue corn crop crises had hit at the end of the year and we didn’t have access to the trust. But we realized that if we didn’t pay the electric bill, if we didn’t pay the water bill, if we sold many of our investments, we could squeeze out $60,000.97.
We didn’t tell anyone about what we were doing and spent the week manually raising the garage door, etc. Then we received a letter in the mail. It turned out that my grandmother had made an investment long before I was born and upon the completion, it was to be subdivided among all her grandchildren equally. We opened the envelope and there was exactly $60,000.97. So, I’m not saying that miracles will always occur, but I am saying that when you surrender to the relationship you have with Spirit – however you define it –and let it be the basis which guides your life, the synchronicities will increase along the way. Or as Pablo Neruda says, “When you are on the right path, the soul of the world rises up to meet you.”
Knowing this does not always make things easy, and sometimes it is important to remember that our bodies are in service to our souls and not the other way around. So if it is in your soul’s best interest to learn a lesson that is stressful to the body or mind, its needs will come before our conscious desires. What I can say is that the result of this dynamic, if embraced instead of resented, will evolve the deepest essence of what and who we are.
Some of my biggest current challenges are that people assume I have free access to the full 7-Eleven fortune, and sometimes magazines, (like Forbes Mexico did on the cover of their June-July 2016 issue), wrongly promoting by omission the idea that I am “the” heiress of 7-Eleven. The truth is I have a huge catholic family – and that means there are 14 grandchildren, including me, and many more times that in great grandchildren, and even great, great grandchildren that make up the Thompson Clan. On top of that, I do not have freedom to do whatever I want whenever I want with my inheritance. On top of that, in the United States all legal public non-profits must raise one third of the amount of money the founder puts in each year from an outside source. This means that without increasing donations, Joshua and I will never be able to increase what we can legally put into The Memnosyne Institute. So we always need donations and outside support despite what the media may try and paint otherwise.
You are a global woman involved with your projects around the world – where do you think you belong?
I believe I belong anywhere where I can accomplish the most good. Right now one of The Memnosyne Institute’s projects which excites me the most is the collaboration we have forged between the life’s work of Dr. Don Edward Beck and Barbra Marx Hubbard. As many are aware, Dr. Beck’s work, based on the Spiral Dynamic patterns of humanity’s sociological development discovered by Dr. Clare W. Graves, can identify what influences are at work in a given society, thereby revealing what kind of solutions will have the greatest chance of having a pragmatic, measurable, positive impact. Meanwhile, Barbara Marx Hubbard’s process, the Wheel of Co-Creation is able to sift through a given community to first identify those with solutions most relevant to the community’s shared needs and then sift again to identify those with a predisposition for active collaboration.
These two brilliant leaders within the integral community are combining their methodologies with the help of engineers Dr. Kevin Kells and Juan Carlos Kaiten, to create a process that will help any community, local, national or international, be able to strategically move closer to achieving the United Nation’s Sustainable Development Goals. This is highly significant as while there are many technologies and methodologies for collecting data, there is very little that can reveal the interrelationship and influences the various data have on each element of a given society and our species at large. One of these will be located on the Memnosyne Institute’s Campus for Humanity’s Center for Outreach which will also offer offices for The Club of Budapest Americas, Centers for Human Emergence, and the Foundation for Conscious Evolution so that the integral community at large can have access, study, provide feedback and utilize the information which will be projected in a hologram format in the building designed by architect Keith Critchlow.
The Memnosyne Institute and Foundation for Conscious Evolution are also forming a B-corp, Planetary Indaba, (named that by Don’s wife, Pat Beck), that will be financed in part by the Be Earth Foundation led by Lawrence Bloom, that will provide the means for multiple VSM/WOCC to be constructed as needed and animated over the internet for locations in Berkeley, the United Nations (as part of Barbara’s vision for a Peace Room/Office for The Future), Monterrey, and any other communities that desire to have access. The hope is to help countries to be able to make informed strategic decisions that can make the difference for our species’ success in attaining the 2030 Sustainable Development Goals which are critical if humanity is to survive with the quality of life our planet and its resources currently affords.
A secondary, but significant, benefit of the construction of VSM/WOCC is that it provides an opportunity for the first time for humanity to “look in the mirror” and to witness what a given community’s shared consciousness is at any one time – be that a community, a village or the globe. We are deeply grateful to Dr. Ervin Laszlo for his encouragement and guidance through this process. I have met with people in the White House’s president’s cabinets on Technology and Science, Environment, and Native American issues; the head person in charge of the country of Mexico, meeting it’s Sustainability Development Goals and here in London in The House of Lords, to meetings with people in the United Nations and all of them tell me that this is the technology they need to help the world get where it needs to be.
Similarly, our “School Out of A Box” project is in demand around the globe and through partnership with the Be Earth Foundation headed by Lawrence Bloom, Women That Soar headed by Gina Grant, The Club of Budapest headed by Dr. Ervin Laszlo, and Green Habitat project headed by Tania Arryales Rodriguez, (the architect for the project), among many others, including Memnosyne’s Director for our Center for Global and local Outreach, Coke Buchanan, we hope to have schools built in Mexico, Haiti, Cuba, places in the African continent, and more. We are aiming for areas where people are forgotten, ignored or dismissed. We don’t want to provide unnecessary competition if a school with a teacher already serves a community. Rather, we want to go where no educational services are being offered at the high school and university level.
This doesn’t mean that the students all need to be young either. Our hope is that anyone can continue their education, making it possible for single parents who must work at jobs, as well as for young people who feel bad about leaving their homes to go to school, but who want to get an education without sacrificing the income they need to work daylight hours to earn. The core high school and university curricula will differ depending on what education is recognized as accredited in each country.
At this time, it seems as if something is accredited in the USA, most third world countries recognize it, so we are looking to work something out along these lines, but doing it per country. In addition to providing the accredited curricula, The Memnosyne Institute will also provide two required courses: We have contracted Dr. Don Edward Beck to create a curricula titled “Introduction to Globalization” that will provide people in poorer areas most affected by globalization to learn the vocabulary to speak about the ways it is affecting their lives and spiral dynamics, so that they can also articulate the difference in motivations between both internal and outside sociological/economic/ecological influences of their part of the world.
The other course is being led by Memnosyne board member, Kunal Sood, who is “curating” a curricula titled “Becoming a World Citizen” (other titles have been suggested to be “Becoming a Responsible World Citizen”, “Becoming an Empowered World Citizen”, etc.) This curricula is being designed by Dr. Swami Satya Brahmnanda, plans to pull upon the works studied by Gandhi, MLK, and others which empowered them to be peaceful agents for positive change in their communities. We are also hopeful to bring in information from Stanford University professor, Dr. Dotty, a neurologist who is studying the beneficial effects of compassion on the human body.
The hope is by integrating that information it will inform students as to the self-serving health benefits of living compassionately. We are relying on the expertise of Kunal Sood to help meld these two together. I truly believe these two projects have the potential to have a remarkable impact on the world. In order to make them happen, I will continue to reach out to any individual, organization – for-profit or non-profit, community, or seat of government, to see that these projects have every opportunity to transform humanity. In essence, one is educating the decision makers at all levels of society and world leaders, while the other is aiming to equalize access to education at a potentially planetary scale.
I invite anyone who feels inspired by either of these initiatives to contact me to see how you can become part of these exciting solutions and tools for our species’ advancement! And that right there is probably the best answer as to where I feel I “belong”…I belong anywhere where I can actively collaborate with equally empowered individuals wanting to magnify their positive impact in the world!
What is your opinion about women who are investing in their future and becoming leaders and decision makers?
Women need to see each other as collaborators and learn from the men’s “Old Boy Networks” how it’s by empowering others that we increase the influence of our own networks and forge opportunities for ourselves in the process. I am tired of women who either idealize our gender’s intentions or feel competitive with other women based on the misbelief that there is room for only one of us at the top. Minorities need to get over that same misconception too. Women also need to recognize that not all men are bad and that we only strengthen our own gender’s advancement by not being opposed to embracing men as mentors, mentees, friends and collaborators.
Being a feminist means believing our value is equal to our brothers, not prioritizing our gender over them. What I also want to share with women who are leaders is to embrace your capacity for compassion and empathy. Empathy is a remarkable tool towards understanding other’s motivations and that information will allow you to be more strategic in your own actions. Women too often try to become leaders by attempting to become masculine. Power, the capacity to inspire others to follow your lead, is not a masculine trait and therefore there is more than one path towards achieving, maintaining and growing your own empowerment. Every struggle you have had has honed your own empathetic acumen…use it.
As far as women’s role as decision makers are concerned, I want to answer with a short story: When I was little my father would bring home stacks of “homework”, and I was a nosey child who looked through the pages. One time I found a list of countries that each had a dollar amount next to it going from 15 cents to $25. My father explained the shareholders had wanted something manufactured for $7.50 and he was going to go to whatever country listed that amount as their requested compensation. Being in fourth grade, I saw everything in black and white terms and therefore said matter of factly, “Well then, why don’t you pay the $7.50 your shareholders have already approved to a country asking for 15 cents and transform their lives while still making your company happy?” My father stared at me for a long moment, blinking. Then he got on his knees and looked me in the eye and said, “Thank you for reminding me what my real job on this earth is.”
I’d forgotten all about that when in high school he came into my bedroom, tossed a book on the bed and said, “Remember how you asked me to consider doing that? Well, I did, and the community has built roads, schools, clinics and more and not a dime was charity.”, he paused then added, “Every high school graduate should be required to read that book as it will show the world you are inheriting.” After he left, I picked it up and it was “The Lexus and The Olive Tree” by Thomas Freedman explaining globalization.”
The reason I share this is because my father was a humanitarian, but like many people he put his business hat on and took his humanitarian hat off when making what seemed like basic every day decisions as CEO of a major corporation. Here was a man who had fought to legalize profit-sharing, initiated the first and second nationwide collaborations between a corporation, non-profit and the public, (March of Dimes and Oak Farms and Muscular Dystrophy and 7-Eleven), and who was a human rights and environmental activist…yet, he had not considered that every day boring decisions could have a far reaching impact.
So my challenge to the decision makers out there – both women and men – is to recognize that you are never not part of the intricate network of overlapping, often tangling, economical, sociological and environmental influences. When you keep this consciously in your mind, you will find that your career – whatever it is – can become an impactful force for change. Take this mantle of responsibility on consciously because you are that empowered whether you want to be or not. Choose ignorance and you will be part of the problem. Choose to embrace your potential to impact the world around you and you will become nothing less the kind of leader our species sorely needs…the kind of leader who recognizes that with every decision you are consciously creating the values, perspectives, environment, etc, in other words, the global culture, around you. Choose to become a Conscious Cultural Creator, and your actions could well resonate positively for generations in ways you can’t begin to imagine. Ask yourself, what kind of ancestor will you choose to be?
What is your vision for the next 10 years?
In many ways, I had wished to be further along towards achieving The Memnosyne Institute’s own sustainability by now. Currently, every dollar anyone donates goes directly to programs as we cover 100% of salaries as well as the majority of the programs. But with the world economy doing what it is doing, we need to have many more people joining in our efforts to help grow our programs to match the rate of growing demand for them. Our organization has three different areas – our Campus Without Walls which includes all our programs,(including our international chapters in Japan and Israel/Palestine and our Cultural Center Programs in Teotihuacan. Also the Yucatan and hopefully soon one for the Maori of New Zealand as well), our Virtual Campus which is a means to provide a network of networks, GlobalCollaborationSource.org connecting all types of humanitarians who approach their work with an integral understanding of how multiple areas are interconnected.
It incorporates online dating technology, which instead of looking for someone who is tall with blues eyes, helps you find someone doing social responsible investing in a particular village, or an activist fighting for women’s rights in India, etc. Our aim is for the platform to empower other humanitarians of all modalities around the globe to be able to find ideal collaborating partners.
We are currently working with computer engineers Juan Carlos Kaiten and Michael Gosney to combine what we’ve developed thus far with what Barbara Marx Hubbard is hoping to evolve. Lastly, we are working on building the Campus for Humanity in Dallas, Texas which is inspired by Xochicalco, the ancient center, which once served the same purpose. World famous architect, Keith Critchlow, has designed the first two buildings, our Center for Spirituality and our Center for Global and Local Outreach, which will house a hologram projection of the Vital Signs Monitor/Wheel of Co-Creation, as well as exhibits revealing the same patterns revealed in the VSM/WOCC which exist in biology, quantum physics, and more, making the building itself into a means for teaching.
The second floor will provide offices for organizations with an integral understanding, including The Club of Budapest, The Dallas Institute For Humanities and Culture, Centers for Human Emergence, Foundation for Conscious Evolution, and others. The third floor will house offices for all seven of The Memnosyne Institute Centers: Interfaith Inquiry and Initiatives; Environment, Science, Economics & Technology; indigenous Cultures; Health & Medicine; Spirituality; Arts; and Global & Local Outreach. In the next ten years I hope that the first two buildings will be built and our organization will not just become more sustainable, but also grow to serve even more communities around the globe!
Tina is an award winning entrepreneur, business owner and one of the world’s leading experts on relationships. She helps and mentors people to discover their true worth and value, and facilitate them in how to leverage that to achieve and surpass their dreams, aspirations and goals in life. People are often crying out for help whether at the work place, in relationships, or family situations etc. Equally some dare not cry out and need to be nurtured to get to the point of accepting and dealing with their issues.
Have you become who you always wanted to become in life?
Yes, to some extent, I always wanted to be able to influence and make a difference in people’s lives for the better. This saw me start my working life as a teacher, and later to owning my own business, growing it mainly through nurturing my team and their relationships with our clients, which has led to Circle Podiatry becoming the UK’s #1 multi-award winning private podiatry brand. In 2013, I did the Key Person of Influence programme run by Dent.Global lasting one year. They monitor your progress in subsequent years and I was blessed in December 2015, together with my husband Peter, to win the prestigious title of Key Persons of Influence 2015.
I also wanted to build a global business, which came to fruition in 2014, when my husband and myself launched our award winning, global not for profit organisation called undefeeted, which is about helping people who have diabetes to avoid lower limb amputations. This idea was born after our daughter was diagnosed with type one diabetes aged eleven. We launched it in LA in October 2014 on the same stage as Al Pacino, Sylvester Stallone and Jay Abrahams amongst others. We then launched it in the UK in June 2015 together with the book ‘undefeeted by diabetes’. Excitingly, within five months, we won the ‘Best not-for-profit organisation of the year’ at the FSB surrey awards 2015. A year to date of its UK launch we have had a global reach of over 6.7 million. Now I spend my time to mentor people to teach them from my experience and learning on how to know they have worth no matter what they may think, feel or say.
Now I spend my time to mentor people to teach them from my experience and learning on how to know they have worth no matter what they may think, feel or say.
Who has influenced and supported you in your development process?
To a large extent, it’s been God who has been my biggest unfailing support, then my husband and my family. I believe my upbringing led me to strive to succeed in life. Meeting Daniel Priestley also changed my life and now my coaches, JT Foxx, Damien Elston and Shweta Jhajharia have all been big influences in my life, as have my mentors James Lavers & Camilita Nuttal. They have all made a huge contribution to my life for which I am forever grateful.
What do you remember from your childhood?
It wasn’t an easy childhood, my father particularly was extremely strict and not someone I could easily speak to or go to if I had a problem. I was sent off to a village secondary school at a very young age, whilst my remaining four siblings all went to the top secondary schools in the country. I remember at the age of 12 thinking I could change my life for the better if I aspired to it and worked hard. I told myself and made it my mission that failure was not one of my options, so I studied very hard and qualified as an educational psychologist, I have also trained in clinical and business psychology, transactional analysis as well as guidance and counselling.
What was the influence of your parents in your life?
My mum was very entrepreneurial, she worked hard to become an award winning business owner and one of the top regional distributors for Nestle, Unilever and Cadbury in the central region of Ghana. My dad was a building contractor who ran his own business and did big multi-million deals all the time, although I recall he was away on business a lot. He was very strict and when he came home my siblings and me would all run and hide in our rooms or keep a low profile behind a book or something. We felt like we were walking on egg shells around him as we could never tell what would lead him to get mad with us. They both had a lot of money, they were no doubt millionaires from the money I used to see being banked or from cheques that were paid, but we were never given money at the drop of any hat which I guess I should be thankful for now.
I remember one time when I wanted pocket money, I had to join the builders who were doing some work for my dad to earn some money. I remember thinking to myself, the way they were with money, that these guy’s will not come and save me if I got into trouble, so I had better work hard and create my own economy. However I wanted it to look like, if my life was to be successful it was up to me to make that happen. My mum is also a very prayerful woman, very warm hearted, kind, reserved and an extremely forgiving person. She adopted lots of other kids whilst we were growing up – at one point there were six other kids as well as us living in our seven bedroom house which was known as the ‘House of gifts’. I am still in touch with some of our adopted brothers and sisters.
I don’t think my parents were happy in their marriage, as I saw my dad mistreat my mum time and time again. Each time we would speak with my mum, she would say “It’s okay, I want you all to have a good education and a roof over your heads whilst you’re still young”. In effect she scarified her happiness for us children to have a “Stable home to grow up in and a good education”.
At a very early age in my life I wrote down how I wanted my life to be, the kind of man I wanted to marry, how I wanted my children to be, and the type of career I would have. I wrote it all down and have worked hard at it ever since.
My mother indirectly taught me how to discover my worth as a person and how not to allow anyone to control me, but how to stand up for myself. I saw no one stand up for her when she needed it and I learned when and how to say “No” without compromising on my true values and beliefs. I learned how not to live just to please others at your own expense. I thank her for the lessons and values she taught me, which I hope I have in turn passed on to my four children too.
You are also a mother with a family – how do you find time to dedicate to your career and your personal development?
It’s a real act of discipline and immense sacrifice. I am extremely grateful to my wonderful husband Peter, who has been a real rock to me, he has supported me in every endeavour that I have aspired to achieve. I am also extremely lucky to have very wonderful and supporting parents-in-law who help me with the kids, allowing me the opportunity to be able to develop myself and the skills I need to progress in my business, career and life.
What motivated you towards achieving success and how do you define it through the different stages of your life?
My real motivation hit me at the age of twelve, when after a long painful conversation with my dad, I ran crying to my bedroom thinking to myself that I wanted a better life and there is no one going to do that for me, other than myself. From then on I decided that failure wasn’t one of my options. From that time, I realised freedom would only come by working hard to earn every bit of lifestyle that I wanted.
I set goals regularly and I think I have a really high level of commitment to my own success because I always want to have that freedom.
Later in life (16 years ago), I would define it though having the courage to support my husband, leave thirteen years of service in the NHS to set up our own private podiatry clinic- Circle Podiatry. Fast forward sixteen years to now and we are the UK’s #1 multi award winning private podiatry brand. Another milestone in life was when five years ago on the 1st September 2011, our then eleven year old daughter was diagnosed with type one diabetes. Through our own personal struggles we realised there was nothing to support our daughter to prevent her becoming one of the horrific statistics – that every 20 seconds, someone in the world has a lower limb amputation as a direct results of diabetes. 85% of these could be avoided.
We also realised that more people die each year from diabetes than breast cancer and Aids combined, so instead of sitting and living in fear of all these things, we decided to do something about it. We invested in the amazing James Lavers as a mentor. James also has diabetes and helped us put together our idea of setting up Undefeeted as a Community Interest Company (www.undefeeted.org). Undefeeted’s mission is to help people who have diabetes to avoid amputations.
You have developed your business and teach businesses to grow – when did you discover the entrepreneurial spirit within you and what drives you toward business?
I discovered this I suppose from childhood growing up. Both my parents ran successful large businesses and from a young age, I would come up with ideas of ways of making money. For example I once got a bar of soap, cut it up and went through the neighbourhood selling the pieces to make some money. I would offer to be the cashier during school holiday for my mum just to earn a little bit more pocket money and whilst in boarding school, I’d teach other kids in return for payment in the form of biscuits or other things I desired.
You work together with your husband Peter, what are the advantages and disadvantages in working as a couple?
One of the advantages I would say is that you both see the business and how it is doing so your commitment to make it work and successful is always 100% because you both have to take responsibility and ownership for it. We are very good at working together, probably partly because for a long time we have always had a business coach. This benefits us by having someone to hold us both accountable for our actions and decisions within the business. One other factor is that we have multiple locations so we work at different sites, although within the same business and then on one day a week we work together so we can catch up, plan and do business. Honestly if you didn’t know we were married you would not necessarily know that from seeing us together at the clinic, as we are both very professional at work.(at least until lunchtime, then we have lots of fun and lunch together etc). Disadvantages may be that possibly we can sometimes get too immersed in the business, so much so that we don’t allocate enough time out for ourselves to have fun. Another disadvantage is that if something negative happens, it can hit us both and could mean we are then pulled down by it together at the same time.
What is the strongest point in your relationship?
It’s having our faith and making God the third strand in our cord. We both allow each other to be their true self around each other, no pretence, straightforward honest talk, trust, patience and supporting each other. I am an action taker and I need stopping sometimes.
You have travelled a lot to speak and share your message – what makes your story special?
I think it’s because not many people aged twelve think to write down the life goals and set out to achieve them. My sheer determination and persistence to be who I want to be has meant that I have had to stay mentally and physically positive at all times. I am yet to meet anyone else who recognised at such a young age that their life was full of negativity to the point it motivated them to aspire to have a better life. I have worked hard to get to where I am now and I have by no means arrived at my destination.
Do you believe that being a woman has influenced the way you develop your business?
Not necessarily, I don’t usually have a problem being myself around anyone but of course I will adapt and be sensitive etc when required. To some extent maybe it does as I am naturally a nurturing person, my Ghanaian name is “mother” and I grew up mothering a lot of people through all sorts of stuff/challenges and still do to date.
You have been published as one of the 100 most inspiring women in the world – what does this mean to you?
It is a real honour to have someone recognise that quality and character in you. It’s one of my biggest accomplishments to date. To me it means I am real, am on the right track and that I have everything in me to empower and raise up other people to find their worth and to get to their full potential in life. I can do all things through Christ who strengthen me. Philippians 4:13
What is your biggest fear?
I don’t have any major real fears in life, not ones that I let rule me. I guess we all entertain fears to a degree, about our children, our business, our family, society, etc but through God’s love we should have faith and trust in him to see us through, just as Job did in the bible. My husband has just reminded me of our attempted canopy walk in the tree tops in Ghana. I guess I do have a fear of heights but that is referring to physical heights and not going to high places achievement wise.
What makes you happy?
Being with my family and also having some pampering, like massage, or a spa…. ooh, I get to cloud nine straight away. Also, seeing others change because of conversations they have had with me etc such as a client in The Netherlands who had been in a really bad relationship for nearly a decade. I spoke with the person for just over an hour and less than 24 hours later I got a message from them saying they had been able to walk out of that toxic place and relationship and had been able to say “No” and “enough” to their partner. They shared that they could actually feel themselves breathing again for the first time in a long time.
What inspires you?
Other than God’s word? Meeting people who have testimonies of turning a bad situation into something positive such as the amazing Cherie Matthews, founder of healincomfort.com People who inspire me are; Oprah Winfrey, Steve Harvey, Bob Burg
Who are the most important people in your life?
For me it’s definitely God first, my husband, kids, family and friends.
How do you nourish your mind?
Through the word of God, reading the bible, and other great books, for example in 2013, I read the Go giver by Bob Burg. It changed my thinking about giving and receiving and in June this year, I had the privilege of meeting him in Austin Texas at the Empower a Billion Women conference, together with Sharon Lechter and Ingrid Vanderveldt, Lisa Copeland, Cherie Matthews, my mentor Camilita Nuttal and other amazing people who blew me away with how they were, to see such truly successful people be so humble and serving to one another was absolutely an honour to me. I also listen to audio books whilst driving. What wisdom can you share with us?
No matter how successful you become, the key to staying successful is to be humble, serve others as best as you can, be kind to yourself, don’t listen to what others think or say about you. You have great worth and you can always live your life to its full potential if you focus, work hard and persevere in your steps. Finally, and my biggest one, is to find a mentor and do it quick!
What would you suggest to a woman who wants to start a business and become an influencer in her community?
Find a mentor or a coach, because you will avoid costly mistakes along the way and finally remember that to be successful your desire to succeed should always always be bigger than your fear of failure. Surround yourself with the right people who raise you up and not put you down even if that is your shadow!
What Peter Allton says about his wife!
How would you describe Tina as a wife, woman and mother?
Tina is an exceptionally hard working, very driven, focused and extremely loving dynamic woman. She embodies many of the characteristics of love as described in the Bible. Firstly, Love is patient and with four children that is certainly tested regularly (Tina would say five – that I am the fifth and worst). Love is kind and she is certainly that particularly with sharing her time and experience. Love does not envy – ever since knowing Tina she has been content with what she/we have. She is able to live a simple life whilst balancing that with healthy dreams of aspiring to achieve or own something.
Love does not boast comes to mind as she does not blow her own trumpet unless it is to further a good cause or give glory to God for an achievement. Love is not proud –there is nothing wrong with being proud of an achievement but to look down on someone thinking you’re better is wrong. She does regularly put herself in other people’s shoes so to speak, to help them feel comfortable. For example, at the Migrant Woman conference in May, a friend from church attended with her young child .Tina was sensitive to her feeling a bit distant and so instead of going to lunch with the speakers she sat with this lady and went without her lunch and the opportunity to network just to make her feel accepted.
Love does not dishonour others. She always seeks to build others up and certainly as her husband she has covered for me on many occasions to make me feel honoured. Love is not self-seeking .Tina is always thinking of others before herself be it in a business setting or in family life. Love is not easily angered and it keeps no record of wrongs. Ok you’ve got me on this one we all have weaknesses and are tested at times and Tina is a strong woman with strong opinions .The key thing is that we realise our weaknesses and try to turn them into strengths and Tina has transformed her control of her temper and has taken forgiveness to a whole new level.
Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. Tina is a committed Christian and as such strives to live life God’s way .She particularly detests lies. Love always protects- Tina is always trying to protect our children and our relationship for example by keeping me accountable to my exercise regime. Love always trusts- again a challenging area for her particularly when I have led her to a place of mistrust but this is an area that she has again transformed for the better. Love always hopes – she is a positive optimistic person. Love always perseveres. She just won’t give up on you as a friend or as a child who needs support.
How important is a healthy couple relationship for having a successful business life?
It is vital, particularly if the two of you work in the same business .It’s not so easy to take yourself out of the situation and bad vibes will be felt by other members of staff as well as clients.
As parents of four children, how do you find time for each other and having a successful business as well?
If I am honest there has been times when our family relationships have been neglected. Obviously it is important to allocate time to each other and to the children but I think it’s also important for the couple to understand and help them understand that life isn’t easy and working hard is important. Although we are sometimes away at events we try to instill in our children certain values including the importance of spending good quality time together .For example we have for many years insisted that we all sit down to dinner together on a daily basis.
It’s important to invest time in your marriage to ensure you will always be in love and able to adapt to living together alone.
What have you learned during the journey together?
I suppose patience, trust and forgiveness are huge and ongoing learnings for us both.Also that in the midst of all the busyness, doing business and bringing up children, that one day they will leave home and we will retire. It’s important to invest time in your marriage to ensure you will always be in love and able to adapt to living together alone.
You were nominated for an important award recently – to whom do you dedicate your success?
We are committed Christians who believe in the power of prayer so we are thankful to God for any success that comes our way. Specifically I owe a lot to Tina for my progression from nomination to finalist in the category of Entrepreneur of the year at the London FSB business awards. She is a tower of strength to me and extremely sharp and quick to gain insight and inspiration into situations. It may be a cliché but behind every great man there is an even greater woman
Tina & Peter Allton in front of each other
How did you meet and how has your relationship developed?
Tina jokes that I stalked her and to a degree it’s true that she did catch my eye, as she lived near my place of work. Our relationship has always been based around God although there have been rocky times as well as the great times. We try to give each other the space we sometimes need and share the household duties. We are very different and sometimes that is a good thing but sometimes it can be challenging. For example, I feel loved with a physical touch whereas Tina likes her space. We have had to become tolerant of each other’s differences. When it feels like things are going wrong we try to compare our behaviour in a situation to the characteristics of love as in the bible.
I think this has helped us develop a more loving relationship where we are less self seeking, more trusting and forgiving and more patient with one another on the whole.
I think going forward we need to be alert to external pressures that come be they in the form of business commitments, family issues, ill health or other misfortunes. If we then apply the Love characteristics then by God’s grace we can stand united to overcome whatever challenges come our way.
What would you suggest to a woman who wants to start a business and became an influence in her community?
I would urge you to reach out and connect with me today, whatever it is that may be holding you back; fear of change, not staying committed to your goals, the right strategies to execute to enable you to achieve those goals? I can teach you how to challenge yourself, how to make the leap, avoiding costly mistakes, and ultimately empowering you to achieve the shift needed. I will help you to discover your true worth and connect you with the right people who will raise you up. I have done it and so can you!
“I will describe Tina as focused, supportive and driven.
Tina helped me find clarity and structure in my day to day work. Problems in this area were causing me to be inefficient and stressed. Tina is a strong person and this level of accountability along with the structure and guidance helped me achieve real breakthroughs that benefitted me personally and professionally. Tina is real. That means you get her compassion and support on the journey but you will also hear a few home truths when you need them or deserve them.
Her breadth of experience and the structure to her work will be valuable in you achieving your objectives. I also know she herself has a valuable group of mentors which I believe is testimony to her commitment to success for her clients. As a mentor, business associate and friend, Tina is a valuable asset”. – Jonnie J.
I’d describe Tina as Visionary, Focused, Dynamic
Tina’s positivity, authenticity and openness have been inspirational to me. Tina is a leader among leaders. Tina walks her talk she will give a 100% to help you on your walk and you will always know where you are with Tina. Tina’s heart is the biggest part of her, you will learn much more than just how to have the great business and life you want for yourself. – Doreen G.
Lirone Glikman is a business relationship consultant, speaker, author and the developer of ‘The 5 Pillar Method of Effective Business Relationship.’ She has since 2011 been working with thousands of business owners and entrepreneurs around the world, providing them with useful tools to achieve their goals. She joined the regional radio station at the age of 16 with hope to spread happiness during harsh times. In this interview Lirone tells us why she believe that women bring more personal attention, listening, and cooperation to social situations, and how more and more women are taking on leading roles in cooperatives and businesses.
Lirone Glikman
You started your career at the age of only 16. Usually, all we do around that age is worry about what to wear or dream about travelling the world with a backpack. What made you enter your career so early?
From a very young age I dreamed of “doing good”, helping people in need, providing opportunities to others, and making peoples’ dreams come true. I remember writing business plans for myself, focusing on different ideas I had. I invested a lot of time in dreaming and developing my aspirations for the future. I grew up in a loving, positive family as the oldest of three children. I was privileged to be able to travel the world quite a bit and meet with different people, and I learned a lot about different cultures. Ever since I can remember, I’ve had a positive view on life – my name’s meaning in Hebrew is “my happiness”, which resonates with my character. Those who know me say that my smile is my trademark.On the other hand, growing up in Israel in a harsh security situation with terror attacks on civilians and buses being bombed wasn’t easy. As a young teenager, I had the urge to make people around me happier and show them the bright side in those harsh times. I realised I could use the media as a means to distribute “good vibes” to the masses in those not-so-easy days, and this is why I joined the regional radio station at the age of 16.
I signed up for a radio course at the nearest regional radio station, 90 FM. On the last day of the course, I walked into the CEO’s office and told him I wanted to work for them. I felt that radio is such an amazing and personal form of media, and I fell in love with its power. The CEO hired me on the spot and I started producing entertainment shows, and soon enough I was hosting shows myself. Through the years I’ve developed my professional experience in marketing, PR, and business development, working for leading companies in Israel, Australia, and the U.S. After 12 years of developing my professional career I discovered and owned my distinct strengths, which led to developing a business relationship method and coaching companies and individuals, providing them with practices for their professional success through relationship building. The ability to form relationships that are real and help you in your career and life is an interdisciplinary field: It’s about leadership, interpersonal communication, image management, sales, marketing, and partnership. My business came from the very same place in me that wishes to influence people for the best and help them grow and form a fulfilled life they love.
My business came from the very same place in me that wishes to influence people for the best and help them grow and form a fulfilled life they love.
You are a hardworking woman with hands everywhere, blogging, networking, speaking… and so on – what keeps you going?
Building your own business by yourself is definitely not an easy task. Someone once said that if “one would have known what he would need to go through before opening up a business, he might have not started it at all.” Being a business owner means overcoming so many obstacles along with a great learning process, professional and personal development, discovering yourself, and expanding your abilities. For every good achievement I had, I experienced some failures. It took a lot of time to learn how to develop my business and discover what works. Looking back at this road, which I am still walking on, is very exciting and what the future can hold for me is even more exciting!
What keeps me going comes first of all from my heart, I feel this is my calling. I also take great pride in my ability to provide practices to others and feel I can really make a difference in their lives and work. The satisfaction in it is amazing. As much as we are different from one another, we are also very much alike. Most people need the basics: to feel respected, to feel that they belong, to know that they are appreciated, to know that others really listen to what they say—that’s the essence of our needs as humans. When we know how to form a supportive network of people in our workplace everything goes more smoothly, work is more effective, and people around you feel better. To provide someone with the opportunity to get there, that’s what keeps me passionate.
Most people need the basics: to feel respected, to feel that they belong, to know that they are appreciated, to know that others really listen to what they say—that’s the essence of our needs as humans.
Tell us about the biggest challenge you’ve faced in your life, how did you overcome it or are dealing with it today?
My life’s main challenge is by all means the loss of my mother when I was 20. She was the most optimistic and kindest person, and I embraced some of her qualities to live by her legacy. Losing her at such a young age changed the course of my life in many aspects. I realised quickly that I had two options in my life: either to fall down, or to work hard to lift myself up and live life to the fullest. I chose happiness and optimism as a way of life, and appreciate what I have. At the same time, I decided to not let life slip through my fingers because we only live once! I realised that I never want to look back and feel sorry for the things I didn’t do in life. This is why I live by my personal calling. I aim to fulfill my dreams and goals, both small and large.
Tell us more about your dreams and aspirations in life.
I have a lot of dreams and aspirations, and they are constantly evolving. However, the basics needed to make any dream possible are very clear to me: I want to be truly happy from within, maintain my good physical and mental health by eating well and doing sports and yoga, and surround myself with good people that I have meaningful relationships with. That’s all we need to grow from. Beyond that, I have a few main dreams right now: I want to keep developing a dream I’ve fulfilled this year, which is to work with the U.N. I’m an honorary adviser to the NGO Committee on Sustainable Development – NY, for the United Nations. We deal with the U.N.’s Sustainable Development Goals, which are 17 different goals aiming at making the world a better place in all main aspects of humanity and the environment. I was honoured to speak at one of their committees, which was a great personal and professional achievement. I plan to keep working with them in the coming years. I would like to further expand my company as a top-quality global firm for personal leadership and interpersonal communications. I would also like to do more philanthropic work that makes an impact.
Lirone Glikman
Where do you see yourself in 10 years?
In 10 years, I hope to personally be happy and healthy, and to have my own family. Professionally, I aim to have a few branches in major cities around the world, have a top team of instructors working with me, and keep spreading my method globally.
Are more women taking on leading roles do you think? How will this change the market in your opinion?
From a woman’s perspective, being a woman means managing multiple fronts. The best time to develop our career is also biologically the time to build a family. That’s what makes women so powerful, in my view, but on the other hand this makes it more challenging for women to take on leading roles at some stage. Of course, different industries provide different opportunities for a woman to lead as well. Generally speaking, I definitely see more and more women taking on leading roles in business and the corporate world, and in male-dominated fields such as government, finance, and there are more female pilots and soldiers, but the numbers are still significantly low compared to men in leading roles.
I think the glass ceiling is breaking, but women are still expected to prove their skill set and talent more than men are, and that shows that our society still has a long way to go.
Women definitely shape markets differently. Sheryl Sandberg, Facebook’s COO, said it best: “We need women at all levels, including the top, to change the dynamic, reshape the conversation”. For the most part, women bring more personal attention, listening, and cooperation to social situations. Women are often driven less by ego and more by partnership for the goal. Ivan Misner’s study stated that most women are better at creating business relationships than men, since they are more “process” oriented and bring more value to each relationship, as opposed to men who are more results-oriented. If there is one thing I would like women to take away from this article, it is the acknowledgment that you are good enough and can and should fulfil yourself exactly the way you want to.
As Napoleon Hill, author of “Think and Grow Rich”, said: “Our only limitations are those we set up in our own minds.”
Etiane Galvin is an entrepreneur from Brazil, with a degree in marketing. She started off by running her own accommodation agency and after many years in the property industry she changed to a new channel and has now set up her own jewellery business, where she works directly with the artisans in sustainable communities in Brazil. Her wish is to give back to her community and raise awareness of their work in the UK. Etiane has also started up a networking event for Latin American women. In her interview here, Etiane tells us how a car accident completely changed her attitude towards changes in life and that success is when you are happy with what you are doing.
Where did you grow up and how was your childhood?
I grew up in Brazil, in Campania, a small island with a busy fishing port. I was born in the State of Santa Catarina, which is located in the south of Brazil. My parents migrated to the island when I was just 5 years old and I kept a relationship with Santa Catarina because my grandparents where living there. They had a small farm and I used to spend my school holidays there, helping out with their business and spending time with my cousins. My Dad is a boat captain and his work made us move around a sometimes, and through this experience I learned early on not to fear changes. In my teenage years they decided that we should move to a big city, Santos, a city by the sea with the world’s largest beach garden. They are still living there and I visit them often. I graduated with a diploma in Pharmaceutics Studies, but soon realised it wasn’t for me. Despite my parents disappointment in the beginning, they later supported me to study Business and Marketing. After university I left Santos for England.
The plan was to stay for a year and then go back, however, 15 years later and I am still here, happy and alive.
Who or what has been your biggest source of inspiration in your life?
My parents. My father is a very kind and hardworking man. He had a very difficult childhood, his father committed suicide and he had to leave school at the age of ten. He worked hard for his siblings and mother; this responsibility characterised him as a caring and supporting father up until this day. My mother has a strong will and is very wise, she taught me that the world doesn’t owe you anything, you need to work hard for what you want. Despite my parents difficult life they managed to work together and complemented each other. I remember one time when my father was out in the sea and there was a big storm, his boat sunk. He called home desperately telling my mother that we had lost everything. My mother replied that we have not, because we still have each other and you still have your health. I will never forget this phone call. These incidents and their characters have influenced my life and how I think. They provided my siblings and me with a safe environment and I always look at them for inspiration during many aspects of life.
What has been the biggest challenge you have faced in life and how did you overcome it?
After a serious car accident I was wheelchair bound for many months, and the recovery process was long and hard. This particular accident gave me thicker skin and I became resilient towards difficulties in life. With the strong support from my family and friends I managed to fully recover and I was grateful for being alive. I grew and strong and developed a determined personality, a truly life changing part of my life.
What does a successful life mean to you and what keeps you going every day?
A successful life for me is to able to wake up every day and feel happy about the choices you’ve made and feel loved. Life is a complicated journey and sometimes it is hard to choose from so many options but the ones that make you happy are the ones that make life a success. I wanted to do something to be able to contribute to my home country’s economy. I had an aim to build a company back home that would help small businesses to progress. At the same time to build a business here that I could be proud of and passionate about. When I was 11 years old, I set up my own little business where I was selling accessories made by a neighbour of ours. I sold the jewellery to the fishermen, so that they could give their wives gifts when returning home from their long journey at sea.
It came rather natural for me to set up ‘Kaiowa Eco Jewellery’. Kaiowa means ‘people of the forest’. I work with sustainable communities that are making handcrafted jewellery, and they are doing this by using raw materials from the Amazon region. The artisans get the opportunity to show their talent in Europe, they are in charge of their own design and I buy directly from them. They are happy and so am I, with a feeling that I managed to create a win-win situation with my company and I feel I am contributing back home.
What does it mean for you to be a businesswoman and how are you balancing family life with your professional life?
To balance family life with business can be difficult sometimes to conciliate, but I work quite a lot from home. However, once I am with my family I give my 100% to them. My husband and I are supportive of each other, whenever necessary he steps in and helps and vice versa. Being a businesswoman has turned me into a role model for young girls and is sending out the message that diversity is good and that there isn’t any particular job solely designed for men, you as a woman can do whatever work you wish, and listen to this: have a family at the same time. I have always been very independent despite growing up in a family were there was pressure on women to marry young were the norm. But I was the first girl to enroll on a computer course in my community and I have worked and earned enough to pay off my own university degree, so being a woman has never stopped me to achieve what I want and I encourage the same.
Being a businesswoman has turned me into a role model for young girls and is sending out the message that diversity is good and that there isn’t any particular job solely designed for men, you as a woman can do whatever work you wish
What are your future dreams and how will you reach them?
My plan is to set up a social project in Brazil, an English school for the artisan’s children, alongside my own shop where I can sell the unique and handmade jewellery from Brazil. Luckily I am in a position where I can dedicate my full time into my business and its progression. The products I sell fascinate my daughter, she is only 8 years old and is already planning to become a designer so that she can have her own collection. This is what motivates me to continue working and providing space for others.I have recently set up a networking group called LAWEN ‘Latin American Women Entrepreneurs Network’. This way I can help Latin Women in the entrepreneur field to grow their business and also to network with other like-minded women outside of their communities.
Important global issues have been pushed forward by women alone
By Nika Jazaee
Nora Weller is the director of Cambridge Academy of Global Affairs a platform which provides consultancy on foreign policy and training for government officials and executives. She is also the founder of ARTUM, an internationally focused platform on Art and Cultural Heritage. We met her in London to discuss her involvement in current global affairs and her passion for art and preservation of cultural heritage. Nora was born in Kosovo during the time that Yugoslavia still existed; her school years became jeopardised due to the conflict and she eventually left the country. She is raised in a mix of cultures and is fluent in eight languages. She studied International Relations and Conflict Transformation in Vermont, Transitional Justice in South Africa, Law at University of Cambridge, and specialised in Art Law in Los Angeles. Her journey is like no other, her passion for peace building, gender balance, social equality and cultural promotions is recognised internationally as she is a board member of important establishments in London and Cambridge. Recently in London, Nora directed an exhibition on Feminism and Art, where she told us about how important it is to look deeper at the role of women in diverse societies and the feminist factor, also why the refugee crisis is close to her heart and her personal commitment in providing help.
Photo Credit: Ilir Rizaj
Tell me us a little more about yourself, your work and your passions?
I am a lawyer, I have worked for several year with the United Nations in various war torn countries, few years ago I have set up Cambridge Academy of Global Affairs to expand my professional experience and interest and work more closely with academia based in Cambridge and abroad. I work a lot with foreign Governments, in foreign policy and legislative reform. I have always been an art fanatic and I have a vast art collection of my own, therefore in all my journeys in conflict parts of the world I use to spend time with local artists. They represent the real soul of the society, the flesh and blood so to say. As a result of my interest in art, in the past year I have worked very hard with a team of artists based in London, to create an establishment that would support artist who come from conflict affected parts of the world, we have now a number of artists from Lebanon, Kosovo, Serbia, Israel, Turkey, and other countries, with whom we work through NWGallery and ARTUM. The idea is to promote their work and the circumstances which drive their artistic ambitions. So on the one hand is promoting cultural values, and on the other hand is introducing different artist and their concepts from different social contexts to the wider audience internationally. This then results into a natural cultural exchange, awareness raising and it has its educational values as well. My passions are rather extreme, but as a mother of two I have to act responsibly, so no more spending time in various tribes in Africa. I love skiing and windsurfing and my children love these sports two now, so we travel accordingly. We also like to learn more about my cultural heritage so we travel and spend time in the Balkans a lot, especially in Kosovo and Albania.
We also like to learn more about my cultural heritage so we travel and spend time in the Balkans a lot, especially in Kosovo and Albania.
Can you tell us a bit more about your work on Art and Cultural Heritage?
I am currently doing research on Cultural Crimes in International Law. I am a looking at the most important cultural sites which where destroyed by the current conflict in the Midlde East and the past ones in Africa and the Balkans. On a more tangible level, I like to put together art exhibitions which tell an important story. The most recent exhibition I have directed and curated it is called SEEDS+SOUL and it treats the subject of feminism and art. Through the exhibited works, SEEDS+SOUL offered stories of genuine struggles by different generations of women artists, from nine different parts of the world. These works of art explore challenges that women face through a very raw and sincere course of exchange. They expose vital issues affecting women in their respective countries and portray them through different layers of artistic and cultural investigation. It was so beautiful, so moving and a very personal exhibition, from the artists’ point of view.
Last year I put together the exhibition “A Moving Identity” which was held in the prominent Science Park in Cambridge, and it featured ten international artists who where/are refugees, or somehow through their family history went through migration and displacement. The exhibition was a great success, it sold out, and the proceeds went to the Zaatari Refugee Camp in Jordan, through our partner iPlatform, of the Institution Quraysh London who are committed to improve the education of refugees globally. situations go through and that they are not able to prevent. Participating artists where from Syria, Lebanon, Kosovo, USA, Germany etc. The most moving and beautiful thing was the involvement and the determination of the artists to put this subject matter on display, that is the matter of a refugee identity, the other beautiful part was to see the exceptionally amazing work by artists from Syria like Abdalla Omari and Mohamed Hafez, and those from Kosovo, Gazmend Ejupi and Bekim Retkoceri who went through the same type of displacement and suffering, and their stories merged through their art, and the viewer had a piece of history in front, alas an ugly one and a still ongoing one, but one which was documented through the eyes and soul of four young artists.
It’s about trust, social acknowledgement, and social acceptance. Another good thing about this exhibition is that the artists are from different ages and generations. The youngest is aged 23, and the oldest is 53. You’d think that something must have changed over a period of 30 years, yet it seems that it hasn’t, and that is showing a very important point and message through all of it.
What inspired you to hold an exhibition for refugees?
Last summer, I was in one of our adventurous trips with my two children and my daughter’s godmother Xheraldina. We were driving through Macedonia, Albania and Montenegro. As we were driving we passed by the extend line of refugees who were walking for miles and miles, assumingly from Greece, through Macedonia, towards Serbia in order to reach Hungary, which would be the first frontier of the European Union. What stuck into my head is that none of the refugees looked at us, or at the passing cars, they clearly did not expect us to stop, or help them, I felt a sense of deep embarrassment and failure. Another thing that struck me was my children’s questions, which were very innocent but required a rather complex answer: Mama why are these people walking? Don’t they have a car? Where are they going? My first thought was, put a child in front of a politician and throw a few simple questions like this at him/her! For weeks to come I couldn’t get that picture out of my head, their determination while they were walking, and the eagerness to arrive, in a place totally unknown to them, in the journey of hundreds of miles in 30-40 degrees heat.
Mama why are these people walking? Don’t they have a car? Where are they going?
I was very moved because I had experienced displacement myself, and some of my close friends and family were in impossible situations, and then witnessing the refugees with my children by my side was a difficult moment. Of course upon return in Cambridge I immediately planned something to help the refugees, and that is how “A Moving Identity” exhibition came to life. It would have been impossible without the help and involvement of my dear friends in Cambridge and the amazing artists. I am happy that something really good came out of it, because the children at the camp in Jordan got into an educational programme and the support now its continuous through other projects. When I look back, I find it rather impressive, art is a luxury commodity but if used for the right reasons it can play such an important role in improving culture, allowing the deepest of expressions to be on display and help important causes.
Can you tell us who has been your biggest inspiration in life?
There are a few individuals who influenced me throughout my life very profoundly, and certainly a series of events. My career as a young diplomat in my mid twenties took me to many parts of the world where there was devastation, active conflict, social division and other social injustices. Sharing time with individuals and groups of people who had little to look up to, and very little to look forward to, created a certain drive within me, it made me feel that it is up to the rest of us who are free to make choices, to choose to make a change. It is not a major thing, it is the most natural thing, to reach out to others.
What is the biggest challenge in your life?
I work around 12 hours a day, I also travel frequently, and at the same time I have two children and a household to run. So that is my ongoing challenge, and I know that many of your readers will recognise this challenge all too well. How I wish the day was 26 hours long, it would give me those two extra hours. I try to include my children into many of my activities, travel, even work meetings. We learn so much from children’s wisdom, and their presence in itself makes us perceive life and business decisions differently.
Is it important to create more space for women and allow them to take on leading roles? It is extremely important for me to constantly debate and find better solutions for women globally. Different societies have their own priorities and women are facing advantages and disadvantages in different forms at various levels. I believe that we are all much more exposed to all of this due to the current form of globalisation and very rapid access to information, and thus are in a better position to use the information to the advantage of women. Some very important global issues have been pushed forward by women alone. I was recently at the canonisation of Mother Theresa at the Vatican, where the entire world was gathered to celebrate the life of a woman. Furthermore a very important case on the destruction of Cultural Heritage, a field of great interest to me, was put forward at the International Criminal Court by Fatou Bensouda, a woman chief prosecutor. Women have the capability and the sensibility, but more than anything we have the instinctual drive. After all, we give birth to men!
