A COLLECTION OF FASHIONABLE, FAIR TRADE GIFTS, HANDMADE BY ARTISANS IN NEED AROUND THE WORLD.

February was a blur of activity from which I am now just starting to unwind at March’s end. My friendBarbara Adamson and I held a Valentine’s event the first Sunday at The Bliss Bar in Noe Valley called “Love, Jazz and 12 Small Things.

Barbara is a jazz vocalist who’s been working in publication design until recently, wanting to get back into the music scene. With no street fairs to be found in the Bay Area for February, I wanted to hold a private event that would be fun to attend while providing a chance for Barbara and I to showcase our wares! When Barbara informed me we had chosen Super Bowl Sunday to host our event, I initially panicked about the attendance and fretted over the party I’d miss. Thankfully, Barbara and I have friends and family, our best fans and customers, who don’t care all that much about football or who own a VCR and aren’t afraid to use it. Barbara sang a great first set of love songs to a nicely turned out crowd who came to support us.

Barbara Adamson at Bliss Bar  Dylan and Morgan at The Bliss Bar

At intermission, I enlisted the help of friends and family to model my Valentine’s Day collection from 12 Small Things, while I told the stories of the artisans who made them. The show stopper was the “Mi Amor” underwear from Lucky Fish in Brooklyn, modeled by my niece Morgan and her friend Dylan who scored big points by missing the game to model a fair trade blanket from Peru! My daughter Olivia helped me sell product in Bliss’s upstairs lounge while Barbara sang her second set, finishing with “When the Saints Go Marching In”, as New Orleans won the Super Bowl on the bar’s muted television. Thanks to everyone’s purchases, I was able to donate $100 from the event to Doctors Without Borders for their relief work in Haiti.

February was also an eventful month for my family, as our daughter Olivia decided on her own to become a Bat Mitzvah, even though my husband and I are not particularly religious, preferring nature to churches and temples. However, we were happy to support our youngest who just turned 13 and impressed her family and friends with a beautiful service at Beth Israel Judea.Our Jewish friends and family members gave the Torah blessings for Olivia and everyone helped us celebrate afterward with food and dance, bestowing much appreciated gifts to Olivia for the five year journey she undertook.

 

Olivia's Bat Mitzvah   Heartfelt

After those two big events, March felt like a real letdown with no particular holidays to promote sales for my website. Fortunately I had the sense to say yes to opportunities for networking and trading services that kept my momentum going and a bit of revenue coming in. Thanks to my friend and retail mentor Darcy Lee at Heartfelt, I joined both theBernal Heights Business Alliance as well as a local entrepreneur group that help me stay in tune with my neighborhood and meet other merchants during this challenging economy. My entrepreneur group helps me prioritize goals for my business, makes me laugh and basically puts energy back in my tank for the month ahead. I feel very lucky to live in such a great San Francisco neighborhood with my family, friends and neighbors all willing to lend a helping hand.

March 31, 2010 by staff 1