Content & Brand Marketing pro specializing in social media, copy, and video concepting. Formerly, The Grommet, Red Sox, Bentley University.
It's widely accepted that beer was invented by accident. Somewhere in the distant past, one of our ancestors left their store of grain in a wet place. Soon, a chance encounter with microscopic yeast began the fermentation process and the rest is history.
On this episode, Elena Favilli — the CEO of Timbuktu Labs and the co-author of 100 Goodnight Stories for Rebel Girls — and I discuss the inspiration of the book, how Timbuktu Labs was able to create such a successful Kickstarter campaign, and how their work and this book have become more important than ever in the current political climate.
We shine a light on great ideas and the people behind them. We tell their stories. In our product videos, Q&A's, and podcasts, we try to uncover the inspiration, struggle, and ultimate success of that Maker. But the only true way to capture a story is to meet the subject in their environment.
It started, as innovation often does, with frustration. Sitting in the boardrooms of Stride Rite and Keds, Jules and Joanne grew discontent as new, unique products were swept aside in favor of iterations of last year's best sellers. They grew tired of watching small businesses play on an uneven playing field.
Many of us probably take a hot shower for granted, but the team at Lava Mae understands its restorative power. It gets us clean, but it also provides the time and space for a mental health break. And for those living without a home it can restore a sense of dignity.
Visiting Tokyo in September, I shopped at GU. It's a sister store to the Japanese fast fashion juggernaut Uniqlo. GU was piloting a mind-blowing technology from an American company called Impnj. At checkout, you shove all your items in a safe-like box, close the "safe" door, and within seconds everything in the box is rung up ready to be bagged.
There's a scene in Mad Men in which Don Draper, his wife, and kids are having a picnic and soaking in a gorgeous sunny day. It's a picturesque view of the vintage American family. As they ready to leave, Don throws his empty beer can into the field.
Technology is entrenched in our lives. It makes things easier, more efficient. It streams endless entertainment and knowledge in seconds. But with unfiltered access comes the need for a filter. We put our phones away at dinner and close laptops in meetings. As with any stimulant, moderation becomes the name of the game.
"We all succeed when small businesses succeed." You heard this line ad nauseum throughout the election cycle, but practically, outside of a sound bite, what does that look like? It starts by looking something like this.
