In exactly 2 days, the entire world will be coming together to celebrate a special event on a day we’ve dedicated to our planet and our commitment to its well being and preservation - that day is April 22 and the event is Earth Day.
Earth day and I have a special relationship because of my work with Miigle+, a company I founded with the mission to turn consumerism into cause-sumerism by leveraging technology to make it easier for brands with a social and/or environmental impact to connect with socially conscious consumers.
I feel like Miigle+ is the purpose behind my existence; it brings together everything about me both personally and professionally, for example my origins from a third world country where I witnessed incredible poverty and was left with the feeling that I want to make a difference in the lives of people to my very first job in Tech doing content operations for a company that pioneered online comparison shopping - before Amazon came and blind-sighted everyone.
With over a decade helping companies navigate the Internet to make their business successful, I have a unique perspective in the challenges ethical consumerism faces and how to overcome them. The word “Passion” couldn’t even begin to describe about how I feel about Miigle+ and its potential - yes, potential because until we make it happen that’s all it is.
Potential is good, achieving is much better.
That’s just a little glimpse into who I am as an individual and philosophies I choose to adopt in my life. Most people want to change the world, I want to make it easier for other people to change the world.
Currently, these people are change-makers, founders of brands that want to challenge the status quo of business as usual; they want to be profitable and successful but not at the intentional detriment of our planet, its people, fauna and flora. These are brands that give back to their communities, help fund medical research, march against social injustice and are building homes for strangers at the other end of the world. If you’ve ever tried to start a business then you know how difficult it is to get it going by just thinking about yourself but worrying about causes or people that may have nothing to do with your business ... well, that’s remarkable.
On this Earth Day, I’d also like to celebrate these social entrepreneurs and their teams.
My relationship with Earth Day doesn’t end with Miigle+; it gets a whole lot more personal than that. See, before I ever heard anything about Earth Day, “way back” before I even bought my first pair of TOMS shoes and asked myself why it wasn’t more convenient to discover similar social good brands, “way way back” before I was even born, the Universe had a plan. I wouldn’t come to understand this plan until a few years ago and all of a sudden it all made sense. Since then, somehow the universe has allowed me to surmount obstacle after obstacle in this journey. Honestly, I have no idea how I’ve been able to keep at it so long but without the universe and all the people who’ve believed and graciously helped me along the way I think I would have folded my cards a long time ago, a very long time ago. This has nearly defied “Logic”.
The truth is April 22 means a lot to me than just Earth Day, because it is also my birthday! What are the chances? Perhaps “odds” is a better word? Surely this is a sign or a premonition. No?
Maybe there’s nothing to it, maybe this is just how my brain wants to deal with the challenges I’ve faced so far or that I am about to face in the future and give me a reason to get up and keep fighting. I guess only time will tell.
Until then, Happy Earth Day to you and Happy Birthday to me.
To learn more about Miigle+ and join our movement please visit www.miigle.com
Photo by Zak Bentley
