Attempting to Commit to My Promise!

In attempt to commit to my promise, here I am again, blogging away. 

So yesterday, yesterday was interesting (as is everyday). 

It started out with a little part time work to pay the bills, which was fun. A 6'5 guy with a broken arm, (clothing that looked pretty new) came in to our spa to get a massage, so we have him fill out some medical paperwork and got him into session. He then chooses to upgrade his session to a longer length of time. After about five minutes into his session, the security guard for our complex comes in and asks where the guy is, I respond to him that he is in session. The security guard then asked me how he was going to pay, and let me know that he just walked out of the hair salon up the street after his hair cut, and notified the salon that he didn't have any money. We stopped his session, and the guy walks out, hangs out with the security guard for a bit, and then chats with the cops for a little while before they take him to jail. Too tell you the truth, can't blame the guy for trying ... free haircut, free massage, little "cab ride" around LA, a free meal, and I'm pretty sure jail is warmer than where he stayed the night previous.. Couldn't have been too bad of a day!

After work, I went to work, answering emails, balancing finances for CreateACTivity, and communicating with some interns on our newest project. Long story short, I contact a gentleman that saw me speak at the Medical Tourism Congress, only to find out that he is interested in helping fund the current project that we are working on! Turns out he will be heading to Las Vegas this month, and there just so happens to be deals on flights to Vegas right now( according to the email from Jet Blue and Southwest that I received in my inbox last night). Thank you universe, yet another verification that I am where I am supposed to be. 

Mid afternoon, I went to check out the boat. Met the owner of the boat at the dock, he was wearing almost the exact same outfit as myself (jeans, black leather jacket, and some checkered print underneath), so to say the least, I could tell we would get a long. Finding out that one can't "live" on a boat in the marina, but you can hang out on a boat and sleep on a boat, and spend four nights a week on a boat, I learned that there will be no living on a boat, however, I may choose to watch the boat for a bit. As you can see by the picture below, it does need some work, a feminine touch per say. 

Oh yea! And I declined Singapore, they were only willing to wave fees for the conference, but not pay travel expenses. The cost of going to Singapore would easily be about five facial reconstructions for victims living with the effects of Noma, and I can't justify the expenses it would take to get me there. 

Well, I am off to start todays adventure. I will keep you posted. 

Loving Life, 

Es-Bee 

A Little Inspiration From My Father

Thanksgiving now past, and having a few spare moments to reflect on all of the things I am thankful for within this past year and in my life, I write this blog post with gratitude for my number one support system, my Father. Called my dad up tonight to let him know which couch, and in what city, I am sleeping in for the night, and with a boast of laughter he asked me if I have been writing "this all" down. I informed him I have here and there, and he encouraged me to write more often because "people are going to want to read it" and I "need to write a book for people to share the experience." He shared with me that he loves listening to my stories so that he can learn how to do it himself. So with gratitude to my father, I am picking up where I left off.

Last time I wrote, I had just spoke at the International Medical Tourism Congress in Los Angeles. Since then, the communal living situation that I had joined last November has came to an end. One of the girls I lived with took off to bike across the Middle East with dreams of a destination in Nepal, the other roommate took  on a month exploration in Brazil and plans to return home for a bit of couch surfing til' she books a flight to Europe, and as for the lovely and kind mother and daughter duo... well, they needed some alone time, free of late night entrances, broken appliances, and vanishing honey and peanut butter jars. As for me, I just checked out a place for rent with a chicken coop in the back yard, looking at a sailboat for rent tomorrow, and at one point I stayed in six different cities in six days without considering myself "out of town."

On a the business side of things, since the Los Angeles International Medical Tourism Congress, I have been asked to speak in Singapore and Costa Rica this upcoming year, as well as, being considered to deliver my information and presentation to the marketing department at University of Las Vegas and an unannounced college in Florida. I have started a new project for CreateACTivity (the non profit I started in November) and look forward to bridging my love for the skin care industry together to with a great cause that provides facial reconstructions to people suffering from the effects of Noma.

As far as adventures, I am not sure I have that much to share other than a random trip to NYC to see the Big Apple for the first time with a close friend and sister from another life. Had the pleasure of taking a stroll though central park, seeing my first Broadway play, meeting up with a friend for a stroll along the "Skyline", and hopping on the subways just to see where I'd end up.

Thanksgiving now past, I have a lot to be thankful for. For this post and updates to come, "Thank you" to my father for believing in my desire to help the lives of others, and supporting my altered vision of success... single father of two, incredible artist, rarely serious, always sarcastic, embarrassingly sarcastic, dear friend... you are an inspiration.

Reflecting Forward

To say the least, I have procrastinated horribly at updating regularly. I believe this is because when I started this endeavor, the vision of what I thought it would be, is completely different than what the journey has become. I took the time recently to read back through my first blog posts, and to be quite honest have wanted to delete them and start over. However, if I were to do that the story would not be authentic, so with much embrace they will remain. I started with some stories of individuals doing amazing things to do much good in this world, and somehow faulted into blogs of self reflection. The truth is, eleven months ago I was naive. I had a picture in my head of how I thought this process would progress and a vision of what the road would look like. The truth is, I am still naive. The only difference is, I believe I have learned to embrace it.

Part of the beautiful thing about life is that we can not predict it nor control it. Part of my hesitation in following my passions was, one, the fear of failing, and two, the fear that the reality would be different than the dream that I had created in my head. Well, lucky for me, within the past eleven months, both have happened. I have failed several times as far as how to accomplish simple business related tasks, but am thankful because through each failure I have been able to utilize it as an opportunity to turn the failure into a success. Secondly, I am learning to let go of any expectations that I might have created, because although the dream and reality share commonalities, they are never the same and the reality is never happens in the way that we have imagined.

This past week I had the opportunity to speak at the 3rd Annual Medical and Wellness Tourism Congress at the Hyatt in Los Angeles.  On September 22nd, 23rd, and 24th, about 2,000+ medical and wellness professionals from around the world came together to network, to share information, and to build relationships to expand in the arena of medical and welness tourism. Speaking in front of people regarding particular world issues is something that I had pictured myself doing, however, I quite honestly pictured the path being more of a struggle. I guess I pictured a few failures before people became willing to listen and be receptive to the information that I  have to share. Much different than the image I had created, it has been a beautiful and heart-warming experience to see the connections that have been built off of a twenty minute presentation regarding cause-related marketing.

As my email box continues to grow with encouragement from individuals from the Medical and Wellness Tourism Congress, or individuals that have heard about the cause after the event from someone who attended event, I look forward to the new conversations of progression. And as a reflection forward, choose to embrace the un-dreamed journey in order (or in many cases disorder) to provide knowledge about particular situations of people in poverty and work to integrate ways that current and upcoming challenges can subside and be resolved through passion, talent,  and creativity.

A Quick Get A Way

I recently had the privilege to go on a funded trip to Cabo San Lucas to stay at a beautiful resort that was built into the cliffs along the Pacific Ocean. I had the opportunity to relax, clear my head, and get the creative juices flowing again. Throughout my short life I have been very privileged to get to see and experience some very luxurious resorts, hotels, restaurants, houses, and venues. For all of these experiences I am extremely thankful because it has opened my eyes to a lot of different perspectives. It always amazes me to see how man creates structures to allude and determine a sense of royalty and luxury. It is no doubt that these places are often built with views of some of the most beautiful landscapes and views of the ocean.  Whenever I have had the opportunity to go to these "luxurious" places, a reoccurring thought seems to always come to me as I sit and look at the architecture of the buildings, the columns, the illuminated pool, or the position of the window to the kitchen or dining room to accentuate the most valued view. That reoccurring thought seems to take me through a sense of amazement that humans have the ability to create such a massive or intricate structure, to the amount of hard work, dedication, and attentiveness to detail that it took to plan and build the structure, to my final thought of how quickly a greater force than man-kind has the ability to wipe the structure away in as little as a few seconds.

On this particular trip, I looked at the beautiful landscape of the property and the view, and then imagined what the land would look and feel like without the massive structure. Without the lights. Under the stars. With nothing but the soil under my feet. The same views, only surrounded by nothing but nature. I thought to myself of the power that the ladscape held with the structure versus and the power that the of the landscape held without the structure. It was interesting to feel the difference of both possibilities and surprisingly found that I was more empowered by the idea of the landscape without the structure that seemed to hold a false impression of luxury.  One seemed to hold the power of man, the other appeared to hold a force much greater than man could ever create.

Don't get me wrong, I very much appreciate the opportunity to experience the lifestyle of going to a very luxurious destination and indulging in what some believe to be "the finer things in life," for if I did not have this opportunity I may have always wondered what it would be like or have a false impression or judgement of the people who prefer the luxurious destination resort vacation. I can tell you that it was once easy for me to cast judgments on others that choose to live a different lifestyle, and that whenever I have chosen to make judgements on people, I am usually always proven wrong. On this particular trip I met a very creditable doctor located in Los Angeles that was very interested in connecting me with people who he felt would be able to help me with my organization and helping victims of Noma, a newly wed that desires to start a non-profit to help children in need, and nurse who hopes to advance into educating women about the skills of nursing internationally so that they can utilize the knowledge within their communities that lack medical attention and infrastructure.

On this trip I was most thankful for a very specific incident that happened. I recently read a book that inspired me to look into a crowd whenever I was out and about and search for one face/stranger to be thankful for. Ever since I read this book, I have made an effort to do this in my daily life. While taking the bus from the resort to the city I saw a man with Podoconiosis (similar to elephantitis, effecting the foot) crossing the street. I first learned about Podoconiosis through an company named Toms Shoes. About 2 and a half years ago I had the opportunity to join this company in Argentina to give shoes to children in need. When I returned home and found out what they were doing to help increase awareness and stop Podoconiosis, I worked to come up with a treatment to donate to the non profit side of their company to help reduce the discomfort of this particular disease in the individuals that it effects. As I watched this man cross the street, and watched the faces of the other passengers in the bus as they looked at the disfigurement of this man, I was so thankful that he had crossed my path. Because he just so happened to cross the street at the exact moment that our bus was coming down the hill from the resort, I was able to share my knowledge of the disease to the others in the bus so that they might have a better understanding of why this mans leg was enlarged. I watched the man struggle with discomfort to cross the street,  and let my eyes travel up to his face. The man smiled one of the biggest smiles that I have ever seen, and I thanked him for entering my life, allowing me to be even more grateful for how lucky I am, and allowing me to share my story with the other passengers that accompanied me on that particular day.

Now back home, thankful for my trip, the insight that came with the experience, and the opportunity to relax and recollect, I am very motivated to move forward in with all that createACTivity has been working on to increase awareness about Noma. This next week is a very busy week, and I look forward to entering it with a clear and opened mind.

A Successful Night At Dr. Neavin's Office

Last Thursday evening I had the pleasure of attending Dr. Tim Neavin's office opening in Beverly Hills. I came in contact with Dr. Neavin via an email conversation. He was kind enough to meet with me and offer his expertise in the future for operations of Noma victims, as well as, the opportunity to attend his opening event to promote createACTivity and raise awareness about Noma. 

Thursday was a successful night in that I had the opportunity to educate about 100 people about a disease that they had never heard about before. Several contacts were gained that want to help the cause, and I very much look forward to connecting back with them to see how they might be able to help raise awareness. Regardless of the outcome, about 100 or more people who knew nothing about Noma, now are awakened to reality of a disease that can be prevented simply by having the bare essentials of what allows us to live, food and water.

Thank you Dr. Tim Neavin for allowing me the opportunity to share my story with your fellow surgeons, vendors, patients, and friends. 

http://artisanofbeauty.com

Giving and Receiving

 "The path that leads us through the most obstacles, often provides the richest journey."

I started this blog to tell a story, a story of my journey in following my crazy intuitions and following my heart. However, the more meetings I have with people, the more I am finding that I have been leaving an important piece out, somewhat purposefully on my part because it triggers some fears of mine. In order to move forward though, I feel it is important to share the information so that others can connect with it.

A typical reaction I receive when telling my story is: "What happened to you to make you want to do this?" People seem to think that one usually has a life or death experience to make such a drastic shift in lifestyle. My initial response is  usually "nothing." If I continue to respond this way, I would not be telling the truth. After replaying a series of events in my head, I have learned that it was not "nothing". It just was not "one single life changing event", it was a sequence of events that lead up to each decision which has lead me to where I am in my process right now.

As I play the tape back in my head, I can recall the first stepping stone or significant incident (although there are several "coincidences" that have happened throughout my career and education that influenced these decisions as well) that really pushed me to look at the different directions life could take me, and it began with an inner battle within a relationship. I truly believe that relationships with significant others can be some of our biggest lessons. These are the people we choose to bring into our lives, choose to connect with, choose to allow a deeper intimate bond with, and choose to learn from.

Long story short, I was in the kitchen of a boyfriends house after cooking dinner one night and I was cleaning a dish.  I had just returned home from a trip to the mountains and I remember looking around
the beautiful house and really taking the time to recognize the emotions that I was experiencing. I knew that I genuinely loved (as much as I knew how to love) and cared about the relationship that I had chosen to bring into my life, but also felt extremely unfulfilled. As I continued cleaning the dish, I saw myself at 35 and then again at 65 cleaning that same dish (imagining all the possibilities that life could bring if I continued on the path I was going).  Recognizing the comfort and false image of safety in that particular path, yet feeling the extreme discomfort in knowing how utterly unfulfilled I felt and recognizing the sacrifices I was making to live a life that felt complacent. It was then that I subconsciously decided to change directions, recognizing that I was operating out of fear.

Looking back at it now, I think it is valuable to note that I believe I had a false understanding of not only the term love, but also the feeling of love. It was not until doing this work that I have actually opened my eyes (or more importantly my heart) to a different perception of the word and allowed it to take on a new feeling. The valuable lesson for me has been that it is just as much about receiving as it is giving.  And if not for the relationships and experiences that have sprouted along this road,  I am not sure  how long it would have taken me to learn that lesson. I think it is also important to take this into consideration when looking at humanitarian work. It is not just about giving, or about being a "good person", or expressing sympathy, or sacrifice...because the return on investment is so much richer than one can imagine, and it is the exchange of positivity and lessons that provide the balance.

Within the past couple days I have met with two individuals that have helped to amplify these particular lessons and that are doing some really incredible work in this world. I have listed their links below, and I very much look forward to supporting their visions and being a part of their work in the near future.

*Thank you both for your time. I am very excited to see the miracles unfold.


Eaar Oden: Board member of "Go And Do Likewise" and doing some incredible work in Kenya website: http://www.goanddolikewise.org/about_index.html
Blog: http://eaaroden.blogspot.com/

Nick Jordan: Providing wells to the people of Uganda. (Lack of water and sanitation issues are the main causes of most diseases throughout Africa)
website: http://wellsoflifeafrica.org/
Blog: http://wellsoflife.blogspot.com/


Es-Bee

Mistekima

This is Mistekima. Mistekima is ten years old and living with the horrible disfigurements caused by Noma. She has been abandoned by her family and been surviving on her own in Ethiopia. Chris Lawrence of Facing Africa (www.facingafrica.org) will be participating in an event in the UK to raise money to support the facial reconstruction for Mistekima. (Chris Lawrence and his surgical team will be visiting Addis Ababa in October to perform surgies on multiple victims of the Noma disease). It has been predicted that Mistekima will need many surgeries in order to live a somewhat normal life. One surgery costs approximately $1,280. It is in our best interest to raise enough to pay for all of Mistekima's surgical needs within the years to come. If you would like to donate to Mistekima's surgery's and help her lead a normal life in Ethiopia please visit www.facingafrica.org or contact me directly at 4sarabeth@gmail.com for more information.

thank's for reading,

Es Bee

3784 Cycle Across the USA

Greg Evens is an ordinary 19 year old doing an extraordinary thing. Greg is currently on day 34 of his truck across the US via bicycle. He left from Yorktown on May 1st and plans to make it to San Francisco approximately two and a half months later. If he makes it all the way there, he will be the youngest cyclist to ever to cycle across the US alone. What is even more extraordinary about this trip is that Greg is doing his cycle in the name of the kids who have survived Noma. Before he started his ride he got people to sponsor him and is having all the money go to Facing Africa. If you would like to follow his journey through the US place follow Greg's blog at: http://gregstransamericacycle.blogspot.com/

Disease of Poverty

Many of you who will read this blog, know that I currently work in the skin care industry. This is a field full of individuals focused towards correcting facial imperfections to increase their clients perception of themselves. After all, the first thing people look at when they meet you is your face.

Outside of my day job, I enjoy researching about socially responsible companies wether it be for profit or non-profit to see what types of ideas and actions are currently in play towards improving the quality of life for all. I find it fascinating that the majority of us, regardless of nationality, religion, or income status come together to create or support causes that touch our hearts.

From the beginning of my research, I have found a particular concern and yearning to support many of the issues that confront various countries within Africa. One day while searching the internet, I stumbled on some graphic images of kids who have survived a disease called Noma. When I first saw these images I was, to say the least, taken back. I did not want to believe the images were real, but new I could not burry my head in the sand.

After viewing the pictures, it was very difficult to find information on the disease. It appears that many doctors have not heard of Noma. The one creditable website that I have found for Noma is a non-profit organization based out of the UK called Facing Africa, (www.facingafrica.org). Facing Africa is dedicated to funding trips to Nigeria and Ethiopia and providing voluntary surgeons and supplies to perform facial reconstructions on survivors of Noma and other facial disfigurements related to extreme poverty. I emailed the organization immediately trying to find ways to help with what little money I had. Chris Lawrence, the founder (and now very good friend) of Facing Africa was very helpful in giving me more information about the disease and what his organization is doing to help Noma survivors lead normal, more comfortable lives.

Noma is known as the "Disease of Poverty" and is most prevalent in children under six. It starts as a fever, and in malnourished children progresses and creates an ulcer in the mouth. If the ulcer goes untreated the infection begins to eat away the skin of the cheek, lips, and sometimes eats through the palate and eye. In infants the lips deteriorate which leaves them unable to breast feed and eventually they die.

Below is a video about Noma and the Facing Africa organization.

According to the World Health Organization approximately 140,000 new cases of Noma are found each year, this does not include the many cases that are not discovered due to the social taboo that is associated with the disease. An estimated 90% of the children who become infected with Noma die. Those who survive are left with severe facial disfigurements that cause discomfort in normal daily activities.

After learning about Noma and seeing the pictures of the children effected with Noma, I have gained several new perspectives. In the skin care industry,  already beautiful women and men receive facial treatments and procedures everyday to make them look even more beautiful. Learning about Noma really makes you take a second look at about how you judge what you see in the mirror everyday. I look at the kids in the video above, and wonder how I ever stressed over something so small as a pimple. The kids also exert such a fierce glow of inner beauty, they are so strong for waking up each day and living with the cards that they have been dealt. The contents within the video and the Facing Africa site truly touched my heart. If the information in the post did anything for you, I would like to encourage you to share it with others, and spread the word about Facing Africa and this completely preventable disease.

*The information an images in this blog come directly from the Facing Africa website or from conversations with Chris Lawrence the founder of Facing Africa.

The Beginning

Hi, I'm Es-Bee. Welcome to my blog. Within the contents of these pages you will find stories, causes, and experiences that captivate my heart and ring true to my soul. Please read with an open mind, take what resinates with you, and leave the rest if you choose. My hope is that the contents within this blog will be shared like one big game of "telephone".

...By one story shared, one donation could be made, one life could be saved, one idea could suffice, and thousands, perhaps millions, of people could live more comfortably.