Store Front

One Bead Store Front downtown Geneva, NY! It doesn't seem like much, but there are about 200/300 beads hanging in that circle. 

Cornell

One Bead infiltrated Cornell University last Saturday. The buzz has started in Ithaca, NY...but where will it hit next?

NEXT WEEK

 Friday April 27th:

Saturday April 28th:

One Bead will be at both of these events. More information to come...

Our First Interview!

While at CGI U I met an amazing girl named Marisa Ranieri. Marisa contacted me shortly after CGI U about featuring One Bead on her blog. I answered a few questions for her, and, only a few days later, here is the final product! I cannot thank her enough for this great opportunity to be featured on her site. If you have time, check out our One Bead Interview by clicking the link below...and be sure to read more about Marisa's own Tanzania 365 commitment. 

http://www.tanzania365.com/2012/04/feature-one-bead-project.html

peace love beads

One Bead Day of Service

This past Saturday I was lucky enough to have 7 students assigned to One Bead for a Day of Service. We spent the first half of the day making tags and boxes and accomplishing other odd tasks. The second half of the day we designed a window front downtown Geneva for One Bead. I am amazed at the amount such a small group was able to accomplish! If you are in or around Geneva, be sure to check out our work at 429 Exchange st. xxx

Music from the Congo

If you have a chance, check out this clip from 60 minutes...it is well worth your time. "Talent is universal, but opportunity is not." Someday I hope One Bead can create opportunities like this for people!

http://www.cbsnews.com/video/watch/?id=7404678n

How to Build a Fence

Here is a small sample of our fencing details, straight from the school we are raising money for. HWS students raised $500 today, so we are only $1500 away from making this happen! Here we go.

Coming Soon!!!

It's finally here! This past month we have been designing the layout for our official website. This is what the home page will look like...some things to note:

• The center rectangle that says "One Duty. One Life. One Bead" is where our video will play.
• Our Website will have 10 pages total.
• In this version "difference" is spelled wrong in the top right corner...this of course will change!
• We are hoping to have onebead.org up and running by the start of the summer!

Really special thanks to Mark Benya who has worked incredibly hard to design this and has been so patient with all of my ridiculous requests xxx

Letting Go

One story that really stuck with me from CGI U was told by President Clinton about his interaction with Nelson Mandela. Here it is (in my own words)...

Mandela is famous for his 27 year long imprisonment when charged with sabotage and attempts to overthrow the government. President Clinton described Mandela's release from prison on February 11th, 1990, and how Mandela's walk down the long dusty road to freedom was broadcasted over the television. Mandela went on to become president of South Africa and later became good friends with Clinton. Clinton recalls a conversation with Mandela in which he said 'I can't help but wonder how you felt walking down that road away from the prison. You must have been relieved, but weren't you a little mad?' In response to this Mandela replied "of course I was mad! But I also realized that if I was going to continue my life being angry with the people responsible for those 27 years, then I would still be their prisoner. So I walked down that road and into that car and I was free."

CGI U Continued

 CGI U has gotten me very excited about One Bead's ability to move forward and expand. Everything can seem overwhelming at times, but then when I step back and see the bigger picture, I can't help but want to push myself even further. I focus in on how we are about to begin fence construction and are now looking into the logistics of a library, and I cannot help but feel like we have already succeeded. CGI U made me understand the importance of taking initiative and not being afraid to pursue my commitment to the fullest degree. There is no better time than right now! So with that being said, I am using this week to create a strategic plan and create both short term and long term goals for the organization. I am also working on putting a concrete team of highly talented individuals together who can assist me in the areas of marketing, business, sales, and more! In the next five weeks my goal is to sell as MANY bracelets/beads as possible before this 2011/2012 school year comes to a close. Please spread the word!!! 

xxx Sara

Some final notes from the Opening Plenary at CGI U:

"Talent is Universal, but opportunity is not" -Rye


"Only education is the solution to the whole problem"-Sadiqa in reference to the negative effects of war.


"People like to say that it is not how you begin but how you end, however, I would have to disagree with that, it is how you start" The seeds that you originally plant within an individual are extremely important. Everyone needs someone to make them feel like the most important person in the world -Usher


One of Rye's favorite books is Gates of fire by Steven Pressfield. Steven Pressfield also wrote a book called Do the Work. In this book Pressfield says "Start before you're ready". In other words, don't wait until you think you are prepared to do something, or it will be too late. Start now. Be fearless.


Madeline Albright continued off of this point by saying that you must learn by doing as opposed to sitting in the library every night. (I quote her while seated in the library...)


Sadiqa concluded by arguing that if you wait until you are out of grad school to start pursuing your passion, you are too late. You cannot wait. School is the absolute best time to begin. 

CGI U Update

Just got back to school from CGI U...the experience was amazing. It was a great opportunity to meet people and hear some inspiring stories. I will share more later once I have organized my notes...but here are a few pieces from the notebook I carried with me throughout the weekend...

xxx Sara