A beautiful cause...

It’s that time of year…my birthday.  I think everyday and everyone’s birthday is special. Not just mine.   Maybe it’s yours too, this month. Happy Birthday!

The other side of my birthday is I am a twin to a wonderful man.   What can I say about Norman?   Older than me by six minutes and oh so much kinder, sweeter and smarter.  I wish he were here with me today.  Unfortunately, he’s not.  One day a few years ago, he had a not-so-common cold and due to a doctor’s non-advice to hospitalize him, he dies.  The day I got the call was the most sickening day of my life and a day I will never forget.

As you get to know me and see by my blogs, I have a perpetually happy spirit and attitude. Yes, it borderlines on bubbly.  Like a bottle of champagne, I overflow with a love for life and our beauty business; I can't stop it.  However, for almost a year, I went into a deep quiet time and kept to myself. I would not say I was in a deep depression, I would say it was more like an inner reflection.  How young he was!  Why did this have to happen?  Why him and not ME?  Why wasn’t I there for him in NYC when he was sick?  We came into this world together and now were truly separated.

As I journeyed through the dark clouds, I wondered what could I do to “make a difference”.  Since I love lipstick and lips and it is my favorite place on the face to treat and paint, I decided to take my biggest selling lipstick and make it work for me. We created a beauty campaign that fifty cents of every one of these lipsticks we would sell would go to a cause in memory of my twin Norman. The cause was Special Olympics as Norman was a medal winner in the games and could swim, I could not.  He was very proud of himself and we were too.

We created a romance card that tells a mini story of the lipstick and Norman and our donations. It let anyone who buys the luscious lipstick to know they are not just buying a great lip stain lipstick that gives them a gorgeous rosy glow.  It is also for a fabulous cause and helps others too!

Now, several years later, our cause has grown into many different areas that support organizations for people with Down syndrome.  I also hired a lovely special needs girl named Kelsey to work with us on events and ongoing beauty projects, and even featured her in ads for us.  Norman worked for my company too on special projects and always gave 1,000% too.  People born with Downs are the most loveable  and sweet people you will ever meet.

What I found was people LOVE to do business with nice people. They grew to love us even more. Even clients who just found us online and shopped online and did not ever meet us, loved this.   It makes them want to do business with you and share with others too! Perhaps you have a mom who died from heart disease, a sister with MS, a hubby with cancer. YOU too can start a beautiful branding cause that is just for you and your business or company. It doesn’t have to be a lipstick like us.  It can be a face cream, hand lotion, sunscreen, and eye gel or signature spa service.  You are only limited by your imagination.  It can be ongoing or it can be for a short period.  Getting involved in a cause is incredibly worth it! Doing this really helped me get out of the dark clouds from my loss and helped me finally find rainbows again.  Even though I am “twinless”, I must live on. I know Norman is here with me and follows me everyday in his own way.

Think outside the box, circle and square and do something truly amazing!!!

It will make you feel so wonderful and your clients will notice it too! I am a living testimonial to that.