LN: How did you get involved with Lovenotes?

CC: For a number of years I’ve had the privilege of knowing Amanda Judd and am continually fascinated by her contribution to our world. She loves the environment, and contributes in the most modern, enthusiastic and innovative way.

When she launched Lovenotes I got it straight away, it was a no brainer for us to get involved and give some loving. In a day of fast media and online environments, there’s nothing more inspiring than swapping the keyboard for a Lovenotes notepad and working at a pace that encourages thought.

LN: Tell us about the YES Disability Resource Centre?

CC: The YES disability Resource Centre is a first stop shop for people with disabilities, their family / whanau and service providers. We provide the most up to date information that allows people to navigate through their lives, ultimately living it to the max!
As a centre driven by the significance of networking (the most powerful tool we have) we find ourselves at the centre of innovation for new services that connect people with disabilities to the lifestyle they desire.

LN: So let’s talk about the Really Big Kinda Massive Meetup…

CC: [It is] an epic networking event for young people, people with disabilities, family, whanau, service providers and generally cool people to ultimately expand everyone’s network to make a bigger world of difference.

Dubbed the Really Big Kinda Massive Meet Up, we are prepping this event to be one of inspiration, information, innovation and cohesion. This isn’t to be a network meeting where we sit in circles, but one where we select a series of presenters to celebrate what makes them awesome / what they do, capturing the minds of 60-80 people.

To keep this as a high energy event we are running it Pecha kucha style. Each presenter is required to deliver 20 slides of a PowerPoint presentation in 7 minutes (that’s 20 seconds per slide).

Ultimately we are wanting to form a cohesion between the silos within our sector by sharing the views of those who do not attend the more traditional network meetings facilitated by short-bread biscuits and home-spun jumpers. We live in 2012, it’s time to jazz up the way we interact and connect and form those bridges that allow us to expand our horizons. Facebook and other social media is great but we need to step back to face-to-face communication sometimes.

We select a variety of presenters for each event as a big part of the event is to positively raise awareness around disability, if we’re always talking to the same people and hearing the same thing then both our attitude, innovation and contribution as a whole society stands still.

LN: Did you receive any feedback about the Lovenotes products?

CC: We gave away Lovenotes in our goodie bags and people adored them. I’ve since gone into offices where I’ve seen Lovenotes and it’s like a fusion of art meets stationery. I would encourage as many people to become lovers of Lovenotes and make this service as habitual as rubbish, power, mortgages.

LN: Are you aware of how many sheets of paper you’ve saved?

CC: I’ve been told but I don’t have a connection to stats and numbers. I just like knowing I’m part of something bigger than my contribution.

LN: How did you get into what you are doing today?

CC: Through dreaming big. Hard work, believing in the Law of Attraction, passion and perseverance. Knowing that a life is only fully lived if we are making a contribution to the environment that surrounds us.

LN: Do you have any advice for people who are aspiring to make positive changes within their community?

CC: Just do it, but do it in the way that you want to do it. Don’t worry about what people may think or say and do all you can to merge it into a lifestyle, those who make the biggest difference become the brand. Live it, breath it, be it!

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Last night I was out celebrating a wedding with family & friends. I found myself sitting amongst friendly strangers delving into conversations, getting to know one another, and stringing all the connections together — as you do at weddings. After what seemed a quick hour or so of conversation and dialogue in response to the good old question “what do you do for work?”, I found myself having arrived at some thoughts that seemed so profound…

The talk was around the business opportunity that is evolving with regenerating our planet, and with a very intrigued and very-keen-to-learn (business?) man, I was being punched questions and challenges here there and everywhere, and next thing you know I catch myself spewing out wonderful words and exceptional concepts. The question that really got me going, from this fascinated (business?) man was;

“I love what you are doing and why, but I want to know how can you make more money doing this? What are the opportunities to make more money?”

As we deal with waste paper, the question really becomes about what can we do with this waste paper — thus linking the cycle together and matching synergies of  supply and demand. The response was something like,

“There are a plentitude of people, industries and companies who will gladly buy and use waste paper, we know this because it already happens today, and it’s a massive industry. What I am interested in however, is the people, industries and companies who yes they want to use it too, but also they have aligned values, they want to use this waste not for ‘conventional business as usual’ but for work that alongside us and the rest of the social enterprise world, will help regenerate the planet, our communities, and our people entirely. For example, one company we are exploring working with is Eco Cover. These guys buy waste paper, however they are not burning the paper for fuel, they aren’t selling & shipping it to offshore purchasers, they are using right here in Auckland to create a product that is intrinsic in regenerating the very soil and land we live upon, through innovative technologies they have created, they have the means to do / sell / bring commercial scale to something that nobody has ever done before. This is one company we know of who we could work with, there maybe more, but to tell you the truth, these companies and organisations don’t exist yet. It is through continuing to explore this very idea of how to regenerate the planet, that we then can evolve our thinking, start innovating, and perhaps if all goes to plan for positive people like me, we will in ten years time see a hundred companies like Eco Cover (but not exactly the same because they will be creating different things) wanting to purchase waste paper, reuse it locally etc. for great things that change the world, things that do not exist right now.

This is the bringing about / manifestation of regenerative business, of social enterprise, and of a more abundant planet for all our people. This is the business opportunity.

And most importantly, for the business man to remember, that this doesn’t happen when you only care about money, for it is built upon the people caring, wanting, expecting, spending their money and investing in, equally, social – environmental – economic values.”

So you can see why I love what we do; it feels like we are at the very edge of innovation carving the path as we go to a prosperous world where people and planet thrives. It’s exciting. It’s thrilling. It’s the best work I could ever dream of. And it’s just a blessing to do it, because it brings so much positivity to our world, to the communities we work in, the companies and organisations we service, to the very people who are Lovenotes, the staff and supporters, the fans and the cheerleaders, and to myself.

Let’s go!…

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People galore I bumped into the awesome crew at SIFE (Students In Free Enterprise), the fabulous Betsy, Sarah & Rachel of SBN, John Stansfield who rocks out the epic campaigns for Oxfam, beautiful Clinty Minty from Rainbow Youth, my favorite cycle chic inspiration and role model Pippa Coom, and so many more of you. Inspiring conversations, emerging thoughts and ideas, new connections,  regenerating private sector and communities across Auckland, and even the fabulous Jacinda Ardern opted herself to speak at an upcoming event I’m running, on regenerating politics! Bring it all on.

The next two weeks are Fairtrade Fortnight. To me, this kaupapa spans every decision, of every chance to choose, every purchase, that we make every day. It’s not about a fortnight of doing good. It’s about a lifetime of it. It’s intelligent, it makes common sense, it makes business sense, it’s easy, and it’s actually the most awesome way to live – knowing that you’re giving life, prosperity, abundance and your humanity and love to other human beings of this world. It’s actually what you and I benefit from every single of our waking, privileged days that we get to spend in this beautiful country of Aotearoa. *Gratitude*

Rock on SBN, Kokako, Fairtrade and all of you who made a wicked event. Chur!

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