Hello Beautiful Humans,
Happy Friday. 
Below, we've featured the work of Kevo Abbra in Kenya. I kept falling in love with certain photographs and videos from home. I found out he was the creative soul behind all these looks I loved.

Since we are a platform for cultural connection, we decided to share some of his latest work. His name (above) leads to his LinkedIn account. Please follow him and share his work so he can receive even more commissions. 

​Connect with us on LinkedIn via the button below. 
You can shop our images featured below as well by clicking on each item. 
To shop our entire collection of over 500 designs and cultural/ fashionable finds, use this link: LHoCreations.shoptique.com
 
​And we encourage you to get lost in art and culture digitally, as we live out these socially distant days. We will continue to share voices and stories from other parts of the world
Take care and stay healthy, 
The LHo Team 

Hello Beautiful and Capable Humans, 
We wanted to share some new merch and a few shows that might help us examine American history and present day, systemic oppression, from the angles of those who have experienced it.

I'm sharing because I'm often told how those in our circle don't understand systemic oppression. They struggle to see how their life is privileged, and how they have benefited from racist systems, and if they can understand it, they hope to begin to have an impact on the problems that exist in our world today. 


First of all, for those who come seeking knowledge, understanding and a way forward, I have to say that I appreciate your trust. If we are indeed seeking a better tomorrow, we have to start from a place of honesty. So, thank you for being honest and for trusting me. 

Second, I need to issue this reminder (for me as well as for you) that I don't have all the answers. While I have benefitted from my background in peace studies, international relations, communications, and philanthropy, I don't have immediate solutions. However, I do offer being a companion to those who are willing to walk down this road and find a better way forward for everyone involved.

I believe sometimes what we need to do is listen to everyday people tell their stories. 
I am not coming forward with an agenda. I am coming forward to share because the topic comes up too often and because I have a lot of people who openly do tell me, they shop from us because they want to find a way to "do more" while here. They are not just interested in passing through the earth but they don't always know where to start. Before I ever recommend anyone get on a plane and go do good elsewhere, I always point out we have a hurt nation, that we love, and that we can work on. Charity will begin in our backyards. It's a huge problem to address, but we are capable if we decide to be.

So, feel free to reach out for a virtual cup of coffee or tea if you'd love to talk about the views offered in these productions further. The truth is that as a nation, we need to find a way to start talking about these issues that "quietly" plague us.  We need to address them from a place that allows us to address their existence and potentially work on local efforts that birth a better way forward. I believe you can't address the present without understanding the past. This is why I recommend Turning Point on Hulu.

There's always this thing we do as Americans, we thank servicemen and women, there are also plenty of opportunities for us, as everyday citizens, to work on efforts within this country that encourage brotherhood, equity, kindness, togetherness and so much more. Being a patriot is for all of us.

Through this post, let's work locally and expand, as we heal, and provide room for healing to others. The truth is that as a nation, we need to find a way to start talking about these issues that "quietly" plague us.  We need to address them from a place that allows us to address their existence and potentially work on local efforts that birth a better way forward. We need to re-examine our history and what we have been taught. I believe we can't address the present without understanding the past.

As you watch, consider these things to help you listen: 

• What questions do you have?
• What did you not understand?
• What did you learn that you didn't know before?
• How did you feel as you listened to their stories? 

I'd love to hear from you as we learn, share, and begin this work together. 
​
Happy New Week. 
Stay healthy and safe. 
The LHo Team 

PS: We added a picture of one of our interns from Kenya/ The East African Community planting trees. We promised to plant trees as you continued to shop us. Becca would like you to know the fruit trees are being planted.

Hello fam, 
Sigh, how are you?
How is 2021 treating you?
So, by now, many of you understand how we use this platform. We don't only connect you with styles and treasures from around the world through fashion and foodie experiences, we also use our platform to: ​

​

• Share stories that help people see the other side of an issues that divides us (basically, we help people connect across cultures and divisive lines)  
• Create a SAFE space for growth through honest conversing and activities

We listen to A LOT of documentaries and news while working.
We decided this was one worth sharing as we finalize our order for Cayman Islands (thank you Cayman for shopping small business and for all of those that have fallen in love with our work. We source beads from around the world and it is amazing to hear our pieces are a hit "across the water"). 

Now, New York Times Presents is available on Hulu. They cover various subjects from episode to episode and each episode is roughly an hour long. Breonna's story is one of very many across the US that wore us out in 2020 because the sun rises, but it's as if certain people are going to live out a certain experience while others toil and almost fall apart. The sunrise is not the same across the board and the difference often stems from manmade and man-allowed turmoil. It's gotten to the point where, at least for me, it makes me feel sick to my stomach and as if the solution needs to arrive from the divine spaces because when mankind is offered the opportunity to do better, we often choose the path that will ruin or neglect others because it's a shorter distance to walk. I have written about this before and it almost feels like choosing to set ourselves on fire. Why do we choose to set ourselves on fire? Why do we choose not to care, not to act and not to dedicate our lives to shade trees we will never sit under? Why were you given life? Was it just for you or did The Universe that allowed you possibly hope for more? These are the things I think about. I think we all need to think about these matters. On certain days, it really does feel like we are digging our own coffins and not in a way that is simply about passage... we all know at some point we have to transition to what is next... this digging doesn't feel like that. It feels a little darker and a little heavier and the peace we think we will attain on the other side isn't available. It's almost like the mess we create, we will have to fix in this life. I want to apologize for the morbidity of these thoughts, but that wouldn't be honest. I'm not sorry. These are things we do need to think about.  

Here are things to consider as you watch the third episode on Breonna Taylor: 
1. What do you know about Breonna Taylor?
2. Where did you get your information from?
3. How many other incidents can you name that sound similar to this one?

• If not, are you willing to research? 

4. How would you deal with a situation like this occurring in your family?
5. Do you have friends of color or that are culturally different?
6. Have you sat down with them to understand what the average day in America is like for them?
7. Have you checked to see what life is like for them after our 45th president or how they are treated by other Americans that might not look like them, sound like them or dress like them?

If you do really want to converse over these subjects, do leave us a comment on here. If you have another way of getting in touch, please do. 
 
Otherwise, we wish you light, love and kindness. 
Take care of yourselves (and your neighbours) and may health be yours
The Empowerment Initiative 
(Emily wrote this piece )
Below is a preview of the documentary AND we will not add anything for sale to this blog post because as mankind, we need to spend time reflecting and deciding. 

We did it with the bare minimum, just as we were taught to do when we studied Agriculture in primary (elementary) school in Kenya. That shriveled piece was going to find purpose. All we needed were toothpicks, the lid to a container we were no longer using and water.

We will transplant it to a larger pot this week (01/06/2021) and finally into the soil. 

​Below, we shared more of what is happening across the globe in regards to impacting climate change. You and your neighbours can do something too in your own backyards. â€‹

Take care of yourselves. 
Stay considerate, healthy and safe.
So much love, 
The Empowerment Initiative Team (@LHoCreations)

Better yet, should He?
What are we individually doing to reduce turmoil in the pockets of the world we inhabit?
​
These are the things I wonder about, as I add each bead to each piece. 
Some days, God responds, other days, He wonders with me too...
As much as He made us, I think we baffle Him. 
I also think He toys with re-manifesting on earth like He used to, or so colonialism told many of us, so we can try and align ourselves with usefulness again. 

Mankind, we took on freewill but forgot to ask for the instructions on how to apply it to life and now we exist in the often muddy and cycling waters of peace, love and chaos.

Writing and creativity is a vault that hides many secrets. 
This piece can be about various different issues we all experience from day to day in life. 
It's just ink. 
Take it as that. 
Bounce ideas off of it. 
Respond to it. 
Write responses. 
Enjoy it and take care of yourself and those you can in 2021. 
Cheers
​The LHo Team (The Empowerment Initiative). 

You can shop our latest designs, creations and finds by clicking on each image. Enjoy.
​Remain up to date with our latest creations and finds by following us on Shoptiques: https://www.shoptiques.com/brands/love-s_hangover_creations

we love to highlight other creatives, makers and content generators that are sharing a perspective that might help inform and empower our choices. 

This week, we highlighted@PrettyAuthenticated. 
She is from Roatan, Honduras and based in Indianapolis, Indiana. 
She shared her seven tips on how to thrift like a boss. Simply click on her her embedded Instagram post to see what the tips are. Hassan Minhaj offered a thirty minute breakdown, based on facts and research, on how thrifting, which is essentially how we create salvaged beads, can impact the amount of waste we are currently producing. The entire episode is available beside our shoppable slideshow (yes, just click on each image to be sent to Shoptiques where you can shop the actual design). 

We also featured some of our left-over bead bracelets below. 
We'd love to hear what you are doing to care for the earth and how you are getting your community, or circle of influence, involved. Otherwise, we wish you health and wellness through the holiday season. 
Thank you for journeying with us, 
The LHo Team (The Empowerment Initiative)

Hello Beautiful People, 
Today we are speaking with Rosie Allenson. She is the founder of Non Traditional. 

I first met Rosie when she was barely in middle school. I met her with her mother Jodie (she's the owner and founder of Curvy Girl Studio in Noblesville, IN) at a Bead & Tea class we were hosting in Downtown Noblesville. Just as a heads up, we are offering jewelry and cultural immersion classes virtually now because we've received too many requests. Rosie and Jodie happen to be some of the clients I have been meeting with for cultural immersion classes. I digress.

I think Rosie is brilliant and a breath of fresh air. 
She is conscious and ready to work on making her portion of the world a better place. All this will be done while pursuing a higher education program that will allow her to pursue a career in acting, music theatre and business. 
She is open to new ideas and new voices and is ready to listen, learn and apply herself. 

I share Rosie's story today because we are never too young or too old to apply ourselves. 
I share Rosie's story because being inclusive and being an ally can take various shapes and forms. 

Today, we share a portion of our cultural immersion sessions as experienced through literature. 
We are reading Nervous Conditions by Zimbabwean novelist, playwright, and filmmaker Tsitsi Dangarembga. Nervous Conditions was first published in the United Kingdom in 1988. It was the first book published by a black woman from Zimbabwe in English. The BBC named Nervous Conditions the top 100 books that have shaped the world, in 2018. 

We've had a wonderful time reading this book. Not that it has been an easy read, but rather that it has allowed us to have hard conversations. Now, pardon me for a bit while I am me and explain the usefulness of hard conversations as I mean it.

Hard conversations are unpleasant but can be immensely useful for mankind to have because the tomorrow available to others (most of whom would be considered minors or unborn), depends on what we do today as the living. We are all living in "borrowed spaces" or a "borrowed existence" of sorts. This borrowed nature will have to be passed on to others.

What we do, while here matters immensely.
Hard conversations, when birthed from ethical angles, allow for sturdy roots to be established. Those sturdy roots allow for shade trees to be established that we might never sit under but that others will one day be grateful we fought for and/ or established. Our borrowed presence is not a right, but a privilege. We need to be aware of this borrowed presence with the same attentiveness we might give to a tender houseplant that we want to live. 

I take it as a form of worship.
I take it as one of the most critical forms of worship.
So when I gather for these cultural immersion experiences, I am not just gathering for the sake of gathering. I don't know everything. I am open. I am willing. I am available. I am present. I want whatever divine power allowed me life to allow us a space for growth and human connection that can continue to do good long after I am gone. I attend those meetings with the same humility I might tithe before a deity I have reverence for. During those meetings, I am doing work that he/ she/ they might ask me about. 

What we do today as the living, requires an awareness birthed a lot of times by hard conversations. Jodi, Rosie and I have sat down together, shared with each other, taught and enlightened each other as we continue to find ways to establish the shade trees we are actively working to leave behind. 

Are you a reader?
What version of the arts do you consume (especially in these covid times, we are all consuming the arts somehow)... so, what form of the arts do you prefer?
Is anything you consume inclusive and/ or challenging of your view of the world?

We have a tendency to want to engage across social media when it comes to growth, politics, religion and any other major world views. Perhaps, the best place to start could be personally through the content you consume before reaching out to try and dialogue with others. Are you willing to engage in learning or viewing the world from a lens you might not prefer and/ or agree with? Why or why not? 

Happy Thursday and let's keep growing together,
Stay HEALTHY and safe, 
The LHo Team (The Empowerment Initiative)

About the shoppable pieces below: The artwork is from The Central African Republic, Western Kenya and America. 
All the selected artwork would fall under the non traditional banner that Rosie has chosen to embrace and highlight. We have artwork made from butterfly wings (no butterflies were injured), banana bark or people floating in umbrellas. The pieces capture artistic expression in an unexpected manner and we'd love for you to gift a non traditional art piece to someone you love or tell a friend about us. As always, if you have questions, concerns or comments, get in touch. xo. 

Hello Lovelies, 
We bumped into a story we wanted to share.

Traveling with a few of you (to East Africa) allowed us to reconnect with a lot of our East African upbringing.

Being on the ground reminded us just how much East Africans recycle, reduce, reuse, rot/ compost and upcycle.  We are actively returning to our East African roots/ values that remind us: waste not, want not. The saying was a constant reminder in school and at home. If you live to waste, you will eventually get to a point where you do not have. Be conscious of your usage as you are only a visitor passing through these earthly streets. Just as you are passing through, leave a world for those that will visit after you. East Africans are very much philosophical thinkers and we have been for centuries. That's why some of our traditional garb is littered with proverbs and sayings.

Now, as we reconnect with our roots and find new avenues to reduce our waste footprint, we wanted to share an exciting story from IKEA that we thought quite a few of you might appreciate or would like to pass on because we all know that one person that is IKEA obsessed. Remember, we are forever learning, growing and connecting and this felt like a push in the right direction from a big business brand. It felt like the kind of push that might normalize discussing sustainable living ideas. 

Here's what you need to know: 

• According to BBC News, The Swedish giant, IKEA, will as of next month, launch a scheme to buy back some of your unwanted  IKEA furniture. 
• Under the plan, it will offer vouchers worth up to 50% of the original price, to be spent at its stores.
• The "Buy Back" initiative will launch to coincide with Black Friday in order to make sustainable living more attainable. 

This is GREAT news for the planet and for us, as a small social enterprise that was always BIG about reusing, it helps us become bolder about reducing our waste footprint (BBC BUSINESS, 13th Oct 2020)

Our shopping bags and shipping materials are now 100% upcycled. You might receive a jacket you purchased from us in Kate Spade packaging. We're upcycling and a lot of our customers and friends are ready to assist with this decision.

On average, we ship out thirty five packages a month (except over the holiday season and all the way to valentines day when our online orders triple) and if we are doing our normal circuit of pop ups, we have a sale every 1 1/2 -2 minutes. Instead of creating demand for new trees to be cut down so we have enough packaging and bagging material, we've just started collecting from our customers and friends. We're choosing to use what's already available in the community so that we can reduce our waste and especially plastic footprint. This is just one of the ways we are choosing to do our part as an organization. For more, visit this link: "About Us" . 

And we know, it might seem strange that a small business would write about a big business, but we are all winning in this instance. When we all do what we can, we all win. If we were more focused on caring for each other and this beautiful world we share, we'd find there can be enough resources to meet all of mankind's basic needs comfortably. 

Below, are a few pieces from us that include salvaged and upcycled beads/ creations. Others are included because they are eco-friendly. Click on each image to purchase it on Shoptiques and if you need to ask us questions etc message us: +17656060777. And yes, you can meet us to pick up pieces you are interested in. If you don't spot anything for you, please share this blog with a friend that might (sharing is caring). 

So in the future, should you see we've described a bead or finished design as salvaged know that either our suppliers or our team was working to reduce our waste footprint as an organization (contact us to find out how. Yes... we'll go into detail and no, you're not bothering us).

Lastly, we included a video from Ghana highlighting one social entrepreneur that is making bicycles from bamboo and in the process, creating dignified sources of income for others. How are you going to reduce your waste footprint in the remaining months of 2020? Here's the link to the rest of the IKEA story: please feel free to read the rest of the article (it's a 2-5 minute read depending on your reading speed). 

Love yous,
Wishing you HEALTH, safety and enough
The LHo Team (The Empowerment Initiative).  

​Do you know how the food you consume makes it to the grocery stores you shop from?
Do you know what farms supply your local grocery stores?
Is it possible to find out? If it's difficult to find out, should this be the case? How can you change this? 

There are a lot of subjects that we, as minorities, discuss in private. As part of our Forever Learning Series, we want to bring those subjects to our customer base. We will continue to present the information under a social ethics lens (this also means I am a heavy friend to have and a heavy dinner guest. I am also a heavy person to consume adult beverages with because I like to reflect and other people engage in social gatherings to decompress.
I just wanted to give a heads up because a lot of customers have actually reached out to dialogue with me... of which I appreciate. I digress).

What do you know about immigration to the United States?
How many immigrants do you know well personally?
How much of their story do you know and understand?
How many other minority group families/ individuals do you know well? 
Do you know who stocks your grocery store shelves at night?
Do you know how much any of these groups earn?
Do you know how many hours a week they work?
Do you know how they ended up in these fields? 
How does that compare with your story?
Do you believe in mission work? How do you feel about those who you might assist on missions coming here to better themselves? 
Have you been on a mission trip? What social justice/ equality issues have you tackled within America? 
.
Earlier this year, a former and fellow business owner and I had a lengthy discussion about our roles in the community as minorities that might be looked up to as leaders as well. We both concluded that one of our greatest sins had been silence. It made a lot of others believe, and yes... this was vocalized to both of us on various occasions, that a lot of the social justice cries we see across social media and in the news were made up, came from whiners and were given by those who just didn't want to pull themselves up via their bootstraps but instead might have preferred a handout. We just wanted our businesses to thrive. So we lay low and remained silent even though today, there are businesses I know I can't walk into in Noblesville, Indiana.

Currently, the other business owner stepped down and I turned our business into a small social enterprise because we want to do good as we turn profits. We now fall under the NGO and nonprofit banner (nonprofits do make profits, the money is simply directed to various causes and efforts across various communities selected for impact).

We want to empower. We want to inform and we believe, as an organization, we have a moral responsibility to all our customers and visitors to create a more enriching experience that allows for growth through various channels. 

Please join us in reflecting and do feel free to share what you might discover as you reflect. 
There shouldn't be shame associated with growing and/ or becoming a better human being. There shouldn't be shaming when it comes to inquiring for knowledge purposes (Kiswahili proverb/ African philosophical view). Admitting our faults becomes that much harder when there is shame surrounding the process. Be humble enough to notice your ills. Be humble enough to remember you will continue to make mistakes too. Forgive yourself (and others) and then become better. To fail to do this is to fail to worship That Which Allowed Us being. E. A. Wasonga

PS: We added a video from Insider News (eight minute video with subtitles) and a few sweet deals. Most pieces are $10. Happy shopping and sharing (click on image to shop design).