Hello there beautiful soul, 
Welcome to our blog.
How goes it? We really do hope you are well. 
We wanted to share some updates and NEW merch you might be interested in. 

As always, each image above is shoppable.
Take care of yourselves and message us if you have any questions or concerns. 
Virtual smooches, 
The LHo Team (The Empowerment Initiative)

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. 

We decided that fall/ winter was the best time to launch these designs online. For the shirts that are short-sleeved, they can still be rocked during winter by layering. Most of our designs are gender neutral and can be dressed up or rocked for a more casual look. With each shirt, we hope to inspire healthy conversation about globalization, Africa, travel and so much more. 

Please tell a friend about them by sharing this post. The best way to encourage others to shop small business is by sharing businesses you already frequent in person or online. 
​
Lastly, we wanted to share music. Emily decided to look up some of the older albums she enjoyed and still listens to today. The lady that came to mind for this post was Angelique Kidjo. When Emily moved to America with her mother in the winter of 2004, Black Ivory Soul, was one of the albums gifted to them by an American who simply wanted them to feel welcome. It has been years and she still listens to most of this album, so here you go. We hope you fall in love with Angelique Kidjo, just as we have. Also, if you like Dave Matthews Band, they are featured in this album. 
​
If you have any questions, concerns or requests, please get in touch. 
We love hearing from you. 
Take care and remain dipped in culture
​The LHo Team. 

We unexpectedly found out a few years ago that people love our socks. They love the colors, the quotes on them, the names we give each collection, the mantras we add to the packaging and so much more. 

For those who do not know, we normally bid and also purchase wholesale clothing that might otherwise not end up being bought. Ever wonder why we only have a few of each design? Now you know. As a self funded social enterprise, we don't have a huge budget to work with and this has forced us to be innovative in our thinking and small biz moves. 

It has always been a fear of ours (or rather Emily's), that we'd get stuck with merchandise we could not move. So she prefers smaller orders that are for sure going to fly off the shelf. Also, after we discovered that the fashion industry is the second largest waste producer in the world, we decided we were going to do our part to help reduce waste, like a good percentage of our suppliers do around the world. For instance, we no longer ship items with ANY plastic, we no longer use plastic bags to package our purchases at pop-ups or in-store. We bid on "overstock" or "deadstock" (we finally got a seat at several bidding and wholesale distributing tables) and we get them to you at pocket friendly prices.

This week, from our overstock purchases, we have a new collection of socks in stock. 
Socks are some of our bestsellers and so we got on URStyle and decided to create sets. We think the secret socks would be perfect for fitness wear and also for flat shoes. Some days, you just need socks with your flats and we've got you covered. The neon colors are to remind you in between life's seriousness that you are allowed to smile and be joyful even though things get heavy (choose happiness anyway).  

Share the blog. 
Tell a friend about our socks (and everything else) and THANK YOU for shopping us across the globe. 
We love and appreciate each and every one of you. 
Cheers
The LHo Team  

PS: Here is the latest mix from one of our favorite DJs who was based in Australia and is now back home in Kenya. 
Listen to the mix while you drive, while working and everywhere else. 
Wishing you peace, good vibes, love and neon colored socks. 

​​During World War I and World War II, some of the buttons on U.S. military uniforms were carved out of tagua, a durable white nut about the size of a golf ball that grows on a South American palm tree.

The material was cheaper than ceramic or metal, so exporting tagua became a major industry in Colombia and Ecuador beginning around 1900. By the second half of the 20th century, demand halted with the popularization of plastic. Today the material is mostly forgotten in the United States.

Tagua is making a comeback though, this time as a decorative novelty.

While Ecuador now has a burgeoning tagua trade, Colombia's resources are only starting to be retapped. In Bogota, I visited La Tagueria, a factory in the city's gritty industrial zone. Forty employees process about 10 tons of tagua annually into colorful, intricately carved jewelry and decorations.
Tagua, sometimes called "vegetable ivory," is "the only plant product that produces a material this white, durable and pure," says factory owner Alain Misrachi.

Today tagua is more expensive than plastic, but Misrachi says it is a valuable alternative crop that helps preserve the region's tropical forests. The palm grows in the wild at lower elevations across Colombia, so there is no need to start tagua plantations. Locals collect fruit from the forest floor year-round after it falls from the tree, and the seeds are then extracted and dried. 

Our latest designs (earrings) from Colombia are featured in the slideshow above. Each pair of earrings was styled with clothing from our boutique. To shop each design, simply click on the picture. We currently have them on sale. The earrings were sourced from a fellow maker in Florida who hails from Colombia. She, like us, shops directly from traders in her home country. 

What green fashion are you sporting or selling? Tag us!! We'd love to regram and retweet them. We are @LHoCreations on most social media platforms. 

This article was originally penned by Kenneth Fletcher for the Smithsonian. Read the full article through the link below. 
Fletcher, Kenneth. “Colombia Dispatch 8: The Tagua Industry.” Smithsonian.com, Smithsonian Institution, 28 Oct. 2008, www.smithsonianmag.com/travel/colombia-dispatch-8-the-tagua-industry-88312416/.