Stella & Dot Foundation Bracelets

Through the sale of the Stella & Dot Foundation bracelets and through the generosity of your direct donations, we will support ACCION USA, buildOn and Girls Incorporated, which in turn support our own foundation's mission to create positive change for women.  All net proceeds of the Foundation Bracelets will go to these charities.

To make a purchase, go here. Thank you!

The adventure begins

I got my meds, bug spray and passport. I have gifts for our host family and snacks for us. I've double and triple checked. If I don't got it, I don't need it.

I can't believe tomorrow is the day we leave. I am so thankful for this opportunity and the adventure it brings. I do know what I need  now, I need some sleep.

Before...

In July, I attended Stella & Dot's national convention, "Hoopla". It was a great chance to get together with other S&D stylists from across the country and see our new Fall line! (To view, or more importantly purchase from said fall line, go here: Shameless promotion to my S&D webpage.

I was on the hunt for these outstanding women who I was going on the trip with. Looking like this...

...is not as easy for as me looking like this.

And quite frankly, I am a bit more comfortable in my jeans.

I was successful in finding a few of my travel companions and thought it would be fun to take our "before" photos. Enjoy.

I can't wait to see our "afters"!

Fate

So on my first entry on this blog, I made mention that,"I'm am one of those that's brain seems to be always working. I tend towards self doubt while projecting a very 'together' personae." What the hell does that have to do with building a school in Nicaragua, you ask? Well, nothing. What it has to do with is how I feel about my traveling companions but even more importantly, myself.

Stella & Dot, the amazing company I sell jewelry for is how I won this incredible opportunity to travel to Nicaragua. I will accompany Jessica Herrin (CEO of this little $370 MILLION DOLLAR company) as well as members of the NY design team and the top Foundation Bracelet seller and Director, Shaina Haller. On top of all the brains, these are some beautiful women!!!

                         Shaina Haller and S&D founder and CEO, Jessica Herrin

 Then there is me: your basic Stella & Dot stylist, tattooed, non-college graduate, short, average mom. I mean come on! Which one of these things is not like the other?!?

                                                                       Me.

This is where the thinking part comes in. I started to realize how I always sell myself short. (Joke not intended.) What could I possibly have in common with a CEO of huge company other than the fact we work for the same one? Who am I to hob-knob with New York designers? I started thinking even more. As open and as non judgmental as I am, I am judging this situation a lot! But the thing is, it has nothing to do with other people it has to do with me. I discount myself as being "less than" or unworthy before the gig has even begun! Part of the reason I wanted to win this trip so badly was I felt I could do this! I could stand behind a great product and a great cause and I can certainly kick ass in the wilds of Nicaragua! (I've hiked days in to camp and I'm not afraid of getting dirty. In fact I love getting dirty.) This was for me!

So interesting that I find myself right in the middle of what I know I can do, yet in doubt that I even belong. I think most certainly I am here for a reason.

Destination: Santa Ana, Nicaragua

Santa Ana is a small community of 76 families located in the department of Matagalpa. This

community was founded in 2005 and is 166 km from the capital, Managua. The current elected leader of the community is Jose Filimon Centeno Pineda. The people of Santa Ana are primarily farmers who grow coffee, bananas, corn and beans. They don’t have electricity or running water. The community is divided by a river and built into the side of one of northern Nicaragua’s beautiful mountains. The climate is significantly cooler there than on the coast and in the capital. The closest medical clinic is 36 km away.

Santa Ana has had formal education for the past 6 years- since it was founded- but the existing school there is not a permanent building. It is an old coffee processing center that has been converted into a single classroom since no other school is available. There are 79 girls and 38 boys currently studying with 3 teachers in preschool and primary school in this makeshift Santa Ana school building.

The buildOn school block that I’ll help build have two classrooms and two latrines. It will have a

poured concrete floor, cinderblock walls and a corrugated tin roof.