Labor Pain

Since it's conception, I have thought of Fabulous Shoe Night as my "baby." I feel as though I not only gave birth to the concept, so to speak, but like any mother of a newborn, I marvel, almost daily, at the growth and change that take place before my very eyes as ideas spin around and morph into solid shape. Then there is the exhaustion. I am beyond exhausted. My enthusiasm for FSN literally keeps me up at night. My eyes fly open most nights between 2:00 and 3:00 AM, and I am wide awake, instantly ... with already half-formed ideas fighting to get to the surface. And like any new mother, I feel exhilaration, pride, joy, love .... and fear.

What if I fail?

What if I can't do this?

What if .... ??

I think with any new venture, fear is part of the process. I know I can't do this alone ... that's why I have my carefully chosen (and wonderful) advisory board. It really does take a village to raise a child, especially this child. When moments of fear and doubt bubble up, they are my guide posts, my voices of reason. They patiently listen to my fears ( "LLC?? What's that? Not for profit or non-profit? BOTH?? I was a nurse, people! I don't understand any of this stuff!!") and then more or less tell me, "That's why we're here."  It became clear that not only have I poured my entire heart and soul into this, but I have attached enormous emotional significance ... perhaps too much. So much that it scares me sometimes ... and keeps me up at night.

I came to realize that despite all my fear and doubt, despite the little voice in my head that we all have that whispers, "Who do you think you're kidding?", that I simply cannot NOT try. It's as though that option doesn't even exist. It would be like trying to live with half a heart ... it's just not possible. I BELIEVE in this. There is an unseen spark buried deep within my heart that urges me -- persistently, so persistently! -- to keep going forward. And so I do ... because I would literally wither and die if I tried to ignore it. So, whether Fabulous Shoe Night fails or succeeds, I have to continue on, day by day ... put one foot in front of the other and keep moving forward.

One step at a time.

Every day.

Click, click, click, click.

That's me ...

In my stilettos ...

Can you hear me coming??

How I made the (unlikely) leap from a love of shoes ... to charity

If you think about it, the two things are pretty incongruous, and the idea to combine them really didn't come naturally ... at first.

The bridge connecting my love of shoes to charity first popped into my head while I was watching "Oprah" this past April. One guest profiled was Tom Shadyac, a Hollywood director who achieved tremendous professional and financial success, only to give up the "good life" for one of simplicity after a medical crisis. He literally moved from "a mansion to a mobile home," which is the name of the article provided in the link below. Tom has an amazing, uplifting story, and I encourage you to read the article. But the segment that left me literally wracked with sobs told about one of the many charities Tom donates to … Invisible Children.

College students Bobby Bailey, Laren Poole and Jason Russell were traveling, looking for adventure, when they came across the atrocity of the Lord's Resistance Army in Northern Uganda, a terrorist group who rip children from their homes in the night and force them to join the army. Those who resist are tortured, beaten, and some, killed in front of their families. To escape these nightly rampages, the children walk to nearby larger cities in groups, shrouded in the safety of numbers, to bunk down anywhere they can find shelter. Some nights they sleep literally stacked, body upon body. When the sun rises, they walk home to attend school, only to repeat their trek again at nightfall. Bobby, Laren and Jason dubbed these children the Nightwalkers, recorded all they saw, and turned it into a documentary called "Invisible Children." They also created a foundation by the same name, and have currently raised $33 million to, in their own words, " … rebuild schools, educate future leaders, and provide jobs in Northern Uganda."

After watching this, I realized that I, too, am safely shrouded …. not in numbers, but in comfort. Sure … I watch the news, but I have the option of turning it off when I become too upset by a particular issue. Like Scarlett O'Hara, I can  "… think about it tomorrow." When I tuck my three boys into bed at night, I know that not only will they sleep in comfort, but that they will be there in the morning. I KNOW that I am incredibly lucky …  by sheer location of where I landed on the planet.  My love of shoes, and the fact that I am so fortunate, has afforded me a closet FULL of beautiful shoes whose numbers could easily shod the feet of an entire village of Ugandan children. And while we donate monthly to several different charities, the automatic deductions from our checking account didn't FEEL like I was doing enough. Because I wasn't ….. plain and simple.  I became haunted by my own complacency, carefully ensconced in the sterility of the automatic deductions I didn't see, and, even worse, never felt.

It came to me in a near epiphany …. it was so simple, really. My idea for a Girl's Night Out wearing fabulous shoes … the idea that was received so enthusiastically by so many for it's pure sense of fun, could be the perfect vehicle to help others. Fabulous Shoe Night is something my friends and I would do anyway …  so what if I were to perhaps … charge a nominal cover fee that would go to a local charity? We could raise at least several hundred dollars that way …. money the charity would never have otherwise. My mind raced and leapt further ahead …. WAY further. What if I chose a date far enough out in the future, and I told all my Facebook friends, and they told all of theirs, and so on, and we would all host a FSN in our own towns on the same date? Everyone who attended would cover the cost of their own food and drink, but their cover fee would be donated to a predetermined charity? Of course, there would be logistics to work out, but ….. how much money could we raise?? The power and magic of Facebook have far-reaching tentacles  …. with enough planning and preparation, in addition to proper execution, this could be huge. Instead of a monthly GNO, aka Fabulous Shoe Night, it would be replaced by a monthly party …  a party with a purpose.

Now comes the hard part … working out the logistics and execution. The preliminary concept has changed somewhat and is taking definite shape. I have assembled an advisory board of  stellar, dedicated people, each bringing their unique talents to the table to help me bring this idea to fruition. In the coming months, you will "meet" these remarkable people through my blog entries. You will read of the astonishing, serendipitous events that have already taken place; events that lead me to believe that I am clearly on the right path. I hope you join me as I chronicle our journey through this blog. 

I am SO excited. It's going to be … fabulous.

www.oprah.com/oprahshow/Tom-Shadyac-From-Millionaire-to-Mobile-Home

www.oprah.com/oprahshow/Invisible-Children

www.invisiblechildren.com

How We Began ...

It was a dark and stormy night. No ... really, it was.

One raw, rainy, windy March evening, I met my friend Andrea for dinner. In concession to the weather, I wore my fabulous new cowboy boots, adorned with hearts and angel wings. Andrea, who makes no such concession to Mother Nature or anyone else, wore red patent leather peep-toe pumps. Wildly inappropriate for such weather, but, as Andrea said, " ... they make me happy in such depressing weather."

Half-way through our meal, a woman stopped by our table and said, "I just have to tell you both ... your shoes are fabulous." After chatting a few minutes about shoe styles, designers, stores and sales, I noticed our new friend's dinner companion had left. When I pointed this out to her, she said in an off-hand manner, "Oh, he's not my date. I was interviewing him to be my campaign manager." A keen eye for fashion, a killer sense of style, an obvious brain in her head, AND political aspirations? I liked this woman ... instantly. "Why don't you pull up a chair?" I suggested.

A few hours (and cocktails) later, we all made plans to go out again. When that evening approached, I sent an email saying that since we literally met, and bonded, over shoes, 
" ... we should all wear our most fabulous shoes and call it Fabulous Shoe Night." One tiny, innocuous Facebook post that I was heading out to Fabulous Shoe Night with some girlfriends led to a flood of comments and queries. Everyone wanted to know --- WHAT is Fabulous Shoe Night, and how do I get in on it?

What began as a Girl's Night Out with a few friends wearing fabulous shoes grew exponentially. We started meeting monthly. Each and every one of us noticed that casual mention of FSN led to the same thing ... "That sounds like so much fun!" and "Can I go, too?" When Andrea told me that her teenage daughter was having Fabulous Shoe Night with her friends, as well as my niece in Florida and a few friends in other parts of the country, I realized the concept, if you will, had legs. Shoes may be my passion, but I had another, equally intense passion --- giving back. I started thinking ... with the far-reaching power of Facebook and other social networks, how many people could we help if we turned Fabulous Shoe Night into a group of like-minded, fabulous women with a passion for shoes AND a focus on charity?

And so it all began ....

Who We Are ...

We are women with a wicked sense of fashion, and a defined social purpose.
We are different, yet we share a common goal with passionate intent.
We are business owners, nurses, lawyers, stay-at-home moms, doctors,
financial advisors ....
We are mothers, wives, partners, daughters, sisters .... FRIENDS.
We are girlie girls. We are athletes.
We have buying power AND earning power.
We REALLY love shoes.
We love to indulge in our guilty pleasure, put on a fabulous pair of shoes and meet our girlfriends for cocktails, yet we are compelled to help others at the same time.
We have found a way to do just that.
We have strength in numbers, and we are growing.
We can make a difference.
We are going to start a revolution.


Slip on your stilettos, pull on your most fabulous pair of cowboy boots, step into your towering heels and join us ...
We are going to change the world .... one step at a time.
We are fabulous. 
And so are our shoes.