It’s been an interesting year for the world, as we all know, and for us as well. Interestingly enough, we were simultaneously invited to participate in the first juried One-of-a-Kind show at the Piers here in NYC and in the VH1 Big Shopping Event to benefit VH1 Save the Music. So, we opted for VH1. This is their words, not mine: from November 27th – December 31st, the “Holiday Shopping Event” will link shoppers with the most coveted items inspired by music and today’s pop culture through the “VH1 Big Shopping” Charity Shop website (vh1bigshopping.com). A portion of all the proceeds go to benefit the VH1 Save the Music Foundation, a non-profit organization dedicated to restoring instrumental music programs in America’s public schools.

It just so happens that I attended one of the best public high schools in NYC which had a specialized focus on both visual arts and music, and I can honestly say that my experience there laid the foundation for everything I have loved and pursued in my career. So I feel proud to have been asked to participate. I hope that you will support us in keeping kids in band, glee club and performing in the HMS Pinafore (as I was forced to do, I don’t know about you)! Really, we do need to keep our voices raised in song these days, perhaps more than ever!

January 14, 2009

Arabic is a really hard language to learn. Even though I have been traveling to Morocco since 2006, I still only know about ten words and phrases, and those were hard earned, believe me. It unfolded that way because I made the decision to concentrate on learning French first, and now I'm pretty fluent in that language. (Good, huh, as they say it is the language of LOVE!) Arabic is both a very expressive-sounding and expressive language, and in my early days there I used to have trouble discerning if people were angry or passionate when they were engaged in a discussion. Now that I understand schweea (a little bit) more, I know that is not the case. Or as everyone says there, un petit shweea (French and Arabic all in one)! So, today I found myself conversing with an old friend from Syria who has lived here for a long time. I called him, said asaliim aleicham, and then pulled out my little bits and bobs of Arabic. It was a defining moment for me, I must say. He was shocked, and then pleased, and to that I say Shokrun (thank you)!

September 6, 2008

Everyone in Morocco wants to talk about politics. It doesn't matter where in the country you are, or who you are speaking with -- taxi drivers, shopkeepers, professors, waiters, or artisans -- Moroccans are concerned with the state of the affairs here in the USA. Let me back up here for a moment. The Moroccans love to talk, discuss, confer and argue. Apart from daily prayers, discussion is the glue that binds the day together. So no one wants to miss the opportunity to question and weigh in on what is going on here. In my early months in Morocco, people talked frequently about Monsieur and Madame Clnton. They felt embraced by the Clintons and love them for their "democratic" approach, i.e. openness to the variety of religions and cultures of the world. Now they are totally engrossed in the idea that a person of color might attain the presidency in our country. Not very different from us in that regard!

July 21, 2008

So we have sent our first shipment to Gumps in San Francisco, and they put our napkin rings out on the selling floor the day after they arrived. They are happy, and I'm very pleased and excited, to have sold our products to such a prestigious store so early in the life of our brand. Also, this past month I've been in New York, attending to lots of details that will allow us to move semiprecious forward in a truly positive way. With the input of our wonderful new sales guru, Rodney Rosario, we have changed our soap packaging from a box to a beautiful reusable cotton pouch. Orange for the Argan OIl soap, Lime Green for the Olive Oil & Argan Soap. We all feel confident that our consumers will want to use the soap and reuse the soft-to-the-touch pouch. It's a big deal to change the packaging, especially as I am insistent that the pouch -- as well as the products -- be fabricated in Morocco. Check back soon in our shop section to see what they look like. Meanwhile, I hear that it is already 42 degrees centigrade in Marrkakech. Anybody know how HOT that is? HOT!!

May 30, 2008

Recently, I saw my first flash flood in the Atlas mountains. There has been a ferocious drought in Morocco for the past five or six years, and the landscape is totally arid and dusty and scorched-looking in many places. In the time I have
been traveling to Morocco, I don't think I've even been in a spring shower, so experiencing a torrential downpour that went on for hours was a complete surprise.

We were in a grand taxi -- an old beat-up Mercedes where you sit all crushed up against your fellow travelers -- with no locked doors and no seat-belts. You are generally feeling pretty exposed. This is the basic mode of travel in the mountains outside of Marrakech, and the Moroccans view the shared taxi as a major convenience, given that most of them don't have cars. In general, tourists don't
get to experience the grand taxi crush, as they are encouraged -- and in fact, pushed -- to pay for all of the available six places, and use the taxi on their own. But as an honorary Moroccan -- Marrakchia, as I am called -- I travel by grand taxi all the time.

Anyway, back to the flood. The mountainside began to cascade down in front of us as we careened around hairpin turns on the mountain. I was unnerved, to say the least, but even more so for the couple who traveled alongside us on a little motorscooter! The water was rising up above the wheelbase of the scooter, yet they kept forging on. Personally, I would have gotten off the scooter and waited
out the storm. But they would have run the risk of being caught out on the mountainside overnight, as the rain continued on for hours. My travel companions were thrilled that it was raining, and completely unconcerned about the flood, or their safety...

April 11, 2008

We've just attended our second trade show, the NY Tabletop Show. Our soaps continue to be a definite hit. April Vogue calls Argan oil the “local lifesaver”.
By buying products made with the oil, consumers are supporting the women who are harvesting the oil in Southwestern Morocco. I'm feeling that it's an important moment in bringing this product to the American market. We can benefit an emerging economy, helping rural women in a country where they (traditionally) have had no power, and have great skin in the process. So it's my favorite
situation: win/win!

February 18, 2008

The first time I went to Morocco, in May, 2006, I kind of thought that it would be great but I wasn't sure how long I would like to stay. So I booked a trip to Paris on the way back just in case. You know what I mean.

Anyway, I unexpectedly fell in love with Morocco, and realized by the end of the trip
that I had been on a research mission, not simply a vacation. I left Morocco with a sense of purpose and elation. I found that I did not want to leave.... but I had already booked the rest of the trip...

So off we went to Paris. I went directly to the flea market at the Porte de Clignacort, one of my favorite outings in Paris. I was as if I was led to a dealer of fine antique postcards. Needless to say, he specialized in travel postcards, and there they were...dreamy, transporting old images of a world that looked exactly the same today as it did seventy-five years ago. Morocco!

February 7, 2008

Our first trade show here in New York City. We are part a group showroom with other amazing high-end retailers. I'm totally nervous, not knowing exactly how well our line will be received. Day 1: We set up and settle in to wait for retailers and press to come by. Day 2: Really cool people are interested. We are so enthused about chatting with them that we don't actually focus on SELLING. Day 3: The first order is placed. What a rush! All of the other vendors in what I began to call WOW (World of Women) are jumping up, smiling, and hugging me. And that was just the beginning...the show was a success for semiprecious products in every category. YAY!

January 15, 2008

My first experience in a hamman in Morocco was like an out of body experience. There you are -- totally nude -- in a hot, wet, crowded room with lots of women you’ve never met. No common language except that you are all women in various stages of scrub-down. Since it was my first time, I opted to have someone wash, rinse and scrub. For some reason, I was given the oldest woman in Fes, wearing nothing but wet, wet undies and possessed of only one tooth. She spent the entire time yelling out in the loudest voice possible about my blonde hair to whoever would listen – and pointing – and laughing – and scrubbing until my skin was barely there.

December 24, 2006

Every time I go to Marrakech I’m shocked to find more buildings, more people, cars, taxis, pedestrians and donkeys pulling heavy loads around the city. Marrakech is an incredible, swirling melange of sounds, smells, and all kinds of assaults on the senses, fragrant in every way imaginable. The city is not beautiful, not in a conventional way. But it is lively, vivid, vibrant, incredibly human. Morocco is more about the human connection than anything else. People listen, talk, engage. They are extremely present in everything they do, and they like to weigh in on everything that is happening in or around them.

One day I was riding the train between Marrakech and Casablanca, sharing the cabin with five other passengers. I happened to be discussing a sourcing question with my colleague on the phone. Every ear was alertly turned in my direction, and the minute I finished the call, five voices quickly began to offer suggestions, ideas and directions. There was absolutely no sense that commenting on someone else’s phone call wouldn’t be cool, as there would be in the States. Rather, in Morocco, better to get involved and take part rather than sit silently by.
Interesting for a westerner.