Connectedness, Inspiration, Soap: EVO Conferencefeatured

I just spent the last four days surrounded by lush mountains and stunning views at the EVO Conference for women in social media. There was a lot of femme-tastic geeking out, a Friday the 13th blackout, awkward prom poses, and a ton of laughs – the kind where you laugh so hard you start to cry and wheeze and almost pee a little.

I learned a lot, reconnected with old friends, and made new friends – you’ll hear all about it all – but today, I wanted to share just one story. It’s the story of Derreck Kayongo, a keynote speaker that had the entire room captivated from the moment he literally danced up to the stage.

Derreck is the founder of the Global Soap Project, an organization that takes partially used soap from hotels, cleans and reprocesses it, and distributes it to people who need it around the world.

Derreck had us laughing, crying, even singing. More than anything though, he set the tone for the weekend, and hopefully beyond.

I know this isn’t usually the sort of thing I post about. There are no jars of salted caramel, eat fests, or epic sandwiches involved. I promise, I’ll return to the scheduled programming soon. In the meantime, I hope you dig this story as much as I did – it’s all about connecting the dots, connecting with one another, and making a difference.

THE FACTS:

1. An estimated 3.5 million children die every year from hygiene and sanitation related illnesses like diarrhea and pneumonia, which can be prevented through improved hygiene and sanitation.
2. An estimated 2.6-million soap bars are discarded every day in the United States alone.

“This bar of soap is a story of human connectedness.”
– Derreck Kayongo, son of a soap maker, former refugee, founder of the Global Soap Project (and may I add, a man with a fine sense of fashion)

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