In gratitude to Bella Lucce

May 27, 2011

I set a few ground rules for myself when I was on sabbatical in Thailand recently; chief among them was that I would journal each day. While on the plane from Detroit to Tokyo, I made a list of daily journal topics and committed to be up with the sun, laying in a hammock on the beach, journal in hand each and every morning.

One day’s self-imposed assignment was “Where has Bella Lucce taken me?” It was designed to help me look back on the highlights of this grand adventure and put the more stressful days into perspective. While I’ve always known that this journey has been one grand adventure, compressing it all down to a few pages of handwritten scrawl on paper was a tremendously rewarding exercise. Considering that Bella Lucce was founded in September of 2003, but that none of the events below predates May 2006, I can better appreciate the frenetic pace of the last five years with even more clarity now.

I started this company with $500 eight years ago, because I was a struggling single mother eating government-subsidized cheese and I knew I didn’t want to be that way for very long. I had no idea what I was doing. There are some days I still don’t. But two things I have learned for certain: entrepreneurship is a wild ride, not designed for the weary or faint of heart. And anything worth doing isn’t easy. I am ever grateful for this journey. So…where has Bella Lucce taken me?

1. I’ve dipped my toes in the Persian Gulf, Niger River, Andaman Sea and the Indian Ocean.

2. I’ve seen the Nile River near it’s genesis in Egypt and near it’s triumphant finale in an explosive waterfall at Murchison Falls, Uganda.

3. I’ve ridden elephants in Phuket, camels in Dubai, donkeys in Jordan, trains through Italy, boats down the Nile in Cairo, mopeds in Kampala and tuk tuk’s in Mumbai.

4. I’ve jumped out of a perfectly good airplane over the Persian Gulf. I liked it so much that I did it again over Pattaya Beach, Thailand.

5. I’ve enjoyed my 2 favorite cuisines (Thai and Indian) in their homelands.

6. I’ve crawled in the bellies of the Great Pyramids of Giza, sat in ancient catacombs in Petra, stood in the Colosseum in Rome and been awed by the Parthenon in Greece.

7. I’ve visited a Catholic cathedral in Italy, a Buddhist temple in Thailand, a Hindu temple in India and a Muslim mosque in Dubai.

8. I’ve floated in the Dead Sea.

9. I’ve shaken my tail in nightclubs in Dubai and New York City, swayed with Gnaoua musicians in Essaouira Morocco, whirled with the dervishes in Cairo and danced with native women in Uganda.

10. I’ve parasailed over San Diego.

11. I’ve gotten a henna tattoo in a desert outside Dubai and a real, tequila-infused tattoo in a seedy Mexican tattoo parlor. While on a business cruise, no less.

12. I’ve coached people who are starting their own businesses through speaking engagements from Palm Springs, California to Bamako, Mali.

13. I’ve defended small businesses in the halls of Congress in Washington, DC.

14. I’ve watched the sun come up over the Niger River in Mali and watched it slink down over the mountains of Wadi Rum, Jordan.

15. I’ve studied indigenous pottery making in Segou Mali, bogolan textile making in Djenne Mali, carpet weaving in Memphis Egypt, metal etching in Chefchaouen Morocco, leather tanning in Marrakech Morocco, glassblowing in Seattle, kente cloth making in Accra Ghana and basketweaving in Bolgatanga. I still can’t do any of them myself, but that’s not the point.

16. I’ve sipped tea with nomadic bedouin tribes in the remote deserts of Jordan.

17. I’ve watched the unique joys of wedding ceremonies of families of incredible wealth in Kuwait and people of hardly any means in Morocco.

18. I’ve toured internal displacement camps for people fleeing the ravages of guerrillas of the Lord’s Resistance Army in Otuke, Uganda and held the hands of people dying of AIDS.

19. I’ve enjoyed treatments using my company’s products from Vienna to Kuwait.

20. I’ve drifted over bedouin villages of Oman in a hot air balloon at sunrise.

21. I’ve been a guest in a palatial home in Kuwait, complete with Maybach and a fur vault. I’ve sat in a two room shack of corrugated metal and no electricity in the slums of Kamapala. I’ve come to appreciate the unique challenges presented in both scenarios.

22. I’ve watched indigenous women process shea nuts into shea butter outside Bamako, Mali. I’ve taught indigenous women how to process shea butter into finished cosmetic products outside Bolgatanga, Ghana.

23. I’ve made pilgrimages to the homes of two of my heroes: Gandhi’s house in India and Anne Frank’s house in Amsterdam.

24. I’ve met TV stars and millionaires and even a couple of billionaires. I’ve been on Home Shopping Network a dozen times representing Bella Lucce. I’ve talked to a major cable network about a reality show featuring my company and walked away. I spent more than a year working with two reality television stars/veteran beauty executives to secure a mind-blowingly wealthy investor. We succeeded- and I walked away from all of them just before signing off on the deal. I don’t regret any of it.

25. I’ve nearly been arrested in Bologna Italy, been shaken down in Mumbai, landed in a hospital in Casablanca with food poisoning and smoked a joint in Amsterdam (where it was legal *wink*).

To quote Jerry Garcia: “What a long, strange trip it’s been.” I am eternally grateful. But one day I’m going to get out of the lotion making business and get into the book writing business. God knows I’m not short on material. Thanks to each of you reading for being a part of my dream in one way or another…

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