Niall Ferguson greets Barbra Streisand and Lynda Resnick.

Every year, Stewart and I open our home to the speakers who appear at the Aspen Ideas Festival, an event thrown by the Aspen Institute as a forum for the world’s thought leaders to speak on global issues. At our dinner, I always give a little speech outlining what I have learned from the sessions I attended.

Welcome to our 6th Annual Speakers Dinner for the Aspen Ideas Festival.

Each year, Stewart and I host the speakers to our great joy, and to paraphrase Greg Mortenson, our “Three Cups of Tea” runneth over.

I rejoiced when Greg related how he convinced the mullahs in a remote Pakistani village to allow him to build a school for girls by reminding the elder that the dowry of a bride with no education is worth just one goat, but a bride who had completed high school could be worth as much as 40 goats. And Stewart lovingly whispered to me that I was worth at least 50 goats. I’m sure I will be worth many more after this year’s Ideas Festival.

Each year, I marvel at the changes in our world, and the many ideas discussed to solve each new challenge. I so longed for the way we were that I invited our friend Barbra Streisand to attend this year’s Festival.

As the oil in the Gulf threatens to spreads its dreadful tentacles to the far reaches of the eastern seaboard, the national debt threatens to absorb 20% of the taxes we pay, Arianna Huffington tells us that the middle class is an endangered species, our largely ineffective stimulus limps along, galloping unemployment and a nearly broken education system prevail – now, I ask you all, why so glum?

It was in 2005 that my friend Reverend Rick Warren warned that those of us who do not accept Jesus as our savior are going to hell. It seems that most of the speakers at our festival this year are finally united in a common thought: We’re all going to hell. So there will be plenty of fine company.

And speaking of hell, it is so nice to witness the harmony among political parties at this conclave — even if it is the demise of civilization as we know it that has caused it. Now that 40% of our citizens call themselves independent, do you think political parties may go the way of Glenn Beck’s sanity?

That Narcissus of negativity, Niall Ferguson, likened our collapse to the fall of the Roman Empire, warning that it will be much quicker. Everyone better learn how to eat with chopsticks — and fast.

Tom Friedman said that in 2008 and 2009, when Mother Nature and markets hit the wall, it was our warning heart attack. Take a baby aspirin and call him in the morning.

But it wasn’t all that grim. There were wonderful revelations: Did you know that the elegant David Bradley was really a Russian spy? I am sure we would get a lot in a swap for David, but can I be your Mata Hari?

The “marriage” of Ted Olsen and David Boies is downright heartwarming as they work hand-in-hand to defeat those opposed to gay marriage.

With all due respect to our Supreme Court justices past and present, Jeffrey Rosen told us the future of free speech will be determined not by the President or the Supreme Court, but by lawyers and Google. I’m not exactly sure how that works, but my attorney told me to Google it.

Biz Stone of Twitter humbly conceded that he “hopes people will see Twitter not as a triumph of technology but as a triumph of humanity.” And he said it in less than 140 characters.

I know that technology is going to save us. Jeffrey Katzenberg related how he put two 4-year-olds in a room with two iPads with four apps (one on coloring, one sing-along and so forth), and within 10 minutes they had figured it out and were having a great time. My husband, who has been technologically impaired since the dawn of our new age, got an iPad for Father’s Day, and I’m proud to say that he is now as proficient as a… 4-year-old.

Mickey McManus tells us that in twenty years, you won’t be able to trace HTTPs from today, so if you think your data is on the web forever, you’re wrong. I can’t tell you how distressing it is to know that Ann Coulter’s opinions may be lost to future generations.

Juan Enriquez thrilled us with the news that they can now make a biodegradable plastic by programming bacteria. (I can’t wait to put that in an ad for FIJI Water.) He went on to reveal that there hasn’t been one person who has died from eating a genetically modified food. I guess he doesn’t mind about growing a third nostril?

Laurene Powell said that IQ and talent are distributed across the population evenly, but opportunity is not. If we can find a way to bridge the great divide in our country, I believe we have hope. Say, that might make a good political slogan!

Through her research, Mimi Ito says the youth of America think differently from the rest of us who were born before 1995. They have flexibility, creativity and understand teamwork, even if they do think Justin Bieber’s haircut is rad. This technological age is theirs, and they shall seize the future. We just have to keep it all going for the next 20 years until they take over.

But it was my hero, David Brooks — who, by the way, makes me cry every time I hear him speak — who gave me the most inspiration for our future. David related a story about a young Mexican-Chinese girl who grew up in a very troubled household, yet managed to create a great life for herself because of her innate mental disposition. It is all about resiliency, isn’t it? And above all, America is a resilient country. After all, most of us survived a whole season of Jersey Shore.

“The true challenge of our times is to stoke the creative genius within each and every one of us,” said Richard Florida, and Sir Ken Robinson explained that finding our true passion in life is the key to success. And Stewart and I are passionate about having you all here this evening.

David Brooks also told us that we eat less when we’re alone and more when we’re in a crowd — that is why we made so much food for you tonight. So eat up, and have a good time. Thank you all for being here.

Ruby Tuesday Pick of the Week: United Fresh’s A Salad Bar in Every School program
Why It’s a Gem: Early exposure to nutrition can equate to a lifetime of wellness.

With childhood obesity now at epidemic proportions, Michelle Obama has spearheaded Let’s Move, a program whose mission is to solve the crisis within one generation. Even if the timeline weren’t so ambitious, the First Lady would have her work cut out for her, especially considering the poor state of school nutrition. With frozen pizzas and fries dominating cafeteria menus, it’s no wonder that our nation’s children are developing poor eating habits that they bring home and carry with them throughout their lives. As places of learning, schools have a responsibility to also educate on nutrition, which we all can agree is far more important than algebra, no matter what your third-period teacher claims.

Lynda Resnick: In this week’s Ruby Tuesday, we are speaking with Lorelei DiSogra, Vice President of Health and Nutrition at United Fresh Produce Association. For our readers, can you describe A Salad Bar in Every School, the program that United Fresh is initiating?

Lorelei DiSogra: The goal of A Salad Bar in Every School is to increase children’s consumption of fruits and vegetables. Kids eat less than half of the amount of fruits and vegetables that they should every day. We believe that there are a number of different strategies that need to be put in place so that schools become a model of healthy eating habits, and school salad bars are an effective strategy to increase kids’ consumption.

There’ve been some research studies done at UCLA [in the early 2000s] by Dr. Wendy Slusser, and we at the National Cancer Institute [where I was at the time] saw her preliminary results and started to engage USDA in this effort around salad bars. There’s a history to this whole effort. It’s not something that just came about at United Fresh in the last couple of months.

LR: Tell me, what is United Fresh?

LD: United Fresh Produce Association – that’s the complete name – is a trade association representing the produce industry.

LR: You know how much I believe in nutrition. The products we sell are all natural and packaged by Mother Nature. But I also know that, given a choice between a pizza and iceberg lettuce, kids often aren’t motivated to take the healthy choice, even if it’s available. The first step is making it available, and in most schools, the choices don’t exist. But the second step is motivation. Is there a school program that helps kids understand how important fresh fruits and vegetables are to their growth and their future health?

LD: Yes. Over the last couple of years, there have been a number of [initiatives] to increase nutrition education in schools. Many schools have nutrition education programs. But as we’ve seen large school districts roll out salad bars, you can see the impact that they have on children. Generally, when schools are introducing a salad bar for the first time, there’s a lot of fanfare around that, [as well as] efforts around nutrition education and promotions.

New York City is one of the most incredible examples of such a school district. It’s the largest school district in the country [with approximately 1,600 schools], probably the largest one in the world. They feed just under a million kids a day. About two years ago, they made a commitment to salad bars when they started thinking, “How do we improve the nutritional quality of school meals?” So they started to put salad bars in as many schools as they could. There was $100 million of funding for cafeteria equipment in the stimulus, and New York City schools got $2 million of what was allocated to New York State, and they used that $2 million to buy salad bars for 99 elementary schools.

Lorelei DiSogra, Vice President of Health and Nutrition at United Fresh

Now, every Friday in New York City schools, the kids get pizza – 800,000 kids. The day we visited was a Friday, and we went to several schools in Bedford-Stuyvesant. So the little kids came through the cafeteria and got their slice of pizza. Chef Jorge [first executive chef of the New York City schools] has already totally modified that pizza in terms of improving the nutritional quality. In the cafeteria, there were baskets of fresh fruit. And then the kids came out of the cafeteria, and there was the salad bar. And every kid went up to the salad bar. Here were these kids, these little kids, piling on broccoli florets and romaine lettuce and baby carrots and cherry tomatoes. And the kids were just so excited. That’s what we’ve seen in many, many schools.

LR: That’s fantastic. So, how are you funding this?

LD: We really believe that there are many different ways to fund this program. But now we’ve officially launched the Salad Bar in Every School campaign in a way that the industry can contribute. We’ve already had some major produce-industry companies contribute what I would think would be significant amounts of money. And, starting in April, we started to place salad bars into schools with those early contributions.

LR: What does it cost to put a salad bar into an average school?

LD: We provide the schools with a choice of two different pieces of salad bar equipment – and there’s a big price difference between these two pieces. One is a salad bar made by Cambro, which is from California. It’s heavy-duty plastic and is very easy to take care of. It has wheels and it’s easy to move and has cold packs that go underneath the trays; it’s not electric. That runs at about $2,500 dollars.

We also wanted to be able to offer a stainless-steel electric salad bar, so we then settled on a company called Vollrath. They make a very beautiful and effective salad bar that’s electric and stainless steel. Those run about $6,000. You can see that there’s a difference in price. We provide the specs as we’re working with schools that are going to receive salad bars. We give them the choice, and we don’t even talk about what they cost. The cost is our issue, not their issue.

LR: Do you supply the funds?

LD: In the schools that we’ve been supplying them to, yes.

LR: And then where do they get the money to buy the fresh produce?

NYC public schools are seeing more kids pile on the veggies -- even with pizza.

LD: When we’re in negotiations with school districts that will be receiving salad bars, there are a number of questions that we ask – criteria, if you will – to make sure that we select a school that’s really going to utilize it. That’s critical. We ask the superintendent, the principal, or the school food-service director, “Why do you want a salad bar?” Then [we ask if they] have the resources to be able to put a wide variety of fruits and vegetables into the salad bar every day. What do they consider to be a wide variety? How does the salad bar fit in with the school district’s own goals to improve the healthfulness of school meals?

LR: Could you adopt a school and put in a salad bar? Could an individual do that?

LD: Yes! We’re using the industry’s contributions to place salad bars into certain school districts, [but also] many members in the industry are personally taking leadership for adopting schools in their local area. There’ve been many smaller produce companies that have said, “I really want to do this in my own local community.” And we help them. [Another way for a school to secure a salad bar is to] leverage other funding. That could be local PTAs, foundations, or the schools themselves making the decision [to support the salad bar] out of their limited cafeteria equipment funding. In geographic areas where they have large contracts, Sodexo and Chartwells have both made decisions recently to put salad bars into all those schools. When they look at how nutrition standards are going to change for school meals, they see the salad bar as a way to accomplish those changes.

LR: Because there is going to be legislation.

LD: Yes. There are two things that are going to be happening in terms of policy. One is that, hopefully, Congress will finish the Child Nutrition Reauthorization legislation, which will, among other things, provide additional money for reimbursement rates for school meals. Although it will never be as much as what everybody needs, it’ll be something. And we believe that in this legislation, the increased reimbursement rate, will be tied, directly –

LR: To fulfilling those goals!

LD: Yes! To performance.

LR: As it should be.

Salad bars in New York City schools have been a rousing success.

LD: Right. The second thing that’s happening in terms of policy is that the USDA will be releasing a proposed rule on new nutrition standards for school meals based on an Institute of Medicine Report that came out last October, [which] made recommendations for how school meals need to change to be healthy. In that report, they’re recommending doubling the amount of fruit at school breakfasts and doubling the amount of fruits and vegetables at lunch.

LR: I think Jamie Oliver has done a lot towards bringing awareness to the obesity problem, don’t you?

LD: I do, and I think that the follow-up to what Jamie Oliver’s done is what happened at the White House on Friday. This is all part of the First Lady’s program called Let’s Move – and it was a new program called Chefs Move to Schools. Sam Kass, the Obamas’ personal chef, has been working with a core team of chefs that were already committed to schools or in schools, like Chef Jorge in New York City. They prepared a tool kit and recruited more than 700 chefs from around the country. All of these chefs were in Washington on Friday making a commitment that they were going to adopt schools to really help transform their kitchens.

LR: I think it’s all great and I think you’re wonderful to be doing this, and I hope we can help in some way. I hope that people who read this article may be motivated to step up and adopt schools in their area. It is so important that we save our children, because they’re the future of our planet.

LD: It’s so important, and I think now’s the time.

LR: Absolutely.

Citizens United for Research in Epilepsy: It's Time We Found a Cure.

It seems like just yesterday we were in the dark about breast cancer, Parkinson’s and prostate cancer. To say that tireless efforts led by strong, unified communities have increased public awareness is an understatement. To be able to say they’ve afforded hope to so many where there was once very little is a blessing. I’m writing today because it’s time to shed that same illimitable light on epilepsy. Why? Because it’s prevalent. Because it’s devastating. Because it’s close to my heart.

The Orchard's new chef, Peter Rukule

Stewart and I firmly believe in promoting health – both for our consumers and our employees. We’ve made it the cornerstone of our businesses, with wholesome brands such as POM Wonderful, FIJI Water, and Wonderful Pistachios, and through our employee programs, such as on-site yoga and fitness boot camps. Now I’m pleased to announce the latest addition to our corporate wellness program, The Orchard.

Open today, The Orchard is our company cafeteria – with a difference. We wanted to align our on-site restaurant with the same philosophy that drives our brands, which meant The Orchard needed to go beyond offering the requisite burgers and fries. Instead, our cafeteria is subsidized using a very simple model: the more healthful the food, the smaller the price tag. That means that our employees can still enjoy a double cheeseburger, if they so wish, but they’ll pay for it – both at the register and the scale – while those who choose more nutritious options will be rewarded with a smaller receipt and slimmer waistline. As Stewart told our employees at this morning’s opening, “You’ll have more money and better health.”

The Orchard features a very simple model: the more healthful the food, the smaller the price tag

We’re also trying to better inform our employees. Our menu items list the nutritional content – fat, calories, etc. – so that Orchard visitors can make informed decisions. It also doesn’t hurt that such information is likely to guilt someone into opting for a more healthful dish, such as choosing the portabella mushroom sandwich with 15 grams of fat and 430 calories over a burger with 620 calories and nearly double the fat. However, if the mood did strike where the burger was preferred, the employee could rest assured knowing it was grass-fed beef they were consuming.

If there’s one thing I’ve learned in all my years of business it’s that doing the right thing always pays off in the end – both for you and the end user. Our corporate wellness program is no different. Not only does the program offer our employees a variety of benefits that transcend standard corporate programs, but our bottom line benefits, because healthier employees translate into happier employees – and lower insurance costs. Call it corporate karma.

Fresh and healthful is the goal of all of The Orchard's dishes.

We’ve found this to be true in all business areas where we’ve chosen to do the right thing, even when we didn’t initially understand the corporate benefits. Lightweighting our FIJI bottles resulted in less plastic (good for the environment), which translated into cost savings in packaging (good for FIJI’s bottom line). Extending a friends-and-family discount to Teleflora employees not only gave our most loyal fans an incentive to purchase flowers, it also helped increase awareness and, ultimately, provided a boost in sales.

The Orchard is only the most recent program we’ve put into practice – and from the response we received today from our employees, it appears we’ve made the right decision. We’ll continue to seek out new ways to keep our employees healthy and happy, because doing good is an integral part of doing – and feeling – well.

On "The Frugal New Consumer" panel at the Milken Global Conference

For those who’ve been reading the paper and watching the tentatively promising numbers on Wall Street, this news may come as a shock.  Major economic indicators point to a modest rebound, and consumer confidence is up. In fact, the average American consumer – who had become increasingly frugal after the economy began to dive in 2007 – is not necessarily staying that way.

Diane Hessan, a fellow panel member and the CEO of Communispace, discussed how surveys show that consumers say they want basics, but their behavior doesn’t always reflect that – hence the murmurs of a reviving economy. She cited one study that said that most consumers now say they would prefer a small house and no mortgage over a large house with a mortgage. Sure, they say it in the poll, but do their spending habits support that?

Roach says no, citing that America’s ratio of debt to disposable income reached an astounding 130%. I agree. I don’t believe today’s consumer has embraced frugality so much as they are scared and broke. Consumers may have modified their spending habits, but not permanently; people just don’t change their core personalities that rapidly, and spending habits are very much a reflection of personality. We have a “me generation” out there in the work force and a “little me generation” following right up behind them. There is a sense of entitlement behind much of the subprime mortgage mess, and the ensuing recession.  People spent without thinking and, worst of all, without saving and the people that were supposed to be their fiduciaries were co-opted at the same time.

There are, however,  opportunities in today’s faltering economy.   As we know, many economists see the Great Recession as the worst financial crisis since the Great Depression. And just as the Great Depression recalibrated America, so too will this long recession change it once again. For those in our society who still have money, it was “metro chic” for a while to restrain oneself from buying luxury items, clothes, and electronics.  Rodeo Drive and high-end shopping malls around the country became ghost towns.  When the pent-up demand of many months soon wore down, many of these high-income consumers started buying again.   However, how people buy today is different, and will be for the foreseeable future. As I mentioned last year, there’s an upside to these changes – only you have to be willing to work hard for it, because many feel that this new economy is here to stay.

In this era, there are two ways to build long-term sustainability in your business. These methods don’t work for every business, but they work for many:

1. Building a Brand. Retailers and manufacturers need to deliver on their brand story with something that has true, intrinsic value.  Competing on price is a bottomless pit – there is always someone who is willing to sell their product or service for less than you are. What is your unique selling proposition (USP)? How will you communicate that difference to your consumer?

Brands can now reach their consumers in newer and cheaper ways never before possible. Through social media, one can answer consumers’ questions, hear their complaints and act on them, provide insights to their brand equity, offer their followers discounts and specials – in other words, engage in an intimate give-and-take, just like in a real-life friendship. On top of that, traditional media is still around – and it’s cheaper than ever before.  Take advantage of these record low prices.

2. Globalization. Succeeding in this area isn’t easy. You have to understand your marketplace, tailor your message to a new kind of consumer, and teach your staff how to operate in a new culture. But if you do it right, it works – and can have far-reaching results.

Hard work is back — the kind of work that adds true value to our society, not Wall Street’s unregulated, Vegas-style derivatives.   Hard work – and not dumb luck or subterfuge – will determine who gets ahead.

I also predict that this recession will make people – and Americans in particular – less materialistic and more financially prudent. We’ll also have greater empathy for others, volunteer more, and become more resourceful in caring for ourselves and solving our own problems.

Times such as these promote innovation.  The tools available in this Information Age are empowering to small companies that aren’t burdened with debt, allowing them to be more entrepreneurial and move more quickly to capitalize on opportunities.

Remember, every great company in American history started as a small company — often in the midst of a great economic downturn.  The Coors Brewing Company opened its doors at the beginning of the Long Depression of the 1800s, while IBM got its start at the tail end. UPS hit the ground running in Seattle during the Panic of 1907, Hewlett-Packard was conceived in a Palo Alto garage near the end of the Great Depression, and the Super 8 hotel chain opened its doors during the oil crisis of the early ’70s and All-State Insurance started in 1931.

My takeaway from the panel, and the overall conference, was that it’s all a matter of perspective. We all recognize the world’s economic situation, but we’ve chosen to size it up differently – as an opportunity or crisis, as an end to our way of life or as the dawn of a new way of thinking. The time has come to decide which side you want to stand on. Because, in the end, that perspective will make all the difference.

Hi, Lynda,

Hope this email finds you well.

I am thoroughly enjoying your book, and it reminds me of my college days, rereading paragraphs and chapters in an attempt to absorb every detail. I am out of practice, hence the reason I am still only two-thirds of the way through it! The rationale behind the close scrutiny to your words is, frankly, to change my attention from the system and concentrate more on the message, which is difficult given my career history. Prior to acquiring Little Pepi’s in 2003, I worked for a privately held company whose business was the distribution to the food-service industry. When I started with the company in 1979 we had 60 employees, and when it was sold in 1994, we had grown to over 500. I stayed six more years, working for a global company, and saw our census shrink to just over 200 at our branch. Personally, I was very successful building and marketing my distribution programs for Wawa food markets and Continental Airlines; however, the downsizing had an impact. Perhaps that is why I center on the accomplishment of my employees, especially our challenged ones.

Given my past career, I continue to focus on the system side, and how our premium pizzelles go from our facility to the distributor, to the retailer, and ultimately to the consumer. With all of your successful marketing, how was the distribution done? My hope is in the last part of your book I will see the clue to that process.

There are parallels between pizzelles and pomegranates: Both start with the letter “P” and have been around for over 3,000 years. However, that is where the similarities end. You have done a remarkable job in educating the consumer on what a pomegranate is, and its benefits. I have yet to create the demand for pizzelles. I need to make Little Pepi’s synonymous with pizzelles, as POM Wonderful is with pomegranates.

Thank you for sharing your experience and insights with Rubies in the Orchard. Those who are comfortable with their accomplishments are not afraid to disclose their secrets.

Be well. You’re a great gal.

Stan

___________________

Dear Stan,

Distribution is everything. Without that, you could have a free cure for cancer, but if people couldn’t find it, what good would it do? In order to expand your distribution, you can hire a third-party distributor to leverage their existing relationships with retail outlets. However, you also need your own resources – a sales force – to work alongside them, because distributors often represent many products, and only your own people will make sure that your product gets the full attention it deserves.

POM Wonderful and PFI share the resources of a single in-store merchandising force that specializes in produce distribution. At FIJI Water, our sales force goes so far as to specialize within the bottled-water category, with more than 80 employees focusing on retail and another 40-plus specializing in on-premise (hotels, restaurants, etc.). Each of these teams has close relationships with both the third-party distributors and the retail and on-premise accounts.

So, developing a strong distribution strategy is key, but I’ve found that what your retailers want to know before they stock you is “Will there be demand?” And that’s where marketing comes in. When we go into a new territory, we show them our marketing plans, and that includes everything from in-store displays to PR to mass media, depending on the budget. They then order based on perceived demand. However, if we don’t do the full-court press with merchandisers and then marketing, marketing alone won’t work.

Thanks again for your kind words. And keep up the good work. Your business is a perfect example of “doing well by doing good.”

Sincerely,

I’d like to personally invite you to enter my “Rubies in the Orchard” Sweepstakes for a chance to win 1 of 20 SIGNED copies of my bestselling book.

Twenty (20) Grand Prizes will be awarded: Paperback copies of “Rubies in the Orchard: The POM Queen’s Secrets to Marketing Just About Anything” autographed/signed personally by me.

The new paperback version, with revised and updated social media info and business advice, is now available for purchase online and in stores.

Once you’re entered, please share this sweepstakes opportunity with your friends and family, and anyone who markets just about anything! There are 4 ways to share with your friends and 4 places to enter, through April 25:

1. Here on my blog. (Click on the bar at the bottom of this page that says “Enter for a Chance to Win…”)
2. Lynda Resnick’s Facebook Fan Page: http://bit.ly/ajouBB
3. Twitter. Visit http://wildfireapp.com/twitter/233/contests/31299.
   Then tweet to your friends: “I entered the “Rubies in the Orchard” Sweepstakes for a chance to win a book SIGNED by Author @LyndaResnick: http://wfi.re/gblc“
4. The sweepstakes microsite: http://wildfireapp.com/website/6/contests/31299

Ruby Tuesday Pick of the Week: WriteGirl
Why It’s a Gem: The power of the pen (or pixel) can empower high school girls

There’s a lot of rumbling about the collapse of today’s public education system, but very few voices have offered up solid ideas on how to fix it. The most successful tactics oftentimes seem to be undertaken by third-party organizations, rather than programs established and run by the schools themselves. That’s why Stewart and I have given our support to such programs, including P.S. ARTS and the Los Angeles-based WriteGirl, which has taken on the enormous task of “empowering [high school] girls through mentorship and self-expression.”

Lynda Resnick: In this week’s Ruby Tuesday, we are speaking with Keren Taylor, Executive Director of WriteGirl. For our readers, Keren, will you describe your organization’s purpose?

A WriteGirl mentor poses with her mentee.

Keren Taylor: Absolutely. We are a creative writing and mentoring organization for at-risk teen girls. We pair women writers with teen girls, and they work together weekly one on one for a nine-month season, during which the girls and the mentors all come together for monthly workshops on every genre of writing, from poetry to journalism to songwriting to screenwriting. The goal is to help girls develop vital communication and creative skills to help them no matter what careers they choose to pursue in the future.

LR: Fabulous. How did the organization begin?

KT: It was really my brainchild back in 2001, and I pulled together some of my writer friends and proposed the idea to them, and they agreed to be part of it. We started a workshop a month later and went to some of the schools in the city that really have the largest student populations –  Belmont has 5,000 students, John Marshall has 4,300 students, Hamilton High School has 4,500 students. They don’t have very much in the way of after-school programming and definitely nothing in the way of creative writing – and no mentoring programs. So it was really trying to fill a need for girls in particular.

LR: What was your inspiration? Because this has never been done in Los Angeles before.

KT: I’m a cofounder of another organization in New York City called Girls Write Now, so I had a little inspiration when I worked for that organization as a mentor. [What was most inspiring was] seeing a young person’s light go on when they realized that they had something to say, and that they really had a voice that mattered, that people cared about what their views were.

LR: How many girls have gone through the WriteGirl program?

KT: Oh, it’s thousands now. We currently have 300 girls in the program this season alone.

A WriteGirl mentee performs a reading at one of the program's workshops.

LR: They graduate, and then…?

KT: One hundred percent graduate high school and go on to college.

LR: One hundred percent?!

KT: One hundred percent in our core mentoring programs. Every year, that amounts to about 24-30 girls who we manage to help not only graduate but go on to college, [with] many on partial or full scholarships.

LR: How have you been able to support this?

KT: We slog away at all the different ways of getting support. We are fortunate to have a very large volunteer base and a lot of in-kind donations of journals, food, photocopiers, and things like that, but we’ve also really been building relationships with foundations, with some corporations, and seeking individual donations – diversifying our funds.

It’s always challenging as a nonprofit to be raising your budget every year. I think ours is a program that sometimes get shifted into that “Oh, it’s arts education, it’s extra” category, instead of people realizing the essential need that this isn’t just fun and games and creativity, this is giving girls the ability to see themselves as confident, valuable citizens.

LR: It’s terrifying to think that people graduate from public school without ever being taught the ability to communicate. How does that happen?

KT: I don’t know how that happens, and it’s a crime, because it’s probably the skill they need the most.

LR: That is so true. No matter what agenda you want to promote in life, if you don’t have the ablitly to communicate the concept, it is hard to find people to follow you. If you could get more funding, what would you do?

KT: We hope at some point to be able to expand to more communities in Los Angeles, because there are a lot of girls who would really benefit from this program. We’ve had the track record of having zero pregnancies in our mentoring program.

LR: It’s education, that’s what it is.

KT: And the mentors. You have this woman who’s sort of watching you., who’s not their parent, not the police, not their teacher. It’s a different person. It’s a writing mentor who cares really only about you developing your writing and your confidence.

LR: Do you use social media?

KT: Absolutely. We have a blog that is exclusively written by our girls. We had our website designed and donated many years ago. We’ve never had the funds to revamp it, [but] we’re in the middle of trying to do so. We’d love to have a section that was more interactive for girls not in LA, but we know that’s a big adventure. It’s not just about putting activities up there; we want to be able to respond to girls who submit their work and want to be mentored remotely. And that would be a fabulous thing to do, but I know it’s going to require funding and management. We would never want to embark upon that without being responsible.

LR: People really need to hear about your program and its success.

Working through the creative process, the WriteGirl way.

KT: We are committed to making sure that every girl gets a very high-quality experience here. She not only has a mentor, but she’s [also] got a membership coordinator who’s looking at her mentoring relationship. We’ve got a curriculum development person who makes sure that the workshops are fully interactive and engaging – there are props, there’s sound, there’s lights, there’s music, there’s bags where they reach in and grab things. There’s guest speakers. Nothing’s static. It’s all very dynamic.

LR: Do you have any stories you love to tell about girls who have been through your program?

KT: We had a girl finish our program and go off to college. She said, “Because of WriteGirl, I can write my way out of anything.” I love that, because I think it just shows how she’s able to apply some of the practical [lessons] that she got out of the program.

LR: Fabulous. And I am so honored that you thought to honor me. I love what you do.

In this clip, I preview our upcoming POM Wonderful television campaign and recap the success of our Teleflora advertising campaigns.

In this segment, I speak on the importance of listening to consumers and on expansion to global markets.

Visit my Facebook page between now and April 25 for a chance to win 1 of 20 signed copies of my bestselling book, Rubies in the Orchard. Enter here.

Just some of the people behind LA's first non-profit food truck, Cart for a Cause

First came Kogi, the irreverent Korean taco purveyor that started the whole food-truck phenomenon. Within a few months, the streets of Los Angeles were buzzing with all manner of culinary vehicles – the Grilled Cheese Truck, Indian wraps from the Dosa Truck, and a mobile version of the brick-and-mortar restaurant Border Grill, to name just a few. Each truck tried to top the next, with World Fare going so far as to convert a double-decker bus into a movable feast.

But no matter how original the menu, they’re all just a take on a concept that originated from philanthropic roots: Meals on Wheels. With the non-profit organization now joining the public foodie fleet, LA’s mobile culinary scene is getting an injection of good will – and even some star-chef appearances.

St. Vincent Meals on Wheels, the Los Angeles-based chapter of the national Meals on Wheels organization, has recently launched Cart for a Cause, a fundraising initiative that serves gourmet meals crafted by top chefs from the Los Angeles culinary scene. As the first truck of its kind to take the lunch-cart craze fully philanthropic, CFAC is also the first truck to sport a celebrity angle (unless you want to count the Paris Hilton lookalike who takes orders for Baby’s Badass Burgers), with the chef du jour rotating out every two weeks.

Cart for a Cause sold out in 40 minutes during its inaugural day

For ten dollars, customers can purchase lunch and a drink, with all proceeds going directly towards the St. Vincent Meals on Wheels organization, which serves more than 4,700 meals daily to LA’s homebound seniors. Each meal purchased at the food truck equates to one meal served to an elderly senior.

On its first day on the road NOBU LA created the meal and all 150 meals sold out in  forty minutes. Chefs scheduled to make cart appearances in the coming weeks include Susan Feniger (STREET), David Myers and Dong Choi (Comme Ça), Eric Greenspan (The Foundry), Nicholas Peter (Little Door), and Jean François Meteigner (La Cachette Bistro), to name just a few.  To find out where the truck will appear, be sure to follow Cart for a Cause on Twitter at http://twitter.com/CartForACause.

It just goes to show that eating well can go far beyond just counting calories and carbs. It is about the goodness within, too.