We just spent an incredible weekend with our Fair Trade Partners, Ambassadors (hostesses), and customers in Denver, celebrating the launch of our new Fall Community Collection. This was the first stop on our five-city Leadership Roadshow, an opportunity for the leaders in our company to host launch Showcases with two of the Threads founders — Angela Melfi and me

Angela and I couldn’t be more thrilled to be traveling the country to spread the Threads message and honor the people who have contributed so much to our growth over the last few years. At the Denver stop, we had the opportunity to honor our Ambassadors by showing them the pivotal role they play in the Threads movement. We also shared our commitment to true and equal partnership with everyone in our community–from the Artisans who make our beautiful jewelry to the Showcase guests who try it on and engage in a conversation about a fair future for all. We believe that this commitment to equal partnership has the potential to end global systemic suffering in our lifetimes.

We know that’s a bold statement, but we are playing a bold game. We believe that shifting from an “other” mindset, a mindset that says that anyone or anything is apart from us is the key to ending systemic suffering. That’s why we are modeling a different mindset at Threads: the mindset of Equal Partnership.

At our Denver Roadshow stop, we shared how our work not only impacts the lives of our Artisan Partners who make our products and the Fair Trade Partners who sell them (although that impact is indeed profound). The impact ripples out to everyone we touch with our work. As we all live the philosophy of Equal Partnership, we are planting seeds with each of the people in our lives – the seed of equality, the seed of unity, the seed of possibility, and the seed of connection. This is what it is going to take to shift the world in a meaningful way and this is the type of conversation we get to have with our Threads Community.

I’m on fire with what’s possible when committed people engage in these types of conversations. I’m so very grateful to be surrounded by passionate women here in the US and to be able to stand shoulder to shoulder with our partners around the world who are on the front lines of transforming their communities and challenging the status quo.

Our night in Denver was exciting and inspiring and full of deep, deep belly laughs (another of our family values, by the way!). Thank you to all who joined us. We cannot wait to continue partnering with all of you.