The Oprah Effect

It has been the beginning of a pretty spectacular ride at Laga.

Malaak Compton-Rock gave us the opportunity of a lifetime by recommending that our Laga bags be featured on The Oprah Winfrey Show as an example of what her book, "If It Takes A Village, Build One," was written about.



As I wrote in my previous entry, Malaak (which means "angel" in Aramaic) has lived a life of service, learned from and taught to her by her mother, Gayle Fleming (read an exerpt here from her book where she mentions her mom).



And thanks to her, service has been Malaak's passion in life and she has now expressed it in her new book. And Laga fit well into the show aired on Oprah Tuesday, April 13th which featured Mary J. Blige and Malaak herself, both of whom shared their stories and how they are making a difference in the lives of others.



Malaak introduced our amazing Laga handbags on that show, using them as a product on which people can simply exercise their consumer power to help others, in our case, those affected by the 2004 earthquake and subsequent tsunami in Aceh, Sumatra, Indonesia.



Since the show aired, orders have been coming in and they haven't stopped yet. Although our portion of the show represented a mere 10 seconds of the entire program, Malaak was able to give a concise and eloquent rundown of what Laga handbags is all about.

And since airing on Oprah, we have had opportunity for more coverage through other media, including a Salem, Oregon-based radio station KXL/KEX interview with reporter Gina Parosa, and yet another article in the Business section of the Orange County Register, written by Jan Norman. Jan will be doing another feature story on Laga which will be out soon. And the OC Register has been so kind in featuring Laga in other articles in the past.

Although I am out on the road for a couple of shows, the rest of our team is hard at work at home, fielding calls and filling orders. We have been blessed.

We started Laga four years ago with 12 women in our small factory in Aceh and blessed to be able to take that number to 300. And we are excited about the prospects of being able to provide long-term sustainable income for many, many more. With the help of the Oprah airing, we are confident we will make big strides in accomplishing that in 2010!

If It Takes A Village, Build One

We've been trying to prepare ourselves for great things coming up.

What were our chances of having our Laga handbags on The Oprah Winfrey Show? I mean, she is pretty much the most influential woman in our lifetime, this is her final season on television, why on earth would they choose US of all the people in the world to be amongst those featured?

Crazy as it may seem, the taping of her show is happening TODAY and Oprah herself will be introduced to our story and our Laga bags TODAY!

SURREAL!

I shared the connection with Malaak C. Rock in my last blog. Feel free to read it again. Well, the story just gets more amazing...

So, after two years of trying to connect with her, she decides to follow me on Twitter (you are welcome to as well, of course!). And on Thursday I happened to read her tweet: ..."book signing at Vromans Bookstore in Pasadena this Saturday."

O M G

This was our chance to finally connect with her. We started thinking of ways we could make it special. So we invited everyone we knew in the So Cal area to join us at this event. We asked our dear friends and staunch supporters at McCormick & Schmick's Seafood Restaurants to provide some goodies for the event(thank you so much, Rene!!!!). We offered to purchase Malaak's book for everyone who attended. And, even though it was pretty last minute, we had a really great turn out ~ at least half the crowd consisted of our faithful Laga family!



I just have to say, the signing event for Malaak Compton-Rock's new book, "If It Takes A Village, Build One" was one of unforgettable inspiration for me. Malaak was everything and more of what I knew she would be. Incredible. Her heart and passion for living a life of service touched me so deeply and inspired me to no end.

She shared her life's story, how her mother had always been a social activist and how she too now is living that life and teaching her children as well. It brought tears to my eyes (ok, more than just a few I must admit, especially when she called me out on it!) when she talked about her program (one of many) called Journey for Change geared toward at-risk youth (empowering youth through global service), giving them an opportunity to travel with her to an area in South Africa to see first-hand and personally talk to other children who are enslaved there (yes, modern-day slavery exists!). She has dedicated her life to teaching these inner city kids that they, even in their hardships and impoverish environment, can make a difference in other people's lives. That they are important and can have a wonderful future and life of service.

O M G

In her book she tells those stories and then goes on to tell the world how, in your small or large way, can also live a life of service. Helping Others. In her book "If It Takes A Village, Build One" she explains 100+ ways you can do that.

I can't even begin to express what an impact I think this book will have on your life. PLEASE GO OUT TODAY AND GET A COPY!



This Tuesday, April 13th, Malaak will be on Oprah to talk about her book, and she will be the one to share our Laga story as an example of how we are making our small difference in the world.

Thank you everyone who came out in support of Laga! Without your love and dedication, it would be impossible for us to exist, let alone thrive!






Thank you, Malaak, for making such a wonderful impact on the world. For dedicating yourself to a life of service. To teaching your children and ALL of us that "service is the rent we pay for living."

Finally an update from Laga!

So, it's been just waaaay too long since I started this blog and I'm feeling a little guilty about that. But in fairness, I've been absolutely crazy busy with the business of Laga! Knowing that blogging is an important part of getting the Laga story out to everyone, I am now committed to spending the time I need to do a lot more here.

Gosh, where to start is a daunting thing. Soooo much has happened since we started Laga. And the last post was from back in 2008... wow! It's hard to believe I let this sit for so long! OK, enough of the guilts... I'm back!

We finished 2008 with about 50 home show consultants. This is the way we started our business: through home parties. This was an amazing way to start... it gave us a platform to tell the Laga story, sharing the stories of the people who were so devastatingly affected by the 2004 earthquake and tsunami that literally rocked the world! We just were so blessed to be involved with such a "giving back" kind of project.

It was also in 2008 that we started participating in the wholesale trade show circuit. We began with Accessories The Show in Las Vegas, and then we grew into Accessories The Show in New York, Dallas Market Center, AmericasMart in Atlanta, San Francisco Gift Show, LA Mart and the New York International Gift Show. We got the attention of retailers all over the United States, as well as some outside the US such as Japan, Great Britain, Australia, Canada and Puerto Rico.

To quickly bring you up-to-date, we have now been selling our Laga bags in close to 400 retailer shops and we have almost 80 home show consultants. Can you believe it? When I look back, it's even difficult for me to believe what we've done in such a short amount of time.

In 2010, we have been blessed to have been exposed to yet another segment of society: celebrities.

To date, we have had enthusiastic endorsements from:

Pauley Perrette (actress, "Abby" of NCIS)

Mikalah Gordon (singer, season 4 finalist of American Idol)










Jimmy Palumbo (comedian, and his wife Stephanie, who is one of our Laga Consultants)

Amy Grant (singer, married to Vince Gill)

and Whitney Houston! (unfortunately, we were unable to take a picture with her but we'll be meeting with her again soon and be sure to check the celebrity magazines as she is sporting our large Laga Harapan handbag!)

What a wonderful response we have received to our Laga handbags, a traditional artform handmade in the area of Aceh, Sumatra, Indonesia. We are the first to bring this amazing artwork, indigenous to the Aceh area, to light in a major way here in the United States. And we are proud that we have been able to play a part in history having started with a small factory of 12 and now being able to help nearly 300 people with sustainable incomes.

The Laga Saga will continue. This I promise you...

http://www.laga-handbags.com/