Every graduation fills me with hope. Doesn’t matter who’s walking across that stage. I always get this feeling of excitement. Ok, so I get a tad weepy too, but that could be due to the Pomp and Circumstance they play at every ceremony. If you’re the one graduating it may feel like the end, but all graduations are just the beginning and to me beginnings are thrilling and hopeful.
I still have a picture from my high school graduation. My sister and two of our friends are in our caps and gowns and we’re smiling, ready to get to college. We knew the best was yet to come and just looking at that photo pulls me right back to that moment. We were filled with big expectations and even a little fear but we were ready to move on and change the world.
Then all too soon college graduation came around. In a way I was anxious to graduate, but unlike most of my friends who spent their senior year interviewing for traditional corporate jobs, I spent my senior year thinking about what I wasn’t going to do.
I wasn’t going to work for a big corporation. I wasn’t going to be stuck in an office and I definitely wasn’t going to get stuck in a job, working for a company I didn’t believe in.
So I took the harder road, but I still stayed true to my beliefs. Sure, I waited a lot of tables and worked with a few Prima Donnas in the film business, but with the exception of a ten year stint at a major corporation… where most of my coworkers made fun of my Doc Martin’s… I’ve always followed my heart.
Even then, I loved working with my customers. For me, the selling was… still is… the best part of my job. But I began to lose my drive because I couldn’t get behind the product I was selling. Anyone in Sales knows that’s key to finding success in it. I knew I had to sell a product I could support and one I could get behind that wouldn’t destroy our planet.
In hindsight, it’s kind of crazy I ended up in an industry that’s one of the highest polluters behind oil, but that’s kind of why I got into it in the first place. I’m not running my company and producing clothing the way the big offenders do… I’m on a mission to change this industry for the better.
I’m proud to be an Eco-preneur and I know there’s a bunch of us out there. They’re creating organic beauty products, making toxic-free home products and even creating websites helping companies like MAJAMAS EARTH sell their products… and there’s more coming. (See our favorites here.)
They’re graduating high school with dreams of heading to college or into careers that can immediately transform our planet. Those heading into sustainable trades will be installing solar panels, wind turbines and making electric cars. Those heading to college will infiltrate Corporate America so big oil and dirty businesses clean up their acts.
It won’t be pretty. This generation of graduates has to face the mess past generations have left them. In order to survive, they have to have hope and passion to change the status quo… and they will. There are jobs evolving we can’t even begin to imagine and regardless of the paths taken, all of them must focus on improving our planet.
So Graduates… time to bring it on. Give us your ideas, your hopes, your dreams and your passions and start to make an impact with ME! I am hopeful and excited for the future. Don’t be afraid. There’s a lot of company in the Eco-preneur space. Sure, right now it’s the tougher road but you’re up to it. Take control of the environment, speak up for the planet and let’s see what you can do! No pressure or anything, but your life…all of our lives..are depending on you.
Congratulations and welcome to the world of Eco-preneurs!
– Germaine Caprio, MAJAMAS EARTH Company Owner & Designer
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What are you most excited about for our future?
Please share your own thoughts with ME – let’s get a conversation started in the comments below! Your comment may even win you a free MAJAMAS® EARTH garment this week!