Archive for October, 2008

black & light ® Takes off with Airline Ambassadors

Thursday, October 30th, 2008

Airline Ambassadors Intl. and Black & Light Co. have partnered up after the largely succesful 2008 Global Compassion ball in NYC. After using the appropriated Airline Ambassadors code on the Black & Light Co. website, AAI100, 10% of the proceeds from each candle sold will go directly to benefit the Airline Ambassadors organization.

Airline Ambassadors was founded in 1996 by Nancy Rivard. A flight attendant working for American Airlines, she was able to leverage her industry resources to help underprivileged children and families in communities across the globe. It began as a group of airline personnel, and now includes over 6000 members who donate their time and money for causes ranging from child development to international disaster relief.

Since its inception in 96′ Airline Ambassadors has hand delivered over $46 Million in aid to children in over fifty-two countries. They have impacted over 500,000 children in many different ways including opening medical clinics and escorting children in need through surgeries that they would otherwise be unable to receive.

During these troubling economic times, Holly and Black & Light Co. have continued to focus on ways to change others lives, and not necessarily ways to cut costs or trim losses. Helping others, especially children in need, has been a pillar in the foundation of the principles Black & Light Co. was built upon. Their partnership with Airline Ambassadors reinforces these principles and increasingly solidifies the vision that Holly Eve has set for forth the company.

Global Compassion Ball in NYC

Wednesday, October 22nd, 2008

It began with a flurry of emails right before the first of October.

“Would we be interested?”

“When do you need them?”

“October 9th?!?!”

“Wow, I guess we can get them there by then. It means we’ll have to ship Friday and it’s Tuesday…”

Four hundred candles. Gulp. Very very very big gulp.

On the first of October another flurry of emails.

“Can’t you come?”

“Oh my.”

And then ’someone’ went ahead and booked the necessary arrangements, ‘just in case’.

And now this ’someone’ is reporting post live from New York and it’s way beyond Saturday night.

It began with a ride in a rickshaw, because both Presidential Candidates decided to land on the roof the hotel across the street from where we were staying, about the same time we were trying to get a cab.

Gridlock.

Traffic was at a total standstill and minutes were ticking by. Our plans to be a leisurely twenty or so minutes early were evaporating.

Up popped Jeorges from Timbuktu (yes, there really is a Timbuktu), Mali in Africa in a rickshaw and twenty minutes later we were at the UN.

What an evening. After going through two sets of security we found ourselves ushered off the fourth floor elevator into a special room filled with…

Ann Curry, Meredith Vieira, Peter Greenberg, people from the Today show galore. After finding a spot up against the partition we settled in to enjoy the cameras, lights, and action. Within minutes the crowd parted for the Secretary General of the United Nations, Ban Ki-moon and his lovely wife. He was followed by the wife of the late Ted Dantos, the only holocaust survivor ever elected to the US Senate.

In the milling that occurred before the banquet hall was opened up Ann Curry and Meredith Vieira both said ‘hello’ with Ann commenting about my lady Holly’s single pearl necklace. We mention this only because she was able to pay for that necklace out of all the sick days she saved up as a teacher. Peter Greenberg gave a hearty, “how ya doing!?!” and suddenly Holly and he were like old friends.

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“Somebody pinch me!” Holly Eve, Founder and CEO of black and light co, milling about with Ann Curry and Meredith Veira of NBC’s Today Show.

The rest of the evening was filled with what can only be described as ‘inspiring’ and tremendously uplifting. Person after person who put others before themselves came forward to be recognized, William Dise (Denver Crew Chief for AA) and Eric Klein (Founder of Can-Do.org) bookended an evening devoted to recognizing people of compassion in action. Please view the their accomplishments at

http://globalcompassionball2008.eventjournal.com/view_honoree.php?journal_id=133#dise

Needless to say, Holly Eve and her friend of thirty years left committed to emulating and supporting this incredible organization.

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Nancy Rivard, President and Founder of Airline Ambassadors with one of her newest ‘angel ambassadors’, Holly Eve, founder and CEO of black & light co.

Online Market World Conference 2008!

Friday, October 17th, 2008

As you may or may not know, Holly Eve was featured as a keynote speaker at the 2008 Online Market World Conference in San Francisco on October 3rd. This was the first spotlight appearance for Holly as CEO of black & light ®, and she was greeted with a tremendous response.

Holly Eve and Lisa Morgan, Senior VP of Online Market World!

onlinemarketworldkeynote1.jpgHolly poses with Lisa Morgan after her keynote speaker presentation.

Offering an inspirational insight into the trials of being a startup company in this slumping economy, Holly captivated the crowd with her passion and vision. After her presentation she responded to over fifty questions asked by curious attendees, all the while keeping an unbelievable level of composure and confidence.

Earlier in the conference on Wednesday, Oct 1st, Holly was able to briefly meet Kathy Ireland, another keynote speaker at the conference, presenting her with her own gift box of black & light® candles. On Thursday night Holly and her sidekick Clem ventured out on a dinner cruise around the San Francisco Bay area, chatting it up with other VIP members of the conference including Tony Hsieh, the CEO of Zappos.com who Holly is still corresponding with via email.

Overall it was an amazing experience for Holly, and certainly the first of many to come. Many thanks to Lisa Morgan for being such a great host and putting on an absolutely fantastic conference. Without Lisa Morgan, the Online Market World Conference would not have been possible for black & light® - we really owe it to her!

Adventure to UC Davis

Thursday, October 16th, 2008

The Beginning of a ‘Buzzing’ Relationship

The first of many!Holly Eve presents the first check for proceeds from the sale of ‘Bees’ candles to Sue Cobey, Extension Specialist in Agriculture at the Harry H. Laidlaw Honeybee Research Facility at the University of California Davis.

Earlier this summer, black & light® teamed up with the honeybee research team at The University of California at Davis. Through proceeds of their ‘Bees’ candle, black & light ® was able to present their first check to the University while visiting San Francisco in early October.

During that same visit, Sue Cobey and Jan Kingsbury were kind enough to show members of the black & light ® team around the Harry H. Laidlaw Jr. Honey Bee Research Facility for the better part of an afternoon opening their eyes to the wonderfully busy world of the honeybee.

They donned netted hats and actually stepped out into the hive area behind the research facility for an up-close-and-personal meeting with the honeybees. Fully expecting an uncontrollable mob of angry bees, the black & light ® team was amazed to find that the majority of the bees were fairly docile.

Inside the Hive

Inside the Hive Inside the hives with Sue Cobey. Holly Eve is featured on the far left.

Cobey would pick up a hive (with her bare hands!), point out the various features such as the brood, the queen, and the drones and the honeybees would simply shrug off their intruders and go about their business. The consistent ‘buzzzz’ all around simply faded away into pure amazement at the complexity and intelligence of the hardworking honeybee.

Where normally one’s ears immediately ‘perk-up’ when they hear that fateful ‘buzz-ing’ sound while sitting on their porch, the team was relatively at ease, amazing considering that there were literally thousands of bees within five feet of their faces!

Since first noticed in 2006, honeybee populations have been in an immense decline across the United States but especially in California, which happens to have the largest and most progressive bee breeding operation in the US. The cause of this decline is poorly understood, and it is up to institutions such as UC Davis to help find the cause.

Although the team only spent a relatively short time at the facility, they gained an immediate greater appreciation for the purpose of the honeybee in American agricultural practices and began to realize what an integral part of farming the honeybee actually is. There are dozens of crops that depend on honeybee population to survive in the western United States as well as across the globe. Without research like that conducted at the Harry H. Laidlaw Jr. facility at UC Davis, the agricultural practices of the entire United States would be in severe jeopardy.