Ann and Mary met at a local coffee shop at the end of 2007 to discuss a potential partnership between their international trade companies.  After exchanging personal and professional backgrounds, hopes and dreams, they discovered that both of them are passionate about giving back.

As small business owners, they know how difficult it is for women to balance work and life goals.  They were determined to create a platform for talented women of limited means to bring their unique designs and crafts to the market and at the same time, create positive changes in the lives of others. The result was Fresh Force, born at the end of 2008, exactly a year from their first meeting.

ANN’S STORY                                   

There IS a fresh force sweeping across this country, and we can see it in shows such as Sex and the City, Cashmere Mafia, Lipstick Jungle, and more.  It’s all about women sharing, women caring, and women celebrating each other – regardless of age, race, profession, or background.

As an only child of a Chinese family, I never had to share my toys, clothes, or parents’ attention.  But I did learn from an early age to share my hopes, visions, and feelings of connection with all the other women who have supported me emotionally and professionally. One of those connections brought me to Mary; she and I are passionate about building a support network for female small business owners, especially in disadvantaged regions and countries.  We both know that goal is impossible without strong support from families, friends, and especially, dear girlfriends. 

The first-generation Chinese American writer Maxine Hong Kingston famously said, “To me success means effectiveness in the world, that I am able to carry my ideas and values into the world – that I am able to change it in positive ways.”  To that, I only say: Amen.

MARY’S STORY                                  

I come from a family of entrepreneurs: both sets of grandparents, several aunts and uncles, and my wonderful parents.  My parents had just $37 to their name when they got married; my sister and I came along in the first two years of that marriage.  Still, we always had a healthy meal on our table each night and a healthy respect for each other at our core. 

In the seventies, my mom and dad launched our family business, risking our home and their savings.  I watched my father rise to best in class, but at a cost to our family.  He had to travel extensively and work long hours because several employees depended on our family for their livelihood. My mother picked up the slack when necessary, and there was never a time we didn’t know we were loved and nurtured.

My desire to give back is deeply rooted in family tradition.  I know my mom supported several people in our town with a bag of groceries or a loan when her friends were in need –often without a word or a note of recognition.  Not one person in my family and extended family ever hesitated to extend a hand when needed.  It became my personal “family value,” a value that my husband and I have successfully incorporated in our own marriage and in our lives.

I am greatly inspired by the songwriter Harry Chapin, who wrote, “Our lives are to be used and thus to be lived as fully as possible, and truly it seems that we are never so alive as when we concern ourselves with other people.”  Through my connection with those I work closest with, I hope to (quoting Harry Chapin) “sleep the sleep of the just.”