Steve Jobs: "How to Live before you Die"

In today's society, one that embraces being always on the go and pursuing the next best thing, we've learned that it's really valuable to stop and reflect on the beauty and simplicity of the stories that make up our lives. At One Mango Tree, it's what keeps us going; it keeps us patient and creative. Here's a fantastic, staple speech that Steve Jobs, founder of Apple, gave at a Stanford Commencement in 2005. It's brilliant and inspiring, absolutely worthy of sharing.



How do his words ring true in your own life?

TGIF + Weekly Happenings (Sept 6th-10th)

(1) Eunice working on one of our sweet new lunchbags (to be released soon!), (2) The opening of the *brand new* Little Mangos Nursery, (3) Tea time is a must, (4) Halle's headed to the big and much-anticipated Fair Trade Futures Conference in Boston, MA today!

Check out these kind words that the Conference wrote about us!

The ladies are OFF today for a public Ugandan holiday so the weekend begins early! Celebrate! Have a great weekend, everyone! If you're at the FTFC Conference in Boston, come say hello and sport the new OMT tie or headband that came in your goodie bag!

The day has come!

Since we began, Halle has dreamt of opening a nursery for the babes of our women and as of today, we're excited to announce that its' become a reality!




In a culture where most youth receive little to no educational attention, our vision is to create an environment that celebrates and encourages learning from a very young age. Our women can better spend their time working and enjoying one another while their babies are safe, away from machines of any sort. We were also able to hire a new One Mango Tree employee, Alice, who we'll affectionately call our 'superwoman.' She's single-handedly taking on all of the babes (and she's great at it!), playing educational games, and giving them a head start with speaking/writing in english and the local language. If anyone has an extra cape, can we borrow it?! We think she deserves one.



Seeing the doors open for the 'Little Mangos' nursery is certainly a day worth celebrating and we owe a big thanks to Halle's mother and father for all the dreaming and energy they put into this nursery! They painted hours upon hours of their visit so we could collectively make this a reality. Joe and Cona - a big thanks for all the hard work and love you both poured into this!

We hope you'll celebrate alongside us and I'm sure you'll see plenty of entertaining photos and videos from this nursery very soon...

Now that the women have less distractions, they'll have more time to sew your bag! Buy a bag and share the story, exponentially multiplying and spreading the One Mango Tree impact on the ground here in Uganda, in the states, and across the world.

xo Lauranne

Creating a Fair Trade Future

After a few years of getting One Mango Tree organized on the ground in Uganda, we're really excited to hit the pavement in the United States and spread the word about Fair Trade. I've just returned to DC and the calendar is already full of One Mango Tree and fair trade goodness. The first stop will be Boston, for the Fair Trade Futures Conference September 10-12.

Earlier this year, we were thrilled to get our acceptance letter to Fair Trade Federation - the leading organization of fair trade businesses in the United States. Every five years, FTF holds the Fair Trade Futures Conference - an enormous opportunity to bring together businesses, non-profits, advocates and individuals interested in fair trade - more than 750 people who are passionate about fair trade determining its future.

This year One Mango Tree will be there, both participating in the sessions and in the Fair Trade Marketplace which runs throughout the weekend. Participants at the conference will be receiving a One Mango Tree headband or necktie in the official goodie bag! I'll be reporting during and after the conference, so stay tuned!

xo Halle

"Go crazy!"

We made some time at a staff party recently to snap a brand new staff photo of the women!

So, we introduce to you the ladies of One Mango Tree: mid-laugh, mid-jump, mid-wave. All unique and beautiful women being changed by economic empowerment.




Top photo: (left to right) Prisca, Betty, Pamela, Margret, Grace, Gladys, Concy, baby Jonathan, Josephine, Grace, Irene, Eunice, Nassarine, Margret, Concy, Santa, Lucy, Betty, Margret, baby Maria, Claire, Jenet, Grace, baby Sarah, and Morine.

These are the faces of women that will sew your handbag with love.

P.S. Did you hear, yet? Tweet and spread the love to win a Weekender!

Just spread the love to win our giveaway!

Who doesn't love to win things? We're having a 'Back to School' September Exclusive Giveaway and you're invited to join by tweeting or blogging about our stellar ladies. Could it get any easier?





Step ONE: Simply tweet or blog about us!
Step TWO: Just tag us with @OneMangoTree (twitter) or reply to this post with a link to your blog post and you're good to go.

Do this and you'll be in the running to have one of our ladies sew you a *brand new* Fall 2010 Weekender! It's not even on our website yet... that's right!

If you can't tell, we pretty excited to send this sweet thing to your doorstep...

So get to tweeting!

National Yoga Month + 6 Fresh Finds

Whether you're a beginner or a guru, in a final hoorah for September (National Yoga month!), we want to share some of our favorite (some made by our ladies!) ethical finds that will leave the world a better place with your purchase. So get to stretching and bring in the Fall with our six fresh yoga finds!

1. Our new organic cotton gaucho pants (made fair-trade by ladies in uganda), 2. Gaiam premium sticky yoga mat (latex-free), 3. Kor One hydration vessel, 4. 'Relax' Eye Pillow (see how they're made!), 5. One Mango Tree yoga mat bag (made fair-trade with organic cotton), 6. "The Essential Rumi" book of poetry

In the words of Rumi and one of our favorites:

"Let the beauty we love be what we do.
There are a hundred ways to kneel and kiss the ground."