A perfect soccer storm frenzy, with a strong magnetic pull is connecting the dots, putting Able Made, UMBF, and Suzanne’s big heart in the heart of it all.

Suzanne McKenzie, Founder/COO of Able Made, the “Original Off Pitch Soccer Style brand and Founder of the Ucal Breakaway Foundation (UMBF) has earned her rightful spot smack in the middle of the whirlwind of fresh interest in the world’s favorite game – soccer – here in the U.S.

OFF PITCH SOCCER STYLE – TOTALLY ON POINT.

Elizabeth Egan’s essay about Bridget Jones’ Diary in The New York Times made me think about representation in culture, particularly pop culture and every multicultural dimension. These days people call to be seen and heard on screens big and small. They want their stories to be reflected in Hollywood stories, in magazines and in fashion. People of color. People with disabilities. LGBTQ people. People who hate labels. All kinds of people. Representation matters.

I kept a copy of Bridget Jones Diary in my night table for over a decade. Every time I felt sad or depressed or down, I would open a page, any page, and find solace and even happiness. I felt a kinship with this fictional character I have hardly ever felt with any other person, fictional or otherwise. We understood each other. We liked each other.

Besides being fashionably chic and irresistible, Lingua Franca has a social and political spirit that is literally stitched into its heart. Under the slogan “Give a Damn!” the company, created by Rachelle Hruska McPherson, has raised over a million dollars for equity awareness and social causes that range from Marriage Equality to Peace for Ukraine.

The beautiful energy of Shantell Martin blew into my universe this spring – we met through dance. Her leap from the page to the stage felt like a natural place for this visual artist to explore – bringing the physicality of her drawing into lyrical movement where musicality, the human form and a playful richness of the performance, the stage set and costuming meld into an alternate universe.