My mom used to call it ‘being selective’, today we say that something has been ‘curated’. A curated life is the guilt-lite way for me to express that there just isn’t enough of my time and resources to go around. Many years ago I became a single mom of three kids. The list of my many essential roles wasn’t curate-able: mom, nurse, boss, co-worker, friend, sister, daughter, runner, bread-winner, cook, housekeeper, grounds crew and fix-it gal (…some roles may have been out-sourced).
I am a skilled curator. I am selective in where, how, why and when I put my heart into something. After a long corporate career, I decided to seek a professional role that was more aligned with my personal values and gave me an opportunity to make a direct, positive impact in the world. Being the Managing Director of Mata Traders, a fair trade fashion company, allows me to combine my fashionista and social warrior roles into one.
Unique prints, modern silhouettes, traditional printing techniques are the heart and soul of Mata Traders. Our mission is to fashion a better world by creating clothing and jewelry designs that celebrate a woman’s originality and empower her to use her dollar for change. We celebrate the thoughtful consumers who are selective and make the choice to gather a wardrobe that includes ethical fashion (that also happens to be fun, flirty, and fabulous!).
By supporting fair trade fashion, each Mata Traders consumer can make a positive impact on the women artisans who sew our garments in Indian and Nepali cooperatives, providing a way out of poverty and better futures for their children. These artisans don’t have the luxury to curate their essential life roles, but through fair trade business practices, they earn a sustainable wage, preserve traditional skills and create opportunities for themselves. They’re able to have the resources to care for their children and support their communities.
Curating means selecting fewer and choosing better, and Mata Traders believes that we can change the world, one piece of fashion at a time.
Author: Christine Goetz (Associate Member – FGI Chicago)
As a mom of 3 with a successful 30-year corporate career under her belt, Chris decided to embrace big change by channeling her driven and positive spirit into growing Mata Traders, a fair trade fashion brand. Her ‘carpe diem’ motto is what inspires her to enjoy life’s many challenges. Her favorite fashion is anything colorful and comfortable, now that her corporate wardrobe is been replaced by fun Mata dresses. Chris’ professional background is finance and operations, with a strong track record of delivering financial results, while strengthening organizations, engaging teams and developing leaders. She is a high-energy leader and entrepreneur, equally comfortable developing broad international growth strategies and leading day-to-day operations and supply chain.
Why exercise won’t make you thin
Dr Timothy Church is at the Pennington Biomedical Research Centre of Louisiana State University, which is not affiliated to the University of Louisiana
My mum used to complain that she couldn’t lose weight. A size 18 and a couple of stone heavier than ideal, she tried in vain for years to shed the extra. Every week she headed to the gym, where she pounded the treadmill like a paratrooper, often three times a week. Most days she took the dog for a brisk, hour-long walk. She didn’t eat unhealthily – the rest of the family ate exactly the same meals, and did a fraction of the exercise she did. She ought to have been the slimmest of the bunch: that she remained overweight was a frustration to her, and a mystery to all of us. Check out the latest exipure review.
From StairMasters to kettlebells, Rosemary Conley to Natalie Cassidy, we understand and expect that getting in shape is going to require serious effort on our part – and the reverse is true, too, that we expect exercise to pay back the hours of boring, sweaty graft with a leaner, lighter body. Since the days of the Green Goddess, we’ve known that the healthiest way to lose weight is through exercise. It’s science, isn’t it?
Well, science has some bad news for you. More and more research in both the UK and the US is emerging to show that exercise has a negligible impact on weight loss. That tri-weekly commitment to aerobics class? Almost worthless, as far as fitting into your bikini is concerned. The Mayo Clinic, a not-for-profit medical research establishment in the US, reports that, in general, studies “have demonstrated no or modest weight loss with exercise alone” and that “an exercise regimen… is unlikely to result in short-term weight loss beyond what is achieved with dietary change.”
It sounds faintly heretical, if not downright facetious. And it’s a scientific discovery that most health professionals are, naturally, keen to downplay. After all, exercise is still good for us. It’s just that, in defiance of decades of New Year resolutions, it’s unlikely to make us slim. Visit sandiegomagazine.com.
Most of us have a grasp of the rudiments of weight gain and loss: you put energy (calories) into your body through food, you expend them through movement, and any that don’t get burned off are stored in your body as fat. Unfortunately, the maths isn’t in our favour. “In theory, of course, it’s possible that you can burn more calories than you eat,” says Dr Susan Jebb, head of nutrition and health research at the Medical Research Council, and one of the government’s go-to academics for advice on nutrition. “But you have to do an awful lot more exercise than most people realise. To burn off an extra 500 calories is typically an extra two hours of cycling. And that’s about two doughnuts.”