Friday, February 19, 2010

TED Conference- written by Jeremy Black, VP of Marketing, Sambazon

Thanks to our partners at Lexus Hybrid Living and Chef Akasha from Akasha Restaurant in Culver City, we had the opportunity to serve up our açai bowls and juices at the TED Conference last week. It was the first time I was able to attend this event which I'd heard really good things about so we were pretty excited to share some açai and meet some of the world's top change makers. Speakers included Bill Gates, James Cameron, Philip Howard and many more. Click here to see a recap of the event and I highly recommend you take a few minutes and watch Bill Gates' talk, everyone needs to be aware of this and be part of the solution.

The Lexus Hybrid Living Lounge was extremely well done and drew a sophisticated crowd. Al Gore walked up and wanted to know what was the deal with the purple stuff in the cup with the granola everyone was eating. So I got a chance to tell him a little about our company and products, as well as thank him for all the hard work he's been doing creating awareness for the Global Warming issue. Thanks again Al, you're making a big difference using your influence to create awareness and instigate change. Another highlight was Maggie Grace stopping by for a Rio bowl, she told me she first had our açai at Lanikai Juice in Hawaii when she was filming Lost. I had heard the whole cast made açai bowls a daily ritual and she confirmed that. Now living in LA she keeps our açai in her diet using our Pure Packs in her daily smoothie.

TED is all about good ideas, “what the world needs to know”, and brings some of the smartest thinkers in the world to share their solutions. And while at times it can be a little overwhelming when you hear about all the problems we are facing, it's good to know that there are passionate people who are working hard to solve them. I want to encourage everyone to find a way that you can become part of the solution, and if you're ready to start now and looking for some simple things you can do here are some easy ones:

1- Change out your light bulbs to CFLs or other Energy Star rated bulbs
2- bring your own reusable bags to the grocery store
3- Buy organic- for you, for the planet
4- Eat less (or no) meat (watch Food Inc)
5- and most importantly, vote with your dollars by buying from companies that you know are working to be a part of the solution as well.

Thanks and bless,
Jeremy