By Audrey van Petegem, Senior Editor
When a company’s motto is “Nothing wasted. Everything gained“, you know that they take a serious stand on green living.
Preserve makes stylish, high performance, eco-friendly products for the home – from personal care to tableware to kitchen products – all at a reasonable price. All their products have innovative designs, bold colors, are eco-chic AND 100% recycled.
Preserve only uses #5 plastics for recycling. Many communities do not recycle #5 plastics so Preserve partnered with Whole Food Markets to create a Gimme 5 bin (#5 plastic containers) at each of their stores making it easier to [...]

Raised to believe that a man needed to look after a woman and that, as her mother used to tell her, ‘single women have no status’, Philippa Sklaar felt that any man was better than no man. If a man looked after her, she owed him. So, for financial security and, admittedly, her relationship addiction, Philippa tolerated abuse, became whoever her husband wanted her to be and lost herself along the way. Her book, Pleased to Meet Myself is aimed at women who suffer from the belief that having anybody is better than nobody and who depend on a relationship [...]

By Audrey van Petegem, Senior Editor

When I first met Taylor Greenberg Goldy, I asked her to speak to the person in charge of ChariTotes. Little did I know that this young, bright, 17 year old was the brainchild behind ChariTotes Design-A-Bag!
What a great story this is: When Taylor was volunteering at her local hospital in the pediatric ward, she would spend time with children who had cancer. She came up with the idea for an activity that would have them decorate their own canvas tote bags with markers, crayons and stickers. The kids loved doing this so much that she [...]

If you have been reading us for a while, it’s pretty clear to you that we love products and businesses with a good story. This is one such GREAT story AND cause. It’s about Arzu Studio Hope.
Arzu (which means hope in Dari, a variety of the Persian language spoken in Afghanistan) was founded in 2004 by social entrepreneur Connie K. Duckworth. Connie left the world of finance to start this enterprise with the mission to promote women’s rights and economic empowerment in Afghanistan. She knew nothing about that country or about international development and nothing about rugs but she knew [...]

By Audrey van Petegem, Senior Editor

Here in the United States, the month of March is dubbed Women’s History Month, but today, March 8, is globally known as International Women’s Day. You did not know this? Well, I don’t think you are the only one. Although it is an official holiday in almost 30 countries world-wide, with some countries giving all women the day off, as in China, Madagascar and Nepal, it is not that well known here in North America.
Believe it or not it has been around (known as International Working Women’s Day) since the early 1900′s. It started more [...]

By Anne-Marie Kovacs, Chief Wife

I didn’t know a soul when I first moved to the Chicago area over two years ago. It was an opportunity to get out of my comfort zone and get out there to meet new friends and make professional connections.
One of the things I did was join the Taproot Foundation, an organization that matches business professionals with nonprofit organizations, providing them with essential business services on a pro-bono basis. For example, my team’s “client” was a statewide housing coalition that advocates for the availability of decent and affordable housing (such an essential service in these times). [...]

Throughout the pages of The Succulent Wife, you will see numerous articles about companies and products that contribute to making this planet a better place to live on. Whether it is about helping the environment or about helping each other, we are always passionate about sharing their stories.

Thus, this Gift Guide is near and dear to us. The ideas shared here show us that we can all be conscious shoppers, make our gift recipient happy and, all at the same time, also greatly impact the life of someone less fortunate. It becomes a win-win for everyone. And it’s so easy [...]

As a petite woman, Pam Starobin knew what it is like to sit at a table with your chin barely over the the edge or at the movies when, inevitably, someone would sit directly in front of her blocking her view. She understood how kids felt and wanted to make a booster seat that made them feel all grown up. She came up with a lightweight booster seat that carries like a backpack.
SittingTallerKids partnered with Nomi Network, an organization that promotes enterprise and education to end human trafficking, to help in making the backpacks. Nomi Network trains women in Cambodia, [...]

Anne-Marie and Audrey van Petegem met Robin Smalley, Director and Co-Founder of mothers2mothers, at BlogHer 2011 in the Johnson&Johnson room. She shared stories of the women and the babies that mothers2mothers helps, the role that Johnson&Johnson plays in financially supporting global health issues and the bright future for women with HIV and their children. The energy, passion and dedication that Robin has towards these women and their babies is nothing short of being heroic. She found her true calling after she left the high profile world of being an award-winning television director/producer for shows such as Entertainment Tonight, Lifestyles of [...]

By Audrey van Petegem, Senior Editor
Have you noticed recently that there seems to be a lot of men sporting new mustaches? There is a reason for this. By now, we are well aware that October is Breast Cancer Awareness month (we wrote about it last month). This month is Movember (mo is slang for mustache) where globally, men are growing mustaches to raise awareness and funds for men’s health issues such as prostate cancer.
My brother-in-law Brian had prostate cancer and supports the cause of early detection through PSA (Prostate-Specific Antigen) screening (he is always asking my husband, Scott, what his [...]