Welcome to a refresh of my Distracted newsletter - an email I was sending to share positivity at a time when the sky was falling during the pandemic. Now I return to distract you again as I explore themes of positivity through invention and reinvention.
This isn’t really a new newsletter - but an introduction to a recorded conversation I had with Asmeret Berhe-Lumax about her One Love Community Fridge project and the community she founded. Like many people reading this, she started a small project that served the community during the pandemic. The fridge on the street project was initially organized by Asmeret, her children, her husband and close friends but it not only served food to her local community in Brooklyn - it also gave food for thought to a broader community of people around her.
You will hear on the podcast how the One Love Community Fridge project has grown to embrace a large community of supporters and volunteers who are involved in the feeding of New Yorkers and also the support of the community today. In the podcast, you'll hear about how Asmeret went about building a community organization, how she realized that aesthetics and beauty directly connects with notions of respect and how the fridge location is a place of pride and joy versus a place of needs.
“One Love Community Fridge works to empower & engage the community through education and providing access to fresh, healthy fruit & vegetables with no stigma.”
One Love Community Fridge Website
When I challenge her that she's built a brand around the one love community fridge, Asmeret brings back the idea of collaboration and she connects this concept of a brand with a notion of exchange and this “exchange” is something I think is very fascinating and something for all of us in creative business to take away.
Hopefully by listening to this, you'll be inspired about how to invent by starting small and how to reinvent by engaging the people around you, including the people you serve to start. Do subscribe to this newsletter or the podcast to hear more stories like this.
Listen to the interview on Apple Podcast
Listen to the interview on Spotify
Pics by Malin Fezehai republished with kind permission. Fridge on street by Piers Fawkes
Some other news from Piers Fawkes
I’m hosting a free webinar on digital transformation on Tuesday at 12pm ET
I’m speaking at the Lead Innovation conference in Williamsburg, NY on Wednesday at 9.15am ET
My team just delivered a guide to help brands and retailers to engage Gen Alpha
I’m behind 2 other creative business newsletters that are sent each week to audiences of about 40,000 folks
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PoE #1: Asmeret Berhe-Lumax and the One Love Community Fridge