The past week has been somewhat of a cross-country whirlwind for me…I left Montreal on Monday for Vancouver to attend the 1st (hopefully) annual Lululemon Ambassador Summit, an all-expense paid trip organized by the Canadian retail giant. Along with 119 other ambassadors from all over North America, I was flown out and put up at a gorgeous hotel in the downtown core of the city, where we spent the next few days attending lectures from keynote speakers and participating in goal-setting, social networking, and other inspiring workshops…all orchestrated by Lulu, all to ensure that we, as the faces of the company in our respective communities, were living our best lives possible.
Now, I’ve worked for a retail giant that talked big, using words like “diversity” and “creativity”, and communicating how important a richly-lived life needed to be for each and every one of their employees…but when it came time to treating said employees in a manner conducive to living a rich life, the almighty dollar proved more important a priority. With the past couple of days now over, you’ll hopefully believe me when I say that Lululemon has put all other businesses to shame, and I don’t even work for them!
The people at Lulu made it transparently clear that their mission is to elevate the world from mediocrity to greatness…that the business model of the future involves investing in the happiness and success of your people. With us as their ambassadors at the frontline, all they hoped was that their generosity of spirit would be passed on to those we hope to inspire, allowing the cycle of giving to expand exponentially and globally.
I got home Thursday night with images of the incredible people I met and shared moments with, along with a serious drive to continue achieving the goals I’ve set (and continue to set) for myself. With all that in mind, I did a load of laundry and then re-packed my bag to leave Friday afternoon to come down to where I’m writing this, our annual Luna Yoga Weekend Summer Retreat at Spa Eastman.
Coming into the lush beauty of the Eastern Townships to teach such an amazing group of yogis just reinforces everything I find myself working towards in my daily life. It also allows me to honor the integrity of the Lululemon mission by passing on the unconditional generosity of spirit, mere hours after coming back from the West coast.
I would like to offer up my heartfelt gratitude to everyone at Lululemon, not only for selflessly treating me like royalty simply because they could, but for reminding me that my core values are valid and shared…and that I really can effect change by being who I truly am.
Much love and respect…