APRIL FOOLS!
Do not even pretend like I didn’t get you. You even believed that I used that emoticon seriously. So no, AuH2O is not closing. In fact, AuH2O is SO NOT closing, it’s going to be on CNN in a few days! Click here to see why, and if you can, watch or set set your DVRs to any and all of the three times below. I will be on for a split second (I think a minute or two) between these half-hour segments:
Saturday, April 4th on CNN between 7-7:30am EST
Saturday, April 4th on Headline News between 1:30-2pm EST
Sunday, April 5th on Headline News between 10:30-11am EST.
It’s going to be airing during two different segments (and I don’t know which is airing on what day or time,) “Make up Your Own Major in College and Then Do What You Want To For Your Career” and “I Have Interns Now and am on CNN, So I guess It Worked Out.” No, April Fools again. I’m hilarious today. It’ll be a part of the series “How We Got Started” and “Business Success.”
All joking aside, I really do think my business has been successful. For two and a half years, including this recession, I’ve been in the black every month- albeit sometimes just barely. In February I don’t think I ordered a drink other than a PBR, but I walk into my store every day and know it’s my own, and damn do I love that. Though a TON of stores in my neighborhood really ARE closing, even ones that have been here for years. The shop next to AuH2O, Amarcord’s Vintage Outlet, is closing its doors after ten years. Ten Years! Here’s some photos of a few stores in my area that have been forced to close due to this recession:
Amarcord, next to AuH2O Love Saves the Day, corner of 7th and 2nd

Bakhor on 9th Street between 1st and 2nd Forty Fifty Sixty, on 7th between 1st and 2nd


I’m working incredibly hard so that this doesn’t happen to AuH2O. I have very reasonable prices and loyal customers, and lately I’ve been expanding my fashion show participation beyond New York (Kean University, Tufts, Stanford and some high schools.) Also, I’ve started a little public speaking. I still have a WisCONsin accent and talk a mile a minute, but apparently organizations/museums/clubs want to hear me talk. In February, I spoke at the International Convention for BBYO (B’nai Brith Youth Organization) on a Successful Jewish Women panel. I talked to 400 teenage girls about using art and clothing as activism- it was nerve-wracking but felt awesome. I showed this painting I made depicting me getting Plan B after a condom broke, and after I spoke the organizer announced to the girls that pre-marital sex was not condoned by BBYO and they were not allowed to engage in such activity during the convention. OOPS.
SELF PORTRAIT: DO YOU CARRY EMERGENCY CONTRACEPTION HERE?

But I was talking about using clothing and art as activism! The personal is political! Anyway, lesson learned. I think the girls liked me though, I mean, I had a bunch of new Facebook friends the next day… and I met a few students interested in working for AuH2O, and ended up hiring an intern for the summer!
Then, a few weeks ago, I spoke to the students in the Brooklyn Museum’s after school program about eco-friendly clothing:

Students with their own recycled designs

With Ariel Greenberg, Brooklyn Museum educator and friend, and student
In the upcoming month, I will be speaking in NYU’s Earth Matters Green House series and to NYU’s Alpha Kappa Psi business fraternity. I’m speaking to a frat! A co-ed business frat, but still, never imagined I’d be doing that in my life. So, if you or your organization or someone you know would like me to come in and speak about eco-friendly, feminist fashion, or opening a business, let me know. My speaking fees start at $500. April Fools again, obviously.