Ezinne believed she needed serious prayers, it seemed she had been possessed by the spirit of lust because she couldn't understand why thoughts of Mofe just wouldn't get out of her mind. She wanted him in ways she had never wanted any man before, and it was quite frustrating. She was going through one of the worst infatuations a girl could go through.
All she thought about was how gorgeous he looked when he smiled, how his eyes crinkled softly when amused and how good that kiss between them had felt and how she wanted another episode of it.
It had been a week since she'd seen him back at his apartment, she consciously avoided meeting him in school and avoided places he might frequent on campus. He had obviously moved on with his life as she had told him to but the problem now was her.
Getting him out of her damn mind was proving really difficult. She wasn't even sure she wanted him out, because if she did, she would have done so already or was she just powerless against her feelings for him?
It had sort of hurt that he had moved on so easily without much of a fight, he had just accepted her wishes but what had she really expected him to do?
Why did it feel like it was Mofe she should be taking a chance with and not Ekene? Just his touch set her nerve ends on fire, something she never felt with Ekene.
Shaking herself out of it, she decided it was just pure lust, what she felt for him was just physical. He had been a distraction from the real course her life was supposed to take. She would get over these strange feelings after a while. Infatuation always faded away, didn't it?
What she needed to do was spend more time with her real boyfriend and thoughts of Mofe would naturally fade off, she decided.
She had called Ekene's secretary a little earlier meaning to confirm with her when he would be free for lunch but had been told that he had taken the day off as he was feeling a bit under the weather. It was strange that he had suddenly taken ill because they'd spoken in the morning and he hadn't mentioned it.
It wăs probably a little headache and that was why he'd not bothered her with it but she would seize the opportunity. He hardly ever had a free day except for weekends and she needed to spend more time with him so as to get Mofe off her mind.
She was almost ready when the intercom in her room rang. She picked it.
"Madam, your friend Uduak is here to see you." Beatrice, one of the maids said.
Dara and Osas had been trying to get them to meet and talk but she hadn't felt up to it. For Ezinne, when trust was broken, it was difficult to mend. She doubted Uduak had ever been a real friend to her.
All she had needed from Uduak that day had been a simple 'I am sorry' but her so called friend hadn't been in the least bit sorry. Was that someone she could call a friend?
She knew how many times she had stuck her head out for Uduak, covering up for her with her parents and her boyfriend where as time and time again Uduak via her actions had never been much of a true friend.
Why in the world would she turn off her alarm clock when she knew she had exams the next day? The most annoying part was she hadn't been remorseful about almost making her miss the paper.
Had it not been for Mofe's help she would have certainly failed the paper and would have had to enroll for an extra year.
She didn't need that sort of friendship, she decided as she grabbed her handbag and car keys. She would find out what she needed and then leave.
Uduak was sitting on a sofa in the living room when Ezinne got there. She turned as she heard Ezinne's approach.
"What are you here for Uduak?" She asked brusque and straight to point.
"Ekene?" Uduak asked with a frown.
"But I just saw him ……." her voice trailed suddenly and her expression changed as if she had said something she shouldn't have.
"Em… I …" Uduak looked away, not able to meet her eyes.
"Spill Uduak, right now." She ordered.
As usual Ezinne felt nothing, she wasn't surprised. Ekene was a serial cheat and she had already suspected. Still she didn't expect her so called friend to hide the information from her.
"Just answer Uduak." She snapped irritated.
Ezinne took a few steps closer to her friend.
Ezinne made her way out of the house and Uduak didn't stop her. She would go to Ekene's place, even if he wasn't in she would wait till he got back.
This revelation by Uduak had strengthened her resolve, she and Ekene were done for good and nothing from her father or anyone else could change that.
Mofe was about winning the sixth game in a row on the basketball court when the guy who held his phone for him called out that he had a call coming in.
"Who dey call?" He asked trying to dribble past the point guard for the other team.
He pleaded as he jogged off to pick the call, ignoring the grumbling of the other players.
He wondered what she wanted. They had managed to stay off each other's radar or a while now, so he was quite surprised she was calling him now.
Her voice was hushed as she spoke quickly.
"Scared?" He frowned. "What…..What exactly happened?" He asked just before he heard yelling and pounding, like someone beating on a door in the background.
It didn't sound good and he immediately went for his things deciding his game was over for the day.
"I can't talk Mofe, just get here in time, I will text you his house address. When you get here I will tell you everything….Come quickly please." She said hurriedly before hanging up.
"You dey go, MJ?" One of the guys asked and he nodded quickly as he walked off.
"I'm done for today." He announced to the cheering of the opposing team who were very pleased to see him leave, it finally gave them a chance to win the game.
"Una don die for our hand today." One of them threatened but Mofe didn't have the time to be bothered about the game. Ezinne needed his help quickly.
He probably shouldn't go.there alone, he needed someone to stop him from killing the guy. Bringing out.his phone from his pocket, he dialled a number.
Ezinne cowered in the bathroom scared, it had been a horrible idea going to Ekenes place alone but she had wanted to tell him to his face that it was over between them for good.
Ekene hadn't taken the news at all well, he had flared up and suddenly become so angry that he had struck her across the cheek.
The force of the blow had made her lose her balance and she had stumbled. Afraid he was going to pound on her some more as he seemed to be going through one of his blind rages, she had scuttled into the bathroom and locked it behind her.
Ezinne prayed Mofe got there soon. She knew Ekene was scared of him and he wouldn't do anything to hurt her in his presence.
She knew Ekene had a temper but she had never seen him like this, he had never been like this against her. He was consumed by a murderous rage because she had walked in on him and his lover midway through their making out session.
Now she knew, it was official and confirmed, Ekene did have a screw loose somewhere in his head as Mofe had once suggested. She had never believed he could raise his hand against her but she had been wrong. He was capable of beating her and would have if she hadn't run into the bathroom to save herself.
She had kept mute in the toilet afraid anything she said might aggravate him further and make him kick the door down.
Her phone began ringing again, it was Mofe. He was around, the last time he had called he had said he was close and she should hang in there. He was coming with Kelvin.
"I am there now, get ready to come out." He clipped and she could tell he was really pissed himself. She hoped he didn't do any damage to Ekene before she got to him.
"Okay." She replied just as the doorbell rang. She heard Ekene's footsteps retreat from the bathroom door and then the door to his room shut. It was almost over, she would be out of here and out of his life or good.
Not long after she heard Mofe's voice yell "Where is she?" And that was her cue to come out. Unlocking the door, she went out to the living room where the three men were. Mofe's hands squeezing the collar of Ekene's shirt while Kelvin tried to pry them of.
"Mofe." She called. She was so glad to see him that she ran to give him a hug. He left Ekenes shirt and took her in his arms.
Mofe turned back to Ekene, he didn't seem ready to leave yet and Ezinne could feel the tension in him. She guessed he was looking for a reason to start a fight, a reason to beat Ekene up. Luckily, Kelvin spoke up.
"Yes, thanks a lot, Kels." She replied with a look at Ekene. He was quiet now but the hatred was evident in his gaze.
She pulled at a reluctant Mofe's arm, silently urging him to leave with her. Ekene regarded them, his gaze moving from her to Mofe and back as he processed the unspoken closeness between them. He spoke up.
"I don't belong to you, my father or anyone else." She told him.
Tugging on Mofe's hand, she led him out and this time he followed.
"It's nothing," She lied trying to leave but he held her hand back.
"Mofe…."she tried but he wasn't done.
Mofe spared her a glance but said nothing.
"What? Why did you give me that look?" She asked sitting forward. He seemed to think her dad wouldn't agree to ending it with Ekene.
"Nothing." He said but Ezinne knew there was a lot he wanted to say.
Mofe grunted for a reply and that got her quite pissed.
"Okay, hold on." He said slowing the car down to a halt, parking it on the side of the road.
This was going to be something if he had to park first to speak. She had to brace herself because she wasn't sure if she could handle what he would launch at her.
He turned to her, releasing the strap of the seat belt and releasing hers, he covered the gap between them, his hand under her chin as he tipped it up.
She knew what was coming, his kiss and she wanted it, she had missed it, she had missed him. She closed her eyes expecting it but it never came.
Opening her eyes, she saw him staring at her. "You want this, you want me so why are you letting your dad control your decisions? I can assure you if you let him keep doing that to you, you will be unhappy.
"You don't know my dad, Mofe…you don't know anything!" She hated him talking about her father like this. She refused to believe her father would be intentionally cruel to her like he was insinuating.
"Maybe I don't, but I know if you were mine, I would cherish and treat you better. You know how I feel about you, I have felt this way for four years and it hasn't faded…if anything it gets stronger….," he gently traced his fingers down the side of her face where Ekene had hit her. It still hurt a bit, but Mofe's light touch made it better.
"I could never bring myself to hurt your soft, delicate features instead I would do all I could to protect you….I could never even look at any other female, just looking at you, I get more and more entranced….
If it's about money, I know I would work my hands to the bone to get you anything you need…well nothing flashy or extravagant but if you need something, I will do it or get it for you…. I don't have much now but it won't be this way forever.
Like your boyfriend says, I am a washerman at the moment, but I won't be that forever. I know that I will be more than I am now by God's grace, but right now what I do is just a means to an end.
I might not have seven figures in my account at the moment, I might not drive a fancy car or have a mansion like your boyfriend..all I have to give you is myself…but I promise to give you all of me, I won't hold any part back.
I might not have much but everything I have is yours. That's the way I feel about you, I will give you all of me and hold nothing back for myself.
"Mofe…" she wanted to speak but he held a hand up.
Ezinne complied knowing what she wanted. It was clear to her and she didn't need to think too much about it. She wanted him, she wanted to be with him but like he said, he father wouldn't understand.
Now the question was did she follow her feelings or what she thought her father would approve of. He was her father anyway, there was no way he would lead her astray.
She glanced at Mofe as he manoeuvred the car back on to the road. She wanted him bad and not just lustfully, she loved the companionship he provided. He was so easy to talk to, so funny and just made her happy being with him that she never wanted to leave his presence.
He turned to her suddenly, catching her gaze, he smiled reassuringly and her heart literally squeezed. What would she choose?
Ezinne was trying to get her mind off the happenings of that morning as she browsed idly on her phone while she lay on Mofe's bed. He was in the bathroom now having his bath and as she heard the sound of the shower running, she couldn't help but think about him, naked with water running down his tall toned, lean muscled athletic frame.
She had watched him as he had taken off his t-shirt and singlet leaving just his basketball shorts that had hung loosely over his boxer shorts. The guy had a gorgeous body and he was so oblivious to it.
Every tress and sinew, so perfect and inviting to her fingers.
She was madly lusting after his body and didn't care anymore. She wanted him, there was no point lying about it because she knew it deep within her soul. She had never felt this much pull to any guy ever before and she had to be honest with herself. The first step in helping herself was to admit the truth.
"Hey? Having fun?" Mofe called to her as he closed the bathroom door behind him.
Ezinne's gaze zoned in on the towel around his waist hanging dangerously low. She swallowed as she took in his broad smooth chest, toned six pack abs leading down to a narrow waist. She knew she should look away but couldn't, he held her spellbound.
"Hello?" He called and she looked up at him.
"What?" She asked and he smiled, his eyes crinkling at its sides and his lips quirking at its tips.
"Am I safe around you?" He joked and she rolled her eyes.
"Please, don't flatter yourself." She said turning on her tummy and going back to her phone. How could she have ogled him so shamelessly, she wondered.
"Just shut up already, will you?" She told him not looking up from her phone. "I wasn't even staring at you, I was staring past you." She lied and he chuckled.
"Sure, it would be a lot more fun than staying in here…not that I don't love you staring at my awesome self though." He said, his hand gesturing at himself.
"Then let's do movies then." He said.
She was about to agree when she thought about it, she didn't want Mofe going above his means to impress her.
"No, you were pitying me and I don't need that." He said going back into the bathroom with his clothes and shutting the door behind him.
When Mofe came out of the bathroom dressed in a polo necked shirt and combat shorts, he was surprised to see Ezinne sitting on the couch, her hand bag in hand, she seemed prepared to leave.
"I have to leave now, Mofe." She told him.
"Leave? Why, did I upset you with what I said?" He frowned. He had taken care not to insult her even though he had been embarrassed that she thought he was so broke.
"Why?" She asked from where she sat.
She got up, dropped her handbag on the floor and walked the small distance to him. He took her wrists gently in his hands.
He told her looking into her eyes, she looked back at him and he could see the feelings in them. She wasn't hard to read, but would she give in to what she was feeling?
"I don't want anything from you, I want you." He began, "I want you, and I know you are way way above my reach but that doesn't make me want you any less.
As he looked into her beautiful eyes, he saw her make her decision and he knew what it would be. She was so easy to read and he had to smile.
She put her arms around his neck as she pulled closer until their bodies touched, all the while holding his gaze.
For his reply,he took her lips in his in a searing kiss, he had been longing to that for a long time. She kissed him back hungrily and he could tell she had been longing for it also.
"If he cares for me then he will accept whoever I choose to be with. I tried it his way but Ekene is not normal, the slap he gave me today has finally got me thinking straight. I can't be with someone that is a ticking time bomb waiting to go off. Asides that," she paused for a second before going on.
Having her hands on him felt so good, he almost didn't believe this was real.
" Yes I will, babe!" She replied.


Directed by Enrique Rivero, Mai Morire is a perfect example of what one may label a "festival film". Lacking the immediacy of mainstream movies, this languid Mexican feature glides along at a glacial pace and when one character notes "time passes differently here" it is hard to disagree - despite clocking in at under ninety minutes, the dream-like film often feels significantly longer; with the astonishing views on display, however, this is not necessarily a terrible thing.
Following an old-school title credits sequence, Mai Morire unfolds as an aesthetically stunning movie full of deep-focus cinematography which glistens almost mystically. We find ourselves on a boat easing it's way wistfully down a river where nature appears mythical; steam lays peacefully, ominously on top of a lake, a natural image which appears to have been snatched wholesale from an enchanted fable. The long tracking shot which immerses us in Rivero's world is intoxicating; the camera pans round to expose more of our surroundings and we can feel the mild chill as the low sun shines and nature bleats and chirps around us. It is a captivating opening sequence which sadly marks the movie's peak.
The boat, we learn, contains a Mexican lady named Chayo who has returned home to look after her gravely ill mother; despite the specter of death, there is a sublime beauty to the world around her. This, for all intents and purposes, encompasses the sparse plot and narrative minimalism on display in Mai Morire and sums up best why the feature's audience will not extend much beyond festival screenings: As the primary mode of mainstream cinema gravitates towards melodrama, there is a necessity to create films which act in polemic yet, in Rivero's film, the sparsity of action and agency on display does not just act as an anti-thesis, but also a guard. As much of the film's drama occurs in the haunting visuals rather than the plot, it is almost impossible to stumble upon an emotional reaction - the pared back nature of Mai Morire often acts like a shield and we're left to guess what emotions Chayo conceals beneath the still mask of her face or, for that matter, why we should care.


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UN climate talks
Hillary Clinton hints at climate change fears in new book
Published on 13/06/2014, 10:41am
Potential 2016 Presidential candidate says environment cannot be relegated behind economic concerns
(Pic: Keith Kissel/Flickr)
By Ed King
Promoting economic growth over the environment is a "false choice" that stores up problems for future generations, warns Hilary Clinton in her new book, Hard Choices.
The former US Secretary of State says she became aware of the effects of climate change after a trip to Alaska in 2005, witnessing dying trees and forest fires.
"Virtually everyone I spoke to on that trip had a personal wake-up call about what was happening," she writes.
"A tribal elder recounted how he had returned to a lake where he had fished as a boy only to find it dried up. I met lifelong participants in dogsled races who told me they no longer even needed to wear gloves."
And Clinton, who looks increasingly likely to run for President in 2016, indicates she would continue Barack Obama's policies aimed at cutting US carbon emissions 17% on 2005 levels by 2020.
"When the economy is hurting and people are looking for jobs, many other concerns fade into the background," she says.
"And the old false choice between promoting the economy and protecting the environment surfaces once again."
Clinton's stance would likely put her at odds with her Republican challengers, if she decides to make a run for the White House.
Florida Senator Marco Rubio, widely touted as a GOP rising star and potential 2016 contender, does not believe human activity is causing climate change.
"Our climate is always changing," he said last month, accusing scientists of taking "a handful of decades of research and say that this is now evidence of a longer-term trend that's directly and almost solely attributable to manmade activities."
Other possible candidates like Texas Senator Rick Perry and Wisconsin Representative Paul Ryan have also expressed doubts over whether climate change is occurring.
Former Florida Governor Jeb Bush thinks it "may be real", while New Jersey Chris Christie stands out as a Republican who thinks "it is real".
President Obama meets with the leaders of China, Brazil, India and South Africa at the 2009 UN talks (Pic: White House/Flickr)
Clinton's memoirs also shed light on the 2009 UN climate summit in Copenhagen, billed as a meeting where nations could solve the problem, but ending with an inconclusive agreement to cut greenhouse gas emissions.
She offers a detailed account of how she and President Obama stalked the corridors of the conference centre followed by their security details, searching for a secret meeting taking place between the leaders of China, India, Brazil and South Africa.
The pair were concerned about reports that Premier Wen Jiabao had decided to try and dilute an agreement on the final night of talks, and were concerned when he and other emerging economy representatives disappeared.
"Off we went, charging up a flight of stairs and encountering surprised Chinese officials, who tried to divert us by sending us in the opposite direction. We were undeterred," she says.
"The Chinese guards put their arms up against the door again, but I ducked under and made it through," Clinton writes.
"In a makeshift conference room whose glass walls had been covered by drapes for privacy against prying eyes, we found Wen wedged around a long table with Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, and South African President Jacob Zuma.
"Jaws dropped when they saw us. 'Are you ready?' said President Obama, flashing a big grin. Now the real negotiations could begin. It was a moment that was at least a year in the making."
Hillary Clinton emails hint at US climate fears and press obsession
Clinton snubs Koch endorsement over climate change denial
Hillary Clinton: Paris climate deal must be enforced
Hillary Clinton to make climate 'top of agenda' for White House run
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Female Startup Club
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How to negotiate margins & equity + reduce your unit costs with blanket orders.. The stuff no one tells you in beauty with Freck Founder Remi
by Female Startup Club
Today we're learning some serious stuff about the beauty industry from Remi, the founder of Freck. Let me ask you something… Do you know what a blanket order is? I've done over 200 episodes and this h... More
if like me, you're fascinated by how really successful people think then there's a podcast you should check out called Secret Leaders. You can learn how top entrepreneurs have built businesses like Manz oh natural cycles last minute dot com and jo Malone Secret Leaders takes you deep inside the world of these founders and half of them are women. What were their childhoods? Like what was the spark for that great idea? What was the worst moment? Like having to fire your mom? Yeah, that really happened to one of their guests. The podcast is called Secret Leaders and I think you're going to love it. This is Remy for female startup club. Hey everyone it's doing here, your host and hype girl today we're learning some serious stuff about the beauty industry from Remi, the founder of frank. Now let me ask you something, Do you know what a blanket order is? I have done over 200 episodes and this has never come up. So if you don't know, welcome to the club, prepared to listen to this episode and pick up some nifty tips to reducing your unit costs.
We also cover negotiating your margins and some know how around fill rates in the industry. It's also highlighting some of the epic epic fails that remi persevered through to get the brand to where it is today. It's stocked on the shelves of Sephora, a sauce revolve and the likes, Let me just say that remi is the entrepreneur we all need to learn from. She is absolutely a 10 out of 10 frank beauty is a clean beauty brand inspired by Ramiz Hunt for the perfect freckle during her years of R and D. On what ultimately became the world's first freckled cosmetic freak O. G. She found that there wasn't a bold beauty brand that represented everything from moisturizer and go to blue flame eyeliner Energy after launching with free koji in 2017, which quickly took the Internet by Storm Remy connected with Dez Wilson. Now the company's Ceo Together. Remy Indies have since expanded frank beauty into skincare with the cactus collection and color cosmetics with the cheek slime range and one last thing before we jump in if you aren't on the receiving end of our monday email, I highly recommend popping your email into female startup club dot com to keep in the loop with industry news insights from the show, job opportunities with female founded brands and some other cool bits and pieces.
Let's get into it. This is Remy for female startup club. Yeah, yeah. Are you working around the clock to build the business you always imagined? Do you want to communicate with your fast growing list of customers in a personalized way, But in a way that gives you time to work on the rest of your business, Do you ever wonder how the companies you admire the ones that redefine their categories, do it. Companies like living proof and chubbies, They do it by building relationships with their customers from the very beginning while also evolving in real time as their customers needs change. These companies connect quickly with their customers, collect their information and start creating personalized experiences and offers that inspire rapid purchase, often within minutes of uploading their customer data. Clavijo empowers you to own the most important thing to any business, the relationship between you and your customers and the experiences you deliver from the first email to the last promotion to learn more about how Clavijo helps you own your growth visit Clavijo dot com slash F S C.
That's K L A V I Y O dot com slash F S C. Female startup presence. Remmy. Hi hello! Welcome to the female startup club podcast. Thank you so much for having me excited to be here. I'm so excited to be here for anyone watching on Youtube. I have my freak beauty eyeliner on in blue, which I'm very happy about and I'm super excited to have you on the show today. For anyone who doesn't know you can you give us the elevator pitch on who you are and what your business is. Yeah, totally. Um well thanks everybody for having me and thanks for the listeners, Thanks for doing so I am Rami. I'm the founder and Ceo of french beauty. I am born in Seattle and my wife is just, I wish there was a better story for this but I have always wanted freckles and so fresh beauty came into the world as the hunt for the perfect freckle. We came, we launched as one skew and the brand was just called freak and the product was called freak, that was it.
And it was a very unconventional way to do it. And it is the world's first um freckle. And since then we've grown into clean beauty, clean skin care. Um and recently launched its Sephora, Oh my gosh, how fun! It's so funny. Like the that notion of like, you always want what you can't have. Like I'm obviously someone with freckles and I am like going to the place being like, hey, can you like even out my pigmentation? I know, yeah, it's crazy. I love it. Yeah, when when I launched, um I launched first with the Kickstarter and it was like, Frankly it was in 2015 and I think it was before the industry was ready to embrace, you know, natural beauty and quote, I'm air quoting if you're listening, air quoting flaws or you know, skin texture and all that stuff. And this was at a time when, you know, hyperpigmentation, laser treatments, like all that stuff was really at the top of its game in 2015. And as well as, you know, heavy, full coverage foundation was still the thing, like glossy, I think just launched.
So like no makeup makeup was like starting to trickle in, but I don't think the industry was ready yet. So when we launched the Kickstarter, I was, it was unsuccessful. It failed publicly, which was really embarrassing obviously, but also I got kind of dragged for this idea, everyone was like who wants freckles, it's crazy like Nylon, a bunch of big publications that I really looked up to and respected were like this is what is this crazy girl doing. So it's really awesome to see where the industry is now and people like yourself embracing our freckles totally. Why did, why did the Kickstarter fail? What do you think went wrong about it in hindsight? I think it was too much money. Our goal was $215,000 which like has been done on Kickstarter, you know they're kick starters that have made millions of dollars. But they, I think the trick if you're launching on Kickstarter, one of the tricks that I would have taken away from that um is to set your goal as low as possible and maybe at the same time have some like if you're able to do a friends and family around or maybe like you know if this is a proof of concept and people are interested in it, maybe I can get some funding to back it up.
But you know once you do a Kickstarter, if you are successful, you have to fulfill all of the orders that your backers make. So I think that the amount of money was too high, I think that it was a little bit too early. I think that the other thing about Kickstarter is if you were raised like $22,000 like right out the gate. But then I think after a couple of days if your Kickstarter hasn't fund like funded almost immediately, people don't want the responsibility of like checking their bank account to make sure their money got back, you know? So I think that in reality the lifespan of a Kickstarter is like a couple of days so you really have to prepare for that and I didn't, I really had no idea what I was doing. I was kind of like firing at the hip. So I was looking at it like I had 30 days to reach the finish line when in reality it's very short span of time because like the algorithm will kick in and by the way, by the, by the sounds of it and kind of like promote you on their own website and that kind of thing to keep that momentum going I assume. Yeah, the algorithm and then I think just like consumer behavior, they don't want to put their card in and check if, because the money gets withdrawn from your bank account as the backer as a consumer.
Um, and then if the Kickstarter doesn't find, it gets returned to you. So that whole process I think is something a little bit clunky about Kickstarter itself, which is something that maybe they've addressed since then, I don't know, but thankfully it didn't fund. That sucks so much because 22,000 is like, it's not nothing a great amount of money. Yeah, but still good. Like it gives you like that confidence of like, wow, you know, I still got $22,000 here and it's such a sad like, moment to be like, you know, and then, and then poof it goes away, you're like, it sucks. But So should you have set the goal is like 10,000 or 20,000 so that you would have like definitely got there and then going from there. Yeah, well I think it's, I think it's a two edged sword, right? You need to have the amount of money to fulfill your manufacturing needs um which I really, really thankful that the Kickstarter didn't actually work because the product that I was trying to launch with, while it was the same concept of giving you, you know, long wear faux freckles, it was not the right product and I ended up pivoting and simplifying so much that by the time I went to actually launch, I only had to get 15 grand, so that's the other part of it, wow, okay, so so I could have done it, but with the product that I would, if I had launched that product and had to fulfill all those backers orders for for that freckle kit.
I don't think the business would have been successful. So actually was really like uh it's a great thing that happened even though blessing. It was a huge blessing, but you know, and then also all the publicity that came out of getting dragged. Like they literally jimmy Kimmel took the Kickstarter video and did like a two minute spot on his show live, talking about freckles and then like grandma comes out and he's got his freckles on and jimmy is like, what do you think about your freckles? And Gamma was like, I like them. And jimmy was like, I don't know. Um it was like a whole thing. So, but that was also a blessing, even though it was definitely a little bit of a little bit of a stab because then people started following us on instagram. So when we finally launch, you know, we kind of had a little bit of a network already built in so long story short, it was a rough couple of first years. Yeah, that sounds bloody rough. For one. Uh Oh my God. And does that mean like your opinion on all press is good press kind of thing is like correct or what, what do you think? What's your approach on that now?
Um I don't know, I think, yeah, all press is good press, but I don't think about press so much to be honest. Like I really, um, you know, I'm such a like weird talker, I definitely go in circles, so thanks for keeping up. But the part I didn't say about my elevator pitch of myself, you know, I think every founder has a really beautiful and unique story about how they get to the point like the precipice of their business and why they started and everyone's is unique and wonderful. But I think you hear a lot of this story where people were in the beauty industry specifically within beauty, I'm not sure about other industries, They were in beauty, they saw a hole in the market or like they have a personal relationship with clean or something like that. Um For me, I was actually an interior designer and I was working like three full time jobs. I was doing designed for designer, I was doing freelance for my own clients and then I was also working sales to actually make money to pay for a frank at the end there, I was working three jobs, but when I started I was just an interior designer and the genesis for frank is really product driven.
Like I just really wanted freckles. If you look at my drawings from when I was a child growing up in Seattle without any freckles, like the sun has freckles, the plants have freckles and I just love Rickles was so cute now that I live in L. A. I have a couple freckles also because I, as I'm getting older and I have, you know, some hormonal stuff going on. I have melisma now, so my pigment is has changed, but I always, I never had freckles and I always really wanted them. But yeah, so really the why of freckles? Super product driven and brand driven now. But in the very, very beginning it was just like, I really just want freckles and I knew that my like close knit group of girlfriends and guy friends to in East L. A. Were, we're kind of like, yeah, I would wear freckles and so that kind of gave me the confidence to like kick it off. And I love that because I think it's like sends the message that yeah, you can have a really niche idea and just start with that one thing that you want and your friends want that isn't this kind of like mass thing, but then grow it into products that can be really for everyone and add to it.
But like, you can start with, you know, something that is a bit more niche to get going. Yeah, I love it. I mean it's hard because people don't understand it, but it's definitely, it's fun and it's totally doable. What year are we talking when the Kickstarter kind of thing goes to shit, jimmy Kimmel stuff is all happening. When when are we talking So that I started working on development in 2014, End of 2015 was the Kickstarter and then I took a little, took some time off to rest after the Kickstarter and like, I think three or four months later, I kind of picked myself up by my bootstraps because obviously that's embarrassing, right? Like you're just kind of like a little bit wounded after that. Uh, and I got back to it, found new manufacturers, new lives with different and lower minimum order quantities And kind of started again completely with a totally different manufacturer and then officially launched the brand in March or May.
I always get them mixed up 2018. So it took another year to kind of like pick it back up and move it and see where it finally came into its final form, which is still the same product that you see today for refugee. Got it, got it, got it. Okay. And so for the second time around, I always love to ask about the money stuff. How much did it cost you to launch? What did you need to invest? And in the scenario where the Kickstarter failed, How did you then fund that in the beginning? Yeah. So I'll go like quickly over this and then you can let me know like where you want to go because I can I can literally talk about investing for like and what not to do and investing for like an hour. So when I hear the what not to do for show, I know, right? So I from the Kickstarter, right? Because I got so much publicity. This man, I was introduced to this man who had a background in consulting for businesses and just advising like marketing consultant, but just generally like, you know, helping businesses get off the ground and he came to me and he was like, I think this is a really good idea, I'm sorry, you're kickstarted and fund.
Um So we got dinner and he was like, I would love to help you. Like, I'm kind of the kind of person where uh external accountability is really good for me because I can like really go too deep into like something that really probably doesn't actually matter, but I get like fixated. Um I have like, I definitely am a PhD and then also have like hyper focus issues to um so it's really great to have somebody to kind of check in once we like, how's it going? What's like, what's up? He ended up introducing me to his brother, excuse me, who had was very, very well off and a fast food chain in southern California. So he was doing very well and he had passed on beauty blender. Beauter butter had come to him in the early days and asked him to invest in the past on it. So I was like really trying to get into the beauty space as an investor. So he ended up investing $15,000 in the company, which was enough for the first round of production and I gave them and like, everybody listening is going to just jump out of their seat.
I gave the investor for 15 1 $5000.10 percent of my company And the other brother for like a finder's fee another 10%. So I gave away 20% of my company For $15,000 without any sort of vesting structure or anything. Um and it just like really was not the right fit. The launch was successful, but like the relationship between us kind of soured because I wasn't able to put in enough time to really grow the business and I had like I said, I had three full time jobs. I was literally working one job to support frank as well. And so I ended up buying them out at the end of 2018, which is the year that we launched um and regaining full control of the company going into 2019, which was really special and I spent every single dollar that I had in the French bank account and in my personal bank account to get them out because I was like on principle, I was just like, I have to like if this fails, like I wanted to fail, like I wanted, I wanted to be mine and I want to make sure that I'm able to do everything that I feel like I can in order to make this project successful.
But also at this point as I was going into 2019 remember having this moment where I was sitting outside one of my jobs. I was just like dead tired. I had woken up at six in the morning to pack up orders, dropping a post office and get to my job by nine and I was sitting in the parking lot, I had parked my car and I just remember like putting my head against the head rest and just be like, and then just be like, you know what I mean, I'm gonna give you six months, you get six more months because I've done all of this up and down up and down, you know, the Kickstarter funding all that, you know, it takes money to build out a Kickstarter, then getting back up and having to buy these investors out and just, you know, it was it was pretty emotional and so I was like, you know, I'm gonna give you six more months and then if that doesn't work like you do and go hard, do everything that you can um as a completely unseasoned business owner who had no idea what I was doing at the time, um you get six more months and then after that, you got to like walk away because you can't put your entire life on hold for this concept. Um and that that moment really was one she kicked off for me and things that are already kind of like doing, you know, you're generating sales and stuff at this point, right?
Like you're shipping orders, like people are interested in what you're buying, you've already got the community from the previous thing. So what was kind of like furthering the spread of the word and like what changed in that six months that allowed you to keep going and decide like yeah, this is on, I'm doing this. Yeah. Yeah, totally. So the other thing, so we had this crazy spike of sales when we first launched and that was all people who you know, basically I think our instagram was like four or 5000 people who had stuck around for and like can you imagine the brand loyalty of somebody to stick around for two years waiting for some like mystery product to launch. Um and I would just get messages on instagram like once a couple of times a week being like where do you have any like back stock of your products, anything that you can send me? So that really helped me keep going. Right. So I'm literally so thankful for the community that first like couple 1000 people. But we had a great like first launch day. The product is free kogi is about like half the size of your pinky.
It's maybe the smallest cosmetic product in the, in the world. I would venture to guess and that's the full size version but it lasts a really long time. Like I've never actually personally run out of a tube of refugee. So obviously we had this great first hit. But then I had no no like focus on marketing because I was so focused on fulfilling orders and trying to figure out like operationally supply and demand planning, like placing new orders, like making sure that we don't run out of inventory stuff like that. So after the first spike with pretty much no interest or not interested, no time to focus on marketing. It tethered. And I remember there were days where I was like So excited that we hit like $90 in sales on our website, like that's how small potatoes it was from the launch in March or May until the end of the year is like $30-90 in sales a day, you know? But what happened in the six months that I think really escalated the business is I had this kick in my own, but where I was like, okay, so you've done all of this, you've already like publicly failed enough times where it's like just go balls to the walls, like do everything that you think might work.
Like throw the spaghetti at the wall, see what sticks. So I started reaching out to influencers and this is again 2019, it was a different kind of space, influencers had, uh not really figured out like how valuable they were at the time. So I, and I didn't and I didn't either. And so I reached out to a couple and I was just like, I really love your creativity and I would love to send you some products like with no attachment to it whatsoever. And they're like, oh yeah, I would love to kind of see about your brand and this one girl who I will forever be indebted to did it give away like I sent her to and she on her own, her name is Sarah on the internet on her own. She was like, I'm going to give away with frank, go follow freak and you're like entered to win one of their freckle pens. Um, and we like grew 3000 followers overnight and I was like, Okay, so marketing, wow, like it was like that. And then from there, like it just kind of started trying to think outside the box and outside of what educate myself and start listening to the podcast and all of the things I did everything not only externally like, like consumer facing, but also to educate myself and grow and learn a little bit from the beautiful community that already exists on the internet.
Like what, what, what were the other things? Oh, um, let's see. Like for anyone listening, who's an entrepreneur probably in that like solo Preneurs space where there in that, you know, trying to figure it out. I need a throw spaghetti at a wall, what would you recommend? Yeah. Well, okay, you have to think about right now. It's a different climate than it was back then, but I would dive deep, deep, deep in the Tiktok, like I wouldn't even mess around on instagram. Honestly, I would just go tick tock and find, um, find your specific thing. I actually was just recently in a meeting with Tiktok because I'm trying to figure it out for myself. Um, and they're like, be super specific about what you're talking about, especially if you're a brand. So like you could literally go on every single day and like say it's free koji that I'm talking about on Tiktok. I could go on every single day and talk about freckles and be super and like freckles and brought blush and do the same thing every single day and some of the videos hit and some of them don't, you have to be super authentic and like unfiltered and you have to drive the same like same products, same point in over and over again.
And that's how you can build a really great audience on Tiktok. And then, um, from there, you can obviously branch out in the kind of content that you're creating. But as far as like kicking yourself off on Tiktok, it's better to say super focused or that's at least wet and Tiktok told me good old and Tiktok, I know I actually met her for the first time because we had a, at a launch event perfect beauty And it was just so fun to meet people in person. Like finally, after all of this craziness and covid. But the other thing about Tiktok that is what fred has experienced so far. So we're just starting trying to build out our own audience on Tiktok and that's important. But even more important than your own page on Tiktok is other people talking about you on Tiktok and as a brand that is way more valuable than your own page because it's like authenticity, it's, you know, those are the videos that are more likely gonna get viral because it's, that's what people are looking for on Tiktok. It's like they don't really want to hear from brand.
And of course you can have great huge gains on Tiktok as a brand that can happen, but it's easier to get your foot in the door by gift. Like honestly, the same things that I just talked about for instagram, but now it's Tiktok got it, got it, got it. And what else? Oh, the other thing I would say, like if I were to go back to myself in the, in those critical six months, I actually brought in a business partner as well. Um, and she's my ceo and head of sales. Her name is Dez Wilson. She's also my best friend and already was my best friend and I'm the godparents her baby, like we're so close, which probably probably was kind of a crazy decision to make. But again, I was just trying to figure it out her background was in um, distribution for wholesale fashion. She ran a showroom and I already knew her work and respected her so much. And she again, like the accountability of us together was really helpful for me as a person and I think just like, you know, know yourself, know how you work best for sure. But also we were able to kind of like divide and conquer and I was able to kind of give her some of those like supply and demand issues and keeping things in stock and making sure that things are moving along.
Meanwhile she's trying to grow our our distribution in europe because I knew that we had a strong audience in UK and that allowed me to free up some time to focus more on marketing initiatives. So, um, I don't think everybody needs to get a partner right out the gate. It definitely can be done without one. But I had learned everything that I had learned from those investors. I then was like, okay, five year, best schedule, like you know, all of those things. And how did you like value the business at that point then? Because obviously first time around you've given away 20%. Which what does that equal? Like 50 grand or 50? 50 something 1015 15? No, what is it? Oh, evaluation is like, I see, I see minimal, right? Yeah, it's like 45 good. Yeah. Where is this time around you? A are probably well versed in negotiation. You know what not to do, but it's a friend and someone that you truly care about and you want to entice them into the business and make it worthwhile. So how did you find a number and if you're happy to share, what did you land on? Yeah, totally. No, no, no, it does.
If you're listening, I hope you're ok with this. Uh so she kind of came in, she came in strong, she was like, well that's taking 46, you know, it was like I was thinking not that, so um but you also have to like backing it up, you know, again we're making like $60 a day in sales. She was getting X percent of nothing. Like it was, it was an idea, a potential of a business and she had actually followed the brand um before we knew each other from the Kickstarter day. So she was very, you know, she knew like kind of wear that she could see the little nugget and she was like, I'd be down to like figure this out with you. Um So what we ended up landing on, if she was not my friend, I think I would have offered her 10% but because she is my friend and again like, you know, yeah, 10% of nothing. Like it was a lot of sweat equity, like it was a lot of sweat for the equity and it was unpaid. Um So we landed on 20% vested over five years and we didn't start paying ourselves, We were both working are separate jobs.
Um, so she came full time and was able to finally leave her positions at the end of 2019, I think beginning of 2019. Sorry. Yeah, so that's how we ended up and with a deal like that for someone who is essentially in the distribution side. So sales, are they or not necessarily her, but in general, Are they incentivized by the commission structure as well as or is it just like the 20%? And that's it. It's a great question. We did not structure it that way. I also didn't want to structure it that way because for me it's not about going and plugging us into every single little small boutique and silver lake, it's about the key players and getting the right partners because running wholesale business is really expensive, like paying for somebody to pack it up even if it's like, um, someone who's big but not that big, like I won't say the name, but one of the retailers that we work with, we realized that we almost were making no money because of how intensely you have to pack out the order.
You know, it's like bottom label poly bag, stick it another polly back then you need to put 50 into a case count poly bag that then pack it up. It's like every single retailer has a different, it's called a rounded guy. So every single person has a different routing guide, you have to have somebody who knows how to pack all that out, it's super expensive, it's super time consuming, and then also you have to think about what's your margin with your retailers, so um that we we realized that later, but in the beginning I didn't want to structure her based on commission because I was like every single dollar needs to go back into the business to grow it. So frankly if you're looking at this like a commission structure, like you're not going to be the partner for me, because this is this is not a one year, let's make some cash, this is like 5, 10 year long play, and then let's make some cash. Yeah, 100%. That's so interesting about the routing guide, I haven't heard that term before. Um I don't know if that's just beauty or if that's across the board. Uh and you're also in so many cool retailers, like all the all the cool ones I think I saw like urban outfitters, Sephora blah blah blah, all the great ones um when it comes to that kind of thing, what else can you share that entrepreneurs might not know about when it comes to that kind of like nitty gritty logistics and operations side of things?
Mhm. Okay. Oh and my other question around that was, did you have to change your pricing because you realize the margins and the additional expense to like pack everything and all that kind of stuff? Yeah. Um well, okay, so first off, the first thing that I would absolutely tell anybody is that the margin is negotiable, so you can go back to revolve and say, okay, so they're like, we want to pay, you know, uh 45 like our margins 55 you can go back and be like, that's really not gonna work for us, we're a small business, you know, our price point is accessible. We like to keep it accessible, we need, you know, a 50% margin, whatever it is. So that first off, I didn't realize that until way later, I had no idea. So if you are like starting to build up your wholesale business, just know that That's a good one. And then I would also recommend when trying to, it kind of, this depends on the size of your team. Right? When when we started building out our wholesale business were literally packing our orders out of my kitchen table and then we didn't get a three pl which is the company that knows all the routing guides and warehouses your product and pass it out for you both for wholesale and DTc until right before we launched with Sephora and that was a year long process to find the right three pl partnership.
So if you're at the stage where you're still packing up your orders, make sure that you get that routing guide and that's across that term is kind of a cross, well at least for fashion and beauty, it's for both. Make sure you get that routing guy and read it and understand the labor that's going to go into it. And if you can even take that on, depending on your team and where and where is, where is your business and where is the best buckets for you to put your are? Oh, I like your time. Is it packing orders or is it building out marketing or like what, what is it? You know, it's always an issue of bandwidth, so get that right and I understand it, read the entire thing and know that while negotiating your margin because that can skew your whole, you know, profitability on a wholesale side, wow, that's crazy. What a good tip and piece of advice for all of us in the early stages of building a business. Holy moly negotiable margins got it when the day comes that you're inevitably uh talking to whole foods or whoever, you know, would be like your dream retail or like that's across I think all industries, but definitely beating fashion and the partnerships that you want to have, like our partnership with Sephora, they have been so wonderful and understanding and it's a partnership, it's not, we're selling you goods, you know, it's a part, there's like any relationship, it's a little bit of flex of compromise.
You know, there are things that we've done for Sephora one of our products. Um you asked about changing price points. We've never changed our price might except for one product Force before and they asked us to bring it from 32 to 28. That was a conversation we were willing to have um for the overall health of the business and the relationship, but it was a huge jump because it's our heroes Q It's our Frank Excel and Frank Moore was $32 and now it's 28 um so that you can imagine the percentage of business that affects and that doesn't change the cost of goods sold. Um but it is a partnership and I think that's something that people, you know, when you at least for me when I first got the call from Sephora, I was so over the moon excited because that's the dream for me, it's it's my dream retailer. It's my favorite place to shop in the entire world. So you wanna be that like the person, the relationship is like, yes, yes, whatever you want anything. Anything. But it's like they, they're used to, you know, know your worth. Yeah, totally. 100 percent. It's like they need you. Yeah, exactly.
You've got to walk in there with your like, you know, your power pose on and be ready to talk shop and not kind of, you know, just give into anything, totally get that. Yeah. Hey, it's doing here. I'm just popping in to bring you a quick message in every episode of the fsc show. You'll hear women who would just like you trying to figure it all out and hustled to grow their business and I would know a lot of you might be sitting there asking yourself, but how do I actually scale my revenue and get to that next level from where I am now. You also know that so many of the entrepreneurs I speak to have mentioned facebook and instagram ads as a crucial part of their marketing mix. From today onwards, I'm really excited to be able to offer our fsc small business owners and entrepreneurs and no strings attached, our long chat with leading performance marketing, agency amplifier, who you might also remember from our D. I. Y. Course, Full disclosure amplifier is my husband's business and what's really important to know is that I've been able to witness first hand the transformation of so many businesses going from as low as $10,000 a month all the way to $300,000 a month.
And in some cases upwards to seven figures. So if you're listening in and you feel like you're ready to take your business to the next level, jump on a no strings attached call with amplifier where you can ask all the questions you have about performance marketing and whether it's the right time for you and your business to get started, go to female startup club dot com forward slash ads. That's female startup club dot com forward slash A. D. S. And booking a call today, I wanted to ask you about your packaging, something on the show that's been spoken about here and there is, you know, launching with stock, standard packaging and when I look at your products like cheeks slime, which I love the name of, by the way, I already told you that, um, it looks like to me that that's not a stock standard package, like it looks like I've never seen that before. How does, how do you approach packaging in terms of things like that, when it comes to things that might not be super common and you might need to invest more and that kind of thing.
Like what are your recommendations to early brand owners. Yeah, I love this question so much because so like I mentioned, my background is interior design. Um so literally one of my favorite favorite favorite parts about my job is the package. So I love this question and I obviously have an insanely critical eye from my background and interiors. So it's hard to be like to have, it's a blessing and a curse right to have the level of like scrutiny but then also be like, we're a start up business and this is what we can afford. Like that's a, that's a hard to swallow pill, let me tell you. Um, so the way we did it is we okay. Actually I have a lot to say about this. Well, sorry, just a million things just through through my head at the same time. Okay, so free kogi obviously is our first product that stock packaging. It's like a, it's like literally the sample that labs test eyeliner and it's like a mini eyeliner, but it ended up just being the perfect product and I had like no notes on it.
One thing that can help, we did design changes. Obviously we perfected the number of bristles on the brush and the color of the packaging and along the length of the one. We perfected that over time, but the outside, as far as the consumer, the shape stayed the same. So a couple things on that. One thing that you can do again. This is a partnership. I mean everything in life is a partnership, right? Uh you can go to your packaging manufacturers and you can try and partner with them after a couple initial orders on something called a blanket order. Have you guys talked about that on the show? No, we have not. Okay, great. So a blanket order is where you, you know, you have to build the relationship generally there's a certain amount of credit involved. So that's a little bit scary, which at the end of the day was me. Um and you can say, Okay, so, so I'm like, I need to order um 50,000 units of franco G components, but I only, and I think that that's like probably more than enough for an entire year.
It's like that's like a crazy massive amount of inventory. You can partner with your component manufacturer and say, hey, I'd like to order this in advance. You hold it, they hold it, you have to pay a deposit on, it's usually about, I think like 25% of the inventory and then you put together with them a schedule for the entire year of like every two months, we're going to release, you know, 8000 units and you're going to shift those so that not only does that a lot and then you get the price break on 50,000 and what we choose to do with the price break on the 50,000 instead of ordering 2000 units at the time, a you can further refine the design process, which is what we chose to do, you can have it pre printed there. So when you're pulling inventory, their housing at one of our manufacturer that I'm speaking of is in New Jersey. So instead of risking going out of stock because they're like, oh we're waiting for a shipment of this stock component tree, it's in china, it's on the boat, it won't be here for six weeks and you're like Wolf F.
I'm out of stock is shipping from New Jersey or wherever you're manufacturers. So now you've already got stock security, you've built out your plan for a year, their auto shipping that 8000 units so you're not even thinking about it, it goes straight to your to your lab, you're like streamlining the whole process and it's already decoded already printed. So it's like You're and you're getting price breaks, 50,000 price breaks on all that so that's a huge thing that you can do. It's amazing. What's the downside of that? There's no downside, there's no downside. Why don't people talk about this more often? I've never heard about this. I don't know, I had never heard of. Uh Yeah it's actually the reason why we have freak excel is because that exact situation happened where we weren't gonna get units from china on the freak O. G. Size. So we literally created a new product just because they had inventory on hand of the larger size and then that was such a hit that we captured around Eventually made that the packaging size for for excuse me Frank Noir as well. Um so there's no downside.
It's just a little bit it's scary because you're you're financially liable for those 50,000 units if anything goes wrong that's the only downside and you do have to take them, it varies based on manufacturer but most of them you have to take it within a year. So if you have a slow your sales and then you're sitting on like 20,000 units of inventory. Um You gotta buy it, it's kind of like people in like, the only example I can think of now is like, you know, Mcdonald's where people buy like the futures of whatever, it's going to be like the chickens or the wheat or the blah and like they commit to like the certain price and no matter what the changes are in the market and all that kind of thing, but they've already bought into the future at this cost and like that's a whole whole year. Yeah, I don't know that, but that makes sense. But that's more of like a volatile thing because like those kind of industries really like fluctuate, so you might be buying it like a price that's too high, but at that point in time you like, I will lock that in kind of, but that's so cool. I love that. I wonder, I wonder if I can do that for the non alc brand. That's really cool. Yeah, wow, okay, you should definitely ask.
I feel like I cut you off. No, no, it's okay. You had a couple more things I had, Yeah, I did with with packaging. Yeah. So um so I actually have a sample here. Okay, so packaging, so one thing that I would like to say to everybody is that, you know, it's a process. Um and when you can change your packaging and I think that people really can get hung up on that. I mean obviously it's not ideal, but if you have to start with stock packaging and then you want to change it down the road, your consumer is just going to be, I mean at least for frank they're gonna be psyched. So one example is cactus water, which is our cleansing lactic acid toner. We started out in a eight ounce boston round, which is like Franny. It's like a kombucha bottle. It's like the most basic and it definitely feels weird for a tenner. But we made it work and it was actually like a little bit too big as far as industry standards on fill weights, which for anybody in beauty, please know that there are industry standards on fill weights.
Like we made a six ounce face moisturizer on accident when industry standard is 1.7, that was a humongous issue because it was more than a year's worth of moisturizer. So customer retention was like zero because we, but I didn't know I was just like six ounces. Seems right. Like it's a, you know, juicy, juicy deal. So just, you know, check that and I'm sure that's, that's true across industries as well, but especially for beauty. Um, but back to cactus water. So we launched in a boston round. Like at the time I was just like, I knew that that product had had legs and I was just like, you know what, I guess the packaging, like it's not really what I envisioned, it's not perfect, but I guess it's okay enough and then we completely pivoted and this is now what it is very sexy and so for anybody listening, it's a beautiful, we made a custom glass bottle and it looks almost like a high end, like fragrance, but it's a huge pivot from where we were, you know, it's all square edges.
It's completely different. Um, and it was really well received by our community obviously and it's like so instagram mobile. So I think like, I know that it's a process and of course if you can get your ducks in a row and if you're the kind of person who has, you know, funding out the gate and like a bunch of experience in business, um, maybe that's a different story. But for me coming from a background interiors and not having any idea about how to, how to run a beauty company. Um, yeah, it was, it was something that, you know, in the beginning I was just like, you know, I could sit here trying to make things perfect and never launch anything. So kind of just taking it with like great assault me. Like, you know, it's not perfect, but it's, it's good enough. Yeah, it will do and you should just like move forward rather than than being crippled by that like perfection notion. Yeah. Oh wow, So many great tips there. I said, obviously then I've made so many mistakes, but I think all of, all of them, I'm okay with them and it's like, you know, you learn as you go and everyone's story is so unique to them as far as your background and what, you know, going into entrepreneurship.
So um if you're the kind of person who is really like going off a product like I was and um didn't have a ton of business background, like don't get crippled by perfection because then you'll never get anywhere. 100% love that. Mhm Where is the business today? And what exciting things are coming up that you can shout about or what do you want to tell everyone about with frank? Yeah, totally, well we just completed at the end of 2020, we um raised our seed round finally for the first time up until then I had almost completely run the business off of Uh debt financings are taking loans from like paypal and chopper five, I used to keep us going and then I did a super small friend and family around um to, to get us through like our partnerships with urban outfitters etcetera, but we are kind of gearing up to raise our series a, at a certain point, like probably early next year, which is really exciting because it will be, you know, we've been like really like, we've been really lean and I like being lean, I like having a lien team and just, you know, badasses who come with their a game, we like being lean on capitol because I think it keeps you like hungry and like, you know, uh, quick to pivot.
Um, we actually are launching a new product tomorrow. I'm not sure when this will air, but it's our first often tomorrow you can talk about it. Okay cool. It's our, it's our first exclusive product with Sephora's. I'm excited to see how that goes out. Um, it's slime light, multi memorable hologram highlighter, which is in the cheeks time component, but it's um, it's a highlighter and it's just the most, the most extra highlighter ever. It's like multi chrome. So it goes like green, two gold, two silver, two, like invisible and then we have three shades of that. So I'm really excited about that. Um, but more so than, I mean, I'm just really excited. I really believe in the product, but I also think that this is a launch that I've been really excited for for a really long time because we finally have, you know, the time and the capital and the band within the team to really properly execute a launch, which I think we haven't had before just because we've been so in the weeds, frankly, we haven't had any support and like we've, we've really focused this year on building out our guidance team to help us, you know, you don't know what, you don't know.
So help, like fighting the team to help us fill in those blanks and I think it's like our first honestly properly executed campaign like ever not campaign launch campaign ever. So I'm actually, may be more excited for this one than I was for the initial launch of rico G because when I look back I'm like, I was so nervous and like I was just like really overwhelmed and over my head and now I'm like, okay, so we've like, we've prepared, we've like really spent the time developing this product and like all the R and D and innovation that's gone behind it. And then also like from the marketing team, we had our launch party on thursday, um so just like proud of the team, proud of the products and I'm really excited to see how that goes, but we have to mega mega mega launches coming out in january and March of next year, so stay tuned for that. Oh my God, that sounds so exciting and so amazing. I love your name's Holy moly, that is just so much fun.
I love it. Gosh, it's a fun part, a couple of years on a podcast the day before a huge launch, like props to you, thank you goodness. What is your top tip or piece of advice for entrepreneurs? Mm mhm I think um you know, it's funny this, this changes, I think over time and as you kind of find your groove and and all that, but I think um just make yourself proud, like behave with integrity and from everything from how you treat your employees to training your employees super important because if you don't invest the time into training them? You might as well not hire them, which I think is really hard for people to remember when they're so in the weeds. Let's start up um integrity from product innovation, doesn't I? When we work together on product development, we just think about products that we wish existed. We don't want to bring things into the world just to bring them and just to make money, which is the thing for me, especially with the environment and just the way that the world is right now.
Um, so just make yourself proud I think is what I would say now and um be thoughtful about your decisions, don't be too rash and yeah, I mean you're the reason why you're starting this is your own personal reason and nobody can be nobody else's reason. Um so I think if you just kind of try and look inward and and support yourself and no trust your gut know that you're you're here because you're here. I think that's a helpful thing to keep in mind as you're going through your journey. Yeah, I love that finding an old star and just stick to that. So I'm conscious of the time we have a few minutes left before the top of the hour and we finish every episode with a series of six quick questions that I fire through, some of which we might have covered, some of which we might not have. But question number one is what's your why? Why are you doing what you're doing? What is your north stuff? Beauty is self expression period. And and I want that to resonate in the beauty industry for future generations and I just want everybody to know that, you know, beauty is your beauty.
It's not anyone else's. No one else can tell you what beautiful is. Question number two is what do you think has been the number one marketing moment that's made the business pop? Oh, it's definitely that moment I was telling you about with Sarah on the internet. Um and I think also, uh recently I've been really kind of like behind the camera recently, my team has been, you know, kind of like nudging me to be more the face of the brand and that's really like the viral Tiktok videos that we have had success with all of that is me. And so I think it's just because I'm kind of like unfiltered with the community um as you can probably tell. Uh so I think that's been a huge one, like, like me stepping in front of the camera for the first time has been huge for the business. Interesting. I love that Question # three is where do you hang out to get smarter? What are you reading or listening to or subscribing to? That is bad ass. Yeah, I hang out here with you. Um No, I love, I actually have not been listening to podcast recently.
I am huge on therapy. I go to therapy twice a week. So I think maybe you can tell, but I'm like very like emotional, like I'm, I'm, when I'm making myself talking about making my self proud, making my employees proud. You know, I'm very emotional person, like emotionally intelligent. Um so I think that I really like I, my therapy is actually funny because there will be certain times where I lay down and we'll talk about kind of nothing. And then my therapist also knows that when I come in and I sit, she knows to sit across from me and now we're in like we're solving a business problem or like a crisis, not crisis, but like, you know, there's like something that we need to do. Um so that's been really helpful for me and my therapy, like having that flexibility and somebody to focus on. That's really cool. Love that as an answer question number four is how do you win the day? What are your AM or PM rituals and habits that keep you feeling motivated and successful and happy. Oh my gosh, that is such a hard question because I literally joke with my assistant that I am the most high functioning dysfunctional person ever.
Like it is, I own, I own a skincare company and it's like honestly I'm so busy that sometimes I don't even wash my face at night, which is terrible, but that's like where I'm at right now. Um So I don't really have any hard rituals. I mean obviously taking the time for my skincare. 01 thing that I've been doing, actually, my assistant has taught me this recently, like, he's always like, I do my um morning affirmations and I was like, well that's a little like for me, but I actually have been just kind of like trying to practice gratitude a little bit more in the morning. Um That's been a really, actually, yeah, that's my ritual. There we go. What was your affirmation today? Um It was like, I love you and I'm proud of our team and obviously it's all like, focused on like going into this launch, it's like, I'm so proud of the team. Actually, last week we were on a marketing call with our marketing consultant that is leaving and she had gotten us through like this before a launch in the past eight months. She was only supposed to be here for six weeks and it turned into eight months.
Um and so we were, it was her last meeting with us and I was just looking at the team just being like, wow, y'all have come so far, myself included, All of us have come so far in eight months and just being like, so excited about that, but I'm just super grateful for my team today and like every day, but today, I'm just like, whoa, I can't believe we made it to launch day. Oh, that's a nice one. I love that. I think self affirmations is a really great idea. I'm gonna I'm going to try that out. Question number five is if you were given $1000 of no strings attached to grant money, where would you spend it in the business? Mm no strings attached. I would say it depends on the state of the business, but like, do you want, like if it was like the last $1000 I had or if it if I just had $1000 extra today, $1000 extra day. I would uh I take my team to dinner and celebrate all of the hard work that they do. I mean like we talk about entrepreneurship and like the beginning of the journey so much and I love that, but like literally we would not, no one would be here without their teams, like it's incredible and like the amount that you can rely and lean on people and like from people who have been in the organization since day one, like does in my Art Director sarah all the way to new hires, like everyone is so critical and like, I never ever want to take a podcast or a or a you know, speech or whatever without like shouting out how important it is to delegate and rely on your team and trust them that they know what they're doing and you got to like focus on like the up here stuff and like let delegate down into their roles that they can really own their channels, otherwise you'll just be in the weeds forever and you'll never get anywhere, which was a really hard lesson for me to learn at the beginning noted.
Yeah, last question, I'm super aware of the time and I don't want to be greedy with you, so Question #6 is how do you deal with failure? What is your mind set and approach when shit hits the fan? Yeah. Um I used to get really spun out about it, I would just be like, oh my God, oh my God, I'm like, but now I'm just like it happens so much, especially with keeping things in stock and you know, all of operational stuff, like there's always gonna be fires. So I think fires, it's just like you just got to keep calm, you're going to find a solution and if, if it efs up like whatever, but I think like for me personally dealing with failure, I think I'm just so used to it because the business came into the world like failing so many times. Um but again, I would, I would point back to like make yourself proud, like if you really believe in something and it fails um learned from that. No that and know that that's so valuable because like, you know, I think this is a great way to try out this episode. It's like hearing everything that frank went through in order to get to.
Now we're at Sephora, it's like if all of those failures hadn't happened and never would have gotten a Sephora, I would have launched a product that was so part and or wasn't ready or whatever, you know what I mean? So just trust the process, trust your gut and like keep your north star and make yourself proud, and even if you feel like make yourself proud and that failure totally, and if you had have given up, you wouldn't have gotten into Sephora and you could have so easily given up after the first hurdle. This is crazy persistence, wow, you're amazing, this was so cool, you taught me things that I did not know about and had never heard before, so love that for me, I'm excited for your launch tomorrow. Congratulations. I'm going to be tuning in for january for all this new cool stuff coming out and I'm gonna be cheering you on from the sidelines. Thank you so much. Thank you so much for having me. It was so nice to meet you and chat. Hey, it's Doom here. Thanks for listening to this episode of the female startup club podcast if you're a fan of the show. I'd recommend checking out female startup Club dot com where you can subscribe to our newsletter and learn more about our D.
I. Y. Course the ads. M. B. A. I also truly appreciate each and every review that comes our way. It might seem like such a small thing, but reviews help others find us. So please do jump on and subscribe, rate and review the show. And finally, if you know someone who would benefit from hearing these inspiring stories, please do share it with them and empower the women in your network. See you soon. Yeah.
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/**
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 * @struct
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export declare class FailRequest<T> implements Request<T> {
    promise_: Promise<T>;
    constructor(error: FirebaseStorageError);
    /** @inheritDoc */
    getPromise(): Promise<T>;
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}

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaGithub


Vintage retro style by Banned the Judy pillbox hat is the perfect accessory for your vintage retro outfit. The Judy has bow and pearl detailing and is finished with black net and is fixed in place by a hidden steel clasp.
Size: 6" x 5.5" x 2"


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Academic WorldQuest
Council in the Classroom
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Global Educator of the Year
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David Morgenroth
Governance Chair
David Morgenroth is among the rare breed of artists at home in both classical and jazz genres. He has performed with such jazz luminaries as Joe Williams, Freddie Hubbard, Lionel Hampton, Gary Peacock, Clark Terry, Bill Watrous, Toots Thielemans, Michael Brecker and Benny Golson. He has performed across the United States and Canada as well as in Europe and South America.
After freelancing in Dallas, Phoenix and San Francisco, Mr. Morgenroth performed extensively in New York City as a chamber musician and jazz artist, while studying with famed pedagogue Sophia Rosoff and jazz great Fred Hersch. He holds graduate degrees in both classical piano and jazz studies from the University of North Texas.
David released his first solo piano recording in February, 2010, entitled, "Alone with Duke". In his review for Japan's leading jazz publication, Swing Journal, Masayuki Okazaki writes, "Morgenroth successfully draws out the sonorous beauty of Ellington's music in style…(he) blends elegance with a casual feel…" The release of a new recording, The Johnny Mandel Songbook, is scheduled for October, 2010, followed by a recording of original music in early 2011.
David is musical director and pianist for vocalist Eden Atwood, whose 2009 release, "Turn Me Loose" received five stars from Swing Journal. Critic Mr. Yozo Iwanami writes, "The arrangements by David Morgenroth, the pianist and musical director for this album, are…superb. At the hands of Atwood and Morgenroth, even familiar standards are transformed into something entirely different, fresh and exciting." Eden and David made a three-week, 13-city tour of Japan in December to rave reviews. Their next recording, "Almost Blue", will be released in fall, 2010.
David Morgenroth lives with his wife, Barbara Koostra, and their five pets in Missoula.
111 N Higgins Ave 4th Floor #405
info@montanaworldaffairs.org
Your ticket for the: David Morgenroth


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Departments / Family and Community Medicine / Residency Training / Family Medicine & Psychiatry Residency
Welcome to the University of Cincinnati/The Christ Hospital's Family Medicine and Psychiatry program! We began our combined program in 1995 at the request of on the University of Cincinnati medical students, which makes our program the longest-running FMP program in the United States. We are also one of the few that is run by a training director dedicated only to the combined program. We have two positions available per year and to date we have graduated 26 residents from our program.
This rigorous training program spans five years, the duration of which encompasses experiences in both specialties throughout. At the completion of the five years, residents are eligible to sit for the board exams of both specialties. In addition to this, residents also concomitantly gain skills and experience in practicing integrated and collaborative care during residency, which are important and evolving features of our healthcare system and can lead to exciting and innovative career opportunities. This program aims to train clinicians who are motivated to continue to use the skills obtained in both specialties throughout their careers.
Our residents comprise a close-knit group strengthened by monthly meetings exclusively for the combined residents at a local venue or Dr. Wulsin's home in Clifton, during which we collaborate on exciting projects, have guest speakers, and engage in a unique curriculum tailored to the interests of combined-trained physicians. We also make a yearly trip as a program to the Association for Medicine and Psychiatry Annual Meeting in Chicago.
Our residents are very supportive of each other and available to lend help in both personal and professional situations. In addition, being involved in both worlds of Family Medicine and Psychiatry throughout the five years allows us to develop relationships with residents in not only both of these programs but also in other departments, including the five-year Triple Board Program in Child and Adult Psychiatry and Pediatrics, a collaboration between the University of Cincinnati and Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center.
The demand for graduates with integrated training in psychiatry and medicine has visibly increased in recent years. We attribute this need to increasing demands for and innovative efforts at health care reform, and the growing knowledge that the psychiatric and physical illnesses are often co-morbid and in need of specialized attention.
We're confident that this career pathway integrating psychiatry and medicine will play a formative role in our new health care system, and we hope you'll join us in shaping these new approaches.
Learn more about the current residents, alumni, and our curriculum on the UC Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Neuroscience's website
Hilja Ruegg, MD
Training Director, Family Medicine Psychiatry Program


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Library of Congress > Digital Collections > U.S. Reports > Search
Collection U.S. Reports
Results: 1-25 of 405 | Refined by: Part of: U.S. Reports Remove Available Online Remove Part of: Law Library of Congress Remove Subject: Judicial Decisions Remove Language: English Remove Online Format: PDF Remove Contributor: Hughes, Charles Evans Remove Subject: Law Library Remove
U.S. Reports: Kerfoot v. Farmers' & Merchants' Bk., 218 U.S. 281 (1910).
Contributor: Supreme Court of the United States - Hughes, Charles Evans
U.S. Reports: In Re Metropolitan Trust Co., 218 U.S. 312 (1910).
U.S. Reports: Eagle Mining Co. v. Hamilton, 218 U.S. 513 (1910).
U.S. Reports: United States v. Mason, 218 U.S. 517 (1910).
U.S. Reports: Illinois Central R. R. Co. v. Kentucky, 218 U.S. 551 (1910).
U.S. Reports: Herencia v. Guzman, 219 U.S. 44 (1910).
U.S. Reports: Matter of Gregory, 219 U.S. 210 (1911).
U.S. Reports: Bailey v. State of Alabama, 219 U.S. 219 (1911).
U.S. Reports: United States v. Chamberlin, 219 U.S. 250 (1911).
U.S. Reports: Chicago, B. and Quincy R. R. Co. v. McGuire, 219 U.S. 549 (1911).
U.S. Reports: Dr. Miles Medical Co. v. Park & Sons Co., 220 U.S. 373 (1911).
U.S. Reports: Liverpool &c. Ins. Co. v. Orleans Assessors, 221 U.S. 346 (1911).
U.S. Reports: Orient Ins. Co. v. Assessors of Orleans, 221 U.S. 358 (1911).
U.S. Reports: Wilson v. United States, 221 U.S. 361 (1911).
U.S. Reports: Dreier v. United States, 221 U.S. 394 (1911).
U.S. Reports: Baglin v. Cusenier Co., 221 U.S. 580 (1911).
U.S. Reports: Am. Lithographic Co. v. Werckmeister, 221 U.S. 603 (1911).
U.S. Reports: Baltimore & Ohio R. R. v. Int. Com. Comm., 221 U.S. 612 (1911).
U.S. Reports: Helm v. Zarecor, 222 U.S. 32 (1911).
U.S. Reports: Missouri & c. R.Y. Co. v. Olathe, 222 U.S. 185 (1911).
U.S. Reports: Interurban R.Y. Co. v. Olathe, 222 U.S. 187 (1911).
U.S. Reports: Missouri & Kansas Interurban Railway Company v. City of Olathe (No. 3), 222 U.S. 191 (1911).
U.S. Reports: United States v. Citroen, 223 U.S. 407 (1912).
U.S. Reports: Ferris v. Frohman, 223 U.S. 424 (1912).
U.S. Reports: Philadelphia Co. v. Stimson, 223 U.S. 605 (1912).
Periodical 405
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Solomon Islands war club
123 cm / 29.2 inch
Leaf shaped club
27 cm by 12.3 cm
Thickness at club: 27 mm
Nggela Islands, Solomon Islands
The Solomon Islands are an archipelago in the western South Pacific Ocean, located northeast of Australia. No metals were used on the Solomon islands until the early 19th century, and thus local tribes mostly relied on wooden clubs for warfare. The long-term use of the club resulted in a wide variety of designs in use by the different tribes. Paddle shaped clubs were primarily associated with the Nggela Islands, also known as the Florida Islands, situated in the center of the island group.
"The clubs vary in form in different parts of the group. In St. Christoval, they have flat recurved blades cut out of the flange-like buttresses of a tree having very hard wood which bears a polish like that of mahogany. In other islands, as in those of Florida, they have flattened oval blades like that of a paddle. ... Most clubs are pointed at the butt-end to enable them to be stuck upright in the ground."
Henry B. Guppy; The Solomon Islands And Their Natives London, Lowrey, 1887. Page 73.
A Solomon Islands war club, of archetypical form that is associated with the Nggela Islands. The large club is made of a heavy, dark hardwood. It has a paddle-shaped blade, with raised central rib and semi-sharp edges and point. The staff is of flattened diamond cross-section, creating four ridges that give a good idea of the alignment of the blade when handling it.
It has some dents and even a small cut in one of the raised ribs on the flat of the blade that look like it may have seen fighting action. The working of the wood caused some longitudinal splits, which are superficial and don't seem to affect the structural integrity of the piece.
Oceanic antiques were very popular among wealthy European collectors of the 19th century and as a reaction the region started to produce many items solely for export. Many war clubs on the market today are of that type, made for a willing foreign market. The true collector is of course mainly interested in items that were to be used within the culture. I believe this is one of these early clubs that are actually made for the culture, by the culture. It has all the signs you would expect from a wooden item of considerable age, including the shallow splits over the length due to drying of the wood. The patina is deep, dark and with the unevenness of a naturally patinated item.
Clubs from the Henry Christy Collection.
Mainly collected by pioneer explorer Julius L. Brenchley in 1864.
Now in the British Museum.
Oceanic antiques enjoyed the special interest of some big names that are well-known among enthusiasts of arms and armor: William Ockelford Oldman, Kenneth Athol Webster, William Downing Webster (no relation to the former) and James Thomas Hooper. Material they collected now forms the core of many Oceanic collections around the world. Clubs similar to this one can be found in the Oldman and W.D. Webster catalogs.
A very similar club was listed in Oldman's catalog No 91 Vol vii. It was described as:
"10 (8235) Club; brown wood, ribbed paddle-shaped blade. Florida Island, Solomon Group. £0.06."
W.O. Oldman Illustrated Catalogue of Ethnographical Specimens.
976 reprint of sales catalogs, Hales, London.
A very nice example of a Solomon island war club, peculiar to the Island of Nggala (Florida). It's sophisticated, aesthetically pleasing, and with convincing signs of genuine old age.
Solomon war club


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Sacha Baron Cohen's newest character is an Israeli gunslinger taking aim at pro-Israel conservatives
Sacha Baron Cohen at the El Capitan Theatre in Hollywood, Calif., May 23, 2016. Photo courtesy of Axelle/Bauer-Griffin/FilmMagic.
WASHINGTON (JTA) – Sacha Baron Cohen is back, and he is taking aim at a strain of "pro-Israel" thought that has both delighted and unsettled many American Jews: the unconditional love engendered by the country among deeply conservative Americans.
In "Who is America?," a show that made its debut Sunday night July 15, on Showtime, the British Jewish comic returns with the shtick that made him famous—disguising himself in order to prank the famous and not-so-famous.
Having created Borat (a dimwitted Kazakh journalist) and Ali G (a dimwitted hip-hop journalist), Cohen now rolls out Israeli Col. Erran Morad, a purported terrorism expert. In Sunday's show, Cohen as Morad dupes a few current and recent politicians, as well as gun rights activists, into supporting an initiative to arm toddlers.
Targeting Pro Israel Sympathy
The gun rights activists, Philip Van Cleave and Larry Pratt, endorse Morad's "Kinderguardian" program. So do Trent Lott, the former senator from Mississippi; Reps. Dana Rohrabacher, R-Calif., and Joe Wilson, R-S.C.; and a former Rep., Joe Walsh, R-Ill. (Van Cleave stars in a Barney-like instructional video in which he sings a variant of "Heads, Shoulders, Knees and Toes": "Aim at the head, shoulders, not the toes, not the toes.")
Gaetz acquits himself well: "Typically, members of Congress don't just hear a story about a program and indicate whether they support it or not," he tells Morad.
The entire segment appears to have taken advantage of the targets' pro-Israel sympathies. Walsh told CNN that Cohen had fooled him into participating by telling him that he was "getting an award from some Israeli TV station because I'm a great supporter of Israel." For a segment that did not air Sunday night, Roy Moore—whose bid for a Senate seat in Alabama fell apart over old allegations of soliciting minors—also said he had fallen for the Israel-award thing.
Walsh said he had been asked to read a story off a teleprompter about a 4-year-old Israeli who grabbed a gun and subdued a terrorist. Walsh said he thought, "Well, this is kind of crazy, but it is Israel and Israel is strong on defense."
People Taken Advantage Of
Cohen apparently intended the segment to be an expose of zealous support for gun ownership, although it could be seen as an example of blind support of everything Israel. In real life, gun rights activists have frequently—and often erroneously—cited Israel as an example of a country with few restrictions on gun rights. In fact, restrictions on gun use and ownership in Israel are far-reaching.
David Frum, a Jewish conservative who writes for the Atlantic magazine, tweeted that Cohen "repeatedly takes advantage of people's affection and respect for the State of Israel to deceive and humiliate them."
Critical Of "Fake Stuff"
Allison Kaplan Sommer, an Israeli American who writes for the liberal Israeli daily Haaretz, was critical, too.
"Yes, your satire was outrageously on point and Col. Erran Morad was spot on," she wrote on Facebook, addressing Cohen. "Still—bad enough that Israel gets demonized for the things it actually does—you have to go and make horrifying fake stuff up? Satire or not, I'm afraid the American public is going to be left with the impression that we are, in fact, gun fans when the truth is our gun control is a million times stricter than in the U.S.."
Another Israeli writer, Noga Tarnapolsky, thought Cohen's blows landed on two worthy targets: "Sacha Baron Cohen deployed the weirdo fetishization of Israel & Benjamin Netanyahu personally among right-wingnuts in an utterly clarifying way," she tweeted. "How Bibi became a cult-like object for the gun rights people is beyond me."
Cohen, for sure, is a shock comic. But he is also a satirist, and one intimately acquainted with Israel: He speaks Hebrew, grew up in a Zionist youth group and spent summers there. His mother was born in Israel and he has family there.
It appears on early evidence that Cohen's target is not "pro-Israel" per se, or even "right-wing pro-Israel," but a strain of Israel support that imagines Israel as its own distorted reflection—and not what it is.
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