Shizu and Kama Kawaidi Shizu, where we go in different businesses We get some ideas from them How are we working and how are we able to thrive in our business today I am joined by a very classy fashionable beautiful lady I will just let her introduce herself because wow Thanakawikitzuri thank you yes so please introduce yourself I am Immaculate Mwende CEO, founder, Lavoga Kenya which is a fashion brand Actually, I started it in 2018 while I was still in campus Elafu, you've told me that what you're wearing right now you prepared it yesterday with one hour One hour, like one hour I don't even need one hour to choose what you want I like to choose what you want in one week Elafu, you're so good This is so great, you look so nice So tell us about Lavoga fashion brand Where it started Where did the dream come from Okay I think my brand is more my passion I've had a passion of fashion still when I was young but I really didn't know whether I wanted to do fashion actually I enrolled in I was in high school then I enrolled in campus I didn't know what course I was doing actually when there I did education for one whole year but I was doing home science so I got skills from there about fashion I think from my experience in home science and I didn't I did home science back in high school too so I had a clue then it just found me I mean your passion found me So in the university or college you had an idea about fashion I did education one year and the following year Nika Phil, no it's not going Uka Phil East is not my calling then I talked to my mum and she's my number one supporter so she was like just what I want and I went ahead I was actually in second year that I noticed that I could start a fashion line and I started and went to just try to know whether this could be I could grow something to speak and I'm thinking like you're in second year right so you're around 20, 21 wasn't it hard for you to like start a business in school like what was your starting like where did you get the money to finance your business funny enough I don't think my business needed so much cash where I needed like an investor now I just got a machine actually and the machine I got it was so little my first order I remember it broke down so I went I tried repair it it was expensive I compared what I'm earning to repair the machine it was just little so since it was my passion I didn't stop my business so I'd go buy fabrics cut out and deliver and where did you get the fabrics from I buy my fabrics from Isli now where were you schooling at that time Kenyatta University so all the way from Isli to Kenyatta University to get fabric and you still got time to study you still got time to study so after clearing your school that's when you started Lavoga not really then but when it expanded to what it is right now so I concentrated so what kind of clothes do you deal with in Lavoga actually I think my brand is all about feminicity don't get me wrong like it's all about females I only design females baby girls weddings yeah it's what I'm doing and I'm hoping so I can venture into men's fashion so for a person who wants to start a fashion brand what are the requirements to start when passion just have don't let anything stop you just do it no matter what see I didn't have a machine but I still did my thing so apart from passion of course kunaizim it was in India you need skills one thing you can't start a brand without skills fashion skills actually you need to know how to dress people according to their bodies like you need to know how to how to advice your clients because you know one thing even if you stay sure a cloth which is not designed for their body it won't be so cute so you should have some little call it some little roots behind the question so when you meet a client for the first time like for example me and I want a dress so what is the first thing that you check like as you said you need that eye to know what type of clothes goes with the body of your client so when you meet a client for the first time what do you do before you start even designing and drawing the pieces when I meet you for the first time I'll first ask you what you want tell me if you have an idea maybe a picture on the phone I meet clients what they have they have it in mind they'll show you a picture I want a dress like this so I'll ask you do you have what you want no if you don't yes if you tell me yes we're going to work with your picture I'll advise you accordingly whether understand whether it's good for you whether it's not then after the process of advising I'll advise you then take your measurements there place an order place an order just I'll just get the measurements and deposit which is half the price and I'll start doing my thing if it's about fabrics I'll get there and with all this funds social media what's up I'll just take pictures of the fabrics available I'll send you you can choose what you want it's all about my clients choose action it's not about me what you want is what I'll give you and how long does it take to complete a dress or someone's all a dress depends on the style design but simple just like a dress it's not long like and how I'll be done I mean you've completed yours with one hour so it's not hard actually if you have it in hard you just cut out a stitch see singumu it's not hard actually so we've talked about having the skillset and apart from the skills like what do you what else do you need to have a complete fashion brand yes what is it it should be hard to work in one thing for me people have this mentality about tailor's life tailor's life oh and muskia you know so me I work with ten is my thing actually I think it's my main thing because I don't like every time I make sure that if I have promised that I'll deliver your dress by 12am I make sure I mean here in Nishonekwa gari come upuna you understand if there's anything remaining I'll do it in the march you can come to deliver and with that it has really given me a lot of clients so what about the resources some of the resources that one requires when starting a fashion brand I mean look what the resources a machine you need a machine one thing is there like other types of machines some are machine in machine yeah there are types of machine but all machines do the same work just that they are some which have different stitches different what they are some which are industrial but all machines work the same machine which is 30,000 I mean my first machine was 3000 I bought it actually on Jumi so you don't need you don't need a lot of money I bought from bricks worth 2000 actually for a start so this is a business that can be started by anyone as long as you have the passion and the skill set but I tend to think that when it comes to skills this is something in one like music in kituna zaliwa something you taught or made something that is in one can't be there are designers who become designers from school but there are others which you may like your passion in fashion you want to do it it's born with you yeah but you know when it's a passion from inside you have to go to school to get some skills to add up something specific skills that we do not know obviously when you see my fashion designers like kuna any special skills amma what did you get from school that has helped you get to where you are right now I really enjoyed fashion when I was little but I didn't know how to go about it I didn't know how to stitch like Priya Koo's teach she needs someone to show you how to to work with the machine so that one is taught in school yeah taking measurements too that one is taught in school yeah it was just a basics actually from my brand like from me I think those are just the basics it's just something so simple it turned out to be something I didn't expect it was just something so simple to just maybe chop up for me some little money and become something okay so and in your brand do you work alone amma you have a crew who help you like stitch and design amma is it one month show solo and doesn't that get like you don't get burn out because nafkiria like if you get like five orders today you have to do all of them by yourself yeah I know but sometimes like there are sometimes even sacrifice a night like but it's not so much I mean it's not exhausting I mean if it's two nights like in two months that is not something hard to sacrifice so you just need to work with your time and I think the 12 hours we have the 12 day time hours we have enough I mean if you're seriously what you're doing so in a day how many orders do you get okay my orders in a day it depends I want not every day I get orders but sometimes just come understand like my older clients I need you to trust me but most of the time I deal with my clients they my clients they the older ones this is more of a referral business where you make me a nice dress my friend wants that dress she refers you to me like that and you more and for that I'm so grateful for my clients they're so nice they're the best actually so up to now what's your client tell like how many clients do you have you worked for or who have you worked for I have worked for you know like mine is not you can just come by yourself and group so I'm not so sure if I can count the number of clients you've worked for I have worked with a good number not a big number but if a good number so you said your cloth line is more of a feminist one that is all about empowering women so where did that dream and vision come from funny enough I think I am the only baby when you're family to lady I mean I've been brought up with a lot of feminism around me I think the males in our home they are countable so I think I was brought up with a lot of feminicity and just grew in me and I just meant everything about ladies and is there like anything or anything that you've done in support to women like as your fashion brand in any way done anything in support to to women like other events like other events you attended actually I think right now I have done 2-3 fashion events we had creativity the creativity affair it was held at the not restaurant it's in westlands it was all about pads and boxers we were donating to pads and boxers we've done another one at club sevens in town with dynasty sorry it's a model we were raising funds I think for books for some news so I'm thinking about you've talked about the events so I'm thinking about this you're a designer once in a while or more often than not you come up with your own designs so after you do that maybe like what you're wearing right now how do you get that out there how do you market yourself or how can a fashion brand market their commodities out there in the business world as I said one thing my clients are the best actually you just wake up to posts like someone has posted social media is social media is my main I have my Instagram page my Facebook my Twitter and I think also the runway events have done like the ones I have told you the three ones they've really helped me get my name out there and how many original pieces do you have everything you make is original yeah I just go by fabric like everything so na nami I can come with my idea I tell you I want to address that is like this but you as a fashion designer how many how many things have you created or what's the creative process like I see all the runway events have showcased my work like my own designs yeah you just design one thing my campus teacher used to tell me is that design sequence they are top top like you know they are two arms designs here to nangaza another one we just work with the normal just work with the normal try to modify it a little a little bit just a little just the normal the color will remain to be the color so you are the one who is supposed to know how to make it look like design it and the finances part of the business how what's your earning like oh I try my level best to make at around 1500 pa clothes puppies what type of dress is that just a straight dress I mean every outfit I make I aim to make in at around 1500 it's not bad because you are a business maybe there are some processes that you need to go through before opening a shop so what requirements do you need actually I don't even have a shop I work from my house so I am not so sure what I need but I am so sure that I can work with a shop a shop comes with a little added rent but now it's easier because nafanya it's my house I go I rest you know it's convenient I think working for my house is very convenient because I can't stitch up tonight to understand like so I think the best decision is to make baby kutusku now where do you get your materials from like for a person who wants to join your business na klulu na klulu yote about where na zapata fabric where na zapata the machines for sewing where do you shop for your equipment I think along river road there are very nice machines there I have checked the shops some of the shops not all of them and fabrics I advise them to either go to gizurai they have a fabric market to you know like their fabric sold at gizurai easily not that they are different but the prices range so if you are starting I advise you to go to the market where you know it's cheap and talking about the fabrics again for a person who wants to get into the fashion business is there like a quality ama fabric zoteni in zuri yeah you have to check out on the you know you have to talk like every dress which will work perfect on it so atakuchu like fabric the design in mind like fabric in na datumia kutengeneza a straight dress zi fabric in na datumia kutengeneza a skater or a flare flare na need fabric hard don't use a form a straight dress doesn't need a hard fabric just not really a soft one but a nice fabric just something good okay that's really interesting okay so so what are some of the challenges that you're facing because na assume it's not it hasn't been like kibisa so what are some of the challenges you face as a brand oh this this you know it's my brand so I worked perfection it's my pink it's what represents me out here so I want to be perfect I'm really working hard I'm putting effort I'm trying to get the clients what they want like I do my level best it's my job anyway and like a dress and client they are there when they dress na kaji atajani bamba no it's what you love doing I mean so you're like okay tell me what you want us to do some complain about fabrics you know you're not perfect every time fabric maybe somewhere so you'll just talk to them ask them what you want you just have to be humble come out aki kibisa atajani just explain to me and if when I come I always go to a step of making another dress or I'll tell you let's meet next time I'll go rectify where tiza problem and what are some of the risks in this business because like any other business kuna risks na watupitia so what are some of the risks in the fashion business there is ten not much you just need to be I think the fashion this competition actually that is a challenge fashion designers so you have to remain relevant let's talk about relevancy so I'm just thinking me ataimu kumilta tami fashion designer in my own way kilaum tuwa na jeon kilaum tuwa na neza je dress so how do you stand out in this business how do you put your name out there and what work would you like to immaculate and how do you deal with competition so when I started I really work on feet and drip like and like most of the time actually when I introduced my business I was dealing with students baki you and them and back of my dress not bagi so you have to work on the feet you have to stand out from other designers as in kunaile no shunia allowance so when I can't take them inna zungushwa you've gone kupimango kunaia kwa take them inna zungushwa like wana bakisha allowance like the youth don't want that say attacking war I want a fitting so that is one way I stand out the other thing is what I just told you I make sure I deliver everything on time and maintaining a very good relationship with my clients actually 99% of my clients tend to be my friends so what's the dream like for immaculate when they are what where do you see yourself where do you see your brand brand in like 5 to 10 years what's the dream like for you I am really hoping that I will be actually they thought of I will open a shop someday when I am so sure about I have told you about male fashion I think that is what I am doing and I am so sure in the next 5 years I will be doing something good now I mean I meet friends my girlfriends have boyfriends I want you to dress me and my boyfriend and I am like I mean I could dress very well your boyfriend has to look for someone else so I mean in opportunity I will go for you sometime so for the fans who are watching you right now where can they find you I am on Facebook is Lavoga Kenya Instagram Lavoga Kenya Twitter Lavoga Kenya and you can also get to me through my WhatsApp number like I am always online like ever as in any time I think it is November in full time like 24-7 apart from now every time I think I am just talking to my clients that is something else that keeps me going in relevant to kus client atakia kwa pigi usimu kwa omteza sometime I get clients hi tomorrow I am going somewhere to dress and maybe that designer I want to do but he is a client thank you so much I am so grateful I really have to know how you made that that outfit in one hour it really look nice so that was Immaculate Mwende a fashion designer and the owner of Lavoga brand Kenya so don't go anywhere after the break we will be back with more


Mae'r zesrw쪽 yn ei ddiff yn ei meddwl i ddodd, ond mae'n gwybod ei ddiforol. Ar y gallwn, mae hwn ar y bwysig, mae'n dd strongly yn amlwg, rydyn ni'n ffникаud ddaw. Fy drweud i gweithio chi'n ddwy'! Dydyn ni'n clyw geisio am y Cymru, yng Nghaerdd Llywodraeth iDeuensyddol. Roedd i'n ddysgu'r cyfle o'r cyfle o'r llaw ar gyfer maen nhw i'n Myth Gwllodraeth, mae'n gwybod i'n ddydd yn fynd i'n ochr eu bod yn ffawriff yn hynodol, Dwi'n meddwl i'r unrhyw hwnnw, y Ffwrdd Ffwrdd, sy'n meddwl i'r ffordd i'r ffordd i'r ffordd i'r Magistor. Felly, rwy'n gydag i'r ysgolion i'r ffordd i'r ffordd i'r ffordd i'r Ffwrdd. Rwy'n meddwl i'n meddwl i'r Ffwrdd i'r ffordd i'r ffordd i'r holl hwnnw i'r ffordd i'r holl hwnnw i'r gweithio. Rwy'n credu, nhw'n nhw tynnau gwirionedd taethau yn unrhyw agơ recording dryer CasparINAUDIBLE, felly acid o'r firgydd، fel rwy'n ymgyrch Rwy'n edrych i'ch gwybeth o gyngor i'n fawr iawn, rwy'n amgylchedd ar y gwybeth. Roedden iawn i'r hyn i'r contributed sydd wedi'u gorfod. Fe oedd identifiedd y cwmniad, i'r centioned agor, am eu gwybeth, i'n rhoi'n edrych i'r paid sydd wedi'i digwydd, ac mae'n ddweud i'r llunio i'r llunio o'r grwp maen nhw, i'n cymdeithasol i'n grwp a'u ganes yn gweithio, ac mae'n cael ei gŵn ymarhau sydd yn ymhygau. Mae'r ffordd yn ymdau'r ysgol yn ymddangos, a'r ffordd yn ymdau'r ffordd. Rwyf wedi'i gydag o'r ffordd yn ymdweud o'r ffordd. Rwyf wedi gweithio'r ymdweud o'r ysgol, ond y ffordd yn ymdweud o'r ffordd, mae'r ffordd yn ffordd yn ymdweud o'r gymaint. Fodd y dywylliannol mwy yw ymdweud o'r ffordd. Rwyf wedi'u mewn mwy o â'r ffordd, ac rwyf wedi'i gweithio'n mwy o'r ffordd. Rwyf wedi'u gweled o'r ymdweud o'r ffordd yn ymdweud o'r ffordd. Rwyf wedi'u gweled o'r ffordd o'r ffordd yn ymdweud o'r ffordd. Mae'r drayf ar gwell, mae'r mwy o'r ffordd, ond mae'r ffordd yn ymdweud o'r ffordd yn iawn. Mae'r eich gwaith ymwneud eich cw儿tyn papren o'r £20 hefyd. Mae'r tyfan yn gweithio bod yn gweithio, os ond wedi tyfn y cefnod, ac mae'n fath o'u codi wahanol ym 22 hefyd. Mae'r fath o'r wyfach, o ran yn Ynglyn Gwyrd o'r casfau yma ni, oedd y cyfnod ylai'r pwyllgor i Manchester, ac yw digwydd yn y cyfnod yn £20 eich shefyd. Mae'r gweithio'r gwaith yn y gynhyrch yn ffordd yn fawr, ond rydyn yn rhan i'r fawr i'r grante.  Ond o'ch wneud bod gwrthodol, mae'n gweithio'r gwaith yn gweithio'r gwaith, felly mae wedi bod yn chweithio i'n ddoesol iawn i'w eiddo i'r hyn o ein anoddau arfer. Diolch i'n rhaid i wnaeth ar gyfer sydd gyda'r dyfodol. Ond mae ydy'r llyfr yw'n gennym. Yma, yn ges weithio i ddweud o grfasedd o'r bodle Andy, David, ac yn y bwrthens. Yr hyn o gweithio i'r canfod o'r fanllant, a phan yw draw o fanllantau, a bod hynny'n golygu i'r Ffasien ac y ffaith yw'r rhai beth?  Telliwn i gyd yn gallu trefnod, mae'n lle i'r gwaith, ac mae'n lle i'r arwein o'r corwbwysig, On that note, I'm going to hand over to Russell Gill, head of membership at the Co-Operative Gill. I'd like to add my welcome to your fantastic venue to be holding this reception. Within a couple of weeks of this museum opening, I was there twice. Firstly to bring my son to open his eyes to 1970s football cards and some UTO. ac gweld dweud yndyn ni'n gwneud o gael ffartig ymweld o'r ffordd i'w ddechrau'r gweithio. Rwy'n dechrau bod ein ffordd yw y ffordd i'w ddechrau, a fyddechrau'n greu'r ffordd i'w ddweud. Felly, eistedd yn Manchester, ar Y Corbwchiff Unigth, rydym yn ddechrau'r ffordd i'r ffordd i'w ddweud ar y cwrdd.  A rydyn ni'n ymddangos ar gyfer Llywodraeth, dwi'n ddifwyddio i gwbl o'r Llywodraeth o Llywodraeth ac i'r hoffi am hyn o'r gyfer Llywodraeth i gynghwysbyn deall gwom iddyn nhw, ac i ddechrau i Llywodraeth i Gweinio, Calech chi'n dweud yw'n medrwyddor cwpio ardennwys? Fel y gallwn y fyddialaeth sy'n meddwl chi'n meddwl chi'n meddwl i'r doorsodau yw ysgrifennu a'r ddiwrnod mlynedd yn y couldwyd lle i'r ddweud. Roeddwn i ni, mae cyn egweithio a'r dweud yn eu bodyn i'n meddwl wedi bod yn vindwad o'r bwysigedd am y troogedau a'r ddweud cyfyrddol yn y prifoedd pa w accused. Ardoedd yn cyfieithiaf, ac mae'n meddwl sy'n meddwl ar ein bod cyfroedd bwysigio ar hyn. a hefyd tra nobarnau gwirio hanon wedi dledig y potrriwn digon. Figen pan popeth am hyn leaders sylfa'nnghymudd, ac mae'n dweud bod os oedol, oherwydd mae'n groes sylfa, wedi mynd i amser y Ο'r felly awl scriptsomeau y tra bofyn nhir grants. Felly mae'r modd yn ymwyl sy'n gweithio sydd yma yn eich gweithio i fynd iawn, yn y rhai falch, ond y mynedd dwy� iawn, i'n gweithio a'u sydd mewn g gan eich sgwysig ymddangodol a'r ysgwrs sydd i'n gweithio'r oedd. Rydym wedi ddweud yr Ystod Cymru yn ymddangosol. Ym hyfforddiad ymddangosol ymddangosol, i'w f embarkwys ymddangosol i'r llyth. Mae'n de allas ac yn roi wedi ymddangosol i'r unig ac mae'n gweithio ychydig i'w cyflwyno'n cyffredinol o'r cyfun yn cael eu cyflwyno ar gyfer cyflwyno. Yn eich cyffredinol, dyna'n gweithio'n gweithio. Wrth gwrs, dyna'n gwneud y cyfle, a'i gael gwaith gyda'i gyrchon gwybod gan hynny a'r gweithio'n gwybod gyda'i gwybod gyda'u cyflwyno'n cyflwyno. Ien nhw'n ar y cynllun yma gan hwnnw'n oedden nhw'n sefyllfa, yn yr unig o fewni ar gael cyfnod, ar dîm nid o'n cyfnod o'r gwaith rallaf y gynnig o unig o edrydd i'w ddweud, ac mae'n ddwy'n gweithio bod ddweud o'r ddaeth yn cyd-dreifio a'n cerdd a ddeifasiodd ym hwn o'r ddewagaid. Mae'n gweithio i'n cyd-dreifio i'r llef, mae'n ddewen gweithio ar gael cyfnod, wedi'i ddweud ei ddweud o'ch cyd-dreifio, er oed y gallwn iawn i'n bwysig i bobl, a'r bobl i'r bwynt ychydig ar fan. Mae'n fyw i'ch gweinio o'r rhan oherwydd theodag y gwleidiau di'w fath oherwydd gallu i mewn gwahanol o ddiweddau, ac oherwydd mae'r ddiweddau deilhau o'r dweud oherwydd mae'ch gweinio am gweinio i eu cydnod 시ddiant i fath o'r trefwny.  Mae'r cwm reapelau'n ddysguêl i'r dweud i'r dda.noch, nid oeddwn i arall i ddim os ydym yn ei gwybod mewn gyda'r ddweud i'r dweud i'r ddweud wahanol yn unrhyw i'r ymddangos. Ac nid oed â'r dda, eich cofrinsiu'n ddweud i fynd i ddweud wedi ble y cofrinsiu'n ddweud o'r ddweud. Felly, cyhoedd y cyflwyno yma yw'r fforddau o'r cyflwyno. Mae yna gymhreithiau pawb yn barod ar gyfer pryd y llyfr, y gallwn i'n edrych i'r amdano i'r awnig i'r cyflyniad, ac mae'r fforddau fforddau a'r cyflwyno ar ôl i ni ar hyn. Yn gyflym, mae'n rhiwgr yma'r fforddau sy'n llyfr yn y dda. yw'r lle i'r cynyddiant gyfer Andy yma. Mae'r ffaint o'r rhaid i'w'r wath. Mae'n cyfrifio ar 175 ysgolwyr wedi bod yn blynedd yn ymgyrch. A'n meddwl 32 ymgwrs sy'n ddwylo'r llwyddiadau yn y Uned, felly mae'n gweithio'r ffiyliadau ei bod yn sgolw'r ddwylo. A'r tyn nhw'n gwybod ymlaen. Yn ymwneud yma, mae'n gweithio'n eu pwysig o'r bwysig. Mae'n gweithio'n 10 o'r llwyddiadau lleol i'r llwyddiadau yn ysgolwyr. We've expanded our leadership to Europe, where we now have a presence in 20 or so countries, and we've received new funding streams from the European Commission. For the first time ever, the membership of our family, our cooperative football family within SD, has tipped through 300,000 members in the UK, which is an incredible statistic, I think. And also we've played a very important and central part to the government's review of football governance in this country. And again, I think that is ample recognition of the increasingly important role that supporters can play in making not only football, but wider society, this now has 22 values of cooperation. Now, none of this would have been at all possible without the support of the cooperative group. And I want to extend my personal thanks to Russell and to the group for the support they've shown us. A year or so ago, SD was in quite a tricky position in terms of its funding. And as Russell has alluded to, it's when you are in those positions that you find out who your friends really are. And I think it's a massive testament to the support that the cooperative group has given this organisation that they were able to step in and to continue to support what we've done as an organisation. So my heartfelt thanks to Russell and to the cooperative group and to everyone who has played a part in supporting us over the last year. The only other thing I need to do is to introduce Andy Walsh, who's somebody who probably doesn't need an introduction in these parts. A long-time campaigner supporter of Manchester United and now obviously an inspirational leader, general manager of FC United of Manchester, which is a success story not only in terms of what it means to the cooperative group, but also for me in how a football club can be run based on positive community values can be successful in doing just that. So I'm delighted to hand over to Andy to say a few words. Andy Walsh, you've got to be building now, I suppose. Firstly, a Manchester welcome to Manchester, not just from me, but also from the pissing rain outside. I'd like to especially thank you just to let you know that New Yorkers aren't the only ones who can have a swim on the streets. So I really want to say a big thank you to Supporters Direct for giving us the opportunity to talk about FC United tonight. All of you who follow a football club will not need any invitation to talk about your football club, and I've got a magnifying people standing in front of me who can't go anywhere, so thank you very much for that. I just want to rest first on some of the things that David and Brian have said there and just allow you to drink that in. 12 years ago Supporters Direct was established with a target of setting up 30 supporters trust, just 30. We've now got more than 30 football clubs owned by supporters in 12 years. That is incredible. And then there are over 300,000 people David has done who are members of those trusts. That is unbelievable statistic. People who tell us that fans can't run football clubs will look around football. There's plenty of business people who haven't got the clue about running football clubs, who are causing problems that we're having to pick up the pieces from. We're now, as Supporters Direct, as Supporters Groups, because it's not just about fans' trusts. It's not just about supporter owned clubs. It's about fan groups as well. It's great that the links that we've fought to maintain with other Supporters Groups are still there. Malcolm Clark said tonight from the Football Supporters Federation, all the independent Supporters Groups around the country who are working together. And that's not easy, because let's face it, football is as much about decline as it is about putting things between us as well. The rivalries within the game are just as important as they are standing here talking about what unites us as football fans. The fact that we can hold that together is a real threat to the establishment. And that's one of the reasons why the Premier League took a pot that Supporters Direct, a short time ago, is because we're bringing them on some reckoning. That one of the biggest crashes in the game was sports with a Premier League club. And he was going to rescue it, the fans were going to rescue it. David being a glory boy just nipped in and got the top job of Supporters Direct just in time. So just to finish the virtuous circle, he was there just as he was on the... Just as sports was on the slide, he's going to be there. Just as sports was top that goal and then they're going to be the supporter-owned model further up the Pyramid for any other supporter-owned club. But we have got supporter-owned clubs in the Football League. There's Exeter and Wimbledon. But also William have just gone back in to support around the ship because not being a supporter-owned ship didn't fit. To be fairfully frank, not being a supporter-owned ship shouldn't fit with any football club. It should be the supporters. The first thing the director says when they go on the board is, I've been a supporter of this football club all my life. I'm not standing for intellectual people. I'm just going to be here because I have the right to be here because I've got a bit of cash where I've got a mate on the board is in fact here. What are you frightened of?  Stand for election. But they won't. They try and tell us there's other reasons why they won't do it. And the real reason is they've not really got the interests of the football club at heart for many of them. Many of them are there just for their own personal ego, certainly at the top of the game or their own personal enrichment. There are many, many, many hundreds of directors further down the pyramid who are struggling to keep their football club alive. And I would say to them, what have you got to lose? Turn to no supporters. It's a story from the 1960s when Lou Edwards told Matt Busby that he was going to have a share issue all shattered. And Busby said, well, who's going to buy the shares? He said, well, I've got friends around the North West, business people who want to put money into the club. He said, well, are these people United fans? He said, well, I don't know. He said, well, there's thousands of United fans out there, tens of thousands of United fans out there. You've told them that Manchester United needed money. They threw money over the wall. They wouldn't need shares. That's our relationship. That's the fans' relationship with the game. It's not about having a share in the club and then delivering some kind of personal ego at some later date. It's because you care about the club. The backdrop to this event tonight and supports Direct and the fans' movement is the game that's in deep financial crisis. A game that's generating more cash than it's ever generated before but is wallowing in more debt than it's ever had before. Three and a half billion pounds in the professional game. Three billion pounds of the debt in top 20 clubs in the Premier League. 14 of those 20 clubs are not even trading at profit. That's supposed to be the biggest league in the world. One of the richest leagues in the world and they can't even trade at profit and they tell us we don't know what we're talking about. There's been over 60 consultancy events since the establishment of the Premier League. So it's not just that they're causing a problem at the top of the game. They're also causing problems right away through the professional game. Forget, I don't know the numbers for those number of non-league clubs that have gone through insolvency events. Over 60 out of the 92 professional clubs. Some clubs have gone through insolvency events two or even three times. It's an absolute scandal that if it was happening in any other industry there'd be a public inquiry and there'd be government action. But, and I think this is a very useful rosette for us to wear. Last general action, all three main parties said they need to do something about the goodness of the game. And all three parties said that one of the solutions was getting the fans involved in the game. So we have made headway. We have made huge headway within the goodness of the game and we're making headway now also. Politically. But the alternative to those of you here is obvious. The alternative to the basket case and the casino economy that the plenty of league clubs operate in. The alternative is for supporter of clubs. Clubs that are centered on the fans. Clubs that are focused on the communities. Clubs ensure that our clubs. That's what they were when they were first established where everybody was involved and had an equal say in the way the game was actually governed. And what that was, SC United, painful establishment in 2005. Very difficult decision for us at that time. But we felt that we had no alternative if we didn't agree with the glazed business model at Old Trafford. Then we couldn't keep putting money into it to then sustain it. So we took a decision, we took a strike. A strike of finance. I still count myself as a Man Unite fan. I'll be a Man Unite fan till the day I die. But I ain't giving those people my money. I'm not going to allow my money to be used to sustain their business model which I know ultimately is going to put a great burden on the football club that I care about. I could just go up the pub and watch up and tell him. I could go walking in the lakes. But I chose along with a few thousand other people to actually establish something which will be a reminder to those who run the game that there is an alternative. An alternative that stands in reflection against what they are trying to create. An alternative that puts fans first. Puts the community in the sense of everything we've done. We are a community benefit society. We're a co-op. The same support is direct. Legally, constitutionally, we have to put the community first. We have to put our community benefit before we put a winning team out on the pitch. And the way we've played the last couple of weeks, that's plainly obvious really. We're a not-for-profit organisation and we're an organisation that operates on one member, one vote. We argue like cats and dogs about the direction the club's going to go in. What we're going to do, how we're going to do things. He said this, I don't agree with what she said. That goes on in the football club. We've gone on in every football club. We've gone on in every house and every business and every organisation up and down the country. The real thing I'm proud about is that we can do it in our football club and that when we do it in our football club we do it with a purpose because people care and people can actually make a difference. And that difference that we've made has seen us now how membership in excess of 3,300. We've got average gates of 2,000. We've got seating tickets in excess and we've got seating ticket numbers you can see in the professional game. Over 1,100 people have seen ticket holders. And that's one of the... That again is one of our proudest achievements over the last few years. It's three years ago as the economy was taking its dive. With the discussion that's brought me about what we're going to do about seating prices our target always was to give people three free matches a season. So 168 quid it would cost to give one of our gates over a season to get your seating ticket of 104 quid. So we decided to put forward a proposal that you pay what you can afford. The minimum price for seating ticket was set at 90 quid which was our concession price and then beyond that you pay what you can afford. The average price paid for our seating ticket that first year went up from 140 quid to 160 quid. And it's still above 150 quid three years later. Why? Because like that was to be set in the 1960s you'd tell the fans you need money the fans will throw money over the wall. And that is what fan ownership means. It means empowering people to make a difference in their football club. Wams, if you don't pay us more than what we would have charged before well that's their vote on what we're doing. That's also letting us say that they can't afford to pay that. Now he still pays us the same price of what his seating ticket was at Old Trafford. Every time the glaze is put up his seating ticket price in case stands he increases how much money he puts into our club every year. But it's not just about the seating tickets. Our community work as I said is essential to our constitution. We've revamped that work over the last few years and we've doubled the turnover on our community at community activities year on year for the last three years. 2009, 10, 47,000 pounds worth of community work in Great Manchester. 2011, 1,001 pounds. And this year our accounts to go before our AGM in a fortnight we've done in excess of 200,000 pounds of the turnover in the community. This is for a football club and it's all the activities only turns over £700,000 anyway and we're doing another £200,000 on top of that. That again is the strength of support and ownership that's focused on what football can achieve in the communities. Yes, professional football clubs run very good community schemes but this is a lovely club that's seven years out of the ground that's now got partnership across Great Manchester. We've got a very small full-time team supported by a huge array of volunteers up to 300 people 10% of our membership volunteer for the club at any one time over a 12 month period and we're creating jobs. We've got seasonal cultures working for us we've now started to employ more people on the community side of things and next week we're interviewing for a cultural warden there to go on work in secondary schools and primary schools. At the AGM we're about to announce that we're taking off our youth development programme into new areas as well and we've got our partnership in Manchester College where we're developing new youth team opportunities. All of this without a home all of this where we've been lodging at Ig Lane and we've been trying to get our plans for a ground of our own going now for five or six years so it's had its difficulties we've had one site where we've had a planning permission spent a quarter of a million quid getting a planning permission ripped us from under this after the government spending review didn't allow the city council to take that project forward we've now got another site in North Manchester that's been challenged at the moment legally it's a £5 million development of which we've raised in excess of £2 million quid so as all that's been going on on the field all the community work we've been doing has raised in excess of £2 million quid in seven years to actually bring that that development forward and we've had support from the Sport England Football Foundation the City Council, the college who also agreed to give money into the scheme why? Not because of the United Fund certainly not in the city council's case they're all city-seeking ticket holders most of them are blowing it anyway not even born in Manchester but these individuals these politicians and people from all these grant funding bodies have put money into our scheme or promised money into our scheme because they can see not just what we've done so far but what we can do as a group not just from FC United but as supporters in terms of creating a dynamic that will make a real difference in our communities where we can actually use football for a positive benefit for our communities and it's those elements really that bring us together because if you look at any football league anywhere in the world that league would tell you that the game ain't about winning because the majority of teams in any league whether it be at parks, on the 9s or whether it be the Premier League any league the majority of teams fails to win the majority of their games top 9, 10 teams they'll win more games than they lose or draw everybody else fails to win the majority of their games it's not that winning so why the hell do we do it some of you have watched games and I bet your fondest memories of matches are probably defeats rather than victories because that's what buys you together some of you might be looking enough to have a bit of glory and win a trophy or two but that's not the case for the majority of supporters so why do we do it it's because it's in our DNA it's because it's what defines us football's what defines us our club that we follow defines us the clubs that we don't follow also define us because we also like to define ourselves by who we don't support and who other people support but even look at that two of the most recent found own clubs are Chester and Wrexham two clubs who've got lifelong generations long animosity towards each other now a few miles apart flying and flying the support ownership Wrexham and Chester both looking to raise funds through a community share scheme to actually improve the facilities for their clubhouse I'll tell you what else defines us we're not those people who run Premier League clubs we're football fans who care about our football clubs because there are football clubs we care about the game because it's our game we're not there for personal enrichment we're not there for personal ego we're there because we care about the game and the football fans as we all know and as you'll see on the quote upstairs football without the fans just isn't football thank you so much, cheers


Okay, so today we're working on a milk cooler here. This is a pressure differential type milk cooler made by Delfield It just keeps the milk cold works off the pressure temperature Relationship there not a thermostat anyhow got here because the milk was 67 degrees this morning. I get here check my filter It's a little bit lightly coated. I've worked on this a while back Just had to make some adjustments to the pressure switch. I get here They had it off which they're their maintenance guy and their friends and He's trained them to turn things off when it don't work. So I let it run Kicked it on you can hear the fan come on It's running there but my pressures didn't drop it sounds like we got a Start component that possibly is bad or we've got a compressor. It's seized up Let's see if we can get this thing out. It's not the greatest accessibility here But let's see if we can get it out of there and get something going It is filter media, which helps out when it hits the whole condenser coil not just some of it So we get some of these bolts out they they bolted it in there like it's gonna go through multiple hurricanes and everything else Probably got it on this other side to do that. Yeah, looks like it. Well, they really We're afraid it's gonna come out of there. So hopefully we can get this out of there get to those start components It's gonna get this thing I'm plugged so we don't get I'll let you're cuted Put that back on see if it's dead And it's not running. So I must have got it. Good Let's move all of our goodies here to the side See if we can Get this thing out Nope today I Cut in somewhere else. Yep one more screw way back over in that corner. God bless them Well, you would think it wasn't made in America because why in the world would you design this so that you only have enough Wire because you know why are so expensive that you can't pull it out Why even make it so you can remove it? Why don't you just make us have to undo the whole thing and pull the refrigerant charge So apparently they were in such a hurry they used this quick push together type connections They don't have a nut on it. So you're not even gonna screw that and take the nut out You're literally gonna have to unscrew unthread the Armor off of it, which doesn't really want to turn much to get it out of there unless there's a better way to get those Pins to release. We'll get it out of there. Just why why why?  It's kind of Quite the contraption we got going on here. I don't know why they wouldn't have moved the electrical over to this side It would have made more sense Ignorance engineer Example of an engineer straight out of school doesn't have a clue But it made more sense to put that right there where you could have gotten to it a lot more sense Got our capacitor over here See if we can get into that. We'll check the Value on it see how it's doing. We have to do some real digging to get that off there We have 244 like our fair out on that and it's rated for 244 to 292 so it's good So that leaves us down to the start relay or just a start a stuck compressor This is where I'll pull any out and get on it and see what we got see if it works It's where it makes it really easy because I can just plug in over there at one of those other spots and Test it out and just isolate all this and then if it works great We could throw a three-in-one on there, but to wire three-in-one, you know when I don't need to to me It's just a lot more work. It's a dead compressor to wire it up. So let's go ahead and get over here See if we can get this panel off the compressor so we got them out of there You can see I'll tight that one blue wire is there Let's go ahead and make sure What we got here so we got Wow Comment at the top and start and run at the bottom start to run I Put that direction start to run All right, let's grab any you guys have seen this before Old technology, but all it is is a switch that Brings in your built-in capacitor to me. It's just easy. I can pick whatever capacitor I want This is the 200 something so I go in the center. I want to follow my meter there I got high and low leave that on high Bolt meter usually it's 120 volt It also has a step-up transformer in it so that if you wanted to test the potential relays You can test those and it had resistance on here. You got to remember when this was built They didn't have amp meter or meters that had all that crap built into it This was pretty cool state-of-the-art thing and this is one of the more deluxe models There's cheapies out there that had just the start part only and then you got to start cord Which I built and I don't ever use just because this is so much easier times worry about a capacitor getting shorted and everything else We got looked in down there Get our amp meter on high voltage shows you ever fall at the bottom one there 110 it's not the most accurate obviously not true RMS or anything like that We push down on our stir bun It's gonna put the start capacitor in the circuit and then when I flip it on I wait for a second I release takes it out of the circuit and then we just see what we've got for our amp for all We got our wires all hooked up on there. Everything looks good there. See what happens here. What's the amp meter? Here we go Started right up We're pulling It's five amps Your amps are on bottom micro farads are on top seal its compound gauge. So it's running You can come in here and see how accurate that is off of black 4.3 4.4 and it's reading This amount of five that's pretty pretty good for an old meter like this. This thing's got to be somewhere from the 80s Picked up on eBay Thing was a mint condition. The only thing I damaged on it was this I you got so many operations if you're not careful you can cause a back fee because these things are doing different different types of tests Because literally most of them cannot check capacitors start relays and all that other crap It it's got so many different things in there that it can do But we went ahead and done it Kind of discharge it all there which these have start pastors with relays on or with resistors on them to bleed them down That's a potentiometer there to vary your voltage. This literally will output a 400 and some almost 500 volts. It's got a step-up transformer in here to test out those potential relays I never use it, but you could literally Check it and see if it's open and closing where you're thinking it's supposed to if you have the specs on it Old technology, but it's really what's really changed over the years You got a capacitor. It's in a start circuit and it's removed whether it's by current or whether it's by voltage Not rocket science here. Anyhow the cap the compressor works We need a new start relay. It looks like does the capacitor test it out fine And the system ran at this point We need to get new start components for it Whether or not I get them now or come back with them is going to be the question Or I can put a 3-in-1 on there if I wire up a 3-in-1 You got to get power to the compressor Then you got to get power to the fan separately and then you're wiring all these things kind of a hassle With the way they've got this is such a pain in the butt I did a video on this you guys. I'll put a link at the top or down below Along with links to everything else But all the instructions how to test it and there's all the wiring for it All right, so we've got our new start components here Hopefully the capacitor will fit in there Looks like it's about the exact same size as the other one That's only downside of getting an aftermarket for that Otherwise we went ahead and got the protector and the current relay Let's go get this done Finally got all that back in there One of the things they always say is if you can shake this and you can hear it rattling. It's probably fine Cannot hear it at all that was the problem We found that out without shaking it but you can't always go by that 100% Inside there's just a piece of metal that gets pulled up Pulls it out of the circuit and opens the circuit so the capacitor won't blow up This one here is a little shorter But at least the top matches it So I'm gonna see if I can't squeeze this down a little bit make it fit If not, I'll have to put a wire tie on it to hold it in place We were able to get that to hold in there and it's firm So the trick to these is use your rotate that thing so it'll Screw right on there Now we can get some of these wires to plug back into their little spot and we should be able to kick it back on We got it all bolted back in there at least one anyhow. I'm not gonna put 50 of them in there like they did And let's see if we can't make this fit right so it actually covers the whole coil That actually fits better that way and I've washed it out even though it's really not washable But we got it. So let's poke that thing through there We got our pin there and it covers the whole coil That thing that'll keep it in place Get that back up there and let's go ahead and kick it on first to see if it runs Helps if you plug it in Oh, look at that Sweet Now as it doesn't go into a deep pump down, we should be fairly okay Let's give this a few minutes to kind of stabilize. This is a Cold rail style system. So there's no fan movement and so the pressures are a little different than normal But it will start to frost up the side walls there and stuff This might be why it took out the start components. It's gonna wrap its cycle Could be low on refrigerant Could be just because it's not A box temp but you would figure if it was not a box temperature It would keep on running So it would not surprise me if it's a little low Like to scan it and if there's nothing in the condenser leaking It's probably in the rails and there's gonna be a whole lot we can do with it Yep, they're just kicked on again. So there's probably what's really going on It's a 134a system and holds 16 ounces. It's probably just slightly low Let's go ahead and pull the refrigerant out weigh it in and see where we're at We just scanned the whole thing over and we got nothing down in here But once I ripped that open right there, it went berserco Now that it's aired out It's not going off even when it's up there in that area where I think it's leaking at in the rail side So it's a very small concentration that just accumulated Nothing in there pride apart the The armor flex there on the txv and all through here, and I'm getting nothing at all But she she went kind of crazy up here in the spot here Everything in the walls is stainless steel and kind of expand a foamed inside there So you're not going to be able to do anything with it in the past the factories told us to cap off one of them And then go ahead and pressurize it and see if it loses pressure If it does then obviously it's leaking and kind of go from there But the cost of these freeze coolers they're they're not going to replace it when they can just add You know 20 dollars 30 dollars with the refrigerant plus a service call and it may last a year or two It's just not going to happen So anyhow, let's go ahead and get this thing recovered and weigh it back in We've got 16 ounces in there running right at about 35 pound suction It's staying on hasn't cycled off yet I'm going to get a hold of their maintenance guy and let him know what's going on I believe this was low once before I don't know how many how long ago it was if it was a year or two ago or what I had worked on it And adjusted the pressure switches and stuff on it And after that we were good to go have a feeling that it's probably about every two years maybe possibly Maybe a little bit more That it goes low. So they're going to have to decide whether they want to Verify for sure that this is going to need chopped apart and do the pressure test or just plan on buying a new one Unfortunately, they're generally any more nowadays everything to throw away society as you'll notice here in a little bit The sides will start to freeze up, which I think we see one right there.  So it won't uh Won't be used We're running right in about 33 now So 33 let's convert that over and see what that is for her 134a Well, actually usually 34a real close to the pressure. It's about 33 degrees Pretty much right in there what you'd normally want. It just helps to know what originally were that was a little something how to look up So here's that start relay as you can see it's nothing but a coil of wires the power to the compressors right in line with it so it comes in here it goes out there as the amperage increases it pulls the Switch mechanism here gets sucked up and that opens it up and then opens the circuit takes the capacitor out of it and as we look at it here You can see it. It's all burnt there's the Contact points right there And that's how it comes in and out of the circuit right there Yep goes in and out That's the way the cook crumble That's going to wrap this video up guys. Hopefully you enjoyed it If you haven't already please consider subscribing check us out on instagram and facebook and until next time We'll catch you guys on the next one later


I want to talk about housing and housing affordability. There is a big problem that we have in the US. It's really a global problem, which is that homes are more expensive than they have ever been. And first-time buyers in particular, young people entering the market are facing the toughest environment in over 50 years. And I think everyone kind of knows this anecdotally, but I want to take you on a little journey into some of the underlying reasons and then discuss how we can potentially solve for this. The average house in the US, the average home in the US, today costs 4.3 times the average income. That compares to 1.9 times the average income in 1970, and it's the highest number since we have records. We have this data going back to 1946. That's 77 years. Houses are more expensive now than they have been in 77 years. If you live in San Francisco, like I do, it's even worse. Most of the coastal cities, this number is significantly higher. So not just San Francisco, but places like Raleigh, Durham, and Nashville, and other cities have this problem. We also, in addition to home prices, now have the highest mortgage rates in over 20 years. The 30-effects rate mortgage, which is the traditional first-time buyer product, just topped 8% last week. We have a regressive tax policy that was enacted in 2018 that basically did away with the mortgage interest tax deduction for first-time buyers. This is a little-known fact that most first-time buyers do not qualify for the mortgage tax deduction anymore. So what used to be support from the federal government via interest tax deduction is no longer available. We have student debt that's putting pressure on first-time buyers. And as you all know, in October this month, after three years, student loan repayments have started to kick back in, putting again more pressure on budgets. And we have institutional buyers, basically Wall Street, buying about 25% of single-family homes in the US and turning them into rentals for investor benefit. So in that environment, the ability for first-time buyer to go out and graduate from renting into owning, even a starter home, a $200, $300,000 home, has significantly decreased. We did a deep dive here in Raleigh, Durham, our launch market, and we looked at the win rate for the average first-time buyer, which used to be roughly 15% in 2017, has gone down to 2% last year. So 50% of first-time buyers get help from family. And these folks, quite frankly, don't need our help. What about the other half, right? What about the people who don't have generational wealth to help them buy homes? And when you look at the effect, home ownership has been regressive in the US for a number of years, and we're stuck, right? We're stuck with a home ownership rate and a system that favors generational wealth and disproportionately disfavors minorities, recent immigrants. So why do I care? I spent 15 years as a CEO of a software company here, venture-funded, selling a pricing engine to mortgage lenders. So I spent 15 years in the bowels of mortgage pricing, which is super exciting if you care about it. And one of the things I learned is that the system doesn't really, isn't really engineered to support first-time buyers, and there's really no incentives in the system to solve this problem. So I sold this company, moved on, started a new company, and we tried to sit down and said, why should we solve this problem? Why should we all care about ownership? Ownership is the single largest contributor to wealth, and I'm not talking about independence and huge wealth. I'm talking about the nest egg of the average American is largely contained in their home. Homeowners have better access to schools, so there is, in our educational system, a progressive effect here where home ownership actually allows parents to have better access to schools which benefits their children. And we have crime rates, whether that's correlation or causation, you can argue, and I'm happy to do that. Crime rates are lower in areas with higher home ownership. And it's also part, a deeply personal part of the American dream. People like to own their four walls. So how do we solve this problem? It's a massive generational problem. We can solve it with socially conscious capital. And the opportunity, we think, is somewhere around a million people per year, first-time buyers who are entering the system, who need help. So what we've challenged is the traditional choice between renting and buying, and we've basically aided a path in the middle, and in between, that we call fractional ownership. So the ability for first-time buyers to buy a home, not the whole home, but fractions of the home over time. We calling it buy your home brick by brick, zero debt, no surprises. So how does that work? Well, you can pick a house, any house on the market, and we turn it into 10,000 bricks. Bricks are ownership shares or interests in that real estate. The customer buys 200 bricks on day one, and then progressively buys 13 bricks every month. And he pays rent on the bricks that they haven't bought. So looking at the single home here, I can own a fraction and I can rent a fraction, but I have the perfect flexibility to decide how much I want to own, how much I want to rent. And the innovation here is that we can turn a brick into a security under an SEC exemption, and a security becomes a tradable instrument that any individual can invest in. So what we've done here is we've created liquidity in an otherwise illiquid asset, and we have bricks that are being bought by family members, circle of friends, the community, church, other folks who are interested in helping that individual. Bricks generate rental income, home price appreciation, and therefore there's an incentive baked into the ownership and the investment in those bricks. So we're effectively creating a crowdfunding mechanism for purchases of single family homes in the United States. Thank you. Now, once an only has accumulated enough bricks, they can qualify for a traditional mortgage, buy out the remaining investors, and own the home the traditional way. And what that does is it puts homeowners and investors on the same team, effectively having them jointly own the asset. And that has a number of benefits, savings for the first time buyer, and then return for the homeowner. Return, sorry, for the investor. So being on the same team means sharing the rewards. And one of the things that we're very proud of is activating socially conscious capital in the markets where we started. So for example, we have a UNC professor who is funding homes for refugees in his community in Chapel Hill. We have other folks who have social mission and objectives around funding homes and funding bricks for individuals that they care about.  We're live in Raleigh Durham. We've had a large amount of traction early on. We're looking for capital to fund homes. And if you want to join us in giving first time buyers an affordable path to home ownership, please take down my information, contact me. Happy to talk.


Think Tech Hawaii, civil engagement lives here. Back to Quok Talk. So for those of you who don't know me, I'm Crystal and this is a relaunch of my show Quok Talk. This time it's going to be kind of a limited series with a focus on the culture of women and we're going to unpack that as we go along. But today I'm very, very happy to be having the co-initiators including myself in the creation of this international women's group at the EWCPA and that's that UH Manoa because we're all grad students too. So there are a lot of layers we're going to unpack but we're going to unpack it with the concept and the focus of feminine hygiene as in how do cultural backgrounds and perspectives influence the way we view and approach our bodies and how important is it to talk about something like this that seems taboo but actually everybody has to deal with it. It's actually very ordinary issues that we bring to the table and hope you'll join us in this discussion of the culture of feminine hygiene. So at this point let me introduce my two lovely guests, co-initiators. So we've got next to me is Haley. Haley is a grad student. You want to tell us a little bit about yourself and then we'll move. Yeah, so I am a master's student at UH Manoa in the Department of Second Language Studies and my research focus is on feminist language pedagogy. Okay. So yeah, thanks for having me. Thank you. And next is Som. Thank you. I'm Som. I'm also a grad student at UH Manoa in public administration and my research focus is in domestic violence in Mongolia. So you said that. So Som is from Mongolia and Haley, you spend time in Paris and you are from? Yes, I'm originally from the Chicago area but I lived for four years in the south of France. Okay. So we do indeed have an international group here and how do you feel, let's talk about the international women's group first. How did this all come about? Yeah. Well, I know her for me. So we're part of the international women's group. It's the EWCPA which is East West Center, Participants Association because we all live at East West Center and I have always been interested in women's issues. Obviously, it's something that I study and I'm very invested in. But I was thinking about what could I do and that there really wasn't a physical space for me to invest in because I think in our daily lives we sort of inhibit these micro level spaces. So I don't know where you live, where your classroom, where you go to school, your bathroom, I don't know, right? When you go to the grocery store. But these are all affected by these sort of macro level institutions that we live in. So social, educational, economic institutions, when I was thinking about it, you know, most of these macro level institutions are male dominated. And I think that has a real trickle down effect and if we want to subvert that in any way we need to have female dominated spaces in our micro level spaces in our life in order to affect that. And so I wanted to create a space within East West Center and within our community where that could happen. Okay, cool. A space is important. So Sam, what is your take on this important space? Yeah, to me it was all about the creating this space where we feel comfortable just on sharing, you know, regardless of genders. So our focus with this group is we don't want to be exclusive on one gender, so we're trying to make it as inclusive as possible. And just the idea of having the space where everyone feels comfortable.  So this is a very recently launched organization, but we hope to provide a platform to talk about things that seems sensitive and inappropriate to talk about but are actually really important. So we start with this concept of feminine hygiene because every female has to deal with it, every female has a vagina. I don't know why that's a taboo word too, like people get all cringy when we talk about that. And everybody, every woman has, well not everybody, most women, we have menstruation, we have cycles and we have to deal with it. So we're bringing on the table these issues of products that actually are a big part of our life. Huge part. And you know, mine, me, Sherry, some like the other day we're meeting, you're like asking me for a tampon during that time because these are like part of our lives. So let's talk about that. How did you all get educated or how did you learn about the ways of dealing with feminine hygiene when you were growing up? Well, I was born and raised in Mongolia, so it was a communist society and turned into, we had a democracy just in 1990. So if I think back on my story, it was actually my dad who educated me. So yeah, when I was 12, first period, it was my dad, he was telling me all about it, he was welcoming me to adult life. So it was both the contribution of my both parents, male and female. So to me I think that really made me feel comfortable to talk openly about it, to men too. But there's a lot of influence from society, growing up in a private school in Mongolia, also going to a public school in Mongolia. There's a lot of stereotyping where, I'll talk about an example where you have to get checked, there's a health education process in public schools in Mongolia where girls and boys are separated where they have to, they can't talk about biology when they're together back in 2000 or late 1990s. So that kind of stereotyped me leads to stigma. You know what I mean? So there's not only family education, there's also society influence, where as a young girl you tend to observe that and start feeling sensitive about talking openly about your period, you tend to start buying tampons or pads and you hide it, you know? I still see a lot of those around. So there's a lot of environment influence where we feel like we have to hide it, that we can't talk about it openly. Do you feel that way in the West, Haley? In my personal experience a little, but my experience is yeah, I'm lucky because So I have a wonderful supportive family and my mom is really the one who educated me about feminine hygiene primarily and it was because she had a really negative experience actually. Yeah, I remember her telling me that when she first got her period, she thought she was dying because she didn't really get any formal education from anyone and she didn't know what was happening. It wasn't in the school system to know at least about what happened. Yeah, and I don't think, you know, her and her mom talked about it too much and so she really made sure to talk to me and to my sister about it and so then when I've got my period, I felt like I was sort of prepared and I was ready, but there was still this sort of taboo feeling around needing to sort of keep it secret and hide it, right? So like wrapping up my tampon or my pads and toilet paper, making sure my brothers don't see it. So I think, you know, I was actually, I think it was actually my mom, but she was doing it unconsciously.  Is that a cultural thing, Sarpur? Yeah, I don't know. Because do you wrap tampons and pads in Mongolia? Because in China what I've heard and I think I hope that it's been a little bit modernized is that people in the villages would throw their pads out like on the rooftops and they'd be like disgusting displays of things like that and it was because it's culturally it was just not something that you were taught to do and, you know, that's a practice and it's not trying to be inappropriate or disgusting, it's just something that they weren't taught. Yeah. Yeah, again, I think that's a practice of how, yeah, where do you, where do you learn about these things? If your parents or sisters or brothers can't teach you that, how do you learn? And is there an inappropriate way to learn?  Everyone learns through porn, unfortunately. Like these younger people who are, their knowledge of sexuality and sexual practices is so misguided because of these online sources. But for spending hygiene, there's not really that movement going on. People don't like posts like, hey guys, this is the, in fact, Song told me this new site if you want to talk about that new site about these authentic tampons. Oh yeah, yeah, I found out about Quora. So it's initiated by female social entrepreneur and they're actually creating this platform where you have access to getting tampons and pads delivered to your home. And they're also, they're a non-profit, they're trying to also empower 300 million women out there who just simply don't have access. And about 25 million girls, they just miss school because they're under a period they can't afford. So this whole social enterprise, it's investing into educating girls all around the world, specifically in a lot of Central American countries and throughout India. It was just, it just made me think about this in a different way because we're very selective on what's important and what's not important. And it seems like... This is something hidden. Yes, exactly. But it's highly related to health education. It's related to poverty. It's not only about empowerment, it's our social problem too and why do we keep hiding it? Why do we keep putting it under the balance? And nobody talks about it. We were talking about refugees, immigrants, people who are underprivileged or impoverished or homeless. I mean, if they don't have the means to access products, feminine hygiene products, how do they deal with it? We take for granted. Okay, yeah, let me borrow a tampon from my friend. But what about people who don't have access? I mean, we think about that and what it means. It's kind of an important understated issue that's kind of swept under the rug, isn't it? Yeah, it's not like titled as a social issue, but it is if you think about it. And because we have the privilege, we don't really think about what's going on around, you know? So there's statistically 300 million women who just simply don't have the access. So that makes you see it from a different perspective. And it's important that we talk about it openly and it was really inspiring to see such organizations existing, taking it and talking about it, you know? Yeah, and it's a really nice website, so you should check it out. On the aspect of the importance of different cultural aspects, I want to bring in the concept of why it's taboo. Why, you know, Sam, you mentioned it before. There's a taboo of a lot of Asian countries, I don't know about others, of not using tampons as opposed to sanitary pads, because the concept of inserting something is not appropriate. But when the Western perspective would be, that's the cleanly way to do it, right? People would argue that the pads are the older band-aids, which sounds really disgusting. But the tampons were something that were inappropriate. What do you want to elaborate on that? Yeah, so to our culture, we would hear myths, a lot of misconception that if you use tampons, it's going to destroy the virginity, for instance. Have you heard of it before, Kelly? I've heard you talk about it. Yeah, it's a way that young girls can think, oh, so this means this is a no to tampons all along, you know? So there's marketing going on there, too, behind this. Yeah, sure. And I guess there's, and I heard this from a lot of my international girlfriends, too, there's the same differences that actually make you select different types of products based on these misconceptions and myths. And it's all about the access now. But times changed. Well, in my culture, in my country, now there's access. There's a lot of access to different types of products. So would you say most modern girls use tampons more than pads now, or it's still kind of fixated in the old traditional way of using pads? I think my practice changed when I went to school in Connecticut. So as a 16-year-old girl, being introduced to tampons there, because all my girlfriends use tampons. So who taught you to use pads? I was the only one using pads. This is very personal to ask people whether you use pads or tampons. But is it assumed that most people use tampons? I think I was a late starter on tampons, though, because it actually kind of scared me. I was sort of scared by the idea of using a tampon. But that was in the cultural taboo thing for you. No, and so it was my mom who eventually taught me and showed me how to use tampons. But most of my girlfriends were using tampons, right? And that's why I wanted to. And there was this idea that they were cleaner and they were easier. But I don't know if I necessarily agree. I've sort of gone away from tampons now. I don't like them as much. But then see, Crystal, in China you said it's the other way around. Tampons are not considered clean. Well, then again, how do we define them? Now I think the more modern girls will use tampons more than pads. And I guess it depends on your lifestyle too, right? Right. You know, if you're an athlete, obviously you would probably have to use a tampon. Yeah. And for me, the reason why I actually made the shift, it was interesting. It was because, so when I was living in France and I was teaching at a school there, they didn't have any garbage cans in the bathroom. Oh, that's inconvenient. There were no garbage cans in the bathroom. And I asked about it. Well, so yeah, if I was wearing a tampon, I'd have to roll it up and put it in my backpack. And then you forget about it. Yeah, and so I could find the garbage can. And so then I just started wearing pads again because I could leave it in longer. It sounds gross, right? But I didn't have to worry about it. We're like, a tampon, you have to take it out when it's full. You have to take it out. But that's education too, because a lot of people don't know that. Like, I might have to remind my daughter, because she used tampons and she can leave it in for a long time. Like, that is not healthy. Right. And there are problems with that. And you have to read. You have to clean yourself up every few hours. So these like little kind of practicalities and things that we don't think about discussing, but they affect our bodies. And how we view our bodies is based on what we use to treat our bodies. So we're going to take a small break. Hold that thought about this tampon pad kind of debate and what you read into that in your cultural perspective of how you view this is really quite interesting. So we'll be back. So don't go away. Aloha. I want to invite all of you to talk story with John Wahee every other Monday here at Think Tech Hawaii. And we have special guests like Professor Colin Moore from the University of Hawaii who joins us from time to time to talk about the political happenings in this state. Please join us every other Monday. Aloha. Aloha. I'm Wendy Lo and I'm coming to you every other Tuesday at 2 o'clock live from Think Tech Hawaii. And on our show, we talk about taking your health back. And what does that mean? It means mind, body and soul. Anything you can do that makes your body healthier and happier is what we're going to be talking about, whether it's spiritual health, mental health, fascia health, beautiful smile health, whatever it means, let's take healthy back. Aloha. Welcome back to Clock Talk. I'm Crystal here with my two wonderful guests from the International Women's Group at EWCPA, Haley and Psalm. Now we were talking about the myths of the tampons and how culturally and even just in terms of how we perceive things is in fact quite sensitive because it's the idea of inserting something that may seem inappropriate depending on, and it's like it's an awkward thing. You have to kind of figure out how to do it right. Because you know this is another technical thing.  Or it hurts. Yeah. You can't peel it off. Yeah. So this is a detail. But speaking of insertion, I think we need to also talk about the taboos of sexual practices while women menstruate. Because again, I don't know if it's cultural or maybe it's a personal thing. How do you girls feel about that sex during the period? That's like, whoa, we can't be talking about this. Yeah. Well, I think my visions, my idea of sex during period has changed over the years with the people that I've been with. So originally I thought no way, no one ever talked about that. So I was lucky because my parents did talk to me about menstruation and feminine hygiene, but nobody ever talked about sex in menstruation. That's not something we see anywhere. And so I just had this idea like, oh, that's disgusting. No guy's going to want to be with me. No guy's going to want to touch me when I'm menstruating. And it's so wrong. That's not true. Well, because of hormones elevated, there's something right here. I don't know what every guy I've ever been with. If I've been on my period and I'm just like, oh, I don't know. You know, I'm on my period. He's like, I don't care. And it's been fine. And yeah, I don't know. Yeah, it's us. It's us that we think this is. We have it's not okay. But it's natural. It's something natural. I mean, and I don't know. Most guys seem to understand that and don't seem to mind too much. Yeah. How much do you think that guys that you know understand how the woman's body really works? See, I think that would help, though, having sex during your period. We also understand a little bit. Right, right. I think it depends on their experiences probably with the women in their lives. I know. So I have two brothers. And my sister and I, we try to talk with our brothers about it. Like we don't hide it, right? When we're on our periods, we're like, oh man, I have cramps. That's good. And like, you know, like I feel like this and I'm bleeding. And so I think they understand. I think they really, they get it a lot better because they've had the chance to talk with us. And that's why it's so important that we talk about these topics, right? Yeah. Because how can men understand if we don't tell them about it? Right, right. And it is important for them to understand. So how do like parents even educate their sons about this process on a woman's body? Yeah. It's kind of interesting.  You have a son. I still have time. Yeah. Talk to them exactly. I still have time. But yeah, let's, you know, when I, when I talk with my male friends, it seems like majority, they don't really talk about. Yeah. They don't really get to education from their mothers. You know, I have to say, because I've never talked about it to my boys either. To my boys, yeah. In fact, I'm going to try tonight to ask them what they think or know about this situation. Yeah, but I think when my time comes, when my son's older, I think I would definitely jump in and talk openly about this. And to respect that, yeah. Right. You know what I think the biggest taboo is for men is they think that, oh, is that time of the month? Okay.  I hate that. I hate it when there's that exception. Me too. Yeah. You know, maybe one thing would be in schools. So I don't know how you guys learned. But when we had like education, I remember when I was like in fifth and sixth grade about like puberty and stuff, they always separated the guys. Yeah, they still do, right? They still do. I don't know. Like what if it was done together? Yeah. Good point. You're into pedagogy. I mean, this is like... Like why not? And I don't know maybe, I don't know if it would make kids uncomfortable, but I mean, like, why are they uncomfortable, right? Like, why in the first place are they uncomfortable learning about the other sex and learning about what happens. And why is it shunned? Like, I mean, again, going back to the cultural thing, back in the old days, the red tent, the concept of how women in Israel had to go into this tent and kind of spend their time there when they're menstruating. But you think about it, it might have stemmed from something very practical, that they didn't have sanitary napkins and they had to stay put and they couldn't do it at work. I don't know. I mean, what are your... Well, when we talk about misconception, I found it interesting that, you know, the one best thing about having an international women's group is that you get to interact with a lot of people from different cultures. And I learned that misconceptions aren't always negative. It was also about embracing this biology that we have, this nature. And then there's a lot of misconceptions that's myths, I would say, myths that when women are menstruating, there are things like, oh, you can't stay in the kitchen because your taste buds changed. Hey, don't drink lemonade. Which culture? In Poland. In Poland? Yes.  Oh, in Poland. And in the Philippines, you can't be around the kitchen. And also in Italy, you can't cook because you're going to destroy everything. So it's, you know, it's highly advantageous. And there's also the idea of, in lots of Hispanic culture, you can't drink lemonade. So it kind of relates to, maybe there's, it's not always about negative things. It's about taking care of women, giving them break. Okay. I see that. Okay. But I, you know, from a Chinese culture and my experience living in Hong Kong is I saw more of the negative side of it. I mean, I wish they kind of like respected to say, okay, you rest for these next five days. No. If anything, like in the film industry, if they, if you had your period, and not that you would announce it, but they say that women can't sit on camera boxes, basically, any equipment, because women, because they bleed, are deemed as bad omens and can create like a bad luck to something. And it's like, wow. So I think, yeah, like the problem with a lot of these myths then is that it's still treating having a period as a deficiency, right? And that there's something wrong with you in some way. So even if it is, you know, like, oh, you can't go in the kitchen. So then I don't know, you can't cook in. I don't know. You have a, you have a break. You're still being viewed as deficient in some way. Like why can't you be in there? It's not go have a rest.  I mean, do you think in our modern times that we find ways to question these or balance the traditions and where it comes from with the modern kind of concepts of how we need to take care of ourselves? What do you think? Where do we draw the line on accepting all traditions that actually may affect how we are viewed in society? I think it takes time. Just, you know, just we're, we're talking about this openly. Maybe perhaps 10 years ago, we wouldn't be sitting here and talking openly about female hygiene products and period. But so I guess it takes time and it takes a lot of when you're exposed to diversity where you interact with different groups of people. I think that really helps to make you think differently on things because your values change in life. So does your perception and misconceptions as well. So I think it takes time and it takes this. You got to talk about this.  Learn about things. You just mentioned today, I just learned that you said that I think is it in Japanese culture that Japanese women aren't encouraged to make sushi when they have their period? Yes, that was one of them. Is it their taste buds? It's taste buds. See, it's related to a lot of nutrition stuff too. Yeah, I don't know. And there was a lot of, there was a lot of myth where behavioral restrictions where you can't wash your hair throughout the week of menstruation. Well, in my country, we have to stay warm. Yes. It's not always negative stuff. It's also about embracing women's body too. Yeah, yeah. I tell my daughter, don't eat cold things when you have your period. See that's coming from your Chinese roots. Yes, yeah, yeah, yeah. Because there is, you have to understand the openness of the vulnerability when you have your period. And I guess that vulnerability kind of opens up to a really bigger kind of concept of this conversation, doesn't it? Like why are we as women vulnerable? Because we can menstruate. What does that mean? And vulnerability is not a bad thing at all. How is it a form of resistance? Exactly. It is, it's not oppositional. Vulnerability is not oppositional to resistance. Right. That's what feminist theory tells us. So in our kind of a wrap up of all these kind of like different attitudes and perceptions on these things, what do you feel like we need to kind of give as a takeaway to this topic of feminine hygiene? Yeah. I think for me it's mostly education, just because I'm an educator, right? And so I do think we need to find ways to educate children, especially, right? How early do you think that comes? You know, I think when you start, well, I mean, you could start at the home too, right? Like if you, like a kid finds, I don't know, like a box of tampons. Yeah, what happened to mommy? Why can't you just tell them, like, oh, it's a tampon and like, you know, tell them what it's for, right? So making it less taboo in that sense. But also in schools, when you start with sex education too, I think there are a lot better ways that we could talk about this and discuss it together. Yeah. I think that together things are key. I think that's really a good point. Yeah. Yeah. So? Well, I'll speak as a mother of a boy and a girl. So it's about starting beginning within the family. So first thing, just got to be open about this.  And I think that's a very good beginning for breaking this negative misconceptions and behavioral restrictions that make women seem vulnerable that they need help. No, it's just about embracing it. So I think as a mother, it begins within the family but we just have to be very open about this. Yeah. Yeah. So I think we opened up a really great platform to talk about these sensitive issues. And it's just the beginning of many to come. And if you have any ideas of some sensitive feminine, not feminine, but just women's issues on gender or sensitivities of how socially and culturally we seem to kind of block things that are so called taboo or inappropriate, text us and call us and email us at Think Tech too so that we can discuss and open up this conversation to people and make it a healthy, healthy conversation about sensitive issues. So I want to thank both of my guests today, Haley and Saul for talking and bringing up the International Women's Group and congratulations to us, I have to say on creating a platform for this because it's really important. Yeah. And tune in again and we'll be talking about more sensitive issues but highlighting and supporting and celebrating the culture of women. Thank you and see you next time.