Over the past two years that I’ve grown and engaged with the design world and blogosphere online and in Atlanta, I’ve been astonished and inspired by the pool of passion and creativity that I’ve been able to connect with. Becoming so passionate about interior design has been exciting and fun for me, but I’ve often struggled with the art of interior design within the context of a national or global context. It’s often overlooked as a frivolous or aesthetics-driven art, and though it’s easy to define the process of creating a home as one of throw pillows and plush rugs, the sentimentality of space reflects so much more than a brand of home decor or lifestyle. Creativity creates an important and often productive dialogue. It’s so important to me and so many creative artists and designers to explore the world through the tools of our artistry, but I also believe that it must be balanced with an understanding of your global citizenship, and a responsibility to channel your passion where positive change can happen outside of your sphere of comfort. When I was approached to create a blog post for CARE.org, I wasn’t sure how to talk about an organization fighting global poverty on my interior design blog, until I realized how connected I was to CARE’s mission. As a teenage blogger hoping to start his own design firm one day, I’m amazed at how I’m able to connect and learn with a whole bunch of talented bloggers and designers online through my blog, and I often take for granted the resources that the web have afforded me. CARE supports entrepreneurs — who have dream just like I do but lack the resources — through micro-financing and providing access to worldwide markets. In fact, it can take as little as $2 to enable an entrepreneur to start a donut business and change their life. CARE empowers women – a mission so important to the global feminist movement, provides food security – giving life culture and community back to those in poverty, fights climate change – which has a direct impact on global poverty, and provides clean water – a necessity for life. Many of these things are passion that I share directly or indirectly on Thou Swell, and CARE’s fight to fight against global poverty is so relevant to what I share and what I’m passionate about.
When I thought about creating sponsored content for CARE.org, I was uncomfortable with the idea of posting about a non-profit organization for my own profit, so I’ve decided to donate 3/4 of my earnings from this post back to CARE.org. Please check out their website and mission and consider making a donation yourself!
This post is sponsored by CARE.org. Thanks for supporting the sponsors that keep Thou Swell running!
