Infinitely grateful for the opportunity to be part of the Tribe 12 Fellowship, an accelerator for entrepreneurial young adults in the Philadelphia area to receive support on their businesses or projects.
At the end of January 2024, I had a profound opportunity to spend several months supporting the foundation of Bendichas Manos with the support of Tribe 12. Major thank you to Danielle Selber, Brett Richman, Amanda Davidowitz, and Rabbi Megan GoldMarche for all of your support, guidance, coordination, and enthusiasm. Every week, our cohort of 13 would gather in Center City to participate in seminars with other talented community members. Biweekly, we'd meet with our mentors (shout out to Shelby Zitelman of Soom Foods!) and twice over the program, meet with our peer mentor (major thank you to Simi Toledano).
On May 7th, the program culminated in a "launch night" for our cohort to pitch to ~200 people in the community. All of the fellows created a booth to share what we've been working on. I met so many wonderful people who were curious about Bendichas Manos, which is truly based upon my Sephardic heritage and the holy and ancient, 6,000 year old heart-opening Mayan fruit.
I was so grateful for the support of my dear friend Bela, who served cacao with so much love, and her partner Justin, who also came to support. Bela also participated in the 4 week cacao program I facilitated in March and has such a beautiful, deep connection with the fruit herself. Not sure if you can see through the photo, but we have what I call "cacao eyes!" ;) more about that soon!
And my two dear friends Teresa and Tara, who came all the way from New Jersey, with gorgeous flowers, glowing and radiant with their hearts so open from their open beautiful relationship with cacao!
I am so grateful and proud of the work that my fellows and I did over the course of the last few months to create stronger foundations for our work so that our missions and visions can impact the world in intentional and meaningful ways. Though the fellowship is over, gd willing, the good work is just beginning!