I don’t pretend to know your business, but I do know the kind of people you are, so I wanted to introduce you to an organization that literally caught my eye.

Last Fall, I saw a Facebook post of this feature article from our local newspaper about a woman with Down syndrome competing in the Miss Minnesota pageant. As someone who’s been involved with organizations that support developmentally disabled people, I was surprised. Reading further, I discovered this woman got her start in pageant competition through Minnesota Miss Amazing: a 501c3 nonprofit operating in thirty states, created for girls and young women with disabilities to build confidence and self-esteem in a supportive environment.

A few nights later, I mentioned this story to a friend and he told me his wife founded and serves as the State Director of Minnesota Miss Amazing (it’s a small world up here). It’s unpaid work; they make pageant participation free. Miss Amazing is a very bootstrap operation, driven by committed volunteers who recognize that women with disabilities are statistically the most marginalized group in the United States.

I don’t know if Ulta gets involved in grassroots outreach, but if this interests you or anyone on your team, I would love to connect you to Jordan Crosser Buckellew before this year’s event on April 7th. The venue runs $1500–basically 20-25% of their annual operating budget, depending on the number of participants. And sixty goodie bags or so would cover all the contestants, if you’d want to participate. Basically, any involvement by a recognized beauty brand like Ulta would add enormously to the inclusive, empowering message of their pageant. You can explore it on the local level and if you are really interested, Jordan could connect you with the national organization as well; it’s truly a labor of love driven by good people with big hearts.

People being nice to people…I’ve always been a bit of a sucker for that. Thanks for your consideration Mary and Dave,