Business for Good: Live Life Nice
Mar. 28, 2019
When Ashley Kane was viii years old, her family lost everything in a devastating house fire.
But 2 decades later, what has stayed with the Philly native more than anything else nearly that tragedy isn't loss. It'due south compassion.
"I'll never forget firefighters showing upwardly the next day with Easter baskets for my brother and sis and me," Kane says. "Those are the kinds of people I want to be like. They didn't know us; they deal with emergencies constantly; and notwithstanding they were still kind enough to recollect about 3 kids who didn't take a firm anymore."
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The transformative power of simple acts of kindness is now the guiding principle behind Live Life Dainty , a five-year-onetime startup Kane runs with Christian Crosby, the ebullient in-arena host for the Sixers (and, with more 59,000 Instagram followers, a bona fide Philly social media star).
Crosby had been toying for years with iterations of do-good content—a YouTube video here, a Tweet in that location, an inspiring homemade t-shirt the next solar day—before he partnered upwardly with Kane to formalize his passion. He describes Live Life Nice equally a crusade-driven digital media and apparel company. "Our sole purpose is to inspire, empower, and motivate nice," he says.
"I remember that the time is right for a make like Live Life Squeamish to have a existent opportunity to succeed," says Seth Berger. "Clearly in our society, the more light that we tin shine on good things right now, the amend our social club will exist."
The duo executes that mission through several interdependent channels. At that place's the Alive Life Overnice website, with its listing of more than 500 suggested random acts of kindness . There's the company's social media presence, regularly featuring the charismatic Crosby performing random acts of kindness around town—giving out flowers (and, on request, hugs) to passersby at Independence Hall, distributing Dunkin' "donut bouquets" to commuters in Academy City.
There are the company's practise-good partnership events. They're rallying people to bring together them on March 31 st for the 7k portion of the Philadelphia Beloved Run half-marathon, with a mission of raising $100,000 for Legacy of Hope , which funds research and supports financially-distressed cancer patients in Philly. Soon after, on April xiii th , they'll be putting their efforts behind the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society's Large Climb Philly, with the goal of rallying 100 people to join their team.
And and then there is the Live Life Nice clothes, a line of hoodies, beanies, and tees in a cozy-cool palette of blackness, white, and gray emblazoned with the word "nice" in cursive. The garments are printed locally, in Clifton Heights, and Kane says they source their products from brands which ensure "prissy" business practices as often every bit they tin can. For at present the line is sold on the visitor's site, where, if yous sign upwards to take the company's Overnice pledge, you get a 10 percent discount code; at sporadic pop-up shops around the region; and at the Foot Locker Power Shop in Wyncote. Crosby and Kane hint that an expansion of products and distribution channels could be on the horizon, though they couldn't say much more at this time.
Trendy equally giving back may be in 2019, Crosby'south desire to encourage and highlight acts of goodness is far more than a fad; it's deeply rooted in his upbringing. Growing up in Philly and South Jersey, he watched his parents feed the homeless, lead theater arts programs for impoverished children, and do community counseling. "My parents are very selfless, and I grew up wanting to exist like that," he says. But with a knack for being silly and entertaining—hence, the loonshit gig—he was conflicted. "I wanted to practice good, I wanted to entertain, and I wanted to exist an entrepreneur. I struggled with how to do all of that," he says. Working in marketing and events for the Sixers for 10 years, he began to take notation of how, in the world of media, negativity gets the most attending. "I didn't like that—and I wanted to practise something about it."
So far they've spearheaded a campaign to get 100,000 messages to armed services overseas, donated about 1,500 pairs of shoes to Goodwill, nerveless hundreds of toys for CF Charities, and donated several hundred pieces of sporting equipment to The Boys and Girls Club of Greater Philadelphia.
Kane, meanwhile, was bartending at Fourth dimension, the Heart Metropolis whiskey bar where Crosby would regularly caput later on working games; the ii became fast friends as Crosby, who doesn't similar to drinkable, relied on Kane to cascade him sweet alternatives to his buddy's beer and liquor. "I always say nosotros became friends over a pink drink," Kane says. As timing would accept it, Kane had begun questioning her bartending career around the same time that Crosby needed someone to fill a role in 1 of his do-expert videos. So Kane stepped up—and, co-ordinate to Crosby, killed it. "From that betoken on, Ashley went from being the random person who came to salve the day one time, to being my correct hand throughout this journeying," Crosby says.
The company'south mission may sound lofty, but skeptics take note: Information technology's i of just seven companies that's been vetted and validated by the Sixers Innovation Lab Crafted by Kimball; the startup incubator, based in the Sixers Camden training facility, is run by Seth Berger, the visionary entrepreneur who, with his partners, successfully launched, built, and sold sportswear brand And1 (and is at present the basketball jitney at Westtown School).
"I think that the time is right for a brand like Live Life Nice to have a real opportunity to succeed," Berger says. "Conspicuously in our society, the more than light that we tin shine on good things right at present, the ameliorate our lodge will be. And Christian and Ashley actually desire to do that."
Later Crosby and Kane pitched Berger and earned a spot in the lab in 2017, Crosby quit his solar day job in Sixers marketing; at present, when he's not at the arena for games, he and Kane devote their full-fourth dimension attention to Live Life Overnice.
Their hard work is paying off. With Live Life Nice's Instagram following of nearly 12,000 (and growing), so far they've spearheaded a campaign to go 100,000 messages to military overseas, donated well-nigh ane,500 pairs of shoes to Goodwill, collected hundreds of toys for CF Charities , and donated several hundred pieces of sporting equipment to The Boys and Girls Social club of Greater Philadelphia. About one,000 people have made the online pledge to complete a Dainty act. And while, for now, the company's main revenue stream is dress, they're hoping to regularly monetize their videos through sponsorship deals, equally they did with their Dunkin' video.
"I think Alive Life Prissy has the potential to be a actually impactful brand, whether it goes beyond Philadelphia or beyond the due east declension and then becomes a big U.Due south. brand or becomes an international brand," Berger says. "At the end of the solar day, as long equally it'southward having an touch, making a departure, and spreading positivity, I'm happy to exist a role of information technology."
That arguably ane of the most successful sportswear powerplayers of our fourth dimension — in its heyday, And1 ranked but backside Nike in basketball market share — is fatigued to Live Life Prissy not for its apparel, just for both its moral bottom line and potential financial 1 says as much almost the times we alive in as it does nearly Kane and Crosby's character. "It'south gonna audio corny," Berger says, "Just I think Christian and Ashley are 2 incredibly nice people, and I was attracted to their spirit."
The feeling is mutual. "In the business world, having names like the Sixers and Seth Berger behind your name obviously helps," Kane acknowledges. "Seth is a powerhouse, and he volition make sure the burn down is lit to make you lot keep pushing towards that goal."
And so what is the ultimate goal?
"We have no intention of staying local any," Crosby says. Negativity, Kane points out, is not a trouble that's unique to Philly or the U.S.
Adds Crosby: "We want to be international yesterday ."
Source: https://thephiladelphiacitizen.org/business-for-good-live-life-nice/
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