A cold New York weekday. Rushing through life with my stream-of consciousness thoughts and my Catrinka tote and honestly, just thinking I need another cup of coffee before I walk into the office. I know I could do better by being more present, more thankful for my life but I am running late to work, the commute has been hell, and well it’s one of those New York mornings and it’s not even 9:00 am so I stop by one of the local coffee places which I not known for being efficient or even having a decent cup of coffee in midtown, but it is strategically located in my office’s building, so I walk in. I am anticipating my annoyance before they even ask me what I want.
Order a large coffee and when I am about to pay, the cashier looks at the bag and exclaims, ‘that is Bengali!’ I suddenly wake up from my daze and start explaining to her what Girl Rising is and what Catrinka stands for. The girls getting an education, the beautiful bags made by women in those countries where education is most needed, providing, in a beautiful full circle, education to girls and supporting entrepreneurship in women, while creating beautiful handbags. Some other girls behind the counter (the place doesn’t fulfil the requirement to have baristas) join the cashier and smile and look at the tote. She gives me my coffee and says ‘you are doing good.’ It made my day.