Bay Area entrepreneur finds success with business that gives back
It has no doubt been a tough year for business but a Bay Area entrepreneur says even now she is steadily growing her business. She credits, in part, her company’s mission, to not just create a product line, but also to make her business about giving back.
As she walks you around her showroom, Gaby Ghorbani loves showing you her favorite products but she can also tell you about the artists behind each piece. From the young female entrepreneur making shoes to the family in Mexico that helps sew her masks.
You don't get one without the other, because those stories are why this company was built.
"The story behind a mask," says Ghorbani, "the story behind who made this mask how it empowers somebody and how people wear it (and) gift it with pride."
"The mission," she explains, "is about empowering women and giving back so people have been really supportive of the line and I love that they love the line and they love the mission and the purpose behind it."
The company is called Love You More. Ghorbani believes that’s what we can all do more of.
And when you buy something from her company, you also give back to one of the many causes that Ghorbani champions.
"Right now Love You More is really all over place," Ghorbani admits, "as the need comes in, a story I heard, that drives me to help that particular cause."
She has helped throw a quinceanera at an orphanage in Mexico, helped single moms and donated to Families Without Borders. Many of her artisans are from Mexico which allows her to give back to the place where she was born and raised.
"I really think Love you More was always meant to be," she says, "I care about women's issues I care about giving back, I care about being mindful. I care about being a social enterprise that cares."
It's a business model that's gotten her recent attention from publications like Forbes, Entrepreneur Magazine and Inc. whose stories highlight the changing relationship between consumers and companies.
Ghorbani says consumers are looking for companies like hers, "They are open to give, they are open to actually buy an item that makes a difference."
She has always been dedicated to giving back, she also runs a non-profit called Pledge to Humanity, that helps provide volunteering opportunities to young people."
She hopes her companies not only empowers other female entrepreneurs but it also shows other companies big and small that it makes sense to do what they can to make a difference.
"It’s a business," she says "but it’s a business that cares it's a business that has purpose it's a business that gives back and a mission that wants to stick to. Everybody can do something and I think that's the key."
And she says if at the end the day we all love a little more well consider that mission accomplished.