Some of you recently reached out to enquire how “quarantining on the beach” felt…? Well, not like what you may imagine. So I thought I would volunteer some information on how isolating from the pandemic recently turned into fighting food shortages for 10,000 of my neighbors. An unexpected nudge from life I would like to share with you now... The story starts in Cabarete, a small beautiful beach town on the North Coast of the Dominican Republic where I live most of the time for 2 years now. Home to a culturally rich population of over 25,000 people, where locals primarily make their living off of tourism which provides basic necessities for the majority of the population. Yet, on March 18th 2020, the Dominican Republic was forced to shut down [...]

As the world continues to be gripped by the developing COVID-19 crisis, everyone from governments to NGOs and community organizations to individuals are scrambling to fight back in any way they can. Scenes reminiscent of wartime: sweeping economic state intervention, country-wide lockdowns and curfews, supermarket rationing and overwhelmed healthcare systems, have become the new norm. When fighting an enemy so indiscriminate, so far-reaching, our response must be fast, globally cooperative, highly communicative and agile. Luckily, there is already a vast group of organizations that can fill these shoes with ease: for-profit brands. There has already been wide-spread coverage of companies stepping up to the plate and focusing their considerable resources to support healthcare professionals across the globe. From luxury fashion houses manufacturing face masks to distillers turning whisky into hand [...]

ANTICIPATING & PREVENTING A HUMANITARIAN CRISIS Two years ago, after living 26 years in NYC, I decided to move to the North Coast of Dominican Republic in Cabarete, a welcoming, sunny and beautiful Caribbean beach town of 25,000 where locals and expats live in harmony. The town is also known as the kitesurfing, surfing and windsurfing Capital of the Caribbean. A watersport paradise, to me and to many. So surfing early in the morning, yoga at night and working during the day to create content for brands that make a positive impact felt pretty awesome (my “happiness sandwich”). It still does ;-) But then, COVID-19 hit a few weeks ago. And besides the obvious health crisis, the hard economic stop and personal inconveniences that most of the world suffers already, [...]

While most governments are scrambling to adapt, mobilize and fight back against the spread of the coronavirus, their actions are often limited to their frontiers and slow to roll out. But the enemy in this war knows no frontiers, the virus knows no nationality and it is after humankind as a whole. It is coming for you, for us, for our families, and for our jobs: it is out to destroy our global economy. As humans, as professionals, we are all in this together. So what are you going to do about it? Stay home, wear a mask and gloves when you have to go out and keep your distance with others. Of course. That is the necessary defensive stance. Now how about punching back as well? In this battle [...]

Positive Solutions’ core philosophy reminds me of American entrepreneur, author, and humanitarian activist Dan Pallotta and his famous TED Talk that rippled through the charitable sector and had every nonprofit veteran executive nodding their heads in a resounding, “YES,” including me. It was aptly titled, “The Way We Think About Charity is Dead Wrong.” In his famous talk, Dan argued that there exists a double standard between the for-profit and non-profit sectors. Especially in the areas of advertising and marketing there is discrimination toward any charity that invests in marketing because the common attitude is that donors don’t want to see their donations spent on advertising. “Our attitude is, ‘Well, look, if you can get the advertising donated, you know, to air at four o’clock in the morning, I’m okay with that. [...]

Since the emergence of mass-marketing and public relations in the 1920’s, marketing & advertising disciplines have been making giant progresses almost every year. The art of reaching and convincing millions of people into buying a product, a service, creating needs out of nowhere, or electing never-heard-of-before politicians, has become a complex yet very efficient science. A science boosted by tech innovations like the massive adoption  of radio, television, the Internet, mobile communication, smartphones, big data and now: Artificial Intelligence. But that scientific technology , unlike most others, also came out of the box with little ethical guidelines and boundaries. With Great Power Came No Responsibility: While most marketers may not think they’re lying outright about their product or services (most countries’ laws prohibits it anyway so there is a boundary there), [...]

Today we are proud to announce our partnership with Ocean Academy DR  — a surf and kitesurf school founded and operated by international surfing & kite surfing champion Luciano Gonzalez.  This partnership is twofold as it aims to develop surf & yoga retreats for professionals and corporate leaders, and to support Ocean Academy”s prosocial activities.  As a certified yoga instructor who incorporates his knowledge of yoga in his professional surf, kitesurf and SUP activities and teaching, Luciano Gonzalez became a natural driving force alongside Thierry Daher, founder of Positive Solutions and creator of Surfasana, in bringing into existence the unique yoga-surf-meditation practice. Thierry Daher has been a yoga and surfing enthusiast for years and has enjoyed firsthand the benefits of both practices in his professional life, as well as in his personal. Thierry is intending [...]