Celebrating Good Times: Last Week’s Lemonade Day Eighth Annual City Directors Conference Showcased 2018 Results And Outlined Expansion Plans for 2019
By Steven Gordon, Lemonade Day National President
Joe Daly of Gallup Served as Keynote Speaker
Briana Liles Named 2018 National Lemonade Day Youth Entrepreneur of the Year
September is historically a strategic and action-packed month for all of us involved in the Lemonade Day program. One reason for this is that most Lemonade Day community events wrap up at the end of September until the next year. Another is that our national staff hosts the Lemonade Day Annual City Directors Conference in Houston in late September of each year. Yet another is that our National Board of Directors convenes for a board retreat. Now that September is behind us, we can pause to share and celebrate all that we have accomplished.
Our Eighth Annual City Directors Conference attracted about 75 leaders and supporters Sept. 26 through Sept. 28, with 37 Lemonade Day geographic areas represented. The conference opened with a reception for new and first-time attendees followed by a dinner for all participants. Debbie Nazarian, Lemonade Day National Director of Cities, and Charlie Hamilton, Lemonade Day National Board Chairman, joined me in welcoming all of our amazing city directors. Joe Daly, Partner with Gallup and a member of the Lemonade Day National Board of Directors, served as the conference’s keynote speaker on Sept. 28.
At the conference, we celebrated the positive impact that Lemonade Day has continued to make on youth and their communities over the past 12 months. We also discussed key initiatives for the coming year, which include expanding Lemonade Day from 72 to 84 licensed markets, offering additional training opportunities for city directors, and providing more resources (such as content and technology tools).
Lemonade Day will continue our partnership with Gallup this year. We will co-host the second annual Business Startup Challenges and Youth Entrepreneurship Briefing at Gallup World Headquarters on Jan. 17, 2019 in Washington, D.C. Stay tuned for more details about this event.
About Our Honorees
Charlie Hamilton joined me in presenting several awards, and I am thrilled to report that the 2018 Lemonade Day National Youth Entrepreneur of the Year Award went to ten year old Briana Liles from the Fort Hood area of Texas. Briana learned about Lemonade Day and the lesson plan while volunteering at a Lemonade Day registration event. She found Lemonade Day to be a perfect opportunity for her to raise funds and awareness for the National Alopecia Areata Foundation (NAAF), a condition she battles. Briana grossed $975.53 in lemonade sales. After re-paying her investors, her profit was $561.53. Using the “save some, spend some, and share some” model that Lemonade Day promotes, Briana spent $93.20 on herself, saved $177.11 for Lemonade Day 2019, and shared $290.62 with NAAF.
“I wanted to make lemonade with the lemons that life has dealt me. The Lemonade Day program was the perfect opportunity to help me set goals, find an investor, decide on a location, and create a budget,” explained Briana.
Matthew Noel from Lubbock, Texas was named the 2018 National Youth Entrepreneur of the Year Award first runner-up, and second runners-up were sisters Solene, Summer and Vienna McCracken from the town of Okotoks, Alberta, Canada.
Other awards and their recipients are listed as follows:
President’s Award -- Glenda Mathis, Executive Director for the YWCA in Lubbock, Texas and Lemonade Day City Director for that region.
LEMMY Awards:
Business Results – Greatest number of reported youth business results
Harley Hedlund, Large Market - Lemonade Day Alaska City Director
Jessie Jones, Medium Market - Lemonade Day Northeast Ohio City Director
Gina Spagnola, Small Market - Lemonade Day Galveston, Texas City Director
Stands on the Map – Highest number of lemonade stand locations pinned to map
Melissa Carter, Large Market - Lemonade Day Louisiana City Director
Glenda Mathis, Medium Market - Lemonade Day Lubbock, Texas City Director
Gina Spagnola, Small Market - Lemonade Day Galveston, Texas City Director
Military Ambassador – Nieomi King, Fort Hood, TX
10-Year Anniversary – Houston, Texas
5-Year Anniversary - Alaska; Bryan/College Station Texas; Coastal Bend, Texas, Fort Hood Area, Texas; Galveston County, Texas; Indianapolis, Indiana; Jackson, Mississippi; Louisiana; Lubbock, Texas; Northeast Ohio; Saskatchewan, Canada; Washington, D.C.; Wayne County, Indiana; and West Virginia.
Click here to see photos from our Conference!
About Our Guest Speakers
In his keynote presentation, Joe Daly shared highlights from the book Born to Build! written by Jim Clifton, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Gallup, and Sangeeta Badal, Ph.D., Principal Scientist for Gallup's Builder Initiative.
“The intention of this book is to inspire entrepreneurs and ambitious, self-motivated people to build something that will change the world regardless of how large or small one’s ambition is. The book also outlines four key steps to create success, an online assessment to reveal one’s unique builder talents, and access to the Gallup platform for assistance in one’s journey. The need for youth entrepreneurship education is at a critical level with the state of free enterprise and declining gross domestic product per capita growth rates,” Joe explained.
Other speakers included Patti Rogers, Founder and Chief Executive Officer of Rallyhood – community collaboration software that organizes, connects and engages purpose-driven communities using a mobile platform; Ryan Lahm, responsible for operations, strategy and platforms at StriivOn – an organizational development and engineering process company that is the provider of the Lemonade Day app that delivers a platform to help strengthen connections and support growth between mentors by providing guidance, training and support; and Susan Thomas, U.S. Director of Operations from Tribe + Glory, a non-profit that empowers and activates female entrepreneurs to achieve self-sustainability through relationship, craftsmanship, and entrepreneurship.
A Few Words of Thanks
I am especially grateful to the Lemonade Day national staff and all of our guest speakers for producing a conference that allowed for sharing best practices, effective strategies and new tools. I very much appreciate hearing that the conference sessions, guest speakers, and receptions delivered tremendous value and sparked conversations that were relevant and extremely engaging. We will incorporate recommendations from conference participants to ensure that our Lemonade Day continues to expand and that we continue to pursue our mission of empowering youth through entrepreneurial and character-building lessons that will serve them for life.
Lemonade Day leaders, sponsors, mentors, and volunteers throughout the U.S. and Canada are looking forward to an amazing and memorable 2019. We are already off to a great start toward an exciting new Lemonade Day program year because of where we have already been and all that we have collectively accomplished.
As always, I welcome your comments and questions. Please contact me at Steven@LemonadeDay.org.
About Lemonade Day
Founded in Houston in 2007, Lemonade Day has expanded to 72 licensed markets in the United States and Canada and to six U.S. military bases and growing. For more information, please visit lemonadeday.org/find-your-city.
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By Steven Gordon, Lemonade Day National President
Joe Daly of Gallup Served as Keynote Speaker
Briana Liles Named 2018 National Lemonade Day Youth Entrepreneur of the Year
September is historically a strategic and action-packed month for all of us involved in the Lemonade Day program. One reason for this is that most Lemonade Day community events wrap up at the end of September until the next year. Another is that our national staff hosts the Lemonade Day Annual City Directors Conference in Houston in late September of each year. Yet another is that our National Board of Directors convenes for a board retreat. Now that September is behind us, we can pause to share and celebrate all that we have accomplished.
Our Eighth Annual City Directors Conference attracted about 75 leaders and supporters Sept. 26 through Sept. 28, with 37 Lemonade Day geographic areas represented. The conference opened with a reception for new and first-time attendees followed by a dinner for all participants. Debbie Nazarian, Lemonade Day National Director of Cities, and Charlie Hamilton, Lemonade Day National Board Chairman, joined me in welcoming all of our amazing city directors. Joe Daly, Partner with Gallup and a member of the Lemonade Day National Board of Directors, served as the conference’s keynote speaker on Sept. 28.
At the conference, we celebrated the positive impact that Lemonade Day has continued to make on youth and their communities over the past 12 months. We also discussed key initiatives for the coming year, which include expanding Lemonade Day from 72 to 84 licensed markets, offering additional training opportunities for city directors, and providing more resources (such as content and technology tools).
Lemonade Day will continue our partnership with Gallup this year. We will co-host the second annual Business Startup Challenges and Youth Entrepreneurship Briefing at Gallup World Headquarters on Jan. 17, 2019 in Washington, D.C. Stay tuned for more details about this event.
About Our Honorees
Charlie Hamilton joined me in presenting several awards, and I am thrilled to report that the 2018 Lemonade Day National Youth Entrepreneur of the Year Award went to ten year old Briana Liles from the Fort Hood area of Texas. Briana learned about Lemonade Day and the lesson plan while volunteering at a Lemonade Day registration event. She found Lemonade Day to be a perfect opportunity for her to raise funds and awareness for the National Alopecia Areata Foundation (NAAF), a condition she battles. Briana grossed $975.53 in lemonade sales. After re-paying her investors, her profit was $561.53. Using the “save some, spend some, and share some” model that Lemonade Day promotes, Briana spent $93.20 on herself, saved $177.11 for Lemonade Day 2019, and shared $290.62 with NAAF.
“I wanted to make lemonade with the lemons that life has dealt me. The Lemonade Day program was the perfect opportunity to help me set goals, find an investor, decide on a location, and create a budget,” explained Briana.
Matthew Noel from Lubbock, Texas was named the 2018 National Youth Entrepreneur of the Year Award first runner-up, and second runners-up were sisters Solene, Summer and Vienna McCracken from the town of Okotoks, Alberta, Canada.
Other awards and their recipients are listed as follows:
President’s Award -- Glenda Mathis, Executive Director for the YWCA in Lubbock, Texas and Lemonade Day City Director for that region.
LEMMY Awards:
Business Results – Greatest number of reported youth business results
Harley Hedlund, Large Market - Lemonade Day Alaska City Director
Jessie Jones, Medium Market - Lemonade Day Northeast Ohio City Director
Gina Spagnola, Small Market - Lemonade Day Galveston, Texas City Director
Stands on the Map – Highest number of lemonade stand locations pinned to map
Melissa Carter, Large Market - Lemonade Day Louisiana City Director
Glenda Mathis, Medium Market - Lemonade Day Lubbock, Texas City Director
Gina Spagnola, Small Market - Lemonade Day Galveston, Texas City Director
Military Ambassador – Nieomi King, Fort Hood, TX
10-Year Anniversary – Houston, Texas
5-Year Anniversary - Alaska; Bryan/College Station Texas; Coastal Bend, Texas, Fort Hood Area, Texas; Galveston County, Texas; Indianapolis, Indiana; Jackson, Mississippi; Louisiana; Lubbock, Texas; Northeast Ohio; Saskatchewan, Canada; Washington, D.C.; Wayne County, Indiana; and West Virginia.
Click here to see photos from our Conference!
About Our Guest Speakers
In his keynote presentation, Joe Daly shared highlights from the book Born to Build! written by Jim Clifton, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Gallup, and Sangeeta Badal, Ph.D., Principal Scientist for Gallup's Builder Initiative.
“The intention of this book is to inspire entrepreneurs and ambitious, self-motivated people to build something that will change the world regardless of how large or small one’s ambition is. The book also outlines four key steps to create success, an online assessment to reveal one’s unique builder talents, and access to the Gallup platform for assistance in one’s journey. The need for youth entrepreneurship education is at a critical level with the state of free enterprise and declining gross domestic product per capita growth rates,” Joe explained.
Other speakers included Patti Rogers, Founder and Chief Executive Officer of Rallyhood – community collaboration software that organizes, connects and engages purpose-driven communities using a mobile platform; Ryan Lahm, responsible for operations, strategy and platforms at StriivOn – an organizational development and engineering process company that is the provider of the Lemonade Day app that delivers a platform to help strengthen connections and support growth between mentors by providing guidance, training and support; and Susan Thomas, U.S. Director of Operations from Tribe + Glory, a non-profit that empowers and activates female entrepreneurs to achieve self-sustainability through relationship, craftsmanship, and entrepreneurship.
A Few Words of Thanks
I am especially grateful to the Lemonade Day national staff and all of our guest speakers for producing a conference that allowed for sharing best practices, effective strategies and new tools. I very much appreciate hearing that the conference sessions, guest speakers, and receptions delivered tremendous value and sparked conversations that were relevant and extremely engaging. We will incorporate recommendations from conference participants to ensure that our Lemonade Day continues to expand and that we continue to pursue our mission of empowering youth through entrepreneurial and character-building lessons that will serve them for life.
Lemonade Day leaders, sponsors, mentors, and volunteers throughout the U.S. and Canada are looking forward to an amazing and memorable 2019. We are already off to a great start toward an exciting new Lemonade Day program year because of where we have already been and all that we have collectively accomplished.
As always, I welcome your comments and questions. Please contact me at Steven@LemonadeDay.org.
About Lemonade Day
Founded in Houston in 2007, Lemonade Day has expanded to 72 licensed markets in the United States and Canada and to six U.S. military bases and growing. For more information, please visit lemonadeday.org/find-your-city.
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