First I would like to thank Michael Mo for creating the Emerald Escape and being so generous to pay for the hotel rooms for all 33 leaders, transportation, and Dinner at Crustacean in Beverly Hills.  That is a sign of a true leader that is selfless, thoughtful, and considerate of his team.  This is why I’m so proud to work together with Michael in our mission to create better health, wellness, and financial success for the world at large. 

So, it began on Thursday afternoon, everybody arrived at the Marriot Hotel in Baldwin Park, CA. I arrived at the hotel at approx 2 pm and everybody was all checked in and we just gathered and started to chit chat.  There was a natural synergy between all the Distributors. It was obvious that everybody was excited to be together, some said they were excited to be with the Founder’s Council, Michael and myself. 

As we were talking, time went by so fast; we spent 2.5 hours chatting.  After realizing that we had missed lunch we decided to go straight to dinner.  Since we were a little early for dinner though, we stopped by South Coast Plaza in Orange County, one of the more extravagant shopping malls in California where the flamboyant, rich, opulent, OC people shop.  It was funny how we stood out like a sore thumb because there were so many diverse ethnicities in our group, which were well dressed, and stuck together like glue.  As Michael was in front of the pack leading, strolling through the mall, it was like a mother goose with its goslings trailing behind.  It was amusing to me, we just looked so unusual.  Of course, we should all know by now that there is nothing usual or normal about us.  We work very hard not to be normal…normal does not work.  As you can see with the economy today, normality as we used to know it is a catastrophe. 

We stopped at a food court and as I sat down, everybody swarmed around me and questions of all different sorts were asked about the business.  I can see some were a little shy and reserved while some were even (hiding).  I felt as though there was some that were a little intimidated.  They felt that they didn’t deserve to be a part of this elite group.  I guess at that point I tried ease their minds and expressed to them that being successful and being a great human being is not so intimidating and also not far to reach.   I understand where they are coming from because I was once there.  You read about great people that are successful, untouchable and they just seem like legends, like they’re not real.  In fact, successful people should be very simple, very obtainable.  As I was having this discussion, Allen Ngo, Joe Chui, and Warren Ngeouyang were filming and taking pictures.  At this time I was consumed by a circle of people engaging in this discussion.  All the customers at the mall could not help but stop and stand and listen with curiosity.  It was intriguing to me because I saw two different worlds of people engaging in this topic at a very superficial place. I could see the curiosity of the normal Orange County citizen wondering what in the world was going on; we were now actually causing a scene.  Michael saw that we were causing a scene so he decided to take the group and head off to the restaurant. 

When we arrived at El Torito in Irvine we found Dan, Mike, Roy, and Thien (from the back office) with cameras and video equipment.  They photographed and filmed our entrance to the restaurant causing a small commotion as people were curious to see who we were.  I often wonder what these people that are not part of the company are thinking about. 

All employees of the back office were there as Michael invited them to join us for dinner.  This is the time of year that Michael always wants all of us to come together to celebrate Telicia’s, Azya’s, Cynthia’s and my birthday.  As I went to the tables to greet all the employees I saw familiar face but could not put a name to it.  She said “Don’t u know me?”
I said, “Yes!”  It was Ana Lorena, an employee from the Mexico Fulfillment Center.

As hours passed, everybody enjoyed the food and conversation; the Distributors were excited to meet the employees and vice versa.  There were so many different conversations going on between the top Distributors and the Employees because there are so many activities that employees support the Distributors with yet they only get one chance out of the year to spend some face time together.  This helped to strengthen the bonds between them and gave a boost to everybody’s morale.  Again, I have to thank Michael’s for his insistence or we may not have come together.