Earlier this year a guest in our podcast Founder Time by AMOR umbrella, episode # 16 with Makissa Lewis, a veteran women and founder of My Seester ,suggested that our signature product, one of our Heart Shaped umbrellas should be signed by several of our Florida women veterans and then it should be sent to the White House in order represent the 2M+ veteran women that reside in the US. Florida being the 3rd state with one of the largest populations of women veterans.
As a veteran myself and the founder of Amor umbrella, I was honored by the suggestion and for the opportunity to honor our military-veteran community.
I took on the challenge and with that goal in mind, I embarked on a nearly year-long journey to make it happen.
Along the year, we collaborated with several organizations to organize events to gather the signatures required.
One of those events was an afternoon retreat in beautiful Vizcaya Museum and Gardens here in Miami, FL where we invited our fellow veterans to take the time to relax and enjoy the beautiful settings.
Photos credit: Niurka Castaneda
In another event we collaborated with a local nonprofit Fishing with America Finest to organize another afternoon retreat where we took several veteran fishing to the Everglades.
Photos credit: Niurka Castaneda
Photo credit: Zulema Reyes
As part of this collaboration we also filmed a 2 part episode featuring the work that Fishing with America Finest and his founder CPT Neal Stark does for our veterans and their families, showing now exclusively in legrity.media
We feel that it was important to represent every branch, so we went to meet the brave women serving in the reserve guard in person
Photo credit: Niurka Castaneda
The Historical Thanksgiving Gift was sent to the White House for our Vice President. It was created and sent with the intention to represent our 2M+ women veterans in unity and with the collaboration of Civilian Minorities and Veteran Small Owned Businesses.
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We can now say:
MISSION ACCOMPLISHED!!!
The Historical Thanksgiving Gift was mailed roughly at 620 AM on Friday 19 Nov 2021.
Photo credit: Nefertiti San Miguel
Photo credit: Niurka Castaneda
Curious note: The post office were we mailed from is steps away from the original Boston Tea Party.
photo credit: TripSavvy / Violet Smirnova
Address: 306 Congress St, Boston, MA 02210, USA
What was the gift?
A very elaborated mixed media art creation that took almost a full year to complete.
What was included?
A red heart shaped umbrella with the signatures of X number of veteran women from across the country (include picture). What, once upon a time, got started as an entrepreneurial class project, now is a movement representing the rich cultural diversity of our Veteran Woman, from all military branches.
Photo credit: Nefertiti San Miguel
Photo credit: Nefertiti San Miguel
Photo credit: Niurka Castaneda
Displaying the case at the steps of Harvard University.
Photo credit: Niurka Castaneda
A set of custom wooden military tags made by fellow veteran, and former marine Frank Manteau owner of Kamikaze Wood Werks to represent AMOR umbrella, the organizer of the event and the designer Nefertiti San Miguel that collaborated in putting together the gift and both our organizations's missions.
A photo-journal illustrating our almost one year dedication to make this project a tangible reality.
Designed by Niurka Castaneda & Nefertiti San Miguel.
Meet Niurka Castaneda
Veteran and Founder of AMOR Umbrella
I'm not counting time invested in a myriad of phone calls and visits between Nefertiti, Niurka, and I because there's no way of tallying that. It was an exciting, technical, challenging and at times frustrating process but we did it!
Happy and proud of what we accomplished! - Nancy Griftin
We celebrated the culmination of all our hard work here at my home in New Hampshire with an autumn dinner which I had prepared:
A homegrown squash, apple, onion, and carrot cream bisque, followed by garden salad and roasted chicken, with coffee and homemade sugar cookies for dessert. After this brief respite, we then spent three hours in my dance studio compiling and dressing the set, filming and taking stills of displays and welcoming Hawaiian ceremonial chants and prayers by Nefertiti and myself, along with festive remarks by all three of us. This was a fantastic and gratifying way to wrap up the most memorable of projects! - Nancy Griftin
Nefertiti San Miguel is an international mixed-media artist, performer, cultural diversity advocate and trailblazer who has long been raising eyebrows in many different industries. With a reputation for rocking her eclectic style, she is the founder of Etnia Fusion, a Boston based small enterprise dedicated to promoting and cultivating multiculturalism through educational programs, functional art and dance. Nefertiti has been featured on radio and television programs, web series, YouTube Channels, newspapers and magazines across the nation, and over the last year has been garnering international attention from podcasts in New Zealand, Canada and Australia. She is currently pursuing new endeavors: teaching therapeutic arts, advocating for mental health, independently working on neuroscience research and sharing her talents with AmorUmbrella, a Veterans Organization serving military women transitioning into civil life.