Double Happiness
It probably won’t come as a huge surprise to learn that at Lunapads, business is seldom just business. A recent example of this took place a couple of weeks ago, when Suzanne and I attended the wedding of Thomas, son of Wendy Lin, our longtime production partner (in photo below: Suzanne, me, Wendy, Thomas and his sister Doris). We have been working with Wendy and her family for almost a decade, and were proud to share Thomas and Angela’s special day.
We are similarly proud to count our numerous suppliers, web and graphic designers, printers and even competitors as friends. It’s a far cry from the “cutthroat world of business” that is driven exclusively by price, and one that seems to work for everyone involved. Some of these relationships go back over 10 years (see image below, circa 2000: Doris, Wendy, former production manager Judy Ho, me and Suzanne), and we have learned that one of our primary governing principles in business is to work with people who we like and respect.
The same goes for staff, some of whom have been with us for upwards of 5 years. There is in fact a chain of Lunapads staffers that stretches back to 2001, when a clever and passionate young gal called Sabrina called us up after having met me when I was a guest speaker at her Sustainable Community Development class at Simon Fraser University. To employ a biblical metaphor, Sabrina begat Susanna, who begat Krisztina, who begat Sharmeen, who begat Marie-Genevieve, who begat Lisa, our present-day IT “department”.
As it happens we were paid a visit by Sabrina not long ago, who came to say farewell before heading off to the wilds of Northern Quebec, where she will be a youth leadership coordinator in the First Nations community of Shefferville. Good luck Sabrina, and hope that you have warm socks!
So thanks to all of our “business friends”, staff and customers included – we couldn’t do it without you. And much joy to Thomas and Angela.
