1st (and only) Blog post for theMAKE, May 10th 2012

This is the first thing I wrote about theMAKE. I thought I would share it here as a way to get me 'alive' in the ELL collaborative word-maker space. Fingers crossed. ... and thanks for taking a look!


Here goes. I’m Pritha and I am building civic agency event company called theMAKE. What’s that? An actual business that earns money and in doing so, gets people together, for a short period of time, to do some measurable good and have some fun. I’m launching a pilot at the end of June and I’m realizing that very few people outside of my immediate family actually know what theMAKE is. That’s my fault. I’ve been terrified to write about it. 

#SocEnt start-ups, perhaps you might know the drill: do I write in a tone that attracts investors and super important #SocEnt rockstars, King/Queen Makers? Or, do I write about theMAKE in a way so that my 93 year old Thamma (Bengali paternal grandmother) understands what I’ve been doing with my life, referencing Gandhi and freedom fighters, etc.? Should I worry about being serious or should I try to be funny? Should my first post be about the business case and the importance of early stage analytics? Or my feelings? Who will care? Does that matter? <Choke>.

And this is where I’ve been <choke> since January 2012, when I started gunning to produce a pilot. So I put it off, in favor of building the pilot operations. But what I understand now is that I’ve been putting off pushing myself to put theMAKE out there, on record. Can I get an Hai Ram? Or an Amen? Or at least an eye roll? For really, fear of owning what one is, is just that: eye roll worthy. Thank you to my friend Tereza Nemessanyi, founder of http://honestlynow.com, for insisting that I get off my tuffet. 

About a year ago, when theMAKE was just a shiny concept housing an everyday (r)evolution in my mind, I went to a talk given by Simon Sinekhttp://www.startwithwhy.com/ at the Ace Hotel (the NYC #SocEnt Hangout before Google Hangout edged in). I asked Simon a question about what it takes to build a culture of intention. He liked the question and graciously agreed to Skype with me. During our chat, he asked me what theMAKE was. I fed him my story: http://www.themake.org/. And then Simon asked me to tell him what I really meant. Without the jargon. Without the #SocEnt speak. With me, and only me, being real. He pointed out that if I was able to tell my “WHY” in a real way, that was understandable, I was on my way to being real. 

So: it makes all kinds of sense that my first post happens on Mother’s Day.

theMAKE happened because of my mother. In 2010, my mother was dreadfully ill. I moved to Boston for six weeks to keep her company. One day, in the hospital, she looked at me and said “I’m so glad I made you.” My first reaction? “*&^%##, Mom, I haven’t made anything yet.” She replied: “You better get on that.” And so I did.

theMAKE is a ticketed event that happens when 50-150 participants come together to build something that makes a measurable impact for a local community. Then we have a party with food and drink. The revenue from the tickets - minus a modest theMAKE fee - goes directly to community partners who sustain our build and use the funds we raise to support their initiatives.

In this economy, when federal and local funding for nonprofits is ever decreasing, theMAKE is a model for local stakeholders to upfront sponsorship, intent, and labor to get things done. Call it a physical embodiment of philanthropy. Or, where service meets collaboration, meets fun, and getting things done. 

theMAKE is not new. It should remind you of 4H, girl scouts, boy scouts — those childhood  spaces where we just made things, for others, because we could. 

So: I’m launching. Because of my Momma. Happy Mother’s Day, Mom. Thanks for making me. (Baba, thank you too!) I am where I am because you are who you are.