 Compassion, music, laughter, not only are these subtly profound experiences, but they have been proven to change us at a basic physiological level. Physical space can have a similar effect on us. I know this because I have been an interior designer for the past 25 years. I also know this because when I was diagnosed with cancer in 2004, some of the chemotherapy infusion words I went to absolutely terrified me. I always knew that space, light, and color had a profound effect on us. But during my treatment, I also realized that natural light and soothing colors had a profound effect on how receptive we are to healing. While I was undergoing treatment, I realized that even if I were cured, I still wouldn't be whole. Being faced with my own possible premature death taught me a lot of things. Purpose. I wanted my legacy to be more than just designing beautiful spaces and filling them with things. I wanted to live for something bigger than myself. I wanted to make a difference in the world that I was leaving for my two sons. I have been an interior designer for large-scale projects like this for most of my career. This one project changed me. In the end, the house was full, yet I felt empty and depleted. This could not be the legacy I would leave my two sons. There needed to be more. While I was searching for meaning in my life and my profession, I was so fortunate to travel to India with Lakshmi and a group of amazing women entrepreneurs. Here in India, I was struck by the colors, the art, the architecture, and the patterns surrounding me. I was changed by the humility and soul of your culture. I would never be the same. I brought back with me a need to not only create transformative spaces that have the same effect as compassion, music, and laughter, but a need to create those spaces in a way that reached beyond their physical plots on our Earth. Did you know consumers worldwide spend over $376 billion a year on stuff for their homes, but only a fraction of that goes to the actual people who create the things we put into our environments? $376 billion is a lot of money to spend without intention. I began thinking, what if we spent that money in a way that not only created a beautiful environment, but had a positive ripple effect on the world around us? I started this home after I returned from India. One of the women on the trip entrusted me to help her create a sanctuary for her family. Together with her husband and a team of very passionate people, we created this home with ethical, sustainable consumption as a core value. The result is an indefinable feeling I call soulful design. Soulful design is a product of the client, the people, the materials, and the practices used to create it. Let me give you an example. The front door you see here introduces details that run throughout the house. Cast glass from Canada, sustainably harvested mahogany doors from California, cast bronze door hardware fabricated by a family-owned business in Idaho, and stone from a quarry in Montana. All of these elements have a story. It's a story that includes the client's dreams, artisans, ethically-owned businesses, and sustainable materials, and it's a story that's told throughout the house. My partner carved the wax shapes for this custom bronze cabinet hardware, and it was cast at a local foundry less than 10 miles from the home. Some of the fabric and accessories in the home were made by artisans here in India. The cast glass from the front door reappears in these walls, which mirror the silhouette of the hills surrounding the home. We wanted to bring the outside in to support the home's flow, and by having reverence for both nature and the artist, I believe we gave the space a palpable presence. Recently, my India travel group gathered together at this home, and they told me they were struck by the subtle details throughout. One of the reasons the details stood out is each item carries with it the story of the people that live in the house, the artisan who made it, and the materials that it is made of, when we consume in a way that promotes the well-being of the people who make the things that surround us, those stories and the intention they bring with them come back to us, not only in the beauty we see and experience in our environments, but in the ripple effect that feeding one person, educating one child, and sustaining one family has on our world. Sustainable ethical consumption cements our legacy as people with an awareness of a world greater than ourselves, and it allows others to create their own legacy in the things that they make for us. That's something I want to be part of. So how do we do this? How do we make responsible decisions when it comes to creating a sanctuary? We start by asking three questions. First, where are the products from, and how do they support their local and their global communities? Second, who's the gatekeeper? Who is making sure that the products are being made with integrity? And third, does the space feed your soul? Does it inspire you? And does it truly heal you? This is the first step to creating environments where ethical and sustainable consumption is the new paradigm. It's the first step to creating soul in our surroundings, and it's the first step in changing ourselves at both a spiritual and physiological level, just like compassion, music, and laughter. Thank you. You know, often people ask, you know, how do connections work? What do they matter? I just want to say that this trip she's talking about of the nine women we brought out here was our, as a company, our first test to see can we tell the story of India to the rest of the world in a very different way. And the group that came still meets very regularly, and I think that trip we took together in India has shifted a lot of people's perceptions of what their own connections are. So I want to say that in the presentation you saw, one of the women was also on the trip whose house it was, and another Nancy Varte who was on the trip is the one who created the presentation, so the team still continues. And I think the dream is that how can we bring this kind of a soulful design to homes, to hospitals, to public spaces, to offices? Why should everything look like, you know, steel and glass? Why can't we bring our own materials, our own design into public spaces? And really, I hope that saw the seed in the heads of a lot of you who have big office buildings. So we welcome all of you to connect to the world in a whole new way. Thank you.