Last night, I took my 9-year-old daughter to see a film screening and music set with Michael Franti, a musician, singer-songwriter and (now) filmmaker.

Courtesy of the small Colorado mountain town we live in, it was an intimate setting, where she could really appreciate the flick and the three musicians on stage—including skyrocketing up-and-comer Victoria Canal (who was born with only a partial right arm) on vocals and piano. The music was beautiful, including the new single “Flower in the Gun,” and the film was highly inspiring.

Titled “Stay Human,” it looked at six incredible people around the world, from a midwife who sets up clinics wherever natural disaster strikes to assist mothers and babies, to a couple battling the husband’s ALS (and dedicated to finding a cure), and a young man born into a village of cobbled-together shacks in South Africa who has, against all odds, just graduated from university with a business degree.

As we exited the event, we saw many parents with their children there, including the wife of our former school principal with her two daughters. When we greeted each other, she turned to my daughter and said, “I’m so very glad that you could see this tonight.”

Later at home, my daughter said to me, “Sometimes I feel like my life is hard, but now I feel so grateful for everything I have after seeing those people in the film, and the piano player on stage. When I grow up, I want to start a charity and help people.”

In the darkest hour, in the face of adversity, these people remain as #ChangeMakers, #DifferenceMakers, and they inspire others in incredibly big and small ways. The new year affords a fresh start, a new outlook, and we hope it inspires you to be the change, whether that be in business, in your community, or around the world. My New Year’s resolution is to certainly do my best to do the same.

We hope you enjoy this special issue packed with a positive outlook for 2019!

Erinn Morgan
Editor-in-Chief + Editorial Director
Eyecare Business