Meet Paulette Cole, CEO & Creative Director of ABC Home

Healing, education, sanctuary, theater, and an interactive museum--five unlikely components one associates with a furniture and home goods store. These are five key themes, however, that visionary Paulette Cole, CEO and creative director of abc home, keeps in mind when evolving NYC's one-of-its-kind retail store renowned for its large selection of exquisitely designed furniture and home décor.

A forward-thinking eco-preneur, Paulette sees commerce as a way to help influence and enlighten the masses. And thus is 2004, abc underwent a socially-responsible business overhaul--offering over 650 furniture items made from recycled, reclaimed and salvaged wood, organic beds, water and air purifiers and indigenous artistry made by cooperatives. But it hasn't stopped there. Paulette is committed to the store's continuous eco-improvements and says it best herself in her interview with us, "I wish I could fully manifest the ABC that I know is striving to manifest: a universal exchange where spirit, sustainability, culture, creation and currency coexist..."

How did you get into this line of work?

I was born into retail, and I tried to get away from it! I was drawn to healing, and studied art therapy. I came back to retail when I was 25 and got seduced by the opportunity to use the platform of 'home' to inspire pure expression of self, beauty, healing, art, culture, and the indigenous. I felt that my gift was to really tap into the momentum of passion and desire, anticipating what my peers--the public--would respond to, and providing for them. It was a privilege and a passion to go out into the world and form a perspective; to travel and to bring pieces of the world back, to amplify, at ABC.

What was your "a-ha" moment?

My life is a string of a-ha moments. I wake up everyday a student--learning and evolving and shifting. It's what keeps me, my perspective, and my work fresh, vital, impermanent, and on the edge. Tapping into my intuition and knowing how to access my inner voice has been a lifelong journey influenced by countless teachers in a-ha moments.

Who is your green hero?

Bobby Kennedy Jr. was my original green hero. Today there are many, many. I am deeply in gratitude to Al Gore for holding and giving voice to the collective scientific genius that pressed him to wake up the world, having initiated the ripple that created the wave which opened the floodgates. Without him, I don't know where we'd be. To me it's criminal that our system didn't allow it to transpire while he was in office. I suppose, it isn't until the student (us) is ready, that the teacher ultimately arrives.

What is your ultimate green goal?

Green justice; legislation and business and consumer demand working in partnership with the planet. The planet's boss!

What is your motivation?

Interconnectivity. Being inspired by, gathering and amplifying the collective genius of the progressive agenda to guide people into investing in their vision and their values. And seeing them create a home as a reflection of self expression while contributing to the healing of the planet, our collective home.

What is most important to you, ecologically speaking?

Global warming. Copenhagen. And getting on board internationally. Breaking down the walls of bureaucracy and responding to the crisis; shifting our priorities and creating the action. Being in action to push the cultural shift toward serving the planet and its people.

What is the most challenging part of your job?

Exploring and maintaining brilliant sustainable sourcing integrity while not compromising on beauty and innovation. Finding the alliances to make beauty and business actualize as a tool to

The most profound aid in the positive transformation of our culture.

What is the most rewarding?

The most profound blessing and privilege has been to create ABC as a catalyst and platform that recognizes channels and amplifies a just vision of our world. And seeing the ways in which it guides, encourages and plants seeds of influence in the hearts of so many, and in all the ways in which its existence has lived and served to inspire others and their ideas. It has been said that an apple can feed one, but an idea can feed the world.

Of the people you have worked with, who impresses you most?

I am inspired by people whose work ethic speaks from passion, who live and breathe their truth and walk the walk. Everyday I'm learning and inspired. I'm in awe. Everyone's story is so individual and profound, and when people speak and commit to it, and show up fully, that's what impresses me. Commitment and passion impress me.

What green thing do you do everyday?

My work. Each of us has our own way of contributing. I have found that my most valuable contribution has been through my work: to use my most poignant vehicle, ABC, to communicate; to model, to guide, and to lead our industry; to educate our consumers; and to amplify the message of the thinkers and visionaries and people who have been carving the path for decades. I strive to be a soldier of light, using this platform as a conduit and connector, and making it accessible to people on the path.

What do you wish you could do?

I wish I could fully manifest the ABC that I know is striving to manifest: a universal exchange where spirit, sustainability, culture, creation and currency coexist; an environment that truly integrates healing, education, sanctuary, and theater, as an interactive living museum.

What is your biggest eco-sin?

Not having the patience to personally sort through the details of learning all the new technologies, the inside-outs and all the logistics in the new developments of sustainability.

If you could change one thing in the world, what would it be?

For humanity to operate through unconditional love, understanding our interconnectedness as living beings. Through that lens, we would eliminate the possibilities of war and hunger.

What is your best green advice?

Get involved. Choose something that resonates with you personally. Create the opportunity and take action. Connect yourself within a community or a network. Plug in and stay informed. Be a participant in this process. Be a part of the largest self organizing movement in history.

Change Makers is series of interviews with people famous and obscure who are creating a more sustainable world through their work. Meet more Change Makers here.

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