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Most consumer brands encounter what many call the "valley of death" between their second and fourth year. I knew that in theory. But living through it is something else entirely. No amount of preparation can soften the weight of uncertainty.Every decision, every next step, every direction ultimately rests with me. I know that what keeps a brand alive is rarely one breakthrough. More often, it's ..

It was grace itself. If there is a far edge to the elegance a human being can reach, it must look something like that.I held my breath and watched. A movement that flowed, embracing and enfolding everything in its path. And from somewhere inside that delicacy, something I can only call magnificent kept rising to the surface. I was merely watching, yet the grace of it seemed to cross over into me..

I felt it. Perhaps it was some animal instinct in me, or perhaps it was my delicate, sensitive nature. Either way, it weighed on me. Within the vast ritual built by human desire and fantasy, creatures were killed as a matter of course — torn apart, sold at high prices, owned, and paraded. All of it was a question to me.Why does it have to be this way? Why is it taken for granted? Why must we fol..

It made me nauseous. It made me uneasy. A question began to surface: why does it have to be this way? The distinct smell of bags made from cowhide stung my nose. Calfskin — the hide of the very young — turned my stomach even more.Sometimes I would imagine it. A throat cut, flesh crushed, blood pouring out; scarlet tears welling in the eyes, then going still. Veins and tendons tangled everywhere,..