You may be expecting us to talk about love or relationships this month because it’s February. But we wanted to use this month to focus on something that is (seemingly) the exact opposite of love: loneliness.
Does that make us a Valentine’s Day scrooge? We would argue “no” and would also argue that by discussing the topic of loneliness this month, we will actually help strengthen the love and relationships in your life.
Beginning this month’s discussion on loneliness is someone who has become a huge voice for speaking on it. Liz Forkin Bohannon, founder of Sseko Designs and the author of Beginner’s Pluck, is a dear friend of 4word and we love her because she is fearless, empathetic, and not afraid to get in the trenches on things she is passionate about. And what she is most passionate about these days is dissolving the stigma around loneliness and getting all of us very comfortable with identifying and resolving loneliness in our lives.
Liz Forkin Bohannon is the founder of Sseko Designs and the author of the book Beginner’s Pluck: Build your life of purpose, passion and impact now.
Liz graduated from the University of Missouri with a Master’s degree in Journalism. In 2008, she moved to Uganda where she met an incredible group of talented young women who were struggling to finance their higher education.
After traveling the country by motorcycle to find raw materials and learn how to produce footwear by hand, Liz hired three young women and started Sseko Designs. Since then, Sseko Designs has grown from three women making sandals together under a mango tree, to an international fashion brand that provides employment, educational opportunities, and entrepreneurial training to hundreds of women in East Africa and across the globe.
Using her unlikely story of a journalist-gone-shoe-maker, Liz shares her passion for social entrepreneurship, risk & failure, purpose and the power of community. Recently, Sseko Designs merged with Noonday Collection to become the world’s leading socially-conscious fashion brand, powered by social selling.
Liz has been featured in dozens of publications including Good Morning America, ABC’s Shark Tank, Vogue Magazine, Redbook Magazine, O Magazine, Inc, Fortune and others. Among other notable honors, Liz was recently named a top three Transformation Leader by John Maxwell and Bloomberg Businessweek named Sseko as a top social enterprise. Forbes named Liz one of the top 20 public speakers in the U.S. Liz’s powerful, disarmingly authentic, and witty voice captivates and inspires her audience.
She now lives in an intentional community in Portland, Oregon, with her husband Ben and their three young sons.