The Uncommon Life

A Visit from Secretary Perez of the U.S. Department of Labor

May 31, 2016

In early May, UncommonGoods was fortunate enough to host U.S. Labor Secretary, Tom Perez. He spoke with a handful of team members about their experience working for a company that values “conscious capitalism,” praising UncommonGoods for investing in team member development, paying a living wage, and actively listening to team member feedback. He also took a tour of the warehouse space, eagerly chatting with individuals out on the floor about their daily tasks. You can read about Secretary Perez’s recent visit to New York in The Guardian, and see for yourself in the photos below.

UncommonGoods Founder Dave Bolotsky (left) with U.S. Labor Secretary Tom Perez in the Brooklyn Army Terminal Lobby.

Secretary Perez listening to feedback from UncommonGoods employees

Secretary Perez listening to comments from UncommonGoods employees.

The Uncommon Life

Vintage Wisdom: 10 Uncommon Facts About Wine

May 25, 2016

Wine is bottled poetry ~ Robert Louis Stevenson

I cook with wine. Sometimes I even add it to the food. ~ W. C. Fields

Whether you’re a sophisticated sommelier or just enjoy a nice glass of vino with friends and a good meal, wine is a storied substance with a fascinating history. It can be daunting to uncork the subject, so to begin, may we suggest this vintage collection of ten uncommon facts?

Wine has a Long History

Wine production began in the Ancient Mediterranean around 6,000 BCE. The mood-altering properties of the alcohol in wine were soon associated with mysticism and religion, from the hedonistic rites of Dionysus and Bacchus to the sacraments of Christianity. But the fermented grape products of the ancient world left something to be desired. Wine as we know it today was born circa 1091 CE with the Cistercian order in Burgundy. They planted grapes at Clos de Vougeot and are credited with organizing vineyard parcels based on how the wine tasted, the modern mode of vintages followed to this day.

Goto Venetian Wine Glasses

The Uncommon Life

Instagram Challenge: GARDENING

May 18, 2016

The next Instagram Challenge theme is GARDENING. We’re one month away from the official start of summer, which means your plants are ripe to be as bright and sunny as the weather. Whether it’s re-potting your succulents, or growing your own backyard veggies, we want to see your beautiful gardens!

The Uncommon Life

How Jessica Hamel Cures Her Insatiable Hunger for All Natural Frosting

May 18, 2016

Jessica Hamel, creator of our new Natural Coconut Oil Frostings, has always had a sweet tooth and always knew she’d be an entrepreneur. When she took up the sport of ultra-marathoning–as in running, say, 100 miles–not only could she get away with eating sweet snacks, but her body really needed them, to assuage her insatiable hunger from hours of ultra-running in the Boulder mountains. She wanted frosting. All natural frosting.

Inspired by her grandmother, she’d always loved baking. She liked to experiment with original frosting flavorings, but didn’t always have time to make them from scratch. There are lots of canned frosting options in grocery stores, and it would have been oh-so-handy to use them–but have you read the ingredients of those things? Unless Distilled Monoglycerides, Sodium Stearoyl Lactylate, Sodium Acid Pyrophosphate, Polysorbate 60 and GMO corn syrup are your favorite things, you’re not going to want to eat them. Jessica didn’t either. She wanted natural frostings she could eat on the go, but they didn’t exist. So she invented them.

The Uncommon Life

UncommonGoods for the Common Good

May 13, 2016

While our business has grown a lot since our founding in 1999, UncommonGoods’ commitment to positively impacting the communities we touch has not wavered. If you’ve shopped with UncommonGoods before, you know that being socially conscious is a concept baked right into our company DNA. From founder and CEO Dave Bolotsky meeting with President Obama, to advocating for small businesses, to paying our lowest-paid seasonal workers more than 50% above the federal minimum wage, to advocating for mandated paid family leave in the State of New York, UncommonGoods has been able to successfully champion progressive business practices since from day one. Below are a few choice highlights from our mission in promoting social good.

Photo courtesy of our Better to Give partner American Forests

The Uncommon Life

Checking in with Better to Give

May 11, 2016

There is a long list of reasons for why I begged to join the UncommonGoods team, but mainly it was my curiosity about our roots as a founding B Corp and our commitment to a creative flagship donation program called Better to Give. (Although, it also didn’t hurt that it is located near top-notch taco joints and the best dim sum and soup dumplings New York City has to offer.) The Better to Give program epitomizes what we strive to do in all aspects of our business. Through the program, we show how to use business as a force for good, while offering all stakeholders an opportunity to express themselves through digital advocacy for organizations that align with our values and vision.

The Uncommon Life

Baby Behavior & Bangs for Your Buck: Announcing Our #Momisms Contest Winners

May 6, 2016

In preparation for Mother’s Day, we teamed up with our friends at Mental_Floss to collect your most wow-worthy #Momisms, from the hilarious and sometimes embarrassing “I can’t believe she just said that” mom texts, to the heartwarming times when mom really did know best.

We expected to find zany witticisms and sage advice from moms and grandmas, but we had no idea we’d get so many great entries–making it pretty hard to pick just two winners.

We had a great time giggling over the witty, sassy, creative, and insightful ideas that moms and grandmas can conjure up. We couldn’t stand the thought of not sharing the joy from this contest, so before we get our #Momisms winners, we’ve rounded up our favorite quips and quotes for you to enjoy!

The Uncommon Life

DIY Paper Flowers to Adorn Gifts, Cakes, Cards, Parties…

May 5, 2016

Last year, much to our own delight, UncommonGoods began offering free, printable downloads. Our assortment currently includes party kits, cheese tasting tags, birthday cards (the Cat Tao birthday cards are my favorite) and diy paper fortune cookies.

Now, we have some pretty, printable paper flowers you can print and fold to make 3D decorations for wedding and anniversary gifts–or any gifts, really. Below are our Printable Paper Roses and Wildflowers templates and a step-by-step, illustrated how-to.

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