I’m almost afraid to post this b/c of how many bugs we’ve had…will this even work?!
Here goes nothing! 🙂
When thinking about how to get out of my own box, be creative, and honor the courage of our SOAR! 2009 applicants, plus, the generosity of our SOAR! Partners…
…This was what Brian and I came up with. We hope you enjoy it as much as we have!
The SOAR! Scholarships Winners for 2009!
Congratulations ladies! You are all winners!
xoxo,
Me Ra, Brian and ALL the SOAR! Partners! (Someone open the champagne! :))
Congratulations Ladies! I can’t wait to follow you on your journey! MeRa, Brian, Pascaline and Blaze great job on the video! I loved how you surprised everyone.
I’m so glad you let the recipients know this way! I can’t wait to follow you three on this journey.
AmAzInG!!!! LOVED the video! Congrats to the three winners!!!
Worth every second of the wait….
Congrats, ladies.
Totally amazing congrats to all the incredible winners!
It is amazing how happy you can be even when you are not the recipient. Congrats ladies and I am looking forward to watching your learning experience this year!!!
Absolutely AWESOME! So excited for all three ladies…It’s going to be so much fun to follow along with you all on this journey. MeRa and Brian you guys Rock! ; )
Congratulations Ladies!! I am so excited for all of you! 🙂
CONGRATULATIONS to you three!!! You have a bright future ahead of you with great mentors to lead you!
Funny because I jokingly wondered if the winners would know they won by Ed McMahon showing up at their doorsteps. =)
Congratulations! We will all be watching, learning and growing with you. Have fun and SOAR!!!
OMG! Congratulations to you, ladies!!!
Video is The Best!!! I even cried after seeing the excitement on your faces! :)))
I’ll have wine (not champagne) for you! :))
YAY!!!
I wish they had told us what video number they were…
CONGRATULATIONS three ladies!!! Get ready to rock it! 🙂 What an amazingly awesome & fun video….I can’t believe how much effort went into it. MeRa & Brian are so inspiring. I am speechless. 🙂
congrats to the winners!!! and so freakin’ awesome that you (MeRa) & Brian surprised them like that. holy cow, what a phone call/doorbell experience.
oh my word! had me in hysterics, Pascaline & Blaze at the end were toooo funny. congratulations ladies!!!
Congrats Ladies!!!
I’m calling it and saying YOU are the next Oprah! wink wink ; )
Great job.
Can you tell us the number for each video. It would be fun to watch.
congratulations to the winners, loved your reaction and we are excited for you! need some zzsss now
and really wished us that were left hanging knew earlier today but am very happy for all the connections I have made, some awesome friends and learned a big lesson tonight
Congratulations to the winners! Lovely video, Mera. This will be a fun adventure for all of us to follow. Hopefully, this will happen again next year! (hint, hint 🙂
YAH! for all the winners and for Me Ra and Brian on a grand job and for making this possible. Can’t wait to see these three ladies take flight. I think we are all winners for getting to watch this wonderful creation of education unfold.
And thanks to Me Ra and Brian for the infectious giggles….whether in person or on video, the effect is the same. You just can’t help it smile, then giggle in response. Love and hugs to you all.
Congrats ladies!!!! Cannot wait to see the 1st assignment. I am going to be following along the whole time.
Congratulations, you 3! Can’t wait to see you take off!
Congrats all, you really deserve this! Can’t wait to follow along this year- 2010 is going to rock my socks off!! 🙂
I am so happy for you three ladies. Congrats on earning your wings. I hope you learn to fly high under the mentorship of Me Ra, Brian and sponsers. We will be watching as you grow. Best Wishes.
Congratulations Ladies. How awesome for you. Can’t wait, like everyone else to see and follow along as you soar this year.
Congratulations to Linda, Jennifer and Lindsey, and also to all the wonderful SOAR sisters!
That was AWESOME!!! CONGRATULATIONS!!!
As disappointing as it was, the first few minutes after I realized my sliver of hope for “winning” had been extinguished, I am honestly and whole-heartedly thrilled for the women who were chosen. I can’t wait to see what this year brings.
Thank you for the contest, Me Ra, that got us all believing in ourselves, validating our dreams and admitting that we are worth all of this effort making a successful photography business requires. I know things didn’t go 100% perfect 100% of the time, but you were obedient to your calling and that is what matters (I might have an ulcer, but I’m sure I’ll recover :o)
Much love to Me Ra, Brian, the sponsors, the three recipients, but especially to the SOARority of women who put their dreams on the line. We’re in this together.
Elise
Congrats all three! You’ll be fun to watch and follow! SOAR baby, Soar!
Congratulations, everyone! This is going to be such an exciting journey and I cannot wait follow along! Awesome video!!
Congratulation ladies can’t wait to soar with you. Me Ra and Brian I loved the video the kids were great at the end. Well, I’ll be seeing you next week at the workshop. I can’t wait!!!
What an awesome video! You all ACTUALLY flew to their homes!!!! That is just plain UBER cool!!!! Jennifer, Linda & Lindsay…. Rock it out ladies!!!! 🙂 🙂 🙂
Like, can we start following their journey tomorrow… I am so excited for this!!!! 🙂 🙂 🙂
((Big Hugs)) to you three ladies… Shine On!!!!
Wow! Jennifer, Linda and Lindsay, You deserve it! Great job! I’m cracking up because I have so many pictures that I even have a picture of my children’s feet in the same hotel in Sacramento, in the same spot with that carpet (maybe the same room) where this video was taken. This is wild. Mine was from September, though. I guess my timing was off…. ?hmmm…
Congrats Linda, Jennifer, and Lindsay! This is going to be so much fun! Mera, I am so glad you delivered in person! You deserved to see their faces with all the work you have put into this. I am so excited for the workshop next weekend and you need to get some sleep this week. Great job to all the women!
What an honor it is to be part of this effort (thanks, Me Ra and Brian). I cannot wait to see the great heights y’all reach. I had the pleasure of watching all 250+ videos and, while it was exhausting, it left me invigorated and wanting to cheer-lead for every single one of you. Just. Wow.
Congratulations Linda, Jennifer and Lindsay. Best wishes to all three of you for lots of success this year. xoxo
Finally was able to watch whole thing, very well deserved, Lindsay I cried so much with your video such a fighter, and everyone loved Linda balis accent and her baby husband and who could not forget the CHAPTER ONE kids from Miss Jennifer and that fall at end which sums it up for all of us who did not make final 3 recipients, WE FALL BUT MUST GET RIGHT BACK UP AND SAY I AM OK, excited to start the year now and do some crazy fun successful things
here is to soaring
I haven’t been able to view the video yet but wanted to share a great, big hug of congratulations with the winners! It’s been a thrill to follow everyone’s journey thus far and I’m so excited for what’s to come. Much love to you all! xoxo
Jennifer, Linda, and Lindsay,
Can you hear the party horns and noisemakers from Northern Ohio??
I adored you on your videos and will relish every bit of watching you SOAR!!! You each are so unique and will have such interesting paths and approaches. There will be something for all of us to identify with, giving us all inspiration and direction.
At the same time, you three are such self-aware, confident, strong women–I love it!! You will need that, I’m sure, for this incredible path ahead of you. When your reserves are running low, let me know so that I can get out something louder than a party horn!!!
How fun! What a great way to announce the winners and share it with all of us!
Congratulations!!! Can’t wait to watch and learn!
MeRa, you and Brian have such big hearts. this was beautiful and I loved that you took the camera’s to them yourself. I should have expected nothing less. I I will be watching this process and learning along with these beautiful women.
Thank you for doing this. I know it was stressful and after watching these videos I know that the decision was so hard. Thank you.
Congratulations to all the amazing woman! I am soooo excited for you!!!
And Me Ra and Brian…you have me in tears…how wonderful that you made it so personal and real to take everything to them yourselves. Your spirit is just breath taking…and some how even tho I already knew personally how wonderful and amazing you are…you just left me speechless!
HUGS to everyone!!!
Congrats to all these wonderful ladies!!! I am excited to watch you SOAR!!!!!
A huge congratulations to the three recipients! I’m looking foward to following along this year.
Thanks again to Me Ra, Brian and all the SOAR! sponsors, you really are doing an amazing thing here!
Congrats to the three winners! But remember we are ALL winners and will be SOARing this year! Follow your dreams! Best of luck to all!
Hugs,
Nancy
Speaking of champagne, has anybody else noticed what a bargain some of the Spanish Cavas are in comparison to Champagnes and Sparkling Wines?
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Looks like yesterday was an incredibly fun day…..congratulations to the finalists! In all honesty…I have to admit I had a good disappointed cry when I realized it was all said and done, but I pray the year brings exciting changes for these three ladies. best wishes to all of you and again many thanks to MeRa and Brian for making this such an exciting experience for all of us and such a personal and exciting day for the finalists. Your hearts are amazing!
congrats to the three winners! enjoy this fabulous opportunity and we’ll all be watching closely to learn with you.
me ra: thanks for the opportunity. this contest inspired me to start thinking about moving my passion to the next step and for that…thank you!
to the rest of the entrants: you all have moved me! not just from your inspirational videos but all of the networking beyond. it’s something that no one can take away from us! i sat on the chat room and while it was long, i enjoyed talking and “listening” to women that shared my passion, shared my crazy family lifestyle, appreciated the running back and forth to get kids in bed. you are all incredible and we’re all going to SOAR!
xoxoxox
I loved the way you announced the winners. Good thing the first woman didn’t look out the peep hole, lol. You might want to cover it up next time you surprise someone. =) This is a great thing you guys are doing.
This was awesome! I am so happy for the winners. You guys did a great job.
How exciting for the three recipients! Everyone put in such a great effort. Thanks Me Ra and Brian for the great video.
this is beautiful!!! congratulations to the recipients and to the amazing women who took the leap to enter and to you brian & me ra … what an amazing opportunity!!
this video had me laughing, smiling, crying … once again, touching so many …
can’t wait to follow along!
That was awesome to watch! Congrats to ALL! WOW is all I can say now! You and Brian are two of the most wonderful, caring, kind(I could go on!)…. people EVER! Good luck to the ladies! I am more excited than I thought I would be…and I didn’t even win! That video just makes me cry with joy every time I watch it….I love to watch people get surprises…it was like Christmas and you delivered the presents! That must have been so fun for you, MeRa?!?!!! 🙂
God Bless you all that were involved in this! WOW…I am still in awe!
Dawn
I’m so excited to see these wonderful women SOAR! in 2010. I’m looking forward to learning from all of them! Cheers SOAR! sistas!
Congratulations to the three winners!!!
I look forward to learning and growing along with you over the next year! Best of luck and know that we are all supporting you and cheering you on!!
To Me Ra –
I wanted to take a moment and echo the comments extending gratitude for everything that you have done. For your vision, tenacity, sensitivity. Thank you for surrounding yourself with others of the same character and passion. Thanks for always being real and honest with us, for sharing your day to day triumphs and defeats.
About a year ago you wrote about how “The battle is within our selves to believe in ourselves.” The timing of those words was perfect and came at a time when I was paralyzed by self doubt and fear. Later on, still clinging to those doubts and fear, I read about what your daughter’s vision of your influence on women’s lives looked like. Never in a million years would I have believed that one of those lives would be mine. I would have bet against myself stating that I wasn’t good enough, smart enough, charismatic enough, funny enough, creative enough, likeable enough…
Here I am now – a small voice among many! I can never repay the gift of self confidence this experience has given me – hitting that “submit” button was the one of the scariest things I have ever done. The best part of this whole adventure is knowing that I am not alone. There are so many lives that have been touched and changed forever. WOW! :0)
Okay now that was the sweetest most coolest thing I have ever seen. Your heart is so dear and so true. For you to fly out and hand deliver those gifts to the ladies was such a sweet thing, not to mention even giving out three cameras and gear included.
God has blessed you with a tender heart and I so enjoyed watching this. It made me cry happy tears as I was rejoicing with these ladies that I don’t even know.
Congratulations!!!
PS
Who won the two other contests?
CONGRATS to the winners. That video made me cry! I cannot wait to go through the journey with you and watch!
Congratulations Ladies! Brian & MeRa, I have watched this video numerous times! It is sooo fun! You guys are the best! You put your heart and soul into every project, every thing that you do! I will ditto what Shawn said about what a huge step and accomplishment it was to hit that “submit” button. I’ll have to say that is one of the hardest things to do but once I finally did it, I felt like I had just SOARED to a next step in something. It felt good! I look forward to following these ladies the next year. How exciting!!!
Wow…Well done Me Ra Koh and congratulations to all of you, not only the ‘winners’, but all of you who were courageous enough to enter ( I wasn’t )… You all should be very proud of yourselves… Loved the presentation…I had tears streaming down my face sharing the joy! Congratulations! I so look forward to parallel soaring with you all!
Dear Friends,
You will hear more words soon but I just need to tell you how deeply I appreciate all of the kind, encouraging words you’ve shared with me (and each other)! This has been such an emotional time for all of us–I will NEVER be able to tell you how humbled I am to be a recipient among such amazing women. Never.
I am looking forward to getting to know all of you better! As so many of you have said, we are all going SOAR together! Let’s do this, y’all!
Wow..what an amazing way to let the winners know…cried while watching it. Can’t wait to watch these women SOAR!
Congratulations to Linda, Lindsay and Jennifer. Hope you don’t mind stowaways on your journey … you have a lot of women coming along for the ride. And here’s the thing … we’ve all put our dreams out there … now we have to hold ourselves accountable.
Thank you to Me Ra and Brian and everyone involved with SOAR … I have been noodling this around in my brain for quite a while … it was this process that has made me take the first steps … can’t thank you guys enough for connecting me closer to my dream and to this amazing community of women.
aww! this made me tear up a little bit!!!!!! congrats to EVERYONE!
Congratulations to the winners.
Me Ra and Brian, I only spent a weekend with you, but you are both so open and fabulous that just watching you on the video felt like a fun visit.
What a fabulous program!! I stand by what I said to you at the workshop Me Ra. You were put on this planet to improve women’s lives and I love how no matter what you undertake you stay true to that calling.
A huge congratulations to the winners!!!!! I cant wait to see where this year takes you!
Wow!!! Way to goooooooooooooooooooooo… Your first flight out of the Soar Nest has taken place!! What an amazing flight you will all be on, and I am looking forward to tracking your journey.
Me Ra, Brian, and everyone who is involved in Soar, you are such a gift, what an impact you have on so many people. What you give will echo on for years to come.
all of us here submitted a video in hopes of having help in starting our own photo business.
I guess with most of us, the dream is still not dead, we will just have to take a different route in getting there.
here a two sites that I found that have tons of info
http://julescafe.com/
http://www.photocrati.com/
be prepared there is so much there to read, you will not want to leave your monitor
good luck to all of you talented women on your way to becoming professionals in 2010
congratulations ladies! it’s going to be a wild ride. buckle up! we’re behind you….you can do it!
[…] letting that settle I watched the video announcing the winners with excitement and complete joy for Linda, Jennifer and Lindsay. From the bottom of my heart, CONGRATULATIONS […]
[…] « Previous January 11th, […]
[…] of their seat until Saturday morning because they were flying around to the three winners. See more here on the video they made to show the rest of us the response of the recipients. It’s pretty fun […]
to everyone who is trying to get the free book offered by the wisdom connection…i connected with Karen and she apologized and said she notified the webmaster. she also said we could email her at: info@thewisdomconnection.com to request a copy of the book. thanks!
Me Ra, you and Brian are so amazing to do this for these women. To show up in person to bring their cameras is really fantastic! You guys rock! Am so inspired by you, your generosity and big heart! You’re helping give so many people confidence in their abilities and inspiration to move forward. Bravo!