I was fortunate to be invited to Boulder for the 4th annual ideas and leadership conference,  SCIENCE+ NATURE+ART+PEOPLE (SNAP!). This is the name of a gathering hosted by a quartet of early and highly successful pioneers of the natural products industry.  Steve Demos (Founder and Former President of White Wave, Inc), Doug Greene (Founder of New Hope Natural Media), Peter Roy (Former President of Whole Foods Market), and Drake Sadler (Co-Founder of Traditional Medicinals) are the collaborators who created and host this mental medicine of diverse subject matter. Held in the fabulously restored Boulder Theatre, a series of speakers offered strict 20 minute presentations designed to stretch our mental comfort zones. I was especially impressed with the courage of the design team to include very tough global and political issues alongside deeply moving emotional and inspirational life stories, by speakers such as Wade Davis, Meredith Maran, Paul Stamets, Naomi Wolf, and Michael Franti.

Of course the golden value of well crafted gatherings is the mix of old and new friends one can make. A good introduction is a most important art. A new long term friend is high on the list of what makes life liveable. SNAP! gave me the rich pleasure of reconnecting with a number of old colleagues from this transformational industry. The new people I met and was introduced to were extraordinary.

Alongside the capital attraction of being at SNAP!, meeting high quality potential investees was also underway. With Renewal2 bringing in its first signings of 'on the dotted lines' commitments this month, I'm on a busy travel schedule to spread the word. Paul, Nicole, Pam, I and other close associates are telling the intentions and accomplishments of our 14 years experience investing for social change. We then are able to invite people for the first ever opportunity to become investment partners with us in our next chapter.

Special kudos to Casey Verbeck of Caring Capital and David Karr of Guayaki Sustainable Rainforest Products for stellar assistance in expanding my world. They independently worked to pry me loose to sign up for SNAP! and then they each opened the jewels of their worlds and shared them with me.

I encourage you to take opportunities to participate in extended events where you can meet new people and expand your horizons. Focus is crucial. Getting our heads and hearts up out of the bubble zones we create and seeing what's going on outside our niche is worth gold.