Companiesandme

Fame itself has never impressed me, maybe because in my career as a journalist I met so many "personalities". But when I meet someone exceedingly inspiring and generous, I have been known to get star struck – or, rather, "hero struck".

It happened several years ago and again last week with Nell Newman, when we worked together shooting a video for Give Something Back and Boise Inc's Paper=Food initiative. P=F donates $1 to an area food bank every time GSB sells a case of recycled paper in California.

Nell founded Newman's Own Organics in 1993, eleven years after her father Paul founded Newman's Own, which donates all its profits to charities and which inspired the founding of Give Something Back. Nell's commitment to organic foods and sustainable agriculture led her to convince her dad to let her establish an organic division of Newman's Own. She won him over by creating a completely organic Thanksgiving dinner and then suggesting organic food products for the Newman's Own line.

You'd think Nell would be comfortable in the spotlight, with world-famous parents and having acted in a couple of films, including the cult classic, The Effect of Gamma Rays on Man-in-the-Moon Marigolds (the play won a Pulitzer Prize for Drama). But like her highly private father, she eschews public attention.

However, when we asked her to appear in our short video, featuring Mozilla/Firefox, Wham-O Toys, Rina Accountancy, and the Greenbelt Alliance, she agreed, just as she agreed to be guest speaker at one of GSB's donation events in the ‘90s.

She agreed because she's passionate about ensuring the health of our planet and those who inhabit it. After studying human ecology in college, she worked at the Environmental Defense Fund and the Ventana Wilderness Sanctuary. She could have continued her good work quietly, but wanted to use the power of the marketplace to affect change. And that she has.

Newman's Own Organics has raised some $25 million for charities, and even though her dad's company has raised almost ten times more, hers is an amazing accomplishment given that organic foods have only recently become so popular and that the company is so much younger.

So what is this woman like, this woman who looks like her mom and dad morphed into one beautiful lively face? Passionate, funny, and more down to Earth than you'd ever imagine. Intelligent, eager to please, and eager to help Paper=Food raise funds for food banks. And, like her dad, exceedingly generous.

After the shoot, in which she voiced the line, "Give something healthy back!" some 15 times until the director was satisfied (I think we could have gone with the first take!),  she not only gave the crew goodie bags teeming with delicious Newman's Os, pretzels, mints, chocolates, and other delectables, but took us all out to lunch.

Nell and her family, including her brilliant actress mom Joanne Woodward and her late father, the iconic actor and humble philanthropist Paul Newman, give fame a good name. They are stars not because they are adored for the gifts they were born with but because of the talents, skills, and character traits they cultivated and have modeled for the world.

Call me star stuck, call me hero struck. Or call me inspired by, grateful for, and hopeful about social entrepreneurship in the 21st century!