At last week’s DiasporaCamp DC in Washington, DC we had a great time chatting with Rad Shakur, co-founder of CasaDiCulture. Check out the video above to learn about Casa di Culture (a mix of Italian and English meaning ‘house of culture’).

The online company was started by three sisters in 2007, as the brand for the modern nomad. Items combine culturally inspired designs paired with flight-friendly and travel-comfy items like t-shirts, wrap skirts and tube scarves. All of the designs are inspired by the sights, smells and sounds of their travels. Each item is thoughtfully designed; most of the t-shirts are 100% organic cotton and are printed with non-toxic inks, and all of the accessories are handmade and/or hand-casted. To join the Casa Di Culture community, you can also visit their online blog and join them on Facebook.

Thanks for your time to chat with us, Rad!

Rad Shakur: At CasaDiCulture we call ourselves the brand for the modern nomad. It was started three years ago by three women, originally from the Washington, DC area, but our experiences took us abroad. We’ve lived, studied, and traveled, and just have friends from many different places. So when we came back here it was hard to find others who were just interested in traveling or just getting to know other people. So that’s why we originally started the company – to promote diversity and then in our products we use organic cotton and non-toxic inks to promote social awareness as well.

So we have a platform on Facebook and you can find us on Twitter. We also like to do blogs and write about current things like international fashion, write about environmental issues, so we try to be holistic in our approach. But our items – we carry t-shirts because we figure that’s kind of the most global thing that young people wear. In our t-shirts we use international and global images that remind us of the places we’ve been – the sights, the sounds, the smells. So, that’s what we do.

We design in-house. Like the skirt I have was designed in-house: this is Batik sourced from Africa. But everything we do, these earrings (for example) – we have a jeweler … so everything we do we try to work either with entrepreneurs but most of the stuff is done in-house. We have a printer and they use non-toxic inks. Everything else – we have button earrings, we have soaps that we make handmade. So we do it ourselves.

We carry t-shirts, we carry skirts, earrings, and also bamboo tea which is very good for blood circulation. So we carry several different products but we’re all online so it’s accessible. We do have some wholesalers like on here in DC and there’s a boutique in Switzerland that carries our stuff and we’re expanding. We’re based online and the url is www.CasaDiCulture.com, and it’s a combination of “casa” “di” “culture”, three languages that we put together.

Thank you so much Rad!

Rad Shakur | Co-Founder, CasaDiCulture

About: Started by three sisters in 2007 as the brand for the modern nomad, CasaDiCulture is an online company featuring items that combine culturally inspired designs with flight-friendly and travel-comfy items like t-shirts, wrap skirts and tube scarves. Website: www.CasaDiCulture.com

Tapping into the power of social networks and social media to reach millions online worldwide, MASSIVEGOOD launched today with the goal to raise awareness and funds to support UNITAID’s life-saving efforts to fight malaria, tuberculosis, and HIV/AIDS.

Created via a private-public partnership between leaders in the travel and tourism industry and the Millennium Foundation, MASSIVEGOOD is a global platform that gives travelers in the United States an opportunity to donate $US 2 dollars when purchasing a travel product such as a flight, car rental, or hotel booking. Following the launch in the United States, the Millennium Foundation reports it will also be launching MASSIVEGOOD later this year in UK, Germany, Austria, Switzerland and Spain. With over 700 million flights purchased each year by travelers worldwide, the potential to raise awareness and funds for global health is significant.

UNITAID, an organization created in 2006 by the United Nations General Assembly to provide additional funding to fight HIV/AIDS, malaria, and tuberculosis, is the beneficiary of funds raised through MASSIVEGOOD. Currently supporting 3 out of 4 children on AIDS treatments globally, UNITAID has committed over $US 200 million dollars to treating people with tuberculosis as well. When every 30 seconds a child dies of malaria, every 15 seconds a person dies from tuberculosis, and every 13 seconds a person dies from HIV/AIDS, the need is urgent for funds to address these global diseases.

MASSIVEGOOD makes it easy for millions of travelers around the globe to make a micro-donation of $US 2 to help treat people who suffer from malaria, tb, and HIV/AIDS.

It will be interesting to see going forward how other professional sectors and public organizations find creative ways to form partnerships and leverage the power of social media and social networks to address pressing global issues of our day. Do you know of other examples of public-private partnerships that aim to solve global issues? Please let us know by leaving a comment below, thanks.

Travel: MASSIVEGOOD

About: MASSIVEGOOD is a global platform that gives travelers in the United States an opportunity to donate $US 2 dollars when purchasing a travel product such as a flight, car rental, or hotel booking. Website: www.massivegood.com