All posts filed under: Shopping

An Interview with A Million Elephants

This is Part One of a Two-Part Series on Lao Home and Fashion Pioneers, A Million Elephants. “There are a lot of people who don’t even know that Laos exists.” “As a person of mixed ethnicity, I’m always asked, ‘what are you?’. Every time I said my dad is Lao, nobody knew what it was. So I used to say that I’m Thai. But as I got older, I decided I’m not going to say that. I’m going to say ‘Lao’ so that people know what it is.” Brittany Petrie grew up in a small city in Ontario, Canada. Surrounded by a large Lao community, she was never short on cultural experiences or friends who shared her love of sticky rice and laap. But despite that, she longed for a deeper connection with her roots, to celebrate her heritage and pass it on to the next generation. And that’s how  A Million Elephants got its start. A Million Elephants, a Canadian company, sells handcrafted products, all of which are created in Laos. Working with talented …

Invasion! Inserting “Lao” into Everyday Words

There are often many ways to show off national pride: waving flags and getting decked out in the country’s colors comes to mind, but we Lao have become rather…creative in our endeavors. In fact, you might have noticed our collective creativity on this very bLAOg! See what I did there? In one of our late-night brainstorm sessions, we noticed just how easy it is, to insert “LAO” into common English words. Follow along for some fun! 1. Our most LAO’ved: We’re all about getting LAO’d and amplifying our voices here! 2. Globetrotting: From the US to Africa and all around the world and back again, we are taking over it all! LAOs Vegas LAOs Angeles LAOgos Sau PauLAO GuatemaLAO City 3. Special occasions: No matter how you celebrate, we bet there’s tons of food involved. HalLAOween Hol-LAO-days VaLAOntine’s Day 4. Getting creative: Have you ever noticed how talented our community is? MythoLAOgical LAOmagination 5. Fashion: Your go-to places for looking fresh. BLAOtique SaLAOn 6. Staying woke: It’s all about raising awareness! PoLAOtical SoLAOdarity 7. Subject …