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  • Hey, it’s Marie Forleo and you are watching MarieTV, the place to be to create a business

  • and life you love. You know, we all have those moments in life where we realize that something

  • is just not working and we need to go in a new direction. And my guest today is a shining

  • example of what happens when you listen to that call and you embrace the unknown and

  • decide to use your gifts in the service of others.

  • Scott Harrison spent almost 10 years as a nightclub promoter in New York City before

  • leaving to volunteer on a hospital ship off the coast of Liberia West Africa as a volunteer

  • photojournalist. Returning home to New York City two years later, he founded the nonprofit

  • organization, charity:water, in 2006. Turning his full attention to the global water crisis

  • and the world’s 800 million people without clean water to drink, he created public installations

  • and innovative online fundraising platforms to spread international awareness of the issue.

  • In 7 years with the help of more than 400 thousand donors worldwide, charity:water has

  • raised over 125 million and funded over 11 thousand water projects in 22 countries. When

  • completed, those projects will provide over 4 million people with clean, safe drinking

  • water. Scott was recently recognized in Fortune Magazine’s 40 under 40 list, the Forbes

  • magazine Impact 30 list, and was recently number 10 in Fast Company’s 100 Most Creative

  • People in Business issue. He’s currently a World Economic Forum Young Global Leader.

  • Scott lives in New York City with his wife Victoria and son Jackson.

  • Scott, thank you so much for being here on MarieTV.

  • It’s great to be here. Thanks for having me.

  • So I wanna go back. Back in the day to when you had that moment in your life where you

  • felt what youve called emotionally and spiritually bankrupt. And youre in Uruguay,

  • right?

  • Yeah. Punta del Este.

  • Ok. Tell us what that was like. And I know you had a big revelation when you came back

  • to New York City, but it wasn’t that easy to make the change, was it?

  • Yeah. I guess I have to back up a little bit. So I’d moved to New York City at 18 to rebel

  • against everything. You know, the conservative Christian upbringing. My mom was really sick

  • growing up, so I had the caregiver role as an only child. So it was time to look out

  • for number one and I found that there was this job that existed in New York City called

  • a nightclub promoter and people would pay you to drink alcohol for free and all your

  • friends would drink for free. So that’s the life that I embraced for 10 years and,

  • you know, we would go to dinner at 10, the club at 12, after hours at 5, and it looked

  • very glamorous on the outside but it was a kind of really dark, destroying environment.

  • You know, I mean, if you saw me at noon the day after we’d been partying, it wasn’t

  • pretty. So 10… this trip that you mentioned kinda came at the ten year mark and over New

  • Years we would always go away and the beautiful people would jump on planes and rent houses.

  • And I remember this year’s trip was to Punta del Este and we’d rented this house with

  • servants and horses and I remember we’d spent a thousand dollars on fireworks and

  • there were magnums of Dom Perignon. And I had the girlfriend that was on magazine covers

  • and, you know, the life that I thought I wanted. The BMW, the Rolex, guys around me are playing

  • 10 thousand dollar hands of blackjack. You know, what more could you want? And we had

  • this party that lasted 24 hours and I remember it was the day after New Years and it was

  • like 3 in the afternoon and I just wanted to go to sleep. And there were 100 people

  • on the compound by the pool. And it was like the music stopped, you know, and in some way

  • the veil was lifted that I had gotten everything I thought I’d wanted and I was deeply unhappy

  • and I looked around and nobody else was happy. You know, there was wreckage, you know, many

  • of these, you know, 60 year old guys had ditched their wife and kids to chase 20 year old models

  • around and buy bottles. And, I don't know, I just… I guess I saw that there would never

  • be enough girls, there’d never be enough money, there’d never be enough status or

  • parties. And I started reading this very dense theology book that my dad had sent to me and

  • my relationship with my parents had been pretty fractured over those 10 years as I had, you

  • know, picked up every single vice that you can imagine. And something just really awakened

  • in me. You know, I got to kind of opt back into my Christian faith in a… in a way where

  • it wasn’t being shoved down my throat. And I started asking this question, “What would

  • the exact opposite of my life look like?” You know, thethe opposite of the party

  • boy, you know, out, you know, banging lines of cocaine. You know, what would serving others

  • look like?

  • Yeah. And so thatso you got home from that trip, you got back to New York, and obviously

  • the physical surroundings were still the same, but something

  • Yeah, nothing had changed.

  • Something in you changed. What were those first steps? What did you start doing when

  • you got back to start to try and make that change not only from within, but on the outside

  • too?

  • Yeah. Well, so it was like the fun had been taken away from it but I still was coming

  • back and I was still working in nightclubs. I mean, I had to work toto pay rent. I

  • remember, you know, it started with spirituality. I started trying to rediscover church, I was

  • reading the Bible again, I was, you know, trying to kind of reclaim this very lost morality

  • in faith. But I was kind of floundering. And then, I don't know, it took me about 6 months

  • and I rented a cobalt blue Ford Mustang fromfrom the Newark Airport, kind of on an indefinite

  • rental, and I grabbed the Bible, I grabbed a bottle of Deurs, and I started heading north

  • aimlessly. I didn't know where I would end up. Went through Connecticut, through Vermont,

  • just kind of trying to, you know, decide what was next. And I wound up inin Moosehead

  • Lake at this internet cafe. It was dialup internet. I remember the

  • Yeah!

  • And I had… I just kind of had this moment where I said, you know, I never need to go

  • back and what would the radical change be? What if I were to tithe or give one of the

  • ten years that I’d pissed away to the poor? So from this internet cafe I started applying

  • to the world’s famous humanitarian organizations. The World Visions and Peace Corps and, you

  • know, United Nations. Thinking that of course theyre gonna love the idea that a nightclub

  • promoter who gets thousands of people drunk every night

  • Right.

  • ...you know, wants to go on some humanitarian mission in Africa.

  • Right.

  • So I actually didn't go back. I kind of, you know, gave up my apartment and sold my things

  • just in faith that one of these organizations would take me. I went to a friend’s house

  • in the south of France just to kind of wait for all of the acceptance letters come in,

  • and I was denied by every single organization that I’d applied to. And on paper, you know,

  • I mustve been terrifying. You know? I remember in some of the applications, like, “Do you

  • drink?” Excessively. “Do you smoke?” 2 packs a day. “Have you done drugs?”

  • Which ones? But I… I’d written these compelling essays, I thought, of, you know, this was

  • my old life, I wanna change, you know, I think I have a lot to bring to the table. So denial,

  • denial, denied, denied. Finally one organization says, “Scott, if you pay us 500 dollars

  • a month, you can volunteer with us.” And I’m like, “This is great. I wanted the

  • opposite of my life. Not only am I not gonna make money, I’m gonna have to pay…”

  • To volunteer.

  • “...for the opportunity of volunteering.” So I said, “Where are you guys going?”

  • They said, “Were sailing this giant 500 foot hospital ship to Liberia.” I, you know,

  • it’s embarrassing now, but I’d never heard of Liberia. You know, I thought Africa was

  • like one big country, not made up of 40 some countries. And I said, “Sure, I’ll go.”

  • Started learning about their work, their mission as I got ready to join. And I learned that

  • this country, Liberia, had been through a 14 year civil war, there was no electricity,

  • there was no running water, there was no mail, there was no sewage. Completely broken as

  • Charles Taylor hadhad decimated this country with child soldiers. So we were gonna go in

  • with these amazing surgeons, doctors who had given up their vacation time and instead of

  • flying their families to, you know, the Caribbean, decided to fly in and use their skills for

  • good. And I had signed up to be their volunteer photojournalist, so I dusted off a degree

  • that I had gotten from NYU and said, “Look, I know a lot of people. I have 15 thousand

  • people on my club list, you know, what if I take pictures, what if I tell stories of

  • the work that you guys are doing?” And it happened very quickly. So from that New Years

  • Eve trip, in the fall I was sailing on this ship intointo West Africa.

  • So I know you spent 2 years on that ship and it completely changed everything. And when

  • you came back, you had the realization, from what I’ve read and researched, that you

  • could possibly make an impact in your lifetime to help end the water crisis. When you started

  • thinking about that to yourself when you were back here after those two years, what did

  • you start thinking about in terms of did you know you wanted to start charity:water? Was

  • that in there? Or were you just like, “How can I make a bigger impact?” What was that

  • next step for you?

  • Yeah. I don't talk about this that much, but I think the big piece over that 2 year story

  • was, you know, I am emailing the stories, and we werewe were operating on people

  • with massive tumors, we were digging wells, so I learned about the water crisis for the

  • first time there. But I was emailing these fancy club people who used to come out and

  • buy 500 dollar bottles of Greygoose. And, you know, two reactions when you email 15

  • thousand people pictures of tumors and dirty water. The first was, “Take me off this

  • list! I signed up for the Prada party, not the tumor party or the poverty party.” And

  • then the other reaction was, “This is amazing. How do I give money? How do I volunteer? You

  • know, how do I engage and serve these doctors?” So I think I discovered the power of story,

  • the power of almost an unpolished, raw story. You know, notand the organization had

  • typically, you know, over polished things almost and buttoned it up and then would put

  • it in a mailer. And this wasit was raw. It was almost reportage. So when I came back

  • I was 30, I believed the power of story, I believed that there were all these people

  • that wanted to get involved but didn't trust charities, that they weren't being communicated

  • to in a way that moved them or in a way thatthat was relevant. And I actually wanted to

  • help Mercy Ships at the time and I had so many crazy ideas for them. I mean, were

  • gonna completely rebrand you and all your marketing needs to go and, you know, that

  • I scared them so much they said, “Thank you but no thanks. It’s been a great 2 years,

  • thanks for serving us, thanks for the awareness and money you raised, but you should go and

  • do your own thing.” So really that door was shut and I said, “Ok, well I do have

  • all these ideas, I’ve been able to raise a lot of awareness and money for this organization,

  • I guess I’ll start something on my own.”

  • And so I know one of the things that you knew was what you didn't want. You didn't want

  • an ugly website. That was one of the things that you were clear about. So you had a bit

  • of a vision for what charity:water could be.

  • Yeah. As I was talking to people that I wanted to get involved, I would hear these common

  • objections to charity. The most common one was, I don't know how much of my money is

  • actually going to reach the people. And everybody seemed to have a horror story of the big overhead,

  • the CEOs being paid millions of dollars, you know, the charity that scammed everyone, put

  • 90% of the funds in their own pockets and sent 10. And, you know, I thought if that’s

  • really true, then there’s a huge amount of money that could be unlocked through a

  • new model. So that was one. The second was, you know, people didn't feel a connection

  • to where their money went. And, you know, I thought, well, the technology tools of the

  • day, you know, we can put stuff on Google Earth and Google Maps. Like, you can bridge

  • that gap using technology and say, you know, here’s your well in Cambodia. Here’s your

  • well in Malawi. You know, here’s what the community looks like. Here’s exactly where

  • it is, within 10 feet. And, as you mentioned, the third was charities were so bad at marketing

  • and branding. I mean, they had some of the worst websites, they were, you know, as bad

  • as insurance companies.

  • Yeah.

  • And, you know, a typical charity website would have, like, 100 links in 2 point font and

  • they would expect you to read 90 page whitepapers. You know, I recently read something about

  • The World Bank’s website. I think of all of the PDFs that they’d put on the website,

  • 30% have been downloaded once or more.

  • Wow.

  • 70% have never been downloaded once. Something crazy like that. So I thought, you know, there’s

  • a new way to tell stories, we could use great design. Nick Kristof had written in the New

  • York Times thatthat peoplehe said people peddle toothpaste with more sophistication

  • than all of the world’s life saving causes. And, you know, Doritos can spend hundreds

  • of millions of dollars marketing junk food, you know, Crest can market. Why aren’t the

  • greatest needs or the greatest causes in the world  able to bring that same design aesthetic

  • or design relevance to their issues? I didn't know how to design beautiful things, but I

  • had pretty good taste and I thought, “We just need to find talented designers who would

  • rather work on bringing the world clean water than on, you know, Clinique?”

  • Yeah. I mean, that was one of the things

  • I hope Clinique’s not a sponsor.

  • No, Clinique’s notwe don't actually have any sponsors for that reason, because

  • I like to be able to say anything I wanna say when I wanna say it.

  • Great.

  • And it was one of the things that I was so impressed with when I first learned about

  • your organization because I was drawn in because I appreciate great design and I love branding

  • and marketing. I think it can be such a powerful force for good in the world and it just

  • so when people go like this towards it, I’m like, “No, no, no. It’s a beautiful tool

  • if you leverage it in the right way for the right purposes.” And with charity:water,

  • I just wanna let you know, it’s made such a huge difference to so many people and I’ve

  • shared it just saying, first of all, the work that you do is incredible, but just being

  • able to bring a fresh face, a new model, making it cool, making it fun, making it beautiful

  • to engage with has been incredible.

  • That’s all my wife.

  • Yes. And I remember when I first stumbled across your website, our creative director,

  • I said, “Who does…? Whatever theyre doing, that’s it.” It’s so hot, it’s

  • beautiful, it’s gorgeous. She’s amazing. She’s absolutely amazing.

  • And she has a great team, as well.

  • Yeah. So the other thing that I love about you guys is, of course, the focus that you

  • have because of the work that you do on women and girls. Let’s talk about a recent trip

  • that you made, and I believe that one was to Ethiopia.

  • It’s heavy.

  • I know it’s heavy.

  • We talked about this.

  • But it’s important.

  • Yeah. So, you know, just top line, the issue. 800 million people don't have access to clean

  • water. You know, it’s something I took for granted my entire life. I used to sell 10

  • dollar bottles of Voss in the clubs. You know? No one I know in my circle of friends has

  • ever had to drink dirty water. So it’s really almost a tough issue to get people to understand

  • because it’s not in our face. You talk about cancer, everyone has been touched by cancer.

  • You know, you talk about, you know, dying of bilharzia or, you know, trachoma through

  • dirty water, no one’s been touched by that here. So 800 million people, it is absolutely

  • an issue that touches the women and girls because, unfortunately, throughout the developing

  • world it is the job of the women and girls to get the water, which is not clean. So it

  • is not uncommon for women to walk 5, 6, 7, 8 hours a day, which is, again, just so hard

  • for us to imagine. Like, that is the entire work day and it’s 3 hours out, you know,

  • with the empty pail or the jerry can or the clay pot, 5 hours back. And, you know, I mean,

  • I’ve seen so much now. I’ve been to Ethiopia 23 times over the last couple of years and

  • one of the great things about this job is that I’m able to go and meet the people

  • and spend time in these communities where were working. I think of all the stories

  • over the last 8 years of charity:water that move me the most were the kind that put the

  • point on how human this issue is, was the story of Ledikiros that I was telling you.

  • I heard… 2 years ago I was in a crappy hotel, 6 dollar inn hotel in Ethiopia, and the hotel

  • owner comes out and says, you know, “Youre the charity:water people. It’s amazing what

  • youve been doing here. You know, water is so important. Let me tell you a story about

  • a girl who lived in my village 10 years ago and she used to walk 8 hours a day for water

  • and she would have this heavy clay pot on her back that she would tie a rope around

  • her shoulders and attach the pot to. And she would walk 8 hours.” And he said, “She

  • wasn’t getting clean water, but she came back one day and as she was entering our village

  • she slipped and she fell, she broke her pot, all the water that she’d spent a day fetching

  • spilled out.” And he says to me and a couple of donors, he says, “Instead of going back,

  • she took the rope and she hung herself from a tree in my village.” He just let that

  • sit and then he walked back into the kitchen. He said, “The work youre doing is important,”

  • he walked back into the kitchen. And I remember one of the donors I was with, young guy, he

  • was like, “Dude, why would you tell us that story?” And, you know, we processed it and

  • then it almost goes in the, ok, that’s just a wive’s tale. That’s… that can’t

  • be true. So I wound up confirming it through the partners and finding out about the village

  • and finding her name and, you know, I was telling it on stage, I was telling it, you

  • know, to friends just as a way of saying, look, this is a human crisis. It’s about

  • people, they have names, they have families, you know. 800 million is impossible, but this

  • is about women that just have no hope because of where they were born. So earlier this year

  • I wanted to really see if it was true and I wanted to walk in her footsteps and I wanted

  • to meet her family and I wanted to see and photograph the tree, as horrible as that sounds.

  • So I… I found out that the village was pretty cut off. It was a 9 hour walk over mountains.

  • So I drove to the end of the road, rented a donkey, put my, you know, camera gear on

  • the back of the donkey and my tent, and I wound up spending a week in her community.

  • Meeting her mom, meeting her friends that walked with her that day, walking in her footsteps,

  • this unbelievable, treacherous walk down, you know, ravines to this swampy, nasty water,

  • seeing the tree. And I think what killed me was I didn't know this going in, but I found

  • out that she was 13 years old when she died. And I… I asked her best friend, this girl

  • name Yeshareg, who was still walking for water 10 years later because the village still doesn't

  • have clean water, I said, “Why do you think she killed herself? Why not go back the next

  • day? Why not, you know, justjust come home and say, ‘I broke my pot.’”

  • Yeah.

  • And Yeshareg said, “You know what? She was such a remarkable girl, she was such a fighter,

  • she was so proud that she wouldn’t have wanted to let her mom down because her mom

  • was waiting on that water to cook dinner for the family.” And sheshe just after all

  • of that, coming home empty handed was too much, the shame was too much for her. And,

  • you know, were nowcharity:water is now trying to find a solution for this village.

  • There’s 2,800 people living there and the crazy thing is that this tragedy happened

  • 10 years ago. Nothing has changed.

  • Right.

  • And women are still walking with no hope simply because of where they were born. And, you

  • know, I just… I had a child 3 weeks ago, you know, it’s not lost on me that he’s

  • born in a world where he’s never gonna drink dirty water.

  • Right.

  • He’s probably never gonna go hungry. Were gonna take him to Africa in 5 months, to Ethiopia,

  • and were gonna buy a bunch of bottled water and, you know, were gonna throw it in the

  • back of the car andbut simply because of where they were born, you know, this is

  • their situation. So, you know, it really helped kind of reinvigorate me personally to continue

  • to fight for these people because, you know, we have the opportunity, weve been given

  • a voice, we have money, and were able to, you know, to help people.

  • Yeah. I was really, as strange as it may sound, excited for you to tell that story because

  • so many of us and so many of us here and who get a chance to watch the show don't have

  • exposure to that. It’s not on the news. You know, so many other things get covered.

  • So I think, you know, if I can play any small part in helping to share things that don't

  • get shared in other places so that people can tap into that voice they have inside that

  • says, “I wanna make a difference,” then I feel like weve done our part here. And

  • I know there was another story that was also

  • A happy one. Yeah.

  • Yeah, that was really inspiring for you also about Helen.

  • Yeah. So there are the villages that need water and then, of course, were able to,

  • you know, to solve the needs of many of these communities and over the last 8 years now

  • weve funded over 13 thousand water projects for about 4 and a half million people, so

  • Congratulations.

  • That’s… I know 4 and a half million out of 800 million, you know, long way to go,

  • but it’s like stadiums of people, it’s…

  • Hey.

  • In fact, this year 3 thousand people are getting clean water every single day. So were trying

  • to talk about, you know, the problem is being solved. Instead of these statistics of death

  • and dying it’s how many people got clean water today? 3 thousand. How many will get

  • clean water tomorrow? Because of the compassion and the empathy and the people that are stepping

  • up to help. So one of these great stories, there was a woman named Helen in northern

  • Uganda and our team, Becky, who was our Water Program Director at the time, it was the end

  • of a long day, she’s trying to sneak into Helen’s village to just see how the community

  • is using the water project without the fanfare. If you ever come with me, it is a crazy, hours

  • of dancing and celebration and popcorn and they, you know, no matter how poor the community

  • is they will bring their best food. Sometimes it’s nuts, sometimes it’s popcorn, sometimes

  • barley or maize. They will make you coffee, even if it’s with dirty water. So Becky’s

  • just trying to get into this village, you know, get in and get out. Somehow this woman

  • named Helen Apio gets wind of her trip, blocks the road, brings 20 women, theyre dancing,

  • theyre shouting, Helen is of course, you know, screaming in a happy way at the top

  • of her lungs. And at the end of all of that when everything quiets down, you know, Becky

  • got off with Helen and started talking to her in a quiet way and said, “How has your

  • life changed now that you have clean water? You know, what has it meant to you? What has

  • it meant to the community?” So Helen starts talking about her life before and she was

  • actually getting clean water from a far away well. So she wasn’t getting dirty water,

  • but she said, “Because it was so far, because there was a wait, I would take 10 gallons,”

  • so two of these kind of yellow jerry cans. And she said, “I have a husband and 2 kids,

  • so there’s never enough water. So every single day I would have to make these choices:

  • do I cook, do I clean, do I wash my husband’s clothes, do I wash my husband’s body, do

  • I wash my kids school uniforms?” She said, “If they go to school too dirty, theyre

  • sent home.” And she says, “Of course, as the mother of the family, I always put

  • my family first. So there was never enough water for me.” She said, “Now I have clean

  • water in my village, I can get 3 times as much,” and she said, “I’m beautiful

  • now.” And I remember Becky didn't get it at first and said, “Well, of course youre

  • beautiful. What do you mean?” She said, “No, you don't understand. Now I feel beautiful

  • because I have enough water to wash my body and my clothes.” And, you know, wewe

  • have a bunch of statistics at charity:water that we can throw at you with the health impacts

  • of water and the, you know, economic impacts, but we had neverwe’d never thought of

  • it that way, that water could give a woman dignity, could make someone feel beautiful,

  • you know, at the most human level. And were talking about taking her from two toilet flushes,

  • for a family of four, to six, and that was enough to change her life and the way she

  • felt about herself.

  • It’s so awesome. Thank you so much for being you. Thank you for going on that trip and

  • having that experience and coming back.

  • I can’t wait to go back. There was this… I’ve gotta tell you one more story from

  • that village. There’s this one woman that I met andand this isn’t solving the

  • problem in general, but I… she was 20 years old, she had a young child, and she was walking

  • that same distance, the 8 hours. And she would go every single day and she said, “It kills

  • me because my kid is breastfeeding, my kid is screaming all day long, you know, and she’s

  • with my grandmother, but I can’t take my child on this treacherous hike.” And she

  • said, “But if I had a donkey, I could take 4 days worth of water on the donkey’s back

  • home with me so I would go Monday and not have to go Tuesday, Wednesday, or Thursday.

  • I could go Friday but not have to go Saturday, Sunday.” I said, “Well, were trying

  • to find a solution for this village but, you know, how much would it be to buy a donkey?”

  • And she said, “110 dollars.” And, you know, look, I’m like the charity guy, but

  • I spend 110 dollars in the city without even thinking about it.

  • Absolutely.

  • We bought her a donkey. That was actually a trek, because it was 5 days away, so the

  • guy had to, you know, come with us and it was a 5 day’s walk to the market. But I

  • can’t wait to go back and just not only see 2,800 people getting access to clean water,

  • but, you know, something as simple as giving a woman ¾ of her days back for 100 dollars,

  • I mean, it… I mean, it just kinda rocked me, even the way that I think about money

  • or spend money, you know, here in the city just even doing what I do.

  • I do it any time I see my credit card bill. Every time I go out, there’s times when

  • I’m traveling around, I live here in New York City, sometimes I spend time out east

  • in Long Island, and I won’t go to restaurants sometimes because I literally get sick when

  • I look at the prices on the menu. And I’m like, “Do you know what this could do in

  • other places?”

  • Sure.

  • So I’m… I’m with you. One of the other things that I love about what you guys have

  • done is the focus on birthdays.

  • Yeah.

  • And the ability that it helps anyone give and anyone donate. Tell us about why you were

  • inspired, how that came about, and how birthdays work.

  • So charity:water was actually founded through a birthday party and this actually goes back

  • to the club decade. Night club promoters, as you know, throw great birthday parties.

  • Yes.

  • It’s like the one time of year we get to call in all the favors and, you know, the

  • people that don't go out often will come out on your birthday party. You know, you give

  • them open bar and it’s a big night. So as I was starting charity:water, you know, I

  • didn't have all these clever online, you know, ideas at the time. I just said, “Why don't

  • I throw a big party at a nightclub but instead of pocketing the money, well use the money

  • to build water projects?” So I threw my 31st birthday party, it was a place called

  • Tenjun 2 weeks before they opened. My birthday always falls during Fashion Week, so it was

  • September 7th. And 700 people came, I gave them open bar, I had a bunch of photos of

  • dirty water up and clean water and drilling for wells, and I charged everyone 20 bucks

  • at the door. So it was a really simple start. We raised 15 thousand dollars, we took it

  • immediately to northern Uganda, and one of the other things, from day one weve always

  • used 100% of all public funds, of all donations, to fund the projects. And there are 100 private

  • donors that pay for the entire overhead. So everybody’s been able to give in a clean

  • way. So I was able to tell people, even if you give 20 bucks at the door, it can help

  • somebody get clean water. So a couple of months later we proved these wells, we sent the photos

  • and the GPS and the video back to those 700 people that attended the party and said, “Here’s

  • what you did.” And, you know, I always joke because some of my friends did not remember

  • attending the party, they said it was such a good one. But, you know, theylook, it

  • was an amazing thing because people never expected to hear from the charity.

  • Yeah.

  • Let alone, you know, you throw 20 bucks in a bin, you have a couple of drinks, and to

  • be able to see actual lives changed, to be able to see tangible water projects, you know,

  • prove through your money, through the collective community. So on the one year anniversary

  • I was turning 32 and I said, “You know, I’m too old for the club stuff,” you know,

  • I’d stopped going out and just had a completely different schedule. And said what if I…

  • and the club didn't scale. You know, maybe I could get a thousand people to come, maybe

  • I could charge them 30 bucks. But I said, “What if I gave up my birthday and I told

  • everyone, ‘Stay home. I’m not throwing a party. But donate my age in dollars.’”

  • And I thought, you know, I was turning 32, maybe that would be kind of a sticky idea.

  • Yeah.

  • 32 dollars for my 32nd birthday. You would spend that much just coming in a taxi and

  • tipping the bartender.

  • Totally.

  • So everyone I knew that could attend had 32 bucks. So I just wage an email war, I email

  • everyone, “Hey, 32 bucks for my 32nd birthday,” and I promised my friends if I raised I think

  • it was 40 thousand dollars for a deep well at a hospital in Kenya, I would fly to Kenya

  • and I would drill on my birthday via satellite so they could actually see kind of in real

  • time their money being spent. So to my surprise in a couple of weeks I raised 59 thousand

  • dollars.

  • Awesome.

  • The opening party was 15 grand. And, you know, asas it happens sometimes, these ideas

  • just kind of unravel and I said, “Well, look. I’m not the only guy with a birthday

  • that could care about clean water.” And it was great not to get gifts. Most of the

  • stuff you get, we don't… we don't want.

  • Yeah.

  • Wallets, ties, handbags, Amazon gift cards. Like, you know, I have everything I need.

  • Too much stuff. Totally.

  • There are people without clean water.

  • Totally.

  • So this 7 year old kid in Austin, Texas takes this idea, his name is Max Schmidhauser, and

  • he starts knocking on doors saying, “I’m turning 7, will you donate 7 dollars?” So

  • because this kid is so cute, he raises 22 thousand dollars.

  • Oh my goodness.

  • So now were at, you know, 80 thousand and I think 92 people gave up their birthdays

  • that September and we raised 150 thousand dollars, which was 10x the party. We got so

  • many more people involved. So that’s how that idea started just as a, you know, I don't

  • wanna do a party, let me turn my birthday into this giving moment. It has now raised

  • tens of millions of dollars and itthe beauty of it is that, A, we can donate our

  • birthdays, which are personal to us. So our friends and our families care, so it’s just

  • a great idea, even outside of charity:water. You know, you could use your birthday for

  • the local gardening, you know, arboretum and people would donate because they care about

  • you. So weve just seenthe age range is amazing. I mean, I just had my son’s

  • 0 birthday, because he was born 3 weeks ago, so he has a campaign. Weve had 89 year

  • olds give up their birthday and write these beautiful mission statements, you know, saying,

  • “I’m turning 89 and, you know, that’s double the life expectancy in so many of these

  • countries, you know, where people don't have clean water. So I’d like other people to

  • be able to live as long asas I’ve had the opportunity to live.” So it’s a really

  • I think it’s a really just beautiful idea where we can turn our birthdays into generous

  • moments and 100% of the money goes to help people get clean water. And then charity:water

  • is really good at sharing here’s what you did with the friends and family. So were

  • trying to build community around this.

  • Yeah, I think it’s genius. You know, we… a few years back we built a well with you

  • guys

  • In Cambodia, right?

  • ...in Cambodia. Yeah. Absolutely amazing. And I know the next actual birthday that we

  • have coming up is actually MarieTV’s birthday

  • Ok.

  • ...which we celebrate every year, and this year MarieTV is gonna be 4 years old.

  • Ok.

  • So Scott, with you right now

  • I’ll give you 104 dollars.

  • Ok! Oh, wow. 104… oh my God. So Scott just pledged 104 dollars, he’s kicking us off.

  • We will put all the links below. If you would like to partake in a celebration of the MarieTV

  • birthday, we will have everything below and we are gonna do some incredible good, well

  • set the goals, well make all that happen.

  • Oh, that’s awesome.

  • No, it’s… youre awesome.

  • And congrats.

  • Thank you. Your organization is great, your team is great, and I love the global community

  • that’s around charity:water, all the people that make a difference through it. It’s

  • wonderful. Anything else that you want to say before we wrap?

  • Hm. You know, I think… I just really believe in water as a… as a transforming agent.

  • You know, when I started the thing it was Charity: because I was thinking, “Ok, you

  • know, let’s go all Richard Branson, well do Charity: Education, well do Charity:

  • Health, well do Charity: Malaria,” and over the last 8 years it’s just been this

  • journey kind of unlocking the transformative power of water. You know, we say water changes

  • everything. It does impact health, it impacts education, you know, kids are able to go to

  • school when theyre not walking for water, when theyre not sick with diarrhea or these

  • water born diseases, and it makes these incredible economic impacts in communities. When youre

  • able to give women and children time back. You know, we have these wonderful stories

  • of women becoming entrepreneurs and selling peanuts at the market, selling rice, selling

  • goat’s milk because they have their days back. So, you know, I really believe in water.

  • I think it’s just a great way toso I just encourage people to, you know, check

  • out charity:water’s site, learn about the issue, check out some of the videos, meet

  • the amazing partners and the amazing beneficiaries and the amazing supporters that have given

  • so much. You know, this is really, you know, we talked about this on the phone, this really

  • isn’t about us. You know, were trying to be a platform where, you know, a 7 year

  • old can go run a lemonade stand for a year to give one community clean water. Where local

  • partners, you know, there’s 375 people in Ethiopia right now who are going out with

  • charity:water money serving their own communities.

  • Yes.

  • You know, Ethiopians helping Ethiopians and, you know, we try to tell those stories, you

  • know, and kind of sit back and say, “You guys are all amazing. Were just gonna make

  • sure that the money is spent well, that were doing the right thing, and that were gonna

  • try and connect you to that impact.”

  • Yeah, I think it’s amazing. One of the things that we say on MarieTV is each and every person

  • has an incredible, unique gift to share with the world, and I am so happy that you got

  • in touch with yours and that you're allowing all of us to take part in it and to make a

  • difference with you, alongside you. Scott, thank you so much for being here today.

  • Thank you.

  • It was incredible.

  • Thanks, Marie.

  • Now Scott and I would love to hear from you. What’s the single biggest insight that youre

  • taking away from today’s interview? Let us know in the comments below. Did you like

  • this video? If so, subscribe to our channel and, of course, share it with all of your

  • friends. And if you want even more incredible resources to create a business and life that

  • you love, plus some personal insights from me that I only talk about in email, come on

  • over to MarieForleo.com and sign up for email updates. Stay on your game and keep going

  • for your dreams because the world needs that special gift that only you have. Thank you

  • so much for watching today and I’ll catch you next time on MarieTV.

Hey, it’s Marie Forleo and you are watching MarieTV, the place to be to create a business

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