Spotlight on the Illustrious Gemma Kahng

Designer & Artist Gemma Kahng

Gemma Kahng

Founder, Artist & Designer.

Gemma Kahng

Gemma Kahng is a phenomenal artist, designer and the founder of an art gallery in Hudson Valley called Beekman Arts Club. @beekmanartsclub

BAC’s mission is to build a hub for creatives that is informative, inspiring, and community centered. BAC strives to encourage and support the arts community in the Hudson Valley by integrating fine arts into the rural everyday lifestyle. 

I was introduced to Gemma’s creations while in search of an off-beat wedding dress in 2015. It all started when my mother-in-law, Donna Yost, had met Gemma at Neiman Marcus in Troy, MI at a trunk show for her fashion line. Being a fearless fashionista, Donna fell in love with Gemma’s original and intricate designs and connected with her instantly. After Donna went to visit Gemma at her New York loft she had the idea of her taking the reigns on my dream dress and the two worked some magic creating a masterpiece that took a nod at my Polish heritage and was both stunning and practical (so I could dance my buns off and manage with my two-year-old son Henry.) I am so grateful to have had the opportunity to wear a piece of Gemma’s magic on my wedding day and now this dress hangs in my bedroom, I get a nice recharge of creativity whenever I sneak a peek.

Who is Gemma Kahng?

Gemma Khang was born and raised in South Korea and growing up her mother made all of her and her sister’s clothing. After her father, a mechanical engineer professor, was invited to teach at a school in Michigan, Gemma without speaking any English moved at 14 to the United States. It’s in school where Gemma found a passion for art, leading her to attend the Art Institute of Chicago and choosing her career in fashion.

After graduating Gemma moved to NYC and worked for Cathy Hardwick designing modern sportswear for 4 years before moving into freelance and then launching her own label in 1989. The 90’s were an incredible period for Gemma as she was frequently featured in top magazines and her designs were worn by the hottest celebrities; Sharon Stone, Julia Roberts, Pink and Madonna!

Sharon Stone wearing Gemma Kahng

Though managing the business side of her fashion line caused her to slow down in the 2000’s, in 2011 she was featured on the show “All on the Line,” where she was introduced to Elle’s creative director Joe Zee. With Zee’s counselling Gemma was able to reinvent her line and garner another wave of interest with department stores and fashionistas globally.

“I love everything about fashion—from sketching to sewing,” Kahng told Elle in 2011. “I have cuts on my fingers like a ballerina who has blisters on her toes. When a woman wears my designs and loves them, it makes everything worth it for me.” - Gemma Kahng

Gemma now lives and paints in a historical mansion in Hopewell Junction, NY surrounded by nature. She has moved on from fashion but applies her love of fashion to her paintings, she even describes the subject of her paintings as “fashion in nature.”

“..her most recent works center around paintings of birds and animals with unique character and style. Her interest lies in the innate ornamentation, the fascinating subtleties, and the astonishing beauty found in different species. Gemma's paintings are reminiscent of her glamorous clothing with mysticism, dynamism, and a natural progression towards nature.”

Donna and Gemma remain friends and maintain contact, the dream is to reconnect in person once the pandemic allows them to do so. Recently Donna received these fashion-inspired bird paintings by Gemma and seeing them up in her home serves as a reminder of her most inspiring friend.

Fashion Birds by Gemma Kahng

Safae's Review of Pumptitude by Donna Yost

Donna is an inspiring woman who is devoted to lift other women and help them explore their full potential. Her books are life lessons, full of great stories, precious advice and fine examples of female leadership. A book that every ambitious woman should read!

**

Donna est une femme inspirante qui a à coeur de pousser d’autres femmes à explorer leur plein potentiel. 
Ses livres sont de vraies lessons de vie avec d’épatantes histoires, de précieux conseils et de merveilleux exemples d’un leadership au féminin. Des livres que toute femme ambitieuse devrait lire !

@sfiy_art Safae Mounsif

@sfiy_art Safae Mounsif

Donna on The Living Fearlessly Podcast

3.png

A year ago I met Krysha Nair at a course where people attending wanted to break through their fear of public speaking. A common thread that cripples many and keeps our amazing stories, successes and failures locked behind that fear!

Level Up Living pushed us to do more to be not just better in our own lives, but to commit to sharing and caring about the world and how we can all impact everyone’s lives by fearlessly sharing our challenges, goals and dreams.

Krysha and I made a deal to connect and with Laila (Krysha’s best friend and partner in Living Fearlessly Podcast) we, one year later, share our ideas on the crucial first steps of becoming ferocious! Enjoy, and then like and subscribe because these ladies will feed your soul and challenge you to become the fearless version of yourself.

Episode 4 - Donna Yost, CEO of the Life Chest, on Finding Yourself and Leaving a Legacy

Andrea's Highlights from Donna's Book, Pumptitude!

My highlight was reading your book I could not put it down! Lol Wow, you had so many adventures! From losing your shoes and getting the police involved and finding them! Haha from blizzards in heels 👠 getting stuck in a room! Having to take two trains before you got in the right one! The rock situation not able to move to the fish problème to the lasagna on the floor omg I can go on and on! It didn’t matter what problem you had in front of you you would always stay calm and get the job done! Never saying a word to your husband! I learned a lot from reading your book and for that thank you! 🙂

Your one awesome mother and wife and CEO and you're doing it in heels! 👠 Bravo!!!! 

-Andrea Herron

Entrepreneur Montreal

Red Heels

Moses, and why Brother Joe Hicks is doing this work!

126172783_4673042042737230_8184485071391979084_n.jpg

https://www.facebook.com/100000944405217/posts/4673043742737060/

ABANDO'S, ABANDOMINIUMS, & ABANDONED PEOPLE... MOSES

MOSES LAST YEAR: I mentioned Sunday that we were told by Nikki on Saturday night that a gentle giant of a guy we knew "Moses" died in a house fire in an "Abando" in the Uptown Transylvania District.

"RIGHT WHERE THEY ARE JUST AS THEY ARE"- Has been our battle cry we do all we can with what we have and usually we get more supplies than we have time, energy & the people to get it out.

Matt LaFave

& THE CALVARY BAPTIST CHURCH IN WHITMORE LAKE Mi. - Last winter Pastor LeFave contacted me that his Church had gathered both new and used boots for our outreach. The big thing I remember about that night is it was FREEZING!!!

After picking up the boots I ran back to Prayer Baptist Church in Westland picked up the food and got to the Uptown Transylvania District late. I sat up the food tables let people feed themselves & opened the side doors of the van... An avalanche of boots, socks, gloves, coats and other great winter gear fell at my feet on the sidewalk!

We had a feeding frenzy on that sidewalk & Moses helped keep people in order as I passed out the gear... Moses was thrilled with his new BOOTS and my heart got pulverized when he showed me the guard shack he was sleeping in.

Within a few days Donna Yost flew back to Detroit from Western Canada and Team Life Chest loaded down our van "Snowball" & they're "Black Beauty" trailer they had purchased for us with both new and used boots, socks, canned goods etc.

Donna, Lisa Lee & Randy accompanied me to Uptown's "Transylvania" it was an amazing evening & Randy who is a photographer actually interviewed Moses that night.

We had an ABSOLUTELY AMAZING Saturday working at Prayer Baptist organizing so much stuff with the Kelly Cline Gozalka & one of the classes from the Northline Baptist Church in Taylor Michigan and Regina Ackerman & family, Sherrill Adkins, Amanda Jean, plus Dale Dotson & Mike Dotson, we were able to do in a few hours what would have taken me an entire Winter to accomplish.

Dale, Mikey & I went down and delivered items to the 2nd Squat House, that Pretty Connie & Nikki (Miss Alpena) had shown us. Then Nikki & a young man took us to yet another 8 unit house and we began to unload more items to the folks there... Squat #3 I guess???

I asked Nikki if Moses lived there and that is when she informed us the Moses had died in a house fire and affirmed my fears that he was indeed burned alive in an "Abando" or "Abandominium" which is Street talk for an abandoned house.

Saturday night I tossed and turned all night I kept thinking about that sweet gentleman dying in that fire and swirling thoughts the way my Birdbrain works connecting painful words "Abandos", "Abandominiums", "Abandoned houses", for abandoned people... Ugh.

I also thought that in the whirlwind of last years #LOVEWINS BOOT DRIVE followed by COVID-19 followed by trying to play catch up after Michigans lockdowns... I had never seen the pictures or interview of Moses & I'm praying that video exists!

As a Baptist Missionary Street Preacher/Pastor my life is a whirlwind of hard heavy work & a flurry of disjointed activities & somehow I actually get somethings done... (kinda).

I HATE TO ADMIT... That the last time I can really remember talking to Moses was last winter with Miss Lisa & Susan Ingermann & son, down that street near that 8 unit house where we dropped stuff off at Saturday. He was sitting with that grocery basket he always had. I gave him some items in route to the Squat House #1, and no doubt that was where he died, UGH!

Keep me in prayer please as I have to help close down my Father in Laws house, finish our AMAZING upcoming #LOVEWINS Newsletter with Eddie Jones & project vehicles, Street ministry etc.

Plus I am looking for a place, garage, barn farm, pole barn to get my "10-gallon bucket ministry out of Prayer Baptist's 5 Gallon bucket" building... much to do.

Miss Lisa cannot work with me right now as she once did with ageing our parents and different responsibilities... but I'm going to semi quote something she has often said about our helping Street people.

"If we made them feel warm or made them happy or safer for just a little while, then it’s worth it all." (semi-quote)

THANK GOD that we were even able to meet Moses! To along with other folks met a few of his needs... and YES to those who know me best "As his Pastor"... I feel guilty as home-made sin and mad as a wet hornet that he died... especially in a fire in an "Abando"! GOD I HATE THAT!!!

"Moses" if that was his real name in the Bible means "Drawn out of the water"... and the idea that he died in a firebugs me much more than I can explain.

THANK GOD that we were able to help him just a little... Lord what is next? Just broken-hearted!

I'm HOPING its all just a big mistake but I doubt it. Just so sad!

Love Y'all For the Streets Brother Joe Acts16:31... belief on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved...

www.brotherjoesyouthandstreetministry.com

313-414-8190

Love Wins!

Today

 A new day...as the sun crept into the sky with all of it’s brilliant glory, hiding any remnants of yesterday’s dreary but cleansing storm, I donned my new normal social distancing garb. It took me a long time to choose a word to accurately describe the layers of protection and just decided the word had far less impact than the true gravity of the situation the world is currently in. 

As the CEO of a tiny but mighty business, I find my heart breaking into millions of fragments, each representing another broken heart, another sad story of human beings suffering mind boggling loss. 

As I dig deeply into my soul, I am reaching for the best of us all, the humanity I know exists in every single one of us, regardless of where we come from. 

I’m hoping to pull compassion, empathy and love along with the ambition to succeed and brilliance of wisdom to lead us through this humbling experience. 

For weeks now, I walk along the lonely paths created by Covid19 and share what nature provides, given to us all, even after our colossal abuses of her bounty and beauty. 

At times, I think maybe Mother Nature has had enough of our unabashed disregard for what she has so freely given for centuries and is just simply putting us in our place, evening the score...letting us know who’s boss. 

So for the sake of us all, please listen to the experts. Please wear a mask. Please wash your hands and practice social distancing. Please help flatten the curve so there will be Grandmas and Grampas, Uncles and Aunties, Moms and Dads, cousins, sisters brothers and beautiful babies sharing life stories that matter for generations to come.  ❤️ wins

#human #nature #love #covid19 #legacy #lifestory #stayhome

Peru

Peru

Peru…….from the fragile beauty of the national flower, Qantuta, to the powerful images of Machu Picchu…..the historic sanctuary that both mystifies and terrifies, our Life Chest journeys continue.

Lima to Cusco, then on to Machu Picchu and back, riding trains, climbing monkey stairs, walking the cliffs to the infamous Inca bridge, visiting the village shaman and sharing stories along the way with the people who have so much to give and even more to tell.  

The “weaving women” of the village of Chinchero sharing their family traditions through the designs created by their hand woven ponchos, blankets and more. These stories are embedded in their crafts, the lines in their beautiful faces, the stains on their hands from the brilliant dyes they create and the eyes that so lovingly pierced my soul.

The Life Chest has encouraged me to not only value my own life story but to be a conduit to share the beautiful stories of others from around the world.  I hope that reading our stories encourages you to do the same.

Donna Yost

Dave Roever

Dave Roever

South Texas. The last thing on his mind was going to war. At the height of the Vietnam War, he received his draft notice. Having no desire to serve in the infantry, he joined the Navy and served as a river boat gunner in the elite Brown Water Black Beret in Vietnam.

Eight months into his tour of duty in Vietnam, Dave was burned beyond recognition when a phosphorous grenade he was poised to throw exploded in his hand. The ordeal left him hospitalized for fourteen months, where he underwent numerous major surgeries. His survival and life are miraculous.

Today, with his humorous style, Dave Roever is enthusiastically received both nationally and internationally as a public speaker. He is a gifted communicator and speaks in a variety of settings including public schools, military installations, business, men' s and youth conventions, etc. Dave is a frequent guest on national television talk shows. He established compassionate, ongoing missions work in Vietnam and is involved in other nations.

In every setting, Dave's message is one of hope. Using his life as an example, he addresses issues relevant to his audience and presents concrete solutions to life' s problems. Often drawing upon his war experiences of loneliness, peer pressure, disfigurement and pain, as well as life' s triumphs, Dave weaves a message of courage, commitment and survival that touches and transforms those who hear him. The foundation of his hope is his faith, supported by the wholesome relationships with his parents, wife, children and grandchildren.

Thirty-four years after his injuries, the Department of the Navy corrected its oversight by awarding Dave his Purple Heart, along with several other service medals. Because of his war-time experience of service, injury and recovery, he is uniquely qualified to speak to the needs of military personnel. He is called upon regularly to address troops on domestic military bases as well as those deployed in Iraq and other locations around the globe.

In May 2005, Dave was awarded an honorary doctorate degree in recognition of his remarkable life and service.

Dave Roever is founder, chairman, and president of two non-profit corporations: Roever Evangelistic Association (REA) and Roever Educational Assistance Programs (REAP) based in Fort Worth, Texas. Dave and his wife, Brenda, are co-founders of Eagles Summit Ranch near Westcliffe, Colorado, where Dave, Brenda, and team train wounded warriors, others from the U.S. military, and talented young leaders in areas of specific focus such as public speaking, and marital and emotional recovery after devastating injury, helping them to fulfill their destinies. Development of the second Eagles Summit Ranch - Texas, has begun, near San Antonio, Texas.

FAMILY

Dave has a wife, Brenda, two children and four grand children.

MILITARY SERVICE

1968 - 1971 U.S. Navy, Special Warfare Division, with a tour of duty in Vietnam; injured in Vietnam in July 1969

MILITARY AWARDS

Purple Heart Medal

Navy Unit Commendation Ribbon

National Defense Service Medal

Vietnam Service Medal with 3 Bronze Stars

Republic of Vietnam Meritorious Unit Citation

(Gallantry Cross Medal Color with Palm)

Republic of Vietnam Meritorious Unit Citation

(Civil Actions Medal, First Class Color with Palm)

Republic of Vietnam Campaign Medal with 1960 device