10 Good Questions with Lucid Eyewear [Q&A]
Meet Mark Reininga, the brains behind Lucid Eyewear’s mission to Spread the Shade.
Lucid co-founder Mark Reininga on his first trip to Africa
Lucid Eyewear is a sunglasses brand with a mission - to save children’s lives by distributing mosquito nets in Mozambique. In this 10 Good Questions interview, co-founder Mark Reininga talks to Goodnet about the social good company’s positive model, what makes his job great, and inspiring trips to Mozambique.
1. What is your organization's mission?
Lucid Eyewear was established in 2013 with mission to design, develop and deliver high quality products that help define individuals through lifestyle, culture, music, fashion and desire. The Lucid passion is to positively influence the world by directly giving back with each, and every, product that is sold.
We do this through our ‘Give Back Mission,’ aka Spread The Shade. Every minute, a child dies from Malaria - if they don’t have a long lasting insecticidal net (LLIN). Lucid's mission is to spread the hope of a child's future by distributing the protective shade of sleeping nets to Mozambique. A simple sleeping net is the most effective means of preventing mosquito bites and the Malaria disease.
2. What makes you guys different from the rest?
Most organizations ask for donations and then use it to fund their mission. We are an eyewear company that has built our mission into our model. For every pair of sunglasses we sell, we donate a Malaria-fighting sleeping net to a child in need. It's great because people can give back to others by shopping for themselves. We never thought a pair of sunglasses could have such an impact on someone's life. Each pair literally has the power to save a childs life.
Lucid's mosquito nets in action
3. Offices or open workspace?
We have an open workspace, or what you would call a modern-day business. We currently have four Californians in our company, and none of us live close to each other. We firmly believe in supporting each others passions which means we live in different areas. If anything, it has strengthened our company because everyone is more motivated and inspired by their environment.
4. What three words describe your organization?
Spread The Shade
5. What inspires you?
Creative expression, giving back and helping others in need, music, action sports, movies, art, people.
6. What is the best part about your job?
The best part about my job is our trips to Mozambique, when we give the nets to the children and stay for a week and help out at the orphanage. There is nothing better than seeing those kids faces and the joy in their hearts.
Check out our first trip:
7. Does your team eat lunch together?
Yes we do. In Spirit!
9. What do you want Goodnet users to know about your organization?
We are constantly striving to do good and inspire others along the way and we want to encourage you to do the same. It's important that we give back and fight for something that is bigger than ourselves.
Spreading the Lucid message in Mozambique
10. How can people get involved?
Check out our website Lucidwear.com and spread the word about our mission. Most importantly, get out there and fight the good fight!
