Shake It So Notes

I am slightly embarrassed to admit how excited I am about stickers.

We recently ordered 200 round Shake It So stickers — bright pink, simple, joyful. They just say “Shake It So.” Nothing fancy. And yet, when the proof came back and I saw them all lined up in a grid, I felt a disproportionate amount of happiness.

150 of them will soon be traveling much farther than most stickers ever do.

Ellie, the director of The MoonCatcher Project, will be bringing them with her to Malawi, Uganda, and Tanzania. They’ll be handed out to friends, collaborators, students, and partners — small, bright circles crossing oceans in someone’s carry-on bag.

It’s a small thing. But it feels meaningful.

Stickers are funny objects. They don’t do anything. They don’t solve problems. They don’t change policy. They don’t fund programs. But they mark belonging. They signal connection. They say, “We were here together.”

And that’s what this season of Shake It So feels like — connection widening.

We’re partnering with The MoonCatcher Project for two events in May around Menstrual Hygiene Day. Their mission is beautifully simple: get menstrual hygiene products to girls so they can stay in school. When girls have what they need, they don’t miss class. When they don’t miss class, their futures expand.

We’re aiming to raise $10,000 this year, all directly to MoonCatcher. Shake It So will cover its own expenses — music licensing, media production, artist compensation, marketing — so that the money raised can support their work.

And somehow, the stickers feel like part of that story.

They’re small. They’re bright. They travel. They connect a dance party in Massachusetts to a school courtyard in Malawi. They say, in the simplest possible way: we are in this together.

I kept 50 of them here at home. If you’d like one, let me know. I’ll happily send one your way.

Sometimes joy shows up in big ways. Sometimes it’s a two-inch circle of pink vinyl.

I’m glad it showed up this week.