Ask a New Yorker: Our July 2008 New Yorker of the Month April Lynn Martin takes
us on a journey from coffee in Soho to malaria, charity and fashion in Africa
and back to NYC with her newest endeavor.
Ask a New Yorker: April has just arrived with a plant in hand. What kind of
plant is this?
April: It’s for you Kennedy! Scientifically, I think it’s a Pathos
plant (which translates into something like: will live longer than you). I went
to Bubby’s a few months ago– I guess
it was before Christmas actually…and while I waited for friends to arrive,
I had a cup of coffee at the bar where I noticed they had all these plants and
herbs in the window in old coffee cans. I thought that was the cutest idea.
So I started saving my coffee cans. This one is in a red Lavazza
can, a truly fabulous coffee – I hope you like plants!
Ask a New Yorker: Very cool.
April: But actually since that brunch at Bubby’s I discovered The Sensuous
Bean on 70th and Columbus where I get my coffee ground fresh, so I don’t
get cans anymore. I love the way plants look potted inside coffee cans so I’m
on a constant hunt for cans.
Ask a New Yorker: How many cups of coffee a day do you drink?
April: About six over the course of the day, two for breakfast, double espresso
after lunch and two coffee’s in-between.
Ask a New Yorker: Enough of my delving questions. What would you like to talk
about?
April: Well, it’s such a great honor to be New Yorker of the month. I’m
really excited to be chosen for it. I love the Ask a New Yorker Forums. It’s
such a wonderful resource for underground New York Knowledge. Not being a native
New Yorker myself, I know that when I first moved here I was always on- line
hunting for tips and tricks. It took me nearly six weeks just to learn how to
use the subway on my own.
Ask a New Yorker: As New Yorker of the month you are very Uberchic, very fashionable.
April: Thank you! Fashion I think is something you get a chance to really develop
in New York. There are so many great designers here both known and unknown.
You walk into coffee shops and everybody has cute shoes and cute bags and cute
clothes. When I moved to New York – I didn’t dress like a New Yorker
…then I started meeting fashionitas who introduced me to all sorts of
great fashion…and now…now I notice fabrics and cuts and designers.
Actually, two nights ago there was an event at Saks 5th Ave and it was for one
of my favorite charities called Charity
Water started by a friend of mine Scott Harrison. We worked in Africa together
in 2004-2005. At the event I actually got to meet Diane Von Furstenberg who
of course is the inventor of the wrap dress. She is my favorite designer.
Ask a New Yorker: Who is April?
April: Sister. Daughter. Aunt. Humanitarian. Globe-trotting-chocolate-gobbler.
Dog lover. Friend… Bon Vivant! After college (in Florida), I went to Africa
on a www.mercyships.org hospital ship thinking that I would come back and go
on to medical school. Instead I just fell in love with global issues while I
was there. So what I ended up doing was moving to New York with a children’s
charity and traveling all around with that raising funds and awareness on child
and human trafficking. I learned a lot about the fund raising side of charity
and the grass roots side as well. After a couple of years of that, I moved back
to New York full time so here we are today.
Ask a New Yorker: In your travels I hear you have an ear for languages?
April: Ha! Some people pick up languages – I’m more the girl who picks
up malaria and that kind of thing. But I do try. I try to go as a local and
not a tourist where ever I travel. So the first thing I always do, when I can,
is get local clothing made if I’m going to be somewhere long enough. There
are thousands of African dialects. I do speak a little bit of Fon(sp) and a
tiny bit of Twe(sp). I’ve learned more African words and songs speaking
to taxi drivers in New York than I ever learned in Africa.
Ask a New Yorker: So what do you do?
April: In addition to supporting a few great charities, I wear a lot of high
heels…so I guess you’re asking what pays for my shoe collection?
I co-founded and work with C Squared
Group which gives me a wonderful opportunity to build community platforms,
get to know more New Yorkers and to build relationships with people groups that
might not otherwise have the opportunity to meet each other.
At C Squared Group we have industry specific www.contactsandcocktails.com platforms
for professionals from a wide range of backgrounds including finance, legal
and (buy side) real estate professionals. Personally, I adore our www.contactsandchampagne.com
platform –which brings women who love fashion together with emerging NYC-based
designers (and I’m always looking for more designers to work with –
so please email me if you’re a clothing, jewelry, shoes, or accessory
designer!) and my other favorite platform is our www.ContactsandCharity.com
platform where we bring together charity professionals with people who want
to get involved with charities but don’t know where to start. So we bring
them together in a cocktail setting and we find that people can build real relationships
with the executive director of a charity or with other volunteers. People find
a place where they click, where they fit in.
Ask a New Yorker: If you could invite three people dead or alive to your private
dinner party who would they be and why. Diane Von Furstenberg and two others?
April: My Grandmother, and Nicholas Kristof I’m certain the conversation
would be fascinating.
Ask a New Yorker: You mentioned you support a few charities, can you name one
or two and why?
April: There are several that I love and support – but when asked that
I always spotlight obstetric fistula. While working on the Mercy Ship I got
to know 31 fistula patients before surgery and during their recovery. What’s
interesting about this issue is that it used to be a problem here in NYC. In
fact, the famous Waldorf-Astoria Hotel stands on the grounds of what was the
first fistula hospital in the world. It opened in 1857 and closed its doors
in 1895 and what remains of this significant historical moment is a statue
of Dr. Sims in Central Park. I find hope knowing that fistula is not something
most New Yorkers are aware of – that it is not an issue here is proof
that the issue can be eradicated world wide.
Ask a New Yorker: What exactly is obstetric fistula?
April: Obstetric fistula is a hole that develops in a woman’s bladder
when she does not have access to (usually a C-section) when delivering her baby.
Without surgery, women with fistula become incontinent (leak urine) and they
lose their place in society – not just their babies (in delivery), but
also they lose their husbands and their families. They smell, so they are isolated
– and I’ve met too many women with this story. I met a woman, Marie
Claire, who lost her baby when she was 20. When I met her, she lived alone and
she hadn’t been touched in 28 years. She had a quick, $300 surgery –
and today she has a life again.
Ask a New Yorker: So this is a story of hope?
April: It’s absolutely a story of hope! After these women recover from
surgeries they are given a brand new dress – as a symbol of their new
life. They have a dress ceremony in fistula hospitals and they come out dancing,
singing and shouting their stories. There is nothing that compares to a life
transformed and restored. It’s truly breathtaking beauty.
Ask a New Yorker: If you’d like to learn more about April Lynn Martin,
C Squared Group, Obstetric Fistula, or Aprils ever-expanding fashion interests
– April can be reached at: aprillynn.martin@gmail.com
