As I have been blithely trying to pass on the secrets of La Dolce Vita in this blog, it occurred to me that I have never posted fully about the inspiration for La Dolce Diva. Who is La Dolce Diva? What does it mean? How do you say it?

Let me answer those questions first:

1. Who is La Dolce Diva? Contrary to popular belief, I am not La Dolce Diva. Oh yes, I am the founder and Chief Executive Diva, but A Sweet Diva…not all the time. La Dolce Diva is an aspiration. Something for all of us to strive for. Being a Diva is easy, being a Sweet Diva is not. A Sweet Diva still respects and stands  up for herself and encourages and allows her sister Divas to do the same. It is not about Women’s Rights…it is about respect and support. Without getting on a soap box, after many years in the corporate world, I realized that women can be our own worst enemies, frenemies and obstacles. We try to teach our darling
   Diva daughters, nieces and young girls in general, about girl power. We encourage, coddle, comfort, and support them into adulthood…but it seems a lot of that goes away when we are adult women out there in the corporate world or just everyday life. Sometimes, we Sweet Divas need to remember not to take everything personally. Take a moment to encourage  a friend or a stranger. Take another moment to say what you are thinking when someone in line behind you looks especially nice or compliment a sister diva when it seems like she may need it the most. You know what I mean. These are the little things that get us through life. You may change someones day or outlook for the better. You may even change your own.
2. What does it mean? La Dolce Diva literally means A Sweet Diva..if you haven’t figured that out by now. It is meant to be a play  on the words La Dolce Vita, The Sweet Life. Also a play against the Diva stereotype of a self- absorbed woman.
3. How do you say it? Dolce (dole-ché)- means ’sweet’ in Italian. The C is pronounced as a “ch”.  In case you are wondering…Dulce is Spanish (dool-sé) – means ’sweet’ in Spanish and the C is pronounced as an “s” sound. So, La Dolce Diva means A Sweet Diva or just Sweet Diva. I am going to take the chance that you get the gist of what “Diva” means without translation.

Now for the rest of the story…

For the last twenty years my career as a designer in the fashion industry has taken me everywhere from Los Angeles to New York, Hong Kong to London, Paris to Berlin…but my heart stays in Italy.

Wandering the cobblestone streets, palazzos, museums and countryside, enjoying the delectable gelatos, white truffle pasta and local Chianti, spending endless hours in tapestry and pottery shops, soaking up the flavor of “La Dolce Vita”, my love and appreciation of Italy continues to grow.

After several years of attending wedding showers, birthdays, baby showers and numerous occasions of celebration, I realized I was always searching for that perfect gift ~ one that meant something. Being a lotion & potion aficionada, I was usually drawn to some sort of pampering beauty product.

A-ha! I would create a line of fabulous bath and body products that could be gifts for most any occasion ~ but not just ordinary gifts. My bath and body products would be beautifully packaged, wonderful quality and be inspired by Italy. I wrapped this all up into the iconic idea of the Italian Diva…but a sweet diva, not a self-absorbed one!

La Dolce Diva was born.

The Dolce Divina, Bella Divina and Cucina Divina Collections reflect my personal love of Italy, They are meant to whisk you away to a charming Roman café or a Florentine garden ~ if only in your mind ~ while still reminding you that friendship is what truly defines the sweet life.

This entry was posted on Monday, June 15th, 2009 at 10:23 am and is filed under daily diva, dolce vita. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.