Donna Karan

"To think that I had an idea and didn't do everything I could to make a difference, I couldn't get up every morning. It's just who I am." In 2006, Donna Karan launched Urban Zen Foundation, an organization created to advance patient advocacy through integrative medicine, to empower children through education and to preserve cultures in the midst of globalization.

Moving through the tragic loss of her husband, Stephan Weiss in 2001, Donna realized there was something missing in the treatment of her husband's cancer. Western science and medicine did a great job of treating the disease, but the patient can benefit greatly from Eastern healing practices. After her husband's passing, Donna was determined to help create awareness and inspire change in well-being balancing the science of the West with the ancient healing powers of the East. Recent accomplishments of the foundation's well-being initiative include the implementation of the Urban Zen Integrative Therapist (UZIT) training program in which students are taught a curriculum that includes yoga therapy, reiki, aromatherapy, nutrition and contemplative, end of life care. Urban Zen Foundation has funded an independent study to determine the effects of adding these modalities to patients treated for cancer at Beth Israel Medical Center in New York City.

Last April, 100 UZIT volunteers gathered in New Orleans to meet more than 6,000 women displaced by Hurricane Katrina to treat them with the integrative therapies. The event clearly illustrated the need for integrative therapies during emergency disaster situations in the reduction of victims' stress and pain. The foundation is currently researching other clinical sites around the country to expand the UZIT program nationally. Donna's commitment to the initiative of empowering children through education led to a collaboration with the foundation and SFK (Spirituality For Kids), a program that provides a curriculum that goes beyond the academics of reading, writing and arithmetic to teach children the skills to acquire self-esteem, respect for self and others and the importance of community in an effort to guide them to become future leaders of their own communities.

With regard to the initiative of preservation of culture, during one of the earliest efforts of Urban Zen, Donna supported the Norbulinka Institute by hosting an event to create awareness for the Institute's efforts to preserve culture in the midst of genocide and eradication of the Tibetan culture. Attended by His Holiness The Dalai Lama, this event became the official launch of Urban Zen. And, as a leader in the fashion community, Donna has created Urban Zen Boutiques to further promote the preservation of cultures by offering artisan merchandise that supports cultures from the world. Additionally, Donna has created a line of fashion sold merchandise help to fund the programs of the Urban Zen Foundation.

Although not an initiative of the foundation, Donna is an advocate for merging commerce with philanthropy to not only raise awareness of philanthropic works, but also to empower the consumer with a sense of compassion, commitment and to create a community of consciousness for change.