Monica Lenches Lifestyle Properties

Monica Lenches Lifestyle Properties Monica Lenches has successfully represented buyers and sellers of fine homes and luxury estates for over 20 years in Santa Barbara County.

Market Update✨ Swipe for the latest local market trends from last month.Monica Lenches | Coast Valley Properties | DRE #...
09/15/2026

Market Update✨ Swipe for the latest local market trends from last month.

Monica Lenches | Coast Valley Properties | DRE #: 01081461

What’s one small but mighty organization doing to bring ‘Food is Medicine’ to Santa Barbara County? In our latest featur...
09/08/2026

What’s one small but mighty organization doing to bring ‘Food is Medicine’ to Santa Barbara County? In our latest feature, Beth Skidmore, shares how Rooted Santa Barbara County is brings nutrition education and prevention to the places where our neighbors live, learn, work, and receive care.

Link in bio to read the full interview.

Another powerful excerpt from Judy wicks’s prescient book, “Good Morning, Beautiful Business,” her inspiring memoir on b...
09/01/2026

Another powerful excerpt from Judy wicks’s prescient book, “Good Morning, Beautiful Business,” her inspiring memoir on building the beloved White Dog Café - a socially responsible business and a more values-driven economy:

“Human-scale businesses foster close and meaningful relationships, but when companies grow too big to be purchased by a new owner within the community - employees, a family member or a local entrepreneur - they are most likely bought up by a distant corporations. Then profits are drained from the community; local procurement of supplies and services typically decrease as do contributions to local charities; and if the company is moved out of town, jobs and local tax payments are lost - ultimately decreasing community wealth and weakening the local economy.

As corporations grow beyond their own region, they often eliminate local business while spreading their brands across the country, getting larger and larger. They also burn more fossil fuels distributing goods increasing distances. But perhaps even more importantly, they make communities dependent on faraway corporations to deliver what they need to live.”

This is just one type of economic leakage (local dollars leaving your local economy instead of staying). Which local business in your community have you made a point to support this year because they align with one or more of your values?

What if kindness was actually a better business strategy than profit alone? Link in bio to watch this month’s dose of ki...
08/26/2026

What if kindness was actually a better business strategy than profit alone? Link in bio to watch this month’s dose of kindness.

What if ‘grow or die’ is the wrong advice?I’ve been inspired lately to read books by impact business leaders, as a way o...
08/25/2026

What if ‘grow or die’ is the wrong advice?

I’ve been inspired lately to read books by impact business leaders, as a way of better understanding how we can create a more resilient and thriving community. I just finished reading Judy Wicks’ inspiring and powerful book, Good Morning, Beautiful Business, about her journey building the White Dog Cafe and deepening community resiliency and connection in her beloved city of Philadelphia. I couldn’t put it down, and had to share an excerpt:

“In our society, and especially in the business world, success is measured by continual material growth. There is no end to this pursuit of growth because there is never enough. Most business schools teach “grow or die” as a truism. In my own career I was often asked, “How many units do you have?” or “Why don’t you start a White Dog in another city?” At first I questioned my own ability and courage to go further, to build a national chain of White Dogs. But eventually I realized that if I were to grow a chain of restaurants, I might make more money, but I would be spreading myself thin over more than one place and would lose what was most important to me, the deep and authentic relationships I had with my customers, employees, neighbors, and suppliers. I made the conscious decision to remain a community-based business deeply rooted in the community where I lived and raised my children, because that’s what made me happy.

I had come to realize that we could measure our success in other ways than growing physically. We could grow by increasing our knowledge, expanding our consciousness, deepening our relationships, developing our creativity, building community, and enhancing our natural environment. All this while also increasing our own happiness and well-being and having more fun.”

I’m curious, what businesses in Santa Barbara have chosen to go deep and grow locally - or started other adjacent businesses here - rather than expand into a franchise or national chain?

Half a Billion Reasons to Show Up for Santa BarbaraHalf a billion dollars in federal funding cuts is hitting Santa Barba...
08/04/2026

Half a Billion Reasons to Show Up for Santa Barbara

Half a billion dollars in federal funding cuts is hitting Santa Barbara County hard. Our community, like others around the country, is also facing economic strain as spending increasingly flows to big box stores and online platforms instead of staying local. Combined, these two forces are putting real pressure on Santa Barbara.

I wanted to thank Cynder Sinclair for her timely article in Noozhawk this week, reminding us that National Nonprofit Day falls on August 17th this year.

If we are to minimize the impact of these cuts on the most vulnerable in our community, it’s on us to give what time, effort, and resources we can, even more than we’re used to. This is also a time for bold thinking and new ways of addressing our community’s challenges.

What nonprofit do you see doing impactful work in our community, and how can people help?

Read the full article https://www.noozhawk.com/cynder-sinclair-nonprofits-strengthen-santa-barbara-county-every-day/

What Does a Red Helicopter Have to do with Kindness?A couple days after I posted last week, I noticed there weren’t any ...
07/07/2026

What Does a Red Helicopter Have to do with Kindness?

A couple days after I posted last week, I noticed there weren’t any comments.

I wondered if people were traveling for the holiday, or if kindness still carries a stigma in the business world that makes people hesitate to publicly recognize organizations that lead this way.

Later that night, I opened the book I’m reading, Red Helicopter: Lead Change with Kindness (Plus a Little Math), by , a Harvard graduate turned high school teacher turned investment banker, who saved Ashley Stewart, a company in and out of bankruptcy for 20 years, from liquidation.

That night, I found myself reading exactly what I’d been musing about:

“ Kindness is not niceness. Kindness is not random, despite all those bumper stickers. Kindness is not accidental. It is not martyrdom. What then is kindness? Kindness is intentional. Kindness is both forceful and malleable. Kindness is relentless and steady like flowing water. It requires a person or organization to operate and act in a certain way beyond mere good intentions. . . .

Kindness fundamentally involves an exchange, or a series of exchanges, with one or more living beings. It’s an investment in a person and in the system. Kindness implies the expectation of some form of “return,” but in this case, the return is non-transactional. Kindness is therefore grounded in some degree of hope and optimism for the future. Over the course of one or more of these exchanges, value is created above and beyond the obvious exchange of, say, the dollar bill handed over for a cup of lemonade. I believe the best word to describe this value, this nebulous asset, this positive externality, is goodwill.

With this definition in mind, I remain curious about organizations that are leading in this way. I’d like start us off by spotlighting Marine Schuman with , and Victoria Norris-Diez with , and with the Conscious Business Institute, all of whom lead with kindness, and I’d add, integrity. Drop a name or tag them in the comments, and let’s shine a light on A Kinder World of Commerce.

Do loving kindness and meditation have a place in business?  Love is not some airy fairy ideal — it is the most powerful...
06/30/2026

Do loving kindness and meditation have a place in business? 
 
Love is not some airy fairy ideal — it is the most powerful force that heals, transforms and endures. 
 
After 10 years of being in a secure and highly successful business partnership in real estate, I jumped off another proverbial cliff in 2000 and made the difficult choice to go out on my own to discover if there was a better, more nurturing and authentic way of delivering my services. Over the last 25 years, I’ve arrived at a deep knowing: not only is this possible — it’s essential to building a meaningful life and  business. 

 In practice, this means more than just focusing on the transaction. It means supporting clients with kindness, genuine care and   an unwavering commitment to their vision and goals — even when the path feels risky to me. Even when it means potentially losing a deal or having a hard conversation. 
 
I find this way of being — both in my personal and professional life — to be the most fulfilling and satisfying path I know. It has also become the inspiration behind A Kinder World of Commerce and our Legacy Hours. 
 
I often find myself saying that I’m “coming out of the closet with kindness” — so when I discovered Rose Marcario, former CEO of Patagonia, saying the same thing in interview after interview, I knew I had found a kindred spirit. The main difference? The scale of her impact, which is inspiring me to think bigger and go beyond what my logical, rational mind believes is possible. 
 
Imagine that — a CEO who used business as a force for good to quadruple Patagonia’s sales and profits, while deepening the company’s commitment to environmental activism and holding the worldview that “everything must come from love.” 
 
To learn more about Rose’s remarkable journey, watch her interview with  — link in bio. 
 
If you feel moved, drop a name or tag them in the comments — who in our local community leads with loving kindness, in either the for-profit or nonprofit space? If that person is you, don’t hold back. Now more than ever, we need people modeling love and courage in action. 
 

In 2008 — at the age of 40 — I was exploring my life’s purpose when I received an unmistakable nudge: enroll at Santa Ba...
06/16/2026

In 2008 — at the age of 40 — I was exploring my life’s purpose when I received an unmistakable nudge: enroll at Santa Barbara City College to discover if I was a filmmaker. This made no sense to me because I had zero experience in filmmaking. But it was a message that kept coming up, so I jumped off the proverbial cliff and enrolled. During one of my classes, I asked my instructor about the pervasiveness of violence in media. His answer stopped me in my tracks: “You forget just how desensitized we’ve all become.”

Then a lightbulb went off. I ran to my car, sped home and started researching the effects of media violence on children — and what I found changed everything. It led to an award-winning documentary — A Kinder World.

When I returned to real estate, a question had taken root that I couldn’t shake: what if we consciously chose what we consumed, supported, and built — in media, in business, in our community? That question grew into something new: A Kinder World of Commerce, a movement supporting purpose-driven businesses and nonprofits using their work as a force for good right here in Santa Barbara. 🔗 Links in bio.

I think about that moment a lot these days — especially as I watch the coarsening of our culture and the suffering it’s causing, including here at home: massive federal cuts of $500M to Santa Barbara, $30M of which won’t reach our nonprofits.

Where would that money have gone? Food security. Housing and shelter. Healthcare. Mental health. Youth and education. Senior services. On top of that: a 4–6 month wait to see a doctor or physical therapist, and nurses and teachers who can’t afford to stay. I wonder how much we’ve normalized without realizing it.

We don’t just live in our homes. We live in a community. And what happens to our neighbors — those who’ve contributed to our community, those hit hard by life, and the children who have no say in any of it — impacts all of us.

If you know an individual, nonprofit, or company doing impactful work to address our community’s challenges, please tag or share about them below. If that’s you, don’t hesitate to share— we want to know how we can help. It will take all of us. I’d love to hear from you.

At a café in Santa Barbara, I witnessed something small that felt big. A mother, fully present with her young son—patien...
06/11/2026

At a café in Santa Barbara, I witnessed something small that felt big. A mother, fully present with her young son—patient, kind, deeply respectful. It stopped me in my tracks. After a moment of hesitation, I told her how much it meant to see.
That moment turned into a conversation… and the beginning of a connection I didn’t expect.

Meet Jessica McRee Edwards, founder of and a talented graphic designer using her gifts to support organizations creating real, positive impact in the world. And when I explored her website, you can imagine my delight — a kindred spirit who had also designed one of our very own Legacy Brand’s logos: Get Hooked! Swipe to see a few of the brands Wonder and Wit helped shape.

The more we got to know each other, the more apparent it became: Jessica is a natural fit for A Kinder World of Commerce. I think you’ll agree.

Go check out the full interview, link in bio. 🎨⤵️

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