What if, on a single day, every single person picked up the litter they found in the street on their way to work? What difference would that make? What if, on a single day, every single person decided to donate blood to a local blood bank, or donate food to a food bank, or take an elderly person to their doctors appointment? What difference would all of those little acts make? Think about it, it would make a HUGE difference in our communities. What if that single day was Monday. Suddenly Monday would become the best day of the week. That's the premise behind Every Monday Matters, a movement co-foudned by Matthew Emerzian. Matthew left a lucrative career in the LA Music Industry to create an international movement centered around random acts of kindness. Thanks Matthew, that's the kind of stuff that can change the world.

1. How does your career / business relate to your core "values" in how you approach life and what you want to share with others?
The most rewarding thing about Every Monday Matters is that is marries my professional and personal lives. I spent 10 years in the music industry as a Senior Vice President for a major music company. It was a career for which most people in the music industry would die. I thought it was the perfect career as well, but, over time, that started to change. I noticed that my soul felt empty and something was misaligned.

See, I was born in a small town in Northern California. It was a place where people came first. Everyone knew each other and everyone genuinely cared about each other. I was raised by an amazing family that taught unconditional love for everyone we met. Trust everyone, until they break it. Well, needless to say, the music industry wasn't quite the same. Actually, it was about the complete opposite. In other words, I was a square peg that somehow got jammed into a round hole. I was in it, but it never felt completely right.

In writing and starting Every Monday Matters, I wanted to create a world that was not focused "how much I could get." I wanted to focus on "how much I could give." This is where I went wrong in the music days, and every day I see more and more people making the same mistake. It's ego. It's pride. It's the "anything it takes" mentality. It ruins people and fools them into thinking that they have "arrived" to sadly realize that they are alone and have nothing to show for it. I don't believe this is how people were wired to be. I believe everyone wants to have a purpose and a true significance. But, for some reason they have gotten off track. My goal is that Every Monday Matters will open their eyes to something greater. To making a difference in the world. To matter.

This is my focus every single day I wake up. It's now what I do for work and what I do for life.

2. When you look at the impact your career has had on people around you, what makes you the most proud?
In the past I have done many things that have impacted other people. I coached water polo at UCLA, I taught kindergarten, I taught hundreds of kids how to swim, and I have helped musicians live their dreams, but nothing comes close to what I am seeing with Every Monday Matters. I am seeing people of all ages, races, and genders come together to make change in the world. And it is rewarding them to new levels they have never experienced. They have "found their purpose," "opened their eyes to what's important in life," and so many other realization we have heard from people around the country. We even have one woman who saved another woman from committing suicide. According to her, it would have never happened had she not read our book. So, I guess, if we do nothing else, we know that we have literally saved a life already. That's not so bad, if that's all we did.

3. Was there a "defining moment" when you knew that this was what you wanted to focus your professional energy on?
When I woke up on a Monday morning in November of 2003 with a massive panic attack. I had never experienced anything like it before in my life. It was truly the scariest experience I have ever had. It was at this point in time that I realized I needed to make a change from my current music career and life focus. I didn't know where I was going to end up, but that day started the journey. It took me 3 years to find it. To find Every Monday Matters.

4. In your personal life, what is the "cause" to which you dedicate the most time / energy / money?
I have always had a big place in my heart for children. There is an innocence that is priceless. Nothing breaks my heart more than to see a child who is impoverished, sick, or lacking in love or joy. I think about the fact that a child dies every 18 seconds because of a lack of clean drinking water. I think about the fact that children are one of the fastest growing homeless populations. These things break my heart.

5. Why? Has it touched your life somehow?

I guess it's because I understand how fortunate I was to grow up in the family that I did. I was one of the lucky ones. I can't take any credit for it. Just flat out lucky. Children don't get to pick their parents. They don't get to pick their early life circumstances. All they can do is the best they can with what they have been given.

6. What do you do - personally or professionally - to support that cause?
In addition to having taught swim lessons and kindergarten, I am constantly involved with endeavors geared towards helping children. I have one adopted child from Africa through World Vision. I have another adopted child through Food For The Hungry in Guatemala. I support organizations like Charity Water and Invisible Children. Every function we have done so far for Every Monday Matters has been to benefit children. We have raised money for after-school programs. We raised money for two families, each with a child inflicted by Leukemia, and we are about to have an event to help an elementary school raise money for their art programs. I will continue with these efforts and more. Children are our future and I think they all deserve a fair chance.

7. What do you wish people understood about your cause?
Well, our cause is not just children, it's everything. I know it is difficult to try to be everything to everyone, but we are going to do our best. Every Monday Matters touches on so many elements of life - helping yourself, helping other people, helping the environment, etc. Through Every Monday Matters, we hope that people will find that thing that really touches them, and, most importantly, will get involved. But the basis of our cause is that "people matter." It is about ordinary people doing extraordinary good. If we don't get people to understand how powerful they are and how much they can influence our world for the better, then we will not have succeeded.

8. If you had a magic wand, what would you do?
I would wave it and there would never be lack in the world for any living creature. All lack, whether food or shelter or love or peace, would go away.

9. What organizations support your cause that we should all know about?
We are fairly new so our partnerships are just beginning to grow, but we would consider Invisible Children, Charity Water, Generosity Water, F.U.N. Mom's, The Red Cross, Google, The Fermi Project, Los Angeles Magazine, The Salem Radio Network, XM Radio, and many others to be our friends.

10. Can you think of an example of a really innovative approach to solving this problem - either one that someone else did or that you would like to see someone do?
I think it is happening. More and more the message of "get involved" is spreading around the world.

I think the Red Campaign has done an amazing job of bringing corporations, consumers, fashion, technology and cool together to make a difference.

The bracelet revolution started because of The LIVESTRONG Foundation, thereby raising hundreds of millions of dollars through their yellow bracelets and by inspiring other groups to create and sell their own.

Celebrities are getting more involved in spreading the message, so making a difference has become even cooler. It's nice to see people with a lot of resources sharing them with people in need.

The innovation of blogs has opened the doors for the "average" person. Today, more and more individuals are creating their own blogs that are geared towards making the world a better place.

Lastly, I am not sure if this is an innovation or just a social dynamic, but this new young generation is absolutely awesome. Some people call them "GenY" and others call them "The Millennials." This generation blows me away.

ANY OTHER PERSONAL STATEMENT YOU WANT TO ADD IN?
You Matter.