Tom Nardone of Birmingham has made a name for himself in southeast Michigan because in 2010 he started the Mower Gang, a group of volunteers that cuts the grass in Detroit parks where city lawn mowers never reach.
Sometimes, when the local media write about Nardone, they mention he owns an Internet novelty business. They often say he is into carving pumpkins with power tools.
But they never explain that the novelties include vibrators, edible personal lubricants and artificial vaginas.
But in Slate, under a headline "Philanthropist. Family Man. Sex-Toy Tycoon," Mark Joseph Stern writes about what a nice guy Nardone is and what an unusual -- and entrepreneurial -- business he runs. It's fascinating.
Writes Stern:
"Today, he’s zipping around abandoned parks cutting grass with the Mower Gang, the initiative that cemented his status as a local hero. He started the Mower Gang in 2010, after he heard an NPR interview with Robert Putnam, author of Bowling Alone, in which the political scientist bemoaned the decline of civic engagement in the U.S. Nardone had an epiphany: He’d always wanted a lawn tractor, so why not buy one now and use it to fix up the city’s abandoned parks?
"Within months, he had attracted a small group of volunteers. The Mower Gang’s first major project was the Velodrome, an abandoned bicycle racing track; the event attracted press and camera crews, and more volunteers. Media accolades followed, as did the Detroit City Council’s Spirit of Detroit award. Anthony Bourdain, the celebrity chef, recently mowed with the gang, cameras in tow. Today, the gang mows every other Wednesday after work.
"What line of work is Nardone in, might you ask? When he’s not mowing parks or carving pumpkins with power tools (he maintains a website, Extreme Pumpkins, devoted to the craft), this pillar of the community pays the bills via ShopInPrivate.com, or PriveCo, the website he founded in 1998 to focus on discreet distribution of potentially embarrassing items. When were still dismissing the Internet as a fleeting fad, he perceived in its anonymity the potential to revolutionize consumer habits. “On the Internet,” he says, “you could buy things that are too embarrassing to buy in person at a store, like bikini waxes, or oily hair shampoo, or artificial vaginas.”
"He also, quite prophetically, pinpointed a commodity than many consumers would find increasingly precious as commerce moved online: privacy. PriveCo’s products are shipped in plain brown boxes simply labeled “PriveCo Inc.,” the same name that appears on your credit card statement. PriveCo maintains no mailing list, sends out no spam, and never sells your information. Buying a product from PriveCo won’t come back to haunt you."
Bonus: Nardone's PrivCo has just named the vibrator of the year. It's actually a pulsator, but "this motion causes a brand new movement that feels more like intercourse than the traditional vibrator," Nardone's PriveCo website says.
