Now that I’ve been in my new apartment for almost two weeks, it’s beginning to feel like home. To this point, it’s felt like I’m in a hotel room that I’ll be leaving soon. I’ve had to learn new patterns around my neighborhood and inside my apartment. I didn’t realize how rooted I was in my old apartment. I wondered if I would ever feel at home in this new space. Would I ever settle in mentally and physically?
On Thursday night, I went to bed late after being out to dinner with friends. When I laid down in my bed, I let out a long sigh. I thought to myself, “It feels good to be home.” And then a huge smile found its way onto my face. Home. It had happened. Since Thursday night, I feel gitty every time I walk through my front door. While I have been busy putting everything in its place, this place has been busy transforming itself into more than just a box. It’s a sanctuary. It’s a place of creativity, peace, and joy.
When things are right in our homes, they are right in other areas of our lives, too. Feeling at home these last few days has helped me to see that everything is going to be okay – in my career and my personal life. Just as I’ve been transforming my home, my home has been transforming me. I’m standing taller. I feel like options for opportunity abound, and many of them begin with me just making a choice to reach for them.
Change is good. And change – real, lasting, good-for-you change – begins at home.
The short of it:
Writer. Health, education, and art advocate. Theater and film producer. Visual artist. Product geek. Proud alumnae of the University of Pennsylvania (BA) and the Darden School of Business at the University of Virginia (MBA). Inspired by ancient wisdom & modern tech. Proliferator of goodness. Opener of doors. Friend to animals. Fan of creative work in all its wondrous forms. I use my business skills to create passion projects that build a better world. I’ve been called the happiest New Yorker, and I try hard to live up to that title every day.
The long of it:
My career has stretched across Capitol Hill, Broadway theatre, education, nonprofit fundraising, health and wellness, and Fortune 500 companies in retail, media, entertainment, technology, and financial services. I’ve been a product developer and product manager, theater manager, strategic consultant, marketer, voice over artist, , teacher, and fundraiser. I use my business and storytelling to support and sustain passion projects that build a better world. In every experience, I’ve used my sense of and respect for elegant design to develop meaningful products, services, programs, and events.
While building a business career, I also built a strong portfolio as a journalist, novelist, freelance writer, interviewer, presenter, and public speaker. My writing has appeared in The Washington Post, The Huffington Post, PBS.org, Boston.com, Royal Media Partners publications, and The Motley Fool on a wide range of topics including business, technology, science, health, education, culture, and lifestyle. I have also been an invited speaker at SXSW, Teach for America, Avon headquarters, Games for Change, NYU, Columbia University, Hunter College, and the Alzheimer’s Foundation of America. The first book in my young adult book series, Emerson Page and Where the Light Enters, was acquired by a publisher and launched in November 2017. I’m currently working on the second book in the series.
A recovering multi-tasker, I’m equally at home in front of my Mac, on my yoga mat, walking my rescue dog, Phineas, traveling with a purpose, or practicing the high-art of people watching. I also cut up small bits of paper and put them back together as a collage artist.
My company:
I’m bringing together all of my business and creative career paths as the Founder of Double or Nothing Media:
• I craft products, programs, and projects that make a difference;
• I build the business plans that make what I craft financially sustainable;
• I tell the stories that matter about the people, places, and products that inspire me.
Follow my adventures on Twitter at https://twitter.com/christanyc and Instagram at https://instagram.com/christarosenyc.
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Christa Avampato 