Author: Christa Avampato

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.
creativity

Wonder: Serve your inner child

Christa Avampato
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Picture I took of a young child and a dancer in Korimakao, a small artist colony for young people outside of Viñales in north-central Cuba

“The most important people in Cuban culture are children,” said our guide. And that made me tear up. What if that were true everywhere? What kind of world would we have then?

So much of our society is geared toward growing up. It’s a society built by and for adults, and for turning children into them. We don’t always celebrate children. We often don’t stand up for them. We don’t let them be who they are, but rather we shape them into who we want them to be.

Think about how we each treat our own inner child. Many times, we squash him or her. Too often we don’t let ourselves try things just for the fun of it, or fail at things, or experiment, or doing anything without it having some kind of practical purpose or end goal.

Maybe that’s why the connected world is flipping out over the mom in the Chubacca mask. She exhibited unbridled delight. When was the last time we all did that? Why have we given up on pure joy? Why isn’t that our goal? Why are we slaves to accomplishment, and not our own happiness? Let’s change that.

creativity

Wonder: The dream of Cuba

Christa Avampato
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Taxis in Havana

I got back into the U.S. yesterday after 10 days in Cuba. It was an adventure of color, texture, and movement. A time to learn, reflect, and grow in directions and in ways that I haven’t done in a long time. Completely disconnected from the internet, my phone, and the news, I could just live each day.

I stepped back into a time that was at once simpler and more complex. Parts of the journey were joyful and parts of it were stressful. Now that I’m back home, I wouldn’t trade any of it. It all led me to an increased level of awareness of opportunity, potential, and hope available to all of us.

Many pictures and stories to follow…

creativity

Wonder: Don’t be afraid to walk away

Christa Avampato

You can’t be afraid to walk away from something that’s not right for you. A city. A job. A relationship. A financial deal. A conversation. A situation. As Brian has often said to me, “if it doesn’t work, it doesn’t work.”

I’m not saying to run at the first hint of trouble; I’m just saying that our energy and time are too precious to be wasted, especially by someone else. If someone isn’t treasuring your talents and gifts, then see to it that your talents and gifts be applied elsewhere. Don’t succumb to the idea that there’s nothing better out there or that in some way you aren’t worthy, ready, or capable of something better. You are. Right now.

The people who need you are out there. Find them.

creativity

Wonder: The upside of exhaustion

Christa Avampato

My mind’s a little numb. My housing situation, work, and a hectic schedule have worn me out. So with my last bit of energy, I’m packing up my bags and flying off to Cuba where I won’t have any cell reception nor access to internet for over a week. It’s going to be an adventure – a time-warp in a foreign language, set in a foreign land, and surrounded by people I don’t know. And all I’ll have to capture my thoughts are pen, paper, and a camera.

In times like this I think it’s good to have a numb mind. I don’t have any space to worry about anything. I’m just going to hop on a plane and have a great time no matter what. I’m too tired to do anything but. While I wish I had some more energy, I have a feeling that the white sand, sun, and bright colors of Cuba will be exactly what I need. And I’m open to them. I’m ready to give myself over to the experience and whatever comes with it. This is the upside of exhaustion.

creativity

Wonder: Creating a habit of accountability

Christa Avampato

“Turns out there’s no foe as quietly formidable as accountability.” ~Alison Willmore, BuzzFeed News Film Critic

What gets measured gets done. That’s a lesson I learned over and over at Darden that I have never forgotten. To move forward with any project, we have to commit to do what we said we would do when we said we would do it. And we have to hold others to that same standard. This can be difficult and uncomfortable work.

I’m a fan of writing things down—my goals, the plan to get to those goals, and the progress I make in that direction. It’s not a complicated system and it works. We can convince ourselves of anything if we keep our decisions in our heads. Once we write them down, we memorialize them. My boss and mentor, Bob G., taught me that. It’s never failed me. I write it down and something magical happens. Something shifts, and we spring into action.

In the end, our word and our ability to stand behind our word with action, is all we have. Integrity, integrity, integrity. It matters more than anything, in our careers and our lives.

creativity

Wonder: Sometimes all you need is a little more time

Christa Avampato

“Sometimes life doesn’t give you something you want not because you don’t deserve it but because you deserve more.” ~Anonymous

The stroke of luck you need is often disguised as hardship and disappointment. I felt terrible when I had to let go of my pending condo sale on Friday because of some troubling news in the condo documents. I spent my morning meditation on Sunday asking one simple question, “what do I do now?” and the strangest thing happened.

I realized the condo was a compromise. What I really want is a home, a real home. One of the great gifts of this past year is that I lived in a home for the first time since 2007. And I’ve loved having a backyard and a front door that’s mine and mine alone. I know a home is a lot of work. I know it’s a lot more money than I was going to spend on a condo. And I also know that it’s going to take more time and savings to get there. And that’s okay.

So I’ll be a renter for a little while longer. Phin and I will find a new apartment (hopefully in our current neighborhood) after I get back from Cuba, we’ll move, and I’ll keep saving for what I really want.

creativity

Wonder: Dupont Underground

Christa Avampato

Josh and I went to Dupont Underground on Friday night. Dupont Underground is an art installation set in the old trolley station below Dupont Circle. The art installation is a reconfiguration of the recyclable plastic balls that comprised the hugely popular Beach exhibit at the National Building Museum last summer. My hope is that many other exhibits like this will begin to pop up all over Washington, D.C. as our creative community here keeps growing, and I hope to be a part of them.

Dupont Underground runs through early June. Check it out if you have the chance! See our pictures below:

creativity

Wonder: Bold leadership for Washington D.C.’s metro

Christa Avampato

Washington D.C.’s Metro has issues. Big issues. Fires, smoke, disabled trains, broken tracks, and the list goes on. And the city is growing and changing in terms of population and geography. It needs a modern transportation system that makes safety a priority, and that takes money, time, and leadership.

Paul Wiedenfeld was recently hired as the new GM after the top spot sat vacant for many months. He took on the near-impossible task of getting anything in Washington government to move quickly, efficiently, and effectively. Yesterday he released his plan of what it will take to fix Metro’s many problems. His plan is taking 3 years of urgent repair work and compressing it into 1 year. It’s going to take sacrifice. It’s going to be messy. It’s going to be inconvenient for tens of thousands of people. And it’s got to be done.

What Wiedenfeld is doing is the difficult work of leading. Leadership is gut-wrenching work, particularly in times of distress and change. But that’s when it’s needed most. Anyone can lead through good times. When the going gets tough, we learn who the real leaders are and what they’re made of.

To check out Wiedenfeld’s plan, click here.

creativity

Wonder: It’s time for leadership to be an art form

Christa Avampato

I spent this morning on Google Hangout with my Ethics professor, Ed Freeman, and it’s one of the very best work mornings I’ve spent in a long time. We had an introductory call about the book project we’re working on and it left me feeling hopefully, happy, and excited about the future.

This is how we should all feel about our work—glad and grateful to be a part of it. The second that our work lives start to take the turn of groaning as we hop (or begrudgingly roll) out of bed, we’re in trouble. That’s going to happen once in a while. I’m not under any kind of delusion that work is nothing but sunshine, rainbows, and unicorns. Sometimes, it’s just challenging, difficult, and exhausting.

But is a tough day just a tough day or is it a repetitive pattern that makes us feel like we’re going nowhere fast? If it’s the latter, then it’s time to turn a door into a window and climb out of a bad situation by any means necessary. Once this kind of pattern gets entrenched in a workplace, it takes a massive amount of enlightened leadership to change it. And I’m sorry to say that leaders who have the courage, fortitude, creativity, and empathy to take on the Herculean effort of a culture shift are rare.

And that’s about to change. Ed and I are working on a project that makes enlightened and fearless leadership the norm, not the exception. We’re doing it through unconventional thinking and even more unconventional action. I can’t wait to get these ideas out into the world, and I hope you’ll all come along for the ride with us. More soon…

creativity

Wonder: No more fear

Christa Avampato

“Nothing in life is to be feared, it is only to be understood. Now is the time to understand more, so that we may fear less.” ~Marie Curie

I am tremendously excited about moving into my new condo. I also have many moments throughout the day when I’m scared out of my mind about buying real estate. There’s a twitchy part of me that every day wants to go running and screaming from this purchase. But I don’t. I do know in my gut that this is the right thing to do. So I sit down and I breathe. Sometimes I cry. Sometimes I smile. When all else fails, I hug Phineas and eat a bowl of ice cream.

I am trying hard to understand what’s behind the fear. I’ve had housing insecurity for most of my life. I know deep down that what’s irking me is change, even though I happen to very good at change. Hell, I’ve been upsetting the apple cart for most of my life. But every time there’s a big shift, a small part of me worries that I have somehow made the absolute wrong choice. I imagine myself as that tiniest of birds way out there on the very edge of the branch. It’s teetering. I’m teetering. And somehow this time my wings won’t work. I won’t be able to fly. I won’t be able to deal with whatever comes my way, even though I’ve always been able to deal with even the worst circumstances.

I have to constantly remind myself that I’m enough, that I can do this, that I will be okay, or find a way to be okay. I might be scared, but I’m doing this anyway knowing that eventually understanding will arrive.