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.
action, change, choices, creativity

This just in: Mark Twain encourages us to dream beyond the majority

Christa Avampato
Break from the majority
Break from the majority

“Whenever you find yourself on the side of the majority, it is time to pause and reflect.” ~Mark Twain

There’s comfort in numbers, in people telling you that you’re doing the right thing and that they couldn’t agree more with your decisions and ideas. But approval can be a dangerous trap. We can enjoy it so much and seek it out so often that we end up limiting our imagination and ability.

The best things I’ve done in life are the very things that people told me I was crazy to even consider, much less attempt. The things I regret are the things that everyone said I should do. If it weren’t for Mark Twain, I’d think that was just a strange coincidence. It’s not.

If ever we want to do something really new, truly breakthrough on a personal and / or professional level, we’ve got to do something a little crazy. We’re going to have to go well off the well-trodden path. People will shake their heads. They’ll sigh and say things like, “Well, if you think that’s the best thing to do…” while clearly conveying that they certainly don’t agree.

Those are the ideas to stick with. Those are the dreams to follow. You can’t hope for a new, better, happier, healthier, more fulfilling life. You have to build it. You have to move beyond the majority and the boxes they’ve defined. Go way outside the confines of comfort. It won’t be easy, but it will be worth it.

death, growth, Life

This just in: The beauty of breaking down and building up

Christa Avampato
How long a seed must rot to grow

“Dead men are wisest, for they know
How far the roots of flowers go,
How long a seed must rot to grow.”

~ The Wise by Countee Cullen

There’s something to be said for everything falling apart, for not being able to hold something together no matter how much we try. We see it as failure, sadness, and loss. And if we can hang in there through the falling down, we find that on the other side of every kind of death—a dream, a relationship, a drastic change, and even the big death with a capital “D”—is a newness. Perhaps uncomfortable and maybe unwanted, but certainly a birth, a new way of being. Losing something we love, anything we love, is difficult and often painful. As someone who has lived through many deaths of every variety, I promise you there is life on the other side. Much to my surprise, that new life has always been better than the one that came before. Even the sad ones, even the ones I prayed would never happen. I grew from each one of those changes. I learned. I became a better person. More grateful, more aware. And that’s really the point of it all, isn’t it?

action, adventure, change, courage, creativity

This just in: Be grateful for the difficult parts of life

Christa Avampato
Miracles start as difficulties
Miracles start as difficulties

Miracles start as difficulties. If everything in your life was great, you’d never change. You’d never evolve and grow. You’d never have adventures that lead you to become the best version of yourself.

Adversity is difficult and painful. It’s also what helps us find and fulfill our potential. I wish life were easier. I wish we could just evolve without being pushed to do so. But that’s not how life works. It’s not how we work as wonderfully complex and complicated human beings.

Next time life is throwing you challenges, and in my experience that happens every day!, take a deep breath and gives thanks for them. They are leading you along the path that’s meant for you. Choose to rise up, over, through, and beyond them. Choose to let them make you strong, courageous, and wise. Choose to learn from them and not be broken down by them. They’re there for a reason, and in time that reason will come to light.

career, experience, job

This just in: If resumes and experience were leading factors, Barack Obama would have never been President

Christa Avampato
Barack Obama
Barack Obama

I firmly believe that curious, passionate, and determined people can learn anything to do any job. Character is much more important than resume bullets. This idea is rare in the job search and hiring processes, and I think that’s a shame.

A friend of mine who is abundantly talented told me the other day that she was worried that she wasn’t qualified for jobs that really interested her. To bolster her confidence, I said this: if corporate recruiters were in charge of placing the next President the same way that they place people in other jobs, Barack Obama would have never made it onto the short list much less gotten the job. In 2008, if we compared his resume and experience side-by-side with Hilary Clinton and John McCain, he wouldn’t have made it through the phone screen with HR. He made it to the highest office on grit, passion, intellect, and charisma. He rose by lifting all of us and inspiring us during a dark and frightening time. He was a junior senator who hadn’t even served a full term in the U.S. Senate, and that was his first federal office. He made it on character, not by his resume.

Politics aside, if Barack Obama can get into office and figure out how to do the job of President of the United State of America in the midst of the worst recession in our history (to name just one of his many incredible challenges), we can figure out how to do any job. Stop second-guessing your talents and abilities. Don’t take yourself out of the running by not applying to jobs that really interest you. Throw your hat in the ring, explain your passion and commitment to getting the job done, and go for it! It worked for Barack Obama during the highest of stakes. It can work for us, too.

action, communication, community, community service

This just in: Congressman Elijah Cummings protests for peace

Christa Avampato
Congressman Elijah Cummings in Baltimore shaking a State Trooper's hand after the riots
Congressman Elijah Cummings in Baltimore shaking a State Trooper’s hand after the riots

On the day of Freddie Gray’s funeral, Congressman Elijah Cummings led thousands of people in peaceful protests. These peaceful protesters are the people who are generating change by being the change. They’re cleaning up neighborhoods. They’re creating bridges where there are serious gaps. Their strength and courage inspires me. Love drives out hate. Light drives out darkness.

Violence and sensationalism is what sells, but it’s not what generates progress. Elijah Cummings and all the people who joined him are the hope and light of Baltimore. In time, they are the ones who will close the divides in their community. They’re already doing it. They’re the ones who need our support. We need to band together for our own good and the good of our neighbors.

change, time

This just in: All walls can become doors

Christa Avampato
Turn a wall into a door
Turn a wall into a door

In time, we can transform all walls into doors.

This afternoon I got a number of those signs right in a row that reminded me of this idea: several new lucrative writing gigs, positive feedback from my boss at my new job, and confirmation that my decision to let go of my consulting business was absolutely the best choice. Phin is well and happy. I got several happy messages from friends who shared great news after facing tough circumstances.

Walking around on this sunny afternoon I fully appreciated that I live in an amazing neighborhood in an equally amazing city that has so much in store for me. I took a deep breath and smiled. The Universe works in mysterious ways, often from behind the curtain and out of our immediate view. We don’t always understand what’s happening in the moment or why. When we look back, things do make sense if we just have the faith to hang in there through the difficulties.

I’m ready to walk through the door into the next chapter.

creativity, fear, freedom

This just in: Regrets, fear, and aging

Christa Avampato
Go through the door of your fears
Go through the door of your fears

“You only age when your regrets outnumber your fears.” ~John Barrymore

When we talk about aging in our society, and how to fend off its physical effects, the discussion often turns to diet, exercise, healthcare, and beauty products. I’ve found the best way to lessen the impacts of aging has nothing to do with anything physical. It’s about choices. Are we making the decisions that make us happy and help us feel fulfilled? Are we having fun, enjoying our time, and doing what we love? Our choices have just as much impact on our physical, mental, and emotional wellbeing as anything else. So let’s make the choice to leap through fear and go after the lives we really want.

Washington

This just in: What Bob Schieffer taught me about living in D.C.

Christa Avampato
Thank you, Bob Schieffer
Thank you, Bob Schieffer

“The White House Correspondents Dinner is over around midnight. Very late for a town that goes to bed at 9.” ~ Bob Schieffer, Face the Nation

New York City is a town for people who don’t sleep. We go to bed late and get up early with an IV of coffee in between. It’s packed year-round with people 24/7. The beat of the city is matched by the beats of New Yorkers’ hearts and our rapid-fire footsteps. It’s been that way as long as anyone can remember.

Many times I’ve caught myself walking in D.C. at night and noticed that the sidewalks were mostly empty. For a New Yorker, this can be a bit unnerving on many levels. I know great things are happening in every corner of this city and those actions and decisions impact the entire world. So where are all the people in D.C. after the sun goes down?

This has been an adjustment, and one I couldn’t understand until this weekend when Bob Schieffer uttered the magic words above on Face the Nation. Unlike New York City, D.C. is not a 24/7 town. At night, especially during the week, people pack it in. They retreat to their private corners to reflect, regroup, and fight another day tomorrow. For all its focus on achievement and a desire to make a difference, D.C.’s rhythm isn’t a million miles per hour every hour of every day. Washingtonians work very hard, and then they go to sleep. For me, this is a novel concept and one I’m looking forward to trying.

After two months, I’m slowly beginning to figure out what makes this city tick. Thanks, Bob Schieffer, for pointing me in the right direction. I think I can take it from here, but if I have more questions, I’m calling you. Who knows this place better than someone who’s faced this nation through this city’s lens every week for a quarter century?

creative, creative process, creativity, fear, feelings, work

This just in: Don’t unpack your bags – a lesson from Saturday Night Live

Christa Avampato
Saturday Night Live - 1980s
Saturday Night Live – 1980s

Yesterday I watched a documentary about Saturday Night Live in the 1980s. The show struggled so much after its first five golden years. It lost a lot of its people, its mission, and its way. And it wasn’t a matter of finding it again. A very small group of people, some original and some new, scrapped the entire format and started over from scratch. Brave, and frightening. Just like life.

Many of the cast members—Billy Crystal, Kevin Nealon, Dana Carvey, Julia Louis-Dreyfus—talked about not unpacking their bags. They all had month-to-month leases and were never really sure if they’d made it. Even when things were going very well, they were always on edge. In so many of those old sketches and outtakes, I could see the nerves, spontaneity, and spark.

It got me thinking that as much as we are creatures of comfort, habit, and routine, maybe we do our best work when we don’t have any of those things. Maybe those nerves that keep us on our edge give us our edge. We shouldn’t be looking for comfort at all. What we need to do our best, most creative work is a manageable dose of anxiety and fear. Our magic is not is doing the work we know we can do, but in biting of more than we can chew, in taking on precisely the projects that are beyond our reach. We should go where we think we’ll fail. We rise when we have something to shoot for that seems impossible.

community, community service, food, health, volunteer, Washington

This just in: I’m a new volunteer at Food & Friends

Christa Avampato
Food & Friends
Food & Friends

Today I went to new volunteer orientation today at Food & Friends​, a local D.C. nonprofit that prepares and delivers healthy meals, groceries, and nutrition counseling to people in D.C., Maryland, and Virginia who have life threatening illnesses. 10,000 volunteers help make their work possible and I’m very excited to join them. I’ll be cooking, delivering meals, and helping at special events.

If you’re looking for a great volunteer opportunity, they always need extra hands and hearts. Individuals, groups, and people of all ages (including kids) can be a part of their work on a very flexible schedule. I love this quote from one of the people who has received meals from them: “This isn’t just about food. It’s about life.”

I hope you’ll join me!