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.
change, children, community, education

Inspired: We need a Common Core education curriculum based in compassion, empathy, kindness, and peace

Christa Avampato
The world I want
The world I want

The news out of Ferguson, New York City, and Charlottesville, made me shake my fists at the ceiling and ask, “Why? Why have we been taught to value institutions, however corrupt, over human life? Why does our society continue to glorify violence over justice, kindness, and respect?” I have no answers to these questions, but I do know this: it must stop and change starts with us.

I understand that teaching our children Common Core concepts has merit, but what about the common core of compassion, mindfulness, and nonviolence? I know there is value in math, science, and the proper use of the English language, but they are worthless unless we first learn to treat one another with respect and decency.

What we need are new standards, standards that aren’t measured by a state administered exam on a specific day, but by our own daily actions. When I was a student at UVA’s Darden School, we had to write and sign an oath at the end of every exam that stated the work that we did was ours and ours alone. I want to see everyone, everywhere, accept an Honor Code that includes conduct that goes far beyond UVA’s oath against lying, cheating, and stealing. I want an Honor Code that elevates humanity and denounces violence in all its ugly forms.

Reflecting on today’s news, I’m reminded of the quote “The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good [people] to do nothing.” Collectively, we have within our power, in our lifetimes, to create a tidal shift in how we treat one another. And of course, how we treat others is how our world is shaped.

We have the chance now to create a better and more peaceful world for our children and future generations. But we have to raise our voices in unison and in the name of all people everywhere. It is time for goodness to have its reign, and it starts in each of our mirrors. It’s time for us to put aside all the titles we carry around—where we work, where we live, where we came from, how much money we have, what gender, race, and religion we are—and recognize the one thing that binds us together forever: we’re all on Team Human. Let’s act like it.

books, creativity, writing

Inspired: Build your book into a brand – a lesson from Emerson Page

Christa Avampato
Build a brand from your book
Build a brand from your book

When you write a book, you have to create a whole world that is rich with future opportunity. My hope is not only that my first novel, Where the Light Enters, gets published, but that I can also make it into a brand in its own right. Such is the way of today’s publishing landscape, and that’s not a bad thing! I’m planning on a game of some sort based on the story that highlights the value of compassion, empathy, and imagination. There are also many other books within the book that I could write that tap into different facets of the story. Among them:

– There’s plenty of room for a sequel to this book and an associated travel guide of Emerson’s quest
– The book that is the crux of the whole story—a guide to having endless and unlimited creativity
– Sketchbook of fantastical inventions (based on Truman’s character)
– Children’s book entitled The Star Lighter (written by Emerson’s mother, Nora)
– Folklore medicine and healing recipe book (based on Irene’s character)
– History of the 9 muses, and a book that tells the story of each one
– Inspirational essay collection from people all over the world who have been helped by the shoots of The Crooked Willow (based on Samuel’s character and the cafe that is one of the main settings in the book)

And the list goes on…With a lot of hard work and a bit of luck, Emerson Page could be a part of my life for a very long time.

adventure, business, career, creativity, entrepreneurship, fear, learning, work

Inspired: We learn best by doing

Christa Avampato
Jump and build your wings on the way down
Jump and build your wings on the way down

We can’t learn to sail from the shore. We can’t learn to fly from the ground. To learn how to build a business of any kind, we must be in business. Business is an art form just like playing the piano or painting a picture. It takes practice, and chances are we will create some really awful work as we learn to make great work. So don’t be so hard on yourself if your first attempts are less than shining stars of success. Honestly, it’s better if they’re not. Go further than you think you can. Give your wildest ideas a whirl. Get crazy. That’s where the learning is, and learning is the best gift you can give to your future self. Don’t be afraid. Just do it. Go have an adventure.

community, education, safety

Inspired: Making the University of Virginia safe for all students

Christa Avampato

Raise your voice“I believe that if you show people the problems and you show them the solutions they will be moved to act.” ~Bill Gates

Despite Thanksgiving, last week’s news was dominated by tough, complicated stories that won’t be quickly nor easily solved. Sexual assault on the grounds of UVA, where I went to the Darden School for my MBA, was one of those stories. My friend, Alex, and I banded together with other UVA and Darden School alumni to place an ad in the Cavalier Daily, the newspaper at UVA, to support students who have been victims of violence on UVA’s grounds and to raise our voices to demand a safe environment for all UVA students. We raised almost $1000 in a short amount of time (and over a holiday weekend!) That money paid for the half-page ad and the balance will be donated to UVA’s Women’s Center where students receive counseling and support.

We can’t change the past but together we can build a better and brighter future. Thank you to the alumni who gave so generously. UVA will be a better place because of you. Donations will be accepted through tonight via PayPal.com to christa.avampato@gmail.com.

career, education, media, movie, story, technology

Inspired: Big Hero 6 will motivate you to take up computer science and become a maker

Christa Avampato

Big Hero 6I saw the movie Big Hero 6 yesterday. The powerful storyline is an incredible motivator for kids and adults to go into computer science and get involved in the making community. While many of the tech stories we hear today involve pricey acquisitions and the latest greatest photo sharing app, the movie shows that a career (or even just a hobby) in technology can and does yield incredible results.

We are standing on the precipice of many difficult decisions as a society—health and wellness, climate change, energy consumption, food distribution, and the list goes on. Technology won’t solve them all, but it can certainly put a hefty dent in any of them. While we can throw stats and doomsday scenarios at people in an attempt to get them to care about these issues, storytelling like that in Big Hero 6 may be the most powerful weapon we have to scare up the resource we need in greatest abundance—human care and concern for the future.

choices, creativity, Life, patience

Inspired: Benefits of taking the long way

Christa Avampato
Tuscany, Italy
Tuscany, Italy

“All the work worth doing is about taking the long way.” ~Seth Godin

I always look for shortcuts, ways to get twice as much done in half the amount of time. I’m ridiculously impatient with myself, and many times that serves me because it forces me to make the most of every opportunity and maximize my creativity. But when I’ve been forced to take the long way, when no other way was possible, I’ve never regretted it. I tried to enjoy the view and stay open to what may happen that I had never planned. The long way, while never preferable for me at the outset, has always ended up being a blessing because it took me in directions I never knew existed. The next time your route feels more circuitous rather than a direct shot, take a beat and look around. Every step along the path has a lesson. Take it and use it.

books, creativity, goals, writing

Inspired: Finished the first draft of my first novel – Where the Light Enters

Christa Avampato
THE END
THE END

THE END. I just typed these two words on the (very, very, very) rough first draft of my first novel, Where the Light Enters. There will be many rounds of revisions ahead, but I’m excited to have this first pass done. I plan to revel in this feeling through the holidays and then pick it back up in January to begin the long process of rewriting. For now, I’m happy to say the story and the act of writing it changed me for the better. It gave me confidence and faith that with love we can do what we think is impossible. Thank you to so many of you who supported this journey. We’re just getting started!

creativity, Disney, work

Inspired: Find the fun

Christa Avampato
Mary Poppins
Mary Poppins

“In every job that must be done there’s an element of fun. Find the fun and *snap* the job’s a game.” ~Mary Poppins

As we are winding down the festivities of the week, and heading into the hectic holiday and year-end season, we might find our heads spinning. When I feel myself getting overwhelmed, particularly if I’m overwhelmed with tasks that are less-than-glamorous, I think of Mary Poppins and the way she lightened everything during difficult times.

Every day, we must do things that are difficult, things that don’t seem fun on the surface. But if we can find even a small element of fun—a co-worker who makes us laugh, something to learn, or puzzle to solve—then the task becomes a little easier. Find the fun, and the job is halfway done.

art, comedy, holiday

Inspired: The Peanuts Gang Recreates Norman Rockwell’s Thanksgiving Painting

Christa Avampato
Norman Rockwell's Freedom From Want
Norman Rockwell’s Freedom From Want

I love Norman Rockwell. I love Peanuts. So, I really love this painting. Happy Thanksgiving from my nutty house to yours!

community, courage

Inspired: We are powerful

Christa Avampato
Hope is the only thing stronger than fear.
Hope is the only thing stronger than fear.

“What cannot be said, will be wept.” ~ Sappho

At our darkest hour, we need protection and this week’s news has shown us that too many people in this world don’t have any. Too many people have been rendered powerlessness, their voices held hostage by institutions that bill themselves as just and moral though in reality are anything but. While so many people in the news this week, many right in our own country, have been left powerless, I am not. There are countless ways that I can show my support and be a part of the solution. I can help, and I will. Knowing that I can is what’s getting me through this week, tears and all. My sense of hope is still intact.