I tell wonder-filled stories about hope and healing
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.
Ever feel like this? Don’t. Own who you are and who you aspire to be!
I spoke to two friends this week who just started their own companies. We chatted about how difficult it can be to feel authentic about new roles, especially if we create them ourselves. When I first started telling people I was a writer I felt like a goldfish with a shark fin strapped to my back.
As Yoda would say, “Own we must.” Know who you are, what you do, and why. Don’t flinch. You did a lot of work and put in a lot of time to make your own opportunities. Stand proud and say it loud: “I’m a (fill in the blank)”, and smile.
Every day the first decision you make is whether or not to rise. Is it worth getting up or should I just stay in bed and wait for something better? Physically, most of us must make the choice to rise. We have work to do, a family to tend to, or a dog that needs walking. But what about mentally and emotionally? Are we all in — heart, body, and soul — or do we plunk along just trying to get back to bed at some point later that night? Are we even aware of the choice we’re making?
Lately, I’ve been working with being more conscious and present. As a writer, this is hard because I live my real life and I live my writing life and those two worlds often live in different places even though I haven’t yet found a way to clone myself. The two exist side-by-side the moment I open my eyes in the morning and I have to choose: rise or don’t. Put your best foot forward even if it scares the hell out of you, or don’t.
Me? I’m going to decide to rise. Always. I’m all in.
I control my direction; the speed is none of my business
Part of the reason I left New York was to have the freedom to say “no”. “No” to things I don’t want to do. “No” to following paths that I know aren’t right for me. “No” to anything that doesn’t make me jump up and down saying, “Hell yes!” I can control my direction; the speed at which I travel is a matter of timing and that timing is none of my business. I’m just grateful to be able to give my dreams the chance to unfold.
When J.K. Rowling and Steve Jobs began, they had an insatiable desire to create with the few resources they had. Rowling wrote Harry Potter on an old typewriter as a single mother while receiving public assistance. Jobs grew up in a lower-middle-class family and spent his early adult years living in an apple-growing commune in Oregon. Then he returned to his parents’ home to tinker in their garage.
We have many more resources than they did. First, we have their example of what the human imagination can build. Second, we have more sophisticated technology and markets, at far lower costs of entry. Third, we have social networks that help us connect to one another and share our creations with the world.
Rowling and Jobs didn’t have any of those resources, but you can bet that if they did, they would have used them to the hilt. That’s exactly what we should do. Right now there’s someone who needs what you want to invent as much as we needed the inspirational creations of Rowling and Jobs. You have the resources to build it. Go!
Legend has it that Michelangelo conducted autopsies to heighten his understanding, and thus his art, of the human body. Fiction writers must also conduct autopsies, though their subjects are stories. Compelling, intricate, luscious stories.
I’m reading and watching a lot of fiction as I prepare to write Where the Light Enters during National Novel Writing Month. As I read and watch, I sketch the story. At the end of every scene, I answer these questions:
Whose POV is represented?
What happens?
What did I learn about the characters and the story?
What were the interesting turns of phrase and images?
What did I learn about the characters through their actions?
How did it end?
What questions am I asking that move me to keep reading and watching?
At the end, I answer these questions:
What was the story about?
What happened?
Who’s story is it?
Do I care and if so, why?
What questions remain?
Did I get what was promised at the beginning of the story? And what was it?
This exercise is immensely valuable and fun.Like Indiana Jones, an archeologist who digs in the dirt for buried treasure, I’m discovering the bone structure, value, and meaning of the words that comprise page-turning books.
What have your learned about writing from reading?
I’ve met people who had every advantage and others who began life with less than nothing. Some of them are successful and happy; some aren’t. Talent and intelligence helps. Being organized, hard-working, and determined have incredible merits.
However, only one personality trait stands above all others as a universally common predictor of success and happiness: resourcefulness. The ability to take however much (or little, as the case my be) and squeeze every last drop of value out of it is what matters most. Every successful and happy person I know is also resourceful.
Opportunity is everywhere. It doesn’t come to those who wait, nor does it come to people who work their asses off. Opportunity, and its fruits, belong to people who see, recognize, seize, and mold it for all it’s worth. Turn over every rock and make the most of everything you find. Be resourceful.
“It is the neglect of timely repair that makes rebuilding necessary.” ~Richard Whately
Whether it’s a project, your career, a relationship, or the leaky kitchen faucet, fix what needs fixing now. The problem will not go away on its own. Like a pebble in the bottom of your shoe, it will get increasingly more uncomfortable with time. It will irritate you, aggravate you, and make its presence known until you do something. Figure out what’s broken and address it head on. You can fix everything that needs fixing so don’t back down. Take a deep breath. Have faith. You can do hard things.
Yesterday my hot-off-the-presses copy of Chuck Sambuchino’s 2015 Guide to Literary Agents arrived on my doorstep. I quickly sliced open the box and cracked it open. As I prepare to write Where the Light Enters for National Novel Writing Month, a portion of that planning involves marketing the book and learning as much as I can about the agent and book publishing world. This is completely new territory for me, and this book is one of my main sources of research, advice, and guidance. If you’re taking a serious step into the writing world, I highly recommend the book. In an hour, I learned more information from it than I’ve learned in months of doing my own piecemeal research. It’s that good. Let’s do this!
Stargazing was one of my favorite activities when I was a kid. I looked at the stars for hours and they carried me away into my imagination. Were there creatures up there, out there, looking at Earth the same way I looked at the stars and planets? Did they know things I didn’t know? Did they have magic powers that I could only dream of? Maybe. Definitely.
In New York City there are hardly any stars. The city has too much ambient light and that light hides the stars from us. They’re up there of course, but New Yorkers can’t see them, or at least can’t see them very well. Here in Florida, they’re out there in brilliant abundance every night. They carry me away exactly like they did when I was a child. They remind me that I am only one very small speck in an enormous universe that is awash with secrets, truths, and discoveries yet to be made.
The sight of the stars in Florida keeps me reaching, and for that I’m grateful.
The only essential for a good trip, an adventure that sticks with you long after it’s over, is happiness. Pack it in abundance. Seek it out, in all the people you meet, places you go, and things you do. Be a joy seeker and a smile junkie, and give both away, as much as you can possibly muster. What you’ll find is that you won’t feel spent. Instead, you’ll feel more fulfilled than you ever thought possible.
Christa Avampato 