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.
Yesterday we went to Washington Heights to see Cabrini Repertory Theater, the space that will house the first production of Sing After Storms. It’s a bit surreal to think that a year ago, not a word of this script had been committed to paper and now we are talking about details like the prop table, lighting plot, and transition music. We open in 10 days, June 18th at 8:45pm and then have 2 more performances on Saturday, June 21st at 9:00pm, and Sunday, June 22nd at 9:30pm. Tickets are $10 in advance at this link, $20 cash at the door. It was a thrill just to be in the space. I can’t even imagine how it will feel to see the show fill the eyes, ears, and hopefully hearts, of the audience.
“What hope there is for us lies in our nascent arts, for if we are to be remembered as more than a mass of people who lived and fought wars and died, it is for our arts that we will be remembered. The captains and the kinds depart; the great fortunes wither, leaving no trace; inherited morals dissipate as rapidly as inherited wealth; the multitudes blow away like locusts; the record and barriers go down. The rulers, too, are forgotten unless they have had the forethought to surround themselves with singers and makers, poets and artificers in things of the mind.” ~ Maxwell Anderson, “Whatever Hope We Have” from Michael Eisner’s book Work in Progress
I finally saw the movie The Monuments Men, the story of 7 brave men who recovered 5 million works of priceless art that were stolen by the Nazis during World War II. The movie passionately and astutely raises the questions, “Does art matter, and if so, why? And is it worth dying for?” At one point an answer is clearly articulated: if we lose our art, then we lose our culture and history; and if we lose that then it’s as if we never existed. As someone who started a career in the arts, had a career in business, and now is determined to combine the two, I couldn’t agree more. Art matters because it holds our essence, the very seed of who are and what we care about. It is us. Creating art is the only thing we can do that lets us connect across the generations, long after we’re gone. It’s the only mark we can truly leave with the world.
We’re moving right along with ticket sales for the play Sing After Storms. Our Saturday night show on June 21st at 9:00pm is nearly sold out. We have a few more tickets left for Saturday night, as well as seats available for Wednesday night, June 18th at 8:45pm and Sunday night, June 22nd at 9:30pm. Grab tickets for $10 with our special friends, family, and fans discount: http://www.eventbrite.com/e/sing-after-storms-friends-family-and-fans-discount-tickets-11129220799
So so proud of the Sing After Storms team! We did our first complete end-to-end run last night and I am continually amazed by their commitment, dedication, and passion for this work. Art saves us. Every time. In every way. We are lucky to have it, to feel its power in our bones.
I love The Huffington Post‘s Good News section. Yesterday I read this article about a teacher turned artist who gave up her successful and steady career in education to follow her paintbrush and her heart. It lifted me up and I bet it will lift you up, too. Enjoy! Meet Layla Fanucci.
Smithsonian Magazine is one of my favorite publications. Every page is filled with some new and exciting piece of research. I read it cover to cover every month and feel better for having done so. It transports me to far-off lands and lets me dive deep into areas I’ve never heard of. It gets my curiosity motor running and reminds me just how much there is to learn in the world. And that gives me hope.
We spend a lot of time raising kids to be proud of who they are only to spend time as adults trying to be someone we’re not. We broaden our kids’ horizons and then specialize ourselves right into a corner to get a certain job, to fit in with a specific group of people. Please don’t ever be less than who you are. We need you to shine as brightly as you possibly can because there are so many people counting on you to the light the way. Be there for them by just being you, all of you.
“So we beat on, boats against the current, borne back ceaselessly into the past.” ~ F. Scott Fitzgerald, The Great Gatsby
I think about this line on my way to every rehearsal for Sing After Storms. A piece of my past is embedded in every character, every line. I wrote the play to make sense of things on the page that never made sense in my life. I suppose that’s why anyone ever writes anything—to be helpful, to be free, to be heard. We move forward though we can’t help but be informed by where we’ve been and what we’ve survived. It can dicey territory. We can be sucked into the past or use it to buoy us up and over it. I choose to let it help me rise, and intend to lift others in the process.
I hope when my time here is up that I’ve lived a life in which I laughed too loud, loved too much, and felt more than my fair share of every emotion, the good and the bad. I hope it’s been filled with confusion that turned into wonder. I hope I’ve been truly wowed by the great depth of the human spirit. I hope I leave with far more questions than answers. I hope I leave confident that I could live 1000 more lifetimes and never learn all that I want to learn. I hope I am just as curious about life as I am now even when I’m at the very end of mine. I hope I give everything away in time to see all the joy in the faces of those who receive whatever gifts I have to offer. It all goes by so fast. I hope I never forget that because I want to make sure each day bursts with realized possibility. I hope I look back on that long and winding road and say, “What an incredible ride! How lucky I was to have it and to know all of the gorgeous minds, spirits, and faces who made it possible.”
I’ve been thinking a lot about mastery lately because I am still, 7 years after graduating from business school, considering the value of being a generalist versus being a specialist. I see both sides of the argument. Being a generalist lets you see the insights and patterns that occur when you analyze seemingly disparate disciplines. Being a specialist lets you delve deeply into a specific area where you become an expert. Can we know a lot about a little and a little about a lot, all at once? I’m puzzling through that now. I don’t have any answers yet, but I’m searching for them. If you have any insights on this one, I’ll gladly take them!
Christa Avampato 