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

Inspired: What a Cut on My Finger Taught Me About the Discomfort of Healing

Christa Avampato
From Pinterest

I recently gouged out a piece of the skin on my knuckle on a cheese grater. For the first couple days I covered it with a band-aid, but what really speeds healing is exposing the wound to air. We actually have to see it, and let others see it. My cut kept getting hit every time I reached for something and then it would bleed again. I’d scrunch up my face in pain. I had to learn how to do more things with my other hand. It was annoying and ugly.

This cut on my finger was a good metaphor for any kind of wound, physical or emotional. Why do we stay wounded? Why do we let our failures, missteps, and disappointments get the best of us? Why do we hold ourselves back from healing? Because healing and transcending anything that hurts is an uncomfortable process in the short-term. It’s painful, itchy, and ugly. It’s not linear. We take some steps back before we can step forward.

However, in time, we do heal. 3 weeks into this process and my finger is nearly back to normal. The cut doesn’t hurt anymore. It’s not as ugly as it was and I learned that my other hand is good for a lot more things than I gave it credit for. In the long-run, healing is a gift because we learn so much along the way that we wouldn’t learn if the hurt never happened at all.

art, risk, theatre

Inspired: Taking a Shot on Goal By Directing Sing After Storms

Christa Avampato
From Pinterest
From Pinterest

To use a hockey analogy: there’s a time to pass the puck and a time to take a shot on goal. Though I initially intended to have someone else direct my play  Sing After Storms, a set of circumstances arose that presented me with the option to direct the show as well as write and produce it. In my gut, I immediately knew that this was my chance to live this show in a number of facets, to immerse myself in what I can only imagine will be the most fulfilling creative project of my life to-date. It’s scary and thrilling, and I’m going for it. Let’s see how far this amazing creative team can push the puck across the ice.

art, change, community, theatre

Inspired: Casting Sing After Storms and the Impact of Community-Created Art

Christa Avampato
From Pinterest
From Pinterest

Yesterday we had our first round of casting for my play Sing After Storms. I continue to be astonished by the immense talent in this city. I feel like so much of it is locked up, waiting for its turn to be seen and heard. I want to find a way to free it, to give it the space and opportunity to let it unfurl, experiment, and take risks in the pursuit of creating something that affects hearts, minds, and souls on a massive scale. It is such a privilege to see this raw truth up close and personal, to have a hand in crafting its path. We’ll find a way to scale this effort, to bring more people into the fold and give them a way to make significant contributions through the work they love to do. Sing After Storms is just the first step in a much longer journey.

action, change, creative process, creativity, theatre

Inspired: Hello, Chaos!

Christa Avampato
From Pinterest
From Pinterest

My friend, Blair, sent this saying to me because she thought I could appreciate it: “All great changes are preceded by chaos. ~ Deepak Chopra.” I live by it. In the theater, you get used to the chaos and since all of my early career training happened in that industry, I thrive in the madness of activity. I know what goodness comes of it if we just delve in and enjoy the ride. When life feels jumbled, chaotic, and hectic, I have to remind myself to be thankful for that energy. So much beauty will be revealed when the dust settles. When we create something, craft it with our hands and hearts, there is bound to be a lot of movement, internal and external shifts. Just enjoy it. It won’t last forever, and when it’s over you’ll miss it and look for your next great creation opportunity. Take it as it comes.

celebration, fear

Inspired: Go Where You Think You Can’t

Christa Avampato

1009973_624985494217645_1797489827_n“The cave you fear to enter holds the treasure you seek.” ~ Joseph Campbell

Why are we afraid to take some actions and unafraid to take others? So often I’ve found when I do exactly the thing I am afraid of, when I go where I don’t think I can go, that’s when and where I find exactly what I want. Now when I find fear, I celebrate because it lets me know I’m on the right path.

home, time, work

Inspired: I Just Want the Good Parts of New York City

Christa Avampato

The 4 seasonsThe waves of cold this winter left me wondering how to get Phin and I out of the freezer of New York City. We’re also not fans of the city’s summer heat, mosquitos, and giant air conditioning bills. Being shut in during the polar vortex gave me time to think about how to make myself truly location-independent. I want all the inspiration and creativity of New York City and the space from it to fully appreciate what it and other cities have to offer. My California break last summer worked wonders for me, personally and professionally. I want to find a way to always take my work with me so I can spend the Spring and Fall in New York City and the Winter and Summer in a temperate climate. The wheels are turning. The will is there so I know the way can’t stay hidden for long.

home, New York City

Inspired: In Search of A New New York City Home in Queens

Christa Avampato
On the hunt for a new home in Queens
On the hunt for a new home in Queens

Queens, here I come! My Manhattan apartment building is being converted to condos. Because I’m a market-rate tenant, my lease isn’t being renewed and there’s no inside deal to buy my place. This is the tough and ugly part of New York City real estate: landlords hold all the cards. I’ve looked around the Upper West Side, the neighborhood I’ve called home for 7 years, and found that I can get much more for my money someplace else. The Brooklyn brand has caused rental prices to skyrocket there far beyond the rental rates in my current neighborhood so I’m looking at Queens. I’ve lived there twice before and loved it. Prices have gone up there as well but not to the same tune as Manhattan and Brooklyn. It also has the benefit of tremendous transportation convenience, lots of amenities, and authentic community, three things that are important to me. Come April 30th, Phin and I will shove off on a new residential adventure. Here’s hoping the apartment karma gods are with us!

comedy, creativity, film, health, movie

Inspired: Bill Murray and Comedy Changed How I See Mental Illness

Christa Avampato
Bill Murray in What About Bob?
Bill Murray in What About Bob?

This is the power of comedy: it opens up our minds by first making us laugh and then making us think long and hard about the truth underneath that laughter. Over the weekend, I made some additional edits to my play, Sing After Storms. There’s only one pop culture reference in the play and it refers to Bill Murray’s performance in the film What About Bob?. While we often think of What About Bob? as a comedy, and it certainly is, that movie had a different long-term effect on me that only rose into my consciousness as I was writing Sing After Storms. Clinical OCD (Bob’s illness) is a debilitating, terrifying condition. It keeps people confined and isolated by an intense fear of death. It deeply affected how I think about mental illness and it’s impact on an individual’s potential in a way that a dramatic film wouldn’t have done. If we can make people laugh, we can also move them to action. It’s a lesson I’m trying to bring into my writing and it’s perhaps the toughest artistic challenge I have today. Comedy isn’t easy but I’ve seen that its rewards are so rich.

art, commitment, creativity, determination, film, Second Step

Inspired: The Long Road Toward The Wolf of Wall Street

Christa Avampato
Leo laughing in the face of adversity, on-screen and off
Leo laughing in the face of adversity, on-screen and off

I thought Leonardo DiCaprio had some sort of magic Hollywood wand that makes everything he touches turn to gold. I was completely wrong. Even with his passion and commitment, it took Leo 7 years to get The Wolf of Wall Street made. Like Matthew McConaughey and Dallas Buyers Club (who incidentally is also in The Wolf of Wall Street), Leo refused to give up on the film and chipped away at Hollywood until he lined up the right partners and the right funding. In our own creative pursuits, we sometimes struggle to get something to go in the direction we want it to take. We grease the skids of our own imaginations over and over again without much movement. It’s often akin to getting a car parked on ice to move. Don’t let the hard work and slow progress deter you. Keep at it knowing you’re in good company. Eventually, the ice relents (or melts) and we’re on our way.

books, grateful, gratitude, loss, love

Inspired: Aren’t We Lucky We Had Today?

Christa Avampato
James Patterson's new book
James Patterson’s new book

Author James Patterson was on CBS This Morning talking about his new book, First Love. It’s inspired by a woman he was with many years ago. She developed an inoperable brain tumor and to keep their spirits up they adopted this shared philosophy: “Aren’t we lucky that you didn’t die today?” It kept them appreciative, hopeful, and present. We’re all lucky we had today, even if it’s been the worst day, because it’s so much better than the alternative of not having this day at all. It reminds me that there are so many people all over the world who have passed on who would have given anything to have today. On the tough days, that idea keeps me going. It keeps me grateful. It keeps me smiling.