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.
The year of the horse began Friday night as the world ushered in the Lunar New Year. What’s in it for you? Fasten your seatbelt – it’s going to be exciting and fast-paced for everyone!
“For those born on the year of the horse, they will encounter the Year of Birth (Benming Nian). It is believed they will offend Taisui, the god in charge of fortune, so their finances may fluctuate. In terms of career, it is advised to keep the peace between colleagues.
For those not born on a horse year, the year ahead will bring health and prosperity. It is said to be an excellent time to travel, as the next 12 months will bring good luck. You are advised to mingle with the locals, savour authentic cuisine and discover somewhere you have never been before.”
Luck, travel, good health, prosperity, and authenticity. Sounds good to me!
Arthur Miller gave up the theater after his play, The Man Who Had All the Luck, flopped horribly on Broadway. It ran for only 4 performances in 1944. He attempted to write novels after that, and they flopped too. So he went back to the theater and several years later finished the Tony Award-winning play All My Sons, one of the most beloved, heart-wrenching, and successful in theater history. It took him 5 years to write it and was his first successful production. At the time of its debut, it was panned critically save for Brooks Atkinson’s review in the New York Times. Mr. Atkinson is often credited with rescuing the piece from failure. 2 years later, Miller wrote Death of a Salesman in 6 weeks and it won the Pulitzer.
Miller said this about watching All My Sons for the first time with an audience:
“The success of a play, especially one’s first success, is somewhat like pushing against a door which is suddenly opened from the other side. One may fall on one’s face or not, but certainly a new room is opened that was always securely shut until then. For myself, the experience was invigorating. It made it possible to dream of daring more and risking more. The audience sat in silence before the unwinding of All My Sons and gasped when they should have, and I tasted that power which is reserved, I imagine, for playwrights, which is to know that by one’s invention a mass of strangers has been publicly transfixed.”
It would have been very easy for Mr. Miller to give up writing after his early string of failures. At that point, there was no reason to believe he would ever be successful. And yet, he kept going. He kept trying as he worked menial jobs to make ends meet while remaining passionate about his craft. All he had was raw determination.
Maybe you’ve tried to do something and it wasn’t as successful as you wanted it to be even though you gave it everything you had. Maybe you’re thinking about throwing in the towel and getting a new dream. You’re in good company. At many points, Miller considered giving up. How could he not? But he didn’t. He started again. He took the second step, and it’s that step that made all the difference, for him, for us, and for the American theater. Follow that lead.
To sign up for updates on my new book, Your Second Step: What to Do After Your Leap, by clicking here.
My only talents are intense curiosity and a freakishly strong sense of discipline. When something interests me, I go after it with a dogged determination and dedication. It’s the only way I know how to live and I wouldn’t change it. It’s taken me to places of immense beauty and introduced me to people who are kind, inspiring, and full of grace and goodness.
Curiosity and discipline have saved me over and over again throughout my life and I expect that they will go right on doing so for as long as I have breath. There is so much comfort in knowing that. It gives me a way out, up, over, and through every obstacle. It’s lets me know that even when I’m down, I won’t be down for long. Curiosity and determination will ride in on their chariot, scoop me up, and off we’ll go on a new adventure. They make every ending a new beginning.
After a lot of soul-searching, exploring, planning, and just plain working hard, Compass Yoga has found another great partner to help get more yoga and meditation to seniors. I’m so excited to announce that we are partnering with the Alzheimer’s Foundation of America. Over the next few weeks we’ll be pouring through the incredible amount of information they’ve sent our way to figure out how we can support the work of others and perhaps create a set of new programs as we work together to turn the tide for those facing Alzheimer’s and their caregivers. Stay tuned!
Wise Bread is a site that celebrates living well on a budget and I’m overjoyed to announce that I’m officially a staff writer for this site that I have long loved and admired. I’ll be posting a few times a week on a wide range of topics including food, travel, technology, personal finance, design, and career. My first post “How to Spend Less on Everything in 2014” is now live. I hope you’ll check it out.
Frugal living is how I make my freelance life work. Its principles pervade how I eat, where I travel, what I do, and how I think about money. It’s about saving, spending on things that matter, and smartly using the fuel of money to fund a life we love. It’s about eliminating wasteful habits and expenditures that are draining our bank accounts and limiting our freedom. I’m excited to share the journey with you!
I believe in an examined life, though only so much so that it gives us the strength, confidence, and courage to act. If you don’t know what to do, then try something. If that something doesn’t work, then try something else. If we continually try, if we never give up, then eventually we will find ourselves on the right course. Life – we’ve got to give it a go to make it go.
“Optimist: Someone who figures that taking a step backward after taking a step forward is not a disaster. It’s the cha-cha.” ~ Robert Brault
Forward, back. Forward, back. This is exactly what happens whenever we try to build something. It’s the dance of trial-error-and-trial-again. This is true of everything I’ve ever done. Nothing has ever been a linear progression from 0 to 60. The fun is in learning to ride the wave. When the roller coaster pulls up beside you, hand over your ticket, grab a seat (I recommend the front one because you can see better!), buckle up, and learn.
No matter where we are, light guides us to exactly where we need to go. You’ll find it in people, in your work, in everything beautiful, and in you. Trust it.
“Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication.” ~ Leonardo da Vinci
I was recently working on a project and quickly losing motivation. I love my work so it was hard for me to understand why I dreaded even the thought of working on this particular project. Then it hit me: there was a lot of complication entwined in my actual work on it. I crave and relish elegance and simplicity. It makes me happy and it motivates me. I knew what I needed to do – I eliminated the pieces of my work that weren’t necessary. If any step lacked value, I got rid of it even if other people had recommended that’s how it had to be done. I immediately felt better. My motivation returned and I learned a very valuable lesson: simplicity = fun and fun = get it done.
We have to live life moving forward though we can only understanding it looking back. The only way we can face this reality is through faith. Faith that what we feel is right, is right. We have to tune into our intuition even when we don’t have a rational explanation for what we’re doing in the moment. Let that intuition spark your action. Some people won’t get it. That little inside voice of yours might not get it either. There will be jeers and questions and criticism. Turn their volume down to zero and amp up the voice from your gut. Walk confidently, gracefully. Head up, smile wide, heart open. Calm, cool, collected. You’ve got this.
Christa Avampato 