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, dreams, writer, writing

Beautiful: Inspired by Julia Child, I’m Following My Dream of Being a Full-time Writer

Christa Avampato

3c52d8c67468e7c4da66be625f3b9becWhen Julia Child was 37 (the age I am now), she began to cook because she loved to eat. She had no prior experience in the kitchen, and yet she gave herself over fully to the craft that captured her imagination. It took her a long time to reach the success she ultimately had as a cook, but she kept at it even in the most trying times and circumstances.

Julia Child was lucky financially in that her husband had a very good job and she wasn’t on the hook for her own rent. I have to keep a roof over my own head (and Phin’s) and food on the table (and in Phin’s bowl.) So I will have to continue to work in the vocation of business (which I love) in order to do that – for now. But here’s the difference going forward – it’s all in service to my craft as a writer.

I’ve been writing every day, on the side, for 6 years and I’ve loved every second of it. This summer, I wrote my first full-length play and worked on full outlines for several other writing projects. The goal is to eventually write full-time. I don’t know long it will take to make that happen but that’s what I’m working for and towards. I don’t know how long it will take – it could be a dream many years in the making – but that’s the mountain I’m climbing, small step by small step. And I’m fine with however long this journey takes. That clarity is liberating and empowering.

Here’s to shooting for the moon!

adventure, art, career, change, choices, courage

Beautiful: Take A Page from Leonardo da Vinci’s Book on Perspective

Christa Avampato

5235227350a76057ac21cd7a71d149bdThere’s nothing like distance to make us realize what matters most. A painter steps back from his painting, a film maker moves away from the tiny screen on which she’s editing to take in the whole world that she has created, a theatre director moves to the back of the house so he can see the whole stage. Our life and work can be unclear when we are trying to get a sense of it while in the midst of it.

I went 3,000 miles away to look at my life and my work and I stayed there longer than I initially wanted to so that I could take in the view. I liked some of the things I saw about my life and I hated others. And then I got out my trusty three lists to sort it all out – things I can easily change, things I can’t change no matter how much I try, and things that I think I can change if I’m willing to put a heck of a lot of work into it. Leo was right – now I can see where there is a lack of harmony, now I can see where the proportions aren’t quite right. I’m more confident in my judgement even if I’m not entirely clear on all of the pieces of the puzzle.

A big overhaul in my life is underway – long overdue and lots of work ahead of me but I’m excited to be digging in, to be getting on with the life I want and not just the life that I have cultivated until now. It’s easy to walk a road; it’s much harder to pave it in a direction I’ve never traveled before but I’m up for the challenge.

New York City

Beautiful: To Make It in New York, You Need to Be Soft

Christa Avampato
Times Square, New York City. From Pinterest.
Times Square, New York City. From Pinterest.

There’s a saying that goes, “Leave California before you get too soft and leave New York before you get too hard.” Being back in NYC a couple of days, I realize that we can get a lot further in New York if we soften. The truth is that New York is tougher than any of us. It’s tougher than all of us put together. Fight it all you want; in the end it’s going to win. It always has.

To get along here, to delight in all the magic that this place has to offer, we have to flex and adjust. To stay centered, we have to find and maintain our own center. It’s challenging, but possible. As we lift our heads up from the pavement, as we let go, we can really see all of the gifts around us. Then instead of being worn out by New York, we can take its nonstop energy and make it ours. The beat of the city becomes the beat of our own hearts if only we will let it in.

New York City

Beautiful: Love Letters to New York From Some of Its Most Famous Admirers

Christa Avampato

Today I woke up in my own bed, finally back home in my town. I plan to spend the next few days walking around, saying hello to all my favorite haunts, seeing my friends, and being grateful – grateful that I finally realized that the home I’ve sought for so long is the home I’ve had all along. It’s not the right place for everyone and there are plenty of things about it that need improvement. While there are many other places that I love to visit, New York is home. And that feels wonderful.

Here are some of my favorite quotes from others who loved New York as much as I do:

“As for New York City, it is a place apart. There is not its match in any other country in the world.” 
– Pearl S. Buck

“Each man reads his own meaning into New York.” – Meyer Berger

“I think you know that when an American stays away from New York too long something happens to him. Perhaps he becomes a little provincial, a little dead and afraid.” – Sherwood Anderson

“Everybody ought to have a lower East Side in their life.” – Irving Berlin

“New York is the only real city-city.” – Truman Capote

“New York is the biggest collection of villages in the world.” – Alistair Cooke

“New York remains what it has always been : a city of ebb and flow, a city of constant shifts of population and economics, a city of virtually no rest. It is harsh, dirty, and dangerous, it is whimsical and fanciful, it is beautiful and soaring – it is not one or another of these things but all of them, all at once, and to fail to accept this paradox is to deny the reality of city existence.” – Paul Goldberger

“New York city, the incomparable, the brilliant star city of cities, the forty-ninth state, a law unto itself, the Cyclopean Paradox, the inferno with no-out-of bounds, the supreme expression of both the miseries and the splendors of contemporary civilization, the Macedonia of the United States. It meets the most severe test that may be applied to definition of a metropolis – it stays up all night. But also it becomes a small town when it rains.” – John Gunther

“There is no place like it, no place with an atom of its glory, pride, and exultancy.” – Walt Whitman

“At night… the streets become rhythmical perspectives of glowing dotted lines, reflections hung upon them in the streets as the wistaria hangs its violet racemes on its trellis. The buildings are shimmering verticality, a gossamer veil, a festive scene-prop hanging there against the black sky to dazzle, entertain, amaze.” – Frank Lloyd Wright

home, New York City

Beautiful: Home Again

Christa Avampato

IMG_0480-1024x768“Forgive the exile this sweet frenzy: I return to my beloved world, in love with the land where I was born.” -from To Puerto Rico (I Return) by Jose Gautier Benitez

Today, I’m heading back home to New York. While I’m glad and grateful for all that I learned here in California, I am giddy about being back home. I feel like it’s Christmas and that my home will be there, just as before, waiting for me with a happy welcome. I wasn’t born there, but it is the home I’ve chosen, and I think that makes it even more special. New York, I can’t wait to see you, and all my friends who call it home, too.

business, creativity, entrepreneurship, writer, writing

Beautiful: Restarting My Examiner Column on Entrepreneurship

Christa Avampato

Examiner-LogoIn early 2009, I started writing a business column for Examiner.com. Over the course of 15 months, I published 130 articles, many of them interviews with entrepreneurs. Invigorated and inspired by President Obama’s election, I wanted to lend a hand to entrepreneurs who courageously moved forward during the darkest days of the economic recession. I knew I could do that through my writing. I also wanted to find the courage to start my own business so I thought interviewing brave entrepreneurs would help me, too. A number of them became friends of mine; all of them provided me with the inspiration and confidence I needed to strike out on my own. Quite a few of them – OXO, Airbnb, Behance, Squarespace, and Divvyshot among them – have gone on to experience phenomenal success. I wrote first e-book based on 27 of these stories. You can download that book for free here.

I stopped publishing on Examiner in mid-2010. Since then, I’ve been involved with a lot of different ventures and Examiner.com has grown substantially. Now I’m returning to it to honor and serve entrepreneurs again. Even though I stopped publishing, Examiner never removed my column. You can still see all of the pieces I wrote from 2009 – 2010 and starting today you will be able to read all my new features going forward. Today’s piece is my SXSW V2V wrap-up. I’ll publish the links to all my future stories on this blog, my Facebook page, and my Twitter feed. You can also subscribe to my column by clicking here.

California, calm, creativity, peace

Beautiful: My LA Adventure Taught Me to Be a Tree in Winter

Christa Avampato

9d2275bf25fe5c1d448e48e7aff6128d“I realize there’s something incredibly honest about trees in winter, how they’re experts at letting things go.” ~ Jeffrey McDaniel

My LA adventure is drawing to a close. The last few weeks have been a kind of magical transformation for me. I stopped trying to force my experience here and just let it be whatever it wanted to be. It was both liberating and invigorating. I could delight in the hazy sunshine and the gorgeous trees and the cool air without asking anything of them, knowing that they ask nothing of me except to be seen, felt, and experienced.

It’s not in my nature to stop inquiring, to stop digging, but it’s kind of lovely once in a while to take the advice of John Lennon and Paul McCartney and let it be, knowing there will be an answer. Trusting that somewhere along the line that answer will rise up when it’s good and ready. The more we let go, the easier it is for that answer to rise. Sometimes the very best thing we can do is just stop, take ourselves out of the equation, and wait.

It takes nerve to wait. We worry that we’re wasting time, our most precious and irreplaceable resource. Here in LA I found that in a calm mind resides every answer we need. They’re there all along – our only job is to get out of the way and listen. Let the answers rise. They always do.

Tony Bennett may have left his heart in San Francisco, but I’m going to try my best to bring a little Los Angeles back with me. In the hustle and bustle of New York City’s streets, I hope you’ll be able to spot me as the calm in the middle of the storm, leaving a wake of peace everywhere I go. New York is where I’m needed. That’s where I’ve got something to give.

Thanks, LA, for taking me under your wing and for teaching me more about me than I ever thought possible. I’ll never forget you.

community, strengths

Beautiful: We’re Stronger Together

Christa Avampato

The strong path is built by many hands and hearts. I’m all for independence – goodness knows I’m the poster child for carving an individual path! – though I almost always have help and support from someone or something. Sometimes a friend or teacher, other times my own yoga and meditation practice, and still other times from inspiring stories I’ve read and heard. To say I’ve ever done anything solely on my own would be a lie. There was always a union of some kind, every step of the way.

At SXSW V2V, I listened to Steve Case’s keynote (I’ll be writing more about that shortly) and he recited an African proverb that has informed much of his career – “If you want to go fast, go alone. If you want to go far, go together.” My intent is to go far – to see more, experience more, be more, do more. And I can’t do that alone. It’s got to be a group effort.

Want to join my tribe and go far? Sign up to receive my inspiring monthly newsletter by clicking here.

creativity, time, values, writing

Beautiful: Your Mission, Your Tagline

Christa Avampato

c9ce7be37f7cff45866452dbd86940bcIn business school, I was trained to place supreme emphasis on an elevator pitch. In this age of shorter-than-ever attention spans, an elevator pitch is too long. Now we need a tagline to use online and off. Who are you and what do you care about in 10 words or less? I recently updated the tagline on my blog: “Curating a creative life through ancient wisdom and modern tech.” 

My tagline used to read “Curating a creative life” and I would sometimes get the question, “how do you do that?” I wanted to be clearer about what I do so I expanded my tag line with the descriptors of how I curate a creative life. This summer I realized that everything I do is rooted in two worlds – the one of ancient wisdom (art, yoga, philosophy, wellness) and modern tech. That balance is very important to me because the two halves inform one another.

This clarity took time and a lot of effort to find and articulate. However, it was well worth the energy because it’s made my other career decisions so much easier. That’s the power of a personal mission.

What’s your tagline?

books, business, career, work

Beautiful: My New Book – Your Second Step: What to Do After Your Leap

Christa Avampato

I’m writing a new book called Your Second Step. And here’s why: the hardest step of any journey is the second one. The first step is filled with excitement for something new. You’ve pumped yourself up, done your research, and put in all the time to figure out where you’re going, what you’re doing, and why. Everyone lines up to cheer you on – “quit your job”, “start your own company”, “move to a new city”, “go out with that special someone who caught your eye”, “get on that plane ride halfway around the world”. Go go go! You can do it!

Everyone loves a new beginning, but a slightly older beginning is something else entirely.

Step 2
That second step can be brutal. It means you are committing to continue to the third step and beyond. Some of the excitement and adrenalin of that first step has worn off. You put so much energy and effort into that first enormous step that you’re exhausted. The parades that promised to stick around for your marathon of change all went home just after the starting gun went off. They went back to their own busy lives, and they took their signs of encouragement, cow bells, and orange slices with them.

Maybe you’re already facing some adversity, failure, or disappointment early on. You created a beautiful plan, and its not unfolding the way you want it to. You closed the door on your old life, and the Universe is not holding up its end of the bargain by opening up that proverbial window. And it promised it would!

Guess who else is here? Our old friends – Fear, Regret, and Pride. And though you successfully turned down the volume on that little nagging voice at the back of your mind, it somehow wrestled a megaphone out of the hands of your faithful companion, Courage, and is now making up for lost time with a very loud proclamation: “You can’t do this! There’s still time. You can go back to where it’s safe and predictable if you turn around right now. Last chance. Be reasonable!”

And I want you to take the second step? Really? Yes. Yes, I do.  

My new book
This summer I wrote my first full-length play (I’m heavily editing it before sending it off to festivals) and now this book, my next big writing project, is based on a conversation that an old friend of mine and I are having about how to remain true to our life’s mission. How do we tirelessly keep living an authentic life, especially when the going gets tough?

When I responded to my friend’s first email, I realized that my response was actually the outline for my new book, The Second Step. I know a thing or two about what it takes to move beyond the first step of a journey. I know all about procrastination disguised in research and wrapped up in drawn out strategic planning sessions. I learned a lot by falling flat on my face, over and over and over again, literally and figuratively. I understand the excuses that we dress up as reasons. And good heavens, do I know all about that nagging little voice of self-doubt, energy vampires, profound disappointment, 3am nightmares, serious financial worries, sacrifice, and fear so intense that it causes hives. I. Get. It. It’s a bitch. But it’s no match for my grit, stamina, and determination. And it’s no match for yours either.

Your Second Step will help you discover your own strength for the journey through a wide variety of methods – from yoga and guided meditation (you knew that was going to be in there, right?) to business know-how to inspiring stories and resources that I use all the time to healthy food recipes that will keep you fueled for success. I’ll be there with you throughout the journey – way beyond the second step.

Most of all, this is going to be fun. This is not some boring exercise manual or stale business book. I’m going to share my own story like never before. It’s about time that I get these stories out into the world so that they can help you. Stay tuned for more updates in the weeks and months ahead by going to Your Second Step website.