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.
art, change, charity, nonprofit, photographs, poverty, relationships, social change, society

Beginning: Hear the Hungry Benefit with Featured Artist J.T. Liss Raises Funds to Provide A Supportive Community for New York City’s Homeless

Christa Avampato

On Monday night I attended a fundraiser at Webster Hall for a start-up nonprofit called Hear the Hungry. The group’s mission is to bring “food, companionship, and other basic necessities to the homeless in New York and L.A.” I am especially moved by their holistic mission because of a recent experience I had with the homeless in my own neighborhood while I was taking a walk with my pup, Phineas. Yes, we need food, but we also need a compassionate ear to hear us and a generous heart to sit with us for a while. Hear the Hungry is providing this unique and badly needed service in our city, for a population that is largely stepped over, ignored, or just plain invisible to too many of us.

Events like this are powerful reminders of how much of an impact we can have at every turn if only we recognize our own power in every exchange we have. The day after the event I walked through my usual activities much more conscious of my interactions with others, particularly those who I didn’t know. It made me think about how important it is to be present with others, to give them our full attention, and to recognize their unique value.

Two Ways You Can Help:

Hear the Hungry
In its one year, Hear the Hungry has changed the lives of the homeless through compassion, trust, and the firm belief that all people deserve the opportunity to belong to a supportive and loving community. If you’d like to learn more about them and get involved in their mission, find them on Twitter, Facebook, and at their blog.

Photography For Social Change
Through his initiative Photography for Social Change, photographer J.T. Liss creates stunning, poignant images with the goals of “inspiring advocacy, helping others in need, and allowing art to spread positivity.” 25% of the proceeds from all photos sold will go to unique nonprofit organizations that are striving to help others in need. Current partner organizations include Hear The Hungry (NYC), Hug It Forward (CA), and Saint Joseph Music Program (NYC).

For more information on J.T. and Photography for Social Change, please visit and “Like” his Facebook Page.

choices, decision-making, yoga

Beginning: Bring Dreams to Life By Asking ‘Why?’

Christa Avampato

From http://www.flickr.com/photos/emagic/
“When the why gets big enough the how takes care of itself. ” ~ Universal Law

Chiroyogi, a reader of my blog, left the quote above on my post about my future plans for Compass Yoga. At first, I was struck by how simple this universal law seems and then after I reflected on all of the “coincidental” turning points in my life, I realized how true it is. In our society we focus so much on what we need to do, where we need to go, and how we’re going to make it all work. How often do we really ask ourselves why? Not often enough, even though understanding the why of our thoughts and actions holds all of the real wisdom.

In relation to Compass Yoga, I thought for a long time about how the company might be structured so I could work on it full-time, where it would be based, and who it would serve. I never really stopped to ask why. Or as yoga teacher Elena Brower so eloquently discussed at the Urban Zen event I attended this week, I wasn’t focusing enough on why my mission of serving the under-served is so important to me. I knew it was valuable, unique work to build a business around. I just wasn’t digging deep enough and therefore hadn’t recognized what really fascinates me about the under-served population: the complexity of their situations gets my blood pumping like nothing else.

I really love challenges that have lots of layers and dimensions. I am fascinated by revelations that slowly come into focus one small detail at a time and then the rush I feel when all of a sudden the connections between the dots are so clear. And this fascination, the why, helped me find a mission statement, partnerships, a staffing model, a business structure, and revenue streams that I had never even imagined as possible. The Universal Law stands: once I answered why I am so passionate about helping the under-served through yoga, the how fell right into my hands as if the Universe just gently placed the answers in my lap and then left as quietly as it had approached. It was eerie and beautiful and if it hadn’t happened to me with such precision, I might not have believed it was even possible.

I’ve heard the saying, “Every problem contains the seeds to its own solution.” To be honest, I never really believed that until now. The sayings in the realm of problem solving that have always resonated with me much more come from Albert Einstein: “Try not to become a person of success, but rather try to become a person of value” and “It’s not that I’m smart; it’s just that I stay with problems longer.”

It’s no wonder that a man like Einstein, someone who uncovered so many Universal Laws himself, would have a personal philosophy that falls so perfectly into line with the Universal Law that Chiroyogi left in his blog comment on my post. Find the answer to why you’re moving in a certain direction by sitting with the question and focusing on making a valuable contribution to humanity. The answer is sure to arise.

happiness, healthcare, values, yoga

Beginning: Sustainable Happiness Event at the Urban Zen Center

Christa Avampato

“Figure out your service on this planet. Figure out how that service nourishes the Earth and go do that.” ~ Elena Brower

On Monday night, through a tip from the always-in-the-know Yogadork and by the grace of Mike Kim, I was able to attend the Sustainable Happiness event at the Urban Zen Center. The talk was curated by Dr. Frank Lipman, founder of the Eleven Eleven Wellness Center, and included life coach Lauren Zander, Chairman and Co-founder of the Handel Group, and yoga instructor Elena Brower, founder of Virayoga. The talk was part of Dr. Lipman’s series Conversations on Wellness.

The talk kicked off with Dr. Lipman discussing the emerging field of epigenetics, the premise of which was perfectly described in a 2010 Time Magazine cover story: Your DNA Isn’t Your Destiny. Despite what we’ve been told by many people who practice medicine, epigenetics says that we are able to make profound changes in the way our genes present themselves. We are not victims to our genes; they are just one component of how our overall health and well-being evolves over a lifetime. And that component is only roughly 25% of our wellness story. 50% has to do with our lifestyle – our exercise routine, our stress level, the food we eat, etc. The remaining 25% is influenced by our environment – the air we breathe, the water we drink, etc. The best part? It’s never too late to make positive changes that impact our wellness of body, mind, and spirit.

The most interesting part of the evening involved Elena discussing how her life coaching work with Lauren changed her life in profound, unexpected, and sometimes uncomfortable ways. Elena talked about a struggle we all know too well at some point in our lives – our excuses for why we don’t do what we want with our lives. The only one stopping us is us. An ugly, though honest, truth. Lauren’s method helps her clients tease out their beliefs so that they discover why it is they don’t have what they want in their lives.

Being an enormous fan of life coaching, this talk was right up my alley and brought up so many issues that I work on regularly with my coach / therapist, Brian, whom I’ve been working with for 18 months. I showed up at Brian’s door shortly after my apartment building fire to deal with some PTSD issues. I’ve stayed because quite frankly the fire was a wake up call to get my life moving in a more authentic direction. I suspect if Lauren heard my story, she’d concur.

To bring her method of coaching to life, Lauren described several facets in great detail that I found truly thought-provoking:

Chicken and Brat – purposefully annoying, though accurate, descriptions of the voices that pop into our heads the moment we say we can’t do something. We’re either afraid or being stubborn. No, I can’t go for a run. No, I can’t eat healthy. No, I can’t let that guy know I’m really interested in him. All of our excuses can be traced back to one of these personas. So what’s the remedy? Chicken – make a list of all the things you’re afraid of and then go do them. Brat – just stop whining and DO IT!

Happiness Found – we are running all over the place trying to find it. We prop ourselves up with our many vices when happiness is right here in front of us. It’s on the other side of our fears, and its neighbors are confidence and gratitude.

Further Thoughts on Fear – and these just made me so happy to hear that I grinner from ear to ear. 1.) What you are most proud of in your life involves conquering fears. Seriously, make a list of your proudest accomplishments. I bet many if not all of them came about because you conquered a fear. 2.) If you aren’t scared, you aren’t up to enough. You don’t have any fears, you say? Go get some, and then have some fun conquering them.

Promises and Consequences – have trouble keeping New Year’s Resolutions or promises to yourself? Here’s a trick. Make a promise and then give yourself a consequence. Didn’t exercise like you promised yourself you would? That will be an extra hour of cleaning (if you hate cleaning.) Didn’t feel like meditating even though you promised yourself that you’d take 5 minutes out every day to do it? No dessert for you (if you love dessert.) Lauren stressed that the consequences can be funny, but should certainly be deterrents that help you keep the promises you make to yourself. Elena vows that this method, if you get the promises and consequences right, creates new health habits in 6 weeks.

Parent Traits – you vowed you’d never be your mother. You did everything possible to avoid becoming your father. Lauren asks you to make a list of all your parents traits, the good, the bad, and the ugly. Now go do some digging and detail out, in writing, how each on lives in you. Then find a way to evolve those traits to their enlightened state. It’s difficult and uncomfortable, but worth it. Brian’s put me through the same exercise, and in the process has helped me re-write my story with more authenticity and personal power.

The quote at the top of this post by Elena Brower is one that fills my heart until it’s overflowing. It was the most powerful statement of the evening for me, particularly because my vision for Compass Yoga is becoming so clear. Lauren’s goal with her clients, Elena’s with her students, and Dr. Lipman’s with his patients come from this one universal truth: you get one shot in this life as the beautiful creation that is you. Stop making excuses, inventing stories, and living behind half-truths of why you can’t have what you want. Just go get it.

education

Beginning: Why A College Education Matters

Christa Avampato

Last week every major news outlet in the U.S. ran a story, or several stories, about the just-released Pew Research Center study entitled “Is College Worth It?” The study found that “57% of Americans now believe the value of higher education is not worth the cost.” I first heard about this study in the elevator of my office building, and as I made my way to my desk, my heart sank.

This study could take us in a few different directions:

1.) The cost of a university education, cited by the study as the main barrier for more Americans to attend and graduate from college, could begin to be re-evaluated. Operations and financial directors of U.S. colleges and universities could begin to serious look at cost savings that could make college more affordable. Wouldn’t it be wonderful to see a headline that says, “College tuition in the U.S. drops compared to the year before for the first time in our history“? It’s going to take some serious retooling of these institutions to make this headline a reality, and they will have to take a look at every single line item, every single process, and open it up for re-evaluation. It would be an effort worth undertaking.

2.) College becomes a publicly funded venture as it is in countries like Canada and a good deal of Europe. This of course will take a government action that our country fights tooth and nail at every turn: an increase in taxes. Given our current federal environment, I’m not sure if it’s possible for this option to come to life. It would also require a serious re-tooling of our education system as a whole, a subject we have struggled with for decades since. I’d love to see a renegade state take on this experiment the way that Massachusetts ran its experiment of providing healthcare to all residents.

3.) Potential college students will throw up their hands at the high cost of college and not apply. This is the possibility that really pains me. I’d rather pay more taxes now than face a future with fewer American college graduates. We are already woefully behind many other countries in the world in critical fields like engineering, science, and math. What we need is for more Americans to attend college, not less, if we are to continue to compete on the world stage. This needs to be our focus in our debate, and to make it happen we need to consider every possible option to reach this goal.

As this debate continues, and I’m sure it will be a part of our news for years to come, my plea to young high school graduates is this: you cannot let the high price of college get in the way of your future. Easy for me to say, right? How would I know what problems your families face? How would I, a very well-educated professional, know how tough it is for you? And my answer to that is, trust me, I know plenty about how difficult it is to fund a college education because I funded my own, and you should do it any way you can.

Here’s why: My mother provided for a family of five with multiple jobs making far less in her annual salary than it cost for a single year’s tuition at Penn, where I went for my undergraduate degree. I was on my own to fund college any way I possibly could, and though Penn was a very difficult road for me and I thought about giving up so many times that I just stopped counting, I’m so grateful that I hung in there. I always worked at least two jobs in school, and filled out every possible form for every scrap of money I could possibly earn or be granted or loaned. I went without a lot; I certainly had many moments of embarrassment at my financial situation that I could do nothing about. It was humbling to say the least. I had to take the very, very long-view on why all this hard work and struggle was worth it. And I did the math. Over the long-run, a college education would pay off in increased income. It would be a slow rise, but it would happen if I just kept working as hard as I possibly could. So I did, and it worked out. It took so much effort, though I’ve never regretted that choice. Not for one single moment.

As if that debt wasn’t enough, I also put myself through graduate school at the Darden School at UVA, too, and continue to be grateful for that investment as well. And it was a very large investment. It was what most Americans pay for a mortgage. Again, I did the math and worked as hard as I could. It worked out. It continues to work out.

Funding your own college education carries plenty of compromises, challenges, and frustrations. And so does everything else that’s worthwhile. Go to college.

business, career, meditation, yoga

Beginning: Further Details About the Future of My Company, Compass Yoga

Christa Avampato

In the past week, I have started to put together a business plan that will facilitate my goal of working on my own business full time. The admission of this goal has been a long time coming; for years I have tried to figure out what a lifelong career working for someone would look like for me. That picture never fully, or even partially, materialized. I would sit in my meditation practice, go to my yoga mat, and talk to my friends and family in the hopes that some clear picture would reveal itself in my mind’s eye. It was only recently that the answer bubbled up to the surface: my way forward lies in another direction and that direction must be of my own making.

On Sunday, May 15th I had an odd experience in Whole Foods in which I could feel my grandmother very nearby. Later on that day, I went home and began writing down how my own yoga-based business would take shape. I’ve had bits and pieces of this idea floating around in my mind for several years but all the pieces felt very disconnected from one another. On May 15th, some kind of magic found its way in and all of my seemingly disconnected pieces gelled together. I heard a divisive “shoomp” as I typed up my plan. I would ask a question and an answer would quickly rise up to meet it. My friend, Rob, summed up the result this way: “Christa, this isn’t a business plan. This is the work of a life.” I feel that way, too.

I’ve begun to circulate the plan to a very few trusted mentors and friends like Rob, people whom I continually ask for advice and guidance on just about every area of my life. As always they have responded with honesty, grace, support, objectivity, and an astounding amount of creativity. Most of them, while students of yoga or have some appreciation for its power, lie outside of the traditional yoga community. They have varied professional and personal backgrounds, savvy business minds, and a lot of heart. I am a lucky lady to know them.

Because so many of you have shown your unwavering support of my ideas through comments, tweets, facebook messages, emails, voicemails, and texts over the 4 years that I’ve been writing this blog, I wanted to share some of the details with you as they’re taking shape:

1.) Compass Yoga will incorporate as a nonprofit. This has been a decision that has required a lot of soul searching, fact checking, numerous hours of consultation, and more pro-con lists / decision trees than I can count.

2.) There will be a physical place that houses Compass Yoga. I have tried this changeable location model and while in many cases this has worked out, for this more refined business vision a permanent physical space is needed.

3.) Compass Yoga will continue to focus on working with underserved populations, and will actually deepen that commitment further with a variety of new programs.

4.) Partnerships will be a key component of the business structure.

5.) Compass Yoga will turn a good deal of its energy toward growing the depth and breadth of the yoga field for all practitioners and teachers.

6.) In order to bring this vision to life in as full a way as possible, I will be undergoing a good deal of additional yoga teacher training in the next year. I am grateful for my location in New York City where many of the top teachers in my chosen specialty reside and teach, and I am equally grateful for my current day job that provides me with the personal funding and flexible schedule to make my extensive yoga teacher training possible.

More details are developing every day as this picture becomes clearer and clearer. The way forward is unfolding…

creative process, creativity, inspiration, love, New York City, nostalgia

Beginning: Building a Space from Love – Heidi’s House by the Side of the Road

Christa Avampato

Front view of Heidi's
“Here are your waters and your watering place. Drink and be whole again beyond confusion.” ~ Robert Frost, seen on the chalk board over the bar at Heidi’s House by the Side of the Road

I went to Heidi’s House by the Side of the Road last week with a small group of friends. It’s not an actual house but an adorable niche that serves tremendous wine and some of the most delicious food I’ve had in a long time. Every nook and cranny of Heidi’s in jam-packed with love, care, and concern. The attention to detail is extraordinary. Heidi herself made sure of it.

Even the name has a heart-felt meaning. In the bathroom there is a needle point that states, “Let me live in my house by the side of the road and be a friend to a man.” It’s a quote by Sam Walter Foss. I asked Heidi why that quote means so much to her that she’d name her business after it. She told me, “It’s the quote on my father’s grave stone.” Gulp. I got goosebumps.

It got me thinking about how important it is to put love into our endeavors, how much of a difference that makes to the people who get to share in your creation. We taste love in food, we hear it in music, and we see it in art. It has this unmistakable and yet unexplainable quality that is universal.

Take a spin over to Heidi’s and see what I mean. Then get cracking on your own creation of love, and let others share in it the way Heidi does.

1

Beginning: My Favorite Quotes About Meaingful Living on 5/21/11

Christa Avampato

I hadn’t heard about the doomsday movement set to begin today, 5/21/11, until my pal, Jennilyn, sent around an invite for a dance party celebrating the last day of the world. My immediate response was, “If the world is coming to an end, I’m going out dancing.” Still, I’m taking this moment in time to log some of my favorite quotes about meaningful living, and hope that 5/21/11 begins a different kind of movement for all of us, one of rebirth and renewed purpose, rather than the beginning of the end:

“You have to be proud of yourself because sometimes you’re all you’ve got.” ~ that poet from the comics, Denis the Menace

“You have to prepare to be lucky.” ~ Joan Ganz Cooney, Founder of the Sesame Workshop

“Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. And as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same. As we are liberated from our own fear,our presence automatically liberates others.” ~ Marianne Williamson, A Return to Love

“If you go to your grave without painting your masterpiece, it will not get painted. No one else can paint it. Only you.” ~ Gordon MacKenzie, Orbiting the Giant Hairball: A Corporate Fool’s Guide to Surviving with Grace

“If you could only sense how important you are to the lives of those you meet; how important you can be to the people you may never even dream of. There is something of yourself that you leave at every meeting with another person.” ~ Mister Rogers, The World According to Mister Rogers

“Happiness is a warm puppy.” ~ Charles Schultz via his famous character, Charlie Brown

“Courage means being scared to death…and saddling up anyway.” ~ John Wayne

“Courage doesn’t always roar. Sometimes courage is the quiet voice at the end of the day saying, ‘I will try again tomorrow’.” ~ Mary Anne Radmacher

“The woods are lovely, dark, and deep, but I have promises to keep. And miles to go before I sleep. And miles to go before I sleep.” ~ Robert Frost

“Become the sky…Walk out like someone suddenly born into color…Let the beauty we love be what we do…There are hundreds of ways to kneel and kiss the ground.” ~ Rumi

I plan to be here tomorrow because my work is not yet done. I hope you’ll join me.

cooking, family, food, grandmother, memory

Beginning: May 20th, pizzelle cookies, and my Grandmother, Sadie

Christa Avampato

Pizzelle cookies, an Italian classic
May 20th is a date that has a lot of significance for me. It’s the date that I graduated from college and from business school, two enormous milestones in my life. More importantly, May 20th was my Grammy’s birthday. She passed away 11 years ago, 2 weeks before my birthday, and every day since she has been with me. Never far from my mind, and easily found in my regular activities.

She loved to find a good bargain while shopping. She was a relentless coupon clipper. My favorite of her finds was a pair of pink jeans that I loved when I was a kid. She bought them for me for $0.99 and I remember how brightly she smiled at that price tag. I think my sister, Weez, got a pair, too, though that detail is more fuzzy in my mind than Grammy’s smile. She would turn 92 today.

There are also certain foods that I always associate with her. She was a simple cook, though there are unmistakable flavors that always remind me of her. Finely chopped carrots and green peppers in meatballs, an apple cake that was my favorite, cheese ravioli, blueberry muffins, Salada tea with sugar and milk, and pizzelle cookies that her friend, Theresa, always used to make when she knew my mom and her gaggle of kids would be visiting.

I was wandering through Whole Foods this weekend doing my weekly shopping. They had a huge display of pizzelle cookies. They weren’t as beautiful as the ones I remember from Grammy’s house, though they were available in a bunch of different flavors, which I thought Grammy would have gotten a kick out of. Then I turned over the package and saw the $4.99 price. I’m sure Grammy would have been disgusted to see such a high price. I bought them any way.

As I rounded the corner with the pizzelles in hand, I could have sworn I felt a small tap on my shoulder. I turned around but no one was there. No one was physically there any way, but I felt a very warm glow and my eyes started to tear up. I’d like to think she was there with me, right next to me winding through the aisles as I filled up my cart. I made sure everything else I put into my cart was indeed a bargain by her standards.

It’s funny what food can do. How it can sneak its way into your heart through your taste buds; how it can help you keep a warm and happy memory alive even when it’s pouring buckets of rain outside; how it can bring someone to your dinner table even though she hasn’t been with you for so many years. I went home, had one of my too-expensive pizzelle cookies, a cup of tea, and tossed up a prayer of gratitude for the opportunity to have had someone in my life as special as my Grammy.

books, gratitude, women, work

Beginning: The Prize of Honesty

Christa Avampato

“It pays to be honest, but it’s slow pay.” ~ Proverb via Tiny Buddha

I recently met a new colleague who shares a lot of the sentiments I have about yoga, meditation, and what really matters in life. It was a refreshing introduction and a reminder that wherever you are, there are like minds. You may need to draw them out by trumpeting your own beliefs. As Clarissa Pinkola Estes said so beautifully, “She who does not howl will never find her pack.”

This path of finding your pack is not easy. It requires courage and faith. You will be asked to think and act like every one around you. You will have to be brave to be authentic. You will be told that thinking and acting like everyone around you is what you need to do to get ahead when the truth is a that thinking and acting like everyone else is a farce. That group persona doesn’t represent the persona of any individual member. It’s a vague meet-in-the-middle, mediocre compromise. And it doesn’t serve anyone well.

My advice, as I’ve given before, is to Be on Record. Be respectful of your environment while also being who you are. Listen and then speak up. Yes, honesty yields slow pay, but it carries a greater guarantee of a purposeful life in the long run. Steady, and authentic, wins the race.

experience, yoga

Beginning: Be Where You Are

Christa Avampato

“Progress is what you make of it.” ~ Matthew Sanford

While I was doing my yoga teacher training, a number of my training friends and I were frustrated with our progress. We were all searching for a greater sense of understanding of very complex ideas in our own practices. One of our instructors, Jeffrey, gave us some very sound advice that sticks with me every day: Enjoy the view, whatever it is, wherever you are. There is always something to see from every vantage point.

Every step we take, every experience we have, is unique. We will never have the chance to relive it exactly as it is in this moment. It’s a snapshot that we need to grab a hold of and appreciate for all that it has to offer us. There is so much learning and wisdom available at every moment. It is a reason for gratitude. Even the trying moments, perhaps especially the trying moments, are here for a reason.

I often wish life was easier. I wish it didn’t take so much difficulty for us to learn some lessons. But we are complex beings, and as a result create complex systems and circumstances. I try to take the long view as often as I can. I try to remember that everything I experience supports my own evolution and development. Whenever I feel my frustration rising, I try to remember that this moment, like every other moment, will pass. What will ultimately make a difference is what I do with each of these experiences going forward and that has everything to do with how I progress.