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.
opportunity, social media, writing

Step 153: Yelp Review Leads to Freelance Writing Gig

Christa Avampato

What we write online matters more than we know. A few weeks ago, I went to Terroir Wine Bar’s new location in Tribeca with my friend, Sara. My friend, Amanda, and I went to their location in the East Village a while back and I loved it so when this new one opened right near my office I had to check it out. I enjoyed it so much that I wrote a Yelp review, clicked submit, and never gave it a second thought.

About a week later I heard from Neil Squillante, Founder of Technolawyer, a social media company that writes a series of newsletters and a blog covering product reviews, technology tips, and other helpful information for lawyers and law firms of all shapes and sizes. He enjoyed my review on Yelp and then clicked to my profile to see what I do for a living. Seeing that I am a freelance writer and a product developer for a large company, he asked if I knew anyone who might be interested in freelance B2B (business-to-business) writing. I replied, “Yes. Me.”

Several weeks, a few emails back and forth, and a face-to-face meeting later, he asked if I would be interested in doing some freelance writing work for Technolawyer. I never thought a review on Yelp would lead to a freelance writing gig so I certainly didn’t write the review of Terroir for that reason. It’s a great wine bar with an exceptionally wonderful staff, so I wrote the piece in the hopes that it would get them some business. That small piece turned out to be the epitome of a textbook win-win scenario. Or karma, depending on your point-of-view.

Neil looked through my blog, gave me some solid advice about writing, life, and entrepreneurship, and then asked if I’d write about a particular area of my own expertise: positive thinking. While not strictly a required competency for a lawyer, it certainly helps get the job done. Positive thinking particularly helps people, lawyers or not, in this economy. It certainly has helped me and now I hope my post helps others, too.

My article posted on Technolawyer’s blog yesterday. Have a look at http://blog.technolawyer.com/2010/06/remain-sane.html

I must remember to send Yelp a thank you note. It just goes to show that what we put out into the online ether can have far more significance than we ever imagined. Neil’s working on my next writing mission for Technolawyer. I’ll let you know how this unfolds.

goals

Step 152: May Accomplishments and June Goals

Christa Avampato

On May 1st, May Day, I wrote a post inspired by Kimberly Wilson, the Tranquilista. (Again, thanks to my pal, Amanda, for introducing me to Kimberly’s blog!) I laid out my May goals, a monthly ritual that I am going to take up. The days move by too quickly, and this ritual provides me with some structured reflection time every month. I don’t want to get to January 1, 2011 and think, “where did the year go and what did I do in 2010?”

May goals turned accomplishments:
1.) Complete my 200-hour yoga teacher training and testing, and celebrate it.

I completed the training and got all of my required hours and materials in. I celebrated the event with my teacher training pals at a delicious Indian dinner at Balucci’s in midtown. I also celebrated this accomplishment by starting my own business, Compass Yoga.

2.) May is a stressful month for me with visitors, a heavy workload, travel, and the general feeling that I need a serious vacation. I’m going to make the effort to build in some much-needed downtime, letting myself rest and relax between the burst of energy needed. This is interval training to the max.

The stress mounted in May, and then a funny thing happened: by writing out this goal of building in rest and relaxation, I did relax. I focused on the task at hand, and enjoyed the people I was with at every moment rather than always looking ahead to the next activity. And then over Memorial Day weekend, I took off for Florida for some fun with the fam.

3.) Complete my travel plans for my Radical Relaxation yoga retreat.

At the end of this month, I will take off for Greece on a radical relaxation yoga retreat and teacher training with Shiva Rea. Plane tickets to Greece were more expensive than I imagined. I got a decent deal, and luckily the retreat costs less than I planned so in the end I’m on budget with my total vacation costs.

4.) Maintain my meditation practice.

18 minutes a day of quiet lets me tap into my intuition in a more profound way than I could before my meditation practice began. On vacation over Memorial Day, I cut back the time I meditated everyday in exchange for more time with my niece, Lorelei. Every minute of my time counts with her since she lives so far away from me!

5.) Continue building my plans for my own business.

A huge, beautiful milestone. I exceeded my mark on this goal: launched my website for Compass Yoga, drafted a full business and marketing plan, and recognized that I didn’t need every question answered to get going. I also didn’t need to spend a lot of money to get up and running – a wonderful realization. A business is a dynamic, living, breathing being. I know I will make changes and adjustments along the way. I am scared to death and thrilled all at once. I also created the goal of making at least half of my personal income from my own business by my 35th birthday next March.

6.) Setting up some new writing goals for the second half of 2010.

I made one big writing goal: to only write pieces that serve my greater life goals. I synced up with a new social media company via a review I wrote on Yelp, a pleasant surprise that I will talk about in detail in a not-so-distant post later this week. I also made the tough decision to let go of my column on Examiner.com, a column I started writing in February 2009. I wanted to consistently write for Examiner for 1 year, and I exceeded that goal. Time to move onward and upward! Going forward, I will feature inspiring entrepreneurs on this blog instead of on Examiner. I will compile the best of the interviews I wrote for Examiner in an e-book this month. This month I will also begin writing a regular column on relationships, a new writing topic for me, on the re-launched Owning Pink. The Compass Yoga website also has a blog where I will post pieces on health and wellness.

7.) Stay present and in the moment during each task at-hand.

Being a recovering multi-tasker, I created this one as a stretch goal and am really pleased with my progress toward remaining present. I enjoyed the people I was with, the activities I was doing, and the places I went. The more present I stayed, the happier I became.

June goals:
1.) Complete my e-book based upon my Examiner.com column. The book will feature the most inspiring entrepreneurs I interviewed during my 15 months writing for Examiner.

2.) Enjoy every moment in Greece without thinking about any stresses from home. I will be entirely off the grid during that week. I will write ahead for this blog and schedule posts – with modern technology, no need to let the blog waves grind to a halt while I’m soaking in the sun! Rest assured, I will be writing every day from the mountains of Santorini and share all of my adventures here on this blog once I return in early July!

3.) Plan another trip to Florida to welcome my new little niece into the world. She is due June 22nd.

4.) Apply for my International Yoga Alliance certification once I have my teacher-training certificate from Sonic in-hand.

5.) Kick-off my Owning Pink column on relationships, and spend more time on my personal life (which fell a bit to the wayside because of my crazy May schedule.)

I’d love to hear how May went for you and what goals you’re working on in June!

business, courage, entrepreneurship, yoga

Step 151: Shouting Dreams

Christa Avampato

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

These two quotes were used by two of my lovely yoga teacher training pals, Vivian and Courtney, during their practicums on our last day of class. They have stuck with me this past week, and I thought of them often as I considered what I will do now that we have completed our 200 hour training. My friend, Amanda, reminded me of them again when she wrote a blog post this week about prayers and challenges and courage. Amanda shouts out dreams in her post in her articulate, poetic voice, and that voice inspired me to shout my dreams, too.

Dreams have their greatest power once articulated publicly. So here goes my professional dream: “By my 35th birthday next year, I want to earn at least half of my income from my own business.” And look, I didn’t self-destruct by making that proclamation; I actually brought it a little closer into being.

At the start of her teaching career, my yoga teacher, Johanna, worked so hard building her business though she completely avoided making a website, a key piece of her marketing plan. Later, she realized she had some pent-up fear about putting herself out into the world in such a public manner. Once she released the fear, she built the site (which is beautiful!) and she has a thriving career now. She saddled up when she was scared to death, and it paid off in spades.

I took a cue from Jo and built my website for my business, Compass Yoga, in a few days. I could have labored over it some more before flipping the switch, scrutinizing every word. I could have hired a copy writer, a professional web designer, and a graphic designer, delaying the launch and spending a lot of money in the process. Instead, I just used what I know how to do from my own blog, bought a domain for $14.97, wrote all of the copy myself, and stepped on the gas. It’s totally me, mistakes and all. As Dr. Seuss would say, I had to get on my way.

Thank you Jo, John Wayne, Mary Anne Radmacher, Vivian, Courtney, and Amanda, for inspiring me this week to just close my eyes and jump and shout from the hilltops how I want my career to unfold. I’m scared to death and it feels great!

Take a look at the Compass Yoga site and let me know what you think!

Uncategorized

Step 150: Living a Pixar-inspired Life

Christa Avampato

I love animated films. It helps that my sister and her family live in Orlando, Disney-ville, where I spend a good deal of my vacation days. My brother-in-law, Kyle, is a painter so we spend a lot of time talking about art, animation, and film. Wired Magazine ran a short piece on Pixar’s secret sauce. The only thing that’s better than Pixar’s product is its culture, something few companies can claim.

After reading the article I thought a lot about living a Pixar-inspired life and how that might take shape. Here are some of their main cultural tenants:

1.) Design your space for you. Everyone at Pixar has a personal workspace that they design, complete with just about an amenity they can think of, beer taps included. You spend a lot of time at work, working hard. Make sure you enjoy the view.

2.) Start the day with a good laugh with good friends, and then get to work. Pixar mornings start with wide smiles, bowls of Captain Crunch, and coffee, shared in a living room-type setting. Then they get into a series of serious discussions about the prior days work and how to move forward. Feedback is raw, honest, across the board, and practically unending. You spend a lot of time at work with a lot of people. Make sure you like them as people and respect them as colleagues with valuable opinions.

3.) Respect the process of steady progress. Toy Story 3, to be released June 18, took over 1,000 days to create. Some days, the artists only made seconds of progress with the film. Some days, they scrapped everything from the day before and started from scratch. That’s the creative process – build with passion and be prepared to let that passion go if it no longer serves the piece.

4.) Strive for greatness and know when to call it quits. “We don’t ever finish a film,” said Lee Unkrich, director of Toy Story 3. “I could keep on making it better. We’re just forced to release it.” We want to live up to our potential, and we also need to know when to let our greatness fly out into the world. Take it from Pixar: Perfection isn’t possible and should not be the pre-requisite for launching any creative product.

The photo above was taken by Bryce Duffy for Wired Magazine. It depicts Lee Unkrich, Bobby Podesta, Guido Quaroni, and Darla Anderson of Pixar.

children, Disney, film, happiness

Step 149: Blue Skies and Sunshine

Christa Avampato

After a 3 hour flight delay, I finally arrived in Florida to spend some vacation time with my sister, brother-in-law, and 2-year-old niece, Lorelei. I love how kids get so focused on a topic that they can’t think about anything else. My niece can’t get enough of her favorite flicks. The Princess and the Frog currently rules her movie world. She sings the songs spontaneously, in and out of context. She does a heart-felt rendition of “Blue Skies and Sunshine”.

The Princess and the Frog centers on a female would-be entrepreneur in New Orleans who wants to carry on her family’s dream of opening a restaurant. She diligently saves her money, places a down payment on a space, and then, of course, runs into a lot of trouble along the way. She meets a cast of hilarious, sensitive characters, as well as a vilian, and overcomes great odds to realize her dream. A wonderful example of courage, faith, and good business sense for my niece.

As we sang the songs from The Princess and the Frog yesterday, in public spaces and at home, my niece never paid any mind to our surroundings. We twirled around in our sun dresses, gave ourselves numerous rounds of spontaneous applause, and clapped along to our self-made beat. Every space we found became a place where she made herself comfortable. Even her neighborhood Target store. Everywhere we went became a place a joy because we had our songs, and our dancing, and each other. We created those blue skies and sunshine in every corner of our day. Two year olds have a lot to teach us.

Image above is from The Princess and the Frog, courtesy of Disney.

decision-making, determination, future

Step 148: Ignorance as Gift

Christa Avampato

About 3 years ago I moved back to New York City after business school, no job, no place to live, and barely enough money to get by. I had the gift of a very large blind spot that prevented me from seeing that about 6 months later the economy would unravel into the great recession. Ignorance was not only bliss, but almost single-handedly responsible for making my current life possible.

Yesterday, I made my way to Laguardia airport for a much-needed vacation, by way of Astoria, Queens, my landing spot 3 years ago. My friend, Anne, needed a subletter just as I was graduating and I needed a cheap place in a good neighborhood. The Neptune Diner is right down the street from Anne’s and a favorite local spot in Astoria, owned by a Greek family that has been cooking up homemade meals for decades. They make an out-of-this world delicious, cheap lemonata chicken and it made for a fitting meal yesterday to celebrate how far I’ve come in 3 years.

I took a seat at the bar, ordered the chicken, and took a look around, drinking in my ridiculously good fortune. My mom and I came to Neptune when we moved my few arms-full of belongings into Anne’s. My mom was so proud of me, despite my lack of job, money, and a place to call my own. I was scared to death but I didn’t tell her. Despite my many wonderful friends and supportive family, I felt very much alone 3 years ago. I knew in my gut I belonged in New York again; I just didn’t know why. So I trusted myself and kept following my instincts.

Happily, it did all worked out. My gut knew the way. After a lot of networking, I got a job at the end of my first month back. I started this blog, which has provided me with a great abundance of opportunities to meet interesting people and share information that I hope helps others. It has also helped me land paying freelance gigs and opened my eyes to the opportunities in social media. I have a beautiful apartment in my favorite New York City neighborhood. Through diligent savings, I’ve got a nice little emergency fund tucked away and have started paying down my school loans faster than planned. Last week, I completed my yoga teacher certification. And my loving friends and family have only grown more supportive of my life. It’s been a full, happy 3 years.

Now, I find myself at another cross-roads that feels somewhat like that time nearly 3 years ago. For the past year and a half, I have intensely researched entrepreneurship, and mulled over the idea of starting my own business on the side, hoping to eventually make it my full-time gig. I know that transition takes time so I have a good day job that supports my entrepreneurial vision. No matter how much research I do, I know entrepreneurship must be lived to fully understand it. To really embrace it, I will have to put the books aside and jump.

As I looked around the Neptune Diner, I reminded myself that from a place of fear and ignorance, good things transpire as long as we maintain the right attitude. My life serves as proof of that. I know in my gut, again, that this yoga-based business is the right idea, right now. I don’t know how it will all fall together. I just know that it will so long as I keep at it.

Uncategorized

Step 147: Idle Time

Christa Avampato

This month Wired Magazine published a brief conversation between Daniel Pink, author of A Whole New Mind, and Clay Shirky, crowdsourcing guru and author of Here Comes Everybody. The two discuss idle time, and the growing trend to use off-hours time for community good. Americans watch 200 billion hours of TV every year, but with new online social media tools, that number is dropping and people are increasingly taking up hobbies that they know little or nothing about at the outset. These social media tools give us a way to use our spare time to become experts on interesting subjects, even if they have nothing to do with the skills we use to earn our paychecks. Afterall, volunteers built Wikipedia, that vast user-generated online encyclopedia, in their off-hours for no pay, and they continue to maintain it.

When I worked in theatre professionally, I had no interest in spending my free time going to shows. Even with free tickets. I crave variety in my life and working a heavy amount of hours indoors, sitting down, largely in the dark, meant that I needed to be up and moving in my down time as much as possible. I became a serious runner again, I took up yoga, traveled extensively and actively started to participate in community service projects. These activities now comprise a much greater part of my life than theatre, which leads to an interesting question: “Is there any merit at all in just having ‘a job’ that pays the bills and provides time and resources for other interesting activities to enrich our lives?

In this economy, this idea encourages me. A few of my friends currently struggle with this concept – the frustration of having a job that involves a less-than-ideal purpose. Interestingly, these friends stay extremely productive in their off-hours. They have side businesses; they write consistently; they have fascinating hobbies; they raise families.

At the moment, I have a good deal of down time. Work has slowed up a bit due to the impending holiday weekend and the summer season. I finished my yoga teacher training. I could plunk myself down in front of the TV and celebrate all of this down time by letting it remain empty. I earned the relaxation. But Shirky and Pink have me thinking about energizing, invigorating ways to use the time wisely to jump a few fences that I see coming up in the distance. Idle time, while restful, can fill a higher purpose, too.

The image above can be found here.

entrepreneurship, New York City, technology

Step 146: The Inspiring Story of Start-up My City Way

Christa Avampato

As a blogger I am constantly introduced to new, interesting people who are bringing their ideas to life. My friend, Erica Heinz, over at Yogoer.com recently introduced me to her friend, Sonpreet Bhatia, Co-Founder of My City Way. My City Way creates mobile phone apps that roll up 50+ hyper-local apps into a city-specific guide. Tailored for use by local residents and visitors alike, My City Way is a tour guide in your pocket.

From our first email, Sonpreet impressed me with her passion and ability to see beyond what’s already out there in the world. The mobile landscape is highly competitive with a constant stream of new competitors. Just when we think we’ve got our head wrapped around its potential, some entrepreneur mixes it up again with a new innovation. My City Way did just that in a big, useful way.

In February, Bhatia and Co-founders Puneet Mehta and Archana Patchirajan took home the prestigious Popular Choice and Investors’ Choice Awards at the NYC BigApps Competition for the company’s first app, NYCWay. Since then, the trio has launched a similar app in a host of other cities including San Francisco, Las Vegas, Los Angeles, Washington DC, Boston, and London. My City Way has also been busy working away on new features to delight its customers including a reservation service, discounts and deals on local merchants, up-to-the-minute public transit info, wi-fi locations, even apartment and job listings.

My City Way’s founders were focused on using technology to create something that would help local businesses manage through this difficult recession. They wanted to put something in the hands of tech savvy consumers that would direct consumer spending to local businesses, particularly those that don’t have lavish marketing budgets. Whether you believe in karma or the idea that there is nothing more powerful than an idea whose time has come, their ingenuity and drive paid off. With the success and rapid growth of My City Way, all three founders left their lucrative jobs on Wall Street earlier this year to focus on this startup. They never looked back and that keeps me looking forward, too.

My City Way is available for iPhone, iPad, and Android phones. For more info, check them out at http://www.mycityway.com

community, hunger, nonprofit

Step 145: MercyCorp’s Action Center to End World Hunger

Christa Avampato

“If you can’t feed a hundred people, then just feed one.” ~ Mother Theresa

My company sponsors MercyCorp’s Action Center to End World Hunger, a small interactive museum in Manhattan’s Financial District that helps individuals contribute to the cause to end hunger by giving whatever time they can – a minute, an hour, a day, a lifetime. The center makes it easy to get involved, recognizing and celebrating the power of many small collective actions by a community. Hunger, sadly, lives in every community around the world so we can take action locally and globally.

On a lunch break last week, I walked across the street to the center. One of the staff members greeted me, showed me the 8 minute promo video featuring Tina Fey, and took me around to the different interactive stations that begin to outline the complexity of hunger issues. I was overwhelmed by all of the small ways we can help, and how easy the center makes it participate in a solution.

I picked up a postcard that promotes the website tenthingsyoucando.com, an easy-to-navigate site that segments by category immediate actions we can take to end hunger. From eating locally grown food in season to taking up utilities companies’ offers to switch part of our energy bill to renewable energy sources to adopting an orangutan, our existing interests can be tweaked to work towards the fight against hunger.

For more information and to learn about ways to get involved, visit the center’s website: http://www.actioncenter.org.

business, education, entrepreneurship, social change, social entrepreneurship

Step 144: Sparkseed Supports Social Innovators at American Universities

Christa Avampato

A few months ago, I featured Jerri Chou from All Day Buffet and Teju Ravilochan from the Unreasonable Institute. Jerri and Teju’s optimism in action inspired me to continue seeking out social entrepreneurs who believe that the greatest positive impact on society can be made when we create opportunities for people to use their personal passions to do well and do good at the same time.

I virtually met Mike Del Ponte as a result of my interviews with Jerri and Teju. He emailed me to educate me about his initiative, Sparkseed, which invests in American college students who aspire to be tomorrow’s social entrepreneurs. They have ideas to change the world, and Sparkseed helps them get there by providing a unique blend of services including pro-bono consulting, mentoring, and seed money.

I meet a lot of social entrepreneurs with inspiring stories. Mike’s ability to combine his business savvy with his passion for and personal experience with social entrepreneurship is a rare gift. “When I was at Yale I launched a social venture and soon found that I had to teach myself everything: how to form the corporation, how to recruit and manage a team, how to pitch to investors, etc…I had to reinvent the wheel and wasted a lot of time…I noticed that almost all student innovators run into the same problem…Sparkseed was established to give young social entrepreneurs everything they need to fulfill their potential as change agents.”

The Financial Times recently awarded Sparkseed with its prestigious Best Social Investment Strategy award. To date, Sparkseed has funded over 50 social enterprise projects from a wide variety of fields:

Elecar Inc.: Founded by Brown University student Andrew Antar, Elecar is working to provide the missing piece to the electric car puzzle. By developing residential charging station and an online payment system, Elecar is laying a cost-effective framework to facilitate the mass adoption of electric cars.

MaloTraders: Founded by Temple University student Mohamed Ali Niang, MaloTraders specializing in the processing, storing, and marketing of rice for small-scale farmers in Mali. By making local production more competitive on the international market, MaloTrade is working to alleviate poverty.

Paper Feet: Founded by University of Michigan student Jimmy Tomczak, Paper Feet makes the world’s thinnest and most flexible flip-flop out of recycled billboard vinyl. Every year, 10,000 tons of billboard vinyl ends up in landfills. Paper Feet is addressing this problem by rolling out a line of hip products all made from up-cycled waste.

Get involved and be inspired! Learn more about Sparkseed and its incredible stable of social entrepreneurs by visiting the organization’s website, joining the Facebook page, and following on Twitter.