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.
business, nonprofit, philanthropy, social change, social entrepreneurship

My Year of Hopefulness – Acumen Fund, Social Media, and Recruiting

Christa Avampato

Acumen Fund is looking for a Business Development Manager. Rather than go the usual route of getting the word out about this position, the took an interesting approach both in the advertisement of the position and in the application. Sasha Dichter, the Director of Business Development at Acumen Fund, used his blog, Squidoo, and Seth Godin’s blog to advertise the position. 13,000 viewed the post on his blog alone. In addition to the usual resume and cover letter request, Sasha also requested that applicants create a Squidoo Len (webpage) and answer a series of questions in ~250 words each to get at the heart of what the applicants believe and how they express themselves.

There are so many business applications to this recruitment and application method, and I will discuss those in my Examiner.com column. For the purposes of this post, I wanted to explain why the incredible response to Sasha’s post gives me great hope for our future. Acumen Fund is dedicated to investing in projects that focus on providing critical services in the developing world. It’s a very intriguing hybrid model of nonprofit and venture capital. The position requires people who can put on a nonprofit and for-profit thinking cap; someone who can think both analytically and conceptually, and express themselves in engaging prose.

Not only is this degree of interest in a position at Acumen Fund a win for those who believe they can do well by doing good, it is also a great victory for storytellers and the skill of writing in general. Many people in the world of business think in bullet points on Powerpoint slides. They have forgotten how to create meaningful, compelling prose. The many people who applied for the Acumen Fund show that expressive writing is not dead at all — it is still alive and well, and garnering great interest among business people.

For people like me who are interested in having one foot in the for-profit and nonprofit world, who wants to analyze numbers and then build out the narrative that those numbers create, it is so exciting to know that there are many others out there with this same interest. My sincere thanks to Seth Godin and Acumen Fund for providing this example and instilling us all with hope!

The photo above can be found at http://blog.acumenfund.org/author/ddoshi/

business, career, Fast Company, health, media, New York Times, politics, women

My Year of Hopefulness – Women on the Rise

Christa Avampato

I read an amazing article this week in the New York Times about women who are finding the athlete side of their personality later in life. As recently as 30 years ago, women were discouraged from competitive sports, particularly from running. As a runner, that fact still stuns me and makes me grateful for the times when I was raised. For my mom and for millions of women like her, the road was not easy along any path, particularly when it comes to being fit and active. That is a recent phenomenon. One I am very grateful for.

The article left me thinking about what other areas of life have been off-limits to women that are now seeing the tide turn. Certainly in women being entrepreneurs and controlling their own careers. Great strides have been made in media – there are so many to name in that field. From Oprah to Barbara Walters, Katie Couric, Christiane Amanpour, Arianna Huffington. And the list goes on. I am always proud of how many female business journalists have been featured as our media chronicles this latest economic downturn. I often think that women are running the reporting from Wall Street: Maria Bartiromo and Erin Burnett are terrific examples.

I am now reading a book entitled Another Day in the Frontal Lobe. It’s the story of Katrina Firlik, a young neurosurgeon. She was the first woman accepted into the neurosurgery residency at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center. Certainly in healthcare, and particularly in fields like neurosurgery, women like Dr. Firlik are paving the way.

Technology is seeing its fair share of women on the scene. Ning co-founder Gina Bianchini, Yahoo! CEO Carol Bartz, and Charlene Li who authored the book Groundswell while at Forrester Research, immediately spring to mind. Having made great strides in this industry, women have a long road ahead. Fast Company recently ran a feature on some of the most influential women in tech. It’s a good read and I highly recommend it.

In politics we are lucky to have so many women taking the helm. I am very proud that Secretary of State Clinton heeded the calls during this difficult time that America’s reputation is facing around the world. I cannot imagine anyone better suited for the job. Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Shirley Franklin, and Janet Napolitano are other shining examples of the many that serve in all levels of government.

I consider fields like energy, transportation, and engineering and wonder how women will make their marks in those areas in the coming years. It will be exciting to watch and to take part in that development. With so many incredible female role models to learn from, women are poised for take-off.

The photo above was taken by Filip Kwiatkowski for The New York Times.

Examiner, social entrepreneurship

Whole Planet Foundation

Christa Avampato

Latest post on Examiner.com – featuring Whole Planet Foundation, run by Whole Foods, which gives microloans to entrepreneurs in the developing world.

For full article, please visit: http://www.examiner.com/x-2901-NY-Business-Strategies-Examiner~y2009m3d4-The-Whole-Planet-Foundation

hope, New York City, news, subway

My Year of Hopefulness – Let’s Get Wednesday

Christa Avampato

I boarded the subway an hour earlier than usual this morning for some early more meetings. I needed something to cheer about. Over the subway loud speaker, I heard “Let’s get Wednesday.” In New York, we’ll occasionally get a humorous subway conductor. They are few and far between and when I get one, I always appreciate their ability to fun up the a job that I am sure is not that much fun during rush hour on a Wednesday.

After entering my building, I hopped onto the elevator. We have these tiny TVs in our elevators that run a circuit of news and advertisements. As you can imagine, the news is not that uplifting these days, and certainly not something I need to be reminded of as I head to my desk. Today there was an ad on the screen with the simple statement “Go humans go.” It’s part of a new ad campaign by Quaker. I am beginning to notice a pattern here.

On Wednesday afternoons I teach a high school Junior Achievement class about Business Ethics for an hour. As I was crossing the street back to my office, the traffic cop asked us to wait for the light to change. “Let’s to live another day, folks. Your families need you at home tonight. They’ll be waiting for you and you don’t want to disappoint them by getting run over.”

Combined, these three signs today were signs of life for me. We are living in dark times, though even when it’s darkest, we have to do our best to find that little speck of light and do what we can to turn it into a bonfire. I stood a little taller today, walked a little quicker, and worked a little harder. It might sound silly to say that the subway conductor this morning set the tone for my day by making one simple, 3 word statement. And it’s truthful. Sometimes a little cheering is all it takes to keep our chin up. Coming up above ground and saying to myself, “Yes, let’s get Wednesday,” really did help me do just that.

The image above can be found at: http://startwithsubstance.com/images/facebook/img_main.jpg

corporate social responsibility, Ethics, high school, Junior Achievement

Junior Achievement – Ethics Class 2

Christa Avampato

I was considerably less nervous for my second week teaching Business Ethics and Corporate Social Responsibility at the High School for Finance and Economics. Maybe it’s because I knew the students (at least a little). Maybe it’s because I knew where the building was and which classroom was mine. Whatever the reason, I was able to manage my time better and improvise a bit more with a greater deal of success.

What I found most interesting is that the students are thinking about ethics all the time, they just don’t have the term for it. Some students who did not speak up at all and were disruptive to the class in the first session were more engaged in the discussion this second time. One in particular is showing a lot of promise. Last time he had no interest in ethics and this time he was leading the classroom in some very profound statements about the situations we were discussing.

In an effort to get students to see that the subject of ethics is all around them, I have asked each of them to bring an article that deals with an ethical dilemma to our next class. The article can be from any section of the paper, any magazine, or any website. We’ll talk through the articles and see how the students reason through ethical decision making. I’ll let you know how it goes!

vacation, volunteer

My Year of Hopefulness – Cross-Cultural Solutions

Christa Avampato

With everyone tightening their money belts these days, the idea of a vacation, especially a vacation aboard can seem indulgent. But what if you could vacation with a purpose? Could we begin to see money spent on vacations with a purpose as an investment rather than a luxury?

I volunteered for two weeks in France right before I started business school. I worked with La Sabranenque, a nonprofit dedicated to rebuilding ancient architecture in Provence in an effort preserve history and increase tourism. It was an incredible experience – I can say with confidence that it was the most satisfying vacation I ever took. And I’m looking to repeat it.

I began doing some research on-line to see what was out there in the volunteer vacation world. After some searching I found my way to Cross-Cultural Solutions, an organization with well-established volunteer programs in Latin America, Asia, Eastern Europe, and Africa. I am really impressed by the detail on their website, their on-line community of volunteers vacationers, and their personal one-on-one service.

With some experience in this type of vacation, here are some tips that I have found helpful:

1.) Look for well-established programs that have strong relationships in the communities they serve.

2.) Programs that are flexible are usually best: flexible lengths and dates of stay, a flexible number of locations, and flexible kinds of work. I got very lucky with La Sabranenque though in general I’ve found that the more flexibility you have, the more organized the programs are.

3.) Find programs that have past participant testimonials. These are the equivalent of customer reviews. You want to be able to connect with members, past, present, and future to help prepare you for your experience and to connect with once you return. It’s all about building bridges with others in this collective experience.

4.) Different programs have different costs and a variety of different services included with their fees. I have found that the best ones include meals and housing. You also want to be careful of how much time you’ll spend volunteering and how much time you’ll have to explore the country, get to know people in the community, and partake in cultural activities. In France, we volunteered for 4 hours a day and then had the rest of the time to ourselves. For me, this was the perfect combination of meaningful work and downtime.

At this point it sounds like I’ll be heading to Salvador, Brazil some time in the Fall with Cross-Cultural Solutions working with kids. “Salvador has a reputation for enthusiasm and optimism widely known throughout Brazil and the world.” Sounds like the perfect vacation for my year of hopefulness.

China, entrepreneurship, Examiner

NY Business Strategies Examiner.com: Advice for Western Entrepreneurs in China

Christa Avampato

Today I read a terrific story about entrepreneurship in Fast Company. The author, Andrew Collins, talks about his experience of being a Australian-born entrepreneur in China. He is the CEO of Mailman China.

To read the full article, please visit: http://www.examiner.com/x-2901-NY-Business-Strategies-Examiner~y2009m3d2-A-stranger-in-a-strange-land-Western-entrepreneurs-in-China

This photo appears courtesy of Scott Write, Limelight Studio (Shanghai)

books, child, childhood, children

My Year of Hopefulness – Dr. Seuss’s Birthday

Christa Avampato

Today 105 years ago, the world received the gift of Dr. Seuss. His work has been a part of nearly every American childhood since World War II. Through his furry, colorful creatures and rhyming prose, he has inspired us, taught us, and given us clarity during the hazy, difficult transitions of childhood. I have several Dr. Seuss books and every once in a while when I have had a really tough day, I take them down from my bookshelves and flip through the pages.

His creativity and ability to be poignant without being preachy or intimidating has won him fans the world over. How the Grinch Stole Christmas is a holiday tradition in my family. We can recite the entire movie, sing the songs, and even do impressions of the characters. Though I never met Dr. Seuss, he was an influential part of my childhood and continues to be an influential part of my adult years. A copy of Oh, The Places You’ll Go! was my favorite graduation gift and I’m not ashamed to admit that there are times when I have gone back and re-read it because I felt disappointed by some part of my life. Dr. Seuss helped me keep my head up, even when my morale was down.

So dear Dr. Seuss, happy, happy 105th birthday and thank you for creating timeless tales that have kept us feeling hopeful even during bleak and uncertain times. We need you now more than ever.

The image above appears courtesy of Google and Dr. Seuss Enterprises.

books

Drood by Dan Simmons

Christa Avampato

It’s hard to get historic fiction right, keep it believable, and be entertaining. Dan Simmons gets it right in his latest novel, Drood, while also bringing in an element of the fantastic. What I love about London is its magic – around every corner you think there might be some sort of wizardry happening. Call it the Harry Potter effect. Simmons uses that sense of magic to finish the tale of Charles Dickens and his last piece, The Mystery of Edwin Drood, a book he never completed.

Not knowing a good deal about Charles Dickens life, I wasn’t able to discern which events in the book are factual and which are created by Simmons. For me, that is part of his genius. In much of the historical fiction I’ve read, you can clearly see the line between what we know happened from a historical perspective and what is invented by the author. Even when something in Dan Simmons takes us down into the underground world of London and I was certain that these events could not have happened given their magical component, I found myself being pulled even deeper into the story, able to completely put aside reality so I could follow Charles Dickens, and his friend, Wilkie Collins (the narrator of the book), on their dark adventure.

On occasion, I find English literature a bit difficult to trudge through. The language and turn of phrase can be difficult to follow. I didn’t find that at all with Drood. Though it is certainly written in the English style, I found that it was very easy for me to visualize the action of the book.

To be sure, Drood is a commitment. At 771 pages it is not a quick read. I also found that the language was so beautiful that I wanted to enjoy it. It was one of those books that I enjoyed so much that I was a little reluctant to get to the end, perhaps because I know how the ending goes. I know Charles Dickens, and Wilkie Collins, are no longer with us. And after following them on their wild ride, albeit one that ends tragically, I was sad to see both of them reach their end.

Drood is masterfully written. Just by reading his work, I was made into a better writer. His construction and ability to use history without letting it overtake the narrative are impressive and to be applauded.

entrepreneurship, Examiner

NY Business Strategies Examiner.com: Are You Ready For the Start-up Life?

Christa Avampato

The Wall Street Journal ran a special entrepreneurship section that serves as a guide to help us determine if the start-up lifestyle is the right one for us. I enjoyed reading the article that asks us a set of questions to help us get our arms around what it means to be an entrepreneur. The article is a little bit negative so I wanted to highlight the questions below and add some commentary on them that shines a more positive light on the opportunity to be an entrepreneur.

To view the full article, please visit: http://www.examiner.com/x-2901-NY-Business-Strategies-Examiner~y2009m3d1-The-WSJ-puts-you-to-the-test-are-you-cut-out-to-be-an-entrepreneur