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, Business Week, Jon Fine, media, news

Daylife: a guide to today’s news

Christa Avampato

Jon Fine’s article in this week’s issue of Business Week discusses a new news provider, Daylife. As a devoted fan of the news and someone who believes that the plethora of new media channels can help to reinvent traditional media, I am intrigued by Daylife’s business model. 


Daylife is a news aggregator that splits revenue with news sources based on the link and not on the destination page. Big deal – I can just set up a bunch of Google alerts on topics that interest me and get a nice stack of emails with daily news stories and blog posts on the subject, right? Yes, I could do that. Or, I can just set up Google reader and collect my information that way. Yep, that’s an option. 


Here’s the trouble: I love Google, but its alert search is far from all-encompassing and it makes no effort to relate one story to another, save for a common keyword. With Daylife, ordinary people like me can build highly-tailored news sites on any topic of interest, or variety of topics,and post them up on my own website. Essentially, I make my own little newspaper, and Daylife scours the enormous world of news on-line to get me the content and package it up for me in a neat format. This customizable feature is set to roll-out some time this summer.   


To be sure, there is tension that exists between traditional media and this constantly morphing world of digital information. Today we get news from a variety of sources as it happens. It has never been easier to be informed on events that happen around the world. And this fact has created a world of complexity and information overload beyond our wildest imagination. While Daylife may not be a quick-fix or even a complete solution, it’s a start toward simplification and efficiency. In this case, even a modest improvement packs a punch.

books

The Host

Christa Avampato

I have been a fan of Stephenie Meyer’s writing since reading a New York Times story about her almost a year ago. In the post-Harry Potter world, the literary community was looking for the next J.K. Rowling, a writer who would explore the impossible in an effort to inspire us in our current lives. Her visual prose and ability to believably communicate the thoughts of multiple characters fully brings you into the fold of the story the moment you crack open her books.  


My only criticism of The Host is that the book drags a bit from time to time, occasionally repeating the sentiments of her characters that we have long since grasped. For example, Wanderer, one of the main characters, struggles with anger issues in the beginning of the book and we are reminded of this difficulty a few too many times. Eliminating some of these redundancies would have tightened the text, allowing the story to gain more speed. Beyond that, the story is compelling and their is a constant underlying sense of urgency that keeps readers flipping the pages.  

Meyer is a sci-fi writer for fans of fiction other than sci-fi. I am partial to strong-willed female protagonists and poignant narrative. On both counts, Meyer delivers. Though she writes about fantastical characters and circumstances, she brings a decidedly human quality to every storyline, a skillfully architected irony given the premise of The Host. Through sci-fi characters, she asks us to consider what it means to be human, to follow our strongest emotions, and to constantly seek to understand alternate points-of-view.

You can pick up the book at any major bookstore or through Amazon.
career, economy, education, money, Real Simple, relationships, travel

A framework for getting through tough times, economic or otherwise

Christa Avampato

With the current state of the economy, every news cast, newspaper, magazine, and radio station has been offering a nightly segment on making our money go further by cutting expenses, shifting our investments, and finding places with bargains. Money experts like Jean Chatzky and Suze Orman are encouraging us to live within or below our means, pay down bad debt, and save, save, save. While a lot of these tips are very helpful, they are just that – suggestions and tips. I haven’t seen a consistent, customizable framework to help us cope with specific, difficult challenges we’re facing on so many fronts. Until yesterday.


I’ve been a loyal subscriber to Real Simple Magazine for several years. I look forward to its arrival each month and it’s one of the few publications I read cover to cover every time. This month, their resident motivator, Gail Blanke, wrote a column entitled “How to Thrive in Tough Times.” I expected another set of high quality tips and hints on personal cost cutting. What I found instead was much more valuable. 


A personal and executive coach, Gail offered exactly the kind of framework I have been looking for when evaluating a challenge and formulating a way to overcome it. A fun five-step process takes us through naming and evaluating the challenge, considering possibilities, and then taking action. 


Step 1 involves naming the problem in a discrete way and then asking, “can we do anything about our situation to quickly make the problem disappear?” If no, proceed to step 2. Gail’s example in the article talks about a family who can’t afford to take vacation this year because of the tough economy. 


Step 2 we consider all of the things we’re missing out on or losing as a result of the problem. This can be an emotional coming to terms so take your time going through this step, face each fear and loss head-on, and then keep going. 


Step 3 now that we have faced what we’re losing, consider a new possibility. This can be the most difficult step because we now have to let go of what we are losing and imagine a new reality. Eventually, the family Gail was working with formulated the big idea of having a vacation at home. 


Step 4 now the fun begins. It’s time for imagining impossible things in the hope that we can make some of them possible. This is a free-for-all brainstorm. No idea is a bad idea in step 3 – get it all out there without considering limitations. This is your license to get completely carried away. The family in Gail’s example came up with ideas like taking Latin dance lessons together, cooking classes, and visiting all of the local museums in town.


Step 5 leads us on the path to reflection. We put the best of the ideas from step 4 into action, and put our best foot forward in making them a reality. No half-hearted efforts here. And then carefully consider how this new found possibility is different and even better than the opportunity we had to miss out on in these tough times. Step 5 will be a work in progress for some time, and it may teach us that while the hard times are tough to initially confront, they end up creating the circumstances for which we are most grateful. 


I hope this framework helps us all consider new realities that we must create in order to move forward, even in the toughest of times. It’s valid for personal matters, as well as professional, and can be used by anyone regardless of circumstances. It has enough structure to serve as a gentle guide and enough flexibility to make it valid in a myriad of situations. It can be used by individuals, families, and companies. Many thanks to Gail and Real Simple for finally offering up a tool that we’ll be able to use for many years to come. 

dating, education, learning, new media, technology

Learning a new language

Christa Avampato

At the BlogHer Conference, I heard Kerry Miller speak about her inspiration for her blog, PassiveAggressiveNotes.com. She was on a terrible date, explaining the passive aggressive notes her roommates would leave one another on post-its. She joked that she should put them on a blog, and she did, and the rest is history. It’s now become a very popular site with hundreds of people logging in every day. Even a bad date can have a good outcome, even if it’s not the good outcome you were hoping for. 


Which is how I consoled myself last night after a date that might be described as one of the worst dates ever. I rarely dish about dating on this site, though this story had some usefulness eventually. To give you a taste of what transpired – after regaling me with his ability to find a bargain, his side business scalping concert tickets on Ebay, and his knowledge of five French vocabulary words, he then managed to use curse words relating to the human anatomy and phrases like “wow, the youngsters here are enthusiastic.” (We were at a rock concert – note to self, rock concerts are not a good venue for a first date.) The date ended with me getting so sick to my stomach and dizzy from all of the smoking in the audience that I had to go outside, get some fresh air, and in the process dropped my ticket, banning me from re-entry. Thankfully, I had written down his cell phone number so I  sent him a text to let him know I was grabbing a cab home. The Universe saved me by snatching that ticket from my pocket. 


So what good could come out of this night that I wished I had stayed home and watched the Food Network? Two things: I know now that my mother was right – when dating, using the decade rule is best. In general, it’s very hard to romantically relate to someone who is 10 years older or younger than me. There of course are exceptions like Catherine Zeta-Jones and Michael Douglas. But by and large, I believe my mother on this one. The other terrific thing to come out of this unfortunate date is a new on-line tool that my date told me about. It’s the one he’s used to learn his five French words. Don’t hold that against the site. 


www.livemocha.com is a language learning site that doubles as a social network The lessons go at your selected pace, and it’s free. So long as you’re motivated to put in the time, you can build your own classroom across the world to help you learn or re-learn a language, and you can help others in the process. While the language of love was clearly eluding me last night, there’s now renewed hope for brushing up on my Spanish! Que bueno!

simplicity, writer, writing

The hard work of simplicity

Christa Avampato

I have been working on a few projects that require one simple thing: simplicity. While we crave it, work for it, buy all kinds of books and gadgets that claim to be able to make our lives simple, simplicity often alludes us. Recently, I sat with a team member to craft a memo. She kept adding, and adding, and ADDING to it. Finally I said, “Stop. Turn away from the computer. Tell me what you want to say.” She could articulate her ideas well when speaking to me and the moment she sat at the computer, she hid behind an excess of words.

I found a quote later that day that gets at the very essence of good writing, and solid editing. “The ability to simplify means to eliminate the unnecessary so that the necessary may speak. ~ Hans Hofmann.” And that’s it in a nutshell – that is the motivation of every writer, and every editor, in one succinct sentence. To get to the diamond, you need to polish it, and that means removing the unnecessary layers.

It’s easy to understand why we think simplicity should be simple. It’s not – it’s an art that must be practiced. It can be painful. Simplicity is work. We are complex creatures – emotions, biases, past experience, and a deep need to be understood all stand in our way. The work of an editor is to clear the path. To soothe emotions and biases, while preserving and honoring history and the ability for us to influence and affect one another.

As a quick guide, I do the following four things when I feel simplicity getting away from me:

1.) I audibly articulate the nugget of truth I am trying to convey. And then I write it down verbatim. I start from there. 

2.) I eliminate every word I can without losing the sentiment I want to convey. This can mean many different types of rework: from restructuring a sentence to finding a descriptive word that can speak for a number of smaller words.

3.) I step away from the writing, even just for a few minutes. Sometimes to get out of the hairball in our writing, we have to physically step away from it. 

4.) I only write when I am crystal clear about my motivation for writing, the channel I am writing for (print, blog, brochure, presentation, etc.), and the audience I am trying to reach. This is the framework on which we hang every word.

Wishing you simplicity and good editing, in writing and in life!

Graphic above found at http://www.simpledorm.com/images/simple.gif

art, career, technology, work

Writing with Pencil

Christa Avampato

During a slow week at work I have been hunting around for projects that add value and help out a colleague who may be drowning. My friend, Kate, needed help drafting planograms, drawings that layout where each type of product goes in a specific area of the store. I got several dozen blank layouts, on paper, and spent the day with a pencil in hand, putting together pieces of the puzzle. 


I got lost in the work, forgetting to eat lunch, not watching the clock. After many long hours in front of my computer, putting pencil to paper was a welcome change. And I considered how long it’s been since I actually scribbled anything of value on paper – aside from my shopping and to-do lists. My life has become decidedly digital. 


This realization gave me great hope. As many gadgets and gizmos and electronics invade our lives, there still is nothing like the feeling, the experience, of working with our hands – whether it’s drawing, painting, sculpting, even gardening and cooking. I was so happy to be disconnected from my computer, to be lost in a world where it was just me, my creativity, and a few guidelines from Kate. That simplicity was comforting, and I felt like it was an honest and useful day of work. What more could I ask for?  

business, career, leader, leadership

What legacy says about leadership

Christa Avampato

A friend of mine was recently telling me about a company he recently left after a 10-year tenure. He had the privilege to work for the CEO for the last half of his time there, and is still inspired by that CEO’s clarity about the business and his ability to inspire everyone at the company. The CEO recently retired – a move that was a long-time coming. And the company is in turmoil as a result of the leadership vacuum created in the wake of the CEO’s departure. All of the executives are talking about leaving; without the CEO they feel lost.

My friend reveres that CEO as the greatest leader he has ever worked with. “See look what he built – the company can’t survive if he’s gone! That’s the mark of a great leader,” he said to me. I’m not so sure. After my recent conversation, I am left wondering what it says about a leader if their company’s success is driven by their presence. We all want to be wanted, and needed, and all want to feel that special sense that comes with being irreplaceable. Being irreplaceable creates a lot of burden, and ultimately negatively effects the lives of the people who work for that CEO in a profound way.

At the very least, cultivating that idea of being irreplaceable is irresponsible. The truth is that none of us will live forever, no matter how much we exercise, or how well we eat, or how often we monitor our health. And with job switching being so commonplace in today’s economy, on average each of us will change jobs almost 10 times in our lifetime. If a company falls apart due to one person’s departure, it means that leader didn’t create an active succession plan, and maybe the vision he or she inspired was not sustainable, and therefore not successful in the long-term.

I think about my recent trip out to LA to visit with Disney. Walt Disney died in 1967, a very young man, from lung cancer. From the time of his diagnosis, he had a year to live. And so much more he wanted to do. Even as he was building a company on imagination and achieving the impossible, a company that bore his name, he was also building something much more valuable – a company that could live on without him because of the brilliant and creative people he had the foresight to surround himself with. He passed the torch to a very capable group of people, who brought in even more capable people, to allow for continued growth decades later. To me, leaving a legacy that lasts in your absence if the greatest mark of successful leadership.

The photo above can be found at http://darkstar.holtz.com/hct/ee/images/uploads/hk-ceo.jpg

creativity, education, failure, imagination, work

JK Rowling’s Commencement speech – The Fringe Benefits of Failure, and the Importance of Imagination

Christa Avampato

I read JK Rowling’s commencement speech she gave at Harvard last month. She talks about one thing that new graduates are abundant with – imagination. And she talks about one thing that terrifies them – failure. 


What struck me most about her speech was her unfailing sense to be brutally honest. She grew up without money, and admits that while it is a scary proposition to live that way as an adult, growing up poor makes you fearless in a way that frees you to follow your imagination. She articulately put into words the way I have been living since I graduated from college 10 years ago. When you’ve gone to bed hungry, you’ve hit bottom. And you begin to build upward – there’s simply nothing else you can do. 

career, family, news, politics, Tim Russert

Tim Russert

Christa Avampato

I read the news flash of Tim Russert’s passing with the same shock as others. “What?” I said out loud, despite the fact that I was alone in my apartment. I have previously written about my addiction to the news. I’ll give up chocolate and ice cream before I’ll give up the news. And Tim Russert has been a part of my news watching for as long as I can remember. 


I never met him, never even saw him in a rare celebrity sighting during my years in Washington, D.C., though I felt like I knew him very well. Whenever a primary or election or press conference was happening, I was eager to watch how he would crunch the numbers and determine a politician’s answers to his tough and fair questions. I believed every one of his predictions without hesitation, and  appreciated his honesty in the often less-than-honest industry of politics.


I am deeply effected by his passing for more reasons than just missing his political commentary. I admired him for how he relished his work with the gusto than many people reserve for their personal hobbies and interests. And it set me to thinking about what career I want to make my life’s work. What path do I take that I will love as much as Tim Russert loved his?  To find that path seems the best way to honor his contribution to our society. 


It’s seems unfair that he would be taken so suddenly, right before a holiday that celebrates one of his favorite roles, father, and on the eve of possibly the most historic election in our country’s history. We’ve relied on him for so long to steer us through the complexities of the political world and now we’ll need to navigate on our own. 

family, friendship, home, love, New York, relationships

A Year in the Making

Christa Avampato

I walked around all day yesterday trying to figure out what was so special about  June 11th. And finally, in Columbus Circle, it hit me – I moved back to NYC exactly one year ago. I drove up to NYC with my car full of worldly possessions – very little in fact since I had sold nearly everything I owned before leaving school. I had a relatively clean slate, save for my friends and family. It felt freeing to completely release the life I had known in Virginia just 24 hours earlier, to return to a place that felt like home and yet had so many new experiences to offer. 


One year later I am gainfully employed, spending time with my friends, many of whom have known me for a number of years during different phases of my life, writing every day, and living in my favorite neighborhood in New York. My family is an hour and a half away – an easy train ride. I have a new niece. There’s a rhythm to my days, and to my life. I kind of feel like June 11th is my adopted birthday – it’s the day I became more of who I am. On June 11th, I felt like I became an artist, a writer, again.


My first year back in NYC isn’t what I expected. It’s filled with many people whom I didn’t know when I arrived, and those who I saw only a few times a year for many years. Now I take my mom to brunch in the city, I go to dinner with Lisa and Dan and Steve and Brooke and Rob. Friends like Amy and Trevin and Anne and Alex and Kelly come to visit. I go to see Ken during a free weekend. And many friends have moved back after being away for so long, just like me. Somehow, by magic I think, a life came together for me that I never even knew was here. And all the while, I think it was waiting for me to get back home.


In this next year back in NY, I’m working to get my writing out to the world a bit more and I’m trying to find my professional niche. I’m working on meeting Mr. Wonderful, and I’m getting back into shape with my yoga, running, and weight training. (I’ve fallen off the wagon in both regards lately.) I’m taking a comedy writing class to improve my writing as much as to increase the amount of laughter in my life. And I’m recommitting to make sure that I honor my time as my most valuable asset. 


It feels good to be home.