adventure, business, career, creativity, entrepreneurship, fear, learning, work

Inspired: We learn best by doing

Christa Avampato
Jump and build your wings on the way down
Jump and build your wings on the way down

We can’t learn to sail from the shore. We can’t learn to fly from the ground. To learn how to build a business of any kind, we must be in business. Business is an art form just like playing the piano or painting a picture. It takes practice, and chances are we will create some really awful work as we learn to make great work. So don’t be so hard on yourself if your first attempts are less than shining stars of success. Honestly, it’s better if they’re not. Go further than you think you can. Give your wildest ideas a whirl. Get crazy. That’s where the learning is, and learning is the best gift you can give to your future self. Don’t be afraid. Just do it. Go have an adventure.

community, education, safety

Inspired: Making the University of Virginia safe for all students

Christa Avampato

Raise your voice“I believe that if you show people the problems and you show them the solutions they will be moved to act.” ~Bill Gates

Despite Thanksgiving, last week’s news was dominated by tough, complicated stories that won’t be quickly nor easily solved. Sexual assault on the grounds of UVA, where I went to the Darden School for my MBA, was one of those stories. My friend, Alex, and I banded together with other UVA and Darden School alumni to place an ad in the Cavalier Daily, the newspaper at UVA, to support students who have been victims of violence on UVA’s grounds and to raise our voices to demand a safe environment for all UVA students. We raised almost $1000 in a short amount of time (and over a holiday weekend!) That money paid for the half-page ad and the balance will be donated to UVA’s Women’s Center where students receive counseling and support.

We can’t change the past but together we can build a better and brighter future. Thank you to the alumni who gave so generously. UVA will be a better place because of you. Donations will be accepted through tonight via PayPal.com to christa.avampato@gmail.com.

career, education, media, movie, story, technology

Inspired: Big Hero 6 will motivate you to take up computer science and become a maker

Christa Avampato

Big Hero 6I saw the movie Big Hero 6 yesterday. The powerful storyline is an incredible motivator for kids and adults to go into computer science and get involved in the making community. While many of the tech stories we hear today involve pricey acquisitions and the latest greatest photo sharing app, the movie shows that a career (or even just a hobby) in technology can and does yield incredible results.

We are standing on the precipice of many difficult decisions as a society—health and wellness, climate change, energy consumption, food distribution, and the list goes on. Technology won’t solve them all, but it can certainly put a hefty dent in any of them. While we can throw stats and doomsday scenarios at people in an attempt to get them to care about these issues, storytelling like that in Big Hero 6 may be the most powerful weapon we have to scare up the resource we need in greatest abundance—human care and concern for the future.

choices, creativity, Life, patience

Inspired: Benefits of taking the long way

Christa Avampato
Tuscany, Italy
Tuscany, Italy

“All the work worth doing is about taking the long way.” ~Seth Godin

I always look for shortcuts, ways to get twice as much done in half the amount of time. I’m ridiculously impatient with myself, and many times that serves me because it forces me to make the most of every opportunity and maximize my creativity. But when I’ve been forced to take the long way, when no other way was possible, I’ve never regretted it. I tried to enjoy the view and stay open to what may happen that I had never planned. The long way, while never preferable for me at the outset, has always ended up being a blessing because it took me in directions I never knew existed. The next time your route feels more circuitous rather than a direct shot, take a beat and look around. Every step along the path has a lesson. Take it and use it.

books, creativity, goals, writing

Inspired: Finished the first draft of my first novel – Where the Light Enters

Christa Avampato
THE END
THE END

THE END. I just typed these two words on the (very, very, very) rough first draft of my first novel, Where the Light Enters. There will be many rounds of revisions ahead, but I’m excited to have this first pass done. I plan to revel in this feeling through the holidays and then pick it back up in January to begin the long process of rewriting. For now, I’m happy to say the story and the act of writing it changed me for the better. It gave me confidence and faith that with love we can do what we think is impossible. Thank you to so many of you who supported this journey. We’re just getting started!

creativity, Disney, work

Inspired: Find the fun

Christa Avampato
Mary Poppins
Mary Poppins

“In every job that must be done there’s an element of fun. Find the fun and *snap* the job’s a game.” ~Mary Poppins

As we are winding down the festivities of the week, and heading into the hectic holiday and year-end season, we might find our heads spinning. When I feel myself getting overwhelmed, particularly if I’m overwhelmed with tasks that are less-than-glamorous, I think of Mary Poppins and the way she lightened everything during difficult times.

Every day, we must do things that are difficult, things that don’t seem fun on the surface. But if we can find even a small element of fun—a co-worker who makes us laugh, something to learn, or puzzle to solve—then the task becomes a little easier. Find the fun, and the job is halfway done.

art, comedy, holiday

Inspired: The Peanuts Gang Recreates Norman Rockwell’s Thanksgiving Painting

Christa Avampato
Norman Rockwell's Freedom From Want
Norman Rockwell’s Freedom From Want

I love Norman Rockwell. I love Peanuts. So, I really love this painting. Happy Thanksgiving from my nutty house to yours!

community, courage

Inspired: We are powerful

Christa Avampato
Hope is the only thing stronger than fear.
Hope is the only thing stronger than fear.

“What cannot be said, will be wept.” ~ Sappho

At our darkest hour, we need protection and this week’s news has shown us that too many people in this world don’t have any. Too many people have been rendered powerlessness, their voices held hostage by institutions that bill themselves as just and moral though in reality are anything but. While so many people in the news this week, many right in our own country, have been left powerless, I am not. There are countless ways that I can show my support and be a part of the solution. I can help, and I will. Knowing that I can is what’s getting me through this week, tears and all. My sense of hope is still intact.

books, writing

Inspired: I won NaNoWriMo 2014

Christa Avampato
I won NaNoWriMo 2014!
I won NaNoWriMo 2014!

That’s a wrap! For the first time, I participated in and completed National Novel Writing Month. Yesterday I did what I set out to do and crossed the 50K word mark of my novel, Where the Light Enters before the end of November. I still have a few thousand more to go to make a complete (and incredibly rough) first draft which I’ll finish in the next couple of days. For now, I’m so happy that I reached the most auspicious writing goal I’ve ever set for myself, and a week ahead of schedule to boot! Emerson Page lives and breathes, and I’m so glad to have her in my life.

change, choices

Inspired: Keep your head up and your heart open

Christa Avampato
Keep some room in your heart for the unimaginable
Keep some room in your heart for the unimaginable

As we round the corner to the final month of 2014, I’m taking stock of every area of my life. I’m not sure where it’s all heading or what 2015 will bring, but I do know this: I am resolved to keep my head up and my heart open to new possibilities. Right now, nothing is off the table. There will come a time for sorting and deciding but now it’s time to shake the trees. I’m prepared for surprise at every turn. I’ll do my best to enjoy the (very uncertain) ride.