I’m astounded by the generosity of people I’m interviewing for my University of Cambridge dissertation in Sustainability Leadership. I’ve had or scheduled interviews with over 40 family office leaders, experienced climate communicators, and seasoned storytellers who have provided me with an incredible number and array of insights. I’m so grateful to all of them. My research question is how to use storytelling to connect family offices with climate entrepreneurs for mutual benefit and to safeguard the health of the planet as nature underpins half of our global GDP. If you or someone you know may be interested in talking to me, I’d love to chat. Let’s build a healthy world for all beings, together.
On Friday, May 31, 2024, I’ll be hosting a party in New York City (and online!) to celebrate the launch of my book, Emerson Page and Where the Light Leads / welcome summer / being alive. I’d absolutely LOVE to celebrate with wonderful YOU! We’ve all been through a lot in the last few years, the world is heavy, and I’d like to host a party filled with joy, love, laughter, light, food, drinks, music, dancing, gift bags, and general merriment. I’ll be doing a short reading from the book and brief conversation with a very special guest moderator that will also be available online for anyone who can’t make it to New York City for the party.
I’m still securing a venue and exact time. Save the dates will go out soon so if you’d like to know about the in-person or online details, please fill out this Google form below that takes about 10 seconds: https://forms.gle/53ACYqByeG7RQnbY9
Another exciting book launch milestone! The press release and sell sheet for my novel, Emerson Page and Where the Light Leads, are complete and being sent out with the galley (watermarked book manuscript) to media for review. Please feel free to share these with any media contacts whom you think would be interested. Pre-order links will be available next week, and I’ll share those as soon as I have them. Thank you to everyone for all the support. It takes a village, and I’m glad I’m with you.
Every Sunday on Instagram (@christarosenyc), I create a #Sundaybuffet post that highlights the top 10 things that inspired me, brought me joy and wonder, and made me laugh that week as part of my gratitude practice. I’d love to have you join me on Instagram and I’d love to know what inspires you. The images below are my #Sundaybuffet this week, along with a description, attribution, and the Instagram accounts for each one.
Here’s to being alive, healthy, and grateful in this beautiful world. I hope your Sunday is filled with love in all its wondrous forms.
@USinterior@hikester_ –January 5th was National Bird Day. This photo of a bald eagle in Idaho was taken by Derek Butler, an Irish photographer. There was a record number of bald eagles observed at Lake Coeur d’Alene in Idaho in December – 409
January 5th was also my awesome niece, @lorelei_waldrep_08 ’s, 16th birthday. I remember the exact moment I first met her as a baby, and she is one of the reasons I’m so passionate about protecting the health of the planet—so she has a future to look forward to.
@Blacksun_awaken –Helena Bonham Carter is a queen. I love her perspective on the art in everything
@amyselwynphotographer –Stunning image “the journey felt enormous” is a collaboration between her imagination and AI platform @mid.journey. I’m really interested in learning more about AI for visual climate storytelling, and Amy’s work is a beacon of how to do this well.
@Sweatpantsandcoffee –How I like to spend every Sunday morning if I’m honest – in sweatpants, coffee in hand, and reading inspiring words. This post by writer and artist Nanea Hoffman about how we are born of stars is the crux of my @iamEmersonPage novels.
@Secret.London@AshCrossan –Nothing better than a cozy pub on a blustery day. In the U.S., we don’t have the Sunday roast tradition but I’m going to start making Sunday roast in my Brooklyn apartment to make winter more joyful.
@tanner_smiths –shabby chic meets gangster-inspired décor at this speakeasy in midtown Manhattan. It looks unassuming from the outside and is a favorite spot of mine to meet up with friends. They’re all-in on the steampunk /1920s aesthetic I love. Their cocktail (and mocktail!) list as well as their food is top-notch. I was here this week for the launch of @fringepress, @bookpipeline’s latest project.
Redwoods in California show new shoots after a forest fire. Photo by Melissa Enright – US Forest Service
“Sometimes I think heaven is just a new pair of glasses…if I put on the better pair of glasses, I really notice what’s still working [well in this world].” ~Anne Lamott
As I look around at our world plagued by war, the climate crisis, and a seemingly endless stream of difficulties, I’ve been thinking a lot about Anne Lamott’s quote about putting on a better pair of glasses and operating from that lens. It doesn’t mean I’m ignoring the challenges and their scale; I’m seeing them alongside the progress, joy, and good news that’s alive in the world. A sampling of good news if you need a boost:
With AI rapidly advancing, which skills will be most needed in the future? I guessed STEM. However, Christopher Pissarides Nobel Prize-winning economist and professor at The London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE) told Bloomberg that empathy, leadership, communication, and creative skills may be the ones most needed in an AI-dominated world and job market. This is because those skills are much more difficult for AI to replace, and they are skills needed to make AI useful and impactful. Humanities friends, rejoice!
Do you agree with Pissarides? How do you feel about the rise of artificial intelligence? What do you think the biggest opportunities and risks are with AI?
What would you do if the work you do right now ended tomorrow? I’ve been thinking about this question since I was at University of Cambridge / Cambridge Institute for Sustainability Leadership (CISL) in December for my Masters in Sustainability Leadership program. My wonderful friend, Karen, in my cohort found me one morning to show me a Stanford TEDx talk titled 5 Steps to Designing the Life You Want by Bill Burnett that she felt I needed to see. She was right.
The whole talk is worth watching and the part that affected me most is a future visioning exercise called 3 lives. You imagine the next 5 years of your career in these scenarios:
1. Keep doing exactly what you’re doing now and it’s going to turn out great. What does great look like? In your career and life?
2. What would you do if what you’re doing right now ends tomorrow? How would your career and life change? What would that look and feel like?
3. Now for your wildcard plan. You have enough money to pursue any career you want, and no one would laugh at you for it. What would you do? What would your life and career look like then?
Which of these lives feels like the best path? Put aside the inner critic. Which one makes you happier and more fulfilled? For various reasons, that one may not be the one you choose to pursue but having a sense of these different paths helps us get unstuck.
Futures visioning is a part of my Cambridge dissertation so doing this exercise was a part of practicing what I preach. I sat down and sketched out these 3 lives for myself. It helped me uncover hidden ideas, interests, and desires I didn’t even know I had. It also helped me realize a few things that Bill speaks to in his talk:
1. The really interesting opportunities present themselves in our periphery. They are the things we didn’t see coming and didn’t plan for. Realizing this encourages me to be open to new people, information, learnings, ideas, and opportunities.
2. Bill encourages us to look at these three lives with our head and our heart. Decisions made from your emotions are just as valid, if not more so, than those made from our logic and reasoning. Emotions have much more wisdom than we give them credit for.
3. There isn’t one way to build a life or career. We can and will grow into different lives, and that can happen at any and every age. There is no timeline that we must follow. We can trust the timing of our lives and career. Things unfold in ways we don’t always understand. That’s okay. Be open, and be prepared to be lucky.
Let me know how it goes for you if you try this exercise. I’d love to hear about what you discover and I’d also love to support your journey.
My front door for 2024. Photo by Christa Avampato.
I decorated my front door for the new year with my 2024 word for the year, a Rumi quote I want to carry with me every day, and a handmade house blessing for my new apartment from my dear friend, Kelly Greenaur.
My word for 2024 — vulnerability Instead of resolutions, I adopt a word for the year to guide my thoughts and actions, and I write out some of my wishes I hope the word helps me take. In 2023, my word was clarity and I did find more clarity in every area of my life. In 2024, my word is vulnerability. By embracing my own vulnerability and supporting others doing the same, I hope I can bridge the divides in our society, and between people and nature. By recognizing and naming my fears and concerns, I can alleviate them. I can only solve problems and challenges I’m willing to have. By recognizing and naming my hopes and dreams, I can realize them. I can only climb the mountains I’m willing to attempt.
My word for 2024. Photo by Christa Avampato.
Letting myself be vulnerable opens me up to experiences I need and want, and otherwise wouldn’t have. I don’t want to leave anything unsaid. I want to take more chances and risks, asking for what I want, explaining how I feel, and sharing what I believe. I’m excited to see who and what I’ll find on this adventure. I want to be open to the world, and whatever it has to show and teach me, even if that breaks me and cracks me open. With those cracks, more light will find its way in, as Rumi wrote and the late great Leonard Cohen sang.
Rumi The Rumi quote, “Be a lamp, or a lifeboat, or a ladder. Help someone’s soul heal. Walk out of your house like a shepherd.”, is one I want to use this year to help heal others and the world. We have so much capacity to help each other through this life, and I want to make sure I use mine to the fullest. I’m hopeful the light I find by being more vulnerable will be light I can share with others.
Rumi quote. Art and photo by Christa Avampato.
A handmade house blessing Kelly sent me this house blessing talisman for Christmas, along with a stitched bracelet and an ornament that says, “I wish you lived next door.” (Me, too, Kel!) They were made by two women — Dau Nan from Myanmar and Bina Biswa from Bhutan — who now live in Buffalo, New York and are part of Stitch Buffalo, a textile art center committed to empowering refugee and immigrant women through the sale of their handcrafted goods, inspiring creativity, inclusion, community education, and stewarding the environment through the re-use of textile supplies. These passions of helping people and the environment are ones Kelly and I share, and I’m so grateful for her friendship, love, and support.
Stitch Buffalo crafts. Photos by Christa Avampato.
I hope 2024 is everything you want and need it to be. This year will be turbulent, and holds opportunities for progress, joy, and love. Onward we go, together.
Buzzing with excitement! The watermarked galley (proof copy) of my novel, Emerson Page and Where the Light Leads, is finalized! The press release and sell sheet are in progress. The manuscript along with the press release, sell sheet, and cover letter comprise the media packet. These will start to go out to media reviewers next week, as well as feature editors, book sellers, podcast hosts, book award competitions, and potential partners.
My website and socials will be updated, as well as my newsletter, in the new year. The next season of my podcast, JoyProject, will focus on the book, writing, and publishing. I want this book to be a bright spot, not a blind spot. I want Emerson’s story to be a respite so everyone who slips into her world for a short time can gather the strength and inspiration they need to keep going. A trip through a magical version of New York City and Ireland can do wonders for the imagination!
Publishing a book is akin to starting a business, marketing and promoting a book is a joint responsibility between the publisher and the author. My experience in business (specifically as an entrepreneur and product developer) is enormously helpful in my work as an author. Because I’m often pitched to as a journalist, I work hard to craft my pitches so they’re personal, relevant, and as interesting as possible. I need to make it easy to want to read and share my book, and I’m grateful to anyone and everyone who takes the time to even consider my pitch. I know how precious time is.
To that end, if you or someone you know would be interested in reviewing or selling the book in any medium or channel, please let me know at christa.avampato@gmail.com. A million thank yous!
If you’re interested in rewilding—the practice of restoring and protecting wild places and the many species who call those wild places home — the podcast Rewilding the World with Ben Goldsmith is incredible. Ben speaks to some of the most influential people behind the most exciting and dramatic rewilding projects across the globe including Turkey, the Balkans, Chile, Argentina, Africa’s Sahel, India, England, Scotland, the UK, Spain, Portugal, Western North America, Kazakhstan, Saudi Arabia, the Sinai peninsula, Transylvania, Carpathia, Romania, and the Great Plains of the U.S. (What a list!)
Not only has this podcast further ignited my passion for rewilding and the promise it holds to make this a healthier, more sustainable world for all beings, but it’s also grown my list of places to travel to, my reading list, and my desire to care for wild places in any and every way I can. In a world that’s often dark and difficult, rewilding is a bright light of hope and joy that shows us what’s possible when we realize we are a part of nature, not apart from nature.
Right now there are 20 episodes to enjoy, and Ben will be back again with a fresh set of episodes in early 2024. I’m so grateful for his efforts and the work being done by all of his inspiring guests.
Christa Avampato 