And we’re back! NYC’s Secrets & Lies, my live storytelling show about secret NYC history, is celebrating Spooky Season by going underground with our new partner – New York Transit Museum in Downtown Brooklyn. Join us on Thursday, October 22 at 6:00 PM for a special Halloween edition of our show.
Set within the museum’s authentic 1936 decommissioned subway station, the interactive performance challenges audiences to untangle truth from chilling fiction in New York City’s past. Four master storytellers step up to the mic. Three will share shocking, true tales from New York transit history. One will deliver a bold lie. Listen closely, track the details, and cast your vote. Uncover the liar correctly, and you’ll be entered into the lottery to win a fantastic prize from the museum.
Seating inside the museum is strictly limited. Claim your spot early before seats vanish!
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Created, produced, and hosted by licensed New York City tour guide and author Christa Avampato, NYC’s Secrets & Lies blends investigative history, competitive sleuthing, and live performance. The October 22 production features a curated lineup of master storytellers, including Dr. Edith Gonzalez, Vicki Eastus, Emily Olsen, and Jahtiek Long.
I write stories about women who are underestimated and determined to rise. On the recommendation of my dear friend and storytelling mentor, John Bucher, I just finished the book A Thousand Ships by Natalie Haynes. It’s a retelling of Trojan War from the perspective of the women who have too often been relegated to the sidelines. A number of years ago, I wrote a screenplay about underestimated women during wartime that did well in the competition circuit. John was the first person to read it and his feedback made it better. He also said to me, “This would make a great novel.” If there’s anything I’ve learned about John in the years we’ve been friends it’s that his story instincts are always right.
Slowly I’ve been chipping away at transforming my screenplay into a book, and though it’s taking me longer than I’d like to get this draft to a place I’m happy with, I still love these characters and their story as much as I did when I started it. Still, when a project stretches over years and has been interrupted (in a good way!) by other projects, the momentum can be tough to maintain. After I finished Natalie’s book, I wondered if John might have known that this was the push I needed to keep going. Again, he was right. Here’s are some snippets from Natalie’s book that inspired me to keep writing:
“The casualties of war aren’t just the ones who die.“
This is the reason I was originally drawn to the story I’m writing. While war stories focus on the frontlines, there is a whole narrative that plays out off the battlefield. Those people silently bear an immense weight that is no less painful but often neglected or ignored, or worse, not even considered.
“War is not a sport, to be decided in a quick bout on a strip of contested land. It is a web which stretches out to the furthest parts of the world, drawing everyone into itself.”
Wars always go on for too long. Those who try to stay neutral or out of the fray are drawn in, willing or not. And so often those people are women. In my story, this is exactly what happens and once they see the inevitable, they rise up despite being pushed down.
“This is the women’s war, just as much as it is the men’s.”
When my screenplay received feedback from writing competition judges, one thing that they consistently liked was that the story was about a war without the war being the whole story. It’s also about their friendships, dreams, heartbreaks, and the difference between how society views them and how they view themselves.
“A woman who lost so much so young deserves something, even if it’s just to have her story told.”
Even though these women aren’t fighting on the frontlines, the war is no less theirs and their stories are just as valid. Maybe even more so because they are who relate to most. From the very beginnings of storytelling, which coincide with the beginning of humanity, all people have ever wanted was to be heard and understood. It’s why we tell stories at all. It’s also why we write them.
“There are so many ways of telling a war: the entire conflict can be encapsulated in just one incident.”
The inciting incident is where a story begins to skyrocket. It sets in motion the conflict and the action. It is what sets everything in motion. So it was in the mythology of the Trojan War. So it is in my story that I’m writing. So it is in every book and film. And also in our lives. There are defining moments where something happens and everything after is forever changed by it. It’s rarely something we choose. It’s something that happens, and then we must make meaning from it. I write to make meaning from things in my own life; I think most writers do.
“All that matters is the telling.”
There may be people who write to get an agent, a publishing contract, fortune, and fame. I write because I like writing. I write because it’s just who I am. I write to make sense of the world, and to put together an image of the world I want to live in. Are all those external benefits lovely? I’m sure they are. But they aren’t my reasons for putting fingers to keyboard or pen to paper. They would be a bonus, and if they never come my way, that’s okay. I’ll keep writing. I’ll keep telling stories because it makes me happy.
New hair. New me. My hair has quite a backstory. I haven’t sat in a hair salon chair in 5.5 years. Chemo, hormone suppression therapy, and regrowth took a lot longer than I expected, and the fear of letting go of any of my hair didn’t help. But I faced up to that fear, and here are the results from my first professional haircut since December 2020.
I’m so grateful to Penelope Love at Happy Sunshine Hair (and my wonderful Jane Cooke who connected me to Penelope!) for teaching me how to love and take care of my chemo curls that are now here to stay. She used my existing products. No upsells. No criticism. Just her talents, teaching, and support. She’s an independent stylist who rents her chair at a hair collective meaning the fee for the cut goes entirely to her, not a big brand. Happy Sunshine is a collective of 10 stylists making their way together in the beauty industry in NYC, a fashion capital of the world. (I’ll put a link to their site and Penelope’s in the comments below if you want to check them out!)
For most people, chemo curls fade after a couple of years, but I’m one of the few who is now a permanent curly girl. Penelope showed me how to own that with pride instead of mourning my original hair.
This weekend also marked a big medical shift. About 99% of the letrozole is now out of my system. The lupron will be hanging around in my system for a few more months while the tamoxifen ramps up. We’ll see how that goes!
I’m already feeling a lot better: less chronic pain in my joints and muscles, more flexibility, less fatigue and insomnia, fewer hot flashes, and less depression.
Cheers to starting a new chapter. I’m excited to celebrate with a vacation in Canada starting Monday. Let’s go have an adventure. I’m ready!
June 18th: Knicks parade, free admission to AKC Museum of the Dog, and a special storytelling show by NYC’s Secrets & Lies with free snacks, exclusive after-hours museum access, special guests, and raffle prizes!
The Museum of the Dog is offering free admission all day on Thursday June 18th from 11am – 6pm for everyone who wears any Knicks gear
Then at 6:30pm NYC’s Secrets & Lies is doing a special storytelling show all about NYC dogs! The show requires a ticket and along with the show you get:
Salty and sweet snacks
Exclusive after-hours access to the museum
A rare chance to meet a real working transit dog and their handler who work the MTA subway every day
You’ll be entered into a drawing for 2 tickets to the American Kennel Club event Meet the Breeds
Where: AKC Museum of the Dog (101 Park Ave at 40th Street, Manhattan)
Just after graduating from my Master’s program at University of Cambridge / Cambridge Institute for Sustainability Leadership (CISL) last summer, I went to Stockholm, Sweden for vacation. While I was there, I stayed in a beautiful neighborhood that was a perfect melding of nature and city infrastructure.
Thanks to a very serendipitous bowl of soup, I learned from a waiter that this neighborhood had a secret – it had been transformed from a toxic, industrial wasteland into a living lab for climate action.
I had the opportunity to interview incredible people for this piece including the former finance minister of Sweden, the lead architect, energy and climate researchers, and the team members of ElectriCITY, the collective leading the district’s sustainability efforts. Their inspiring blueprint can be adapted and applied in every city, including my hometown of NYC.
This Friday, the world celebrates a staggering milestone as Sir David Attenborough turns 100. For a century, he has served as one of nature’s fiercest advocates and storytellers, moving from showing us the beauty of the wild to imploring us to take a stand for nature’s survival and our own. His career proves that meaningful change is rarely a sprint; it is a relentless, lifelong commitment to shifting how we see the world and our place in it. I, like so many other people, have been profoundly influenced by him and his passion for our natural world. Graduating from University of Cambridge, as he did, after studying Sustainability Leadership set my life and career on a new course.
Doubling Down on the Blueprint
I have been thinking a lot about this long-term perspective lately, especially with the publication of my latest feature in Smithsonian Magazine. I spent months diving into the story of Hammarby Sjöstad, a neighborhood in Stockholm that set out with intensely ambitious sustainability goals in the 1990s.
When the project initially fell short of its targets, the community did not abandon the mission. They doubled down. A group of neighbors got together and created ElectriCITY Innovation. They treated their failures as data points and evolved their strategy, eventually creating a circular-economy blueprint that cities across the globe can adapt and apply. You can read the full story of their decades-long journey toward resilience in my new feature:
Whether we look at Attenborough’s hundred-year legacy or Stockholm’s thirty-year urban experiment, the lesson for our own communities remains clear: sustainability requires the stamina to stay in the game when things get difficult.
Celebrate the storytellers: Take a moment this Friday to watch a piece of Attenborough’s work and reflect on how his perspective shaped your own understanding of nature.
Audit your long game: Look at a sustainability project in your own neighborhood that feels stalled. Instead of viewing a missed goal as a failure, ask how you can double down and pivot the strategy like Stockholm did.
Share the blueprint: When you find a solution that works, document it and share it. Evolution happens when we learn from each other’s experiments, failures, and triumphs. Sustainability is not a one-and-done task. It’s a process of continuous improvement.
Nature and our cities both require us to think in decades, not just days. To honor Dr. David Attenborough and the beings with whom we share this planet, let’s keep building for the next century.
My NYC’s Secrets & Lies storytelling show is heading back to the South Street Seaport Museum on Sunday, March 29th at 3pm. Our first-ever afternoon show and first-ever weekend show. I would love to see you there and I’ve got a special deal available for you!
Buy your tickets at https://southstreetseaportmuseum.org/sports-secrets-lies/. Enter the code SECRETS20 after you put in your billing info and you’ll get the tickets for $12, which includes the show, museum entry, snacks, drinks, and the chance to win a sail on the museum’s 1885 Schooner Pioneer. Did you already buy your tix? Just let me know when you arrive and I’ll give you an extra set of lottery tickets for the prize drawing.
About this show’s theme and cast:
Keep the competitive spirit high with an afternoon of New York City’s most incredible secret sports history stories. We’re excited to dive into the grit and glory of the city’s athletic past, from legendary boxing gyms to behind-the-scenes at the NBA.
We’ve got two special guests for this show (also a first for us!) and they are two elite sports history experts: renowned photojournalist Arlene Schulman, who spent years documenting the raw world of NYC boxing, and Gina Antoniello, Academic Director at NYU’s Tisch Institute for Global Sport and a pioneer in professional sports communications. They will share unbelievable, firsthand accounts of how they broke barriers in NYC sports alongside other rising stars.
Then, the game is on! Public historian Alexa Rast and I will face off in a high-stakes battle, trading increasingly wild mini-stories from NYC’s sports history. All are true—except for one. Can you spot the masterful lie to win an exclusive prize – a sail on the Seaport Museum’s 1885 Schooner Pioneer?
We’ll have plenty of light bites and drinks on hand, included in your ticket. After all, what’s a sporting event without a snack?
What a night! Last night, we gathered in a hidden speakeasy in the heart of the city for a sold-out edition of NYC’s Secrets & Lies: Prohibition.
There is nothing quite like the energy of a room full of New Yorkers leaning in to hear the hidden histories of their city. I am so proud of the community we are building with this show.
A massive shoutout to our storytellers Melissa, Bethany, Margo, and Taylor who were phenomenal! And as always I have unending gratitude for our amazing audience, and my friends Ashley, Vicki, and Erin who care so deeply about this show and always provide me with such excellent advice, input, and counsel.
If you missed this one, don’t worry! We have two shows coming up in March and April, both back at the South Street Seaport Museum – the history of NYC sports and the history of women who defined the NYC waterfront! Your $15 ticket includes our storytelling show, the museum exhibit, drinks, & snacks. Links to buy tickets:
Happy New Year! Each year I select a word to guide my thoughts and actions. In 2025, I chose Rebuild. Now, with that foundation, I’m ready to scale the efforts I’ve loved most.
2026 at a Glance:
The Word:Momentum (finding the moment within the movement).
The Focus: Scaling NYC’s Secrets & Lies, adopting a heart dog, and publishing in a dream publication.
The Goal: Moving from “rebuilding” to intentional acceleration in community, health, and creativity.
Within the word “Momentum” is the word “Moment”. That’s where I want to be in 2026 – in the moment, in every moment. I want to focus on my lived experience each day.
Even with all the challenges and difficulties in the world, in 2025 I found ways to build community through longer tables and creative projects that inspire wonder and curiosity. It’s made me so happy to reflect on that and think about how that can continue in 2026.
Here are some of the areas that interest me most. What are you thinking of in 2026?
Storytelling
I am beyond thrilled that my show NYC’s Secrets & Lies is back and that so many lovely people have filled out audience and graced the stage with their knowledge and humor. This show encapsulates so many things I love: storytelling, a celebration of NYC, history, laughter, and awe. I know how lucky I am to call this city home and I love nothing more than sharing all the wild stories of our collective past that still exists on every street. I’ve also made some of my very best friends because of this show, and those relationships have saved and transformed my life.
We started doing location-based shows with partners in 2025, the dream I always had, and I can’t wait to create more of those immersive environments for our audiences in 2026. Our show at the Seaport Museum was a huge success and they were wonderful to work with so I’m hoping we can do more projects together.
We’re already working on some fun plans during this very momentous year in our city’s history to celebrate:
NYC’s 400th anniversary
The country’s 250th anniversary
100th anniversary of Houdini‘s death on Halloween (yep – he was a New Yorker!)
National Pet Adoption Week in March
Our first outdoor show in April with Natural Areas Conservancy for Earth Day
Climate Week shows in San Francisco (nature in the San Francisco area) and in NYC (NYC food history)
A few things we’re considering in addition to our shows:
Free field trips where a group of us go to an interesting location in NYC and learn about its history
Reading club on historical topics
Potluck dinners with historical recipes
Entering the Great Borough Bake-off at Museum of the City of New York
Dogs
In January 2024, I lost my soul dog, Phineas, after 13 1/2 years together.2024 was a painful year. Sometimes I could barely breathe because the grief was so heavy. It was the worst grief I’ve ever felt. At the very end of 2024 and through 2025, I fostered 10 dogs through Muddy Paws Rescue and became an active volunteer with the organization. I never imagined I would become as involved as I am. More than anything else I’ve done, fostering and volunteering to save shelter dogs has helped me heal. I still miss Phinny every single day. I will miss him every day for the rest of my life.
2025 taught me how to carry the grief of losing Phinny and the joy of rescuing other dogs like him. He never left me, not really. I feel his spirit with me always. There are, sadly, so many shelter dogs who need forever homes. In 2026, I want to get even more involved with helping more shelter dogs. I don’t know exactly what that looks like yet.
I am ready to adopt my heart dog and especially excited to go through therapy dog training with them. My hope is that we’ll become a certified team so we can visit chemo patients and participate in library programs where kids read to dogs.
Writing
At the end of 2025, I pitched an article to my dream publication and they accepted it! This is the good news I hinted at yesterday—I’m so thrilled to finally share it. I’m working on the piece right now and will share it once it’s published.
I spent 2025 further honing my writing skills in different genres and formats, and now I’m excited to put more of it out into the world in more publications and platforms. I learn so much as a writer by reading, and I’m trying to read more books and better track the books I read in a fun analog way.
Learning
2025 brought me many opportunities to learn new skills and grow my areas of expertise. Some of them came through work and many of them I explored on my own. I continued my language learning and I want to build on that in the new year. I signed up for Masterclass again because a few of their courses caught my eye and there was a massive 50% off sale for the new year. My interests vary widely so a platform like Masterclass is perfect for me. I loved their programs that I took a few years ago so I’m excited to dive back into it. I’d also like to find more opportunities to learn alongside others.
Nature
In 2025, I graduated with my Master’s in Sustainability Leadership at University of Cambridge. That was an enormous personal and professional accomplishment. I fulfilled my dream of studying abroad with the most incredible group of people who inspire me every day.
I had hoped to transition my full-time work into climate but political circumstances being what they are in the U.S., that didn’t happen. Through writing my Togetherhood newsletter, storytelling, and advocacy work, I’ve been able to be involved with the climate community and aid collective efforts. In 2026, I’d like to explore more ways that I can help even if my full-time work is not rooted in sustainability. Sometimes, dreams take longer than we’d like. The route isn’t as clear as we planned. The planet needs tending, and in 2026 I want to find opportunities to use what I have where I am to be useful.
Travel
In 2025, I finally got to Italy and Scandinavia, two places that have been on my list for some time. In June, I’ll skip back across the pond to reunite with my Cambridge classmates in London for our now-annual get-together. I’m already looking forward to that. I also decided to plan more weekends away. That’s something I don’t typically do. I’m not sure why I’ve not planned that more often – maybe because I love NYC so much and there is always a lot to do here.
In 2026, I’m going to make the effort to explore more and visit more friends who live outside of NYC. I’m hoping to finally get to Asia, another area of the world I’ve not yet visited.
Home and Finance
I’m very lucky to have a stable living situation after years of being a market-rate renter in a city that is insanely expensive. I love my Brooklyn neighborhood and my apartment. In 2025, I crunched the numbers many times and it didn’t make financial sense to buy a place of my own because of the deal I have in my place now and the soaring interest rates and downpayment requirements. I’ll continue to keep an eye on that in 2026 to see if anything changes. In the meantime, I’m working closely with my financial planner to save for a home down the line. I’m also refreshing my space with some new design touches.
Love Dating apps did not bring me joy in 2025. Even the mechanics of them are off-putting to me. I know they work for lots of people, so I’ve not abandoned them completely. I’d like to put myself in situations to meet more people who share my interests, and maybe that will also include a partner who is as wonderful as my friends. That’s the only kind of partner I’m interested in having. It’s worth trying. At the very least, I’ll meet interesting people who become friends.
Health
And finally, my health is the basis of all my dreams. It’s really true that health is the first wealth. I learned a lot in 2025 about medicine, nutrition, exercise, and the value of rest. I healed from a few injuries and in the process learned how to better care for my body. In 2026, I’d like to refocus on more meditation – that’s a practice I fell away from in 2025 and I always feel better when it’s part of my routine. I experimented a lot with new recipes, and loved the art and eating of cooking and baking. I want to continue that and invite more people to have meals with me in my home.
2025 marked 5 years since my cancer diagnosis and I’m grateful for my restored health. In 2026, I’ll mark 5 years since the end of active treatment and finish taking one of my medications that may also lead to a change in another of my medications. While these are all positive changes, I’m always wary of new meds and med changes because of past experiences I’ve had. I’m exploring ways to support myself in that process – maybe through acupuncture, saunas, and other holistic modalities.
Some closing thoughts
2025 saw a lot of upheaval and pain around the world. Through donations to and volunteering with organizations doing work, I was able to help others and that is something I will always continue to do. Improving the lives of all beings and the planet has to happen as a collective, and I’m looking forward to using my good health, resources, and skills to further cultivate community and cheer loudly for others in 2026.
Happy New Year. I’m glad we’re here together. Long may that continue.
What is one area where you’re looking to find momentum this year?
In 2025, I focused on what I could construct. It turns out, community is the strongest foundation. Photo by John Cameron on Unsplash.
Rather than make resolutions, I select a word each year to guide my thoughts and actions. In 2025, I chose “Rebuild.”Looking back at my post from January 1, 2025, I started the year meditating on the Mary Oliver quote: “Listen, are you breathing a little and calling it a life?” I realized I had been waiting for everything—more time, money, clarity, experience, validation—to finally do the things I wanted to do. I was waiting for permission that only I could give to myself.
In a world that often felt fractured and difficult, I wanted to focus on what I could construct. I spent 2025 building community, seeking advice, iterating, and lifting others up as I rose. This year had many days that broke me down, but it turns out that being broken down is just the first step of a remodel. Each time, I got up a little stronger and more intentional.
I worked hard to be the most generous person in the room, the best listener, and a truly collaborative partner. I couldn’t have done this alone, and I am deeply grateful to the mentors, friends, and all of you who sat in the “construction zone” with me.
I launched my Togetherhood weekly nature newsletter to share the solace I find in the outdoors, and teamed up with a wonderful group of creators to restart NYC’s Secrets & Lies. Both projects were born from the same goal: to ignite curiosity, wonder, and a sense of belonging in a world that can sometimes feel lonely. Beyond my own projects, I worked alongside others as a volunteer with Muddy Paws Rescue and City Harvest to provide safety and care for dogs, people, and the planet.
Amidst the busyness, I kept up with foreign language learning, indulged my love for baking and cooking, and looked after my health. I also spent a lot of quiet time honing my storytelling in ways I didn’t expect; I have some good news and lessons learned to share on that front in January.
Going into 2026, I’m excited to take everything I rebuilt this year and carry it further. More on that tomorrow. Wishing you and yours a bright, happy, and healthy new year.
parade on Thursday, June 18th! 
The Museum of the Dog is offering free admission all day on Thursday June 18th from 11am – 6pm for everyone who wears any Knicks gear 
Then at 6:30pm NYC’s Secrets & Lies is doing a special storytelling show all about NYC dogs! The show requires a ticket and along with the show you get:
Salty and sweet snacks
Exclusive after-hours access to the museum
A rare chance to meet a real working transit dog and their handler who work the MTA subway every day
You’ll be entered into a drawing for 2 tickets to the American Kennel Club event Meet the Breeds
And as always I have unending gratitude for our amazing audience, and my friends Ashley, Vicki, and Erin who care so deeply about this show 
– the history of NYC sports 
Your $15 ticket includes our storytelling show, the museum exhibit, drinks, & snacks. Links to buy tickets:
Christa Avampato 