I love being reminded that perhaps my perspective on this crazy social media game could influence others. I am deeply flattered to have inspired this wonderfully witty and insightful post from Nick Dawson. Check out “The Bob Ross Theory of Social Content Management” by clicking on the happy little trees:
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Tagged: communications, healthcare, marketing, public relations, social media
In response to the devastation caused by the earthquake in Haiti this week, I worked with my team at Mobile Matters to create HaitiMatters. It’s our social media and mobile response that will aggregate information and ways to help and update interested people via mobile. Visit our HaitiMatters page for more info.
I am also helping to put on a music and art benefit here in Brooklyn called HaitiMatters to Brooklyn check that out here!
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I was so honored to be asked to speak at the Mayo clinic on social media and the 140 Smiles campaign we launched while I was at Operation Smile. Here is a video interview I did on the beautiful grounds in Arizona. Bear in mind the camera adds about 50 pounds 
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Tagged: communications, facebook, marketing, Non-Profit, pr nptech, social media, twitter
Just realized I had not posted this and am SO very proud to have been asked to write it. See Page 36
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Tagged: DMA, DMANF, Fundraising, nptech, social media, twitter
Wow what a whirlwind. Starting a company, moving to big city, learning about the world and myself and the incredible people I have met. With all this social technology connectedness I wonder why I feel so out of touch. Today’s blog will be of the personal/narcissistic/memoir/oversharing variety so if you came looking for some social media advise, scroll down.
I live in a New World, called New York. 15 years ago at the tender age of 19, I moved to what was a very different version of this city. Back then I had visions of a Bohemian rhapsody—-artists and musicians welcoming me into their fold to embark on my own explorations as a visual and performance artist. In actual fact, i moved here as a nanny to an artist in a swanky village apartment who used to rub elbows (among other things) with Andy Warhol.
Unfortunately what I found was that the only thing Bohemian in 1990’s NYC was the batik scarves offered by the street vendors. NY was cold, the art world a corporate monster that ate people like me up for fun and the performance art…well actually I almost got to produce my show which freaked me out and sent me packing. I had a great little NYC experience as a young woman–I saw Ani DiFranco on my 21st birthday at Irving Plaza–I danced on that same stage with the Lunachicks and I served the homeless with the day old food from the Starbucks I worked in. I met a lifelong friend (Hi Greg) who saved me in a few ways and I learned a very terrifying fact in that 3 year period….I could do ANYTHING I wanted.
Nothing held me back, I was fearless. I had no bills, no ties, no responsibilities. I worked hard and had great, fun, interesting jobs. My sassy mouth got me into clubs I wanted to go to, I had a momentary heavenly experience with Joey Ramone, I sang with a band, I befriended some hip village types. All in all it was scary & awesome.
But circumstances I cannot get into in this blog for fear of putting you to sleep took me home to Virginia. Back in my home bitter home I met a friend who is to date like family to me and the drama of NYC only enriched the peace and ease of Norfolk.
It’s so odd being back here now. Here is just a random list of why it’s different, difficult, dramatic and delightful all at the same time:
O.k. O.k.; I’ll wrap it up…I’m writing this just to say that with all of this amazing technology that is reconnecting people with old flames, family and friends, NOTHING replaces real interaction. And this is lonely. Being alone, after having been married, eating dinner alone, watching movies alone, working alone all day is just plain lonesome. And no amount of Facebook Chat or Skyping can make up for it.
As the holidays descend on this damn town, I am reminded that no matter how well-adjusted you are, no matter how busy or focused you are…nothing can replace the warmth of a smile, right in front of you, flesh and blood. So if you’re sitting at a bar, or in a cafe and there’s someone all alone, say hi. They may be desperate for the warmth of a friend, even if it’s just for one syllable.
And if you see me at, say Atlas or Verb cafe in Brooklyn, come say hi, I promise not to talk your ear off.
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It’s yet another *inspired* Saturday morning for me. What an incredible second week with MobileMatters the team is gelling and we are all amped about how we can use our unique talents to create change in the world through social technologies. And we’re not talking just “Text to Donate” which is super exciting in and of itself (did you know we can set up a text campaign for a 501C3 where $5 or $10 gets charged to a supporters phone bill? No pay pal, no check, no wait, just 100% immediate funding for your cause-WHOA!) but really harnessing these technologies to shake things up and make a real impact.
It was both personally and professionally pivotal for me. As I continue to learn about the mobile world and explore the myriad of small businesses, arts and non profits that we will be helping, my mind races with creative and innovative ways to help them change the world. I had an incredible (and pricey) breakfast with Brad Spies of SxSW about multiple things, not the least of which was possibly working with Sweet Relief as part of the incredibly rad Beacon Lounge project.
Then I had a killer night watching some amazing CMJ bands-PLEASE check out the exceedingly melodic and quirky FAMILY OF THE YEAR if they come to your town-you wont be sorry (or bored). Thanks to Matt for sharing the radness with me.
But the most pivotal and incredible moment of the week came when I got to meet someone who literally changed and quite possibly saved my life. Many years ago in one of those “dark seasons” (which is to say a really awful, depressing, Morrissey filled summer) a friend who I had some deep conversations with over coffee and tear stained doodles gave me a book. This book was pretty simple, it was just a guy hanging out, going through stuff and asking questions that had answers he didn’t like so he kept asking and then eventually created his own answers.
The hook is-the questions and answers were about God. And the guy seemed to have read the script someone wrote that constantly plays out in my mind because his words were echoing my life. And at the end of BLUE LIKE JAZZ I decided to follow Christ. The sequel to that book for me was The Message Bible and part duex of that story was me finding Epic Church and Robb & Shaula Overholt who pulled me from darkness, recognized my need to help and heal people (and maybe the world in some small way) and showed me how I could do that through Christ and ministry.
So this guy Donald Miller, (who’s comfy chair i helped fund because I bought a zillion books and gave them to everyone I knew whether they were happy or sad, pagan or christian, willing or un) spoke here in New York this week. In a church that he aptly likened to Hogwarts and i was all a flutter as if I was meeting one of the New Kids on the Block and it was 1989.
Beyond just sheer appreciation and wonderment at someone who had such a life-altering impact on your life, I wanted to meet Don because of the work he is doing for fatherless boys through his Mentoring Project. I have worked with “at risk” youth (sidebar: aren’t we all “at risk” when we’re young and vulnerable and wily???)….anyway one of the things we are doing at Mobile Matters is identifying organizations and small businesses where we can use mobile technologies and social media to have a big impact both programmatic and in raising funds and support. So I was excited to learn more about his work and chat with him about what we might be able to do to unite fatherless sons with someone who can change their lives—-much in the same way Don changed mine.
O.K. enough bubbles and lollipops about how awesome Don Miller is because truth be told the appetizer on the main course was as AMAZING and inspirational as Don was. Susan Isaacs took the pulpit (at Hogwarts) and reached out and grabbed the audience by the (fill in whatever you’d like here; short and curlies-balls-etc etc). She not only questioned the (British speaking) guy in the sky but she got downright angry at him. She had done everything “right” in terms of church (and chastity) and being a “good” person and yet still faced strife and struggle and failure. She was pissed off. And she said so…and a whole lot more while reading from her book Angry Conversations with God. I picked up a copy and can’t wait to see more about her journey.
Susan was funny and inspiring and real and totally entertaining, she reminded me of myself a few year back. Just kidding; she did remind me of how much I loved telling stories and doing comedy and making people laugh (intentionally not in the unintentional way they normally do). So now I have even more impetus to get back in the creative realm now that I’m here in the big apple. So thank you Susan for that!!!
Maybe if I start doing comedy and writing more, my blogs could be a bit shorter and you could go back to doing something more uplifting like…………….DONATING TO THE MENTORING PROJECT or watching Susan Isaacs wax poetic and hilarious on boys and Hollywood and God:
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Tagged: Donald Miller, God, Jesus, Mentoring, Mentoring Project, mobile matters, Susan Isaacs, Verve Church
Loving my new routine of commuting from brooklyn to East Village to Hoboken. It’s actually kind of liberating driving through the city-sort of metaphorical, u drive really fast and zoom zoom style the POW stopped, trapped, no sign of open lanes or progress…the slowly the wheels before u start rolling and you’re free to take off again. (Disclaimer: I am not driving while creating this post)
Sent via BlackBerry by AT&T
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I have frequently in my life written about the injustice to our elders we do in this country. How we are the only culture that devalues our wisest generation. I had a wonderfully serendipitous occurrence years ago when I had written a letter to the editor on this very subject to the Virginia Pilot in Norfolk. I wrote about how my generation looks at elders as bad drivers and people who smell weird and don’t get us. We fail to realize that the things we find cool, like rock n roll, the internet, jeans, freedom, etc were made possible by the old f.a.r.t.s. we sigh and grumble about while waiting in line at the market.
As fate would have it, this letter ran on Veterans Day and was very well received. Lots of responses poured in from veterans, revolutionaries and even a few teen-agers whose parents made them read it and saw the light (i hope). Anyway, the following day an elderly gentleman stumbled into my office. This was odd because my office at the time was in an unmarked building on the 4th floor with no signage or ease of entry from the ground level. This gentleman wanted to buy a boat.
He wanted to buy a boat to take home to his wife and children; he had just gotten a great job and was determined to by a bout from a Norfolk boat builder. The reality was this gentleman was well over 70 and had boarded a bus from Maryland bound for Norfolk after having walked out of the front door of a home for veterans. He had Alzheimer’s and was lost; though ironically his resolve never let on. The perplexing thing about Alzheimer’s is that the people seem totally resolute and normal, they have no clue they are stricken. It’s sad and odd and disturbing and yet weirdly comforting to me. The few folks that I have come in contact with that have this ailment actually seem fairly at piece most of the time; it’s the loved ones that suffer constantly.
But I am digressing from my point. My co-worker was headed to Portsmouth and drove the gentleman (I think his name was Harry) to the VA hospital there. I recently left Operation Smile as Social Media Strategist, not because I wasn’t happy or didn’t love the work, but I felt the call to help lot’s of causes…use my wacky, creative, strategic mind to help veterans and Alzheimer’s patients and animals and kids in the city that can’t get out of the vicious cycle of poverty and crime.
So I am working with a mobile innovations company, trying to find real solutions to help change the world and I am super excited about some of the things we have on the white board. As I was setting up our Twitter account and following my favorite Twitterers (where’s my list thingy) I came across this incredible thing that the mighty John Haydon’s son is doing to help veterans. His son is doing a “Kick-A-Thon” to help the New England Shelter for Homeless Veterans. A tear came to my eye, my lack of blogging streak ended and I got my credit card out. WE NEED kids like this to help make the world a better place, John must have done something good there because this is an incredible thing, I am hoping you will click here and donate too. And more-over, if you have a little human in your house, how can you get them to open there eyes to need and do something about it?
I’ll leave you with one of my favorite poems that inspired me a s a child to get involved with the elderly-
The Little Boy and the Old Man by Shel Silverstein
Said the little boy, “Sometimes I drop my spoon.”
Said the old man, “I do that too.”
The little boy whispered, “I wet my pants.”
“I do that too,” laughed the little old man.
Said the little boy, “I often cry.”
The old man nodded, “So do I.”
“But worst of all,” said the boy, “it seems
Grown-ups don’t pay attention to me.”
And he felt the warmth of a wrinkled old hand.
“I know what you mean,” said the little old man.
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Tagged: campaign, charity, Danny Brown, help, john haydon, mobile, mobile matters, Non-Profit, shel silverstein, veterans
I was on a lunch panel at the recent Social Media for Healthcare Communicators summit at the Mayo Clinic. The concept was 30 ideas in 30 minutes and we went rapid fire with a panel that included Lee Aase, Shel Holtz, Heather Harper of Edelman and more. I thought I would post my top 5 tips here for you as an addition to the slide show I posted teh otehr day!
1. Engage all teams and filter concerns and suggestions prior to starting your Social Media efforts. This will reduce push back and allow you to think more strategically about how Social Media can be put to use for your organization.
2. Focus on 1 or 2 channels at first, just on those you will be able to pay attention to. Don’t open a store if you aren’t going to be open for business!
3. Share the wealth; show your support for other like organizations (even your competitor) to build trust and respect as a true industry leader. This also gives you credibility with clients/customers/patients and shows you are not using these channels for sales and pr alone.
4. Engage outside help; don’t feel like you have to be the lone ranger in Social Media for your organization. Engage people who are natural to the medium such as volunteers, receptionists etc to handle day to day basic communication. This frees you up to do the creative strategy to use the channels to reach your desired goals.
5. THINK MOBILE! Mobile is the natural evolution of the personal computer; as you begin to embark on social media, include researching and incorporating mobile so that you are ahead of the curve! (shameless plug www.mobilematters.org can help!
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Tagged: edelman, marketing, mayo clinic, mobile, mobilematters, public relations, shel holtz, social media
I have just had an amazing two days hanging out with healthcare communicators at the Mayo Clinic in Scottsdale. I was so honored to be asked to speak at this conference on how I have used Social Media at Operation Smile. I have learned a ton and met some really great folks . Shout out to the awesome Lee Aase and Shel Holtz who I was lucky enough to share a panel with. Great stuff guys!
I was excited to get a few laughs and tweets about the presentation, here is a copy of my slide show:
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Tagged: communications, healthcare, marketing, mayo clinic, nptech, public relations, social media, strategy
