Join Me and Donate To My Birthday Fundraiser

Archive for the ‘Cause-Filled Living’ Category

Join Me and Donate To My Birthday Fundraiser

October 5th, 2011, by Sloane Berrent. No Comments »

Dear friends, family and everyone else who has stumbled onto this page,

Let me set the stage…the big one was my 30th birthday in 2009 – that was the year Cause It’s My Birthday was born and we raised $20,000 for Netting Nations and for malaria nets in Ghana.

Ever since then, I haven’t been able to shake the power of social media to help drive social change. I eat, live and breathe in this space.

I’m at it again! This year, I’m celebrating my Sweet Sixteen (x2) and 100% of online donations and donations at my birthday party will go to She’s The First.

She’s The First supports girls education in the developing world. The partner school I’ve chosen is Starfish One By One School in Solola, Guatemala. Only $300 provides a scholarship to one girl for one year.
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Welcome To NYU’s Wagner School of Public Service

September 20th, 2011, by Sloane Berrent. 4 Comments »

I have exciting news to share! I’ve started on a wonderful and new adventure to add to my already wonderful and full plate. I have just started graduate school as a part-time student at New York University’s Wagner School of Public Service working towards a Masters of Public Administration with a concentration in management.

This brings to mind one of my favorite quotes of all time from Andrew Carnegie, “My heart is in the work.”

The definition of public service is “a service rendered in the public interest” and I have always had such a strong pull to serving in the best interests of the public. That can be seen through all of my community activism and projects in social media for social good. Now I have the chance to deepen my understanding and my learning in these topics in a community of my peers.

I did consider MBA programs, but context matters folks. For me, it was a lot about the people in the program itself, as much as it was about the program and reviews on Wagner (one of my mentors is an alumni) are stellar. In fact, every time I mention it now to someone I often here about a person I have to meet in the program or someone who graduated from there that I would connect with.

Ranked in the top 10 graduate programs for Public Affairs by U.S. News and World Report, the school is an excellent blend of academics and practitioners. Many of my classmates also work full-time and the classes I’m taking are in the evenings which allow me to work all day and then make it to class on-time.

While my concentration is management, I am also going to be focused a lot on the two subjects that have been woven through much of my work during my careers – social innovation and access to education for girls and it’s implications on health, wellness and economic development. I am working in tandem to broaden my horizons of what is possible in my professional career and hone in and focus on the subject areas where I want to deepen my knowledge and network.

I’m kicking things off with Introduction To Public Policy and Microeconomics. If you see me in person you might have already noticed the shift in my lexicon – I posed the question last night about how I wanted my life to be linear and not parabolic (yes this happened). I also have been talking about public/private partneships a lot – in particular how something that is private becomes public and becomes policy. You can expect more of my musings and what I’m learning here, and of course in greater “live-time” on Twitter. You can also follow NYU Wagner on Twitter at @NYUWagner.

It’s going to be a long road, I know I’m putting a lot on myself to perform at work and now at school. I couldn’t do this without an amazing support network of family and friends and also the conviction that now is the time for this next steps in my formal education. You might hear less from here on this blog as I have to reallocate my time and focus on lectures and homework. Then again you might hear from me more as I’m learning so much and busting from the seams to share it. We’ll see. Either way, wish me luck! And if you want to talk at all about if going back to school is right for you or talk about Wagner in particular, you know where to find me.

WalkAbout Autism With The Dan Marino Foundation

February 24th, 2011, by Sloane Berrent. 1 Comment »

I wanted to share another campaign I recently worked on. In partnership with JESS3, Samsung, The Dan Marino Foundation, I joined the team as a digital strategist. The campaign was two-part. The first was to support the first annual WalkAbout Autism in Miami, Florida hosted by The Dan Marino Foundation. The Dan Marino Foundation, was established in 1992 by Marino and his wife, Claire, after their son, Michael, was diagnosed with autism. The foundation has distributed over $22 million to research, services and treatment programs serving children with neurodevelopment disabilities.

The Dan Marino Center, which opened in 1995 along with the Miami Children’s Hospital, is an integrated neurodevelopmental center specializing in the diagnosis and treatment of children at risk for developmental and psychological problems. The center saw more than 48,000 children last year alone.

This was the first one, but have you ever been to an event and from the moment it starts everyone knows it will happen again? That was this event. Everyone there from current and former NFL players to the 7,500+ people who showed up, everyone was talking about next year. That is a pretty amazing and powerful thing to have happen. Their goal was $500,000, partially raised by sponsors and the other by donations from walkers. Why WalkAbout Autism? From The Dan Marino Foundation:

WalkAbout means, A “rite of passage” during which Australian Aborigines would undergo a journey during adolescence, live in the wilderness tracing paths that their ceremonial ancestors took, and imitate their heroic deeds. The Dan Marino Foundation WalkAbout Autism is a “rite of passage” for our children and adults with autism and their families. It is a reflection of where we have been and where we are going – the pathway to a better future for all of our heroes with autism.

I didn’t know at first I would be going to the Walk itself. I was assisting Dan Marino and his Foundation on digital strategy for fundraising and spreading the word. Yes, I even helped secure Dan his own verified Twitter account –> @DanMarino and work with @DanMarinoFdtn on their tweets and also their Facebook page. After a few weeks of working with everyone, they were like, come support the Walk. I’m so thrilled to have been able to take part in such a significant and powerful day.

I have all my photos up on Flickr here, but also wanted to share a few below. Stay tuned for my next post about the Team Up For Autism, the second part of this campaign!

If you want to support The Dan Marino Foundation and the amazing work they do, please make a donation. They are trailblazers in supporting kids and families with autism and I can’t say enough about their integrity and passion to this cause.
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Annual Review 2010

January 5th, 2011, by Sloane Berrent. 3 Comments »

I have written earlier this week about my struggle getting into the 2010 review and resolutions for 2010 but thanks to these 5 annual review posts, and then starting small with My Cities 2010 list and some quality time with my journal, I’m ready. Tempted though I was to skip it and not share at all, it’s these sticky and difficult places that I have to push through to make myself stronger. Would you agree?

Last year’s annual review and reflections can be found here and here with the My Cities 2009 here.

There was a process in part last year, but I knew I wanted to improve upon that practice so I decided to take a few of the following statements and answer those questions and go from there. As a note, I left travel out for the most part since I included reflections in the My Cities post.

What am I most proud of from 2010?

What didn’t worked or could have been better about 2010?

What lessons did I learn in 2010?

What am I looking to create and what challenges do I see for 2011?

After writing down all my thoughts in my journal to each of those questions, I took each statement and expanded upon it and let it ruminate a bit more. I’m answering the first two questions about 2010 in today’s post and the other two questions in a post tomorrow. Without further ado.

What am I most proud of from 2010?

2010 was truly a spectacular year. If I had to sum it all up, I would say I created great relationships with new people while continuing to build upon relationships that were already near and dear to me. This wasn’t always easy since I was traveling quite a bit and also in a new city, but friends and family come first. I also think that back in 2008 I let work take over my life and suck me dry and that my personal relationships suffered because of it. This year I made sure to take time to be “offline” and not get stuck in the race.

Being based in New Orleans was amazing as well. After five years in Los Angeles (until December 2008) I was used to being far from my family in Pittsburgh and not being able to make the little events because it was just too far. While New Orleans is not right around the corner from Pittsburgh, it is only one timezone off and a fairly quick flight home. I was able to make my grandpa’s 90th birthday celebration this year and that was huge. Just being closer felt really nice, even though not a day goes by that I don’t miss Los Angeles, my amazing friends there and the sunshine on my face and access to great hiking, beaches and mountains.
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The Causemopolitan Relaunches!

October 14th, 2010, by Sloane Berrent. 7 Comments »

Friends,

I’m incredibly excited to share with you a brand new version of The Causemopolitan. The Causemopolitan will still provide you with information about philanthropy, social entrepreneurship and cause-filled living opportunities for you to find ways to give back and continue to build cause into your life. Only now, it’s brighter, bigger and better than ever! There are more ways to find the content you want, stronger category and tagging infrastructure, interviews, and more targeted content to match the reader base. The layout and design have been given a facelift. New logo, new design, new colors. I hope you enjoy the new look and feel as much as I do, and would love to hear what you think in the comments!

Another great addition! The Causemopolitan has gone social! You can ‘like” posts, share on Twitter and add to StumbleUpon all at the top of every post. I’ve created a page on Facebook for The Causemopolitan and that is going to be the main portal for sharing cause-based videos, events and information and I’d love you to join the conversation.

If you’re not signed up to receive FREE updates from The Causemopolitan what are you waiting for? Sign up takes less than one minute and you can do it here! Of course, You can still add The Causemopolitan to your RSS feeder as well.

When I first started The Causemopolitan in February of 2009, I was looking for a little place on the web to call my own. I launched the site with encouragement and assistance from good friends Jonathan Dingman (designed the first wordpress site), Erica O’Grady, (the big push) Mike Prasad and Jeff Henderson (hosting and support). Since then so much has happened. From New Orleans to the Philippines and back, I have shared over 300 posts and connected with countless people who have left comments or reached out to me because of The Causemopolitan.

My blogging history didn’t start with The Causemopolitan. I had been blogging as the Lifestyle Editor for the leading Los Angeles blog LAist (part of the Gothamist network) since 2005, and had kept up with my Tumblr blog in addition to being active on social networks including Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and Flickr, but I wanted more. I was on a journey after all spending 2009 giving back in volunteer projects around the world.

Here’s the funny thing about blogging. I know mine is just one of millions of post-it notes on a wall, but it’s my post-it note, and it’s come to mean the world to me.

I haven’t gotten everything right all of the time, haven’t blogged every day, haven’t shared everything I wanted to, but I have tried my best to grow the community around The Causemopolitan. As my yoga teacher says, “You might lose your balance, but that doesn’t mean you didn’t try your best.”

Some truly incredible things have happened over the last year and a half including:

Expanding my experiential marketing and online communications consulting practice, Answer With Action.
Accepting a Kiva Fellowship in the Philippines for the summer of 2009 with Ahon sa Hirap, Inc., the oldest microfinance institution in the Philippines.
The EPIC Cause It’s My Birthday series last October where Doug Campbell and I raised $19,500 for Netting Nations to provide malaria nets to families in Ghana.
Attending the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland in January 2010 as the MySpace and Wall St. Journal Citizen Journalist.
Launching NOLAlicious, a weekly enewsletter in New Orleans with friends Carl Nelson and Taylor Davidson. NOLAlicious has since been named the “best newsletter in New Orleans” in the annual Web Awards by The Gambit.
Co-created and produced two series of benefits, raising over $60,000, for fishermen and their families in the wake of the Gulf Coast Oil Spill through the platform, Gulf Coast Benefit. All donations went to support the Gulf Restoration Network and Catholic Charities of New Orleans.
Created a public speaking practice around cause-filled living, and how to build online communities around cause. I’ve loved this and engagements have including Fundraising Day NYC, TribeCon, SXSW, The Combine and SocialDevCamp Chicago and lecturing at Columbia University’s School of International and Public Affairs and CalTech.
Create relationships and blogged for publications including PopTech, WhatGives!?, GOOD Magazine, and Socialbrite.

Another great resource to follow along is my blogroll. Updated every month, I add links and resources as a benefit to those in the public and private sector to help identify ways to give back. It also has lists for other publications I write for, nonprofits I support and inspiring cause-based writers.

I welcome your feedback and looking forward to this next chapter for me, you, and The Causemopolitan.

Yours in cause,
Sloane

P.S. Last, you can always follow the latest in cause news that I share on my Twitter (@sloane) and on now also through The Causemopolitan on Facebook.