The Saints won the Super Bowl and the city of New Orleans has barely taken a moment to breathe since. It’s been parade and celebration and second line and high fives and hugs and everything you could imagine and more here in The Big Easy ever since Sunday night.
In honor of the true excitement of the big win, here is little video (part 4 of 4 videos I did on Sunday) right after the big win, on Bourbon Street, in the madness. See the bottom of the post to more videos leading up to and including the mayhem.
While at the World Economic Forum in Davos, I walked by the Hub, a central meeting place for the Wall St. Journal writers and also where the Hub was interviewing Young Global Leaders, CEOs and social entrepreneurs about Davos and their experiences. They were gracious enough to ask to interview me and readers of The Causemopolitan might remember that I’m only now growing into liking myself on video. I’m being honest! It’s the third medium that I’m adjusting to (after writing and photos). Submitting the MySpace Journal video was one of the hardest things I’ve ever done, it was really putting myself out there and without the help and support of friends here in New Orleans I don’t know that I would have had the courage to do it.
That said, big thank you to Edie Lush and Hub Culture for the interview above and for all you New Orleans readers out there, check out the interview starting around minute 3 where I really get into WHY I love New Orleans and what is of the most value in being here and being part of the community. (more…)
Big thank you to the team at What Gives for the interview above from October’s Blog World Expo in Las Vegas where Christopher Smith (@groovemonkey) interviewed me about my cause-filled life, the turning point that got me there, Cause It’s My Birthday and what’s next.
The video above about the “social media revolution” further illustrates that point. As a person who creates social media campaigns professionally, I’m asked all the time if services like Twitter are going to last, where the online space is going next, and why invest in a technology now if it’s only going to change in 12-24 months. In response, I say look at what is happening NOW in response to Haiti. That’s power. That’s the social web standing up and taking charge and putting money where their mouth is.
Mobilize online community – GO! Friends, countrymen, lend me your votes! I have been named a finalist in a contest by MySpace and the Wall Street Journal to be a citizen journalist on their behalf at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland from January 27-31.
The what? The where? We’re getting there. But first, YOUR VOTE!
Click HERE to go to theMySpace.com/MySpaceJournal. You have to be logged into your MySpace account to vote. Once you’re logged in, click VOTE under my name and then SUBMIT. Then you’re done. Got it? Simple, huh? Awesome, thank you!
Appeal out of the way, let’s talk. What is this contest, why does it mean the world to me and what is the World Economic Forum?
1) The second year running, MySpace and the Wall Street Journal partner to send ONE citizen journalist to the World Economic Forum. Trip of a lifetime, you attend Davos and share your experience with the MySpace and WSJ communities through pictures, videos and blogging. (Sounds familiar long-time readers of The Causemopolitan doesn’t it – see now why this is so perfect for me)?
2) A political science and economic major/minor, I’ve long been a “geek” about economics. Factor in my CAUSEMOPOLITAN spirit, work in developing countries in 2009 including my Kiva Fellowship in the Philippines and now my commitment to economic development and social entrepreneurship in New Orleans and you can guess that Davos is the ultimate place I’ve always wanted to attend. And to be honest, I’ve always seen myself attending, I really believe from the bottom of my heart this is my year and I’ve never been better poised to take on this opportunity. Familiar with the global landscape, the names of major players on the international economic scene and the ability to interview, capture content and share that online – well, this is WHAT I DO. It’s me through and through, and I hope your votes, my video and my passion come through to the judges.
3) The World Economic Forum:
Purpose
Improving the state of the world requires catalysing global cooperation to address pressing challenges and future risks. Global cooperation in turn needs stakeholders from business, government, the media, science, religion, the arts and civil society to collaborate as a true community. To this end, the World Economic Forum Annual Meeting has engaged leaders from all walks of life to shape the global agenda at the start of the year for the last four decades.
If I get to attend, I hope you’ll learn more about this Forum, how the global economy affects all of us and how we can all take small steps every day to educate ourselves about global issues presented there. Think of it as a economic bootcamp, a chance to ask the questions you’ve always wanted to ask about global economies and much more content.
Want to help more than just your ONE vote?
Here’s How:
* Here’s a sample tweet: Check it out! @sloane is a finalist for the MySpace Journal competition to attend Davos, please vote for her! http://bit.ly/votesloane
* Post http://bit.ly/votesloane to your MySpace, Facebook and/or LinkedIn.
* Email your friends.
“Dance like no one is watching. Sing like no one is listening. Love like you’ve never been hurt and live like it’s heaven on Earth.” – Mark Twain
I captured the video above while at The Saint, a truly terrific dive bar in the Lower Garden District, on the final stop of an epic New Year’s Eve here in New Orleans with my friends. And while yes, at the time, I was really amused with the carefree way this guy was dancing after many many libations, when I got home and was looking at videos the next day, I couldn’t help but think…carefree or not, drunk or sober, aware of your surroundings or totally oblivious there is something to be said for living in the moment. Because moments come and go, and we are always looking back and remembering or looking forward and anticipating but if I can take one piece of 2009 with me into 2010 it will be this: Live in the moment.
Last month I started a series called “$5 or 5 minutes = 1 Way to Make a Difference” and I got an incredible response. It seems like there are a lot of way to give back online that are SIMPLE and EASY, but it can be hard to find them. So here’s my helping hand with 6 “Look, there’s a quick and easy way I can make a difference TODAY.” I present you with the 2nd edition of how you can give back either with a donation, your time or the click of a button. Simple yet meaningful.
I could say, “In the spirit of the holidays” but I think you and I both know this kind of behavior – getting into the habit of helping others – doesn’t have an expiration date or time or year, it’s evergreen.
Some of the opportunities below do expire, so act today!
1) VOTE. L’Oreal’s Women of Worth campaign highlights women in the community making a difference. In addition to all of the finalists having $5,000 donated in their name to the Ovarian Cancer Research Fund, the nominee with the MOST votes by end of day Tuesday, November 24th, will receive $25,000 for their nonprofit of choice.
I voted for Halle Tecco, an amazing woman who was a Kiva intern this summer and I met at my Kiva Fellowship training. She started a nonprofit called Yoga Bear that provides yoga mats and studio time for cancer patients and survivors. All of the women nominated are worthy of the grand prize, but if you want my recommendation, vote for Halle & Yoga Bear HERE.
2) TEXT. DONATE via your cell phone: text FEED to 90999 and your phone company will donate $5.00 to Feeding America! Your donation will provide 35 meals. Feeding America’s provides food to more than 25 million low-income people facing hunger in the United States every year, including more than 9 million children and nearly 3 million seniors. With a network of over 200 food banks serving all 50 states, more than 2.5 billion pounds of food and grocery products are distributed annually.
*UPDATE – An anonymous donor is MATCHING all texts to YOUR TEXT is now worth 70 meals!*
Great campaign by MashCast. See their flash mob to raise awareness at the top of this post. Follow @mashcast on Twitter for more information about this campaign which runs through the holidays. Make any additional donations HERE. (more…)
While meeting and visiting borrowers during my fellowship with Kiva, I came across Sabiano Nido who just had the cutest story about her and her husband that I wanted to share in this outtake. I’m looking through many many videos that I have yet to post and I’m flooded with emotion over how much I miss the Philippines, the women, the people and the feeling like I was giving back all day, every day.
You could call it delayed reverse culture shock. I’ll write more about that to come. In the meantime, here’s a little video that makes me smile.
Really why do we do anything but to curry favor with our parents? In my case, my mom. I told her I was up to BIG things this year and that my good deeds wouldn’t go unnoticed. So see Mom! Aren’t you proud of me? At any rate, what I really want to share is that our grassroots campaign Cause It’s My Birthday is closing in just a few days (10/31 at midnight EST to be exact). We’ve kept the donations open all month in part because we’re sooooooo close to our $20,000 goal. Yes, only $1,200 shy. That’s a few clicks of the button from people like YOU. Ahem, just saying. But also because donations REALLY do keep coming in. In large part because of press, blogs, word of mouth and we figured, hey why not keep it open all month.
I wanted to give a press update then – as a follow up to THIS post on the first round of press.
Of course to everyone who twittered, facebooked, emailed, spread the word and in general rawked and made things awesome – WOW. This literally could not have happened without everyone’s support and from our nonprofit partner Netting Nations and the net manufacturer, Vestergaard Frandsen to the families you’ve helped and from Doug and I – THANK YOU.
Chocolate. You either love it or hate it. Me? I’m of the love it category. Especially dark chocolate and I mean only for the all those feel goodery things it gives you when you have a daily dose. So when my good friend Andrew Seely started a web show, Melts in Your Pocket AND asked me to be a guest star (only his second next to Natasha) well how could I say no? Plus post Cause It’s My Birthday, I was staying at Doug Campbell’s gorgeous Brewery loft to work out of. Bliss.
Now we did go out and buy chocolate together, Green & Black to be precise, but we had a lot to catch up on (he’s launched a show after all and I’m back from Kiva and always on the go) so we didn’t exactly talk about WHAT we would be talking about on the show. Hey, I’m not the web star ok. And in the middle you’ll catch I really have no idea what chocolate smells like (I mean who ever thought such things?) So don’t judge me on that. But you know what – this was definitely stretching my boundaries. It was uncomfortable (theme of the week – and of my TribeCon panel remember?!?) It was fun and I hope you like it. I mean a show ALL about chocolate? What will these kids think of next?
To learn more about Melts In Your Pocket, follow the show on Twitter here.
