What I've Been Up To

I can't believe I haven't written a blog post in well over a year. Amazing how twitter/micro blogging has become my way to document.

That said, I've been mapping out a 2011 wrap-up blog post in my head for months to touch on things that happened as well as the exciting new things I am looking forward to in 2012.

2011 was the hardest year for me so far, but has yielded the most perspective/clarity of what's important in life.

The year began with the loss of a friend in a tragic accident which was a painful reminder of how very precious life is. It also stopped me cold to think about what is important in life, how I spend my time and who I spend it with. It was a stark reminder that for most of my career I have been working at an insane pace and making many sacrifices in my personal life.

This set the tone for the year and got me thinking a lot about what was important and what I would want if today was my last day.
Things had to change!

As with new years and resolutions, I vowed to make changes to focus on my health, my career and work/life balance and set out to disrupt things. I've learned this is not any easy thing to do.
But, every day I am practicing. And I'm learning to say no and feel ok about it.

In 2011, I moved, left my job, took a month off to do some soul searching/think about my career path (something I've never done), lost 10lbs and, can easily run 8:30 miles now, crossed many things of my to do in nyc list and just enjoyed life.
:-)

Sadly, just before the year ended, another friend died unexpectedly. This time a life long friend/the boy next door. He was the first friend I made when I moved to the US and just a year older than me. Heartbreaking.
Hard to even write about, but think I will write a post when I'm ready.

Yet another jolt to remind me about what I am doing with my life!
So, what am I doing?

I really enjoyed Hunter's #LiveLikeSteve post after Steve Jobs died, http://techcrunch.com/2011/10/09/livelikesteve/
I was lucky enough to work with Apple, an incredibly talented team and Steve for four years. His passing away had a huge impact on me this year as well. But, it also allowed me to reconnect with coworkers and reminisce about the old days. Which I truly believe is the highlight of my career (but, I still have some time ahead).
This is another blog post I plan on writing.

How do I plan to #LiveLikeSteve?

> Volunteer my time and experience to education and women in tech.
These are two things I am very passionate about and would like to work on ways to support/do more.
I'm trying to determine the best ways now. Ideas are welcome.
I'm part of a group called XX in Tech (thank you Rachel!), an inspiring group of women who want to tell the great stories of women in the tech industry/help each other out/support their efforts. It has been inspiring to be a part of this group and I'm looking forward to doing more.

> Thank/Appreciate
There are so many people in my life that have had an amazing influence on me, helped shape me, done things for me.
I try to let them know at the time, but I would like to do more to let people know how much it means to me and how much I appreciate it/them.

> Enjoy/Be present
I rush through life always thinking about what is next. I really want to allow my self to enjoy the moment, be present, celebrate how wonderful life is.

As 2012 starts, I am hopeful for a better year and I'm putting my focus on the items above as well as these three things.Help the 92Y be successful with their digital strategy and content distribution
> I am working with an amazing team at 92Y who have a great vision to share their incredible work online.
We're working on two fantastic projects that will be launching in the Spring. Stay tuned.
If you are not familiar with 92Y, take a look at all they do, http://www.92y.org/Uptown/About-Us/Mission-and-History.aspx
I should note, I am currently working 40 hours a week. Something, I've never done before.

> Launch a start-up
I have a great idea that I am fleshing out and determining a business model for.
This is something I am excited about and I would love the chance to carry the torch for women in tech.
Advice and help welcome here!

> Complete a manuscript
Two friends and I have been working on a manuscript about life in Silicon Valley during the boom and bust. We have some great insight to share.
We have been working on it for years and I really want to complete and do something with it this year.
Advice and help welcome here!

I'm going to do my best to #LiveLikeSteve.
Please remind me and offer help/support where you can. I promise to do the same.

And to everyone reading this, THANK YOU!
I appreciate you taking an interest and being part of my family/network.
Lucky to have you.

Here's to a spectacular 2012!

Help me celebrate my birthday!

I'm not much of a birthday person. 
I don't like the attention. 
Plus, I hate to think I'm actually getting older (I will always be 25 in my mind!).

BUT, a birthday is a great way to reflect on life and where you are headed.
This year I feel incredibly blessed:
To be healthy
To have an incredible job in which we are doing good in the world. I also work with the most wonderful people I have ever met.
To have amazing people around me (which includes all of you reading this) 

The only thing I really want for my birthday is for everyone to do some good in the world.

Will you help me celebrate my birthday by doing the following?

1.  Donate to help the flood victims in Pakistan
     It breaks my heart to know there are 18 MILLION people suffering in Pakistan today.
     They need our help!
     $5 can make a difference
     You can donate online to UNICEF, http://www.supportunicef.org/site/pp.asp or through any of the organizations listed here on the US
     State Department website, http://www.state.gov/p/sca/ci/pk/flood/index.htm
     Or in the US, you can text FLOOD to 27722 to donate $10

2.  Consider donating to/supporting/volunteering for a cause you are passionate about. 
     Even tweeting/facebooking about them helps!
     These are a few of the causes/organizations I think are doing great work:
>  Education
    Teach for America
     Everyone deserves the opportunity to get an excellent education 

>  Healthy eating and sourcing local food
    Jamie Oliver's TEDPrize

>  Empowerment through microfinancing
    Kiva
    You can choose who you want to fund and in which country.

>  Cancer awareness and research
    Livestrong

>  Clean water
    Charity: Water
    Almost a billion people on the planet don’t have access to clean drinking water. 
    Unsafe water and a lack of basic sanitation cause 80% of all disease and kill more people than all forms of violence, including war.     charity: water is working to change that.

3.  Watch a TEDTalk and share with your network (shameless plug!)
     Here are some of my fave talks:
     Sir Ken Robinson: Do schools kill creativity? 
    

  Tony Robbins: Why we do what we do, and how we can do it better  
      

  Temple Grandin: The world needs all kinds of minds  
      

  Majora Carter: Greening the ghetto  
      

      Sunitha Krishnan's fight against sex slavery

      

     William Kamkwamba: How I harnessed the wind

    

     You really can watch any of the 700+ talks and learn something, be inspired, be transported, etc.

THANK YOU!

Olympics bring the world together!

Other than the World Cup, I can't think of another event that brings the world together the way the Olympics do (and it's older).

It brings out national pride in those competing/watching and a competitive spirit from the athletes, but ultimately shows us all how much we have in common.

I've not had the time to watch the Olympics as much as I would have liked to this year, but made some time to watch USA vs Canada (I'm a huge hockey fan) and the closing ceremonies today and I'm so inspired by how the Olympics unite the world for two weeks.

It has me thinking, how can we continue the unity all year? 
We need more focus on we are one than we are different/at odds.

Lastly, the closing ceremonies Russian sequence was SPECTACULAR! 
I want to go to the Sochi Olympics 2014/visit Russia. 
I've never been to Russia OR the Olympics.
Who's with me?

Below are some photos from the Vancouver 2010 opening ceremonies shared by my TED colleague in Vancouver Katherine McCartney:


V01_22120339

We are one!

V18_22123427

Merci beaucoup/Thank you Canada for being such a great host!


V10_22123975

I want to thank you!

I'm a huge fan of Natalie Merchant.
Her performance of kind & generous was a TED highlight for me.

As I recapped TED tonight with a dear friend, this song resonated with me even more.

You've been so kind and generous, I don't know how you keep on giving
For your kindness I'm in debt to you
And I never could have come this far without you
For everything you've done, you know I'm bound, I'm bound to thank you for it.... 

:-)

4 days of TED (yes, there was more than Sarah Silverman and it was mind blowing!)

As somebody who genuinely cares about what you all read/think about TED, I feel obligated to share three things:

1.  Chris Anderson is a visionary AND an incredible, thoughtful person doing so much good in the world.
Skeptic and speaker this year Michael Shermer said "Thank you Chris for TED and all you do. The world is a better place because of you." I couldn't agree more.
The evolution of TED is no accident. Chris has purposely thought about every aspect. And he has hired/empowered the most incredible team to help realize this vision.
He also takes risks. This risk taking is the true power of TED. Only Robert Scoble has written about this (we had a great debate about this and Sarah's talk).
I so enjoy working for Chris. We discuss, debate (and sometimes disagree), but always come away doing the right thing.
It makes me sad to see how people are being disrespectful about one speaker who went awry and one bad tweet sent reactively. 
There were so many AMAZING speakers/TED moments this year!

2.  We have the most incredible, smart, hard working team that brings you TED
From the programming team that works to find the right speakers and curate a session that has the right flow to the events team that makes sure every detail is covered for the optimal experience to the production team that stays up all night to edit the TEDTalks to get them out to you right away. 
We do it ALL with pride to share TED (and the amazing content from our speakers) with all of you.

3.  This year's TED was hands down the most powerful, mindblowing experience.
Having stood on the TED stage and looked out to the incredibly accomplish crowd of speakers and attendees, I can honestly tell you it is intimidating. So, I have mad respect for speakers who can actually tell their stories and be vulnerable for 18 MINUTES.

Here are the speakers that made the most impact on me:
Temple Gradin showed me what Autism was and what is was like to think like her. I am so inspired by her and her work (and how she has integrated Autism in to her work).

Nathan Myhrvold didn't want to just find a cure for malaria, he wants to kill the female mosquitoes that spread it. His photonic fence is a game changer and will one day save millions of lives.

Stewart Brand and Mark Jacobson made me care about nuclear energy and want to know more about the implications. I want to learn more to determine if I'm for or against. I'm still not sure as they both provided convincing arguments.
Bill Gates also did a great job of educating about energy and climate in his talk. We need an energy miracle!

Sir Ken Robinson "Education is currently a manufacturing model, but needs to move to an agriculture model. Customize and personalize based on needs." YES!

Mike Feinberg and Dave Levin created KIPP (Knowledge is Power Program) to change public education in the US. There is no more important issue to me than education. They are breaking the mold. And it is working!

Jamie Oliver is a chef by trade, but realized one thing: most people don't know how to eat well and it is killing them. I think winning the TEDPrize Jamie is going to be able to take his food revolution to a broad audience and encourage healthy eating. It was amazing to see the TED community so enthusiastic and want to get involved.

Glenna Fraumeni is 25 and living with terminal cancer. I met Glenna in November and we became instant friends. Along the way she told me about her cancer and how she is dealing with it. I can honestly say it has changed my life perspective. She is an inspiration and her talk is going to impact so many people.

James Cameron took us on a tour of his film directing career and influences. I loved that he talked about taking risks and the power of a strong team. 

David Rockwell gave us a heartwrenching/vulnerable look at his life and how play and creativity made him the architect he is today.

Julia Sweeney gave "the talk" to her 8 year old daughter and shared the hilarious details. I laughed so hard!

Blaise Aguera y Arcas demo of Bing Maps was pretty amazing. Augmented reality and where things can head. Powerful.

Natalie Merchant drew on poems from poets who had passed away for her new album. I've always been a big fan, but her thoughtful talk about the poets, their beautiful words and how she has made them in to song was so amazing. Her performance was breathtaking. Everyone in the theater was on their feet dancing and singing. 

The LXD was hiphop set to an orchestra. Just wow.

John Underkoffler showed 3D interactions with hand gestures and talked about the future of computing.

Raghava KK talked about life through his cartoons. I've gotten to know him over the past year and knew a bit about his life/work, but was blown away/moved to tears with his talk. 

Nicholas Christakis talked about social networks and how they affect our health and happiness. He said to look for a happy patch.

Kevin Bales talked about slavery. There are 27 millions slaves today. 27 MILLION! In 2010! Incomprehensible!

Graham Hill talked about being a weekday vegetarian to help the environment and the animals.

Dave Weaver made us all laugh trying to describe what TED is/what the conference experience is like. Nerd Sundance INDEED!

I encourage you to read the session recaps on our blog, http://blog.ted.com as well as watch the TEDTalks as we post them. We can't wait to share the TEDTalks with you.

One highlight that was not on the official TED lineup, but was organized by Bill Bragin our Music Advisor was the TED musician jam in the Westin hotel lobby. Here's a video as words don't do it justice, http://www.facebook.com/video/video.php?v=304292757962&ref=mf
Ethel (band), Jake Shimabukuro (ukelele), Robert Gupta (violin - guy behind jamie fox's movie violinist), and LXD (league of extraordinary dancers - henry is on glee, and chris is the braintrust choreographer). 
Natalie Merchant showed up later.

I also had the chance to speak with many speakers/attendees (friends, partners, former colleagues, people I look up to/want to work with) and I'm just in awe of the excitement around TED. I loved to hear about their experiences, the talks they enjoyed/how they were moved/action they want to take. It makes all the hard work worth it and more.

This is what TED is all about! 
I wish you all could be there to witness it firsthand.

I urge those of you reading this to thank Chris for all the good he is doing, thank our incredible team who work tirelessly to bring TED to you and thank the incredible speakers who choose to share their stories.

Lastly, I wish that Michael Arrington/Sarah Lacy from TechCrunch and Foster Kamer from Gawker knew all of this and the people behind TED. If they did, they would never be so cruel and unfair in their posts.
Arrington & Foster should have spoken to Chris and Sarah to get their perspectives on the situation before writing the posts they did.
I hope there is a chance for dialogue.

Comments welcome.

Full disclosure: I'm the Digital Partnerships Manager at TED and I've been lucky to work with the incredible team for 2 years and experience several TED Conferences.

Sore Throat Remedies

This is why I love social networks!

Within a few hours of my tweet asking for remedies for a sore throat, I had 5 twitter responses:
@tikkers
Garlic (raw) is a natural antibiotic. I like to press it+ spread it on hot,buttered toast+ chase it with OJ to cut the burn ;)

@topdown5_0
try manuka honey, organic with active 16+

@iWorlddesign
chicken noodle soup, lemon Contact C before bed

@chickenwanggg
chicken noodle soup, lemon Contact C before bed-

@mischa
if it gets really bad, Gargling salt water will help the sore throat. It's nasty though.

5 facebook responses:
Judy Ginger tea: The real kind -- boil 1/2 cup sliced ginger in a pot of H2O, sweeten with honey, and drink up -- all day."
Karen Rest! Drink lots of green tea.
Chel black elderberry extra is an AWESOME natural anti-viral.
Cheryl olive leaf
Josie Theraflu always helps me...or Hot Toddy

And suggestions from two colleagues:
Krysty oregano oil
Bonnie diced garlic

I'm going to try them to see which works best.

Let me know what you have success with or if you have other sugesstions.

Sundance 2010

Images

Besides TED, my favorite event of the year is Sundance. Sundance is an indie film festival set in a quaint ski town Park City, UT.
Films, parties, skiing/boarding and a lot of fun!

Here are the films I'm going to see:
happythankyoumoreplease
http://sundance.bside.com/2010/films/happythankyoumoreplease_sundance2010

Hesher
http://sundance.bside.com/2010/films/hesher_sundance2010

Teenage Paparazzo
http://sundance.bside.com/2010/films/teenagepaparazzo_sundance2010

WAITING FOR SUPERMAN
http://sundance.bside.com/2010/films/waitingforsuperman_sundance2010

Jack Goes Boating
http://sundance.bside.com/2010/films/jackgoesboating_sundance2010

Cyrus
http://sundance.bside.com/2010/films/cyrus_sundance2010

Blue Valentine
http://sundance.bside.com/2010/films/bluevalentine_sundance2010

Douchebag
http://sundance.bside.com/2010/films/douchebag_sundance2010

A Film Unfinished
http://sundance.bside.com/2010/films/afilmunfinished_sundance2010

8: The Mormon Proposition
http://sundance.bside.com/2010/films/8themormonproposition_sundance2010


TIP: Spending the extra money to get a film ticket package is sooooooo worth it!

Will report back with film reviews Jan 20-26.