Tell Your Story
I’ll never forget the first day, in my thirties, when I started to study for the Graduate Entrance Exam. I had avoided the expensive and time-consuming test until it was time to consider my doctorate. I hadn’t taken geometry since I was a sophomore in high school, and after earning my Master of Public Health degree, even my beloved Algebra knowledge had faded. How could this possibly indicate how well I would do in a Doctor of Public Health Program?
I recently sat outside a Catholic church in my car. I looked up at the dramatic architecture remembering a time, as I conceived it to be, you could walk into the church at any time to pray, respect and reflect. After all my name means “of the lord” aka Sunday in Italian. However in our current times there is no sense of security in the religious world among many others so those doors are hard locked shut at night. Van Jones actually mentions in his latest book that he was hesitant to identify as a Christian as it was judged among the “progressive” movement as a detriment. And so the story goes…
One of the first questions almost everyone asks when I say I started a business is, “did you get your MBA?” Well nope, I did get a Masters in Public Health. Is it really that different? Not really actually. One of the biggest barriers I’ve had to overcome in starting a business, outside the traditional brick and mortar and not being a freelancer (that’s literally a bad word to me, I hate it) is helping people understand what it is I do. This was especially hard starting my company in a small town, in a mom and pop county. I would always say, ‘I’ll let you know when I figure it out.’ This is the life an entrepreneur, you have to constantly be changing, but there truly are very few true entrepreneurs out there. I am also a social entrepreneur, someone who believes in running a business that makes a social change. Studies show in fact that millennial are starting far less nonprofits and far more social enterprises (for profit for good businesses). We aren't afraid of profit and want to see change. See my blog "5 reasons Why MaberMe, Inc. is not a 501.3c Tax Exempt Corporation" for more on this.
I’ve said it many times and I’ll say it again…if you met me six years ago, you’d never catch me dead somewhere by myself. Even walking down the street in a populated area alone made me nervous. I moved back to Petaluma relatively against my will at 25. After a gnarly break up I didn’t leave the house besides for work for months. The thought of facing anyone seemed devastating. I had actually had forgotten how to smile. Alright it is coming, I am posting a photo of my ex…that wasn’t a bad photo, it was my inability to smile even during one of the most amazing experiences of my life…
January 1, 2018 celebrates my fifth year in business. This is somewhat of an arbitrary date as I had been consulting to it prior, but it's an important date to me. My business, after all, has been the longest intimate relationship I've ever been in. In small business standards, the seven year mark is statistically significant as you have a higher likelihood of succeeding. What started as a dream sitting at a table with a glass wine and would continue at more then one dinner table has now lasted through three re-brandings, an incorporation, and most recently an office remodel. This is just the surface...
One has the right to choose how they use their social media outlets. One also has an amazing opportunity to share their voice on this huge international stage. Social media is making people sick, literally. While I believe till this day that it was created to connect us, the data shows it is, often times, contributing to the isolationist culture that is being created throughout the "developed" world. It is creating a world as seen through a filter. Instagram, a collection of glorious pictures, has been shown to be the worst of the social media outlets with regard to people's mental health. This isn't shocking to me. It is a seemingly fabricated existence of individuals that creates a feeling in others that they are less than and sometimes even making people combative and defensive. In many ways, social media has worsened our inability to communicate; however, it doesn't have to
As I prepare to write my memoir, the more significant circumstances I’ve felt have come to the surface and this is one of them. I’ve kept my mouth shut for years, but recent happenings have forced the sharing of this story.
I always blog best and apparently start companies while angry. What it took today was the implication that I was a liar, so here we go…I will speak from the American female point of view because well, that’s my point of view. As always I tell my story. This is an admittedly scattered commentary, far away from my normal highly focused blog.
I posted a video a while back reflecting on change (which can be found publicly posted on the DG the 30 Something Facebook Page). The response was varied, but generally people took it very personally and solely with regard to romantic relationships. That response and many conversations I’ve had following posting of that video, I felt the need to expand. Those who know me know I've spent half my life studying human behavior and take special interest in how people process feelings, community, and resiliency. This blog will reflect and distinguish different types of change as I feel we commonly misconstrue our assumptions of change and how people change.
What a year we had. Why not start this blog off with some numerology? I've always been into algebra based math and numbers. I'm the kind of person who looks at clocks and addresses as I walk down the street trying to come up with as many mathematical combinations as possible. The Number 27 is an important one to me:
Well, what does one do as they approach age 30? If you are me you write.
Many know my story. I come from a middle class family and from parents who worked to take us from “lower class” to “upper middle class.” My mom’s story brings me to tears every time I have to repeat as I did weeks ago applying for a national fellowship and answering the question, “who affected your career most.” My parents faced adversity, but stood tall to make a better life for us.
Like how I worded that? The world of the “non-profit” or “501c3” seems to be very misunderstood. 501c3 is in fact a section of the tax code that allows a CORPORATION created for PUBLIC CHARITABLE purposes to be tax exempt (this is a simplified explanation of course). There are also many other non-profit tax statuses an organization can have.
This is a topic that has come up over and over lately in my day to day, so I felt inclined to share.
Growing up I had an aversion to pink. Why pink? Because girls were supposed to wear pink. Throughout my entire life I have taken issue with being categorized. I was a tom boy until highschool when I was forced more or less to keep speed. I could throw a football (still can), I had a mean baseball pitch, I was a golfer, and took great pride in my 49er jersey. Basically, anytime I was supposed to do something because I was x y z, I did the complete opposite. I have always been good at following directions, and a grounded, law abiding citizen, but I bent and broke things often in order to rebuild them differently. When I was young I was quiet and shy outside my household (which was probably for the best). I always had one best friend and liked it that way.
And why would you want 100%?
People change, things change and the workplace changes with generations. We have all learned from our parents and grandparents. I can’t say being a millennial is any different than any other generation entering the workforce; however, the struggles of the masses hit close to home. I wanted to openly write to baby boomer employers looking to hire younger promising employees.
Generally I do an entire blog to review my past year’s goals, but this year I don’t feel it’s necessary given my mid-year review and really just wanting 2015 to be over with! I write a lot about how being an entrepreneur is the hardest thing someone will do, especially as a woman and this year showed that. I will do a brief overview.
I love Facebook, I hate Facebook. I think many of us have this love hate relationship with social media. On the one hand we love to stay connected with our friends and family and on the other we hate being bombarded by complete social media garbage. I always tell my friends and colleagues seeking self-branding assistance that the first thing they need to do is establish their identity and treat their social media as a main point of outreach. I’m not in the business of telling people what their identity or story is, but I am in the business of helping people establish and tell a cohesive story.
Let me start by saying I know very little of the backstory and perhaps don’t really want to know, but as an avid AirBnB supporter I would genuinely like to see them get it together. I am not actually a resident of San Francisco and did not vote on Prop F, but would like to know, did anyone actually think that it was going to pass? I certainly didn’t.
The “Healthy People” Report sanctioned by the US Department of Health and Human Services gives us a definition of Public health based on the “The Social Determinants of Health.” This definition, as I have always understood public health to be, has not been the prominent definition used on the ground and is very misunderstood if known at all. The Social Determinants of Health represent the aspects that contribute to health beyond the traditional definition of individual health that included research, disease, data, genetics, and averages. We understand now that many other factors contribute to the health of a population including access to health and mental health services, education, environment and built environment, economic stability, and social support. I add to these determinants, technology. I have tried for some time to categorize technology however I thoroughly believe it is its own area overlapping with all others.
I want to start by defining "entrepreneur" as it is defined in the dictionary, yah know that heavy, bound, 1000 page book dusty in your local library,
"a person who organizes and manages any enterprise, especially a business, usually with considerable initiative and risk."
Last night I was sitting at a local restaurant enjoying a vodka martini, which is a normal occurrence on a Monday as it has become my alone or #Bachelorette day, when I met a nice couple sitting next to me. After a few drinks and small talk the girl leaned over while her “boyfriend” was in the bathroom. She looked at me and said, “he cheats on me and lies, but he’s so charming and nice right?” I’m sure as it always does, my face said exactly what I was thinking but I calmly replied, ‘so is he cheating or are you not in a committed relationship? That’s under your control.’ I disengaged because I didn’t really know what to say and more importantly didn’t want to get involved at that moment in time.
