text:
"The Diversity Leader"
Singleton Beato is a leader determined to create a better future for everyone. She is the Chief Diversity & Engagement Officer at McCann Worldgroup, and a thought leader and expert in the behaviors and practices organizations must embrace if they want to develop workforces that reflect society. During our conversation, she talked about the role that her race played in her upbringing, about why she waited until she was 32 to go to college, and about how to create environments that embrace differences.
Three Takeaways
Be self-aware of who you are and how you show up.
Be courageous; jump in and be willing to have difficult conversations.
Be generous and show empathy to others.
Episode 47: "The Diversity Leader" Singleton Beato
This is Fearless, and I'm Charles Day.
Every week, I talk to leaders who are unlocking creativity - leaders who are turning the impossible … into the profitable!!! And in the process, are discovering what they're capable of themselves.
Monday, March the 12th was an end, I hope. And a beginning, I believe.
Early Monday morning, a group of female leaders announced the creation of Times Up Advertising - a body committed to ending workplace discrimination, harassment and abuse; and to creating equitable and safe cultures within their agencies.
This is a moment. It represents the end, I fervently hope, of the male dominated hierarchy that for too long has controlled the advertising industry.
And, I believe, it represents a beginning - an inflection point in the shift to a diverse power structure and a more balanced form of leadership. A more modern form of leadership.
180 women signed the letter that announced the birth of TimesUp Advertising. Those women are a veritable who's who of the very best female leaders across the advertising industry.
I'm proud that over the last few months, six of those women have appeared on this podcast. Colleen DeCourcy. Wendy Clark. Rosemarie Ryan. Heidi Hackemer. Susan Credle. And, today, Singleton Beato.
If you know these six women, even a little, you know they would not want to be singled out as extraordinary but as part of a group of women determined to create a future that is better than the past - for everyone.
Singleton Beato is the personification of a leader determined to create that better future for everyone.
She is the Chief Diversity & Engagement Officer at McCann Worldgroup, a position she came to after seven years as the Executive VP, for Diversity Strategy and Talent Development at the 4As.
She is a thought leader in the issues that create the absence of diversity in organizations, and she's an expert in the behaviors and practices that organizations have to embrace if they want to develop workforces that reflect society.
During our conversation, she talked about the role that her race played in her upbringing, about why she waited until she was 32 to go to college, and about how to create environments that embrace differences.
It was a timely conversation when we recorded it a couple of weeks ago. It has become even more relevant in the aftermath of the announcement of TimesUp Advertising.
This week, 180 female leaders, collectively started a fight against that most fierce of enemies - the status quo.
This podcast is about fearless leadership.
To me, the women of Times Up Advertising embody and reflect the very heart of what I believe it means to be a fearless leader.
Great leaders are not fearless. But they do fear less. Making a difference matters more to them than the obstacles - both external and internal - that hold others back.
This fight does not end with Monday's announcement. The fight to make a difference never ends.
But the willingness of the women of TimesUpAdvertising - and indeed the entire TimesUp movement - to act, makes the world better today.
And will make the world better tomorrow.
And for all the days to come.
Here is Singleton Beato.
Singleton welcome to Fearless, thank you so much for being on the show.
Singleton Beato:
Thank you for having me on the show. I feel very honored, I do.
I've been looking forward to this conversation for some time actually. I'd normally ask a specific question at the beginning of the show, but I actually think I'd like to ask you a slightly different question. When was the first time you were conscious of your race, of your skin color? When was the first time that you suddenly thought, "Oh, that's the thing I have to deal with."
Singleton Beato:
I think I've been aware of it and conscious of it probably my whole life. I grew up in Chicago on the South Side and my community was certainly predominantly black. But I think that there was this level of consciousness in conversation about how my family was different from the very beginning.
My mother grew up in the era when there were a lot of protests for equality and the focus back then was race relations and racial equality. So, I was kind of in the middle of it from the very beginning. And then as I got older, when I went to elementary school and middle school, I was one of the only black kids in all of my classes. So that obviously ... it added a layer of understanding of my difference and the reaction to my difference and how I needed to manage that.
Were you conscious of being treated differently even as a kid?
Singleton Beato:
Yes. I think that pretty much when you are black in America certainly, you learn to pick up on nuances in the way that people talk to you or don't talk to you, the way that you may be almost invisible if you will to groups of people. So, I think that again early on it was clear that I would be treated differently.
There were no bad feelings that I had about myself because of it. Luckily, I grew up in a very proud family that was very proud about their identity and where we all came from. I've got such strong female ... I wanna call them family leaders that really just have always really from the beginning taught me that we are beautiful. We are black, we have something useful and different and interesting to contribute to any given situation.
And so I never felt like, "It was me?" But more, "Okay I understand what I'm dealing with, I could pick up on that very quickly." And understand how I wanted to engage based on that, and it happens to today.
So it's been something you've dealt with your entire life?
Singleton Beato:
Absolutely, like right up to maybe yesterday. You go in a room and you are immediately scanning that room and you are making decisions about how you need to show up in that room before any conversation even takes place. So yeah, dealt with it all my life.
I wanna weave two things together in a second. So, I'm gonna now ask you the question I ask all my guests, which is when are you first conscious of creativity showing up in your life?
Singleton Beato:
At a very young age, I have a family full of creatives. My mother was an artist, she loved to draw, and she went to art school. I was a singer and a dancer from a very young age. I would put on little shows for my family. I remember doing a show where I was singing along to a song that was put out by The Spinners, not to date myself and it was great. My family would bring me flowers just like it happens on Broadway.
So, creativity was a part of my life. I loved theater, I loved film. And I'll tell you, when I was young I didn't think of it as creativity, but I loved the magic, the magic that would happen. I wanted to grow up to be a film star, not an actor but a star, but it's because what I saw and obviously so much of the work that I do is about the layers of the things that we see and experience throughout our lives and how that shows up every day.
But there is what I would call Hollywood magic that happens, right? So you're watching a great movie and there is a moment, a crescendo that happens emotionally to you, and I call that Hollywood magic and I said, "I wanna be a part of that."
Of course, as I was growing up, it took me until probably my 20s to realize that there are a lot of people behind the scenes that are creating that moment. But yeah, so, creativity was something that I recognize, was important to me or important part of me, and important aspect of the path that I was going to journey on as I became an adult.
Where did you go to school?
Singleton Beato:
I went to school in a lot of places. I went to school obviously primary school in Chicago, then my family moved to San Diego, California. And so I went to middle school and high school there. And I went to college in New Jersey. I did not go to college until I was in my 30s because I understood when I was leaving high school that I had sort of learned to game the system.
And I knew that if I went to college, I was really just gonna waste someone's money because I was gonna spend most of my time going to the parties because I was sick of school. And I also learned early on that I could show up, do mediocre work and pass, and I didn't wanna pass and I didn't wanna waste anyone's money. So, I felt like "Well, let me just skip to what I really wanna do."
So, right after high school I moved to New York. And a lot of people said I couldn't do it. Even my father said, "Oh, you'll never be able to live in New York, you have no college degree and you'll never ..." And I decided that so much of who I am is about taking the challenge. And so I felt that since everyone thought that this would be an impossible journey to be successful in New York without a college degree, I was gonna take in on and beat it.
And I did, and I was very successful for a lot of years. At a certain point kind of the creative path and journey that I was on was competing very heavily with the corporate journey that I had fallen into. Because I had great administration skills and great project management skills, at a certain point I chose the corporate journey.
Was that a hard choice?
Singleton Beato:
No, because I met a wonderful man who's very traditional guy, he's Dominican, a very traditional guy and it was apparent to me, sometimes you get into those cross roads moments in your life. And it was apparent to me that I would need to make a choice, because if I wanted a future with this man and a family, which I did, I would not be able to in good conscience be the type of mom that would call their family and their children from another country and say, "Hey mommy loves you and the nanny will finish raising you."
Not that ... I'd known knock on people that can be fine with that, but I knew at a young age, I was not that woman. And so I made the choice to marry this man and build a family and a life with him and it's been incredible. But a certain point when we decide when we were going to have children, right after I gave birth to my son Gascon, I thought about the example that I was setting for him. And I thought about who he was going to be, like literally I had just given birth and I'm thinking about all this stuff, right?
And I knew that he was going to be a black man in America, and that college would not be an option because I would want him to have every opportunity to make choices. I also knew that as young people do that he would challenge me on saying that you have to go to college if I had not been myself, because at that time I had realized a lot of success in my professional carrier.
So, at that point I didn't need to go college, I proven myself I was already at a senior level making great money. But I wanted to be able to say to him, no, college is just happening and if I did it, then you will do it and because I said so.
So I started college right after I gave birth to him at 32 and I went straight through and got my masters, but I was also ready to receive the education and knowledge. I was able to hungry for that knowledge and be interested. So that it was not a scenario where a professor was talking at me, but where I was literary engaged in what the professors and the curriculum and the teaching could offer me for my life, so it was great.
You went to college full-time?
Singleton Beato:
Full-time. I went to college full-time and I was working full-time.
How did you do that?
Singleton Beato:
Yeah, I was lucky enough to work for people that really valued what I could bring to my work and what I had already proven myself to bring to the work. And because of it, they wanted to support what I intended to do for my professional journey in terms of education.
And so they allowed me to work from 6:00am to 2:00pm every knowing of course, because I was a workaholic that I would log on latter on to make sure that all of my bases were covered. But because they gave me that flexibility, and let's face it, if you leave the house at 4:30am or 5:00am in the morning, the baby's still asleep, everyone is still asleep, so you still could home at 2:00, take care of the baby, spend time with the baby and then go to school at night. So, that's what I did, that's right, yeah.
What was it like being a 32 year old student?
Singleton Beato:
I wasn't alone, because there was a great mix of people of different ages in my classes, but it honestly was great. It was great because I was moving toward what I would call when I was younger my Clair Huxtable years, okay? And I loved clear Clair Huxtable because that was a woman who seemed like she had it all together, right? She had it under control and all together and she was equal to any problem, she could balance it all.
So, I was moving toward that point in my life where I knew myself. I knew that my capabilities were endless. I was a lot more fearless and so because of that, I loved it because I handled it differently than kids out of high school would. I handled the workload differently, I already understood how to navigate a challenge in a way that would be efficient in terms of the time to solve whatever my scholastic challenge was.
And I think I also had better language to express myself and I also made a cognition. I was able to think about my thinking, so that when I approached an assignment, I wasn't trying to get through it, but I was able to complete it more quickly because of the way that I had absorbed the information in the text. So, it was an awesome experience for me, and I was able to get through it pretty quickly because of that.
And then you jumped back into the workforce full-time?
Singleton Beato:
Yes, I did.
At the same company?
Singleton Beato:
No. A few months after I completed school, there have been so many leadership changers that I felt it was a great time for me to explore new opportunities. I wasn't really in full pursuit of my next opportunity, but I happened to get a phone call from a woman that I had known professionally for years, who had followed my career.
And she said to me, "I have a client at J. Walter Thompson and they need a builder. They need someone who is entrepreneurial, who can come in and deal with fast pace craziness and build an HR Department and structure that will really properly service the agency.
Were you conscious either from your own perspective of your race playing a part in your decision-making process? And were you conscious of other people looking at you through that lens of having that influence then as well?
Singleton Beato:
At that point, I'm always conscious of it. So let me just start by saying I'm always conscious, I'm always conscious that I'm different, I'm always conscious and I'm conscious that the unconscious bias of another person will play a role in how we engage. It just will.
And so to that end, as I'm making all of those decisions my race is less a factor for me because it's sort of a part of me that at that point I had accepted, but almost pushed to the side because I had already proven to myself that my race would only be a barrier if I let it be, that no one could stop me, no one can stop me from doing whatever it was I would want to do.
So what did find out when you moved into advertising about yourself?
Singleton Beato:
I found out that I really was capable of making significant shifts in how I applied my knowledge and my skills. I found out that I was far more resilient than even I had expected, and I found that I had done a fair job at developing the skill and interpersonal connection building.
I don't think that I realized that before I became a part of the advertising community, because relationships are so critical. They are critical in any industry, but in particular in our industry, developing relationships and connections can be the difference between success and failure, absolutely.
And as you started to go inside the industry and you started to see creativity through that lens, what did that activate in you?
Singleton Beato:
Full excitement. I was completely excited.
And my excitement came into play when I realized that I could take sort of my experiences from other global organizations where I had engaged with people from all walks of life that had different cultural identities. And how that sort of became a presence in those interactions and I understood how I could apply that to my conversations in the Ad industry about difference and difference in cultural ethnic identity difference, as it pertains to what I called the big D.
Give me an example of big D difference?
Singleton Beato:
Big D difference is religious differences maybe, because if there are no obvious ways for me to see that you have a certain religious background, by your dress or practices that I witnessed, then I really am not recognizing the difference between the two of us. And I'm not recognizing a critical part of your identity, that's important to you. So that's what I mean by big D differences. Now we talk about different forms of invisible diversity, my son has ADHD and you would not know unless he told you that.
So I think it's important to understand how all of these nuances of difference are important. They are important to the way we engage at work, in our teams. They are important to the way that we pursue solving business challenges as a collective.
And they are important in terms of making sure that we create the conditions where no matter how diversity is showing up, those conditions are providing the psychological safety. And the kind of collective embrace that becomes critical if you are going to have a type of work place where all people from different walks of life and that have different experiences, lean forward and leverage those differences to maximize creativity, to maximize innovation.
You gotta have everybody leaning in, you have to have the type of environment, where diversity at its core can be unleashed and leveraged.
When did you get to the point that you realized you wanted to make diversity and inclusion a primary focus of your career path?
Singleton Beato:
When I was at J. Walter Thompson, I was given the opportunity to reimagine how that agency approached diversity and inclusion and I created the first fully comprehensive diversity strategy. I had a conversation with our CEO and he just asked me this very honest question and he said, "Singleton, why can't we solve this? Why is this such a hardship?" And I said, "Because we're not doing anything on purpose to change it. We're sort of going about business as usual and hoping that magically things will be different."
I felt that I could really make change, because I also was at a point in career where, again I was fearless enough to have the hard conversations with people. And just tell them the truth about the challenge and what would be necessary to solve it. And I also felt that I had the experience to help provide the tools to make the difference, because I think a lot of our leaders say, "Yes, I want change, but what do I do?"
And so I decided that my next role would be focus 100% on diversity and making change in that space.
Which is what took you to the 4A's?
Singleton Beato:
That's what took me to the 4A's. Before I had been a part of some of the leadership groups, the agency leadership groups for the 4A's. But I felt that the work that had been to that point around diversity was a bit lackluster. And really just because of the timing, the industry itself had been in the public eye for not making a lot of improvement in the diversity space. So, to that end, the 4A's was in a position where it had not had to really create progressive models around diversity.
It was good enough to have an intern program where you were sourcing diverse students from around the world, because agencies were so desperate and hungry for diverse talent that that was sort of good enough. But once the kind of public shaming begun, it was clear that we were in a very new space and that a more progressive approach to helping agencies in the industry move forward with regard to diversity and inclusion, I thought I could help.
So the advertising industry has talked for a long time about its own diversity issues and more often that conversation has been fringed with a lens of gender equality. And recently of course that has become an explosive topic for lots of different reasons. Why do you think you mentioned creativity earlier and the role of diversity and obviously that's an area I would like to explore for a few minutes. Creativity thrives on diversity, right? We could argue, we probably both would argue that diversity is essential to creativity. Why do you think an industry that sells creativity has such problem with diversity?
Singleton Beato:
Well, it's a great question. I think that we have a problem with diversity in the way that it is defined because we've been a pretty successful industry because we have leveraged diversity in a very different way. So very often we know that when we approach solving a business problem for a client, we pull together a team of planners and account folks and creatives. Sometimes we have digital people.
But even though those folks are maybe the same ethnicity, they are diverse in the way that they approach solving the problem. So you see it's a very interesting dichotomy because diversity is what made us as great as we are today. But with diversity as we talk about it in terms of cultural and ethnic diversity and gender diversity, that adds a very different layer of complexity.
So we do approach everything from a model of diverse thinking, but the thinking comes from the disciplines. So the reason that we have a challenge is because there is this tension and under-current of a collective thought process that says, "We are diverse, we are already diverse. Diversity of thought is critical, and we have that in these meetings in our agencies, we have diverse thinkers." And I liken this to the period in which digital as a component of our business and our client's business and really the way that consumers experience our work and our messages.
Very often the digital teams and digital people were set aside. They felt othered and they weren't brought into those core meetings. Well, fast forward and this is all because technology of course, digital is a part of everything that we do. But the aspects of what digital professionals and technology professionals could bring to our efforts to solve business were not valued at the same level of the account groups, the creatives and the planners. Well, what we know now is they're critical, their knowledge, their insights. The way that they approach a problem and can support the problems that we solve for our clients are an important aspect of our offering as a creative industry it's taken off.
That was a diverse group that was outside of our core model. And so what's happening now is and we talk about the importance of this more traditional approach to diversity, we are having a tough time, that same tough time integrating the prospect of diversity with regard to gender and race and you name it because there is not the same pressure from the external to make the change.
Part of the reason that the public discourse on diversity is at the level that it is today is because that's changing. So clients are starting to become acutely aware of how important all types of diversity are to their bottom line. But unlike digital, the rate of change is slower because what the client is looking at doesn't apply as much pressure for change. So what we're looking at doesn't apply as much pressure for change.
You have to go after what is most pressing at the time. And the digital integration was absolutely filled with pressure, we had to make those changes immediately in our team frameworks, in our organizational frameworks, in our leadership frameworks. We had to do it because technology moves quickly so we had to run after it if we were gonna compete.
So is a business imperative.
Singleton Beato:
It is a business imperative.
Are we missing the human imperative?
Singleton Beato:
I don't think we're missing the human imperative. I think that the human imperative is integrated in the business component. At the end of the day, it's our talent that helps us to work toward great messages and great stories that connect to the consumers. And each one of those employees has a story, each one of those employees have a unique perspective.
But what we have seen is that and what we know is that the perspectives are out of balance. Because we have sort of recycled the same talent in the industry for so many years, that many of the employees that work in our agencies have become accustomed to thinking a certain way. And therefore, relying a little bit less on their unique insights.
And so there is a certain homogeneity that comes with this cycle of moving the same types of thinking and human beings from one agency to another. But what we're not doing is balancing the conversation with human beings that are extremely different than the employees and human beings that are typically in a room when we're talking about what our clients need.
So the human element comes with the diversity piece because it's all about insights, it's all about perspective, it's all about the unique stories that people can bring to bare. And the fact that after a while, you have sort of the kind of a uniform way of thinking and approaching a problem. So I don't think we're missing the human part if we do the work.
One of the things I'm always struck by in my work is how hard it is for people to see themselves accurately. Why, we all struggle with that in fact. I don't know whether it's even harder or just as hard to see other people, truly see them, because we have so much noise in our own heads and we have so much wiring and preconditioning and unconscious bias and so on.
Where do you think the focus needs to be placed, is it first helping people to see themselves more clearly so that they can actually take that noise apart and understand their own perspective and then help them to see the world through that lens? Or is it just starting with helping them to see how the world shows up?
Singleton Beato:
Yes to both. I remember a conversation that I had so many years ago where a leader said, "Well you know I think that we should focus on recruiting people that are diverse." And what I made clear at that time, and what I truly believe and have seen sort of play out in my work, is that you can't do one and then the other or one or the other.
Yes, I think it's important for people to understand how to see themselves, which is why an important part of the McCann Worldgroup global Strategy is focused on making sure that every single one of our employees go through Unconscious Bias Training. 'Cause it's critical to know who you are and the way that you see people. And understand that there may be some faulty viewpoints that you've been carrying around that have been playing out in the way that you manage your teams, the way that you hire and the way that you receive talent that is different.
It's important to understand who you are and where you are, but it is not enough to merely do that. The critical aspect of our approach here at World Group and for all of our agencies is about conscious inclusion. And when I talk to people about this is, what I say to them is, "It's great to understand how the unconscious you is showing up and impacting your work, your relationships and your ability to retain and create the conditions for talent to thrive, great for you to know yourself.
But there are some important ways that you have to think about the gap between knowing oneself. And conscious inclusion and that really entails creating tools and interventions to help people bridge that gap. Because we are all our human selves and because of that we have certain set of beliefs. We come into the work place a full composition of our experiences and what our families taught us and the influences around us that have been around us our entire lives. And so changing a human being is not easy.
I tell people all the time, "It's hard for me to change something in my husband as small as getting him not to drop his towels on the floor after a shower." I can't even change that, this is a guy, he loves me, we have a relationship. He knows all the reasons that that is a problem. However, and I can say this after being with him for 25 years that I've not been able to change some of these things.
Well, if you can't change someone that loves you, who is sort of wired to try to create the conditions where you feel that you're heard, where you're happy. And really to prove to you that they care about how you feel, If I can't change that, it's gonna be really hard for me to change you.
We can do all the Unconscious Bias Training we want. There has to be some meaningful reason that taps into not just the mindset but the heart of a person to help them to change. It's not as simple as a lawsuit. It's not as simple as a training program. It's not as simple as posters in your office. It's just tough work to change the way a person perceives the world around them and what's necessary to be able to be successful themselves and what they're missing out on in terms of human relationships. And growing not only as professional but as individuals.
These things are critical, but you have to sort of do it all. This is at its core a changed management initiative, no matter who's attempting to shift culture when it comes to diversity. It's all about change management.
Are there different kinds of people who are more receptive to this? Do you find that people of different either ages or backgrounds are more receptive to as you said so eloquently earlier, "Appealing to their heart," which is really where it comes from? Look, if it doesn't matter to you in your heart, intellectually you can say, "I should do it because my client asked me to." but the affectation of that disappears very quickly when something else becomes more important. So who's hearts are the most open?
Singleton Beato:
You know that's an interesting question. Let me say that I wouldn't be able to group it and I'm gonna tell you why. A year ago, I would have said, "Young people," right? Because young people are different today, right? They are connecting themselves to their peer groups in interesting ways and these are peer groups that may be in other countries that may be very different than they are. So I would have said that and I might give into that.
But a year ago my family moved from what is a pretty urban community in New Jersey ... ha ha, yes we have those. To another community that was less urban in Northern Jersey. And my son who is a very fair-skinned young man had his first encounters with racism and this was from his peers. I mean full blown using the N-word, the whole things, right? And thinking it was perfectly fine. And even when they came to understand that using that word was upsetting to him, not only made him feel offended but made him feel othered, it hurt him. Even when they knew that, they kept doing it. And I will tell you even in recent months there have been some kids that even use the fact that that word bothers him to taunt him with it.
And so I would have said, "Young people." Because as we know, the demographics in the country and the world are to a shifting a greater population of multicultural people. But I will say that no, the answer is not young people. Now, what's interesting that we're seeing more and more is that when it comes to social causes that they care about, they are more open to change and to effect change. But often that comes as a result of some catastrophic totally offensive situation that has reached a fever-pitch and affected so many people across the country or the world that young people take action.
So I'm not gonna say young people. I will say people who are diverse themselves and who recognize their diversity are probably more inclined to lean into the effort that is required to see the change. Because they already have experienced themselves some type of othering. And they understand from an emotional standpoint how that feels. Or like you, they have seen so many negative things that have happened to other people or that people are experiencing that they are emotional inclined to, leaning to take on a lot of responsibility in our agencies, in our organizations, in our communities to make change.
I will also say that I have seen that folks in generation X have really demonstrated a greater inclination to lean into diversity work in a way that's meaningful. Because to your point, it takes time and we're all busy. I think that's something that we see all the time.
That you cycle.
Singleton Beato:
We see that all the time because really this is about prioritizing the effort that it takes to change. For a thing to be important to you now, is the work that I have to do as a diversity leader. I have to make these issues and the opportunity so important to you that you prioritize it and therefore make time for it. And take an authentic position in wanting to do the work to see the change.
I think that's really well put. So it's really about helping people to define for themselves the kind of organization, the kind of society, the kind of world they want to live in, right? So I'm just curious from your standpoint, does the opposition of something else ever create positive change?
Singleton Beato:
No. And I've thought a lot about that because I think that at any point in our society, there is an issue to be solved around diversity and it's a social issue. But I think that one of the reasons that we've not really seen change, that we've not elevated our consciousness as a society around some of this stuff, is because people in those groups are angry. They have experienced so much in justice and inequality for so long that you start to create this momentum that builds a sentiment of anger.
And what do we do when we're angry, we find people to blame and we wanna punish them, that's the humanity showing up in us. And because of that and the emotions tied to that we tend to swing the pendulum well over to the other side of the conversation, but we don't get to the heart of the matter, we just don't. And because of that, we land in situations where we're focused on women, gender diversity is critical. We went from the place where we said, "Women can bring so much interesting insight and we approach problems differently," we can bring so much to the business and we're not being allowed to contribute.
So the modern-day women's movement took off. What we've seen in the last, I'll say 18 months, is then the black women said, "Well wait a minute, we would like some justice too and PS when we're looking at the Fortune 500, there is only one black CEO. Wait, oh, she just resigned, so there are none. So this feels like you guys, a white women's movement you're living us behind, what about us?" And so again diverse groups are often a little bit more amiable to change. So the women that were leading a lot of that charge said, "Oh yes, women of color, we need to bring them into the fold, we need to make sure that they're a part of what we're doing because all boats rise and it's about and it's about women."
Well in the process of that work and progress, there become this added layer of harm and injustice toward women. So it moved from the benefits to the idea machine and the business machine that impacts our society in wanting young women to grow up feeling like they could also make this important contribution. It became women though have been violated and harmed. Well see now that is really taking off now in the social discourse. So what started out as a really important and useful conversation where a group of people said, "Hey we're equal to playing an important role in business and society and we want to be embraced and we want an opportunity to make those contributions too and PS those of you that kept us out. Many of you are really bad actors."
But now the entire conversation has become one conversation. So now that conversation, becomes offensive and at a certain point, feels to the white guy that he's being blamed whether or not he's a bad actor. He has been oppressive just by breathing in and out, he represents this group of people that have been oppressive and that have kept women out. We're not dealing with the issue, we are dealing with the superficial manifestation of our historical framework as a society and that's this country, that's every country.
And because we're not working to elevate consciousness as a global community and global citizens, we never get to the heart of what is really driving where we are, but more importantly the heart of what will help us to see change. And change that is sustainable, change that is inclusive of everyone.
And I have these conversations with plenty of white guys who have said, "I feel like I didn't do this, I'm a good guy. I treat everybody fairly and equally." Well, see that's like me as a black person saying, " You're a white guy sitting in front of me and you represent harm, like literal documented unmasked harm. Even though you were not even thinking about that, you're were showing me a good guy and make sure that you are allowing everybody to feel in your presence that they are included and important and valuable to a much larger picture in your life and in this world.
There are behavioral changes that have to happen, it's a cultural matter, and we can keep taking on different groups every year or every couple years but by large, they will always be another group that says, "Well, wait a minute, what about me, I'm important." But the weight of the diversity challenge du jour leaves no room for other people that feel the negative impact of being diverse today.
If you were sitting in a room, if this room was filled with people whose job it is to lead and unlock creativity, what two pieces of advice would you give them in terms of making sure they are creating as inclusive and diverse a community, an organization and culture around them?
Singleton Beato:
So the first thing I would suggest is that they lean in. We're all so busy that we do not curve out the time that it takes, and again in your example earlier, it took you 20 seconds to identify an issue and do something about it. So when I say lean in, I mean you have to step outside of your day-to-day and consider what you don't know about your team or your organization and figure out how you can do things differently.
So when I talk about conscious inclusion, I'm talking about just that. How can you consciously just step back and say, "When I'm considering my team and the open position on my team. Let me look at the current makeup of the people whose knowledge and insights are brought to bear in the work that we do. Now as I've considered that, how can I now formulate a plan to create an opportunity for someone's whose completely different from these people, who have something very, very different to bring to our conversation, to our creative process."
But that takes time, you have to be conscious of the fact that the people in this room are pretty much the same or they are the same in these five ways. "How do I now seek out the diversity necessary to create the tension and the difference in the room that will inspire creativity, that will help us to think about things in a way that we never would have? How do we do that?" Again, lean into those things. The other thing I would say and before I leave that thought ... and I'm talking about if you need to put sometime on your calendar, have your assistant or you yourself put 30 minutes on your calendar one week to just think about you know, " What does difference and diversity mean in terms of how we can be more creative in our thought process? And how we can invite diversity into our conversations and our strategy sessions and things like that?"
That might mean bringing in people that are not even on your team. But how do you do that? Half an hour put it on your calendar and then create one action, just take one action just like you did the other day, right? Take one action to change the way that things are being done. I would also say build relationships with people that are different from yourself. So we started an initiative here last year, where we were very prescriptive about having our leaders meet with diverse talent. But in so doing, we decided that we were going to go as far as to put these people on the calendars, like create the meetings ourselves.
So I say relationship building is key, find some people that you do not know that are as different from yourself as possible. Again, then put one hour on your calendar a month and just have a conversation, pull in someone that is maybe from the LGBT community.
And it doesn't have to be a conversation about them being from the LGBT community, but it can be about getting to know that person, "Where are you from? Where did you go to school? What do you think of some of the work that we're doing? What's your perspective on the campaign that we did for X, Y and Z? What do you wanna do in the future and why? And what's meaningful to you in a work experience?" Just build a relationship, because so many of our decisions as managers of people and leaders, come from who we know, who is in our mental sort of Rolodex ... dating myself, sorry with the Rolodex.
But who is in that mental Rolodex that I can quickly look to, to help solve this problem or to be a part of this team or be promoted into this new assignment, who is that? Is it gonna be somebody that you know? So if you never get to understand the interesting thinking and the insights in the framework that comes from some of the more diverse people around you, then you probably aren't gonna make choices that include diversity in terms of your talent. Just because you gotta make decisions based on what you know, so I would say expand what you know and who you know, those two things.
What are afraid of? Last question.
Singleton Beato:
What am I afraid of? Oh, I am afraid that my son will grow up in a world that is fighting with itself and that the basis of that fight will continue to be difference and the rejection of difference and the fear of difference. And I'm afraid that will affect the way that he builds his family and makes his choices in life and raises his children, that's what I'm afraid of.
I understand that. I have three things for you to take away with you. Actually, they are wrapped under an umbrella of just respect and admiration for the work you've done in terms of your self-awareness, it's just extraordinary. I mean your consciousness of who you are and how you show up. Even going back to the choice of when to go to college and why to wait, I mean, the level of self-awareness that that takes I think is rare and extreme.
Moving beyond that, clearly your courage, your willingness to lean into a situation to jump in and to have difficult conversations I think with anybody and to figure out what you're capable of and to take on those challenges is really powerful. Your generosity towards other people and making time, willingness to have conversations, willingness to help them in almost any circumstance. And I think finally your empathy of really being able to see through the lens with which somebody else looks at the world. We need a lot more of that and I'm really glad that you're around to provide it. Do those resonate with you?
Singleton Beato:
They do. Thank you very much. I will say that I hope that I can apply all of those things to helping our industry to change. I think we play such an important role in how society sees itself, what society thinks is important, what hits at the emotions of an individual that are on the receiving end of our creativity, that activates them to think differently. To behave differently and to look at their fellow humans differently and also for our industry to take seriously the fact that we have to change, and we shouldn't wait until there are all these really harsh conversations going on. And we are probably most uniquely situated to change because of what I said before, we've been approaching business through the lens of diversity in terms of the disciplines that we collect to create ideas, we've been doing that for ever.
There's probably no industry that can do it better or more effectively than we, we just have to change our minds, commit to that change and then be the change and I thank you for all that you do. I think when we talk about diversity, I talk about how culture drives creativity.
I think I would love to leave your listeners with a suggestion that they listen to all of your podcasts. Because they all inspire one to be more innovative, to think more creatively and to be much more fearless in the way that we approach our work, approach each other and think about the world at large and I thank you for that gift. But I would suggest that people really listen to the people that you're talking to and those conversations to expand themselves.
Oh I appreciate that, thank you. I'm humbled by that. I have one last thing to say to you. Happy birthday.
Singleton Beato:
Thank you. There is no better way for me to kick off my birthday than to be with you.
And you're awesome. Singleton, thank you so much for being here.
Singleton Beato:
Thank you for asking me, I appreciate it.


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Abstract: The folding paper helmet EcoHelmet won this year's Dyson champion. The helmet bike riders aiming to reduce the risk of head injury, the price is only $5.
This year the Dyson Award (James Dyson Award) was awarded to the American designer Isis Shiffer. She invented a paper folding helmet EcoHelmet, aimed at reducing the risk of cyclists head injuries. Products manufactured using recycled materials, priced at only $5. This proves that innovation does not have to be expensive.
Continue reading "Carry More Convenient, Try this Paper Bike Helmet which Won Dyson Champion Award 2016"

subset: commoncrawl


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She mentions fucking machines at least once a week. Each time the subject comes up, I chuckle nervously and fumble for words. It's not as though V doesn't know how I feel about them – they're scary as hell – but I've yet to express anything beyond a gut reaction.
Then a few days ago, I asked a question.
"Ummm…Ma'am, does the machine have settings to control depth as well as speed?"
"The more expensive ones do."
She said nothing else for a few moments, just used the moment to gauge my reaction. Flustered, I changed the subject, but she didn't push for more. Why should she? I'm her collared boy, and she'll get what she wants. Simply knowing I'm nervous about the idea satisfies her for the time being.
Until recently, I hadn't thought much about how such a device could be used. I mean, sure, I've seen fucking machines in porn but never thought much of them. Finding out his ass will be on the receiving end of a device changes a boy's perspective. Yet as I write this post, I've yet to research these machines. It's called willful ignorance, and not knowing has helped to keep reality at bay. That tactic no longer works.
Why? Because this boy has an imagination, one which refuses to sit idly by with something this juicy bouncing around. Like it or not, I now find myself pondering the imminent probability I'll be fucked by a machine.
So what is it about a fucking machine that makes me nervous? Let's start with the obvious:
- It's a machine that fucks you until someone turns it off: no matter what you say, or how intense it is, the machine will not stop fucking you until it's shut off. In my case, the Dominant with the power to shut it down is both experienced and keen to keep my ass undamaged. That doesn't mean she wont be sadistic as hell. Her having this much control is fucking hot. Also scary…but still very fucking hot.
- The machine can be set to fuck you at various speeds and depths: this means, she could equip the business end of the machine with a dildo of "manageable" size or a large plug she has to slowly work in. She might decide it will be fun to watch me getting fucked slow but ruthless by a dildo plunging its full depth, or she might opt to keep me impaled in whimpering limbo as a large plug is pulled halfway out before being pushed home again. Either way, V merely has to set the speed, kick up her feet, and enjoy.
There's not much more to say. And, really, the brutal simplicity of such a mindless device is part of what makes me so damn nervous. Depending on her mood, V might add sensory deprivation, heavy bondage, or any number of BDSM elements to add to my ordeal. These 'other things' are all familiar to me in some way, shape, or form.
But to be relentlessly fucked by a machine designed to do nothing else? That's uncharted territory for this boy.
Photo credit ~ tumblr


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Ultra Station: Latest technologies, beautiful design
The Ultra Station employs the latest technologies and wraps them in a functional, next-generation design. The ergonomics, the acoustics, the illuminations, and the control panel have been completely remastered and upgraded – making it more intuitive, more safe, and even more hygienic. And with its clean, modern look, you'll love the upgrade to your facility's performance.
Six standard models are available, with a range of options to further customize your system to your environment. Our team helps you to design the system that meets your facility's needs.
Smooth shape is easy to clean and disinfect
30% quieter than similar solutions
Ergonomically designed with adjustable send/receive heights
Lighting alerts support a calming environment
Available as a through station or end station
Supports add-on features such as PTS security


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Connection Takes You to the Cloud
See how far our experts will go to build hybrid cloud solutions that amaze.
Built for Every Way
You Do Business.
are designed for all the ways you want to work.
What You Do Matters
Connection Community
An Inside Look at the Highest Earning Teams...
Just last year, $10 million eSports franchises were being sold. Now, in 2019, those same franchises are worth over $50... Read More
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In 2016, eSports was barely a blip on higher education's screen. Only seven universities had varsity eSports teams. Parents and... Read More
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What if you could combine the rabid fandom and viewership of professional sports teams with the explosive consumption of video... Read More
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Could eSports be on their way to becoming bigger than the NFL, Major League Baseball, or other sports? Industry analysts... Read More
Navigating Server Refresh...
It's time for another round of server refreshes in your enterprise, so will you continue to deploy the same server... Read More


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Happy Friday team! So, I need to make a couple of announcements in a specific order.
First, early this fall I began dating a sweet guy named Micah Haskell-Hoehl. I call him my boyfriend and we've been having ourselves a good time getting to know each other.
Second, one of the last things we did in 2016 was get ourselves knocked up. Yup, I'm pregnant! Despite this not looking at all like the cultural norm, Micah and I are both really happy and totally rolling with this exciting, new twist of life.
Third, I'm about 10 weeks which is a little early to be talking about this but since we're breaking all cultural customs anyway, I thought I would share. Since I wish we could open up more honest space about the emotional, unpredictable terrain of early pregnancy, I thought I would give it a try.
So yay, I'm pregnant! 2017 will be a game-changer for sure.
Who knows what will happen next? I'll keep you all updated and appreciate your support and words of wisdom.
PS -- there's even more good stuff to this story so if you are curious check out the blog post I wrote in the links below.


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- Neil Anderson
Motor Control / Biomechanics - Supervisors: Chris Button, Peter Lamb
- Carl Bradford
Exercise Physiology - Supervisors: Jim Cotter, Sam Lucas, Zhifa Sun (Physics), David Gerrard (Medicine)
- Jinsu Byun
Supervisor: Mike Sam
- Amanda Calder
Exercise Psychology - How Exercise Induced Affective Changes Influence Future Behaviour - Supervisor: Elaine Hargreaves
- Chelsea Cunningham
Māori Physical Education and Health - Supervisors: Anne-Marie Jackson, Huiti Hakopa, Richard Walter
- Bethany Geckle
Cultural Studies, Sport History/Sociology - Supervisors: Doug Booth, Sally Shaw, Rosemary Overell (Media, Film and Communication)
- Travis Gibbons
Environmental physiology – Supervisors: Jim Cotter, Phil Ainslie (School of Health and Exercise Science – University of British Columbia – Okanagan), Kate Thomas (Department of Surgical Sciences – University of Otago), Luke Wilson (Department of Medicine – University of Otago)
- Colleen Gulick
Exercise Physiology - Supervisors: Nancy Rehrer, Meredith Peddie- Dept. of Human Nutrition
- Yoon Jin Kim
Supervisor: Tania Cassidy, Marcelle Dawson (Department of Sociology, Gender and Social Work)
- Luke Macris
Sport Policy / Sport Management - Supervisor: Michael Sam, Steven J. Jackson
- Adam Miles
Sport Psychology - Supervisor: Ken Hodge, Mike Boyes
- Jonathan Ng
Motor development, Skill acquisition and Movement assessment - Supervisor: Chris Button
- Chanel Phillips
Supervisor: Anne-Marie Jackson, Hauiti Hakopa, Chris Button
- Sebastian Potgieter
History - Supervisors: Doug Booth, Mark Falcous
- Jamie Prout
Supervisors: Jim Cotter, Regis Lamberts (Dpt. of Physiology), Stacy Sims (University of Waikato), and Jo Corbett (University of Portsmouth, UK)
- Cameron Ross
Supervisor: Chris Button
- Troy Ruhe
Physical Activity and Health - Supervisors: Lynnette Jones, Faafetai Sopoaga (University of Otago- Preventative Medicine), Debra Waters (University of Otago-Physio)
- Emily Scott
School Health and Physical Education - Supervisors: Lisette Burrows (Waikato University), Tania Cassidy
- Leena Shoemaker
Exercise Physiology - Supervisors: Dr Jim Cotter, Dr Luke Wilson (Department of Medicine), Dr. Liana Machado (Department of Psychology), Dr. Sam Lucas (School of Sport, Exercise, and Rehabilitation Sciences, University of Birmingham)
- Kim Seng Tay
Place-Responsive Outdoor Education Pedagogy in Singapore Secondary Schools: A Case Study - Supervisor: Mike Boyes
- Lourdes Turconi
Sport Management - Supervisors: Associate Professor Sally Shaw and Mark Falcous
- Martin Burke
Working Out in Forensic Mental Health: a phenomenological exploration of clinical staffs' experiences as they try to change their clients' exercise behaviors. - Supervisors: Elaine Hargreaves, Ken Hodge
- Jessica Calverley
Understanding Adolescents' Perceptions of Walking versus Cycling to School in Rural Otago, New Zealand - Supervisor: Sandra Mandic
- Ting Choo
The Sound of Music: Bringing Dementia Patients Home through Music & Dance - Supervisors: Alison East, Dr Yoram Barak (School of Medicine)
- Timothy Dawbin
Organisational Responses to Independent Reviews of National Sports Organisations in New Zealand - Supervisors: Michael Sam, Cecilia Stenling - Umeå University
- Garrick Hately
Supervisor: Jim Cotter
- Lorenz Kissling
Exercise physiology - Supervisors: Jim Cotter, Ashley Akerman and Kate Thomas (Department of Surgical Sciences, University of Otago)
- Corey Perrett
Biomechanics - Supervisors: Peter Lamb & Melanie Bussey
- Jayden Pinfold
Biomechanics - Supervisor: Melanie Bussey
- Tessa Pocock
Active Living and Health - Supervisors: Sandra Mandic, Antoni Moore (School of Surveying)
- Sheryl Seow
Outdoor Education - Supervisor: Mike Boyes
- Matt Shallcrass
Exercise Physiology - Supervisors: Jim Cotter, Sam Lucas
- Nikki Timu
Ngā tapuwae o te haka - Māori perspectives on haka in sport. - Supervisors: Anne-Marie Jackson, Steve Jackson
- Brittany White
MSc: Sport, Exercise and Health - Supervisor Sandra Mandic
- Katie Brennan
Sport Science - Supervisors: Lynnette Jones, Jim Cotter


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October 24th, 2010
jacket: Anthropologie, scarf: gift, jeans: BCBGeneration, wristlet: Marc by Marc Jacobs, sneakers: Converse
Worn For: a concert! Boyfriend and I picked up last minute tickets to the Rocket Summer show on sunday. It was an acoustic show in a very small setting, so it was very relaxed. A lot of standing around still though. Sparkly shiny sneakers? Yes, please. The prettiest sweater jacket I ever did wear? Of course. And to top it off - the scarf my sister got me in Italy!


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Further, the article says Anbang could consider starting a formal auction process in the third quarter 2018.
Anbang bought Fidea in May 2015 from J.C. Flowers and Co for €369m ($434m, £326m), according to the insurer's 2015 annual report.
However, the source who spoke to Bloomberg said deliberations are at an early stage, and there is no certainty it will lead to a transaction.
In addition to Fidea; Anbang owns Dutch insurance company Vivat, South Korean insurer Tongyang Life and Iowa-based Fidelity and Guaranty Life.
While the sale of Fidea is not guaranteed – it hints at a potential sale of more of Anbang's assets, which could see M&A activity in the insurance sector rocket.
Government takes control
If the sale does go ahead, it would be Anbang's first European divestment since it was seized by the Chinese Insurance Regulatory Commission (CIRC) in February 2018.
The regulator said it would retain control of Anbang for one year, but this could be extended by another year if needed.
Corruption concerns
An extravagant overseas shopping spree, that saw Anbang buy New York's Waldorf Astoria hotel, drew regulatory scrutiny amid worries that the insurer had grown too risky.
The firm's downfall started in April 2017, when it was forced to make statements illustrating its cash reserves and rebut rumours it was taking risky loans.
At the same time, the CIRC warned it was concerned about corruption in the sector.
Cash injection
With control of the insurer in the hands of the regulators and its chairman facing a lengthy jail term, a cash injection worth RMB60.8bn (£6.8bn, $9.1bn, €7.7bn) was given by the China Insurance Security Fund (CISF) in March 2018.
A month later, chairman Wu Xiaohui was sentenced to 18 years in prison for fraud and embezzlement. He has since appealed his conviction.
At the time, it was stated that the CISF would temporarily hold shares in the group during its period under interim management.
The plan is to gradually transfer the fund's shares in the insurer to maintain Anbang's status as a private company.


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Ruapehu Whānau Transformation Plan
The implementation phase of the Ruapehu Whānau Transformation Plan [RWT] is making positive, sustainable changes for the Ruapehu communities of Raetihi, Ohākune and Waiouru.
Under a Ngāti Rangi led initiative, in July 2013 a number of broad ranging solutions were identified to help improve the wellbeing of the area.
There are five focus areas of importance in the plan. The areas impact on the overall wellbeing of whānau, they are education, employment, housing, health and social. To be thriving across these five areas, is to be thriving in life.
The five focus areas each have two key opportunities for transformation. The opportunities are based on the evidence captured in the Ruapehu Scoping Report and identified as potentially making the greatest positive impact for whānau in Raetihi, Ohākune and Waiouru.
The solutions that sit under each focus area, aim to address both opportunities together. They do this by addressing the complexities of the issues that have created barriers to transformation in the past.


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Gwanggyo Power Centre
The Daewoo Consortium and the municipality of Gwanggyo announced in 2008 that the MVRDV concept design for a dense city centre was the winner of the developer's competition for the future new town of Gwanggyo, located 35km south of the Korean capital Seoul. The plan consists of a series of overgrown hill shaped buildings with great programmatic diversity and sustainable credential, aiming for high urban density so as to encourage further development around the so called 'Power Center' of this New Town.
- Country
- South Korea
- City
- Gwanggyo
- Year
- 2007
- Surface
- 117000 m²
- Client
- Daewoo Consortium and DA Group, Seoul, SKR
- Status
- Competition
- Programs
- Retail, Residential, Cultural, Master plan
- Themes
- Architecture, Mixed use, Sustainability, Urbanism
© all rights reserved
- Architect
- Principal in charge
- Design team
- Copyright: MVRDV


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Education And Debate
Why the impact factor of journals should not be used for evaluating researchBMJ 1997; 314 doi: https://doi.org/10.1136/bmj.314.7079.497 (Published 15 February 1997) Cite this as: BMJ 1997;314:497
Related articles
- ResearchResearch output on primary care in Australia, Canada, Germany, the Netherlands, the United Kingdom, and the United States: bibliometric analysisPublished: 08 March 2011; BMJ 342 doi:10.1136/bmj.d1028
- Editorial Published: 23 December 2013; BMJ 347 doi:10.1136/bmj.f7617
See more
- Constitutional symptoms in a young personBMJ December 07, 2016, 355 i5781; DOI: https://doi.org/10.1136/bmj.i5781
- The BMJ Christmas appeal 2016-7: Orbis, the sight saversBMJ December 01, 2016, 355 i6425; DOI: https://doi.org/10.1136/bmj.i6425
- EU to launch new antimicrobial resistance action planBMJ November 23, 2016, 355 i6328; DOI: https://doi.org/10.1136/bmj.i6328
- A typical sign on a plain knee radiographBMJ November 23, 2016, 355 i6021; DOI: https://doi.org/10.1136/bmj.i6021
- An older man with thoracic back painBMJ November 23, 2016, 355 i5786; DOI: https://doi.org/10.1136/bmj.i5786
Cited by...
- Incomplete reporting of experimental studies and items associated with risk of bias in veterinary research
- Relative Citation Ratio (RCR): A new metric that uses citation rates to measure influence at the article level
- Are methodological quality and completeness of reporting associated with citation-based measures of publication impact? A secondary analysis of a systematic review of dementia biomarker studies
- No differences in healing among different closure methods of arthroscopic portals: a systematic review
- Biology Open: evaluating impact
- Video abstracts
- Publishing in the biomedical sciences: if it's broken, fix it!
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- Quality Versus Quantity: Assessing Individual Research Performance
- Research output on primary care in Australia, Canada, Germany, the Netherlands, the United Kingdom, and the United States: bibliometric analysis
- Evaluating Research in Cardiovascular Medicine: Citation Counts Are Not Sufficient
- The Seductive Power of Academic Journal Rankings: Challenges of Searching for the Otherwise
- European National Society Cardiovascular Journals. Background, Rationale and Mission Statement of the "Editors' Club" (Task Force of the European Society of Cardiology)
- In This Issue: Clinical Diagnosis and Management
- Should we ditch impact factors?
- Reinventing the Biomedical Journal
- A report card for journals
- Impactitis: new cures for an old disease
- Annual report October 1999 to September 2000
- Reviving academic medicine in Britain


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Sponsor Meals
Conference Meal Plan: Friday Dinner to Sunday Lunch
Participants can choose to buy a delicious meal package that includes 6 meals (Friday dinner, Saturday breakfast, lunch & dinner and Sunday breakfast & lunch). Meals will be plentiful, wholesome and delicious and based on a flexitarian menu. Options will include a variety of protein (fish, chicken and vegetarian), locally sourced vegetables, and whole grains. See sample menus on the website. Meal packages are $85 and must be purchased in advance. For Children 12 and under the meal package is $40
For those women who do not purchase a Meal Plan, there will be wonderful food offerings from food vendors! *Food Vendor Meals begin Friday Lunch, and the Conference Meal Plan begins Friday Dinner
Conference Meal Plan: Friday Dinner to Sunday Lunch


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A night of good surprises – arrive in Park City, UT for a long weekend and see the BoDeans are playing 3-nights at the historic Egyptian Theater right there on Main St. Always wanted to see these guys, so it was a pre-Halloween treat. Surprised this truly great venue let me in with my camera gear sans photo pass. And surprised and happy to see Kenny Aronoff back behind the BoDeans drum kit doing his usually amazing job. Not surprising was this band living up to its reputation as one of the best live acts of our time. Outstanding songs and harmonies. Musically tight, diverse, and adventurous.
Currently the BoDeans are band founder and frontman Kurt Neumann (guitar & vocals), Kenny Aronoff (drums), Stefano Intelisano (keys & accordion), Warren Hood (fiddle), Eric Holden (bass), Chris Szebeni (backing vocals and percussion). In for Sam Hawksley (guitar & vocals) on this run of shows was Rob Anthony (acoustic guitar).
Neumann's guitar work is outstanding – great tone, original technique, and he never overplays – restraint is something I admire in a guitarist because it's much harder and requires greater finesse than the average shredder playing 'count the notes.' But you know he could let it rip at any time and still be holding back. The band has a few November shows in their home state of Wisconsin, and Chicago. And are currently booking shows for 2016 around the US, so don't miss 'em. A splendid night of upbeat, engaging, fun, entertaining music is guaranteed.
The BoDeans helped usher in the genre we call Adult Alternative, or Americana, or Triple AAA with their first release in 1987, and they continue to explore and work around that target sound. We hate to categorize any great music, but if you don't know the BoDeans, that's a good ballpark.
The BoDeans new release is "I Can't Stop" available now at the usual outlets, starting with http://bodeans.com/


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"We started Fire & Wine to set a new standard in self care and wellness as a whole. We wanted to prove that you can produce plant-based products to work better than traditional products, and do it in a sustainable way."
Our Mission.
It's our mission to enrich lives through our products and the positive impact of our business practices.
Our Commitment.
The future of our planet depends on the decisions we make on a daily basis and how we operate commerce. At Fire & Wine we take this matter serious and are passionately committed to the health of our planet. From solar-powered manufacturing, responsible sourcing, sustainable printing practices, and carbon-neutral shipping, we make a conscious effort to offset the impact we have on our environment at every level.


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Go Back To Complex The 50 Prettiest Porn Stars of All Time The 50 Prettiest Porn Stars of All Time
In the world of adult entertainment, body parts are usually described with dramatic adjectives: "enormous," "round," or "black monster."
There's a cartoonish, unrealistic bent that separates fantasy from reality (well, unless you have an infinite number of barely-legal, cock-craving Romanian footjob enthusiasts at your disposal). But what about good, old-fashioned prettiness? After exhaustive research that caused career-threatening carpal tunnel of the wrist, Complex is pleased to provide a comprehensive pictorial of the the 50 most classically stunning porn stars ever. Google will wait until you finish clicking…


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Chai Diamond Investment presents to you the Mariakani 'Almasi Plains'. This is a high potential investment for medium and long term property investors. The project also opens an opportunity to first-time buyers with our unbelievably,attractive...
This project sits on 1000 acres in Isinya - 6Kms off Nairobi-Namanga Road. From Isinya towards Konza City. 3 Kms from the proposed Standard Railway Gauge. Its a gated Community subdivided into 1/8 Acre plots (50 x 100 ). The Cost per plot is KShs 750,000 upto 3rd of July 2015, and there...
We hereby notify our members that we now have phase 2 of Kangundo road land. The land is adjacent to the Phase I and is equally ideal for residential use or speculation. Like in Phase I we have the Proposed greater Eastern...
Chai Diamond Investments Ltd ( A subsidiary of Chai Sacco Society Ltd ) has identified suitable land at Nakuru for sale. The land is situated 26 KMS from Nakuru Town and 15 Kms off Pipeline town along the...
During the 2012 Annual Delegates Meeting held on 24th March 2012, the delegates approved the incorporation of Chai Diamond Investment Ltd, a subsidiary company of Chai Sacco Society Ltd.
|Real Estate Investment
|Chai Soft Business
|Agency Business
|Money and Capital Investment
|Eligibility of a Shareholder
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Chai Diamond Investments Ltd
P.O BOX 278 00200 Nairobi - Kenya
KTDA Plaza, Moi Avenue Nairobi
Tel: 254 722 817892 / 020-2214406/10
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Business & Marketing Strategist
Wedding & Events
Talk to Me About
Meet Krista Chapman...
Krista Chapman is a former event planner turned business and marketing strategist, specializing in the wedding & event industry. Working through the ranks of restaurants, catering companies and event venues over 19 years, her experience now gives her the unique perspective she uses to guide independent business owners. Now, as the owner and founder of Path & Compass, she uses thoughtful business and marketing strategies to guide business owners and leaders towards more meaningful success. These strategies show them how to connect with ideal clients, overcome nagging mindset hurdles and get clear on what brings them joy and makes them money.
Areas of Expertise
I'm excited to be a Bestie because...
This is my zone of genius, talking to other business owners and helping them to see their path more clearly. No one is successful without the help of others, myself included and I so appreciate the smart entrepreneurs who shared their wisdom with me along the way.


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A quick shout out to OvRride who is hosting the Oakley premier for this season out at Sunshine Theater on Tuesday, November 4th (tomorrow). Check em' out if you got some free time, Oakley has a killer lineup and it's an epic flick (if you missed the free streaming today). I am sure OvR will toss out some free goodies.
Transworld is doing it again. 30 days of giveaways. Full set ups. Full get ups. Insane giveaways. Enter everyday, you know your getting nothing good for Christmas.
I am going to enter this one to try and end my four season run with my multicolor Frankenstein bindings. Win some Union bindings and treat your dogs to a better season.
TGR is running a promo as they rep the new ABLAZE flick this season with Evo. Check out the clips on their fb page and win a $1,000 gift card.
Old man Miller always has some solid freebees and killer grand prizes. This year is no different, win a 9 day trip to Montana. Yeah, second prize is a trip to Norway. Poor third prize gets to go to Switzerland. The premiers are full of voice overs and free lift tickets.
Enter by November 11th to win a grand in free lift tickets, go pro gear, apparel and other treats from Liftopia, enter here.
Want a free pass to Loveland? Not enough to enter, EO will throw in some hard and soft goods and some sort of online fitness testing of your skills.
The West
When booze was illegal, yes illegal, my godmother used to cart around bottles of bootleg in a baby stroller on the east side of the city. On December 5th, 1933 she retired that stroller and certainly celebrated with a few dranks. Big Sky is celebrating the end of your pow dry spell by with $20 tickets on the 5th.
Breckenridge, you monster, if you have not been since Peak 6 opened, she is even bigger than you ever remembered. Hop on the magic carpet and jump the new lift up to Peak 8 opening this winter. This giveaway will get you and a partner out to the town with free airfare, 4 nights on the hill and hotel, and three hundo in cash for a ride to the hill. 5 winners.
Winter Park is old (75) and old people know how to save money. Save 35% and hit the hill for three days, save more on longer stays.
The East
Picking to pay for heat or food sucks and Joe can't help everyone. On December 7th, Okemo is selling $39 tickets after you drop off 5 cans of beans, 5 new toys, or 5 pieces of clothing. Everything collected goes to the Black River Good Neighbors food bank in Ludlow.
December 12th is Founders Day at Mount Snow. Score $12 lift tickets but don't wait too long, a limited stash is available.
words by q the giant


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If you boil tofu rapidly for 30 minutes, it will fill with holes and become a sponge, "ready to squirt its sauce when you bite into it." So says Sam Liang, the hero of Nicole Mones's 2007 novel, "The Last Chinese Chef," who hides a reduction sauce made from 30 crabs inside plain boiled tofu and wows the judges of a cooking contest.
When I read this passage, I filed away Sam Liang's idea. But rather than use the spongy tofu to show off a complex and labor-intensive sauce, I simmered it and served it in a flavorful mushroom broth. The broth showed off the tofu and the thinly sliced shiitakes that are added five minutes before the soup is served, and the tofu showed off the broth.
My soup is not 100 percent Asian because I used dried porcini mushrooms, which are Italian. But they are my go-to mushroom when I want to make a rich-tasting broth; they produce a more intense broth than Asian shiitakes. I soaked the porcinis in boiling water, strained and diluted the strong infusion with more water, and completed the broth by simmering the shiitake stems, some rounds of fresh ginger and a split head of garlic for a half-hour.
I strained the broth, seasoned it with salt and soy sauce, added tofu and simmered it for another 30 minutes. Just as Sam Liang promised, the tofu became spongy, porous and flavorful, with the deep umami taste of mushrooms inside and out.
Recipe: Tofu Mushroom Soup


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After seeing this video of how a Chanel haute couture gown is made I took the time out of my busy and poorly organized schedule to go through Style.com's coverage of couture fashion week. I don't want to overwhelm you with words as I'm about to overwhelm you with photos so I'll leave it at that and let you enjoy.
Alexis Mabille is a brand new designer accepted into the prestigious haute couture club that has only 16 other houses on the list. I have to say I think that this show was my favorite with its very light and blooming collection. The lace and chiffon camisoles and blouses paired with pale satin trousers have me dreaming of modern day Romanticisim. Another new designer showing at the haute couture shows is Ulyana Sergeenko. I didn't realize she was a designer but had seen her all over the street style websites and was in love with her taste.
Her collection didn't blow me away but I really enjoyed these silhouettes. The boudouir inspired aspect of these pieces make the woman seem sexy without trying, greatly reminding me of her own personal style.
It is like an escape for me to see what's going on not only inside the shows but outside of them also. Below you will see Miroslava Duma, someone that has been a huge supporter of Ulyana. Her accents of fur come off as cute little quirks. Below that are some leftover inspirations from the menswear shows the week previous to couture.
|All street style pictures by Tommy Ton
Coming up is New York, London, Milan, and Paris.
Prepare yourselves ladies and gentlemen it's going to be a long and visually overwhelming ride.


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When you are organising a corporate event, it pays to think outside the box. Whilst many people will book the local conference hall or a hotel for their meetings, they might not consider having their event at Walt Disney World.
You might be surprised to learn that the theme-park is an excellent place to hold corporate events for clients and employees. Read on in order to find out lots more.
Large Meetings
If you are hosting a conference for hundreds or thousands of people, why not choose from the different buildings at Disney's Convention Resort? With over 600,000 square feet on offer, the Resort provides meeting rooms, dining areas and ballrooms which can be used to entertain clients as well as allowing you to get down to business.
Breakout rooms are designed for parties, which can be the perfect way for clients or employees to unwind after a day attending a conference or a series of meetings.
Once the meetings have been finished, then everyone will be able to take advantage of the world-class entertainment facilities that the park has to offer. Visit http://www.liquidfireworks.com in order to see the type of water shows available at the park. These enchanting displays combine water, music and lights to create stunning visual effects that leave thousands of audiences astounded every year. Once you have seen the water show at Sea World, you will want to see as many as possible in the future.
The theme park offers a wide range of entertainment from diving with dolphins and horseback riding to golf and speciality cruises.
Creative Resources
Disney offers a wide range of resources which will enable companies to successfully perform a product showcase or the grand unveiling or a brand-new service for clients. The video and photography department will be able to create stunning visual packages that can really bring your company to life in the eyes of clients. The talent and entertainment department will be able to bring your awards ceremony to life by providing an array of different musicians and dancers.
Relaxation is an important part of any corporate event. This is why Disney World provides activities such as Bass fishing and spa treatments to allow employees and clients the chance to unwind away from the conference halls and meeting rooms. You should research the full range of relaxing services on offer before the conference takes place.
Networking is a crucial element of any business. This allows companies to connect with other businesses in their field of expertise, as well as introducing companies to their potential clients. Various networking exhibitions are available, such as the Living Seas – the networking function will be held in an aquarium which houses over 3,000 different species of aquatic life.
Hopefully, this guide will inspire you to book a corporate event at Walt Disney World.


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And....I'm off!
After being on terra firma for 24 hours I hopped on a plane and took off. I'm off to Virginia where I'll be working as a cargo planner for a few weeks. It's good and bad.
I'm excited for the opportunity and bummed that I haven't slept in and lazed around with a slow cup of coffee.
Here I sit with a kale smoothie and comfy as hell boat shoes (with sparkly leopard print, ahem).
I kicked the last 24 hours ass. Seriously. I can't wait to fill you in!


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The true price of freedom
To every veteran out there—past and present, to military families, and those currently serving stateside and overseas, THANK YOU. From the bottom of our hearts, thank you for your service, commitment, bravery and resilience to protect our country and our rights.
It has been our privilege to visit the memorials in DC several times with Honor Flight groups of veterans. We have learned more on those trips about moments in history, the genuine human heart, and pride in the United States of America than at any other time in our lives.
The men and women we've met who have served our country never refer to themselves as "heroes" but we have seen the deep-seeded emotion tied into their first-hand knowledge of the true price of our freedom. God bless every single one of them.
On this Veterans Day, hug someone you love and salute every veteran you know.


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Johnson's Log Home & Timber Frame Show is May 4-6, 2018 in Lake George, New York and I'll be spending the weekend presenting many new creations at the Lake George Forum. I'll be showcasing a number of new real antler creations. If you print out this advertising page, you can even get $2 off admission! See you there:)
Additional shows will be published shortly.


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Enjoy every minute of your photoshoot knowing that we have everything covered and cherish the moments as they happen while preserving them forever. You'll love your portraits! Book your time here OR email us at email@example.com or text us at 913-905-9394.
Bondurant Studios 5732 Barton Avenue Shawnee, KS 66203 913-905-9394 firstname.lastname@example.com
Copyright © 2018 Bondurant Studios All rights reserved


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From records held at the Norfolk Record Office and newspaper archives at Norfolk Heritage Centre.
As horses and men were sent to the Front, there was an urgent need for both to be replaced at home to maintain food supplies. Women replaced many of the men while tractors replaced many of the horses.


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Hanley Inc. is an environmentally conscious company. It's green. It's organic. It's all health, all the time. Unfortunately, this means I have to serve soy formula to Boss Lady Hanley. It's good for her, which is wonderful, but it's not so great coming out of her. Burping her afterward is a rather rancid experience. Even though she's moving on to baby food, she still gets a bottle of soy formula in between meals. These days I mix in two tablespoons of fortified cereal with the formula, which she greedily sucks down like a Hoover surfing dunes in the Sahara with an extension cord.
I gave Hanley her mid-morning bottle today and she was slurping away as if she hadn't eaten in a week. I thought, Damn, girl. Breathe honey. I was surprised the bottle didn't crack and then collapse in on itself, because she was sucking all the oxygen from inside.
Suddenly, a loud pop captured my attention. Hanley had finally decided she needed to breathe more than she needed to eat. The sudden lack of suckage caused the nipple to launch from her mouth like a rubber band and fly to the other end of the bottle. Hanley was instantly baptized in soy formula as it gushed from the bottle and onto her face. I was momentarily stunned, but recovered and quickly put down the bottle
as soon as I stopped laughing.
I thought she'd cry, but Hanley simply stared through the cereal and soy and seemed to say, What the heck just happened? All day, even though I bathed her, I kept finding grains of cereal in the darndest places. It's been twelve hours, but I bet she still smells like soy. Her face is wicked soft, though.


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Plant Secondary Chemistry: from Biochemistry to Applications
Facchini, Peter [1].
Milk of the Poppy: Alkaloid Biosynthesis in Plants and Beyond.
In 1806, a pharmacist's apprentice named Friedrich Sertürner isolated an alkaline component from opium he called morphium, after Morpheus the Greek god of dreams. Morphine, as it became known, was not only the first isolated alkaloid, but also the first active principle isolated from any medicinal plant. The isolation of other opium alkaloids soon followed including noscapine, which is now used as a cough suppressant and is being intensively investigated as an anticancer drug, in 1817 by the chemist Pierre Robiquet. By 1818, the physician François Magendie first described the use of morphine as a pain reliever and the drug soon became widely available in Western Europe. Opium poppy remains the sole commercial source for morphine, the gold standard in pain management, and other narcotic analgesics including codeine and semi-synthetic opiate derivatives such as oxycodone. The molecular structure of morphine was eventually deduced in 1925 by the chemist Sir Robert Robinson, and the first total synthesis was reported in 1952 by Marshall D. Gates Jr., confirming the empirical formula. Elegant radiotracer experiments conducted by Sir Alan Battersby and others in the 1960s led to a remarkably accurate biosynthetic scheme for morphine, although a proposed pathway for noscapine biosynthesis remained obscure. Now, two centuries after the initial isolation of morphine and noscapine, all relevant genes involved in the complex biosynthesis of these and other major alkaloids in opium poppy have been identified. Other benzylisoquinoline alkaloids produced by the plant display diverse molecular scaffolds and an array of pharmacological properties, and include the vasodilator papaverine, the antimicrobial agent sanguinarine, and the anxiolytic compound magnoflorine. The recent application of integrated functional genomics methodologies in opium poppy has facilitated the discovery of all relevant biosynthetic genes responsible for the formation of these alkaloids, in addition to morphine and noscapine. To date, more than 30 alkaloid biosynthetic genes belonging to over a dozen different enzyme families have been isolated from opium poppy and functionally characterized. Most alkaloid biosynthetic enzymes in opium poppy have been localized to sieve elements of the phloem. However, the final conversions of some pathways, including those involved in the formation of morphine and noscapine, occur in laticifers, which contain the alkaloid-rich latex exuded upon lancing of unripe seed capsules. The availability of an extensive genomics toolbox has created unprecedented opportunities to investigate new aspects of alkaloid metabolism in opium poppy with both basic and applied implications.
1 - University of Calgary, Department of Biological Sciences, 2500 University Drive N.W., Calgary, AB, T2N 1N4, Canada
Keywords:plant secondary chemistrymetabolic biochemistrymetabolic engineeringgenomicsalkaloidssynthetic biology.
Presentation Type: Symposium PresentationSession: SY01Location: Hall C/The Shaw Conference CentreDate: Monday, July 27th, 2015Time: 8:45 AMNumber: SY01003Abstract ID:77Candidate for Awards:None


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In early September, I was commissioned by the golf course to update the photos that I had taken two years ago. The course is in beautiful shape and I was happy to showcase that with these photos. This is a very unique 9 hole course tucked away in the corner of Nuns Island with an amazing view of Montreal in the background.
Enjoy the view and please share with anyone who may need updated, quality photos of their course.


text: This fascinating and graphically striking website maps historical articles on Wikipedia onto a timeline. Viewers can confine themselves to the tiny span of Earth's history that features the human race, or zoom out to the unimaginable expanses of geological time. Incredibly, the project was put together by (very smart) college students.


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SOO HOT !! the things I would love to do to her....
Very nice, you Jaye.
Name: Jaye Summers
aka: Charlotte Lee, Juicy Jaye
Ethnicity: Caucasian
Birth place: North Carolina, United States
Birth date: March 25, 1995
Age: 24 years
Astrological Sign: Aries ♈
Height: 5 feet, 6 inches (168 cm)
Weight: 114 lbs (52 kg)
Measurements: 32B-24-32
Natural tits: Yes


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For anyone who has ever had the dream of owning your own lake, this 100-acre lake can be a reality. It is as pristine and as beautiful as you might imagine it to be: alive with the sweet sounds of nature and the peace and serenity that only such a rare property can bring with it. Currently used as a residence and a commercial bass-fishing lake, populated with pickerel, perch, catfish and sunfish. The Tom Sawyers and Huck Finns of this world will be purely delighted. There is a modest 3-bedroom, 2-bath home currently standing with a spectacular view up the lake (and the sounds of a spillway behind) that could be the footprint for another residence, but there are other places around the lake that could also easily become a home site. With the right amount of care and imagination the property can also lend itself to a number of perfect cabins and do double duty as residence, family compound and/or commercial enterprise. For beauty, solitude and almost untouched natural habitat, it is unmatched.
The data relating to real estate on this website comes in part from the IDX of the Multiple Listing Service of Ulster County, Inc. Real estate listings held by brokerage firms other than Taft Street Realty, Inc are marked with IDX logo and the detailed information about them includes the name of the listing broker.
Copyright © 2019 by the Multiple Listing Service of Ulster County, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
All information provided is deemed reliable but is not guaranteed and should be independently verified.
IDX information is provided exclusively for consumers' personal, non-commercial use and may not be used for any purpose other than to identify prospective properties consumers may be interested in purchasing.


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Photo: Chris Martin link
- Adam Bomb
- Metal/ Rock
New York-based guitarist and singer, AKA Adam Brenner, who has been part of Black 'n Blue, auditioned for Kiss at the age of 16(!) and stood in for Yngwie Malmsteen on a number of Steeler gigs.
He has also recorded alongside John Paul Jones (Led Zep) and Michael Monroe as well as released his own material such as "In Your Face", "Bone Yard" and "Rock On, Rock Hard, Rock Animal".
Has Worked With


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Kevin Clash
American puppeteer and voice actor
Kevin Clash (born September 17, 1960) is a puppeteer and voice actor. Clash currently performs Elmo on Sesame Street. He has also performed Splinter from Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Clifford from Muppets Tonight, and Baby Dinosaur from Dinosaurs. Mr. Clash is an important part of Sesame Street Workshop. He often performs Elmo in hospitals for sick children. Mr. Clash is well known for his ability to improvise.


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A Melody for James (Christian Romantic Suspense)
eBook (PDF), 322 Pages
Price: $4.99
Melody Mason and James Montgomery lead separate lives of discord until an unexpected meeting brings them to a sinister realization. Unbeknownst to them, dark forces have directed their lives from the shadows, orchestrating movements that keep them in disharmony. Fire, loss, and bloodshed can't shake their faith in God to see them through as they face a percussive climax that will leave lives forever changed.
Available in PDF Format
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Product Details
- Copyright
- Hallee Bridgeman (Standard Copyright License)
- Edition
- Second Edition
- Published
- November 15, 2013
- Language
- English
- Pages
- 322
- File Format
- File Size
- Product ID
- 21300266
Formats for this Ebook
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|Any PDF Reader, Apple Preview
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|Windows PC/PocketPC, Mac OS, Linux OS, Apple iPhone/iPod Touch... (See More)
|# of Devices
|Flowing Text / Pages
|Learn more about ebook formats and e-readers
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Pure Imagination Fund
The Pure Imagination Fund
Working to establish an endowed music education scholarship for minority musicians at Colorado State University- Pueblo, in memory of Ashli Abner.
The bar is high- the minimum amount needed to endow a scholarship is $25,000.00. Please help by attending one of our FREE benefit concerts and making a donation. ALL proceeds will go directly to the scholarship fund.
See our Upcoming Events link above for concert info or go directly to CSU-Pueblo's crowd funding page by clicking on the link below.
" I want to be able to provide for myself and feel that I have accomplished something meaningful in life. I want to be able to teach without being timid and influence productive young musicians. I want to show others what impact music can have in their lives the same way it has done for mine."
Ashli Abner March 5, 1988 - August 26, 2016
It was Ashli's lifelong dream to become a music educator. With her passion for teaching, Ashli Abner was motivated by her vision of improving the world by passing on the universal language of music. Ashli had already accomplished much, having earned an Associate's Degree, and was actively pursuing a Bachelors Degree as well as a Masters Degree in Music Education.
Ashli began experiencing symptoms at age 19 that were ultimately attributed to Lupus. Ashli persevered as her health deteriorated from escalating symptoms and treatments, which ultimately resulted in complete kidney failure. Ashli never lost her belief in her future, enduring her illness with grace and perseverance. With a fierce determination to overcome, Ashli remained steadfast in her conviction that her illness was a but moment in time; Ashli believed she would have a lifetime in which to realize her dreams and ambitions. During the course of her illness, Ashli remained positive although her declining health created many challenges; she remained optimistic until her passing in August, 2016.
Ashli loved her life, and the beauty and power of music. As a flutist and violinist, she was respected by both peers and teachers. Ashli found many ways to demonstrate her loving spirit through the course of her short life. It was Ashli's deepest desire to ensure that others be provided the opportunity to be empowered, encouraged and enabled to study music. This is Ashli's legacy and will live on through an endowed scholarship to be awarded to deserving music students in her memory. The Pure Imagination Fund has been established to honor Ashli, her deep love of music, and her belief that the transcendent nature of music can be world changing one note, one musician at a time.
"Anything you want to do, do it. Want to change the world? There's nothing to it"
----words that inspired a life all too brief
From "Pure Imagination", Willie Wonka and the Chocolate Factory


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The above picture is why I created Zavia. Like every mildly over-protective mom I wanted to be sure I was doing everything I could to provide my kids with a nurturing and healthy home life. Because of this I became an avid label-reader. I began pouring through the ingredients of the products in our home and in the grocery store aisle and I was amazed at what I found. The products I looked at were loaded with chemicals, artificial coloring additives, and were chock full of lab-made preservatives. I thought to myself, "There has to be another way." I continued my quest for a healthier home and then my mom introduced me to essential oils. These wonderful liquids are all-natural and provide access to a variety of positive and healthy attributes for the home and the body. After countless hours tinkering in the kitchen, research on the internet, and speaking with essential oils and soap-making professionals I decided to take my family's ongoing health into my own hands.
I launched Zavia in the Spring of 2015 to provide like-minded people with healthy, high quality options for personal care. Our products are handmade using unique blends of essential oils and all natural ingredients and refrain from using any manufactured additives or coloring. My family and I are Zavia's biggest customers, which I hope speaks to the quality of our ingredients and our manufacturing process. I only want the best and healthiest products for the two little nuggets in the picture above (and my husband too!), and that's exactly what we try to provide to our customers with every product we make.
Christy Acevedo


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By Connor Brantley
Before we go to the polls this fall, it's important to remember why it is so essential that we vote. We are at a critical juncture in our nation's history, and the best way to ensure a bright future for our citizens is by voting and picking leaders who most closely reflect our values. Having witnessed the consequences of collective apathy in the 2016 election, young people, now more than ever, should recognize the significance of hitting the ballot boxes this fall.
Far too often candidates rely on low young voter turnout to get elected. What this means is that their platform and campaign efforts neglect the views and opinions of younger generations, and politicians gear their campaign promises towards those who statistically are more likely to vote. We can change that. People between the ages of 18-25 make up the largest percentage of the electorate. We have the power to shape this nation for the better, and it is as simple as voting.
It is equally as important for you to vote as it is for you to encourage those around you to vote as well. The more college students vote, the more our government policies will reflect the values and beliefs of this generation. The shaping of our nation is a group effort, and it is essential that all college students play their part in securing a more promising tomorrow.
You can begin this effort by visiting our new website to learn more about how you can work with SPLC on Campus to get your fellow classmates registered to vote at your school this November. We're very excited to be launching this new effort and hope you will join us.