Daily Archives: August 26, 2020

Aresearch studyby The National Center for Women & Information Technology showed that gender diversity has specific benefits in technology settings, which could explain why tech companies have started to invest in initiatives that aim to boost the number of female applicants, recruit them in a more effective way, retain them for longer, and give them the opportunity to advance. But is it enough?

Three years ago, we launched a diversity series aimed at bringing the most inspirational and powerful women in the tech scene to your attention. Today, wed like you to meet Kelly Mathieson, Chief Client Experience Officer at Digital Asset.

Kelly Mathieson is the Chief Client Experience Officer for Digital Asset, the creators of the DAML smart contract language and pioneers in the blockchain technology space. Prior to Digital Asset, Kelly spent 26 years at J.P.Morgan and 3 years at Goldman Sachs working in securities services, clearing and brokerage businesses. Kelly serves on the Greater NYC Board of the Susan J. Komen Foundation.

While I have been involved in technology for years and currently work at Digital Asset, a technology company, Im not actually a technologist. However, throughout my career in financial services, every role I have ever had heavily relied on the technology used in the operating environment, that is, the algorithms used to trade financial products, or the systems used to clear and settle trades, or the software used to serve customers.

In my career in financial services, I lived through seminal events from the 1987 crash, to the rise of online brokerages, to the initial Internet bubble and its demise, to 9/11 and the effects it had on global finance, and finally to the credit crunch of 2007 and 2008. In every one of these situations or crises, technology played a key, if not essential role.

After 30 years working in an industry that relied so heavily on technology, and suffered so greatly when technology didnt work as intended, I wanted to be part of a team that was changing how the business of finance was done, which is why I joined Digital Asset.

You are the grand sum of your experiences at any moment in time, and therefore, what youre capable of doing tomorrow is never going to be equal to what youre capable of doing today.

I consider myself to be one of those fortunate people who has established a strong network across geographies, roles and industries. My role models are my family, friends and colleagues that allow me to use them as a sounding board, either to improve my perspective or guide me in making an important decision by suggesting different angles by which to analyze the situation and form my opinion.

There was not a specific person or a moment in time that blocked me from moving in the direction I wanted to go professionally, but I do have a cautionary tale on getting pigeon-holed in your career. In 2008, following the market crisis, I was fortunate to be involved in some of the more transformative market and regulatory initiatives designed to stabilize financial services and ensure that such an event never happened again. I would never trade that experience. However, because I played such a prominent role, that experience came to define me in ways. It was assumed that I would remain in this role for the rest of my career. What I learned is that you must be willing to promote your brand and emphasize capabilities that position you beyond your current role. You are the grand sum of your experiences at any moment in time, and therefore, what youre capable of doing tomorrow is never going to be equal to what youre capable of doing today.

I am the Chief Client Experience Officer at Digital Asset. At the core of our service offering is DAML, an open source and platform-independent smart contract language that enables developers to write a distributed application once and deploy it to a variety of platforms, from distributed ledgers to traditional databases .

At Digital Asset, I lead the team that supports and enables customers to use Digital Assets technology and partner solutions to build the next generation of connected applications. This includes everything from forming a strategy on how to use DAML for a specific use case or a business issue, helping them visualize their first application prototype or demo, supporting how they engage and interact with third parties, such as regulators, market participants or their customers and helping them select from a range of solutions that we provide with our partners.

Throughout my 30-year plus career, diversity has been an industry issue, whether it was on trading floors in the late eighties and early nineties, breaking glass ceilings in financial services, or giving women more opportunities in leadership positions. Diversity in the workforce is as important to driving business success as it is to personal empowerment. It has been proven in countless studies that diverse workforces produce more competitive companies that deliver better products and services.

That being said, there are still many challenges that we must overcome. When women enter an organization that has low female representation in the technology roles, they are instantly branded as different rather than assessed for their actual skills and experience. This requires women at all levels to work harder to ensure theyre not seen as the female team member but rather as an outstanding performer. Women in technology must make sure that they are consistently distinguishing themselves, regardless of gender.

The obstacles we face as women in technology start early on in our education system.. Most technology, science, engineering and math programs tend to attract men over women, particularly at higher education levels. We must create curricula in these fields of study that appeal to both genders from elementary school through college and postgraduate programs.

As leaders in the technology industry, we need to have a real sense of responsibility for creating that path for girls beginning at the grade school level. We also need to make sure that the technology companies are purposely working to attract female applicants, principally by eliminating male dominant, tech bro cultures. This starts with how job descriptions are written and the types of career opportunities and career paths that are discussed with female employees. In addition, companies need to offer flexible work environments that support both working mothers and fathers so women have the same potential for career growth as their male counterparts.

From my own experience, companies must also consider alternative or diverse paths into senior technology roles. Computer science and mathematical degrees should not be prerequisites to attaining a senior technology role. I know many technology leaders who came from fields such as finance and customer support. Having a diverse professional background enables you to bring a unique perspective to an organization and one that can unite different areas of the company together in pursuit of the most practical and customer-centric technology solutions.

I firmly believe the world is a better place when people with diverse perspectives, backgrounds and experiences are brought together to solve a challenge or problem. Women introduce a fresh voice to any initiative if only because our perspectives are different.

We need to encourage students at the grade school level, at the middle school and the high school level, to define their own paths and help develop STEM topics and curricula that inspire them to pursue technology careers with passion and persistence. If we do that, in just a decade or generation, there will be social, economic, cultural impact of an indefinable positive quality, simply because we opened the door to a more diverse workforce that applies its intellectual force to solving the worlds biggest challenges.

A wise person once told me Kelly, you dont need to know everything. You just need to know where to go get it and who to ask.

Over the course of my career I have seen results, but clearly not enough to eliminate the debate and there is much more to do. As I said, I have been involved in discussions on gender diversity my whole professional life, and Ive long since stopped guessing on when they will no longer be necessary. Ive never been with a company that didnt need to focus on it and didnt benefit from doing so.

First of all, you must be prepared to work really hard. Dont let opportunities wait to present themselves to you, go pursue them. You are the best author of your own career path, so seek to define it actively and pursue it aggressively. You are the grand sum of your experiences, and you need to present yourself as such. Finally, it is very important to build your network of influencers. A wise person once told me Kelly, you dont need to know everything. You just need to know where to go get it and who to ask.

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Women in Tech: "You are the best author of your own career path" - JAXenter

When published in 1952, The Power of Positive Thinkingwas a progenitor of what came to be known as the prosperity gospel (a belief popularized by televangelists that God intends Christians to be healthy and wealthy) and one of the very first Christian self-help books. America stood astride the globe, and the Greatest Generation was clamoring to catch up from the deprivations of the war years. Americans were making everything from cars to babies at astounding rates and creating civic organizations and churches to support growing families and communities. The Power of Positive Thinkings message of optimism and self-improvement was perfectly suited to one of the most optimistic eras in American history.

The books teachings are straightforward, organized around 10 key principles, like the laws of Moses. The author, Norman Vincent Peale, recommends visualizing success, drowning out negative thinking, and minimizing obstaclespretty much a Tony Robbins seminar or a Sunday morning with Joel Osteen. Certain Bible verses (I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me; If God be for us, who can be against us?) stripped of context, interpretation, and theology, are to be repeated 10 times per day to ward off the evil spirit of negative thought. The purpose of these psychological and spiritual practices is to free individuals from self-doubt and feelings of inferiority and help them to become the people God truly intends them to be: happy, wealthy, popular, and professionally successful.

In a way, the principles of the book were as old as the country itself. Ever since the first buckled Puritan shoe stepped onto North American shores, prosperity has been interpreted as proof of election and poverty, by extension, of damnation. (Forget what you read in the Sermon on the Mount, the poor arent blessed and even if they inherit the earth theyll get nothing more than dirt.) While its hard to imagine a successful, capitalist economy without it, Puritan Christianity often leaves Christians feeling exhausted, anxious, and guilt-ridden, sinners in the hands of an angry God who looks at their brokenness and suffering and says, You arent doing it right. Try harder.

Peale took a kinder, gentler tack than Jonathan Edwards. Peale was exceptional for cutting the flock some spiritual slack, encouraging them to look for the sunny side and conquer their inferiority complexes. In his world, you can have the economic gains minus the guilt, which seems perfectly suited to the American sensibility. For a public with access to few effective mental health treatmentslithium had just come onto the market as a mood stabilizer in 1948and weighed down by the demands of extroverted Americanism, The Power of Positive Thinking must have been a like a tonic, or perhaps a gin and tonic, something to soothe the wired, weary, worried soul.

The book sold millions of copies and was eventually translated into more than 40 languages, and Peale, from his pulpit at Marble Collegiate Church in Manhattan, became central to the spiritual life of the family of Fred Trump Sr., his wife, Mary, and the four Trump children, including the future president. Donald Trump once recalled how he could listen to Peale all day and be disappointed when it was over. He neednt have worried: Peales ideas would take pride of place in the life of Trumps family and Americas for decades to come.

The Power of Positive Thinking may have been a salve for the average, emotionally troubled, success-burdened American but it was also well suited to justifying and exacerbating the pathologies of the Trump family and businesses. In her recent memoir, Too Much and Never Enough: How My Family Created the Worlds Most Dangerous Man, Mary Trump (the presidents niece who also happens to have a Ph.D. in psychology) paints a portrait of Fred Trump Sr. as a sociopath, utterly uninterested in entering into the moral, emotional, and psychological world of his family or its members. In keeping with Peales teaching, he would no more hear about his wifes or childrens problems than he would accept a failed business deal. Mary, a woman who suffered multiple illnesses including debilitating osteoporosis, was in and out of the hospital (which she appears to have enjoyed as a respite from her husband) and lived much of her life in physical pain. As she grimaced, Fred would just say, Everythings great, right Toots? refusing to acknowledge, much less accommodate, her illness.

Fred Sr.s psycho-emotional stonewalling played out most acutely in relationship with his namesake, Fred Junior. Never suited to the family business, Jr. attempted to strike out on his own only to be bullied back into Trump Management, the familys real estate company, by both Fred Sr. and Donald. As recounted in Too Much and Never Enough, Fred Jr. was then further abused, repeatedly denied authority, second-guessed at every turn, and blamed for every problem, setback, and failure in a perverse tag-team between Fred Sr. and Donald. The abuse fed his alcoholism, which, in the familys Peale-informed understanding, was not a disease requiring treatment but the result of Fred Jr.s negative thinking. When the son went to the father for help, Fred Sr. replied, Just give it a quarter turn on the mental carburetor or Just make up your mind, Fred. Fred Jr. replied, rather wanly, Thats like telling me to make up my mind to give up cancer. Fred Jr.s deepening alcoholism only elicited increasing abuse from his father and brother seemingly under the theory that if they were hard enough on him he would turn around. Even in his final crisis, afflicted by fatal, alcohol-induced cardiac problems, no member of the family went with him to the hospital (Donald Trump went to a movie instead). Dying, it appears, is the result of late-stage negative thought.

These are the problem-solving strategies that Donald Trump brought to his marriages, six corporate bankruptcies, presidential campaign, and now, what increasingly appears to be a failed presidency. The consistent element in each of these has been to deny negative realities and keep moving. The casinos, the airline, the football league, Trump Vodka, Trump Steaks, Trump University . . . all bear the same markings of hyper optimism and overpromise/underdeliver salesmanship. Recorded on tape talking about sexual assault? No problem, just bluster your way through. Tell your team, this doesnt sound like me. He wasnt so much denying the charge to the public as much as denying it to himself, turning away from a distasteful glimpse of himself in the mirror. When he was presented with incontrovertible evidence of Russian interference in domestic U.S. politics, he didnt just deny it (and continue to do so) he fired the messengers and shrank the White House offices that insisted on delivering the bad news.

Now we have Trump COVID-19 and its following the same pattern. The virus is very well under control and going to fade away. Or it can be cured by malaria drugs or maybe some light or injected disinfectant. (Or, as recently announced, overruling NIH experts to insist on an emergency use authorization for convalescent blood plasma despite uncertain results on its efficacy.) Slow down the testing and well have fewer cases. You see, conquering COVID-19 is just a matter of substituting positive thoughts for negative data. Various theories have been floated to explain Trumps resolute unwillingness to deal directly and truthfully with the crisis: stupidity (hes anything but stupid), arrogance, and deceit among them. Its really much simpler than that. Trumps just doing what hes always done: conquering the challenge by blinding himself to it, just the way Reverend Peale taught him and his father insisted upon.

It is sometimes said a little bit of religion is often worse than no religion. My AEI colleague, Brad Wilcox, documented that men who identified as evangelical but infrequently attend church were more likely to engage in domestic violence than evangelicals who regularly attended church, mainline Protestants and those who never attend church. Wilcox believes this results from a kind of doctrinal cherry-pickingbig on authority, sovereignty, and power but closed to other-directed teachings like altruism and self-sacrifice. Weak attachment to religious faith tends to put some of the worst behaviors on steroids.

As he lays out early in The Power of Positive Thinking, Peale wanted people to be hopeful, kind, and optimistic, and to become people persons. The Trump family heard the positive thinking, personal empowerment parts, which integrated easily with its win-at-all-cost ideology, but they, or at least Donald, missed the bits about seeking counsel from others and living a life of dependence upon God. For Donald Trump, and now the United States of America, the Power of Positive Thinking and its encouragement to irrational optimism, has helped make the American pandemic response a failure by almost any measure.

In a 2009 interview on failure with Psychology Today, the then-host of The Apprentice said he refused to be sucked into negative thinking on any level, even when the indications werent great. His optimism, though all-encompassing as it relates to himself, is abandoned in relationship to others. Every person Trump meets is assumed to be as nakedly self-serving as he is. Trumps world is a dark one but also a sad and disappointing one in which he is always denied his due by nasty opponents, which includes anyone who goes so far as to demur from his claims of greatness. Hobbes said human existence was a state of nature, a war of all against all. The state of Trumpian nature pits all against himand, more importantly, him against all, an anti-human worldview that stands Norman Vincent Peale on his head. For Donald Trump, The Power of Positive Thinking has turned out to be both too much, and at the same time, never enough.

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The Power of Positive Thinking: Too Much and Never Enough - The Bulwark

It's the one and only Erin Brockovich, and she's back in a big way, talking about what it's like ... [+] being called a verb. To Erin Brockovich something means to investigate and advocate for a cause without giving up.

If you dont recognize the name, Erin Brockovich, her acclaim might have preceded your birth. In 1993, she used her pit-bull determination to help residents of Hinkley, California win a massive arbitration against the Pacific Gas and Electric Company. The company was found liable for dumping chromium-6a carcinogen used to suppress rust formation at the Hinkley gas compressor stationinto an unlined pond in the 1950s and 1960s. The chemical seeped into the towns groundwater. The company hid the problem and misled the community on the effects of that specific type of chromium and its link to local health problems.

But the story doesnt end there. The environmental activist was extolled in the 2000 biographical film aptly titled, Erin Brockovich in which actress Julia Roberts won an Oscar dramatizing Brockovichs true story. Since the film, her name has become a household wordeven a verb. To Erin Brockovich something means to investigate and advocate for a cause without giving up. And thats exactly what she has continued to do with the nations water crisis. Today Hinkley is known as the Erin Brockovich town. But whatever happened to the real Erin Brockovich? This year marks the 20th anniversary of the film that made her famous, but she hasnt slowed down. Shes back in a big way with a brand new book titled, Supermans Not Coming: Our National Water Crisis And What WE THE PEOPLE Can Do About It, written with writer Suzanne Boothby. I had the distinct honor of sitting down with this amazing woman. I asked her where she got her spunk to take on the big guns, inspiring so many to never give up personal and professional quests.

Bryan Robinson: I understand you grew up in a Republican family in Kansas.

Erin Brockovich: My Republican father taught me the value of the land, air and water. He promised me in my lifetime that water would be a commoditymore valuable than oil. Hed sing me little songs like, See the water trickling down the stream. Enjoy it because someday it might not be seen. It never dawned on me that people would be surprised, Youre a Republican? I dont feel that you need to be on either side of the aisle to appreciate, care for and understand the importance of water in our environment.

Robinson: Tell me what led you to write about this particular subject.

Brockovich: Starting at a young age I had dyslexia and was perceived in a certain way, put in a box. I never liked that and realized to break out of it, I was going to have to do it myself. My parents were always there for me. They gave me the power of believing in myself. Having that stick-to-itiveness. This is a very powerful wordthe propensity to follow through in a determined manner, dogged persistence born of obligation and stubbornness. And I took that to heart and applied it to everything I did. I also learned that Prince Charming isnt coming either (laughs). Theres been a divorce or two in my life.

Robinson: Hinkley is best known as the Erin Brockovich town in which your dogged persistence and stick-to-itiveness paid off big time.

Brockovich: I was always looking for that Prince Charming thinking that would make it right. So over the past 20 years after Hinkley, weaving in and out of these communities, I saw the looks on peoples faces when we would say the EPA or the law firm isnt going to get involved. It dawned on me that Supermans not coming to fix this. Were going to have to. And thats were it was born. My whole life, whether it be a learning disability that pushed me into a box and realizing Im going to get out of here. Or through my own personal relationships and marriages. I grew up with these ideas that Prince Charming is coming to fix this, right? In the environmental world, we always think there will be something there that will magically make it go away, fix it or change it. But its not going to happen. The missing component is you and me and we. And we dont need to search for that hero. We can BE IT. Were here, and thats what its going to take because Supermans not coming. But there is something we the people can do about it: be involved, understand it, learn how to better protect ourselves. Its an important message, and once you realize weve got to get busy and fix it, that Supermans not coming, you shift course.

Robinson: Im not so sure people realize that.

Brockovich: Youre right. Im thinking some might be waking up to it, but they might not. I think theres an underlying theme with Superman. Yes, its the environment but its really born out of me because of my disability. What I learned in Hinkley is that were often perceived, labeled, judged, put into a box, dont fit into the square or the way somebody else thinks we should be doing something. Looking to ourselves, realizing who we are, not by what we have but who we are.

Robinson: Youre talking about fortitude, internal strength.

Brockovich: My internal guttural mechanism has always been kicked on. It got kicked on in Hinkley when I was told youre not a doctor, lawyer or scientist. Why should we believe you? Okay, because Im standing here, looking at a two-headed frog in green water, and thats not right. And I stayed with that. I know what I saw. All these people see these kinds of things everyday. Thats not my story. Its theirs, and when they see that, they know it. Youre not going to knock them off of what theyre seeing and experiencing. And when they own that, they get involved with neighbors, the community and start making phone calls and start digging. Low and behold, nine times out of ten they find something out. And they just keep going. Empowerment is contagious.

Erin Brockovich has drawn a lot of attention to serious neglected problems in our country over the ... [+] years. And the grandmother of four isn't going anywhere.

Robinson: What would you say to someone reading this who doesnt have that stick-to-itiveness?

Brockovich: I learned from my mom that youre not born with stick-to-itiveness. You have to develop the habit of persevering even if you dont want to and youd rather give up. It takes a moment of trying to persevere, and you get beaten down and when you do, you pick the ball back up. Its the process of going out there with determination. I visualize a Superbowl game where everybodys watching you. You pick up the ball and run 10 yards and get slammed. You dont throw the ball down and walk off the field. Imagine if we saw that, wed be going, Boo!

Robinson: Thats a great metaphor.

Brockovich: Be prepared that you could get pushed back five or 10 yards. But also be prepared when you pick that ball up again you could rush 30 or 40 yards. Its a process, and it doesnt happen on the first try. In the book, it took the ladies of Hannibal, Missouri three years to get the ammonia out of their drinking water, but that dogged persistence that loyalty to your cause, that stick-to-itiveness is a process. Youll have moments when you get pushed back but youll also have moments when you push ahead. And thats what you need to remember. Im a huge believer in mindfulness because its a matter of what your mind is saying to you and how you deal with that voice.

Robinson: That negative voice that everybody has is not really who we are. Its just a part of us.

Brockovich: I have a name for her. I call her Negative Nancy.

Robinson: So what do you do when you hear Negative Nancy?

Brockovich: I tell her to shut up. It takes years to even recognize it. Where did that come from in my head? Even acknowledging it. We normally wont talk about stuff like that because people might think were crazy. You know what Im saying?

Robinson: Do I ever, yes. What do you do when youre overwhelmed?

Brockovich: I go somewhere I can think and hear myself whether its sitting at the ocean or swinging in my backyard on a late summers night. Or just stopping to appreciate (ahhhh) the smell of rain. Or feeling a breeze across my face. Its the environment I connect to, and I can hear myself think. Thats my recharge and I need that to find motivation to go out the next day and go at it again. Each time you stop, you can hear yourself think and thats where I have a moment to breathe and say Im okay and know I can get through this. I have something outside of me if something goes wrong I will still be okay. And that person is me. When I hear that negative voice, I recognize it and say, Yep. Nope, not today. Buzz off. Shut up. I can almost feel that gear in my head click and go. Im not listening to that, and I am going to hear what my guts saying to me, to believe in what I just saw happening. I am going to follow that little voice that says, Hmm, I think you should look into this further. And then youre going to get the other voice that says, Oh, youre crazy. You cant look into that. You dont know what youre doing. Thats when I tell it to go away.

The new book launches this month.

Robinson: Its been 20 years since the film came out. A lot of people, especially the younger generation, might not have seen it.

Brockovich: Thats very true. There is a message about the environment. But the deeper message is that nobodys coming to save you, and that can be a lot of things whether its Prince Charming or anything else in your life that you think you cant do. I tell people you dont have to look any further for the hero than in your own mirror because youre standing in front of yourself. And I think the key for everybody is that moment you recognize, Ive got this. I can do this. Supermans Not Coming was such an evolution for me, and I think it is for all of us. Were always looking to somebody else to fix it. And its you. The message is to find and believe in you. Thats the deepest message of all.

Robinson: Youve had a huge impact on this country. Whats it like being a worldwide verb?

Brockovich: (laughs). I never thought of myself as a verb. For a long time, I didnt know what to make of any of this. It came because of the film that woke everybody up. I went to the theater by myself and sat in a corner, listening to people as they walked out. Theyre like, I wonder if thats happening to us. And somebody else said, Well I think it could be. Then someone else thought, You know what, Im going to look into that. Another woman said, Gosh, I wish I could be like her, and her husband said, You already are her. Thats all I ever wanted. Its not about me. It never was. Its about all of us. But if my name, Erin Brockovich, represents to somebody that they, too, can find their own strength and personal empowerment, then thats pretty cool. Go, because I will be your biggest cheerleader.

Erin Brockovich joins Resiliency 2020 on Zoom September 10, 2020. You can register for the free live-streaming webinar at resiliency2020.com.

Continued here:

Supermans Not Coming: Erin Brockovich On Stick-To-Itiveness And What You And I Can Do About Our National Water Crisis - Forbes

Photo: Sunanman | Getty Images

Content and Content Marketing Are Not the Same. Here's How to Frame the Top 11 Content Formats.

On the internet, content is anything that expresses thoughts, informationor experiences through written, visual, or audio form.

This article is content. The 95 million photos uploaded to Instagram today are content. The 500 hours worth of videos uploaded to YouTube in the last 60 seconds are all content.

The internet is built with content and always has been. It also means everyone has content, and everyone creates it all the time.

That creates some confusion when it comes to content versus content marketing. A lot of content is intended to market a brand but that doesnt mean the brand does content marketing.

Heres why.

Content marketing is a strategic approach to marketing that emphasizes the creation and delivery of valuable content to attract, retainand convert a clearly defined audience.

In other words, its using content strategically to provide solutions to problems that either your business or your readers have. Great examples abound:

Do you see a difference? All of these efforts position you as an authority in your industry, demonstrate your expertise in your topic over the long run and cultivate trust in your audience by putting their needs and interests first.

Youre doing content marketing (and not just content creation or digital marketing) if your content:

Related:How Do You Improve Email Marketing? Start by Improving Your List.

High-performing content is central to your content marketing, but the way you craft it can make or break your strategy. Its not enough to simply create eBooks, blogsand catchy social media that provide helpful information thats still biased toward your brand.

People are catching on to even that now.

Yet, with all the content creation that you will still do, it can be easy to lose your focus. Heres an overview of how to use the eleven main types of content in content marketing:

Related:What You Need to Know About the LinkedIn Stories Feature

By now, I hope Ive demonstrated how content creation is intrinsic to content marketing. However, just because youre creating content, it doesnt mean youre doing content marketing.

I want to drive things home with an example.

Lets say that were growing an athletic clothing brand and looking for ways to attract more customers to our e-commerce site. Weve decided to turn to content marketing for help. It might look like this:

1. You want to increase your brands presence on Google and social media, but you dont want to constantly annoy your readers with ads. How else can you get your brand in front of your readers?

You decide that the best way forward is to start a blog full of topics that interest your readers. A few things that come to mind include clean eating, exercising at home, and personal empowerment. You can also talk about clothes, of course,but your models can all wear your brand, which eliminates the need for more direct advertising.

2. You start your blog, set up your social mediaand let your following know about it.

Engagement metrics indicate that readers are most excited about exercising at home. Looking through their comments, you notice that things like staying focused, finding the right space, and keeping a schedule are all major pain points that they have.

3. You respond by creating an online guide to exercising at home.

You use a combination of eBooks chock-full of challenges that are available as lead magnets, and video tutorials for exercises hosted on your site. To demonstrate how popular your guides are, you create a way for users to record their progress and encourage each other.

4. To maintain engagement, you start up an email newsletter with the latest challenges, shoutouts for people who have achieved their goalsand occasionally a promo here or there.

Throughout this, you continue to grow your online community, adding more content to your blog that addresses questions or pain points. You even start a hashtag that your followers can use to highlight their fitness efforts so that they can spread the word about you.

5. At some point, you realize that you can enrich your readers experience with case studies and white papers.

You begin to include white papers about health and fitness that are relevant to your target audience. You also start to create case studies of success stories from your community.

6. As fitness centers start to notice what youre doing, you start getting offers for sponsored classesand requests to sell your brand in their shops.

Your content marketing is now extending your brands reach into the offline world. Youll continue all of the efforts above, as the results are feeding further content production.

Can you spot all eleven content types above? Look carefully. Theyre here.

(Bonus: Do you know what brand I just described? Spoiler: This is Athletas content marketing strategy. Check it out at https://events.athleta.com/)

The main difference between content versus content marketing? Content marketing involves a lot more than just content creation. In fact, the emphasis isnt content creation at all, but crafting an experience that improves the lives of your readers. If youre putting your readers first, addressing pain pointsand producing exceptional quality content consistently, then youll grow your brand while you cultivate authority and trust. Thats content marketing.

Hopefully, Ive left you with an idea or two about your content marketing strategy. Now, go forth and convert that target audience into passionate fans.

Related:Born to Create? Learn How to Conquer the Art of Content MakingFree Webinar | August 27: Content Marketing Secrets for Every Social Media PlatformContent and Content Marketing Are Not the Same. Here's How to Frame the Top 11 Content Formats.

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Content and Content Marketing Are Not the Same. Here's How to Frame the Top 11 Content Formats. - New Haven Register

Oluchi Chibuzor

The Oladipupo Clement Empowerment Foundation has donated free General Certification Examination (GCE) forms to about 50 teenagers to ease the economic pressure on their parents during the COVID-19 pandemic.

The donation was part of the non-governmental organisations effort in reducing the number of out-of-school children in the country and to remove the psychological trauma of children with poor parents.

Speaking during the donation exercise recently, the founder, Clement said a childs inability to get quality education gets worse during harsh economic times as job losses and fear for the future put stress on families.

He said this stress needs to be eased by stakeholders, individuals who have made it in the society over the years.The foundation believes that it is the responsibility of all well to do Nigerians to participate in educating at least one child in their community because many are left with emotional and psychological trauma to deal with as they cannot afford the form.

Worried by the rising number of out of school children in Nigeria, Clement, a wealth creation and financial coach explained that the foundation aims to reduce the awkward figures of out-of-school children in Nigeria to the lowest minimum.

Oladipupo Clement Empowerment Foundation aims to reduce the number of vulnerable children with no access to quality education.

He said the 50 teenagers were offered scholarships under the Uncle Ope Global Concepts http://www.oladipupoclement.comLiving in a community with a large number of uneducated children is a serious societal issue and one that we all need to address. We can do that by supporting agencies that work on behalf of children. Every childs education is important.

The foundation which was established out of personal struggles and challenges is out to impact the future of underprivileged children in Nigerian society.

Clement therefore called for effective synergy from various sectors, saying, together we can alleviate the sufferings of underprivileged children through partnership with the foundation to help give one child a new beginning. Educating a child is everyones job.

The Oladipupo Clement Empowerment Foundation is a not-for-profit and non-political organisation focused on creating a platform for the all-round educational needs of outstanding, but indigent youths in Nigeria through scholarships, grants, and educational support.

It is not just focused on academics, but also prioritises vocational, technical, professional and executive education.

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Foundation Empowers 50 Students with GCE Forms - THISDAY Newspapers

For starters, this storm came on suddenly, more tornado than hurricane, cutting a deep swath across the economy. The World Health Organization officially declared the pandemic on March 11. By late May, the New England Public Policy Center, part of the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston, estimated that 33 percent of renters and 11 percent of New England homeowners were at risk of not being able to make a housing payment. By mid-August, stimulus funds, including the $600 weekly unemployment bonus that had kept many people afloat, had expired, and Congress and the White House were at odds over what to do next. (Governor Charlie Baker said Massachusetts would apply for a $300 additional weekly benefit ordered by President Trump, but it was unclear when those funds would reach the jobless.) The unemployment rate, while lower than April, remained just over 10 percent, three times what it was in February.

The effects are especially cruel because the economic stall has disproportionately hit low- and moderate-income workers, particularly women and people of color, says Geoff Sanzenbacher, an associate professor of economics at Boston College. Sanzenbacher divided workers into five income levels and says that, as of June, those in the lowest category were more than three times as likely to have lost jobs than those in the highest category (20 percent versus 6 percent). During the Great Recession of 2008, he says, unemployment levels were lower and more equitable, ranging from 9 percent among the lowest earners to 6 percent among the highest.

Kimberly Zimmerman Rand, owner of Dragonfly Financial Solutions, a financial coaching firm in Jamaica Plain, describes it as a tale of two cities based on her experience working with her own clients and developing financial training and coaching for nonprofits. But even her own clients, whom she describes as working young professionals, are nervous about whats coming this winter.

They are being very cautious and deliberate, she says. They have their eyes to the news and want to make sure they are making the right choices for themselves that are going to serve them both short term and long term. So we are doing a lot of work around intentional planning, not just just floating through life.

Even if youre one of the lucky ones who hasnt lost a job, been furloughed, or faced eviction, this is no time to bury your head in your pillow and hope for the best. Financial experts ranging from high-end advisers to coaches working with low-income clients have the same advice: Get back to financial basics. Understand where and why you spend. Take control. And if you are confused, overwhelmed, or suffering, get help.

Heres how to get started.

1. Accept that money is emotional. This might not seem like the moment to get touchy-feely, but we need to understand what drives our financial decisions in order to control them, experts say. Money is integrated into every area of our life and it affects us emotionally, physically . . . [in] every area, says Reeta Wolfsohn, founder of the Center for Financial Social Work in Charlotte, North Carolina. Wolfsohn, who has a masters in social work, founded the center in 2004 to train and certify social workers and financial coaches in how to talk to clients about financial stress. I talk about changing your relationship with money and with yourself. Because if you dont feel good about yourself, youre not going to put in the time and effort to change your behavior.

Wolfsohns financial self-care includes strategies such as keeping a financial worry journal, sharing money strategies or woes with a friend, and forgiving yourself for earlier financial mistakes. Were not going to tell people they need an emergency fund, but were going to help them figure out that maybe it would be a good idea if I had an emergency fund. How would that reduce my stress?

2. Track spending. Set goals. Create a budget. These are basic strategies, but every expert says budgeting and goal setting are key to feeling as if you have financial control, no matter how much you earn.

Alan Gentle, manager of the Roxbury Center for Financial Empowerment, a city-supported financial opportunity center that works with low- and moderate-income clients, says its a light bulb moment when people start tracking expenses. Thats almost the sweet spot, where we say, OK, lets now start to talk about how we can streamline some of this spending and redirect it toward the financial goal, he says.

Use your budget to set priorities but keep it fluid, changing as your income or expenses change. Accept that its not a perfect document and that it will take time to get it right, says Paula Canaday-Daeke, a daily money manager based in Atlanta who works with clients either too busy or otherwise unable to handle regular financial tasks. Because we have this thing called life, I like to build little buffers in my budget, she says. I like to usually budget on the higher end of what I think the electricity bill is going to be. On the higher end of what I think our grocery budget will be, on the higher end of everything, and ideally on the lower end of income. So that way, worst-case scenario, theres a little bit of ebb and flow.

Pay your bills as quickly as possible when they come in rather than waiting for due dates, she says, to cut the risk of late fees.

And beware of budget busters, warns Danielle Piskadlo, executive director of Budget Buddies, a Chelmsford-based nonprofit that provides financial coaching to low-income women throughout Eastern Massachusetts and Southern New Hampshire. Go over your statements and credit card bills looking for bank fees, high interest rates, recurring expenses like streaming services, or apps that charge your credit card for downloads. Unsubscribe from your favorite stores enticing e-mails and decide what youre not going to spend money on.

3. Create time for your money. Getting control over your money requires a commitment, although apps and online systems make it easier. Consider Akeiva Thomas, a certified financial planner for a Boston wealth management firm who has a side gig: her own YouTube channel, The Bemused, in which she explains the mysteries of money and wealth building to young adults by being transparent about her own finances. Thomas and her fianc admit in one video to spending $372.41 on takeout in June about double their usual grocery budget. She knows this down to the penny because she keeps her budget in a spreadsheet and tracks each expenditure on a mobile app that takes about 30 seconds to input a receipt, she says. Once she realized how much they were spending, they reduced takeout to about $115 in July. Her current personal financial goal is to pay down her student loans, which total more than $80,000.

Thomas, who is particularly concerned about teaching young people of color to build wealth, believes the time she takes will have a big impact in the future.

The changes Im making now, and the improvements in life that Im developing now, its not just for me, she says. My children and their children are going to be the beneficiaries . . . from the choices Im making today.

4. Pay into your emergency fund. At the Roxbury Center for Financial Empowerment, even the lowest income clients are encouraged to save something, no matter how small, to begin creating at least a three-month emergency fund, Gentle says. Once you have some savings, make it sacrosanct and reserve it for actual emergencies like a job loss, not for predictable things that you need to budget for, like school supplies, Canaday-Daeke says. If you want to set aside money for future expenses, like school, car maintenance, or gifts, and wont ignore it sitting in your checking account, create a second short-term savings account. Split your paycheck and direct deposit some of it into savings. And dont link your checking account or debit card to your savings account; make it inconvenient to move money out of it, Andrade says.

If youre feeling too squeezed to save, Budget Buddies and others suggest some short-term solutions for creating more income, such as decreasing the tax withholding from your paycheck, using resources such as food banks and libraries, and negotiating with creditors to lower your payments. Thomas says she even has a few things in her apartment she could sell to raise a quick $500. While building an emergency fund of three to six months is the goal, the most important thing is getting into the habit of saving.

5. Get ahead of creditors. Dont wait for creditors or the landlord to come after you. If youre having trouble making payments, make the first move to negotiate.

Its always good to be proactive, Andrade says. Reach out to creditors, reach out to credit card companies, reach out to your lender, your mortgage company, your car note. Creditors are open to negotiation now and many have specific plans in place, experts say. Explain your situation and suggest an alternative that delays or reduces your payment. You have nothing to lose by asking, and continuing to make minimum payments will help protect your credit score. Let companies know if your lifestyle has changed. If youre no longer using your car to commute, for example, you might be able to trim your insurance bill.

Or consider a consolidation loan from a legitimate financial company, like a bank or credit union, Gentle says. Organizations like the Roxbury center help clients negotiate with creditors for free. But if it looks like you will save enough, it might be worth paying a financial coach or money manager to do it for you.

6. Know your rights and where to turn for help. Its important to know where you stand. For example, as of mid-August, Governor Baker has extended the states eviction moratorium until October 17, but it might be extended again. Reliable sources of information include the federal Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, an agency created to empower consumers, and the COVID-19 portal created by the Massachusetts attorney generals office, which provides information for consumers, tenants, and small businesses. The states 211 phone line also offers COVID-19 updates and resources. Philanthropy Massachusetts has a list of pandemic relief funds for categories that range from small business owners to singers. Community organizing and empowerment agencies, such as the Roxbury center, can connect you with resources and legal aid, too.

__________

Susan Moeller is a regular contributor to the Globe Magazine. Send comments to magazine@globe.com.

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Six smart ways to manage your money through the pandemic economy - The Boston Globe

While eating meals, or during class discussion, many Stanford students often carelessly wonder, Whats the experience of an undocumented person? without realizing that undocumented people happen to be their own classmates. The Student Immigrant Empowerment Project at Stanford (SIEPS) has been building a community of undocumented students for the past two years. We created this group because we first needed to find one another, before we could determine what was needed for our community at Stanford. The University did not have any infrastructure set in place to welcome students past a short email from Student Affairs assuring us that Stanford is an amazing place and directing us to their undocumented student website with information that wasnt useful to our needs. Undocumented students were not even directly connected to each other, we had to find ourselves. As we transitioned to Stanford, we were met by an institution that assumes that we can figure things out on our own. Yet, while undocumented people are some of the most resilient and resourceful people out there, our own strengths are no excuse for the Universitys shortcomings. Nobody should go through the hurdles we have.

Since 2017, the Trump administration has launched attacks against DACA, a program which has provided protection against deportation and work authorization for undocumented immigrants. On July 28, the United States Department of Homeland Security (DHS) released a statement outlining new restrictions to the program which are being put into effect immediately. The limitations include the rejection of all new DACA applications, rejection of new and pending advance parole requests unless there are excruciating circumstances and the shortening of DACA protections from two years to one year. They have launched this new attack despite a U.S. District Courts order to reinstate the program in its initial form. This attack, which began almost three years ago with Trumps rescinding of DACA, directly harms our community. It affects students, workers and their children and brazenly threatens their existence.

After building the community that Stanford shouldve given us in the first place, we are now ready to share our stories. Four SIEPS members, each under a pseudonym, have provided a statement on our experiences as undocumented people at Stanford.

Please recognize that undocumented people are not just pawns for political policy. We are here and have been here all along. And we deserve just as equitable an education as citizens do. We ask that you stand in solidarity with the undocumented community. Read over our demands to the president and the provost and sign our petition regarding the recent changes to DACA. Write emails to Stanford administration here with our pre-written template and call for the establishment of an infrastructure that adequately supports our undocumented community.

*

Amaryllis

Coming to Stanford, I felt an immense sense of hope and relief that this was going to be a new beginning. In many ways, this was true, but in many other ways, this was not the case. I felt that after coming to Stanford, I might be able to forget about my undocumented status. However, the reality was that I couldnt.

There are 11 million undocumented migrants, but DACA only provided relief to 800,000 undocumented youth. I am a part of the 10.2 million individuals that have yet to receive any form of legislation. I have navigated Stanford without any form of documentation, the ability to legally work, any guidance from faculty or administration and very limited resources from the ethnic communities I am a part of. The help that Ive received has mainly come from the people at SIEPS and the undocumented community Ive cultivated outside of Stanford. Ive been constantly hurt by a university that does nothing past release statements that state my importance, but are not backed by any action. Despite this personal experience, I stand with DACA beneficiaries and feel for them in the constant attacks theyve endured under this administration and before it. We have to stand together and fight for relief for all 11 million undocumented migrants, as well as the millions of folks being displaced by violence.

Iris

I try not to think about being an undocumented student, even more so now that I have the privilege to continue my studies under DACA. However, the status placed on me plagues me incessantly. I arrived in the U.S. at the age of three, alongside my mother and older brother. We settled down in a community struggling with gang violence, poverty and homelessness. For a long time we were afraid of anyone finding out we were undocumented, and we refused help even when we were robbed and needed medical attention or academic aid.

Making the choice to pursue an education beyond high school has been life-changing, but it meant navigating a college admissions system that is set up to disproportionately exclude students from low-income neighborhoods. My high school did not have a dedicated college counselor and my family had no idea how to traverse them either. Being undocumented just added to the difficulty of it all. I thought the playing field would be evened out when I was approved for DACA, but even at the university level, I am often reminded about my status.

Before classes even started, while my colleagues spent hours discussing classes they were enrolling in, I had to deal with an enrollment hold due to being considered an international student. A week into my first quarter, I was billed with an extra $1,000 federal tax charge, something I could not easily afford. It was only after weeks of going between the Office of Student Affairs, Office of Financial Aid and meeting with a tax specialist that I was able to get rid of this charge. I was told that this charge was due to an error in my handling as an international student. In addition, this fall quarter I had to renew my DACA. Asking around on campus I was pointed to an immigration clinic off campus in East Palo Alto. While my peers focused on studying for midterms, indulging in the freshman experience, I had to make sure I could keep my DACA status and find a way to figure out my billing situation. My sophomore year I attended an engineering career fair and connected immediately with a recruiter for an R&D internship in a field I was eager to explore. Unfortunately, a few emails with the recruiter and their HR department later, I was told I had to be a citizen to apply, and to consider applying again if my status ever changed.

These are just a few of my struggles. While I am grateful to be able to study under DACA, even under this status I have these limits.

Lavender

Ive had both good and bad experiences as an undocumented student at Stanford. Things started off pretty rough. I had a lot of trouble when I was first admitted, trying to matriculate and enroll into classes. I was pushed around from one person to the next as no one was able to figure out why I could not enroll in classes, even though I told everyone I interacted with that I was an undocumented student. Staff were not provided with the proper training to deal with these situations. I tried to use the Stanford undocumented student webpage, but it wasnt helpful. My issue was not resolved until I reached out to another undocumented friend and asked how they solved this issue when they first started school.

Another disappointing experience Ive had as an undocumented student would be trying to communicate with administration. Earlier this year, when the DACA case was in the Supreme Court and receiving a lot of publicity, Stanford sent out a seemingly warm email about how they support DACA students, and asked for us to reach out to the Dean of Students with any concerns we were having. So I did. I emailed the dean about how the decision would affect us, and steps she could take to ease our mind. This was about two months ago and I have still yet to receive a reply a simple No, we cant do XYZ is better than no response whatsoever. The only real positive experiences Ive had being an undocumented student at Stanford have been meeting other undocumented students and allies, who have really gone out of their way to make me feel at home.

Hyacinth

For as long as I can remember, this country has been my home. My parents and I emigrated from Mexico to the United States when I was just an infant. My dearest memories take place in the diverse and vibrant community of the East Foothills of San Jose where I was raised and still live. But the star-shaped scar on my upper right arm reminds me otherwise. It reminds me that I was born in Mexico. It reminds me that I am undocumented.

I grew up knowing this fact, but was told that it wasnt something I should share beyond family and close, trusted friends. This part of my identity wasnt relevant until the last few years of high school and even more so in college. By then, I was lucky enough to have qualified and been approved to be a DACA recipient. DACA was a security blanket that prevented me from having to constantly look over my shoulder. I received a social security number that allowed me to work, and protection from being deported. However, its not perfect. It was then that I realized that I would have to climb over many more walls throughout my life as long as I was undocumented.

One night, as my friends were frantically deciding which year and quarter to decide to study abroad, they turned to me and asked where I fit it into my four-year plan. I responded with a vague answer and quickly changed the subject, not wanting to explain my situation. By the second quarter, I realized that my DACA was about to expire. I had to start my renewal process soon and I didnt even know where to begin. To make matters worse, it was around the same time the Supreme Court was expected to make a decision on whether to terminate DACA. I had a meltdown, and experienced uncontrollable crying. I was confronted not only with stressful classes, but my DACA renewal, the Supreme Court decision on DACA and the isolating thought that no one else around me seemed to have these problems.

Luckily, someone mentioned a meeting hosted by the Student Immigration Empowerment Project at Stanford, and I decided to attend. And I am glad I did, because I met other Stanford students that were just like me. I felt a surge of warmth, learning that there was an organization rooting for my success, and advocating for protections and rights for undocumented people. There are about 10.5 million of us, and while we have always been a community full of talent and aspiration, we have lived silently in the shadows. This can no longer be the case. It is time we tell our stories, refute the heinous slander associated with the undocumented community and demand immigration reform, especially now more than ever.

*

Stand in solidarity with the undocumented community. Sign our petition to the president and the provost regarding the recent changes to DACA and demanding more support for undocumented students. Stanford has failed to even acknowledge the recent changes in DACA at undocumented.stanford.edu. Send emails to the Stanford administration with our pre-written template to support our call for adequate infrastructure to empower and support undocumented students.

Were also working with the international student community to ask for Bechtel International Center to reform. Betchel is failing to meet the international and undocumented students needs and we are publishing a separate op-ed describing our demands.

ASSU has written a letter in solidarity with the undocumented community with relevant resources at the end of the letter. Follow Students2Stay (S2S) on Instagram for updates and ways to take action. S2S advocates for the protection of all students and college community members who are at risk of detainment, deportation and visa complications. If you want to get involved in our work, feel free to send S2S a message on Instagram. Stand in solidarity with us.

Contact SIEPS at siepstanford at gmail.com and Abi Lopez at abieiden at stanford.edu

The Daily is committed to publishing a diversity of op-eds and letters to the editor. Wed love to hear your thoughts. Email letters to the editor to eic at stanforddaily.com and op-ed submissions to opinions at stanforddaily.com.

Follow The Daily on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.

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Letter to the community: Undocumented students are hurting - The Stanford Daily

A young leader forging a pathway to change, Rachel Stringfellow is fueled by a passion for people as she supports the education and mental health of mob.

Stringfellows maternal connections are with Gudanji, on desert Country around the Northern Territorys Barkly region.

She is currently working as Research Assistant at the Queensland University of Technology (QUT) and is a Project Officer at Queensland based not-for-profit, Queensland Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Foundation (QATSIF).

Passionate about mental health, Stringfellow has an educational background in Psychology. Last year she completed an Honours in Psychology and is hoping to complete her Masters in Clinical Psychology soon.

However, her academic journey didnt start in Psychology.

I started doing Business and Law, and I tell you what I failed the majority of the units! she laughed.

I was blown away by the big city, it was so exciting to be in this new place I had this realisation, Hang on, why would I want to do this business degree and law, what am I passionate about? I hadnt had that real moment with myself.

At the end of the exams I thought, I cannot do something Im not passionate about. Psychology, human behaviours, why do people do the things they do? The good, the bad and the uglythat is what Im interested in.

Stringfellow thrived in the course, learning the value of personal connection and research. She completed her thesis on the impacts of trauma in the body.

I thought I was going to be like The Mentalist psychoanalysing people, reading their body language, but it wasnt, instead it was a really heavy research degree. I really valued that, and as I progressed, I realised I was really a people person and that these research evaluation skills were really important.

Combining her love for people and passion for education, Stringfellow took on her current role at QATSIF.

We have a really small team Im one of four members and I work as a Project Officer, to be honest, my role is really, really varied, which I really love, she said.

Established in 2008, QATSIF works to provide Indigenous families in Queensland with increased access to education options and opportunities in life.

Managed by the Public Trustee of Queensland, the not-for-profit operates through a small Secretariat.

Prior to COVID-19, the QATSIF team attended an Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander careers fair.

Ive never seen it before, it was for all our kids all ages in high school. They set up a number of stalls, we had universities there, we had professionals in their fields. We could have a yarn and start asking questions, we could give them avenues to explore or even start to think about, Stringfellow said.

Giving them options and letting them know, Hey you dont have to know what you want to do in the future, you dont have to have all the answers. Just know that it is possible for you.

We want them to see there are so many positive role models in their corner.

At the moment, Stringfellow is working on strengthening community and school relations.

Im trying to get a database sorted of our Queensland Elders, as our ultimate goal is connecting our Elders with schools because there is so much knowledge and support that just isnt being utilised, she said.

I think it is because schools, they might have their Community Education Counsellors (CEC) and thats great, but often we see them take on all the work for anything relating to our kids and the fact of the matter is that that is a whole school jobits not just one person. Were trying to get that attitude to change.

Stringfellow has a steadfast belief in the power of education to change.

When I was studying Psychology, the number one thing I took away from that degree in all my study of health and community in terms of inequality, it was education the greatest tool of empowerment you could have for people, she said.

Thats why I feel happy to go to work, its why I feel blessed and grateful because I know I am working as part of a charity impacting our communities so that we are changing that aspect of it.

Education truly is the biggest tool of empowerment in my perspective, and this is a means of doing that for our communities.

With the year speeding past, Stringfellow is living in the now, and remaining open to what might be in her future.

At the moment I just want to learn as much as I can from the people I have around me; my Elders, my mentors, and my family because I feel like at this point in my life I am wanting to soak up and share the knowledge Im being given, she said.

Nothing is set in stone and thats what I know about life. I have to roll with whatever opportunities come my way if they align with what Im about.

For more information about QATSIF or to support the organisation, visit: https://www.qatsif.org.au.

By Rachael Knowles

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Gudanji woman supporting young minds of the future - National Indigenous Times