The Educated Emotion

Register for Classes Happy Monday! After being swept away with my new bundle this year, I am stirring up a little bit of action. I hope to have a full set of offerings this coming Spring. In the meantime, I have some classes and activities that might be of interest. Note: All times provided are EST. Nov. 1 - Tru Story Blog Reloaded With renewed focus and content, I am finally ready to relaunch the Tru Story Blog. Expect honest conversation about success, failure, entrepreneurship, social justice, community and more.  Location: WORLDWIDE at   www.trustorysuccess.com Nov. 1 - #NaNoWriMo2016  National Novel Writing Month and the Writer's Digest PAD (Poem a Day) Challenge Location: United States at www.nanowrimo.org or http://www.writersdigest.com/whats-new/2016-november-pad-chapbook-challenge-day-1 When: Nov. 1 -Nov. 30 Nov. 5 - Remembrance Project Author and Producer, H. Buchanan, will launch The Remembrance Project Location: Carr C...

A social breakup is when social media followers decide, for whatever reason, they are tired of following you or your brand. Top reasons for social breakups include too much length of time between posts, hyper posting (posting too many times for the social media tool you are using), inconsistency, too much selling, or sometimes the honeymoon period (giveaways, initial excitement, or novelty) is just over. Do All Blogs Go to Heaven? A couple years ago I started to see a decline in my blog reader engagement .  Unlike the 95% of bloggers who give up on their blogs, I knew what to do.  After all, I have been blogging for almost 15 years.  I simply wasn't doing it. I was spreading myself too thin, disorganized, and to be honest...a bit bored/burnt out. Here we are two years later. With the new addition to the family (shown below), I have less time than ever. So, why in the heck would I decide to rebirth a blog? Good question. There is a lot of research on ...

The Character of a Community If you've ever dabbled in culinary arts, you know that one of the key rules when introducing new flavors to recipes is retaining some of the original flavor. You can add all sorts of ingredients to the meatloaf...until it doesn't taste like "meatloaf" anymore. Once that occurs, you will start to offend tastebuds. Similarly, for many Memorial Day can be celebrated, observed, and honored in a host of ways. But, this year the Internet has drawn attention to the fact that we have lost much of the original flavor of Memorial Day. When I was a young girl, Memorial Day meant getting up early and attending the Memorial Day parade, visiting the grave site of fallen loved ones, followed by food and family. By the time I was a teenager, Memorial Day also included furniture sales and decorations. At some point, over the last twenty years, Memorial Day has become nothing more for some than a "Happy Memorial Day" status, hashtag, or ...

Good News! Social media does not have to be boring and ineffective to still maintain professionalism.  Many organizations have started to get hop by adding cute photos, taglines, humor, and video. But, a thousand likes on your pictures of cats in cute hats won't necessarily translate into new paying customers or increased awareness for your organization. Below are twelve ways to begin to strike a balance in communicating effectively and professionally the key parts of yourself, brand, or organization. This list comes from years of seeing people and organizations struggle with keeping their online presence professional, yet engaging and effective. This presentation was created for the University of Michigan's Center for the Education of Women hosted its 33rd Women of Color Taskforce Career Conference, one of the oldest and largest career conferences for the University. We were happy to be a part of this day of learning with the session Communicating Professionally and Effect...

Many people have asked me how did get this or that opportunity over the years. My answer is always the same: # volunteer . Sometimes people ask about volunteer opportunities and others just blow off what I just said like I am being "extra" or flippant. But, it's the truth. Volunteering is how I access information about opportunities both paid and otherwise, connect with new people, develop relationships with old acquaintances, and express my care about the things I am most passionate about in the community.  Through volunteering (directly or indirectly), I have received jobs, clients, real friends, business partners, furniture, my home, event tickets, and a couple trips. I am not saying that anyone should begin volunteering to see what tangibles he or she can accumulate, but I am saying that the shift in mindset one takes to be a doer...a part of a team no matter what his or her credentials might be, can help shape a leader that is respected and valued within the commu...

Ann Arbor, Michigan has made it to the top of many lists as the best place to live for women, bicyclists, and even dating. Recently, Ann Arbor has made it to the top of a not-so-noble list: The Laziest Cities list.  My first reaction was that of disbelief. But, then I read how the list was derived. For instance, locals like to begin their day at an average time of 8:17 a.m., which is later than most cities in the United States. My guess is that Ann Arbor's appearance on this list is a byproduct for some of the other lists it has topped. Locals like to carpool, bike, walk, and jog to work. Also, there is a lot of support for the arts. Between 2004 and 2005 I witnessed thousands of people lose their jobs and careers after a major pharmaceutical company left town. The estimated loss to the local arts community was nearly $400,000. This is a combination of the loss in funding directly given by the company as well as the decrease in highly paid professionals with time and...

MLK Day is not a holiday for slackers. The Martin Luther King Day of Service was created to honor the legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. through reflection and service. Instead of blogging last Monday morning, I used that time to reflect and have meaningful discussion with my son about some of the lesser known allies to the civil rights movement such as Bill Cosby, Harry Belafonte , and Charlton Heston.  In addition, this entire month I have been revisiting my current projects to see how they aligned with my overall goals. Last week, I reflected on the reasons why I constructed this blog . I have a blog that deals with personal and professional development. I have a poetry blog...well, because I'm a poet. But, this blog is the one I chose to associate with my business . The Educated Emotion debuted on December 1, 2011 and has several meanings, both personal and professional.  On a personal level, it was to capture and communicate what I have learned and continue...

Friday will be my first day "officially" working in 2014, as I wanted a day to get my household back to normal before I start to push forward with professional goals for the New Year. A few weeks ago, I joined an effort to shed some light on local businesses through Shop Small Saturday, Buy Local Week, and Pinterest's Hometown Pins Competition. In an effort to be globally competitive and create a sustainable earth, sometimes we forget one of our first lessons: take care of home. The holiday season, and the sense of community we experienced, was a great reminder of how much buying power we each have every day. One of my "resolutions" is to patronize businesses that invest in the community I live whenever possible. Before I was an entrepreneur, I was a writer. So, I thought it'd be fitting to focus on my favorite writing spots in my hometown for my submission to Pinterest. Below, are my 2014 Picks for the best places to write in Ann Arbor. http:...

Nicola's Books in Ann Arbor, poster made for Giving Tuesday, Cafe Ollie's in Ypsilanti, Santa and 3-y-old Judah in Depot Town, Kolossos Printing  in Ann Arbor, and Bookbound of Ann Arbor. In a conversation with the founder of DishFish , Joel Vergun, he said something that really stuck out to me as a community enthusiast. He likened the support of small businesses to a cause that you you would normally associate with a nonprofit. "We see helping small businesses in the community as a worthy cause," said Vergun.   In the collage above, I captured a few locally owned and operated businesses and organizations that I patronized this year. In the top row f rom left to right:  Mashup of an evening with poet Nikki Giovanni at Nicola's Books in Ann Arbor, a poster for my first year serving in the role of a social media ambassador for Giving Tuesday, In the bottom row, from left to right:  Danielle Teachout, co-owner at Cafe Ollie's in Ypsilanti, ser...

For the past few weeks, the topic is sharks and quite possibly the most popular "B-Movie" buzz on social media to date is Sharknado. The SyFy channel movie, which aired for the first time in July, has been a social media mega-success, making it more successful online than the ratings. Sharknado Proves People Want to Be a Part of the Conversation Studies have shown repeatedly that people like to be a part of a community. However, Sharknado proves it. People don't have even have to watch the movie to know what it's about. A tornado casts mean and hungry sharks out into the land. A trailer shot shows a hero defending himself against an air-borne shark with a chain-saw. It's so predictable that you almost know what the movie will look like ahead of time. What content marketers didn't see coming was the social tornado that Sharknado would create online. On Facebook, 85% of the modest 13,000 fans were "talking about" Sharknado on July 24. Toda...

In honor and support of Blog Action Day, The Educated Emotion will tap into the Power of WE. We, as in the 111 countries that are represented in today's Blog Action Day . We, as in the thousands of bloggers participating today. We, as in the millions of readers. We, as in the billions of people in our own communities that are currently and have the potential to be affected by the Power of We. Over the past five years, we have experienced a global recession as well as recessions in many of our countries, regions, and cities. One of the positives that has come of this rough time is that we are no longer tolerating a single bottom line that does not reflect the social or environmental values of consumers. Our communities, our countries, our worlds have evolved and expanded due to greater exposure and communication, largely in part to social media. Today we discover the Power of...the Power in...WE. Working together to ensure that we are all doing our part to make sure everyone has a...

Tru Story: Social Media: More Than a Website : A comprehensive website is a good move towards making an online presence, but it is not enough to build an online community. For small b...