Tuesday, October 21, 2014

PowerLight A Village




Everyday, over 400 million Indians across 72,000 villages live their lives in absolute darkness post sunset. With no access to electricity, many of them struggle to lead normal lives in the dark.
This Diwali, Garnier Men’s PowerLight A Village initiative aims to solve their problem by providing them with simple solar powered equipment.
Contribute to the cause on Facebook: http://bit.ly/GMenPLAV

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Sunday, October 19, 2014

Best Shows of the 90's (Not just on Nickelodeon)

We all know that the 90's were the best. I would say that the 80's were probably rockin', but I was born in 1991, so I wouldn't know! But here's a compilation of the top 20 shows that were completely awesome that were not JUST on Nickelodeon.

1. Daria (1997)


















2. Fresh Prince of Bel Air (1990)





















3. Rugrats (1991)




















4. Bill Nye, the Science Guy (1993)



















5. Friends (1994)














6. Doug (1996)



















7. Saved By The Bell (1989 (yeah I know, but by one year?))


















8. Boy Meets World (1993)



















9. Powerpuff Girls (1998)
















10. Dexter's Laboratory (1996)


















11. Buffy, the Vampire Slayer (1997)

















12. Are You Afraid of the Dark (1991)













13. Sabrina the Teenage Witch (1996)















14. Blossom (1991)














15. Wishbone (1995)



















16. Full House (1987 (I know cheat #2))














17. Sister Sister (1994)



















18. Sailor Moon (1995)
















19. The Cosby Show (1984 (cheat #3))






















20. Hey Arnold (1996)

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Why everyone should have a good sense of humour


One of my favorite shows on TV is GirlCode, which is a spinoff of GuyCode (but so much better). The reason why I like this show so much is because 99.9% of the time, the girls (and sometimes guys) are all spot on. And the awesome part about it is that they are all wonderfully sarcastic and everyone finds it humorous.

I think it is important for everyone to have a sense of humour. My "darker" side of humor is being sarcastically "mean" to where the person knows that I am joking but can be like "ha ha you're such a b***h, but I love you".  So, here's a list of reasons why you should have a good sense of humour:

1. BECAUSE IF YOU DON'T, YOU'RE TAKING LIFE WAY TO SERIOUSLY
Come on, be realistic. You know you laughed when you were little when your Uncle Bob said "got your nose!"...or you cried because you really thought he got your nose. Life is too short for you not to laugh at certain jokes. I understand that some of them may go too far, but most of the time I'm sure your friends and family don't take their jokes that seriously. One of my favourite TV shows when I was younger was Daria. She is dark, sarcastic and doesn't take s**t from anyone. She is the perfect example of why people should have a good sense of humour. Another good example is the spoof YouTube videos that Saturday Night Live, Buzzfeed, FunnyOrDie, and many other channel create. Those videos, most of the time, aren't meant to be taken seriously. Yet, hundreds of people feel the need to comment and say "this was completely unnecessary and not funny at all". I applaud you for using your "Freedom of Speech", but if you don't find it funny, keep your opinion to yourself, there is no need to spread hatred or bad opinions. The rest of us loved the video and would like to put a good review for the video.


2. LAUGHING WILL HELP YOU LIVE LONGER
Although there are only suspicions of this, some researchers have stated that laughing can help you live a longer, happier life. I would think happier because you are laughing, it would be a shame if it made you sadder. I read an article last year on Psychology.com called "Does Humor Make You Live Longer?" Studies showed that laughing helps reduct blood pressure, dull pain and even burns calories (maybe that's why I'm so skinny har har har). But really, just think about it. Some of the greatest comedians in the world live a long life Take for example the amazing Bill Cosby (bless him for being so funny). Bill Cosby is 77 years old, yet he makes an effort to go to many functions and events. Comedians live longer because they seem to enjoy life more. They know that if they took life too seriously they would be working an office job that meant nothing to them. I'm not saying if you're funny drop everything and go become a comedian, that's a hard business to please. But make sure that whatever you're doing in life it isn't sucking the fun or "funny" out of you.

3. BECAUSE SOME OF THE GREATEST BUSINESSES CAME ABOUT
Don't tell me you've never read an article on Buzzfeed or Reddit. Or watched a YouTube video from FunnyOrDie. These magnificent businesses came about because people believed that great humour should only be shared. I will say, not all the articles and videos posted to these sites are humorous, but most of them are able to crack me up. I mean, watch this Buzzfeed video and tell me you didn't laugh:

So really, the point of this post was to tell you: LAUGH A LITTLE. You may feel bad for laughing at some jokes, but in the end you'll get over it. I don't think comedians like Bill Maher or Jon Stewart would have gotten very far if they had said "oh, well, I shouldn't make jokes at this because it could hurt someone's feelings". So laugh a little, joke around, post a funny video. It's your life, LIVE IT.
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Saturday, October 18, 2014

#FixIt

I recently read a wonderful article on LinkedIn about the thoughts of hunger. Here is the article: 

The one thing I'd fix? That’s simple, for me. I’d help people gain a better understanding of global hunger.
Notice I didn’t say solve global hunger. Obviously, that’s the ultimate goal. But I think the precondition is understanding. If we could create that, we’d get a lot further toward solving the hunger itself.
You might object: Don’t people already know about global hunger? Don’t they know there are millions of people whose lives are diminished or even devastated by hunger in places like Africa and Asia?
My answer is yes and no.
Yes, in the sense that most of us are at least vaguely aware of the statistics. But how many have any real understanding of the problem?
I know that until I’d traveled in the developing world, I had never seen a seriously malnourished person, unless it was someone suffering from a severe illness. I know I’d never seen a person die from a virus or an infection that any well-nourished person would fight off without even noticing. I know I’d never heard a hungry child cry herself to sleep or seen – except in a photo — a boy with the distended belly of malnourishment.
So hunger isn’t real and immediate to us. It’s a hazy abstraction. Yet hunger afflicts somewhere between 800 million and 1 billion people on the planet — almost one out of seven. And over the next 35 years, the global population will swell by about 2 billion more — with almost all of that growth taking place in the places where hunger already exists today.
We even have hunger here in the United States. The scale of the problem is mind-boggling. Yet how many of us really grasp that either?
Hunger, unfortunately, is not cinematic. It doesn’t hurtle out of the air in a terrifying plunge or explode in a fireball (airplane crashes now usually account for less than 1,000 deaths per year). It doesn’t involve an attack by a frightening beast like a shark (less than a dozen deaths worldwide per year) or direct violence of any kind. It’s mostly silent and invisible: a series of pangs, an ache, spread across about a billion stomachs.
It’s easily misunderstood too. Some people think it’s inevitable: “The poor have always been with us.” In the developed world, we’ve come to be fatalistic about hunger in the developing world.
That fatalism is misplaced. In the late 1960s, a respected population biologist, Paul Ehrlich, famously predicted the imminent starvation of hundreds of millions of people on the Indian subcontinent. But thanks in great measure to Dr. Norman Borlaug, the Green Revolution averted that catastrophe.
In fact, today, hundreds of millions of people in China and India and other Asian and Latin American countries have emerged into the middle class in the last decades, and even more will do so over the next 35 years. They now have money to buy good food. And according to a recent McKinsey report, Africa already has more middle-class consumers than India, which has a larger population.
Very few things in this world are inevitable; we only think they are. We can conquer the hunger problem and achieve global food security. We already have many of the tools and an understanding of what’s needed:
  • Increased farmer yields through the use of advanced breeding, biotechnology and methods of precision farming that can boost crops’ productivity, in part by increasing their resilience to diseases and a changing climate.
  • Dramatic reductions in crop loss and food waste through improved methods for harvest, transportation and storage.
  • Adoption of better balanced diets that include more fresh fruits and vegetables
But for all this to happen, our leaders and above all the public itself must care – deeply and viscerally. And the precondition for that is understanding.
That’s what I’d fix.
My favorite quote from this article is: "Very few things in this world are inevitable; we only think they are". The truth is, people believe that if they help a cause, they have done the greatest good of humanity, whether or not they understand what they are actually doing. Research is key to understanding anything that has to do with understanding certain causes. It isn't only in the organization that you have to understand, but it is also everything that surrounds the organization. Take for example trafficking. There are two major types of trafficking: drug trafficking and human trafficking. Both are extremely serious, but it is important to know the difference between them before you say "I am against trafficking" (of course it's good if you're against both, but you have to make sure you know what you're going against). 
It's also true in the sense that until some of of us witness things like hunger or poverty, we won't realize how bad things are. The media, unfortunately, does not hype up enough about some of these problems, so we never take notice to them. However, taking an interest in some of these issues can lead to significant changes. My friend Gabriel and I are creating an organization which will allow us to donate clothing to children and adults in South Africa. We chose South Africa because Gabriel has volunteered there for the past 2 summers and knows organizations who would love to help us. In the future, once our organization takes off (hopefully), we want to spread out further to places like India, Indonesia, the Middle East, and many more places. Although this process will take some time, I am committed to making an impact.
So take an interest in a cause, don't just donate money. Volunteer at an organization or start something up at your university. It doesn't matter if it is big or small, you are making an impact, you are spreading the word. When you make something important, everyone else will follow.
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Thursday, October 9, 2014

It's been a while


I know, it's been a long time since I have been on my blog. Been quite busy lately with my part time job as a Marketing Intern for Simon Property Group, finishing up my last course for school (long story), and applying for jobs in London. But I wanted to write a post today about something that has bugged me for sometime.


GPA. This one mark that is made permanent on a piece a paper most of the time determines whether you'll get that high paying, valuable job you've always dreamed of. It seems more and more companies are deeming it the most important aspect of hiring compared to the skills that a candidate has. I recently read an interesting LinkedIn post titled "When Your GPA Doesn't Matter" by Andy Yeo and it really impacted me. Although I will say he is right when he says don't knock yourself down and fail because you feel you're better than school, but don't think that your GPA and degree are the only things that will get you far in life.

"The truth is, your theoretical knowledge is not your most 
valuable asset - your hunger to make a difference and bring a creative and innovative perspective to the table is."

Stole this quote from his article, but it is definitely well said. For me, I've had a lot of experience in the marketing world, ranging from sales jobs (which were my beginning positions) to marketing assistant to event planning. Although some jobs were short term because of location, I gained so much knowledge and experience from each position that will help me in my future positions. To be honest, these jobs gave me more knowledge of what the real world offers than my courses did. I will admit it, I wasn't the grandest in University. When I entered UTSA, I wanted to do Biology and follow in my brother's footsteps and do something incredible in science. But let's be real, Universities make it extremely difficult for students to even stay in the majors like biology or engineering. I completely understand though. In order to make it into a field like that you have to be tough and ready for challenges. Unfortunately, that was not the case for me. I struggled. I struggled A LOT. I ignored the advice from people to switch to business because I was hard headed and wanted to push myself into a career that wasn't for me. Don't get me wrong, I love science, but it wasn't a career path that I was meant to walk on. Although I went down a deep, dark path, I found light at the end of my tunnel. I pulled myself up, switched to the business school, and I will be getting my degree at the end of this month. 

But what some businesses don't understand is that the reflection of grades may not be because of lack of interest or failure to study. I studied my tail off to get good grades when I was both a business major and biology major. Every semester that I did with my business major I was either taking 18+ credit hours and/or working. My Fall 2013 semester at UTSA consisted of me taking 18 credit hours and joining various organizations and Spring 2014 consisted of working a 12 hour week, founding an organization, and completing 19 credit hours of school. Trust me when I say I was not disappointed when I received all B's in my upper level division marketing courses. And yes, I did get a couple of C's while I was doing my business courses. I'm not the greatest test taker. I get confused and nervous about multiple choice exams because all the answer choices sound right. I give kudos to those who are great at taking those exams. But if you gave me a piece of paper and told me to write down what I learned from the course, I could probably write you an essay. 

I've failed many times in my life. In high school, university, even personal events. But take this quote "Failure should be our teacher, not our undertaker. Failure is delay, not defeat. It is a temporary detour, not a dead end. Failure is something we can avoid only by saying nothing, doing nothing, and being nothing." With failure comes success. From failure, I was able to realize I have a passion for event planning. I've planned events ranging from resume workshops to my most recent event Vogue Fashion Week. From failure, I've become more experienced with graphic design and hope to one day start my own business in promotional design work and wedding invitations. From failure, I was able to start this blog and express my interests and opinions in the one way I truly love: writing. 

Successful people like Mark Zuckerberg, David Ogilvy, Rachael Ray, Walt Disney, and many more either dropped out of college or never attended. They all knew that they had skills and knowledge in them that a 4.00 GPA couldn't match up to. I'm not saying don't attend University, it's an amazing experience where you'll meet great people and take interesting courses. But don't ever sell yourself short because you received a D or an F on an exam or your GPA is/was below a 3.00. You have it in yourself to do great things. As Andy Yeo put:

"At the end of the day, how well you do in school is only a black and white score on a piece of paper - what will count the most is the passion you have for what you do."
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