Friends are the family we choose for ourselves edna buchanan

Share to Twitter Share to Linkedin For many people change is hard, especially when it is sudden and unexpected.  These types of events are sometimes referred to as black swan events. The name comes from ancient times, when it was theorized that black swans didn’t exist.  Once it was discovered that they were indeed real, the name stuck as a way to describe those things that are extreme outliers and rare. Having a black swan event occur once in a lifetime is enough, but lately we are seeing black swan events emerge more and more often. How can we use these black swan events as opportunities for ourselves and others? Black swan events come out of nowhere, so trying to predict them is a futile effort, however you can build fortitude for when they occur. To do that, you first have to really embrace that a black swan event is occurring.  Once you have acknowledged that a black swan event is happening, you can then take stock of how you are personally affected. What … [Read more...] about Look Out For The Black Swans

Share to Twitter Share to Linkedin Hugo Lesser is a visionary marketing expert and founder of Oxford Digital Communications . Previously CMO at Bright!Tax Expat Tax Services. Growth marketing has been growing in popularity for several years now, but how does it differ from traditional marketing, could it benefit your business, and if so, how can you employ it? Growth marketing seeks to engage new customers (and retain existing ones) to drive revenue and grow the business by improving the metrics involved in the customer acquisition and retention processes. These metrics typically include website visitors, lead-to-customer conversion rate, activation rate, customer return/retention rate, referral rate, customer acquisition cost, customer lifetime value, and email, ad and social media engagement metrics. As Zach Boyette explained , growth marketing involves consistently optimizing these metrics through testing changes and analyzing the … [Read more...] about Five Strategies For Turbocharging Your Growth Marketing

SHAH ALAM: Murdered Mongolian woman Altantuya Shaariibuu lodged a police report the same day she went missing almost 16 years ago stating that 'if something were to happen to her, they should look for Razak Baginda', the High Court here was told on Wednesday (May 18). Supt Tonny Anak Lunggan, 42, the investigating officer in the murder of the woman said on Nov 3, 2016, DSP Gan Tack Guan had contacted him by phone to inform him that a police report had been lodged by Altantuya at the Tun H.S. Lee Police Station at 1.08pm on Oct 19, 2006. "I checked on the police report through the Police Reporting System (PRS) and printed it out. I found it to be true that the police report was made by Altantuya and informed DSP Gan and Supt Zainol Samah about the report. ALSO READ: Appeals Court allows Altantuya's family to get copies of police statements in murder case "I remember one thing very clearly. Altantuya stated in the report that if something were to happen to her, to look for … [Read more...] about Altantuya lodged police report stating to look for Razak Baginda if something happened to her, says witness

Share to Twitter Share to Linkedin As we continue to build back from the pandemic, the Biden-Harris Administration is focused on making sure that the economy grows back in a way that works for American families. Strong job growth continues at the same time that we’ve seen an unprecedented boom in entrepreneurship. Against this backdrop, ensuring that the jobs created allow Americans to pay their bills, retire well, and support their families is central. Thriving Main Streets across America are a critical part of a strong economy. Small businesses are the nation’s largest job-creators. In a more inclusive economy, small employers are not simply creating jobs, but these businesses are the source of high-quality jobs that create wealth and upward mobility for the owner, workers, and their communities. ADVERTISEMENT As Secretary of the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL), Marty Walsh leads efforts to engage with businesses and workers. A former … [Read more...] about A Conversation With Labor Secretary Martin J. Walsh On The Economy, Employers, And Good Jobs

Jayadhir Thirumala Rao has introduced the kinnera instrument and artistes like folk balladeers Darshanam Mogilaiah, Dakkali Poshappa and Dakkali Balaiah to the outside world. (Illustration: Suneesh Kalarickal) Jayadhir Thirumala Rao wears many hats. He is an academic, poet, author, scholar and researcher in ethnic studies. A vast repository of information on the art, culture and social history of the Deccan region, Hyderabad-based Dr. Rao is also an on Telangana ’s rich folklore and history. Working painstakingly over four-and-a-half decades, he has documented information on his subjects of expertise and collected thousands of musical instruments and daily-use implements, many of them centuries-old. That has been made possible through extensive travels that took him to remote villages and tribal areas in the Deccan region, interaction with locals, and painstaking research of documents and other material gleaned from academics. Now, a permanent museum to house … [Read more...] about A poet who is building a museum for rare indigenous Deccan artefacts

Share to Twitter Share to Linkedin Samira Dean will always remember the day her daughter graduated from high school. Like most parents, she was beaming as she looked at her child wearing her cap and gown. But for her this was much more than graduation – it was her vision and end goal, with many years in the making; a journey besot with homelessness, gang violence, and a suicide attempt. Ultimately overcome with courage, perseverance, and faith. Growing up in the streets of San Diego, Samira grew up in a culture of stress, violence, and gang warfare. It was normalized, she states, to be part of a gang and it cycled through generations of people who would be born into that way of living. “There were only two outcomes if you stay in that lifestyle – death or prison.” According to a recent report by the CDC, gun violence is the leading cause of death amongst youth, and per a recent report in JAMA Pediatrics, 62% of these youth deaths occur in impoverished … [Read more...] about Hiding In Plain Sight: A Mother & Daughter’s Testimony Of Building Bridges

Maya Sree operating a drone Maya Sree, who goes by only one name, left her hometown in 2018, when she decided to live her life as a transwoman. Her parents did not accept her the way she was, or the jobs that she had taken up earlier to support herself. “But when my parents came to know that I was working for Dhaksha in Anna University campus, I received a call from my family, and they spoke to me, and told me that they were very proud of me. Personally, it’s not just a job for me but a new life,” Maya Sree, a Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA)-certified drone pilot of the Chennai-based Dhaksha Unmanned Systems (DUMS) told Moneycontrol. Maya Sree, along with course mates Pragya, Sai and Rahmatullah, are the first from the transgender community in India to be appointed as drone pilots. They underwent intensive training before being absorbed by the company which operates drones with applications in surveillance, agriculture and defence. For them, this job at DUMS gives … [Read more...] about For four from trans community, drone pilot jobs give the wind beneath their wings

The huge majority of Shanghai residents who have dodged COVID have not escaped the ordeal of lockdown. China's worst COVID-19 outbreak has frayed nerves and stirred resentment among many residents of Shanghai but some have thrived in the face of adversity, stepping up with bright ideas and commitment to help their communities through the crisis. Not surprisingly, many such people have used the skills they developed in their jobs to help others navigate the frightening new world of forced quarantine and lockdowns that no one dreamed of before COVID. Li Di, a senior executive with a global bank, knew he had to help when he was admitted to the Nanhui quarantine site in April, after testing positive for COVID, and was confronted by chaos. "There were only 120 to 150 staff to take care of 10,000 patients. The staff literally had their hands full," said Li. Li set up a team of more than a dozen volunteers to arrange meals, distribute various supplies and help elderly patients … [Read more...] about How Shanghai residents are using Excel, job skills to navigate lockdown

Share to Twitter Share to Linkedin Jaspar Weir, cofounder and President of TaskUs, says that its focus on culture gives strategic ... [+] advantage. Courtesy of TaskUs I met Jaspar Weir, cofounder and president of TaskUs, in Silicon Valley. You may never have heard of TaskUs, but they support all of the companies that you have heard of: Eventbrite, Oscar Health, MailChimp, Hotel Tonight and Turo, to name a few. TaskUs helps fast-growing tech firms scale their customer support and back office operations. TaskUs has almost 14,000 employees globally, most of them in the Philippines, some in El Salvador and San Antonio and recently launched in Taiwan and Tijuana. They have corporate offices in California, Texas, and New York. Call centers are not sexy. But the way the founders built the business has a lot to say to other startups about the recipe for being successful. “Bryce (Maddock) and I started the company when we were 22-years-old,” … [Read more...] about Building Culture Is Essential For Startup Success; TaskUs Leads The Way

Share to Twitter Share to Linkedin In the past five years, there’s been an emphasis on increasing the percentage of funding for women and BIPOC-owned businesses. Not that it hasn’t come with a struggle. According to Fundera, out of the 12.3 million women-owned businesses in the U.S., women receive just 7% of venture funds for their startups. Although work still has to be done, significant strides have been made toward closing the funding gap. As a result, more companies and venture funds are created to invest in and support underrepresented communities every day. Nicole Jeter West, the newly appointed CEO of underdog venture team, leads a team that makes a positive social impact in the investment sector. As a next-generation agency focusing on increasing diversity within the sports industry, 66% of the businesses underdog invests in are BIPOC or women-owned. Additionally, the company offers branding services to help change the value proposition and … [Read more...] about Nicole Jeter West Is Leading The Team That’s Changing The Landscape On Social Impact Investing