sevisme sahneleri izle sex

Category Archives: General

Let Candy Crowley do her job

Posted by Karen on October 15, 2012 – 7:00 pm
Filed under General, Uncategorized
Share

I’m looking forward to the second of the two scheduled Presidential debates. At this point pretty much everyone knows that during the first debate President Obama was not on his game, Mitt Romney was, and poor Jim Lehrer was miserable at trying to contain the candidates.

I am excited to see that Candy Crowley, CNN’s political correspondent, will be moderating.  First, it’s been since 1992  that a woman had the opportunity. Second, she’ll be far tougher on the candidates–in fact she’s taking heat because her contract states that she will get more air time than a moderator might usually get, including the opportunity to ask follow up questions.  That’s right–follow up questions.

In an interview with USA TODAY last week, Crowley said she will call on audience members based on the questions they submit in advance of the debate, and that she will then ask a followup, or “drill-down” question. She also said that if news occurs Tuesday — after debate questions have been submitted — she may ask candidates to respond. “Do I feel a journalistic responsibility to fill a hole if there is one? I do.”

The web is  buzzing with debate about whether Crowley, a seasoned and respected journalist, should be able to moderate because she is asking to do her job the right way. If the campaigns don’t want follow-up questions, why ask a journalist to moderate? Just hire a celebrity. It would probably boost ratings in this celebrity-obsessed culture of ours.

 

 

Meet Donna, our summer/fall associate

Posted by Karen on August 1, 2012 – 5:53 pm
Filed under General, Uncategorized
Share

Donna Nasserghodsi

I am pleased to announce that Donna Nasserghodsi, a student at the University of Maryland College Park, has joined Eightfold Strategy as a Summer/Fall Associate. She will assist the firm in branding, marketing and communications for our clients.Specifically, Donna has been assigned to assist with clients including The National Crittenton Foundation, The City Club of Washington and Carton Donofrio Partners.

Donna will continue working towards her degree in Communications as a senior in the of Fall 2012. She wanted great experience to take her through her final year and with an expanding workload it seemed like the perfect time to start an internship program. As someone who worked full-time through college I did not have the opportunity for internships, however, I heard the horror stories. Making copies. Making coffee. She tells me her friends are experiencing the same. Donna and I worked together to do some initial training in the office (she gets to work from the comfort of her own home) and within a few weeks, she has written blog posts, news releases,  and has learned how to scan for trends and extract data from research reports. It’s fun for me to see her eager to learn and enjoying the work.

Donna wanted to say a few words of her own, below.– Karen Saverino, President

The last final has been taken, books have been returned and all belongings have been moved out of the 15 x 15 room you called home for the past year. Now it is time to relax as it is summertime and the living is easy, right? Well, maybe not so much. For a rising senior such as myself, summer is not as relaxing as it should be. With summer comes the added pressure of finding an internship. The search is long, competitive and difficult. Every student wants to gain experience in their field of interest; earning a degree from an accredited college or university is just not enough to land a job in the real world.

The problem with undergraduate student internships is that most interns find themselves performing duties such as serving coffee to their boss or finding themselves stuck in the copy room. While having a great firm or company listed under the  “Experience” portion of the resume may sound good, what is the value of working for a company in which the company is not able to give back to the intern and vice versa the intern is unable to benefit the company?

Fortunately, I am among some of the few undergraduates who were able to find a highly competitive internship that I will benefit from and at the same time give back to the firm as well. Eightfold Strategy has given me a great opportunity to dive into the real world of public relations and brand marketing. When meeting with President of Eightfold Strategy, Ms. Karen Saverino, I immediately felt that I had found an internship that was going to beneficial to me as a college student. Ms. Saverino has given me full access to the firm and given me tasks which each one teaches a new lesson. An internship is meant to challenge a student in the field that they choose to pursue in the future, this is not something one can simply learn out of a textbook.  I look forward to graduating with the advantage of a professional-level position and a portfolio that demonstrate.–Donna Nasserghodsi, Associate

 

With better access to services for girls, this story would not have to be told

Posted by admin on March 22, 2011 – 8:30 am
Filed under General
Share

I have the pleasure of working with The National Crittenton Foundation. Sometimes their work can be hard to describe and very often the girls the organization works with are placed into stereotypes. We fail to look at the root causes and why they end up in the places that they do.

I went to a screening of a story that mirrors the life of many of the girls that Crittenton agencies work with: “Me Facing Life: Cyntoia’s Story.”  By coincidence, I sat down at Busboys and Poets next to a woman who was pregnant in a Crittenton home in the 1940s.  She was unmarried at the time and her family sent her away to gave birth and  she gave her son  up for adoption.  “You just didn’t have a baby out of wedlock back then,” she said. I asked if she ever tried to re-unite with her child, and she said that she learned he was killed in the Vietnam War.

I’m glad that today girls and women have more choices. If only Cyntoia’s mother had some  access to services like the Crittenton family of agencies provide, this story would not have to be told.

I have re-posted a blog entry by Jeannette Pai-Espinosa, president of The National Crittenton Foundation, who reflects on the movie, bringing us insights from her decades of experience working with girls and young women at the margin.

March 21, 2011

Today 16-year old Cyntoia Brown is facing life in a Tennessee prison for killing a man who picked her up for sex she was exploited into providing. Like so many girls living at the margin Cyntoia’s complex life story includes multiple generations of sexual and physical abuse, addiction, sexual exploitation, poverty, and serious mental health issues. The documentary “Me Facing Life: Cyntoia’s Story” that aired in early March on OPB underscores the legacy of violence and trauma into which many girls and young women are born. Cyntoia’s grandmother was raped by her estranged husbands’ best friend and gave birth to Cyntoia’s mother, Gina Mitchell. Gina became pregnant at 16; drank heavily while pregnant; and admits to being raped, to being an addict and suffering from serious mental illness issues. There’s more, but you’ll have to see the film for the complete story.

If it weren’t for the use of actual interview footage with Cyntoia and others you might think this family’s story is too horrendous to be true. There are countless places at which support and help could have made a difference for this extended family. Cyntoia may have been the one to pull the trigger but the cards were stacked against her when she was born by the two generations that came before her.

As this film airs, I have the honor of being in our nation’s capitol with young women from Hawaii, California, West Virginia and Florida whose childhood, trauma and challenges mirror that of Cyntoia. But rather than “facing life,” they will take a private tour of the White House and share their stories with Congressional representatives. Bold, courageous, smart, articulate, and proud–they are more powerful than they know. As they learn, laugh and struggle together, they are healing and they are healers. They will speak their truth and defy those who tell them they cannot succeed. They are still on their journey to discovering their potential but they are determined to stop the destructive cycles into which they were born.

Unlike Cyntoia, these young women found their way to the programs and services they needed to heal, thrive and lead. Sadly, when budgets are strained these are the first things to be cut. I could cite for you a long list of ways you can give and make a difference––but then you already know the drill. The problem is I don’t want you to just give–I want you to care. So no list, instead do one small thing that will take no more than 5 minutes out of your busy schedule: go to www.AtTheMargin.org and watch the “Get the Facts,” two minute video about violence and girls and young women in this country, and if you are moved, if you care and you believe in the power of their potential then get up and do something about it!

Jeannette Pai-Espinosa
President
The National Crittenton Foundation
Portland, Oregon

Celebrating one year!

Posted by admin on January 8, 2011 – 9:54 am
Filed under Client updates, General
Share

Today, January 8, 2011,  marks the first anniversary of Eightfold Strategy.  I was up this morning early to spend a few minutes meditating and saying my thanks for the good fortune I have had over the past year. Starting a business is always risky and doing it in a bad economy, well.. I have been told I was a bit crazy.  (You remember how bad the econony was last January, right?) I have been very fortunate to have the support of family, friends  and professional counsel who have offered me solid advice, referalls and positive energy.

When I started the company, I had saved enough to cover my personal expenses  just in case I did not have ANY clients the entire year. Turns out I had my first signed contract within a few weeks of launching and I was busy the entire year–even in August when the agency business is absolutely dead. Here are some of  the year’s highlights:

In January, hosting a small launch celebration with friends. I needed to make the company official and put it out to the universe, as they say. About 50 of us gathered at The St. Regis for drinks and appetizers and Eightfold Strategy was open for business.

In February, signing with Zula International to develop a comprehensive branding and marketing plan. The work took me to New York and to Las Vegas and led me to meeting Lois Golden, a media planner and buyer who is now a trusted collaborator.

In March, taking off my skis and setting up on the side of the Parley’s Park run at Park City Mountain  to host a conference call to discuss the development of some web content for Murillo/Malnati Group. The reception was excellent.

In May, hosting a media hard hat tour of the new Woodley Wardman Condominium with clients Julio Murillo and Don Malnati.

In June,   helping Middle Grades Partnership develop and execute a plan to share the research findings that show their program model is working.

In July,  developing a an advertising campaign for Woodley-Wardman Condominium that’s now running in DC Magazine.

In August, heading to Kiawah Island Resort, SC to meet with Terri Wright and other  former colleagues from the W.K.Kellogg School-Based Health Care Policy Program. We reflected on the work of this multi-year project and celebrated its success including the passage of federal legislation to fund school-based health centers.  

In September, working with Independent Sector to integrate social media into their annual conference and having the pleasure of  working with   thought leaderon the “networked nonprofit”  Beth Kanter. Plus helping Chesapeake Bay Foundation plan a major donor event.

In October, creating the Great Start DC brand with designer Judi Jachman. Appreciating  clients’ Maurice Sykes and Carrie Thornhill’s committment to early care and education in the District which they do tirelessly on a volunteer basis.

In November, planning a convening at The National Press Club with then Mayor-elect Vincent C. Gray sponsored by Great Start DC. I was turning people away at the door for this one. Great coverage in the Washington Post, WAMU and local community papers, too.

In December,  attending the launch of Murillo/Malnati Homes at a party at the luxurious Foxhall Road property. And collaborating on the development of the new website for Great Start DC with Miller Cox Design–coming soon! Making plans for a great 2011…

Marching and Tweeting Off Limits

Posted by admin on October 22, 2010 – 9:03 am
Filed under General
Share

In the past few weeks, there’s been a lot of  coverage of news media organizations working to ensure that their staffs do not participate in party politics or speak  as individuals when their affiliation with a media outlet is clear.  

NPR issued a mandate that employees cannot attend the Jon Stewart Rally to Restore Sanity. The  Washington Post told staff it cannot express their own views on Twitter if they are linked in any way to the media outlet’s name . The icing on the cake is Juan Williams being fired from NPR after decades of service for stating that he gets nervous when he flies on airplanes and sees Muslims. (Juan, did this really seem like a good idea at the time?)

Many people are saying that this is a violation of First Amendment Rights. But this is how it’s always been.  Journalism 101 teaches you about the ethics and standards you must adopt if  you enter the  field.   Its pretty clear that you won’t be volunteering for a political party, or pasting issue-based bumper stickers on your car or your person. It made sense.  How can a reporter go out into the community and cover politics or other divisive issues wearing badges of support for one side?   It was drilled into us that we were always representing the news organization–at work, at home, on the weekends. Openly stating our personal opinion on hotly debated issues when we are so clearly affiliated with a news  organization taints the waters of our coverage.

We rely on the news media for information that is well-researched, well-sourced and as objective as humanly possible. The media make a tremendous contribution to our democracy. In this role, it must  put party politics aside if we are to continue to hold them in this regard. And that includes marching, tweeting and dotting one’s lawn with political  signs.

Happy celebration

Posted by admin on June 8, 2010 – 8:01 am
Filed under Client updates, Communication, General
Share

Today marks the six-month anniversary of Eightfold Strategy.  It seems just like yesterday I was sitting here about to send out my launch announcement…nervous, excited, not knowing what the future would hold.  In the past six months, great clients who fit the Eightfold Strategy philosophy have come on board.

I’ve led media outreach and created new advertising for a new green building project in the District; created a marketing communications plan for a start-up company that designs  science-based curriculum products for young children; developed a marketing strategy for a non-profit working to bring more financial resources to help end urban food deserts; and crafted a plan to promote research findings that show the efficacy of a client’s program model.  I’ve figured out many aspects of running a business and I have learned good lessons along the way.

People often ask me if I feel alone or lonely in this venture. Truth is I have never felt more surrounded be people and engaged with others. I have met with hundreds of people, some new and some newly reacquainted.  I’ve built a solid team of collaborators including  designers Judi Jachman and Heather Miller Cox;  advertising copywriter Michael Neiderer; media planner  and buyer Lois Golden; earned media guru Theresa Wiseman; and editor Michael Leicht. We have similar styles and approaches and I enjoy every minute of collaboration.

We measure  success in many ways, one being the ability for the company to provide outstanding client work.  We could not do that without  fabulous clients like Julio Murillo and Don Malnati of Murillo/Malnati Group; Maurice Sykes and the DC Early Childhood Higher Education Collaborative; Deb Manchester at Zula International; Beth Casey and Sophia Rudisill at Middle Grades Partnership; Connie Evans at AEO; and John Talmage and Adelaide Steedely at Social Compact.

Thanks for allowing me to help you make the world a better place. 

I’m looking forward to the next six months on the Eightfold path.

Right Intention Could Have Prevented Massey Tragedy

Posted by Karen on April 7, 2010 – 7:14 am
Filed under Buddhism, Crisis Communications, General
Share

Like the rest of the country I have been following the tragedy in West Virginia at the Massey mines. I putmy opinions about mining aside for a minute and I have been contemplating how this could have been prevented. Employees of the mine have been speaking up for years about the massive number of safety violations and too often they have been fired for expressing their views. Instead of proactively addressing safety concerns and watching out for its employees, the company put profits ve all else. Right Intention, the second step in the Eightfold Path, is a commitment to ethical actions, doing the right thing and working to be sure that we don’t harm others.

This is not a lofty ideal that goes into a mission statement and then is forgotten. It needs to be lived every day to to be the driver al all decisions within an organization. By following the Right Intention, Massey would have listened to employees, addressed their concerns and assured the safest working environment possible. If Massey had followed the path of Right Intention, 25 or more lives would have been saved,  children would have fathers and wives would have husbands. Now Massey is working hard to put on the appearance of Right Intention, though heavily spun messages and the promise of support  for the families who have lost loved ones.  Little do they know that we can see right through that.

When the clients fit…

Posted by Karen on March 20, 2010 – 11:52 am
Filed under Client updates, General
Share

A few months in, I am already experiencing what I believe is the best parts of owning my own company: hand-selecting  clients with whom I share the same values and personality fit. I’m working  Murillo Malnati Group, a very talented green builder whose developing one of the only two new mutifamily construction projects in the District, Woodley- Wardman condominums.  http://woodley-wardman.com/ The units are gorgeous, located near Metro and green–just the kind of place I would want if I were buying this year.  I’m handling  media relations and website strategy.

I’ve also just developed a comprehensive marketing communications plan for Zula International.  The company is focusing on ending the nation’s math and science crisis (STEM for us wonks) through a television show on NBC/QUBO, an online game and classroom curriculum products for students in pre-k through grade three.  If you have a young child in your life, turn them onto The Zula Patrol. http://www.zula.com/ They are fun-loving space aliens on a mission to teach children about science. One of my colleagues on the project has witnessed her five-yeard-old reciting the periodic tables since he started watching the show. Too cute.

Speaking of pre-k, a few years ago I had the honor of working on the Pre K for All DC campaign which led to the passage of legislation to fund high quality pre-k for all three- and four-year-olds in the District. Now I just helped develop a report for the  DC Early Childhood Higher  Education Collaborative  which is charged with ensuring that the District’s  teachers and assistant teachers can meet the degree requirements that the legislation imposed.

Shaping the Right View to Drive Your Organization

Posted by Karen on February 3, 2010 – 11:09 am
Filed under Buddhism, General
Share

Since I launched Eightfold Strategy, I have spoken to dozens of people about the company and there is a lot of curiosity about my philosophy and the Eightfold Path. I’d like to explain the elements of the Eightfold Path and how they connect to my approach to working with clients.  The first step  is Right View.

When you have the Right View, you see things  as they are.  Clients expect their consultants to bring a clear view. Yet too often we base our views on the way we think things should look or how they can look once we bring our expertise to the table. Don’t get me wrong. It’s great to be forward-looking and to bring vision to  the work. However, we must first start with a clear picture of reality.

Often, simply listening  and observing will give us insights into The Right View.

Customers will tell you the truth if you ask how your organization or business is performing and what it can do better.  Follow the chatter in the social media world and respond by fixing challenges and tapping into opportunities and new ideas. Read customer service logs. Ask your customers, donors and employees what they think at least once a year in a formal manner, such as an online survey, one-to-one meeting or  mid-year  account review. They will help you get a clear picture of the way things are and help you form the Right View.  

One of the best ways I have seen organizations gain the Right View is by using ethnographic research. Essentially trained anthropologists observe audience  behaviours to shape the Right View. There’s a ethnographic research group called Context-Based Research in Baltimore of which I have been a long-time fan. Theyoften make their research findings available to the public for free. 

What ways are you using to shape the Right View of your organization?

Next up: Right Intention

Eightfold Launch Celebration

Posted by Karen on January 26, 2010 – 6:51 pm
Filed under General
Share
Ted and Karen

Ted Nanavati, Nanavati Consulting, and Karen Saverino

Heather Zahn, left, and Ashley Gross, right, The City Club of Washington with Karen Saverino

Friends helped me celebrate the launch of Eightfold Strategy on Friday, January 8, 2010 at The St. Regis Hotel’s bar on K and 16th Street. My client Shari Elliker offered a wonderful toast and  many of my “social change”  friends were able to connect   to share ideas and tradebusiness cards.  Theresa Wiseman, one of  my dear college friends who has also just started a business came in on Amtrak to be there. It’s always great to bring like-minded people together for  great food and conversation.  Speaking of food, Ted and I dined in the hotel restaurant, Adour, later that evening and enjoyed one of the best desserts to cross my lips–hazelnut souffle.  I’ll go back just for dessert some winter evening.

sevisme sahneleri izle sex