My Top Influencers of 2016
Over the past year, I've accumulated several different types of email subscriptions. From Seth Godin's daily musings to Nathan Barry's drip email about his book, I've read and enjoyed them all.
Over the past year, I've accumulated several different types of email subscriptions. From Seth Godin's daily musings to Nathan Barry's drip email about his book, I've read and enjoyed them all.
Email is a tricky medium. In recent years, I've become so accustomed to unsubscribing from newsletters, that it has become second nature to skip the content and go right to the footer. GMail has gone so far as to give you the option right from the inbox.
As social media has grown and evolved over recent years, the necessity to focus on well-crafted email has declined.
There are, however, individuals doing email and doing it well. Without further ado, here are some of my top influencers of the 2016:
Nathan Barry
Nathan is a designer turned writer turned email software aficionado. I am in awe of his mini-empire and enjoy watching him and the company he founded, ConvertKit, grow.
In Nathan's drip emails about his book, Authority, he takes you on a wild journey which ultimately sold me on signing up for his $29/mo email platform. See my last post about it.
Paul Jarvis
Paul Jarvis is intelligent as he is entertaining to follow. He is a veteran web designer who shares knowledge, insights, and has carved out a nice little corner of the Internet for himself. His emails span from direct marketing to step-by-step guides.
Jason Zook
If the Internet was a candy store, Jason would be the kid in it. I am consistently impressed with his ability to get shit done and do it in creative & innovative ways. As I pen this blog post, he is writing his next book live daily on WatchMeWrite.
* Sometimes Nathan, Paul, and Jason come together to form course-making Voltron and put out some really great stuff.
Tobias Van Schneider
I can't recall how I came to find out about TVS, but I am glad I did. Tobias has an eye for the finer things in life and shares this through his channels. His weekend emails are interesting commentary on design, technology, pop culture, work, and productivity. As a world-class designer, everything is put together rather elegantly.
Seth Godin
Seth Godin has been around almost as long as the Internet itself and needs very little introduction. Seth has been blogging every single day for many years now. His morning emails offer inspiration and prompt introspection. It's a great way to start off your day and can help you make decisions in life and business.
I would be remiss in failing to mention the evolving good stuff that Gary Vaynerchuk puts out every single day, seemingly on every platform. I have also enjoyed watching Casey Neistat chronicle his life in his daily vlogs.
Let me know if the comments who you subscribe to!
13 Things I Wish I Knew Upon Graduation
13 tips that could have benefitted me when I graduated college in May 2010.
My fall semester graduate friends have me feeling nostalgic. Here is a list of things I wish I knew before entering the real world.
Be self-aware The world knows everything about you. Be in control of crafting the narrative by being savvy with what you share.
Your career started 4 years ago Maybe 5 if you were like me in college.
Emotional Intelligence Google it. Practice it.
Create an about.me page Here is mine for reference. Don’t have much to say? Take a hi-res picture of yourself somewhere interesting. Fake it until you make it.
Create a vanity LinkedIn URL Don’t try to reinvent the wheel – First name, last name. If taken, use first name, middle initial, last name. Worst case scenario, add a number.
Delete all your terrible tweets This wasn’t so much of an issue for me in 2010, but I recommend running an advanced search and pruning profanity, politics, and anything that could be misinterpreted.
Delete allllllll your terrible tweets Sorry that your aspirations to be the next highly opinionated Internet celebrity didn’t work out. Use this to start from scratch without losing followers.
Claim your personal branded assets yourname@gmail.com, yourname.com, linkedin.com/in/yourname (really trying to drive this home), twitter.com/yourname, facebook.com/yourname, instagram.com/yourname. You get the picture.
Consider making all your social accounts private Or maybe don’t. For me, my personal/professional life blurred very quickly right off the bat. This led to a lot of cleanup of old, useless posts that I thought were funny but probably no one else would. There is a thin line between being authentic and being too transparent.
Stay in touch with friends and classmates, but keep moving forward Your alumni network of peers is a great thing to consider spending time on, but it will probably not help you attain success or wealth right out of school.Bonus: Keep in touch with professors and let them know of your successes. College newspapers are great PR early on in your career and your alma mater will want to brag about you.
Instead, join a professional society For example, if you’re looking to work in the non-profit field in any major city, you should join YNPN.
Don’t run right back to school A Masters degree is nice to think about, but think about how you can rise up through the ranks without one. Instead of embarking on a journey that might be costly and unnecessary, try taking a class or two at a specialized training school, like General Assembly.
Keep learning…you’re never done.
Nonprofiteer of the Year 2013
In June, I found out I was a finalist for the Young Non-Profit Professionals Network of New York City's Nonprofiteer of the Year 2013 award. I was stoked to be nominated for my first professional award. As soon as I found out, I had several colleagues forward me the newsletter YNPN-NYC had sent out, along with the 4 other finalists. Quite an impressive list of people:
John Hellman (@JuanEstebanNYC) Director of Advocacy, Latino Commission on AIDS
John Moreno (@JohncitoMoreno) Founder, Latino Youth for Higher Education Program
Tara Pokras (@tpokras) Program Assistant, Project Sunshine
Mon Yuck Yu Chief of Staff, Academy of Medical & Public Health Services
The event was held in at the Center for Social Innovation on June 27th. It was a nice intimate gathering of like-minded individuals. The winner was named towards the end of the event after the 5 of us offered up some career advice. I was honored to have been selected and thankful to everyone who nominated me!