Dad 1966

My Dad, My Hero.

June 17, 2012Nina KovnerHEROES

The Final Analysis Prayer…Dad’s Favorite.

“People are often unreasonable, irrational, and self-centered.  Forgive them anyway.
If you are kind, people may accuse you of selfish, ulterior motives.  Be kind anyway.
If you are successful, you will win some unfaithful friends and some genuine enemies.  Succeed anyway.
If you are honest and sincere people may deceive you.  Be honest and sincere anyway.
What you spend years creating, others could destroy overnight.  Create anyway.
If you find serenity and happiness, some may be jealous.  Be happy anyway.
The good you do today, will often be forgotten.  Do good anyway.
Give the best you have, and it will never be enough.  Give your best anyway.
In the final analysis, it is between you and God.  It was never between you and them anyway.”

Mother Teresa

Dad

This picture was taken in July 2011, Dad asked me to teach him how to use Twitter.  He always had a passion for technology (and Starbucks).  As a doctor, things such as pagers, cell phones (he had one of the first big clunky ones), and online medical research databases helped him save lives.  He also believed so much in the power of social and digital platforms for connecting people and was part of creating one of the first online communities for people in addiction recovery.

Dad 1966

This super cool handsome picture of Dad was taken in October 1966, the month and year I was born. I love this photo and am fascinated that we have taken to Instagram to get the look and feel of “old school” photography. Awesome.

My Dad and I also shared a passion for music.  For Fathers Day last year, he asked me to make him a Lady Gaga CD.  He had read about her in The Economist and Wall Street Journal online. At 74 years old, my Dad, the coolest guy on the planet, was asking for a Lady Gaga CD.  I made many CD’s for my Dad, but this one was extra special, and I had no idea at the time it would be the last CD I ever made for him.  He wrote me an e-mail after listening to it which said: “Born this Way, what a beautiful message. I think I’m becoming a little old monster”.  He even shared his new found love of Gaga with his fellow doctors.

On December 12, 2011, my Dad went to heaven and the world lost the greatest man I have ever known. I miss my Dad so much today, I miss him everyday.  He was the best Dad in the world, so kind, compassionate, smart and funny.  He was also so excited and supportive of Passion Squared, and even though he never got the chance to see us launch, I know how proud he would be of the work we are doing.

A special shout out of love and immense thanks to my partner in passion Gordon Miller for standing by my side through these incredibly difficult 6 months and for allowing me to honor my Dad today on our blog. I heart you Gordon, infinity and beyond.

Wishing all of the beautiful and awesome Dad’s a very Happy Fathers Day.

(shared with LOVE from your passionista Nina)

Lollipop Moments

June 11, 2012Nina KovnerGROW, HEROES

“I alone cannot change the world, but I can cast a stone across the waters to create many ripples.”

Mother Teresa

 

This inspiring video at TedxTalks by Drew Dudley completely re-frames the meaning of leadership, and shows that we all have the power to help change the world by making a single person’s life a bit more beautiful.  All it takes is a making a positive impact on one moment to one person, one day at a time.  WOW.

The amazing industry we play in everyday offers us all so many opportunities to create “lollipop moments” – whether it be for those entering our profession looking for direction, for peers in need of some mentorship, or even for our clients.

If it were not for those who created “lollipop moments” for us, we would not be where we are today, and so we are forever grateful to the people who created them for us.  Do you have a “lollipop moment”?  Think about it.

(shared with LOVE from your pasisonistas Nina + Gordon)

Find + Love + Share = Curation

May 30, 2012Nina KovnerENGAGE, GROW

 “There is no delight in owning anything unshared”

Seneca

Curate: to pull together, sift through and select for presentation, as music or Web site content. Dictionary.com

Before there was the social and digital web, most of what we saw as news and inspiration was the result of choices made by a limited number of professional “editors”. Today, that number has increased exponentially as platforms like Facebook have given us all the ability to become “editors” by simply curating (sharing the content that we find and love) for our online friends and fans.

A great example of this shift can be found on YouTube -a social platform featuring “gazillions” (48 hours of content uploaded every minute) of videos that run the gamut from impossibly amateur and uninteresting to highly polished productions (and everything in between).

One of our recent fave video finds is “1950’s Womens Beauty Salon” from Glamour Daze, a YouTube channel with 2.5 million views! We found it while searching beauty salons on YouTube, were hooked from the opening line, “To women, a beauty salon is more than a feminine barber shop”, and immediately knew we to had to share…curation at its best!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JfFvJVRcVaE&feature=youtu.be

We also found this super juicy video on “curation” from devour.com (awesome video curation site) that simply and beautifully describes what curation really means and why it’s important.

PS: This blog was inspired by our passion of curating; finding engaging and empowering content that we love and feel compelled share.

(shared with LOVE from your curating passionistas Nina + Gordon)

 

Facebook Post

Facebook…Sharing The Love

May 25, 2012Nina KovnerENGAGE, GROW

“Thousands of candles can be lit from a single candle, and the life of the candle will not be shortened.  Happiness never decreases by being shared”

Buddha

Have you ever wondered what makes a Facebook post engaging?  And by engaging, we mean the post earns likes, shares and comments.  Is it magic?  Is it a secret?  Well, maybe a little, but there are some key elements to consider in developing engaging posts on Facebook.

Facebook Post

As we write this blog post, we still are freaking out (in a good way) about the most engaging post in our history (that’s 2 months and 25 days).  Which earned 133 shares and 49 likes. WOW.

What about this post resonated with our Passion Squared community?  Here is our take…

Are you posting for your Target Audience?
Our community is passionate about making the world a better place, and this is done by starting with ourselves, which this quote was speaking to.  In our industry, we crave inspiration, growth and personal development, which is why inspirational quotes and images resonate with many of us.

Are your posts drenched in Authenticity?
The most engaging posts are those that people can feel the authenticity of your message.  The message from this post was just that, authentic, as was our intention in posting it.  People know when we are being “real”, the social space is no different, authenticity rules.

Are you enchanting your audience with Pictures?
On Facebook, posts with pictures or videos are typically the most engaging.  Makes sense, doesn’t it?  We all love images that make our heart sing.

Are you part of the Conversation?
The social web is the ultimate cocktail party.  Its designed for us to engage in two-way conversations.  This means its super important to always be checking your page, looking for posts, questions, comments, and responding, acknowledging and engaging your followers.

So many of us have thought that our Fan count was most important, when in reality, its the “Talking About This” number that counts.  This number represents the actual people engaging your page either by likes, shares or comments.

There are tremendous insights available on your “admin panel” of your business page. We recommend taking a look to see what your pages most engaging posts have been, and doing more of that.

Facebook has given us all such a cool opportunity to engage, empower and share with each other.  We are so grateful for our friends of Passion Squared and for all the love and support we feel from each of you every day.

For more info on Facebook Insights, you can jump onto https://www.facebook.com/help/search/?q=insights

We found this incredible image on Google, via a super cool Pinterest Board named Wordy Things.  We heart.  http://pinterest.com/lisapippus/wordy-things/

(shared with LOVE from your passionistas Nina+Gordon)

 

 

Call Me Point B

May 18, 2012Nina KovnerENGAGE, GROW, HEROES

“Dreams are like the paints of a great artist. Your dreams are your paints, the world is your canvas. Believing, is the brush that converts your dreams into a masterpiece of reality.”

Anonymous

 

This awesome TEDTalk by Sarah Kay gives us goosebumps every time we watch it.  Our words, our poetry and our art can be so incredibly powerful- uplifting the minds, hearts and souls of those who hear it, read it, see it and experience it.  WOW!

“If I should have a daughter, instead of Mom, she’s gonna call me Point B … ” began spoken word poet Sarah Kay, in a talk that inspired two standing ovations at TED2011. She tells the story of her metamorphosis — from a wide-eyed teenager soaking in verse at New York’s Bowery Poetry Club to a teacher connecting kids with the power of self-expression through Project V.O.I.C.E. — and gives two breathtaking performances of “B” and “Hiroshima.”

TEDTalks

 

(shared with LOVE from your passionistas Nina + Gordon)