Finding Food Writing Inspiration Reading Thoreau

In Chapter 12 of 16 in her 2012 interview, author and food writer Cathy Erway answers "How Have Thoreau's Words 'None can be an impartial or wise observer of human life from the vantage point of what we should call 'voluntary poverty' ' inspired your work?"  These words, from Thoreau's "Walden", inspire Erway to put herself in a place to see things from another person's shoes, which opens a creative channel that becomes her blog and, progressively, her healthy food advocacy platform. 

Cathy Erway is an author and food writer living in Brooklyn.  Her first book, "The Art of Eating In" developed from her blog "Not Eating Out in New York".  She earned a BA in creative writing from Emerson College.

Transcript: 

Erik Michielsen:  How have Thoreau's words "None can be an impartial or wise observer of human life but from the vantage point of what we should call voluntary poverty," inspired your work?

Cathy Erway:  That's a very interesting quote, isn't it? I thought it was so audacious for him to say that. It's so -- You've never heard something like that. I haven't before, so I thought it was, "Wow, what a bold statement," and that's what really caught me when I saw it, and obviously if we could say it a different way it would make a lot more sense. So you could say, "Altruism is..." you know, "…the best way to get to know about life and people." But he said this kind of shocking, you know, word poverty, voluntary poverty, that's crazy, right? So it did inspire me and it made me feel brave to start a blog called, "not eating out in New York" because that sounds pretty weird, that sounds shocking, a little crazy, and I just knew that it was going to be -- it was going to work because of that, because I liked it. It just caught me.

Erik Michielsen:  And was there sacrifice?

Cathy Erway:  Was there sacrifice? I mean the whole experiment was like a big sacrifice. But I thought, you know, I thought of a lot different names that would sound nicer to you, on the ear, it would just kind of be evocative of, like fruits or something like, you know, something nice, something pleasant, something people like to hear. "Oh, you know, 'juicy tomato,' that sounds great." But that wouldn't really say anything about the blog so I was like just go ahead, just do it, just say, "not eating out in New York." "What?" You know…

Erik Michielsen:  With regard to voluntary poverty, does that come back to being surrounded by so many professionals and a lot of wealth, and choosing to kind of go against that, and then tying that into your choices from a writing and food perspective?

Cathy Erway:  Yeah, I think that that pretty much sums it up. I mean, voluntary poverty means you've taken it upon yourself to see things from another person's shoes. So, you know, going back to -- that's another way of putting that statement, right? So, yeah, I mean we live in the most cosmopolitan, arguably, city in the world. Of course there's a huge disparity of, you know, different incomes in the city, so you can see that all around you, but for the most part, I mean, yes, I mean we have everything at our fingertips, the greatest arts, the greatest food, which is what I was going to focus on, and, you know, Thoreau, his whole thing was he stepped away from society. That quote is from Walden, so he lived in the middle of the wilderness in Walden Pond actually, and survived, and learned how to survive basically on his own devices, so that's what I was comparing myself to doing by feeding myself all the time when there's so much non-need to do that.

How Family Relationships Change With Age - Doug Jaeger

In Chapter 5 of 17 in his 2012 interview, entrepreneur Doug Jaeger answers "How are Your Family Relationships Changing as You Get Older?"  Jaeger shares how relationships with his mother and brother have changed after life events, including a father's passing, fatherhood, and, in Jaeger's case, starting a business.  Doug Jaeger is the co-founder of JaegerSloan, a multimedia design services firm in New York City.  His street front office doubles as the JS55 Gallery. Jaeger is also an adjunct professor at the School of Visual Arts (SVA).  He graduated from Syracuse University.

How Curiosity Stimulates Creativity - Doug Jaeger

In Chapter 10 of 17 in his 2012 interview, entrepreneur Doug Jaeger answers "How Does Changing Your Surrounding Fosters Creative Thinking?"  Jaeger notes two ways to stimulate new ideas, creativity and curiosity.  He shares how changing surroundings opens new avenues for curiosity that translates into creative thinking.  Doug Jaeger is the co-founder of JaegerSloan, a multimedia design services firm in New York City.  His street front office doubles as the JS55 Gallery. Jaeger is also an adjunct professor at the School of Visual Arts (SVA).  He graduated from Syracuse University.

Leading Through Cultural Diversity - Phil McKenzie

In Chapter 19 of 21 in his 2011 interview, Phil McKenzie answers "What Role Does Diversity Play in Shaping Your Leadership Style?"  By nature, McKenzie finds cultural diversity front and center in how he is curating an international event series.  Most importantly, he finds diversity of opinion and team construct critical.  He notes this different mix is less focused around American context of diversity - race and gender - and more around an international element build upon culture and views. McKenzie is the founder of Influencer Conference, an international event series bringing together tastemakers across the arts, entrepreneurship, philanthropy and technology.  He is also managing partner of influencer marketing agency FREE DMC.  Previously he worked in Domestic Equity Trading at Goldman, Sachs, & Co.  He earned his BA from Howard University and MBA from Duke University. 

How to Build and Scale a Food Passion Business - Julie Hession

In Chapter 1 of 21 in her 2011 Capture Your Flag interview, food entrepreneur Julie Hession answers "To What Do You Aspire?"  Hession highlights how she is taking progressive steps to connect her passion for food to a food business career.  She highlights how incremental steps, from launching a specialty food store to creating a food product line to doing food writing are giving her a well-rounded skillset to refine and scale her food business.  Julie Hession is the founder of Julie Anne's All Natural Granola Company.  Passionate about food since childhood, Hession has developed her career by food blogging, cooking contests, and starting fine food companies.  Hession earned an MBA in Marketing from Duke University and a BA from UNLV. 

How to Start a Gourmet Food Business - Julie Hession

In Chapter 19 of 21 in her 2011 Capture Your Flag interview, food entrepreneur Julie Hession answers "How Has Starting a Granola Company Built Upon Your Previous Food Experience?"  As a retail store owner, Hession learns how the "other side" of food makers work by attending industry conventions.  She researches different approaches and applies lessons learned when she launches her own product line.  Once established, she then encounters challenges working with large gourmet food and grocery stores and competing in a cutthroat market.  Julie Hession is the founder of Julie Anne's All Natural Granola Company.  Passionate about food since childhood, Hession has developed her career by food blogging, cooking contests, and starting fine food companies.  Hession earned an MBA in Marketing from Duke University and a BA from UNLV. 

What Makes a Professional Women's Network Valuable - Kyung Yoon

In Chapter 10 of 19 in her 2011 Capture Your Flag interview, non-profit executive Kyung Yoon answers "What Makes a Professional Women's Network Valuable?"  Yoon shares how networks provide women professionals a chance to support one another based on shared experiences, positive and negative.  By helping empower one another in a network, Yoon shares how participants are then able to more powerfully pursue careers.  Kyung Yoon is the executive director of the Korean American Community Foundation (KACF) in New York City.  An award-winning journalist and documentary film producer, Yoon earned an MA in International Relations from Johns Hopkins University and a BA in History and Political Science at Wellesley College.

How to Break Out of a Comfort Zone and Live More Fully - Ramsey Pryor

In Chapter 8 of 15 in his 2011 Capture Your Flag interview, Ramsey Pryor answers "Where is Your Comfort Zone and What Do You Do to Break Free of Living in It?"  Pryor discusses the benefits of immersive moves and travels to change scenery.  He also details how becoming a parent and raising children evolves his approach over time.  Pryor is currently a product management executive at IBM focused on cloud-based communication and collaboration software.  Previously he was VP Product Marketing at Outblaze, acquired by IBM.  Pryor earned an MBA from IESE Business School in Barcelona, Spain and a BA in Economics and Spanish from Northwestern University.

How to Use Startup Skills in a Corporate Job - Ramsey Pryor

In Chapter 9 of 15 in his 2011 Capture Your Flag interview, Ramsey Pryor answers "What Skills Did You Learn Working at a Startup That Have Been Most Useful at IBM?"  Pryor, who came to IBM via an acquisition, finds his colleagues appreciate resourcefulness and an outsider perspective.  Pryor is currently a product management executive at IBM focused on cloud-based communication and collaboration software.  Previously he was VP Product Marketing at Outblaze, acquired by IBM.  Pryor earned an MBA from IESE Business School in Barcelona, Spain and a BA in Economics and Spanish from Northwestern University. 

How to Pick a City That Best Matches Your Interests - Andrew Hutson

In Chapter 17 of 17 in his 2011 Capture Your Flag interview, Andrew Hutson answers "What Has Been Your Approach to Determining What City is Best for You?"  Hutson shares the decision process behind his and his wife's move to Durham, North Carolina.  He looks at quality of life and the inputs going into it.  He looks at professional opportunities, including scenes and associated writing communities for Hutson's wife and a supportive non-profit community of his own.  Hutson is a senior project manager at the Environmental Defense Fund (EDF), where he advises corporate partners such as Wal-Mart on sustainable supply chain initiatives.  Hutson holds a PhD from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and an MEM from the Duke University Nicholas School of the Environment.  He earned his BA from Michigan State University. 

Why to Live Abroad Multiple Times - Anatole Faykin

In Chapter 10 of 18 in his 2011 Capture Your Flag interview, Internet entrepreneur Anatole Faykin answers "Why Have You Made it a Point Not to Just See Living Abroad as Checking a Box and More of Something to Embrace, Then Bring Back, Then Repeat?"  Faykin shares his approach to living, having one life to life, and making the most of one lifetime.  He finds himself living differently abroad than at home.  The different attitude, viewpoints, and conversations are anything but temporal, and Faykin repeats abroad experiences to make them permanent.  Faykin is the founder of Tuanpin, a Shanghai-based daily deals site he grew to 25 employees and sold in the fall of 2011.  Previously, he worked for British Telecom in London, Intel in Shanghai, American Express in New York, and Oracle in San Francisco as well as several startup ventures.  He holds an MBA from the NYU Stern School of Business and a BS in computer science and biology from the California Institute of Technology.

How New Entrepreneur Learns Rules of the Game - Anatole Faykin

In Chapter 16 of 18 in his 2011 Capture Your Flag interview, Internet entrepreneur Anatole Faykin answers "Why is Learning by Doing So Important When Starting a Company?"  Faykin notes it is about the uncertainty and the necessary hands on experiences that teach an entrepreneur the rules of the game.  Its an adventure, learning new things daily and iterating based on market and customer feedback and signaling nearly as often.  Faykin is the founder of Tuanpin, a Shanghai-based daily deals site he grew to 25 employees and sold in the fall of 2011.  Previously, he worked for British Telecom in London, Intel in Shanghai, American Express in New York, and Oracle in San Francisco as well as several startup ventures.  He holds an MBA from the NYU Stern School of Business and a BS in computer science and biology from the California Institute of Technology.

Nina Godiwalla on Improving Diversity Training with Sharing and Story

In Chapter 10 of 22 in her 2011 Capture Your Flag interview, author Nina Godiwalla answers "How Can Diversity Training Become Less About Avoiding Problems and More About Creating Opportunities?"  Godiwalla sees diversity training as an option to have a discussion rather than give a lecture.  She shares an example from learning diversity training from a theater group as well as from her own account in her book.  Godiwalla is the author of "Suits: A Woman on Wall Street". She is also a public speaker on workplace diversity and founder and CEO of Mindworks, where she teaches mind-based stress reduction techniques to help organizations improve employee wellbeing.  Godiwalla holds an MBA from the Wharton School of Business, an MA in Creative Writing from Dartmouth University and her BBA from the University of Texas at Austin. 

Transcript:

Erik Michielsen:  How can diversity training become less about avoiding problems and more about creating opportunities?

Nina Godiwalla:  One of the things is, is the mindset that people have and I love it that you said you know that of kind of avoiding these situations.  I remember when we had diversity training specifically in investment banking, because it was a more conservative culture and there weren’t a whole lot of minorities.  There was just this incredible dread like people were angry almost that they had to take an hour or two out of their day and it was pushed on you and it was you have to do it, nobody wants to do it. I really see it as an opportunity to have a discussion and those – those typically those weren’t discussions, it was basically like, “You all are not allowed to do this.  You’re not…” You know it’s almost like these slap on the hands, slap on the hands and the people that are in the room which is interesting, that do some of the stuff.  They don’t see themselves as the people that are doing those things. 

One of the most effective things I’ve seen is when I was getting a degree up on the East Coast, the university did diversity training and they brought in a theater company and what they did is they took real issues that happened at different universities and this was for the university staff.  They took the real issues and they had a theater people act it out, so all of a sudden it’s not you know you did this or you’re inappropriate, it’s like, “Hey, we’re just showing you some of the things that didn’t necessarily happen at your university but it’s happened in places.”  And they’re nuances things, it’s not someone hitting on someone which is like, “Okay, we all know that’s not supposed to happen.”  It’s really difficult conversations where someone might make an inappropriate joke but it’s not quite that inappropriate but at the same time, it offended four people in the room but no one’s going to say anything because that person is so senior, so it’s those types of things and what happened is afterwards, it became a discussion, the whole audience was engaged in the discussion and not everyone agrees and it was the most remarkable thing because you want to hear the different perspectives and I think when something was inappropriate I didn’t know, if I thought it was inappropriate, I didn’t even know the perspective of someone who doesn’t think it’s inappropriate and so it was amazing to hear those different perspectives and it was fun.  I loved it and I thought it was interesting.

And I think of my book as that, to me it’s a story, so that you get the theater thing and you get to hear a story, the book to me is a narrative.  It’s a story.  It’s removed from everybody.  It’s not threatening necessarily to them but let’s talk about some of the things that it raises and what does that mean for people. And I think the discussion makes people from all different areas feel like they’re heard because I don’t think diversity is minorities against non-minorities or women against men, it’s how do we all come to an understanding and see each other’s perspective because so often, so many things happen innocently.  I don’t think -- there are people that are out there to get other people but I think they’re very much in the minority.  That’s not the average person.  The average person thinks they’re doing the right thing.

Nina Godiwalla on What Makes a Professional Women's Network Valuable

In Chapter 13 of 22 in her 2011 Capture Your Flag interview, author Nina Godiwalla answers "What Makes a Professional Women's Network Valuable?"  She shares how a network of female professionals supports her career development as well as allows her to support helping other women succeed.  Godiwalla also shares how she has built network relationships with more senior women professionals.  Godiwalla is the author of "Suits: A Woman on Wall Street". She is also a public speaker on workplace diversity and founder and CEO of Mindworks, where she teaches mind-based stress reduction techniques to help organizations improve employee wellbeing.  Godiwalla holds an MBA from the Wharton School of Business, an MA in Creative Writing from Dartmouth University and her BBA from the University of Texas at Austin. 

Transcript:

Erik Michielsen:  What makes a professional women’s network valuable?

Nina Godiwalla:  I’ve really used my network, so part of my, I think, my success with my book has been leveraging the networks that I’m part of and 85Broads is one of those and I think they’re an incredible women’s network.  I’ve had so many people that helped me.  Part of it is we share a passion for helping other women succeed because we have seen that there’s challenges out there.  Everyone’s coming from a different field and you can see how sometimes it’s not as easy to make connections and some of the organizations were most of them are in male-dominated environment so you see that connection.  What I think becomes so successful is that passion that people have for each other and what’s interesting about that particular environment is people are from across the board so when I’m interested, here I am.  I was a corporate executive.  I’ve been in the advertising world, the finance world, marketing.  I’ve just switched through so many worlds and now I’m into publishing world and the writing world and the reality is, is I need – as I switch through different things, I don’t necessarily have a network all piled up.  What I’ve found is through the women’s network, I do have a network all piled up.  I have – I can reach out to all these people in different industries and say, “Hey I just got a book deal and I have no idea what to do.  Do I need an agent?  Do I not?”  And not everyone takes the risk of going out there and just reaching out to people they don’t know but I think that’s one of the best things that I do is I’m very comfortable with it and the reality is I help so many people that you have to – it’s an exchange.  I’m always looking out for who can I help and I always have people reaching out to me and I make it within any kind of busy day that I have to help, you know a certain number of people that week.  That’s just - you make the time for it because so many people have helped me along the way and the fact that, you know, when you have that accessible – it’s just a diverse group of people that we have and it’s so accessible that I think it just – it makes it completely you know people are able to do -- kind of get whatever they need out of that environment which I think is amazing.

Erik Michielsen:  Do you tend to find yourself working more with people at your level or work, reaching up and dealing with more senior individuals or is it, does it vary?

Nina Godiwalla:  I will grab any which way and I don’t have a problem reaching out to the senior people. I think you always have to be careful and it’s one of the advice I give to younger women when I’m talking is, one of the things I wasn’t scared of and I haven’t been is, I typically do reach out to very senior people but there usually needs to be a reason so I mean I’m not talking you don’t walk into a 50,000 person corporation and contact the CEO right away but I’ve seen a lot in my environment.  I worked at Johnson & Johnson and I was interning there once and there was a president of that whole organization that I was in-charge that -- she ran that whole organization and I mean my boss’s boss’s bosses probably didn’t talk to her very often but I just decided we had a connection that we talked about meditation.  I heard her mention it to someone else.  I didn’t speak directly to her and honestly, I just wanted to meet her.  I was interning there.  She seemed really interesting so I reached out to her and nobody else would reach out to her.  My boss wouldn’t reach out to her and I just let her know I wanted to get to know her a little better.  I was interested in what she’d said about meditation and there it was.  I mean I ended up meeting her and she is one of my biggest advocates for the rest of the time and the reality is, is I think a lot of people are too scared.  We see the hierarchy and – but when I think there’s a natural -- I wouldn’t be persistent about reaching out to someone incredibly senior but sometimes you take that risk and it really pays off and I’m one of those people that are very comfortable taking that risk.

How Embracing Diversity Facilitates Leadership Development - Nina Godiwalla

In Chapter 17 of 22 in her 2011 Capture Your Flag interview, author Nina Godiwalla answers "What Role Does Diversity Play in Shaping Your Own Leadership Style?"  Godiwalla shares stories about how learning to appreciate different perspectives and skill sets when hiring benefits her development.  Over time, she applies this approach in many parts of her life, including in an entrepreneurial venture.  Godiwalla is the author of "Suits: A Woman on Wall Street". She is also a public speaker on workplace diversity and founder and CEO of Mindworks, where she teaches mind-based stress reduction techniques to help organizations improve employee wellbeing.  Godiwalla holds an MBA from the Wharton School of Business, an MA in Creative Writing from Dartmouth University and her BBA from the University of Texas at Austin. 

Transcript:

Erik Michielsen:  What role does diversity play in shaping your own leadership style?

Nina Godiwalla:  So one of the things I remember when I use to hire, I used to look for people that were like me, that I could connect to and it’s a natural thing that we do.  We talk to people and when they are very similar to us like, “Oh, I like you.”  You know you think along the way I think and I remember I had a manager who said to me – I said you know I love this person, we got along, we had a great conversation and she said to me, “But does she really compliment you?”  And I hadn’t thought about that.  I hadn’t – it was like “Does that person need to compliment me?  I just like them, I mean does it matter?”  She seems like she can do the job and she seems like she’s like me and I think it’s a tendency we have is we hang around people that are similar to us.  We like people that are – we have commonalities with and I think you have to step back a little bit when you’re trying to surround yourself with people. 

It is surrounding yourself with people that have kind of the values and beliefs that you have to some extent but it’s also understanding that you’re going to learn a lot from people that have different perspectives.  So for me, I have to stand back a little bit and think of, I mean it’s not diversity in terms of skin color or just gender; the diversity of mindset too is critical.  So I feel like I’ve as I’m working through and doing a lot of the entrepreneurial work that I’m doing, I need to step back and find people that are a little bit different. 

One example is I have MindWorks which is my stress management business and I – I'm actually now partnering with people and I was a little mixed at first because I’m used to doing it where I go in and I can do whatever I want.  I can go in and teach any sort of course with my own – only what I think and what I loved is I started partnering with people that have kind of different, they go about it different ways and they do it different ways and initially I thought, “Wait, I don’t know if I want to do that because they’re going to do something different.”  And what if that’s not something I agree with and the reality is, is I needed to step back from that and say, “That’s even better.” That’s going to be great that they’re going to be able to bring in a different perspective and some people are going to be able to relate a little bit better to what they’re saying and some people might relate to what I’m saying and then the reality is I’m going to learn something along the way in that process.  So it’s always thinking about the, you know, we can always learn something new from somebody.

Matt Ruby on Advancing a Standup Comedy Career

In Chapter 3 of 18 in his 2011 Capture Your Flag interview with host Erik Michielsen, standup comedian Matt Ruby answers "Since Our Last Interview, What Has Been the Most Meaningful Development in Your Career?"  Ruby notes how producing two shows, "Hot Soup" and "We're All Friends Here" provides him consistent stage time and varied experiences he uses to hone his craft.  He complements these by traveling outside New York City where it is easier to gain access to longer form stage time. 

Matt Ruby is a standup comedian based in New York City.  He co-produces the weekly show "Hot Soup", co-hosts the monthly show "We're All Friends Here", and manages a comedy blog "Sandpaper Suit".  Ruby graduated from Northwestern University. 

Why Choose Fashion Styling Over Fashion Design Career - Lulu Chen

In Chapter 5 of 10 in her 2011 Capture Your Flag interview with host Erik Michielsen, fashion stylist Lulu Chen answers "As an Artist, What Informed Your Decision to Choose Fashion Styling Over Fashion Design?"  Chen gravitates toward magazines, stories, and editorials and, after many years working different part of the industry, chooses fashion design.  She enjoys playing with the different designers' clothing and accessories and being able to use their colors, shapes, and textures as an artist uses a palette.  She finds inspiration from designers who continuously produce new work.  Lulu Chen is a New York City based fashion stylist.  Chen earned a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree studying design and art history from the University of Michigan.

How Fashion Advertising and Editorial Projects Differ - Lulu Chen

In Chapter 7 of 10 in her 2011 Capture Your Flag interview with host Erik Michielsen, fashion stylist Lulu Chen answers   "How do Ad or Commercial Jobs Compare and Contrast with Editorial Magazine Jobs?"  She finds magazine jobs are more aspirational and offer greater creative freedom compared to advertising and catalog work.  They also have more freedom to incorporate a wide array of brands.  However, Chen notes how catalogs are catching up creatively, progressively turning to a "magalogue" focus that, while covering only one brand, integrates more of the creative and story elements seen traditionally in editorial or magazine work.  Lulu Chen is a New York City based fashion stylist.  Chen earned a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree studying design and art history from the University of Michigan.