For or against life-streaming?

August 21st, 2008 • 1 comment To be filed

Today we had a long and revealing conversation on life-streaming. And ofcourse, we spoke about the usual suspects : twitter, tumblr, friendfeed, friendconnect, twine, socialthing, loopt and a few others (I’m tired of typing in the links)
My job at work is to debate the value of these services from the commercial and business perspective but I come back home and ponder over the cultural, human perspective. My thoughts are a slightly disorganized right now but revolve around the same issues I raise every time when I talk about social media and cultures: representation of identities and self, oversharing vs. sharing and the implications of this on our social lives.

As early adapters, over time, we quickly become dismissive of iterative innovations in a saturated space. We are like a herd of sheep (unfortunately so)- we move to greener pastures in no time. But it is exciting to be on the forefront of this technological change that will eventually have deep cultural ramifications.

I dabble in life-streaming and to a certain extent, anyone’s who is on facebook does. If you were to take a quick glance at my facebook profile right now and try to connect the dots – you would be privy to intimate details of my life. In my insular universe, I am broadcasting those details to my audience in a secure environment, because that is the audience I have chosen for myself. But some others – chose more substantial chunks of audience, like the public.

I am personally wary of life-streaming. It maybe because I went through this life-streaming phase when I was much younger. Granted, it was only through words but I have tasted the forbidden fruit and served the voyeur inside us. It was addictive, but as I grew older, I realized it lacked substance. It was easier to life-stream under the cloak of anonymity, but I couldn’t become someone who needed real-life material just so it could be blogged/ diary-ed about.

What I fear will happen with this extreme life streaming is that it may steal us that delightful little moment of surprise and that feeling of ‘unveiling a mystery’ that we experience as we get to know someone or meet someone. I may be old school, but isn’t there some joy in meeting a friend or an acquaintance and learning something new about them in person ?

It’s just me though. I am not a digital zealot. You will never hear me say that the web is going to take over the world (it may in the future and I will stand corrected then) But I do tend to be more cynical than gung-ho.

I look at life-streaming as an over-sharing mechanism. I feel like we are moving to an age where we are wayyy too interested in everyone else’s lives. I know I am guilty of that.

argh! these late night ramblings…..!

Productive creativity

August 21st, 2008 • Ideas & Innovation, To be filed

I came across Fat Pig Chocolate Bars on some random blog and absolutely fell in love with the sheer irreverence and unexpected little surprise of this brand. A little more digging revealed that the creator of the brand is actually a creative agency called, “The Brooklyn Brothers.”

Their approach to doing work is lovely – while they do have a set of clients, they also create and launch and build their own businesses, like Fat Pig Chocolate!

They’ve also written a childrens story book and created (with the help of a partner) a pill that helps reduce menstrual pain. Talk about creating products on two ends of the spectrum.

This industry shift from ‘creating for clients’ to ‘creating for us’ is not particularly unique or new. Creatives want to create – and almost every creative I’ve met in this industry is constantly working on atleast two personal projects at any given time along with their full-time job. A few agencies are partaking in the intellectual property rights to the new products and services they create for their clients so everyone can share the benefits. I think that model has some flaws, but the nature of innovation is such – to constantly push the envelope and experiment. Sometimes, the success is fame and money, sometimes the success if a good lesson learned.
In the meantime, shall we enjoy Fat Pig?

Protected: Hired Gun Services

May 10th, 2008 • Enter your password to view comments To be filed

Alternate thinking

November 26th, 2007 • 1 comment To be filed

Alternate thoughts, ideas and point of views I dig!

Friends

• Spoonbuzz
• Stimulus Response
• Danny Nathan
• Internet Cool?!
• Aaron Rutledge
• Charles Gallant

Social Media Thinkers

• John Bell
• Rohit Bhargava
• apophenia
• James Gardener
• Hyperempowered

Strategists

• Faris Yakob
• TokyoHanna
• Fallon Trendpoint

About me

July 15th, 2007 • Comments Off To be filed

Hi! I’m Jinal.

Culture and commerce fascinate me. And in particular, the diffusion
of culture via new media. I’m interested in intelligent exploration of media as it relates to brands, fashion and the global psyche.

I’ve been blogging since it used to be called ‘diarying’ (circa 2001) Even though I have worked mostly in new media, I do not believe ‘traditional’ media is ‘dying’ or that it will become non-existent. To me, digital, is a media/communication platform that will alter and act as a catalyst in helping us, media professionals, re-invent, re-think and re-imagine the world of communications. But never replace media as we know it. Maybe I am wrong or maybe I will revise my opinion at some point – but for now, this is where I stand.

I have actively
been adding to this dialog and am most interested in continuing this
discourse with like-minded people.

More about me:

I moonlight as a fashion journalist/ writer and hold a full-time job as a strategist at an innovation shop. I’ve lived in Bombay, Rome, Philadelphia and now, New York. To me, the concept of home is very fluid and non-linear. I love learning and I am always hungry to know more. I am a better communicator as a writer, than as a speaker. Writing is my passion but sadly I don’t dedicate enough time to it. When I was younger, I dreamed of fame and glamor, now I value simplicity and contentment more. I don’t pause often. I live fast and I live large. I want to cram seven lifetimes in this one life and from the way it looks – I will most certainly end up achieving that

Talk to me: jinals28 AT Gmail

Social networking for the wealthy

February 9th, 2007 • 1 comment To be filed

Launched in 2004, asmallworld.net is a social networking site for "like-minded people who share same circle of friends, interests and schedules." That is according to their website. According to me, it is a social networking site for celebrities and the upper echelons of the society, the creme de la creme, an invitation only secret society.

They refuse to disclose their members, but it has been rumored that the Ivanka Trump, Naomi Campbell and Qunetin Tarantino are the privileged few of 160,000 members to belong to asmallworld.net

Only certain members of the club have the privilege to invite other members. asmallworld.net admin closely monitor the network and kick out members who network rapidly with the celebrities or who they deem are not worthy of being a part of this clicque.

Elitist? Yes. But kudos to them for discovering a way to mimick real-world relationships and networking in an online world. I think it’s a great idea but I am yet to fully grasp how they expect to monetize from this.

Being my Boss- Renee Wood

January 25th, 2007 • To be filed

This 10th installment of Being My Boss is special. Most businesses want their customers to keep coming back – but Renee Wood, founder and owner of The Comfort Company, wishes otherwise.

The comfort company, a one of its kind company that specilizes in sympathy gifts for the grieving. And within four years, it’s sales have grown to a half million dollars.

Read on to learn more her story and the her struggle to strike a balance between her right brain and left brain.

You were on the Oprah show?

Yes. I started by business after reading an article in the preimier issue of O magazine. The article was called, "Make your dreams come true." It was about being able to start a business and having it be about your dreams. That’s where I started thinking that I could do something that really fulfills me. I wrote a letter to thank them after I started my business and they had me on the show for the 5th anniversary of the magazine.

So is that where you got your idea?

No, the article really just propelled me into officializing my business. I started my business about 4 years back. Infact, we just celebrated our 4th anniversary in Nov. I could have never imagined being a business owner. My background is in social work. I worked as a medical social worker in a neo-natal unit. I worked in a patient load where there was a high mortality rate. I was through my job, always in touch with grief and loss issues. I thank God- I haven’t experienced the loss of a loved one yet….But I watched my patients go through it…When you see something like that, you wish there was something more that you could do.

I think the seed for my business was planted then. It’s really a chain of events that led me into starting my own business. During that time, my sister-in-law lost her father unexpectedly and I looked for a sympathy gift for her and didn’t find anything. So I end up designing a pendant for her. I designed it, made it in wax first and then got it made in silver. It was a long process, but she really appreciated it. After that, friends and family around me started asking for the pendant and I end up making 150 of them! They all sold and it got picked up by a catalog. Everything just fell into place.

But the real breaking point was 9/11. My husband was a pilto for United American airlines and we were not sure what was going to hapen to his career. He lost his job and at that moment, I understood that I was going to start a job. I had just had my third child and I didn’t want to go back to corporate America. I loved being a social worker, but I wanted to be able to put my kids first. So that’s when I decided that I was going to start my own business.

What did you do next?

First it was a hobby and then it became a necessity. It was very difficult in the begining. I didn’t have a business background, my husband didnt’ know anything about running a business… We didn’t have money to invest… I knew I needed a website but I didn’t have the money to pay someone to do it for me. I had to learn it myself. I didn’t even have an email address before I stared ! It was a huge learning curve for me. I would put the kids in bed and then sit on the computer. I’d log into various forums and ask around until my questions were answered. Some strangers I met on those forums were awesome -they helped me so much.

How did you market such a business? It is a unique idea but no one wants to be marketed to about sympathy gifts.

I did have my items in some local stores and I had goten some press in our local newspapers. That’s how I began getting my first orders. I didn’t spend a dime on marketing. My business spread via word of mouth. The first time I got an order from Texas, I thought– I don’t know anyone in Texas, how is this possible? Because it was only local people who knew about me! But then I started getting orders from Arizona and other pars of the country. It was great.

I didn’t know anything about Search Engine Optimization but I think there were so few people doing what I do that when I typed in sympathy gifts in Google, my site is number one. But once I learnt that, I sat down again and figured out SEO.

About 2 years into the business, I thought I played around with Pay Per Click. But I just didn’t have time to stay on top of the campaign. I was getting enough business already so I quit Pay per Click after 4 weeks.

How exactly does this business work? Does it not get emotionally demanding?

I try to go to as many trade shows and merchant marts around my area (Chicago) I try to meet artists who will do custom work for me. We did some research and when it comes to loss, people want two things from people 1) Acknowledgement of their loss 2) Not to mimimize it.

So the more specific gift I have for their loss, the better I am able to serve my customers. And yes, this busienss is very emotionally demanding. When I worked at the hospital, it was a 9 to 5 job. When I was done, I came home and I had a life separate from my job. But now, my business, my life, my job is all one thing. It can get very challenging to keep them separate.

It is difficult.. having 4 kids and then readin some of the stories that come in or having to help a customer what kind of engraving or letter they want for a lost child or a loved one. You can’t help but take that home with you, It’s just there all the time. I step back a little from it on weekends, but I’m always keeping my eye on the email, checking in for new orders, answering questions…

Finally last year, we had to seperate the business from the household. We found an office space and a store room. And things have been MUCH better. I also just hired a woman to work with me part-time.

What was the most difficult challenge or task you had to overcome in your business?

It took me a VERY long time to gain confidence in myself. Enough confidence to make business decisions. I remember one of the first things I did for a product that I had recently introduced — it was a tear drop bottle. In 19th century, over the loss of a loved one women collected their tears in bottles. I re-introduced them and I added a beautiful foil-stamped card with it. It cost me $800 to print those cards and I remember being extremely upset about that expense. I just wasn’t able to think of it as a business investment, instead it felt like I just wasted a ton of money.

One of the biggest mistakes I made with myself to grow when the business naturally was growing. That was not a good decision. When the business started to grow, I should have taken it outside the house, gotten a office.. I kept smothering the fire. My concerns that I wasn’t going to make good decisions ….it came down to not having built up this steady stream of successes that would make me feel comfortable. Social work and business are very different– two completely different sides of the brain.

What would you advice budding entrepreneurs?

Just one piece of advice — Fake it till you make it. I didn’t have a steady stream of successes behind me and so I didn’t feel confident about my business or myself until much later. I wished I could’ve known to fake it– but I’ve learnt now that if you act like you are successful, you will become successful. Do what you need to do for your business — invest in yourself, your business… let it grow organically. I was risk averse and may have missed out some opportunities. Do what it takes.

And what’s the best thing about being your own boss?

That I can work my day around my family’s needs. Hours can be greulling, but they are what I want them to be.

Ecosphere in my hands

January 19th, 2007 • To be filed

I’m not exactly sure whether I love this piece of just find it ironic but it’s worth sharing with you.

Ecosphere, is a self-regulating ecosystem in a closed glass sphere. Each sphere contains red shrimp, algea and other microbes, with gorgonia sprigs and shells to simulate underwater life. The sphere needs no cleaning, no feeding – not even changing the water. A few hours in the sunlight is all this eco-system needs to thrive. Sold at Brookstone for $65 – $250, this technology was developed by NASA Scientists.

Empowering or Mortifying?

Being my Boss Elsewhere

January 16th, 2007 • 3 comments To be filed

In typical Being My Boss fashion, Gautam Ghosh published a fascinating interview with Naukri.com’s  (India’s largest job portal) CEO Sanjeev Bikhchandani. After Naukri.com went public, the company has now launched similar sites for real estate 99acres.com and matrimonials (jeevensaathi.com)

Biggest learning for CEO Sanjeev Bikhchandani? "I learnt to sleep on flights"

Read the interview here.

Question of tube

January 11th, 2007 • To be filed

What do you think your response is to this?

My response?
Yes. Video is the future. Did you know, Myspace filmmakers can now submit their movies for an Emmy nomination? If that isn’t democratization of media,what is?

Evolving Vox – Russell D’souza

January 4th, 2007 • 1 comment To be filed

College entrepreneurs fascinate me. Partly because I always wanted to start something of my own in college and partly because I was too chicken to actually start it.

I had the opportunity to speak with Russell D’souza of Evolving Vox about this company and being a young entrepreneur. He shared one deadly piece of advice -armed with that simple knowledge, any of us has the chance to become start the billion-dollar entreprise.

I spent 4 years of college waiting and searching for the right time, and the right idea. I’m afraid neither exists. All you need to know to be an entrepreneur is, a simple idea AND the simple understanding that now, is the right time.

******

Russell D’Souza and Jack Groetzinger started Evolving Vox, a a temporary furntiure ownership business, late last year. Join be in conversation with one-half of the team, Russell D’souza.

Tell me about Evolving Vox? What a strange name!

So Evolving Vox is a furtniture rental company. Right now, we serve only Darmouth College. Darmouth students can log on to our website, pick what they want to order, add it to a shopping cart and pay for it. They can choose the length of the lease on each piece of furniture. Once we recieve their order, our job is to deliver the furtniture and on an assigned date, pick it up from their apartments.

About the name, Evolving Vox is derived from our school motto… play on a Dartmouth College tradition. It holds a special meaning to Dartmouth students.. It’s not something everyone would understand but people here, know what it means.

Did you have prior experience in starting your own business?

No. We have no previous experience but my friend and business partner, Jack ,and I are very entrepreneurial. Dartmouth is a liberal arts college and doesn’t really offer business courses at the undergrad level. Skills we gained to run this business didnt’ really come from our college, Dartmouth doesn’t focus on imparting entrepreneurial skills in undergrads. We both had internships in Boston last summer with consulting firms and that’s where we picked up some skills. But I think we’ve just learnt a lot from doing it.

How did you get this idea? It sounds like a no-brainer. I remember furniture was such a hassle in college. You needed it but you didn’t want it…

We got the idea early last year when we noticed the amount of furniture waste that accumulates at the end of semester. The real idea came from targetting the waste. The reason we liked this idea — it was risk free. It didn’t require that much to set up. We never had a business plan and we still don’t have one. The first step we needed was a website. The goal was that students should be able to rent furniture online in less than 5 minutes.

We actually only started the business last fall. We weren’t sure what to expect but….it was unbelievable. Within a week, we had to stop taking orders. We were anxious to see what would happen. We had about 45 orders for futons alone. We didn’t want to deal with more because we wanted to be sure we could handle it logistically first.

How does this work out? Did you buy the furniture to rent it out?

No. We didn’t buy anything at first. We didn’t place the order for the furniture until we had the orders coming in. We got the furniture from wholesalers. Dartmouth runs on a trimester system so between trimesters, we have bulk storage that we use. But most of the stuff is always rented out.

So this business didn’t really require a capital or any investment? I’m surprised no one thought of this before.

Not monetary, no. Yes, we are surprised too. We have made people’s lives convenient. I was unprepared for the response. Everyone we have talked with or served talks about this idea. Even people we don’t serve have gone out of their way to email us and tell us what a good idea it is. It is such an intutive idea that almost everyone goes, why didn’t I think of this before?

What about profits? Are you seeing any yet?

The furniture rental business is impossible to operate on a profit within the first year. There is strong potential in the furniture rental business and we have an edge over other rental companies by having actual people on the ground. We have contacts with students and that helps spreading the word. We haven’t spent a single dime on marketing. We sent out flyers, emails to listservs and passed around flyers to our friends. It was very low-budget. Also, people know you on campus and that helps. It’s easier to trust someone you know…

We are in talks with Cornell University right now. We have a ground-team set, it is imperative to have a ground team. They have access to dorms and emails that rental companies don’t.

Besides, we have a good sense of where the company is headed. We don’t really want to handle the operations and administrative tasks of the business. We would like to sell our branches at some point, just the delivery and leasing process. But we’d like to keep the ability to franchise it. Ofcourse, we would use a different name, Evolving Vox wouldn’t work universally. We are adamant, we have no desire to keep the nuts and bolts, the operation end of the business. I think we will be able to sell it this winter.

Is this decision because of competition or are you just not intersted ?

Competition – there’s really nothing that we can do about it. Press is great, it helps us build credibility but it’s a double-edged sword. The more recognition we get, it enables people to hink that anyone can put this together. But it’s not like we are the first kids to do this. At Harvard, you can rent micorwaves and refrigerators but people haven’t seen what can really be done with this rental business. It will be a matter of time before everyone catches up. But I hope by then, our business will be thinking in a newer directions. But anything can happen, there’s really nothing we can do.

Jack and I are both working in Boston now. We are both consulting. The way that we see our future with EV it’s not time intensive. The business can run by itself with little supervision.

Speaking with you, I get a sense that Evolving Vox is more of an experiment for you guys…to test out your entrepreneurial spirit. I don’t mean that in a negative way, I think it’s great but I get the feeling that you are doing this to see how far you can go and what you can learn from this experience. Am I right?

You got that right. You put it well. It is definitely an experiment. If you ask both of us what we want to do in 10 years, it is definitely something of our own. Even though we have lost money so far, there’s no doubt that we will end up making money. Most entrepreneurs fail like 5 times, I believe in starting modestly and learning from my mistakes.

Too many people focus on coming up with this really cool world-changing idea of reinventign the wheel. Yes, maybe youtube.com can be that idea but… they all started out because somebody saw something in their life that was an inconvenience and they wanted to do something about it. Youtube founders were just sitting at their dinner table and wanted to put up their home videos online. They didn’t do it expecting this huge reaction. Small inconveniences are something in your life that can be made better. I think that’s what students should look for.

What mistakes have you made to date and what have you learnt from them?

Well…we knew very little about the way futons work, in terms of mechanism. The futons we got intially weren’t really the good ones. You could feel the frame through the mattress. Our company prides on delivering good quality… so it wasn’ something we wanted to deliver. We end up having to spend $20 more each mattress and upgrading them. We could have done something else.. tested out that mattress or just stuck with it,  but it was really tough in making that last second decision. We lost a couple thousand dolars but in the end, we definitely did a better thing by not compromising on quality. The decision was a no brainer for us, but it hurt us. It was just something we had to do.

Lesson well-learnt. That decision of yours must have won you some very loyal customers. What are future plans with EV?

There’s a realization now that you can take crazy college kids and learn from then. It’s really the internet, it’s a whole new ball game. Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth offers a student consulting service that help out new businesses. Such a service will help us tremendously in figuring out next steps and what we can do with our business. We haven’t been accepted yet, they have an application procedure – but we hope we will be expected!

What’s so fantastic about being a student or a college entrepreneur?

I think what is really fascinating about being a college entrepreneur in this day and age is.. there are so few barriers to entry in starting a new company. Not just young people or college entrepreneurs, anyone can start a new company on a little or no budget. There are a number of riskless opportunities. We talk about new ideas all the time. You no longer need a storefront: credit cards, secure payments, Business2.0 is fascinating. But I find that most new businesses are looking to make immediate profits. I think if you have a good service, you will find a way to make money.

The best thing about being a college entrepreneur is that everyone wants you to win. You have the network of your college: friends, alumni, professors. The CEO of the largest furniture company in New England is a Dartmouth alumni. He took time out to speak with us. He didn’t give us anything concreate but point us- people are willing to talk to you. They’ll say, “I can’t help you but I’ll give you more contacts.”

Your advice to aspiring entrepreneurs?

One of our professors said that Everyday people see million dollar ideas and just don’t recognize them. That sums it up. My only advice is to Start. Don’t wait for inspiration or that big idea to strike! Just do something.

Being My Boss – Nandini Mukherjee

December 21st, 2006 • 6 comments To be filed

 Nandini Mukherjee started the Indian Bread Company, a warm fusion cafe in East Village, in Nov 2003. Much has already been written about her food and restaurant. I don’t think it is possible to go wrong with Indian fast-food, especially when you have an innovative menu that includes naaninis and naanwichs! (a play on paninis and sandwiches)

I haven’t met many women restauranteurs so I thought it would be fun talking to Nandini and getting her perspective on being her own boss. She also is a winner of Make Mine a Million contest and I’d like to follow her success here on Being My Boss. Nandini touches on two very important aspects that haven’t been given as much face-time on Being My Boss yet.

1) The importance of joining associations and clubs that support entrepreneurs. "The resources that become available to you are phenomenal."

2) Taking time off from your business is just as important as staying foccused and putting in 16-hour days.

Read on!

Nandini, you are an architect, right? How did you end up as a restauranteur? 

Haha, yes. An architect. I was born and raised in India. After finishing my bachelors in architecture in India I applied to a lighting program at Parsons that caught my interest. As a student, the best thing about New York was to go out and try different kinds of food. I loved eating out.. often craved Indian food but apart from shanty restaurants that sold two day old curries for cheap, I didn’t find a good enough option. How could it be possible? How can there not be fresh and flavorful food at affordable prices in New York!?

So that’s how the idea for Indian Bread company materialized? 

Yes. Well, I do come from a business background. It sounds cliche, but I knew I always wanted to be my own boss. I’ve enjoyed doing creative stuff. I was doing handling my own projects in India. But when I got here I realized that if I wanted to have my own architectural firm, I would need atleast 10 years experience of working for someone else. I wasn’t going to wait that long! No way. Everything was opportune -I met Rupila, who was my room-mate at Parsons and who later became my bussiness partner in the company. And my best friend, (who then became my husband!) got involved, so the team sorta just built itself.

Ok. So you identified a need and found a great idea, the easy part was done. What happened between then and starting your restaurant? 

Haha yes, The story is not so glamorous anymore! 90% of restaurants fail within the three years alone. Neither of us had any background in the industry. We studied the industry and the market for the next 6-8 months. I would go upto restaurants and just ask them if they’d let me sit in their kitchen and just watch. I must have watched atleast 5 kitchens — it didn’t come naturally to me. I also took classes at the culinary school.

One sec, you mentioned you watched kitchens? Did they allow you? What did you say to them?

Yes. I said that I wanted to start my restaurant at some point but I wanted to learn more about the industry and asked if they’d let me watch their kitchen. I was very unobstrusive…almost invisible. And people are nice you know. What did I have to lose?! Yea, some restaurants said no. Said that they don’t allow anyone in their kitchens, but 5 said yes and I got what I wanted. What’s the worse anyone could have done!? Said no. This was very important. All this education that I sought out about the industry, without that we couldn’t have made our projections or worked out our costings, the equipment… we were learning all this first-hand.

I also spent a lot of time looking for a location. I’d learnt enough to know that location was prime in starting a restaurant. One day I was walking in East  Village and saw a sign; this guy was selling his store..It was serendipity. I got in touch with his landlord and it worked out smoothly. We had seen a ton of places with the brokers but this.. just happened!

My readers wonder if all entrepreneurs have a business plan. Did you have one?

Well, we didn’t have one but we needed one because we were looking for investors. We had no idea how to put one together. So we went to the Small Business Center and they helped us put together our plan. And then one day before we were going to sign our lease for the restaurant space, our investor told us that he wanted a higher stake in the company and wanted to change the agreement. That was so last-minute, it took us by shock. It just didn’t seem right to keep such a person on board then and we made a decision to start this restaurant without his backing. We had to take the plunge: I dipped into my savings, my husband invested his savings and Rupila got the money from her friend. We put together about $120K out of which $40K we kept aside as working capital, which included money for the rent.

But ofcourse, losing the investment we had based our business plan on also meant major changes in how we initially wanted to do everything. We had to slash down our budget. We could only hire one cook and two sandwich makers. And Rupila and me decided to work full-time.

How did you market your restaurant?

We didn’t have the budget to hire a PR firm or even a budget for marketing. While our restaurant was under construction, this woman would stop by and ask us about our concept and the idea. Turns out, she was the food editor at NYmag. We were so unprepreared for what came next: you know, when you are opening, you have a certain idea in mind. We were in a prime location in Soho, Yes. But you don’t expect it to be like through the roof. But right before the opening, we got a review in the NYmag and that day, we were sold by out evening. It was crazy, it was fun. It was unbelievable. Press makes such a huge impact. We still keep receiving random press mentions here and there.

Absolutely. People get to know about you. And luckily for us, it hasn’t been necessary. We’ve been getting this attention very consistently since 2003 when we opened. There is no point in wasting money in advertisements: if you put an ad yourself, it just doesn’t get the kind of attention a press endorsement of word-of-mouth does.

I agree. Also, I think that you cannot market a bad idea or a bad concept, no matter how huge your budget is then. I think a lot of entrepreneurs get mired down in thinking that everything requires money.

Yes. We are probably guilt of that as well. When we decided to do without the investor, we cut costs where we thought it wasn’t possible. Rupila and me are both creative and we are both architects. So we designed the interiors of our restaurant ourselves and it was a great lesson. Because we lost that backing, we had to trim the edges everywhere and had that not happened to us, we could have never thought we could have done it.

Did you ever feel like giving up, like it wasn’t worth it? 

No. When we started, we had no idea what we were getting into. And then after the investor backed out, Rupila and me had to work full-time for the restaurant. We end up working 16 hour days and we were doing that for one full-year. At the end of the year, she wanted to move on. It was very tough at that point. I was faced with two options. 1) to either sell the business and take our share or 2) to buy out my partner’s share in the company.

We had worked so hard for this restaurant, I wasn’t ready to give it up yet. So I had to buy out her share. It was mutual, there wasn’t a falling apart as such. I took out a home equity loan and paid her. But then it really hit me. That this business was now mine. I was aware that the business was going to need more time to succeed and I just had to stick it out.

Was that a good decision then?

It was. Infact, we recently won "Make Mine a Million." American Express is the founding sponsor of this program. 40 women business owners are chosen nationwide. And at this major event, each business owner delivers a 3 minute business speech that is voted live by the audience and judges. This year, Hilary Clinton, Suze Orman, Dani Levy of Daily Candy were judges among others. The event is televised so even viewers can send in their votes. And out of the 40, 20 are chosen are winners. It was a fantastic experience. You meet so many entrepreneurs from all over, it really opens you up.

The winners recieve help to build a million dollar enterprise. There are a couple areas I’m being helped in – American Express gave me an unsecured line of credit. And about 180 mentors who are specialists in their areas are available to you. Count me In, an organization that supports women’s financial independence also made a loan available.

Cisco had another contest for the 20 winners out of which 5 were chosen to recieve a complete technology package. I won that contest as well and they are in the process of setting up our tech plan and providing us with equipment and support.

I would strongly recommend  entrepreneurs to participate in such events. Especially women, since we tend to bond well and work together. Being an entrepreneur at most times is a very solitary affair and to find other women that share your sentiment is good. You learn so much from each other and you meet so many people.

Some other organizations for women entrepreneurs are, Women’s Venture Fund and the National Association for Women Business Owners.

Did you ever feel at a disadvantage because you were a woman entrepreneur?

I’ve always totally enjoyed being a woman. I don’t think I’ve been side-lined or faced anything like that yet. Infact, when people see that I am a woman, they want to talk to me. Also, when I meet other women entrepreneurs, it is an instant connection. I think an entrepreneur as an entrepreneur. You know it. They know it. We all go through the same things. It can be a little easier or a little more difficult for someone else, but essentially, it is all the same.

How has your business changed since you first started it?

For one, I don’t put in 16 hour workdays anymore! It actually stopped at the end of the second year. I’ve been phasing myself out. If I want the business to grow, it is not feasible for me to be there all the time. Now I concentrate more on the vision, networking, looking for new areas to expand into.

We do a lot of office and corporate catering and that’s been picking up. We were the only South Asian fare at the Republican convention. The event planner for the event had to come to the restaurant and tried our food and she loved it. She asked me if I’d like to be in the event and that w would be catering for 1000 people. We pulled it off and it recieved a lot of media attention. It made other events possible.

Right now we have a couple things we are planning. We want to expand into a multi-unit enterprise. In New York itself for now, in certain areas taht are major hubs. Maybe after that we want to hit other cosmopolitan cities like Boston, Philadelphia, DC…

As I always ask – what’s your advice to aspiring entrepreneurs?

1. Be active in organizations that support entrepreneurs. And especially if you are a woman. It is a very good support system.
2. Break down your goal into small deliverables. To achieve one big goal can be very daunting. If you break it down, into things-to-do list, it is more encouraging. It’s hard to get people to believe in you when you first start, which is why setting smaller milestones helps. You know you are going somewhere and you know you are on track.
3. It is very important to take time for yourself. I cannot stress that enough. I was working with my Make Mine a Million mentor and we talked about this. I admitted that I actually feel guilty about taking time off. My business is always on my mind but I’ve learnt that taking some time off actually helps me focus better on my business.
4. I couldn’t have done this without my the support of my family. It is so important to surround yourself with people who encourage you. Just that positive attitude can do wonders for your own psyche and your business. Build your support system and keep yourself surrounded by it at all times.

I’m glad you mentioned about taking time off. I am hardly an entrepreneur but my friends are very successful business owners and I see them agonize over their business even when they are on vacation. It must be hard to step away but it is important.

It is so important to step away from it. You burn out if you don’t realize it. It is very difficult to delegate. I had big problems delgating and allowing others to handle my business but you know what, you can’t do every tiny thing. I love traveling and am an amateur photographer, so I now take time off consciously from my work to puruse my hobbies. And I return renewed and fresh.

What’s the best thing about being your own boss? The flexibility to plan my schedule and the direction I want my business and life to take. That’s what makes it worth it.

Being My Boss – A reflection

December 11th, 2006 • 2 comments To be filed

I’ve recieved many emails from you about the Being My Boss series. My original intent was to publish 101 interviews with entrepreneurs and stop there but after 10 amazing interviews, I don’t think I ever want to stop. Speaking with these people, has been incredibly uplifting and gives me a strong sense of purpose as I continue hunting for stronger stories and entrepreneurs.

The idea of working for oneself, and being happy doing it is incredibly enchanting. Just this morning on my way to work my cab-driver stuck up a conversation with me. It was early and I was still slightly groggy from staying up late last night to finish Season 4 of 24 (my newest addiction) But when someone so willingly opens themselves to you, your only choice is to sit up and listen. My driver was 47 years old and had just quit his job as a leaking specialist with a manufacturer or large vaccum furances. A job he lucked into because even though he had a full scholarship to an esteemed college in Philadelphia, he dropped out after 6 months because he just wasn’t comfortable in teh company of rich, privileged kids.

I asked him if he was in-between jobs and he hesitated a little before admitting that he’s never been happier and quitting that job has allowed him to pick up on educating himself. He doesn’t know how to use a computer and ‘I’m too poor to own one," but "I know how to use the catalog computers at the library," he said. His voice lilted with pride when he said he was learning everything he could about cognitive sciences and brushing him his literature. As we turned onto the curb, he quietly mentioned that he wants to be a writer and now he has the time. So heartfelt. I could only give him a fat tip but if I was a millionaire, I’d have bought him a computer. It is stories like these… I don’t know if he’ll grow to become the next Gladwell. But I do know that some of us spend a lifetime not realizing that quitting someone else’s dream to follow your own is what it takes to find contentment and happy-ness.

This guy, was happy. So happy that he felt the need to spread the gospel about his new life to random strangers who perhaps wouldn’t judge him and would share his pride.

I looked at all our Linkedin profiles and realize that it’s not who we are that defines us, it’s what we do. Our profession, our affiliations, those ivy league schools, THE job…..and if what we do will define us, why not do something we believe in?

I think there’s an entrepreneur within each of us, only a matter of bringing him/her out. One of you asked if it’s easy to approach these entrepreneurs and have them agree to do an interview. My answer – you’ll be surprised.

It never is easy, from what I hear. From managing personal relationships to the business, weighing choices between spending more time with the kids or flying cross-country to seal the deal, being your own boss is perhaps the most difficult job. So far, I end my interviews by asking "What’s the best thing about being your own boss,?" Begining today, I’ve added one more question, "What’s the worst thing about being your own boss?" I didn’t want to protray the grit of it initially but with almost 10 stories down, we are well-aware being your own boss has some wonderful merits. The time now, is right for the second side of the coin to be rightfully displayed.

Being My Boss- Sharelle Klaus

December 7th, 2006 • 2 comments To be filed

The food blogsosphere has been buzzing lately about DRY Soda. I’ve picked up random posts about this ‘great new drink in original flavors’ thats only ‘50 to 70 calories.’ Intrigued, I googled the company and browsed through their site. With any new business, two things excite me the most. 1) The idea – is it new? has it been done before? what’s so hot about it? and 2) The execution – even a boilerplate idea, if executed well can mint in the millions. With DRY Soda, everything just seemed so..right and well-done. I immediately got in touch with Sharelle to hear her story and let’s just say, Being My Boss has not featured a business with such a quick turn-around before. I only wish Sharelle included her story on their company website.

A few things that I’d like to highlight about DRY Soda:

1. When a high-end culinary soda started gaining traction in the night-club scene, DRY Soda the embraced change, even when it wasn’t a part of the plan. It’s important to allow your business to morph into what it’s customers want it to be. You can have a certain image and a vision for your business but your customers can create a completely different one. Do you embrace it or resist it? In this case, emrbacing it AND assisting it was a wise decision.
2. Sharelle shares a very useful tip towards the end of the interview- — You don’t just get one chance. I haven’t featured someone who’s failed once before and then started a new business and this is a much needed perspective. A dot.com failure didn’t stop Sharelle from plunging into entrepreneurship the second time around.
3. I cannot stress more the importance of networking and building relationships. Every entrepreneur’s story has showcased the importance of maintaing contacts and meeting people. In this case, when Sharelle didn’t know anyone in teh food industry, she hired a PR firm that had great connections in the industry. IE -  When she didn’t have the connections, she found a way to create them.

So let’s get started with the idea? How and when did it come to you?

I’m just one of million people that loves pairing wine with food. I think Food and Wine magazine is probably my favorite magazine. Anyways, I have four children. They are now 2, 4, 8 and 9 so yes, I’ve been pregnant a lot and I was never able to drink wine. So we’d go to these fancy restaurants and my husband would have fifty thousand wines to pick from and my drink otpions were next to none. By my fourth pregnancy, I thought this was crazy. I figured there had to be a solution or some sort of drink for non-wine drinkers or even pregnant women. Thats when I realized there is a gaping hole in the beverage market for this kind of market. There should be something for everyone… So I came up with this idea of a non-alcoholic beverage that could be paired with foods. I looked around, read up everything I could about the beverage industry and once I was clear that the niche was unfulfilled, I decided to take the plunge.

My husband had, at one point, worked for a food company. He put me in touch with the company’s food scientist who taught me the basics of the industry and gave me a one hour primer course on making soda. Through him, I went through all levels of the company to learn about the industry. From the sales point of view to the scientists. He then put me in touch with flavor houses in the area and I created the first flavors. It took us about a thousand taste tests to get the flavors right…I had the vision and I knew exactly what it would be like but getting there was challenging. I wanted the flavors to sort of replace wine and champagne for non-drinkers so I had to think about what kind of foods would go with the flavors.

That, in a nutshell was the begining.

How did you get the initial money to fund your business? Creating a consumer product is a huge undertaking…

Hah- Yes. We took out a home equity loan and I managed to get a small $50K loan from the local Small Business Association chapter. I have a business and high-tech background. I worked for PWC for a number of years.. and also served as the President of Forum in Women Entrepreneurs. I met a lot of investors through my connections there. You know, all my life I knew I would be an entrepreneyr. I even had my own internet business in the dot.com days before the bust. It was called planetsquid.com, a website for 10-13 year olds. Ofcourse, after the dot.com bust, the business failed but I knew at some point I’d go back to doing my own thing. And in hindsight, I realize now that I wasn’t so passionate about the dot.com nor am I passionate about 10-13 year olds!! My favorite thing to do is go out to dinner and so this business jsut made sense. I’d go back to it in a hearbeat, even if it went bust but internet, I wouldn’t return to it.

So in a way, every step I took was leading me to this. The woman who had hired me as the President of Forum for Women Entrepreneurs was incredible. She put me in touch with vineyards owners and winery owners who were interested in investing in my business. And once we hired our PR firm and had secured ourselves in a few high-end grocery stories and restaurants, it became easier to find funding. All in all, we recieved 1.5 million in funding. And we are looking to go on a second round of funding sooon.

What were the next steps?

Next step was to hire a design firm. I wanted to have a modern, unique bottle that looked great with a champagne flute on white-tablecloth. I hired a fantastic design firm and they designed the bottle, the logo– everything. Infact, we’ve won several awards for the design of the bottle.

It’s funny, but even before the produt was ready I went to a local PR firm that had great connections in the restaurant industry and sold my idea to them. So I had been thinking along the lines of building a brand from the very begining. We launched in August 2005…

Within a year? That’s quick and in most cases impossible.

Yes. I tend to work quickly… I know it sounds crazy. It was. I was at home taking care of the kids, that was my full time job! But my husband works as a consultant so his flexibility afforded me to move along quicky. .

You mentioned earlier that you hired a PR firm and a design firm. How were you able to afford these costs?

Yes. I had hired the PR firm even before the soda was developed. I sat with him and talked with him about my strategy. Every CEO has what they are good at and taht’s important to them. My passion in this company is this brand and building it right. Everything I do is about this brand and that’s where the press and marketing comes it. It was integral for me to meet my vision for this company. And when it is a consumer product, brand is number one. That’s why I spent so much time, energy and money on it. I foccused on every detail of the brand. I started this company with very little money. But I knew what I needed for this company to succeed. When you don’t have the resources, you have to get creative. So I found creative ways to pay my design firm and my PR firm. With my design firm, I paid them a small fee and said that I woul pay them over the next 2 years as the cases sold. It was a risky proposition, but it paid off.

With the PR firm, I found Richmond PR because they handled PR for this chef in the town who always managed to get an insane amount of press. I knew for my business to succeed, I’d haev to hire his publicist. I’m a huge proponent of educating yourself and I read books on PR and tried to do it myself but I realized that one thing I lacked and a PR firm had was connections. Esp. in the food and restaurant industry. That was one thing I learnt – Utilize other’s connections when you can. Connections are the number one thing you can get from anyone. I had to also find a creative way of paying them. If you get somebody to believe in you, they see the future. And they see that you will be a very good client to them in the future. Every place I went into, I wanted them to trust me. So I sat down with my PR firm and negotiated a good deal with them. And now to tell you the truth, I couldn’t have done it without them. They got me initial meetings at every white-tablecloth restaurant in the city. Within weeks, I had confirmations from high-end restaurants that would carry my product.

So what have you learnt about owning a little-over-a-year old business? How are you managing the growth?

Our growth strategy has been to keep strong focus on our target market, that is high-end grocery stores and white-tablecloth restaurants. But we’ve noticed an interesting phenomena that we didn’t quite expect when we launched DRY Soda. It’s becoming pretty big in nightclubs and bars and is becoming very popular as a mixer. It’s a cool looking bottle, and the flavors are also intersting without being overly sweet, so I guess it hit a chord with there. We didn’t try for this to happen nor was it a part of oru plan. Infact, 70% of our restaurants are also using it as a mixer in drinks. So it was interesting and although we were not prepared for this interpretation of our product, we haev embraced it. Now we work with mixologists and bar-tenders and come up with special cocktail recipies that use DRY Soda. Other non-traditional markets we are exploring are spas and maternity places.

We are a very nimble company, we can change swiftly and can be very laser-foccused at the same time. There isn’t any other culinary soda as such but after we launched we noticed another brand trying to go after the market we were targetting. But because we are small, we can quickly adopt to the situation.

So are you still doing this alone?

No! I’ve learnt to delgate, it was the hardest thing to do. But I hired a bunch of extremely smart women. I have about 11 employees now and it’s an all-women team. My COO, CMO and CFO bring the skills that I lack. I was doing it all by myself and it was very challenging. Operations are not my strong suit, I’d rather concentrate on the larger goal and the brand and moving things along. And I’m very fortunate to have found these people. You need a whole array of skills to be a successful entrepreneur and if you don’t have them all, you hire someone to fill in the gaps. I’m more confident with this team as we go for our second round of funding…

What’s the feedback you’ve recieved for DRY Soda?

Jinal, it’s just amazing to create something and then have people tell you that they love it. It wasn’t our plan to enter retail but we recieved so many emails from people who wanted to buy DRY Soda for events that we had to get into retail. We can now process orders on teh phone and online. When your customers want something, you’ve gotta give it to them!

I’ve got emails from about 60 countries that want DRY Soda in their stores and restaurants. That’s gratifying. So many readers write in to say thanks! In my company, whenever I hire a new employee, I have them do live demos and attend events. It’s a very positive experience to hear live feedback from your customers. Ofcourse, there are people that don’t like it, but 99 times out of 100, you will get people telling you how much they love it.

How do you balance work and family?

I have to leave in 45 minutes to watch my son’s Christmas play at his school. It is very hard. I travel a lot for work but I’m learning to delgate and travel less. But sometimes, people just want to meet the CEO.. .My husband is very supportive, he stays with the kids when I’m not around. I spent every spare moment with them but sometimes it’s hard. Just this morning, my son wanted me to snuggle with him in bed a little longer and I couldn’t. It gets very exhausting. Every minute counts. I don’t have a single minute I can waste. My two girls are home-schooled so I get to see them often. I’ll take them with me to the office and they help out around the office. It’s a very child-friendly office. For our holidays package, all the kids came in and helped us stuff the boxes and gift bags. It’s all about finding unique ways.. not always easy but not impossible.

I know. A lot of women entrepreneurs I’ve interviewed echo that sentiment.

What are your top 3 pieces of advice for aspiring entrepreneurs?

• Encourage relationships and connections. Value them and nurture them. You will never know when you’ll need them.
• Find people smarter than you and get them on your side.
• For businesses that need funding, I highly recommend finding angel investors that are well connected in your industry. I cannot tell you how valuable they are. My investor helped me get almost every employee and distributor. They are also an incredible source of wisdom and experience.
• Also, don’t be afraid of failing. I failed in my first endeavor – and I learnt so much that I wouldnt’ change that experience for anything. You can try again and again – you don’t just get one chance. Really, don’t be afraid of failure.

And finally, what’s the best thing about being your own boss?

Umm. I guess the best part for me is that I’m learning so much from people on my team. It just so cool that they believe so deeply and care so much for this business.

Plans for the future?

Haha- plenty. For now, we expect our revenues to reach 1.5 million by end of 2007. That’s a good plan for now!

Good holiday shopping

December 5th, 2006 • 1 comment To be filed

Shift magazine has launched Shift your Gift ,a special holiday project, that features it’s favorite sustainable gift items for the season. Not only are the options varied (From a Pangea Organics Spa Kit to Ego Cycle), 5% of your total purchase is directed to one of it’s 35 listed non-profits. A cool idea for the holidays!

Being My Boss – Larry Smith

November 27th, 2006 • 2 comments To be filed

Traversing through the tangled web of media giants, Editor+Publisher & Entrepreneur Larry Smith added a page or two to his own story.

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We’ve sterotyped entrepreneurs. They aren’t always software geeks nor are they freak students that are catapulted to stardom for a wildfire invention. The founder of SMITH magazine wouldn’t fit anywhere. Not even a year old, SMITH magazine is about everyady stories -of ordinary people and extraordinary people, waiters and actors, unemployed folks and millionnaires. All kinds of people, all kinds of stories. Follow the story of Larry Smith, founding Editor and Editor-in-chief of SMITH magazine on the newest installment of Being My Boss.

Why SMITH?

SMITH has been in my head for years now. Back in 2002, I was working at Yahoo! Internet Life Magazine. It was like Wired meets Entertainment Weekly. That’s where I first witnessed the power of personal media. I saw how readers were really becoming a part of the story online and it struck me that people wanted to contribute to the internet. This was before blogs and user-generated media became the web-mantra. However, with the bubble burst, Yahoo! Internet Life went under and I lost my job. That’s when I wondered: what next?

Living in East Village and working at Yahoo! had put me in touch with some very interesting people from all walks of life. Around that time, reality TV was picking up steam and everything just sorta clicked. A magazine that celebrated story-telling just made sudden sense. I knew there was room for a reader-generated magazine.

So I went with my idea to a brilliant designer named Robert Priest (Former Art Director of Esquire, GQ, and US Weekly) and asked him if he’d be interested in working with me on my idea. Miraculously for me, he agreed. We put together a prototype and then knocked on every editor’s door in the New York media world. Graydon Carter, Isolde Motley, Eric Schrier, Don Welsh, Clay Felker, Kurt Anderson – it can be a tireless but fascinating game. I begged for face-time with editors. Here I was going to these big media companies, throwing in catchy phrases like citizen journalism and they looked at me like I was crazy. One editor even asked me, "What is a blog?" Granted, it was 2002 and blogs weren’t so widely popular but you’d expect a magazine editor to be aware of the next movement. Anyways, a couple people got it but no one wanted to greenlight my project. It was a little disheartening.

Even though people expressed interest in the idea, no one wanted to fund it and make it huge. I wanted to do a print and web version at the same time but it takes a lot of money to go print first. I was advised to start with the web version but I was too stubborn. In hindsight, I’m glad I didn’t get a business partner because that would’ve meant losing my creative freedom with the magazine. Perhaps?

It’s funny if you think about it -I understood inherently in my bones that a great medium the web was for story-telling and I didn’t listen to my own advice. We all have very high standards. I didn’t want a web version: I wanted a print version first. When I couldn’t find investors, instead of quitting and giving up the idea, I adapted. I could have done it sooner though. This magazine should have launched in 2002.

You are a writer. Is your transition as an entrepreneur difficult?

Good question. I had worked on a bunch of startup magazines before, so I was aware of the grind. But years ago, I recieved a fantastic piece of advice from the editor of Esquire. He said, "Freelance writers are sales people -You are selling your piece whether you know it or not." And you know what? He’s right. Sub-consciously, I’ve always been a salesman. With your writing, you are competing for your reader’s time. You are selling -making a case. Saying READ ME- I’M WORTH YOUR TIME.

Taking my prototype to media companies for funding was like going to venture capitalists. So even though I call myself a writer or an editor, I’m very much an entrepreneur.

Why is your magazine called SMITH?

Because it is one of the most popular last names in America. We also launched it on Jan 6th -National Smith’s Day. One of those goofy holidays that exist. It was perfect!

What drives you to work everyday?

Yesterday I was at a party and I met an intriguing woman who works as a dominatrix. My immediate reaction was, "WOW- she must have a story!" And I asked her if she’s be interested in keeping a diary about her job on SMITH mag. And she said, you know what- maybe! I’m meeting her today to talk more about SMITH and hear her story. THIS is what motivates me. Every single day. People have amazing stories to share, only if you are willing to listen. I’d be sitting at a resutaurant and just chatting about what I do and the waiter will tell me, I have a story for you. And it’s just like that. Random people with amazing stories. Where else can I meet such people ?

Advise for apsiring entrepreneurs?

• Know your market. If you know and believe in your market, no matter how many times people say don’t do it, don’t listen to them. Do your homework right.
• Say yes to any opportunities: big or small. As a writer and an entrepreneur, I said yes to everything. Every bit of work that came my way and it paid off.
• Start small. Don’t be afraid to deviate from the original plan. I wanted to start bigger. I wanted a print magazine first but I realize now that small is beautiful.
• Don’t be afraid to ask for help. I learned that 9 times out of 10 people are usually nice. I just went to people and said, hey- I’m working on this new magazine and could I speak with you about it? People are amazing! I went to the editors of ReadyMade magazine and they could’ve easily looked at me as a competitor. Instead, they just laid it all out for me. I wasn’t afraid to cold call anybody and it just amazed me how fantastic and helpful people can be. What’s the worst they can do? Say no!

Best thing about being your own boss?

I have a vision that I really believe in from my soul. And unless I am my own boss, no one will let it the vision come to reality. This is why I’m glad I didn’t get investors. SMITH mag could’ve turned into someone else’s vision otherwise. Your vision may not be correct, but you’ll never know unless you try it.

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And in case you were wondering, SMITH magazine is launching its first print version early next year. Small to big — not so bad after all! 

Read more »

Frozen Wine

November 14th, 2006 • To be filed

This is one sorbet that needs a 21+ ID to purchase and you probably won’t have much luck looking for it at ice-cream stoers. Wine Cellar Sorbets uses vintage wines from the California, Oregon and  New York region to create delicious, refreshing sorbets. The wine sorbets are currently available in over 40 locations in NY and NJ.

Green candy

November 14th, 2006 • 1 comment To be filed

We’d love to do the right thing, like use wind enegery or a eat organic food, only we can’t do it everyday because A) it’s not really convenient and B) it’s expensive! A reasoning we are only too familiar with.

Enter Ideal Bite- a new eco-friendly newsletter that addresses people like us who do care for the environment, but are a little clueless about implementing it. It rightfully deem’s itself a good source of advice for real people leading busy lives."

Sign up and check out their daily newsletter. I promise you won’t regret it.

Being My Boss – Savvy, Smart and Seventeen

November 6th, 2006 • 1 comment To be filed

Weina Scott, had no idea that a birthday gift from her parents for her 13th birthday would lead her to become one of the youngest business owners ever. Weina, now 17, taught herself programming and html from a book her parents gifted her. Tuned into her online life, she started creating websites and programming them for fellow internet-users. By the time she was 15, Weina was comfortably generating her own pocket money.

Last July, with the help of an online friend, she became a co-founder of Switchpod, a podcast hosting website. Her partner did all the design, advertising and marketing, and Weina wrote the program and maintained the technical aspects of the site to keep it going.  The site gained momentum and word spread via grassroots marketing. Her partner posted about SwitchPod on every online forum and message board. It was when the site started pulling in paid users that other companies sat up and took notice.

"We recieved a few buyout offers before but they didn’t want to give us any control," says Weina, "and we weren’t interested in that." So when a major internet company offered from $200,000 for the site plus an integral part in the site’s future, Weina and her partner jumped at it. They made the sale this August.

"Life hasn’t changed much after the sale," says Weina. " I work 20 hours a week." The only difference is now, both Weina and her partner are paid a cool $40,000/year. Weina’s one advice to aspiring entrepreneurs is: If you are good at something, stick to it. Don’t give up.

Being My Boss – Jason Wachob

October 24th, 2006 • To be filed

Being an entrepreneur is part serendipitous. Often, it’s like shooting arrows in the dark hoping one of them will hit the bulls-eye. Jason Wachob, is the dictionary definition of an entrepreneur. Spirited, hungry and not afraid of failure, Wachob is on his second entrepreneurial adventure. From stylish cheesecakes to one-stop shopping website, Jason’s journey will motivate you and leave you wanting more…

A history major and basketball player at Columbia University, Jason worked his way through college. Knowing well that there wasn’t a trust fund waiting for him after graduation, he took an internship on Wall Street to learn how people in New York were making their money. At that point, paying off student loans was the most important task at hand. For four years he worked on Wall Street, paying off his student loans and saving money. “I liked it, but that was just it,” says Jason. He was sure of quitting and he began to look around for ideas to start his business. “I always had a strong entrepreneurial spirit and I knew it was time.”

Jason grew up in a household that cherished traditions. Christmas preparations in his family start as early as August. A few years ago Jason decided to try his hand at contributing to the Christmas dinner and decided he’d make cheesecakes for the family. Weeks of practicing with ingredients, quantities and time- Jason had nailed the perfect recipe for the cheesecake. Thus was the beginning of Luscious Living – the most stylish cheesecakes I’ve ever seen. A series of chance meetings with the right people pushed Jason along the tumultuous journey of operating a food-based business. A close buddy from Columbia helped him design his concepts and the business was ready to go.

The initial plan was to supply Luscious Living Cheesecakes to every grocery store in the area and  major retailers like Costco’s and Whole Foods. Although the business was doing well, the cheesecakes weren’t at any major grocery chain yet. “To take it to the next level became a challenge. Doors kept slamming and I was frustrated. We knew we neededa  change, but what?”

And then serendipity struck.

At a Columbia University event, he met with a friend who mentioned that his market research class did research for startups as a case-study. Jason agreed to let the students use his business as a case-study and by the end of the semester he had solid knowledge about his company’s target audience and the market. “It didn’t translate into sales, but the wealth of knowledge I left with was amazing.”

At the end of the semester, Jason launched his own research and dissected his brand. “I learnt that gift-giving was a strong niche market and my cheesecakes fit in perfectly there.” The more he thought, the more sense it began to make. He decided to ditch his efforts to push his brand into grocery chain stores and instead focused on positioning his cheesecakes as the gift item and sold them exclusively online “I also started focusing a lot on the low-carb, low-fat cheesecake. That was another niche market.” With two new ideas, Jason breathed life into his brand again and made it a self-sustaining business.

Jason is a voracious reader. During our interview, we started talking about books and he read a few titles off the shelf of his library. He peppered our conversation with book recommendations, site recommendations and anecdotes he had read. I was both envious and amazed. Envious of his exuberant energy and amazed with the possibilities his mind. He also often referred to Steve Jobs’ “connecting the dots” speech. “It’s funny,” he says, “but that dots-idea has been very predominant in my life.” And as his story unfurled, I saw it how.

“I had built a nice clean business with the cheesecakes and I don’t have to do much for it anymore. I was ready for another challenge,” said Jason as he narrated the story of Onegoodie, By targeting the low-carb and gift markets, Jason had really understood the power of niche markets and with one eye on trends, he began to bounce around ideas centered around niche markets. Again, serendipity struck.

“A friend of a friend introduced me to a guy who was interested in starting a niche shopping site.” The concept was based on the already successful idea of woot.com. The intent was to target the entire family by providing one product a day for a great price. The minute he heard the idea, he knew it. “I wasn’t sure what I was going to do with all the useless information I’d picked up with the cheesecake business."

But another dot connected and his cheesecake experience in supply-chain management and dealing with manufactures and distributors became indispensable with the new business. Onegoodie.com had a soft launch early this August. They emailed a few friends and let the word spread. Slowly blogs and other online sites picked up on it and before they knew it, the site was inviting tons of traffic.

By the end of my interview with Jason, I’d come to expect ideas for yet another business in the pipeline. Jason laughed saying, “I don’t know abou the future right now, but for now all my energies are focused here.” And so be it!

Jason’s Advice to Aspiring Entrepreneurs:

1) Don’t find reasons why not to do something. A lot of people get mired down in writing endless business plans. I understand the importance of a business plan but listen to your guts. You have to go for it, wherever it leads.

2) Don’t be married to making something work. Don’t be married to make it something you thought will work. Be open to change and accept it.

3) Now is the right time.

"What I love about Being My Boss: that the buck stops with you. I love it that I am building something, contributing something, shaping something and creating something. The greatest thing about being an entrepreneur is taking an idea and executing it. "

Read more »

Just wanted to say…

October 16th, 2006 • 3 comments To be filed

….that I’ve been learning so much in the past few weeks. Ever since I started "Being My Boss," — I’ve been searching high and low for new businesses and the brilliant minds behind those businesses. One thing that starkly stands out about each story is how beautifully connected all those dots are. So for every time you kicked yourself for majoring in theater or even dropping out of school to pursue you whims- don’t lose faith. There will come a time, when even that dot will fit in perfectly lwith your life like the missing note of a sonata. So now I don’t ask myself too many questions about some of the things I’ve done in my past, and some of the jobs that I’ve quit. I may not understand it now, but I’m assured in the long run.. in the big picture… it all connects somewhere, somehow.

In the coming weeks, I’ve lined up an impressive set of interviews. So don’t forget to check back. I’m just begining to learn this self-promotion bit and am shamelessly asking you to return to this blog. Simply because, the stories of these people deserve to be read and circulated and re-read. Starting this week, I will also publish a set of links to stories about entrepreneurship and being your own boss from around the internet. And any comments or suggestions to make this better are more than welcome. Email me at jshah28@yahoo.com

Being My Boss- Stephanie Sakoff

October 11th, 2006 • 1 comment To be filed

Even with an established business innovation is a must

My first two interviews were with entrepreneurs in their early stages of business. I picked Stephanie Sakoff, founder and owner of Lucky Chick beauty products who has been in business eight years for my third interview to highlight yet another facet of being an entrepreneur. Her company has been featured in top beauty magazines and her products are sold at top stores. And yet, she’s constantly thinking about evolving to the next level. "It never gets easier," she said to me in the begining of the interview. And you’ll find out why.

The Story

Stephanie always knew that she was going to be an entrepreneur. When she was in school, she made pretty little hats on her sewing machine and sold them to her friends and neighbours. "I dreamt of being featured on a show called Style. It was the it show back then." However after graduating from college, she ended up in corporate America designing shoes and spending her time traveling between factories in Asia and her American office. When she wasn’t working, she was nursing her jetlag.  "I looked at the women’s lives around me and I didn’t want my life to look like theirs." Her colleagues and friends led busy, stressfull lives with little or no time for themselves. When realization dawned, she knew quitting corporate America was the best decision she could make for herself. And so, without a backup plan, she quit.

The Idea

Plenty of discarded ideas, long nights spent with the thinking cap and several positive comments later- Lucky Chick happened. "I was living in a lovely apartment in Chelsea, New York, and all my friends called me lucky chik. I just thought – hey why not take the idea of Lucky Chick further and create a concept?" She toyed around with the idea of creating a footcare products line but then decided to go head-on into full body care. So the decision was made, but there was one tiny problem. She had no experience in the beauty industry or in creating beauty products.

"I was 28 when I was starting out…it was like 8 years ago. I had no idea what I was going to do," Stephanie laughs. "Internet was just becoming popular and I bought this gigantic whiring computer for research and it froze every few seconds." She drafted out her concept and shopped around labs with the hopes of finding a chemist who would help her create her product line. She shopped her idea around at industry trade shows and slowly began to meet the right people. A few hits and misses and she found a lab that was willing to create her first line of products and finally, she was in business!

During the early years, her parents supported her endeavor with just as much ardor and passion. "My Dad owns his own business. I didn’t even know how to create an invoice! He also had a warehouse for that he let me used. I have to say, he provided me a great deal of help." Her family and friends would stop by at her office and help her with packaging and other small tasks around the office at all times. Even now that she has employees to help her out, her family helps her out whenever they can.

The Big Bully

In the multi-billion dollar industry beauty industry, competition is severe. More dangerous is the encroachment from large corporations. "A huge company didn’t want me to use the word lucky in my brand name and they sent me a cease and desist order. I was unnerved. I had just started out and had no money to fight such a huge corporation." But it was either fighting for it or allowing the behemoth to gobble up her business. "I learnt everything I needed to know about the legal issues and decided to fight them. I was doing nothing wrong and they weren’t going to shut me out." Stephanie’s company had not breached any copyright laws or stolen intellectual property from the said corporation. She declined to change her business name and was willing to fight the case when the company decided to back off. "That was one of the biggest lessons I learnt in business, and the one piece of advice I always offer other small businesses is that when big companies come after you, don’t back down. Fight out the battle. (unless ofcourse you are blatantly copying something off!)"

Keeping up the the Joneses

Stephanie still maintains that owning her own business is very hard. The market is always in a flux- constantly changing and re-inventing itself. "Things are different now than eight years ago. Big box chains are taking over the market and it is a challenge to think about getting my product out to women at the right price points." In a fiercely competitive industry such as hers, innovation is key. If you’ve been to the Victoria’s Secret store lately, chances are you’ve admired the snazzy new Lucky Chick lipgloss that lights up when you take out the wand. Another key breakthrough: a beautifully designed two-way lipgloss that packs tiny mints on the other side and yet another lip-gloss comes with solid fragrance on the other side. "My customers are a true source of inspiration," she says. Women often always carry their lipgloss, mints and fragrance in their handbags – no matter how tiny the bag. "I thought, why not combine these essetials into just one pack?" Stephanie collaborated with a company that holds patents in product design and created these innovative new lipglosses. The lipglosses are just one of the 30 odd products that her company is launching in the coming months. The future for Lucky Chick looks just as promising — Stephanie is working on expanding the brand to create a special line of cosmetics and beauty products for teenage girls. "I constantly think about how can I keep my brand fresh? How can I use new technology to make better and different products for my customers? how can I manage my sales better abroad?!" When you own your business, you own it all the way. "You can’t bring it to a certain point and hope it will continue to grow on it’s own."

The Lucky Chick Tip for Success: From any challenge comes an unexpected opportunity. Don’t miss it.

Being My Boss- Joanna Alberti

October 3rd, 2006 • 4 comments To be filed

Tiny and lovely — Sophie’s making the waves

25 year old Joanna Alberti knows a thing or two about running her own business. For Joanna college and her sorority formed the perfect playground for one-off gems like, "If you need to confide in someone, pick a drunk friend." So amused by those passing moments where life seems to hold still for laughter and bonding, she began to keep a journal with her at all times so she could capture these dialogues, diatribes or just meaningless junk from her imagination. "I called it my book of philosophies," she muses. "And I still carry one with me at all times." Who knew a random book of mismatched words collected over years would become the foundation for a small but beautiful business?

After graduating from Boston University’s School of Management, Joanna accepted an entry level position with Hill Holiday with the intentions of moving up to the art directors role. A chance entry at an arts fair organized at her company inspired Joanna to characterizie her philosophies into greeting cards. "I played around all night with the word philosophy, because thats what I always called my little journal." It was an eureka moment when she figured out both her character and the name of her greeting card line — philoSophies. Encouraged by the response at the arts fair, she shopped around a few stores in Boston "just to see if anyone would buy my cards." And they did! Soon, philoSophies were making the rounds of Boston’s paper boutiques and friends and family were calling in for cards. Sophie had become the centerstage of her business.

"I didn’t always think of myself as an entrepreneur. Making cards was only a hobby for me, and a way to build my portfolio," she says. She eventually quit Hill Holiday to fuel her newfound passion. “I was making around the same salary as I did when working at the agency, so I thought why not immerse myself in this full time?” But building a small business comes with it’s own share of challenges. Sometimes surmountable, sometimes impossible.

Joanna’s biggest challenge came in the form of a plagiarist. A friend first alerted Joanna about an east-coast company that had an eeirely similar idea, color scheme and feel as philoSophie. Even their Sophie-like character’s body positioning mirrored Sophie. Soon after, Joanna’s web-designer was approached by the same company with a request to create a website similar to Sophie’s PhiloSophies.  "When you are starting out, you can’t afford lawyers," and yet Joanna had to do something to curb this encroachment. Fortunately for her, she met the alleged company’s founder at a trade show in Boston and asked who did their illustratons as their concepts and websites were very similar. (Killing with kindness -ah!) A month later, the plagaiarising company had mended it’s ways and taken  a different strategy.

Small businesses like Joanna’s not only struggle with competition from other tiny companies but also behemoth greeting card companies. To keep her business fresh, Joanna constantly innovates her current offering and thinks about the future. "I think about Sophie all the time. Where is she in her life? How can I try to make her relate with women in different stages of their lives? Or do I need more characters?" Her education at BU’s management school and ad agency training gave her the necessary business expertise but it remains a challange to balance the business and the creative singlehandedly.

“But I wouldn’t want it any other way,” says Joanna.

Whats next for philoSophies? “I’m starting to do more paper products and stationary. Maybe customized stationary. There are just so many possibilities that I need to keep my focus!” Wrapping up the interview, I ask Joanna the best thing about owning her own business. Her response, “Having ownership of something that is completely yours and being responsible for whether it fails for succeeds.”

Indeed!

***

Joanna’s advice for aspiring entrepreneurs:
Stick with it. And your gut instinct is always right.

Check out the website and add Sophie to your friends on myspace!

What’s your dream?

September 26th, 2006 • 6 comments To be filed

Maybe I’m an idealist but I believe that somewhere inside each of us hides a person that wants to quit that boring job, take that plunge and just do what the heart desires. Take a photography class, learn tap-dancing or start that coffee shop you’ve been dreaming of. I am blessed and lucky to be doing what I love and because I know what it’s like to be stuck in a horrible job or to be doing something without your heart and soul in it — I’m starting something new here at StyleStation.

Over the course of next 12 months or so, I will search high and low for entrepreneurs that in my opinion have interesting stories to tell, inspiring ideas to sell and most of all, are following their dreams. I will feature interviews with 101 such entrepreneurs here. There’s no real mission or agenda behind this excercise. Maybe these interviews will inspire a couple of us to follow our own dreams, maybe we’ll just sit back and applaud in support of these entrepreneurs. But we will, most definitely, know more about 101 entrepreneurs, their businesses and what drives them.

Recommedations and suggestions are welcome. Encouragement is most welcome. First in the series right below: Joshua Onysko of Pangea Organics.

Being my Boss – Joshua Onysko

September 25th, 2006 • 11 comments To be filed

A high-school dropout and a vagabond by nature, Joshua Onysko, has probably done it all. When I interviewed him, I remarked how he has lived several lives in this one lifetime, a feat many of us aspire to achieve. Barely 30 years old, Joshua has stories to share. Real stories. Perhaps he can share with you his experiences saving green sea-turtles in Nicaragua or maybe you can chat with him about his time working for the Yakuza, peddling fake Louis Vuitton bags in Tokyo. But mostly, Joshua only has one story to share. And he does that through his company, Pangea Organics.

The story

While visiting his parents in upstate New York before leaving for a trip to India with a one-way ticket, Joshua glanced upon a soap-making book on his mother’s living room. Curious about the process, he bought the ingredients from Whole Foods the next day and made a batch of soap with his Mom and was quite excited with the experience. After giving some soap away to friends and family, he took two bars with him to India and quickly depleted them in a few months. Short on cash, he returned to America to pick up another job and save some more money so he could sustain hsi wanderlust. But instead, he just made a couple batches of soap and sold them at a garage sale and scooted back to yet another far-flung place in the world. As he traveled through the world, he realized how little Americans knew about outside it’s peripheries and ambiguous ideas about starting some kind of a non-profit started taking form in his head.

By the time he hit 24, he was running out of money and had been traveling for a few years. On one serendipitious moment, Joshua met with a friend in Thailand and revealed to him that he was going to start a non-profit institute in America that educated corporations on sustainable living and business practices. He had seen plenty in the world outside and it was time to go back and do something worthwhile. "My friend said to me, why don’t you start a company that mirrors what you want your non-profit to teach. And you should name it Pangea," said Joshua. (I asked why Pangea —Pangea because when the world was one huge land-mass, it was called Pangea. Remember 4th grade geography?!)

So Joshua returned to America, moved to Colorado, found a job as a baker at Whole Foods and sold his homemade soap at garage sales. Today, five years later, Pangea Organics operates out of a wind powerd 10,000 sq foot factory overlooking the mountains in Boulder, Colorado and is the largest organic products factory in the country.

The philosophy

This is perhaps the most difficult part of my interview to narrate. How do you really convey the rich and profoundly impactful practice that Pangea is founded upon? For instance, the lowest minimum wage that Pangea pays it’s employees is $12.50/hour. "Even if he’s just coming in to sweep the floors," stresses Joshua. "That’s what it really costs to live here(USA)" And all his employees recieve full health and insurance coverage. Additionally, a chef comes in every afternoon and prepares organic meals for the employees.

Every tiny detail from packaging Pangea products to sourcing the materials for the products breathe the notions of sustainability. "It is a new paradigm of corporate culture," says Joshua. Pangea is working on a new kind of product packaging that once the empty package is immersed in water, it will be able to grow tiny plants like basil. Some kind of embedded seed technology, I suppose. But the point is, Pangea hasn’t left a venue un-explored or a method untried if it falls within it’s vision.

I haven’t used any of Pangeal products. I only learnt of the company a few days ago and was intrigued enough to speak with Joshua. But Pangea does not use petroleum based ingredients or artificial colors in any of their products. They company practices fair-trade and all products are handcrafted.

Spreading the word

Even as the company enters it’s first year of profitability, it relies largely on its customers and people that believe in it’s philosophy to spread the word. "I don’t want to band-aid something Jinal, I want to fix it." Joshua tells me. "This is an experiment and if people accept it, it will succeed." Joshua talks to anyone who will listen and to people that believe and support his cause. The company has hired a National Educator who flies city-to-city, holding sampling parties with organic cheese and wine. Literally, reminds me of the time door-to-door salesmanship was powerful enough to drive sales. Now, there’s also the internet and a consciousness about doing good, being good. Really, there’s no excuse pleading ignorance anymore. And thanks to the media and social entrepreneurs like Joshua, there is a growing awareness about companies that support pure practices. As Joshua said, "The future lies in the fringe and we are as fringe as it gets."

Did you know:

You can go to Starbucks and ask them to french-press you a fair-trade coffee?

Only 8% of Americans have passports?

Women grow 70% of world’s food and the own only 3% of world’s land?

Indiscrete discrimination

September 12th, 2006 • 13 comments To be filed

Checked out Lucky Strike this weekend and paused infront of the huge DRESS CODE banner at the entrance.

Does it read the same to you as it does to me? Eh, so tasteless. I understand a private firms concern about maintaining a certain image, but does one have to be so obvious about it, really?

Even though the food, service and decor was fantastic, I don’t particularly feel like giving them a decent recommendation.

(btw, I forgot to take a picture but I knew I could count on Flickr users for this image!)

DIY Travelogues

September 5th, 2006 • 4 comments To be filed

I’m a big fan of Moleskines. I carry one with me all the time. (it sounds so pretentious!) I’ve seen prettier books but I carry the plain moleskine because hemingway, picasso and van gogh used these books. (talk about aspirational branding!)

The big news is that Moleskine is set to release the City Notebook. Come spring, travelers within and to America will be able to create personalized travel guides with these nifty little books that come packed with maps, labels and the legendary accordian folder. I am already imagining passing on these notebooks, filled with memotos from my travels as a legacy to my children. (via coolhunting.com)

These books aer almost cult-like– check out the number of fan-sites for this book (MoleSkine Art)

Everything bag is good for you — Book recommendation

August 21st, 2006 • 2 comments To be filed

"This book is an old-fashioned work of presentation that ultimately aims to convince you of one thing: that popular culture  has, on average, grown more complex and intellectually challenging over the past thirty years. Where most commentators assume a race to the bottom  and a dumbing down – "an increasingly infantilized society," in George Will’s words -I see a progressive story: mass culture growing more sophisticated, demanding more cognitive engagement with each passing year. hink of it as a kind of positive brainwashing : the popular media steadily, but almost imperceptibly, making our minds sharper, as we soak in entertainment usually dismissed as so much lowbrow stuff."

This is how Steven Johnson begins this (fourth?) book, Everything Bad is good for you. I’m in midst of finishing this book and if anything– it is certainly thought provoking. A different lens to look at the same old stuff. Oh and it comes with a Malcolm Gladwell seal of approval!

but it can be made easier…

August 11th, 2006 • 3 comments To be filed

The future if left to me, will have 1) apartments that are already hooked up with internet and cable TV and phone lines (if I want one) they day I move in. 2) ability to do everything online, even deposit checks online. 3) a one-stop shop for all my banking, utiltiies and such. I can’t remember all my passwords (some banks/ credit cards requier various combinations for passwords) I just want one window to deal with everything.

Any takers?

Life doesn’t get any easier

August 11th, 2006 • 6 comments To be filed

I apologize for my errant behaviour on this website. I’ve been MIA for weeks and I have a good reason. I recently moved apartments (again) and transferred my life from one apartment to another. In this day and age, I would have imagined this process to be simple and doable at my fingertips and keypad. Unfortunately, not so. Changing addresses at the post office, changing addresses with banks and credit card companies, choosing internet service provider, choosing cable TV provider, dealing with their inconsistencies and the added stress of new furniture and dealing with little necessary items like garbage bags and cleaning supplies!

In midst of this, Commerce Bank decided to generously drop $1100 into my account. Perplexed, I called to find out when and what the money was for. I wondered if my father had made a wire transfer from India that he forgot to mention. So the customer service rep. tells me, the $1100 is a check for $500 and a money order for $600. I was stunned. I didn’t remember depositing a money order or a check in my account, so I asked him to read the names on the checks. KINAL SHAH- he spells them out for me. Realization and disbelief struck me at once.

Commerce had deposited my SISTER’s money in my account!! Granted, we have similar sounding names. Does that mean Mary Watkins of Brooklyn has to worry about having her money deposited into Mary Watkins of Manhattan’s account?!  And the funny thing is, my sister made these deposits at a teller! Unlike me, she actually goes to a bank, deals with teh teller, and writes a deposit ticket. She wrote her social security number and her bank account number on her deposit ticket and yet, her teller chose to put my sister’s money in my account.

My sister didn’t even know about this until I called her and asked her to stop payment on all her checks. Especially her rent check. While the matter was sorted out in the next few hours, I wonder what would’ve happened if neither of us had noticed it. Honestly, I have never heard a more bizarre story, leave alone, experience one.

So between making calls to Commerce to set my account straight and dealing with customer service for Verizon to just get me my internet, I’ve no motivation for anything else. I just want my life in order  and apparently, that’s too much to ask for!

Oh and I can’t change my address on Commerce Bank’s website. I have to call someone and verify it to have them change my address. Times like tehse, I think my other bank accounts and credit card companies for atleast making this process easier!

This morning, I’ve been on the phone with Verizon for 2 hours. And close to 6 hours if I take into account all the calls I’ve been making them in the last 2 weeks. I signed up for their dry loop internet service and recieved my modem and stuff last week. But had no internet. I called and called and they kept asking me to troubleshoot and then a supervisor told me something was blocking my connection so he would send someone to my apartment to fix it. Nothing happens, no one arrives and no one calls. I called again this morning, and literally begged the customer service rep. to allow me to speak to the same supervisor who I spoke with last night. Any longer, and I would have cried on the phone. I just wanted my internet to work!

You know, sometimes I wonder. My blog and the blogs I follow and the news I read and teh work I do is all about the fantastic future, the technology, the new trends and an easier, faster life. But I wonder if we will ever get to it. Not at this rate, not if we are bogged down with picking and waiting for cable and internet and not if banks keep requring me to call them so they can wax eloquent about their customer service.

Nope. Definitely not at this rate.

MTV’s version of popular culture

August 1st, 2006 • 3 comments To be filed

As a teenager, I felt a little left out and ‘out of it’ because my home cable wasn’t hooked up with MTV(India). I’d consistently fail to enter random conversation about music and only knew artists I heard on radio. (there was only one FM channel then and it had a propensity to play, It’s a groovy kinda love) When I finally caught on to the MTV-India mania, I realized just how far behind I was in terms with pop culture and just how close I was to social suicide. The MTV VJ’s seemed super cool and a part of me wanted to be just like them. Blonde highlights, hinglish slang and a fun, carefree disposition became my mantra for assessing cool. This craving for cool turned into a counter rebellion and everything Indian  MTV VJ’S did, wore and said began to look like a cheap imitation of MTV-America. The VJ’s seemed ‘wannabe westerns,’ and I joined the subgroup that thought it was cool to reject MTV. Phases. Phases.

In full disclosure, MTV’s The Hills and My Super Sweet Sixteen are on my flip-list. (shows I watch when I channel-surf because I can’t seem to remember the dates/times for these shows)

New York magazine does a fine job at outlining how MTV has altered popular culture in the last quarter century.

What’s taking my time

July 10th, 2006 • 7 comments To be filed

I highly recommend IdeaSpotting by Sam Harrison. Whether you are in design, marketing, advertising, product development or even accounting, this book speaks on multiple levels. Information and inspiration is finely dispersed on the pages in byte sized pieces making it the perfect book for busy-on-the-run professionals with limited attention spans.
(Check out the my friend Claire Hyland’s quote in the book!)

If you aren’t really in the mood of making the trip to the bookstore or ordering it online, download Stumbled Upon, a cool add-on for Mozilla browsers. Everytime you click Stumble, it takes you to a cool new website you never knew exisited. Fine source of inspiration and I guess a great tool to kill boredom and waste time!

Are we in-the-know —locally?

July 9th, 2006 • 2 comments To be filed

I’ve got a quick question ?
- How well do we really know our supermarkets, malls and local stores?

Granted, we tech-savvy highly intelligent and insanely busy people are well-versed to shopping online, but you’ve gotta agree with me that online shopping can beat an in-store experience. Even if its just window shopping.

Over the long weekend, I took a short trip to DC. Partly because I wanted to get away and partly because I wanted an excuse to shop. I spent an entire day shopping and when I showed my loot to friends, one of them exclaimed, ‘You bought that from Urban Outfitters and Club Monaco?!” We have those in New York. Why would you go to DC all the way to shop there?”

Fair enough. I was stumped. Now that I look back, I remembered browsing through the staple stores in the shopping district of Georgetown. Arden B, Anthropologie, Urban Outfitters, Benetton, Intermix, Gap, FCUK, Adidas, Sisley, Club Monaco, Armani Exchange…. Patagonia,
I couldn’t remember a single DC-centric boutique. I am sure DC has it’s share of proud boutique-owners but sadly, the truth is — these major chain stores have snapped up some very expensive real estate in the prime location of most cities. And despite my best intentions (and any other tourists’s best intentions..) I think it is very natural to shop and visit places that are most accessible.

Also the lure of being able to buy a piece of clothing or home acessory or even a book for that matter for one of tehse chain stores is made easier by the fact that I could purchase an H&M shirt in DC and return it in San Fransisco if I wanted to.

Also, lets face it. Half the time we have no clue what stores around our area carry. Not all retailers websites carry listings of every single item available in their store. Sometimes– you simply gotta browse through the actual store.

It helps that these major retailers can afford to slash prices majorly during sales. Boutiques and independent stores cannot always afford this luxury.

Just thoughts ruminating in my head- thought I’d put them out there for your inputs.

Mobile Fashion

June 8th, 2006 • 2 comments To be filed

Call it the inevitable.

I remember reading in Vogue about Melania Trump’s wedding. A photograph that made a lasting impact on me about the extent of rarified lives and luxury that exists in the upper echeleons of the society was the photograph with Melania seated majestically on a luxe leather chair and jewelers from Fred Leighton, Harry Winston, Chopard, Vivid, Van Cleef, Bulgari…. and the rest standing around her wooing her to choose their jewels over anothers. As though the lioness couldn’t be bothered with running on the field preying on her meat– her minions gladly bought her the meat on a silver plate.

With Caravan, it’s changing. Soon the middle classes in America will be fed tiny morsels of the high end luxury.  Caravan expects to reach $700,000 in sales this year. The concept? Peddle designer clothes to the customers instead of having them come to you. This mobile facility offers them the advantage over other stores: if business is not so well in a particular area, all they have to do is drive to another. That Caravan peddles high-quality designer clothes is not rich– whats rich is that it brings them to their customers. Who wouldn’t kill for that kinda service.

piff.

So

Evolution

June 6th, 2006 • 1 comment To be filed

i visited the Hershey Park sometime last year and watched the 3D Screening about the history of Hershey. I don’t remember the film but I remember wearing funky glasses that made the objects appear closer than they wear. I remember the seats spurting water and I remember a swish-swash sensation near my foot that emulated how you’d feel if a mouse just skimmed by your leg.

The film was perhaps the least memorable, but the added experiences made the entire experience fun. I wondered when tradtional movies and movie theaters would offer a more sensory experience.

Lo behold- Japanese theaters are on the forefront of the future, extracting the consumer’s invisible wants and converting them into multi-sensory experiences. The New World, a Pochahontos story will be screened in Japanese theaters with scene-synchronized scents.

Theater owners will download different scent sequences for different films. Home entertainment junkies and aromatherapy fans can sniff for themselves with the tech’s at-home edition. (Via Iconoculture)

Will this increase the price of watching a movie at the theater? Maybe. But I believe  we will always have the option to watch movies without the added experential bonuses. Infact, we will be able to watch movies, the way we want to: in any language, with any number of added experiences. Any commerical experience that does not satisfy us emotionally will die on its own or will be replaced by a modified and highly specialized version. So when we balk at our parents tallking about growing up with black and white TV sets, our children will incredelously realize that we grew up watching movies in theaters with subtitles and without scents and other special effects.

I am a part of the solution. Are you?

May 26th, 2006 • 19 comments To be filed

Several clips from “The Inconvinient Truth,” statistics from Columbia uni. professor Jim Hansen and powerful oratory from Al Gore later I emerged out of Town Hall, a changed person. I feel like I am part of something universal, a movement that’s larger than life.

During the elections, I had the opportunity to see John Kerry. He came to my university to encourage students to vote for me and I remember not being impressed with his speech at all. It didn’t move me. But today, sitting on those plush front seats in Manhattan’s Town Hall listening to Al Gore gush passionately about protecting the planet and fighting global warming, I fell deeply in love with this man’s mission, vision and sense of purpose.

Global warming is not a myth. We are witnessing a climactic shift right now. In the last 30 years, the temperature of earth has risen by 1F. And another 2F are in the pipeline. If the temp. on Earth rises anymore –earth’s temperature will leave the climate range it has stayed in since one million years. And when that happens : it will be catacylismic. A 20 metre rise in sea-level will submerge half of Manhattan, 50 million people in India and millions of people elsewhere.
Animals are already migrating north — If global warming continues at the current rate, 50% of animal and plant species will exterminate within the next century.

I urge you to please visit, “www.stopglobalwarming.org” and do your bit.

I will use Al Gore’s introductory remarks to drive him the point:
1) Global warming is real. It is happening. Look around you.
2) We, human beings, are responsible for it.
3) The results are bad, approaching worse.
4) We need to fix it.
5) WE HAVE THE TIME. The window has not closed yet.

Do you remember learning about chloro-flouro-carbons in school? In the 90’s, scientists convinced the nation that CFC’s were depleting the ozone layer. The media paid attention, the government paid attention and the public took action. Result? we won the battle. Within the next decade, the CFC’s problem will be entirely solved. The gases are already on the decline in the environment.

If we could do that once, we can do it again. If we were active once, we can once again find the perseverence to believe in this cause. If we need to sign a petition, raise a protest or lobby the government– we can do it. Because without the government’s support, it is a lost battle. If you want to know why, visit the sites I mentioned and use your common sense.

Before we hit an irreversible change in climate, it’s time to renew the political will of Americans. And one more request: watch the Al Gore movie, “An Inconvinient Truth.” He is going to release the powerpoint presentation of his movie under the Creative Commons Licsence and allow users to use his presentation in our voices. So we will soon have that available too.

We have the tools, we have the determination and the will power– all we need to do now is act on it. And collectively if we try, there is something each of us can do to save our planet.

1) Become vegeterians. Or atleast change your eating habits and eat lower down the food chain. Believe it or not, it helps conserve the environmental balance.
2) Use car-pools. Or buy hybrids. Or use public transportation. I do not own a car and do not intend to. Partly because I am lazy but mostly because it is one less contributing to pollution and traffic.
3) Save paper, save electricity. Don’t keep your chargers plugged in if you aren’t using them. Little things — just pay attention around you.
4) Leave me a comment– tell me how YOU are doing your bit.

***

What we believe, defines us. My moment of clarity came one afternoon in Florence. Florentine leather wholesalers fiercely lured us into their showrooms and showed us their varieties of leather. “Feel this,” he said, thrusting a beautiful, buttery soft violet leather coat in my direction. “This is newly-born lambskin. Touch.. touch.. this is so soft.”
He had leather coats of every imaginable animal, in every imaginable stage of growth. I was repulsed. “Baby calfskin, cowskin, baby lambskin….”
Gory images of dead animals being skinned for the coats stacked precariously in the 1000sq. ft showroom flashed in my head one after another. I could not bear to stay there anymore. I had bile rising in my stomach.
Ironically, Florence killed my fascination with leather.

It is difficult to stay true to my ideals and beliefs especially when a lot of what I do is so closely connected to the fashion industry. BUT, but BUT– you do what you can, when you can and how you can. It’s not an SAT exam, no one’s watching you, and no one’s holding a gun to your head. We may be long dead before the climate takes a turn for the worse, but our children will be. So let’s do what we can, let’s spread the word, let’s believe.

Al Gore narrated an interesting anecdote. He said, in Chinese, the word Crisis is represented by two symbols plugged together. The first symbol by itself stands for danger and the second symbol by itself stands for opportunity. So danger+opportunity=crisis.

I am a part of the solution. Will you join me?

Definitions and Inhibitions

May 9th, 2006 • 5 comments To be filed

Someone asked me yesterday, “so how does it feel to be a new yorker?”
I gently corrected them stressing the fact that I only worked in New York. And I guess spent most of my time there. So are you still a Philly girl? I was probed further.
Hmm. Was I?

Does it matter? Invariably, we all come to question the validity of our identities and emotions in the context of our adapted countries and cities, ideas of home and homes and the amorphous shapes of who we are and who we ought to be.

***

The current Miss England was born in Afghanistan but moved to England when sh was 5. After she won the crown, every newspaper spinned the story on her being a Muslim instead of merely concentrating on her being English. In the June issue of Teen Vogue, she explains her frustrations on being boxed into a category : that of a Muslim. She wants to be 16. She wants to be who she thinks she is: English.

***

Five years ago, the aftermath of 9/11 — and I was stuck in a hotel in the middle of Kuwait airport for two days. Anxious to return home (USA) and helpless to change anything – the passengers befriended each other. Outside the hotel, we could hear the American fighter planes on the Kuwait air base. Inside the hotel, we lounged by the pool and feasted on lamb skewers (not for me) and mint yogurts. I particularly became good friends with a middle-aged woman and her teenage daughter. They were both returning from India and when we had the ice-breaker conversation (where are you from?) I remember their answers as vividly as the sunset on the barren Kuwaiti airport. “America.” The perplexed look on my face may have demanded a further explanation and the lady replied, “I’ve lived in America for more than 20 years now. This is my only home. I am an American.”

***

20-year old Albanian immigrant, Edie*, talks fondly of Albania, her grandmother and cousin brothers. One minute she is conversing fluently in multiple languages with her eclectic group of friends and the next minute, she has breaken into “Kuch Kuch Hota Hai,” a contemporary bollywood song in lucid hindi – - effects of her Albanian upbringing. She left Albania not so long ago — when she was 15. But when asked, do you want to go back. She replies without thinking further, “This is my home. I am safe here.”
She does not need to explain why she wasn’t safe in Albania.

***

And there’s Varun*, a fractured personality that although pays rent in Philadelphia – continues to think he is still in Bombay. Here for undergraduate studies and a career, he stays up late into the night chatting with his friends in India on MSN and sleeps through 8.30am classes. He is the first one on a flight back to Bombay on the onslaught of holidays and the last one to return. Returning, only to begin a countdown to his next flight back to Bombay. He refers to his abode in Philadelphia as “my apartment.” Never home. Why? “Dude… home is bombay man!”

***

And there’s the 23 year old Saida*, about to embark on a 2-year Master’s degree to Texas. Sitting in her living room in Karachi, she dreams of cowboys, snow and high-tech physics labs. (she does not know yet that it rarely snows in Texas) She writes on her blog about the things she will miss about Karachi every day. She takes photographs and savors every bite, every conversation and every special occasion, believing it may be the very last. She celebrates Ramadan with tears in her eyes, believing this to be her last Ramadan in Karachi. Where is home? “I don’t know…but this will always hold a special place for me.” She says, not knowing anything beyond.

***

And then there was me. An amalgamation, a reflection, an extension of all these people at some point or another. Missing and longing, memories and anticipations, confusion and final resignation — are just a dance in time. Like a ballerina’s solo coming to an end, I believe my dance has gracefully culminated into a carefree, flamingo-like flight into the ether. It happened when I stopped needing my nationality, my city (cities, rather) and my ethnicity to define myself or answer the inevitable and debatable, “where are you from.” Now the answer is usually whereever I’m living/working at the moment. Simple, no?

I will apply for my US citizenship this month and I’m thrilled — mostly because I won’t need a silly visa to enter other countries! I could think of it as a momentous episode in lifetime, when I exchange my Indian passport for the American, OR- I could think of it as shedding old skin, crawling into the new one.

What would you pick?

Honest confessions

April 21st, 2006 • 4 comments To be filed

My Dare-all column is published in the April issue of Zink magazine. Under, Tales from the Darkside.
Buy a copy and read my article if you get a chance! I’ll post it here soon.

Fresh of the Boat: The MSN messenger love affair

April 13th, 2006 • 7 comments To be filed

How much information about a friend is too much?
I’d like to know when he’s caught copying in class or when his dog gets run over by a bus, or even when he drowns in his own puke after a wild night of partying. But what I don’t need is this: constant alerts on MSN!

tHE uNForGeTabLe. – lunching at Johnson Garden (Okay?)
tHE uNForGeTabLe. – In the shower (OKKKKayy!)
tHE uNForGeTabLe. – Out in the sun! Yeah Baby, summer’s here. (Why do I need to know this again?)

Or from the recent past,

tHE uNForGeTabLe. – 9 degrees F. Can you fu**in believe it? (Umm, yeah?)
tHE uNForGeTabLe. – Brrrrrrrr. (Great! I can switch off my weather channel now.)
tHE uNForGeTabLe. – Happy Diwali! may god bless you and may you have a prosperous new year!!!!! (Ever heard of SMS? Ok Fine, I won’t be pissed off about this.. but this..
tHE uNForGeTabLe. – Getting jiggy with ***a! __|__ to you! (I really cannot not share with my friends!)

So I am really yet to understand why my just-gone-to-pardes- from-Indya friends indulge in such welcome-to-voyeriusm acts. Before my friends raise a finger at me, I will admit I am guilty of it myself. But really, it stopped when I turned nineteen.

Another thing about my friends, especially the boys, that peeves me is their passionate desire to let the world (atleast their MSN lists) know how popular there are with the girls. Especially, the gori girls. (Not my word dear friends, theirs) ahem. ahem,
There’s new picture of them with a gori chick every other day — and sometimes when they are feeling very lucky or getting a lotta love, there’ll be a picture of them with two gori’s, one on each side, like two shining trophies. And hwo can you discount the broad grin on my guy-friend’s face? It’s as though he’s telling his guys back in Indya — LOOK AT ME. I GOT LUCKY. LOOK AT YOU. YOU SUCK.

See, changing screennames every now and then is something we have all come to accept and deal with. We have no choice with that behavior of our friends and friend’s friends and people we don’t know on our MSN lists. So even when you see screenanmes like, “Off the Deep End,” ” Bloddy Eyes,” you aren’t supposed to freak out. Nor should you get overtly perceptive when you come across screennames that are more like sermons, ” If you truly love someone, set them free,” (Oh. Ohok. Easy there!) ” I will and I can do it.” (Go you!)

Oh I’ve had quite a few interesting ones too. When I broke up with my first boyfriend, (long distance , you see) I was inspired by the song, Can’t Fight the Moonlight, and literally believed I was the moonlight and my ex would not be able to fight me too long? (what was I thinking!) So long story short, my MSN screename was, “Can’t Fight the Moonlight” and his was, “I can fight the moonlight.” (what was he thinking!)

Now my screename only flucuates between my name, Jinal Shah, and my blog URL (yea well, shameless publicity!) And thank god for that!

Nevertheless, MSN lists do and will continue to provide endless entertainment to bored minds on lazy Sunday afternoons when work is elusive and sleep is nowhere in sight.

ps: my ex and I remain good friends and laugh about the moonlight incident.

Violent youth and reactions

April 8th, 2006 • 6 comments To be filed

What do you say to a 15-year old who wants to buy guns to kill his teachers and class-mates? A 15-year old should be trying to get lucky with the cheerleaders, he should be skipping class, getting detentions, going out to Taco Bell with his friends and to movies with his girl friend. He should be doing anything but seeking out underground dealers and hatching plans for a mass murder.

The Columbine massacre couldn’t have been prevented. But a Cherry Hill massacre maybe, has just been intervened. Were the four arrested teenagers really planning to kill the 25 student and teachers on their hit list? The school students knew about the plot but weren’t sure whether to take it seriously or not. Could this really happen to them? Would it have happened to them had police not intervened last week?

It is not terrorism as the news report indicated. If one thing that America’s done spectacularly right – is misuse the word terrorism. High school kids planning to blow up school is not any indication of a terrorist attack. What it is, is the painful anguish, the utter hopelessness and the dismal darkness of being differentiated against that has manifested itself in this form of violence.

There will soon be a litany of papers and analyzations blaming Madonna, video games and war movies for violence among high school kids. And then some papers will talk about how the kids are losing human contact because most of their communication happens via medi, internet, phones, IM’s, Ipods… Even parent’s and kids hardly exchange more than a few sentences a day. And maybe at some point, all these reasons will make sense and we will have another brilliant award winning documentary, maybe a book. But is that really where it ends? Or is this only the begining? When and how will the kids draw the line? When will their friends know when to inform the police and when to let it go? Will they ever know?

What must be thes kids feeling to take such drastic steps? To seriously look for guns? What is going on in their minds. Are some kids honestly just mislead and suffering or are they a really unusual case of just a messed-up, manipulative kid with a criminal mind?

How can we tell. How can you tell.

How Kavya Viswanathan made $500,000

April 6th, 2006 • 29 comments To be filed

I am a voracious reader. While it takes a lot to impress me, I am also in the market for good light-hearted chick-flicks. Viswanathan’s book, How Opal Mehta got kissed.. blah blah, is probably, the worst book I’ve EVER read by far. Factually incorrect,( when she writes about high school students who wear Jimmy Choos and use La Mer face creams and buy 17 bags worth of clothes at Bergdorf Goodman, makeup at Henri Bendel AND haricuts from Frederric Fekkai himself– who is she talking about exactly?) culturally incorrect (apparently a typical gujju Mehta family meets for diwali to reminicse past times in Madras) and it lost me somewhere in the first 50 pages.

So much for hype. So much for being touted as New York magazine’s 26 under 26 and so much for being the youngest author on Little Brown press and so much for being paid $500,000 for a two-book deal. What Viswanathan is smart at doing is hiring an efficient publicisit. And what wsa Dreamwork’s thinking when they optioned the book for a moive?

Jesus. I am appalled by this novel. Even if I were to grant it to fictitious licsense, the writing is so flawed , the characters are so rigid and the plot is so predictable that you need major guts to get beyond the first couple chapters.

Y’know I am a youth culture consultant and I do know 17 year old girls are bitchy, but the last time I checked they weren’t wearing Manolo Blaniks to school. This book tried too hard to be a cross between Devil wears Prada and Mean Girls. And sadly, sucks at it.

What sucks is, Opal Mehta is supposedly going to re-appear in Viswanathan’s second book. Poor unassuming readers.

Which brings me to an important questions — why do some books get it all? The money , the fame, the name, when they aren’t even worth that much. The Kite Runner was such a beautiful book and obviously wasn’t marketed well, and years later solely on word-of-mouth, it emerged as one of best-sellning fiction books and is still on Barnes and Noble’s best selling list. Yes, books with the chick-lit factor come with the potential of being made into a movie and believe it or not, there is a slew of writers out there that write only with the purpose of getting a movie deal out of their book.

Young talent should be nurtured. No doubts, but if this is quality of work that publishers are choosing to nurture and publicise, I guess the real talent will probably remain unheard and unseen.

Not very hopeful now, is it?

Donate not destroy

March 15th, 2006 • 8 comments To be filed

The summer of my freshman year, I worked as a camp counsellor for a tricky group of 4-5 year olds. I lasted there two weeks. The Boston sun became to harsh and the kids, a wee bit annoying. (There’s a limit to how many WHY questions I could take in 8 hours)
So I found work at a lovely air-conditioned bookstore. My first foray into retail America. I figured since I loved reading, I would use the employee discount to its fullest and the bookstore I worked for had a great book-lending scheme that allowed its employees to borrow a book a week. Within a week though, I was disgusted. Selling books is noble, but what happens behind the doors is far from it.
Books and magazines that don’t make it past the cashier’s desk — are torn apart and trashed. YES. Not donated to orphanages, not given away to libraries, but torn apart and shredded in the back-rooms of these bookstores.
Even the employee’s aren’t allowed to take the books home. I wrote a letter to the headquarters suggesting instead of destroying these books, maybe they should be donated. I never got a reply. I continuted to work there throughout the summer and once school started, I forgot all about it.

Then last year, after graduating I took up a job at a national beauty chain and noticed the same procedure here as well. Stuff that was damaged, even slightly (torn label, mismatched covers) was discarded. Thrown away. Even the employees werent allowed to take the stuff home. I don’t know what they did with their unsold inventories– probably put it in sales, but I do know there are several retailer’s that destroy unsold goods. Some do it infront of their customers.

Like this particular retailer. You tell me – what is the point of this rarefied brand image when honestly, all it iinvokes is disgust. Frankly, I would have far more respect for a brand that donated its unsold merchandise instead of destroying it or thrashing it. There’s already too much clutter out there to add even more in the name of protecting the brand image.

Maybe I should embark on my old crusade again. Any supporters?

RIAA vs. everyone between the ages of 13-23

March 14th, 2006 • 11 comments To be filed

Dave Greubal, a single father of four, was fined $9000 by RIAA for illegal file-sharing – in layman terms, he downloaded music off the net and let other users download music from his collection. Downloading music and pirated vidoes has been a touchy debate for years, without any substantial conclusions. Just when Greubal thought the only way he can settle this fine with RIAA was by paying it — Nettwerk CEO, Terry McBride offers to fight his case and pay every expense incurred, including the RIAA fines if they end up losing the case.

Nettwerk, a music label that manages artists like Avril Lavinge, MC Lars, Barenaked Ladies, Chantal Kreviazuk (my favorite!) Sarah McLachlan (my favorite!), Paul Van Dyk(my favorite!!) and Tiesto.(omg. another favorite!)

By agreeing and urging Greubal to fight this case, Nettwerk is making a strong statement about its views on illegeal downloading and RIAA’s piracy. If they win this case, it will set a precedent for future cases and draw a strong line. Just what Roe v. Wade did for abortion cases and Brown vs. Board of Education did for segregation, Greubal vs. RIAA will do for (illegal?!) file sharing.

All I have to say is – even with the RIAA enforcing fines, I haven’t stopped downloading music and videos from the net. And neither have my friends. or those god-sends who work very hard to upload every single episode of LOST and Desperate Housewives on fan forums.

Why should I spend $24 on a CD when I’ve probably heard only one song and there is every chance the remaining songs are crappy and not worth my money? I know all the arguments, the singers rights.. I am aware of those, but at the end, it comes down to money. And when you are a broke student, your primary concern is: where is my entertainment coming from and how cheap is it. NOT- I should support this artist and not download his music.

I am still, a sorta recent graduate- struggling with grossly wrong credit card purchases, student loans and lustful wants. I will never have $24 to spend on a music CD. (unless the album is soo good, I can’t stop listening)

I await this outcome.

Post-Script: (22 April 2006)
I am not a struggling recent grad anymore and I do see sense in RIAA’s legalizations. So while I now pay for all my downloads now, I still hold by my idea that RIAA should reform its penalities.

MAC’s claim to fame

March 8th, 2006 • To be filed

Cross-posted at Fashion-PSFK- my newest project!

MakeUp Art Cosmetics, (MAC) has propelled to incredible heights since it’s founding in 1985. Even with a marketing strategy based solely on word-of-mouth, MAC has managed to rise as a global giant in the $160 Billion beauty industry. From sponsoring international fashion weeks to hosting slick celebrity powered parties, MAC has become synonymous with glamour and stardom.
Frank Toskan, 45, one of the founders of MAC, was previously a Canadian hairstylist, make-up artist and photographer. Unable to find suitable make-up that looked good and kept the skin safe under the harsh lighting used in photo and video shoots, Toskan crated his own make-up line and Frank Angelo, an entrepreneur based in Toronto gave the company the financial backing. What made this company that was born over a kitchen counter a $500 Million + business in just 16 years? Several factors– lets analyze them each.

Company with a Soul:
MAC’s cruelty-free campaign and use of recyclable packaging struck a chord with its customers early on. It’s “Bac to Mac” campaign, where a customer gets one free lipstick upon returning six empty cases of MAC lipsticks highlights the substance of this company.

From the beginning, MAC refused to subject to the stereotypical corporate image of beauty for its brand. And because MAC created make-up for women of every color, race and ethnicity, it immediately gave the brand a broader leverage and global appeal. In an interview with Jason Campbell of JCReports, James Gager, Senior VP and Global Director of MAC, sums it up, “We approach our imagery and color collections with an unconventional, original, and slightly irreverent approach to beauty. We feel everyone, being unique and individual, deserves their own colors and ideal as to what makes them feel beautiful.”

Also, MAC donates over $4.5 million a year to its MAC for Aids charity and for a while distributed condoms with the sale of its VIVA Glam lipsticks.
It’s only in the last couple of years that beauty companies have launched a tirade of environment friendly, real beauty and charity campaigns. But MAC had it right all along since 1985. Now that’s saying something.

Innovative Marketing:
The foundation of MAC’s marketing and promotion strategy was laid down early on by Toskan and Angelo.They aimed to rely on word-of-mouth advertising generated by the promotional make-up given to professional make-up artists and stylists. Since make-up artists often style actresses and models, MAC makeup stared gaining more footage. Soon TV shows, press and movies were featuring the makeup line and celebrities were giddy about their new favorite lipgloss! From there, it only snowballed!

In 1994, Estee Lauder group of companies acquired a significant share in MAC and hired John Demsey to oversee the make-up line. Continuing on the tradition set by Toskan, Demsey stuck to using his promotional and advertising budget to supply MAC products to makeup artists and fashion designers during fashion shows. Demsey also forged relationships with music and Hollywood mavens to act as official MAC spokespeople. As a result, MAC became the “professional” makeup used and endorsed by celebrities, models, music stars, professional makeup artists and stylists. The word-of-mouth promotion just snowballed from there….and soon MAC became the envy of its competitors.

Runway Dominance:
Like the designers clothes, the makeup and colors used on the model is under as much scrutiny by onlookers and trendsetters at international fashion shows. And MAC plays a major role in setting the color-palettes and makeup trends each season. MAC uses the runway to test its emerging color collections and make sure they are trendy enough for the next season. MAC’s tagline is rightly “makeup for makeup artists.” Shy only of sponsoring runway shows, MAC provides assistance for makeup teams behind the scenes for over 150 shows every year in New York, London, Milan and Paris. “Fashion is a large part of MAC’s DNA and we will always continue to be involved with the makeup artist.” Says Gager.

MAC’s rise to the title of international supremo’s in beauty was not a calculated plot or a carefully drawn out strategy. Instead, it is the story of a company sticking to its intuition, believing in its values and offering its customers exactly what they want. There’s a thing or two other beauty companies can learn from MAC. Honestly, glitzy Swarovski glad packaging and endorsements from the likes of Halle Berry only goes so far!

India Abroad – Kanishka Tragedy

March 2nd, 2006 • 4 comments To be filed

I’ve added a new category, Life, Something like it for posts like this — I interviwed the Balsara’s last year for a special edition piece on the Kanishka tragedy for India Abroad. Last year the court released the alleged suspects and cleared all charges against them for a trial that lasted 20 years. The victim’s families demand justice… and here’s the story of one such family. Unfortunately I failed to save a copy of the edited article that was printed in the paper. Here, the unedited version.

Kanishka Crash leaves questions for the victims families 20 years after
India Abroad, June 20, 2005.
Jinal Shah

Freddy Balsara stayed at Mahim’s Parsi Colony with his family. He was everyone’s favourite. He helped the neighbouring kids study and threw parties for them when they passed their exams. Freddy coaxed his brother and his sister-in-law to watch him as he did push-ups with his head on the floor. Before leaving for Canada, he promised to celebrate his nephew’s birthday on his return. And promised her niece a treat for passing her SSC boards.

For this spirited young flight pursuer, life came to an abrupt end on Air India flight 182, Kanishka, twenty years ago. He had gone to Canada to meet his fiancé and her family. After seeing her off, he boarded the London bound flight from Montreal. For Freddy, this was very normal. His family back in India expected nothing unusual and waited for Freddy’s return. “We had so many plans,” recalls Veronica Balsara, Freddy’s sister-in-law.

An acquaintance in the building first informed the Balsara’s about the crash. “But when we called the officials, Freddy’s name wasn’t on the list,” says Veronica. “Our hopes were high then, we thought maybe Freddy never boarded the flight.” But then came the fateful call from Freddy’s fiancé in Canada who confirmed that she had seen him off at the airport. Immediately, Freddy’s two brothers flew to Ireland. “We stayed there for a month, but Freddy’s body was never discovered,” says Perci Balsara, Freddy’s elder brother and Veronica’s husband.

The shock was rude and harsh. Both Perci and Veronica were not prepared for this news. “In the beginning, every time the door bell rang, we would wonder if it was Freddy,” says Veronica. Even after accepting Freddy’s loss, the family felt his presence around him for a while. “Freddy enjoyed talking about spirituality… I don’t know if this is my imagination but at some point, everyone in our family has felt his presence and has glimpsed his silhouette.” Freddy was fond of wearing big flappy chappals that made noise when he walked. “I used to hear him walking around the house at nights, sometimes I’d get a whiff of his aftershave.” Especially every year around Freddy’s birthday in November, his presence was more pronounced. “It was comforting. None of us were ever scared,” muses Veronica. Since the last couple of years, she hasn’t felt Freddy’s presence as strongly and hopes that he may have found peace at last.

Freddy was a man of class. He enjoyed the good things in life. His motorbike and his music collection were his dearest possessions. “He never gave his motorbike keys to anyone,” smiles Veronica. “And he washed his own clothes, did his own ironing- I don’t know where he learnt it from!” Freddy would play rock n’roll on a very high volume while washing his clothes. “He said that the louder the music, the faster he washed his clothes!” Veronica laughs at the memory. Both Veronica and Perci still talk about Freddy as though he is away for a vacation. They are not in mourning yet the low timbre Veronica’s voice takes when she talks about Freddy and the way her eyes sparkle, make it apparent how dearly he is missed.

“Before leaving for Canada, Freddy did a few unusual things,” says Veronica. It was almost as though he had a premonition. “He gave his motorbike keys to Perci and said, you keep them. And then he asked to wear Perci’s shirt.” It was strange. Flying to international destinations was common for Freddy and his family had gotten used to it. Yet that day, he asked Veronica to stand in the balcony and wave at him as he left. “I thought that was very odd,” said Veronica. As Freddy left in a taxi, the light from the lamppost reflected on his watch and it glittered. “That’s the last memory I have of him and I remember it very strongly.”

Like other despairing families, the Balsara’s are enraged with the acquittal of the two accused. “How can they investigate for 20 years and say they don’t have enough evidence,” Veronica asks. “What happened to everyone on that flight was not right. They went too soon. Entire families have been wiped off in that crash. I only pray to God to give them rest.” She recounts a particular story about Evon, the daughter of one of her friend’s who was also on the flight. “She was such a pretty girl and when they found her body, there was not a single bruise on her face. Even her watch was intact.” Veronica continues, “She died of drowning.” Evon’s mother was a widow and Evon was her only child. Shattered to the core, Evon’s mother left Bombay and now lives in Mangalore. “After hearing all this, I just don’t understand how someone can kill so many innocent people.”

Every year on 23rd June, the Balsara’s light candles and pray for Freddy. But there are no garlanded pictures of Freddy adorning their walls. “ We remember him in our minds. We don’t feel like he is dead, he is just away,” says Veronica. After his death for a few months, Veronica let his belongings be exactly where they were. Eventually they gave away his clothes and returned all the letters his fiancé had written to Freddy back to her. They haven’t heard from her since. “As for his music, we listen to it. He was very meticulous and on everything he owned, he had his name labelled on it.” Even today when the Balsara’s play the eighties Boy George or Elvis, it makes them smile as Freddy’s memories come rushing back.

“There’s only one thing I have always wondered for the last 20 years,” adds Veronica, “I wonder what the people who have done this feel. What is their mindset? Do they feel remorse? Or are they happy with what they have done.” Veronica wonders if the killers have a conscience of any sort. Perhaps, they don’t. The Balsara’s are just one of the numerous families wondering if their loved one will ever get the justice they deserve. “To take away from someone the right to live is brutal. But I have faith…” she trails off.

Straight Questions: Jamie Salm of MioCulture

February 27th, 2006 • To be filed

A new wave of thinking has gained more tangibility in  recent years and everyone is jumping in to find a way to contribute to this Viridian culture. Whether it is  Steven Speilberg’ and Tom Hanks driving Toyota Prius’s, magazines like Elle and Vanity Fair producing green issues or designers like Jamie Salm adapting a sustainable, responsible approach to his products — for once, joining the trend and going where the river flows is not a bad idea.

I first met Jamie Salm at a Dan Pink speech in Philadelphia last year. A soft-spoken youth, with piercing intelligent eyes, Jamie’s face or name (pronounced as Hay-me)is hard to forget. Still a budding journalist with no outlet for *my desire to contribute*, I scribbled his number on a spare sheet and tucked it into the back-folds of my purse. I promised I would call him for an interview soon.

Jamie, a Columbian native and an industrial design graduate from Philadelphia’s University of the Arts, started MioCulture in 2001.Founded on strong principles of sustainability and eco-intelligence, his products demonstrate responsible thinking and environmental advantages. Like the reusable tiled wall-paper made of waste or the multi-use Bale chairs. The climb has been steep and rough– but today MioCulture boasts of an impressive portfolio having designed for Bloomberg and Anthropologie.

I pulled out the number today and gave Jamie a call — here’s what the brillaint designer had to say.

StyleStation: Were you always environmentally conscious?
Jamie Salm: No. Not in the sense I am now.

StyleStation: What changed you? What made you re-consider your options and decide on your current design philosophy? Was there a defining moment?
Jamie Salm: There were many defining moments. All economic acticity has ecological impact. There were several projects I did as a student in school that made me realize the very importance of sustainable design in our daily lives. (His college thesis was, "furnishings made of waste-paper)  And after that, it was just a matter of common sense. You know? When I was thinking what am I going to dedicate my design to… it was a obvious choice that it had to be eco-friendly. That it had to be responsible.

StyleStation: Has it been difficult to sustain your business because of your philosophy? Were you ever forced to compromise?
Jamie Salm: At times it is difficult to explain to people my ideas and what I am doing. But I understand that people haven’t had the opportunity to look at the world the way I have. My education, my experiences…. So it becomes a matter of working within their frame. Its not as much about telling them what they are doing is wrong, but its more about encouraging them to do right.

StyleStation: There has been a major shift in the collective consciousness of the design and architectural community about sustainability and responsibility in the last couple of years. What caused it?
Jamie Salm: We opned shop in 2001 and our first collection of products featured in 2003. During tha time, there was not as much retail-based interest in sustainability. There are several reasons why this shift has occured. First off, it has to do with the perception of value of a thing. When designers are designing something, they think, how do I add value to this? It is possible to create anything today– the challenge lies in how we create it, in asking.. why should we make it? Ethical questions about the products have become more important than the product itself.
Ofcourse function plays an important role but now designers are thinking — if I can choose to make something, why not make it better? why not make it eco-friendly?
And it’s not about feeling guilty, it is about making your contribution.

….. whats your contribution?

StyleStation

February 23rd, 2006 • 5 comments To be filed

(Word Cloud constructed by www.snapshirts.com)

Young Indians display acute environmental awareness

February 23rd, 2006 • 3 comments To be filed

As a little girl, I hoarded those wispy polythene bags. Going shopping with mom was a treat – I got to add those plastic bags to my collection. The pretty pastel colors were probably why I was so fascinated with those bags. During the early 90’s, my school adapted the recycle-rejuvinate policy and I immersed myself in C.A.R.E (Charlesian Association for Rejuvinating Environment) I can’t remember how exactly I disposed the polythene bags, but I did. And I grew a garden with other C.A.R.E girls on the terrace of my school. (Our garden was washed out one particularly rainy night) But even now when I go to Whole Foods, I insist on using a paper bag or often, carry my own cloth bag.

I was bemused when I read this article on BBC . Anita and Shaleb Ahuja employ slum-swellers to collect discarded polythene bags from the dumps. After cleaning, these bags are molded together into thick plastic sheets which is later used to make those trendy bags pictured above.
Will women buy them? I hope so! This humble bag makes a statement on a nation’s conscience that those $1000 Prada and Louis Viutton bags can only aspire to.

Didn’t we learn in third grade geography and plastic bags threaten the flora and fauna? Birds choking to death by having their beaks and feet entrapped in plastic bags. Cows dying as result of consuming toxic plastic waste — every week Indian newspapers carry such reports.
In 2000, about eighty to hundred cows died everyday in Lucknow because of consumption of plastic bags. Early this year, there were reports of 2-25kg of plastic discovered inside bodies of dead cows in Gujarat.

By 2010, India will be world’s 3rd largest consumer of plastic and no surprises, 50% of the plastic is used for packaging purposes. In the 1996 waste mangement meeting of the Ministry of Environment and Forests, a buy-back policy was suggested to plastic manufactures but the idea was rejected. The minutes of the meeting reveal that plastic manufactures simply did not want to accept any responsibility for the waste it produced. But a decade later, there is still no effective solution for the tonnes of plastic waste produced each day.

Environmental issues have been tossed around carelessly in parliamentary debates since ovre a decade. In 1996, Himachal Pradesh became the first state to pass a “Non-Biodegradable Waste Act,” that bans the use of plastic bags in the state. Goa, Karnataka, Kerala and Sikkim also have restrictions on the use of plastic. Last year, the government of Maharashtra ordered all plastic-producing units (1000 units in Maharashtra alone!) to shut plants within a month. A brilliant move but hopeless timing — 1 lakh people left jobless.

But change happens at a microlevel, in this case, maybe the Ahuja’s are the torch-bearers for this predicament. By employing slum-dwellers, the Ahuja’s are not only generating employment but doing their bit to reduce an iota of waste from the choking, congested, about-to-explode city of Delhi. This solidarity for a cause and this contribution towards humanity is exemplelary.

Hopefully, the Indian Ministry of Culture will realize the worth of their cause and grant them a well-deserved “craft” status. (The Ahuja’s run a non-profit and if their skill is recognized as a craft, it will be available to plenty government sanctions and funds)

Other References
Indian Express
Bbc
Mindfully Org

Just a thought…

February 21st, 2006 • 5 comments To be filed

How many times have you called Customer Service numbers and wished you’d just get a live human instead of the automated machine-voices?

My answer? Lets calculate. On an average, if I make three calls a month to either my bank, phone company or credit card company, that equals to 36 times a year. (discounting the times I’ve wanted to order something from somewhere or simply ask for information) And since I’ve been in USA for 5 years that means, 180 times.

Yes. I’ve wished (on an average) 180 times for a live human on a 1-800 number.

Fossilize pop-ups please!

February 17th, 2006 • 10 comments To be filed

Cluttered websites are the first kinds to lose their readers and their customers. Sulekha is officially on my BANNED-LIST of websites. It is not only dirty and messy to look at, but every time you click on a link, an annoying advertisement pops up.

Pop-up advertisements are ancient. Pre-historic. How can India’s premier web-portal not know that?

I was looking for apartments, housing, roommate. whatever around NY/NJ. I am in a sorta desperate situation. And I assume most people who are looking for a place to live are slightly restless and needy. Such people do not want to deal with the added burden of hitting close to the pop-ups that invariably appear every single time you click a link. I remembered why I had stopped using Sulekha.com.

Clean web-sites have become so rare. It is an imagined notion that the more you have, the more readers will flock to your site. If your site is not presentable and easy to navigate, you’ll lose your audience quicker than you can close your pop-ups.

For subtle yet persuasive advertising check out Salon or NYT These ads don’t assault your senses and muddle you. That is tasteful advertising.

Sulekha’s advertisements aren’t even pretty to look at. Honestly, would you click a repulsive brown box that declares the best deals for money transfers? It baffles me how they can be so oblivious to these little bugs. For that matter, even the Rediff website can be a pain to navigate sometimes. I lose my patience quick.

Sigh. But the good news, we’ll only have to put up with these web-sites until a young whizkid steps in to give these sites some serious competition.