How do you persuade people to rethink something that is deeply embedded in their lives — so embedded that daily life would be radically different without it? With the Straw Forward project, we encouraged conversation about a nuanced issue.
Thanks and Joy
As we approach the holiday season, the Shift team is taking a little time to share what brings us joy and makes us feel thankful — so many things, big and small. Sara Coffey I am thankful for my community in Pittsburgh, and the way they inspire and support me. Specifically the women around me who are constant source of inspiration. … Read More
Natural Product Expo: Product Reviews
The amount of free samples and giveaways from the Natural Product Expo loaded us with lots of strange and wonderful treats. As an opportunity to challenge our Writing Team, we all took a product and found creative ways to write a product review. Have fun reading some of the interesting ways we decided to review some peculiar products. BRAD’s Veggie … Read More
An Expo of Natural Products Shows What’s Right and Wrong with How We Consume
Baltimore is known for all things crab legs, soft shell, soup, cakes and steamed. But for three days in September the “Charm City” played host to more than 1,500 other food options when the Natural Products Expo East set up shop in the city’s convention center a few hundred yards from Inner Harbor. The broad definition of the term “natural” … Read More
Be Creative Every Day: Tips From the Non-Creative
Creative: Having the quality or power of creating. Resulting from originality of thought, expression. (Dictionary.com) As you can imagine, a creative agency like Shift Collaborative is full of creative professionals. I am not one of them. Not in the traditional sense. I can’t draw a stick figure. I don’t sketch or doodle during conference calls. I make lists. I’m a … Read More
How to start your awesome blog (for the absolute beginner)
A few weekends ago, I presented a couple of sessions at PodCamp Pittsburgh 9. The first was Blogging 101, a novice-level session. Here’s a video of the session, plus the written notes I prepared ahead of time.
“Find your niche”: Thoughts from the Pittsburgh Women Bloggers panel
Back in June, I spoke on a panel of Pittsburgh-based women bloggers put together by NAWBO of Greater Pittsburgh (National Association of Women Business Owners). The panel included a great mix of savvy women: R’Chelle Mullins of Creatively Yours by Ro Media and fashion stylist Suzanne Mauro Mercedes Howze, the Movie Scene Queen Heather Hopson of Diary of a First … Read More
The joys of not always being on-message in your blog
Jenna McGuiggan at The Word Cellar shares a sweet and thoughtful post about how blogging can be surprisingly loaded.
What to do now that Facebook won’t let you force people to like your page
The folks at ShortStack — a service that helps you create apps and interesting things on Facebook Pages — have some excellent thoughts on what Facebook’s decision to ban fan-gating on Pages, and tips for how to adjust your Page. At ShortStack we have over 350,000 customers, all of whom are Facebook Page Admins. I’m always analyzing the data from … Read More
Cynthia on AwesomeCast 212: “Commercial Weeds”
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Pictures + words = better social sharing
You’ve seen them: pictures with words embedded in them, and words presented as images. They’re everywhere across the web. Some are memes, but more are quotes, advice, and inspirational sayings. Education is every day and everywhere, the only thing you have to pay is attention. – Tim Fargo #quote pic.twitter.com/OFX2FLwzuZ — Tim Fargo (@alphabetsuccess) June 9, 2014 People identify with quotes and jokes … Read More