A few days prior to his death, Roger Ebert published a piece titled “A Leave of Presence” for the Chicago Sun-Times. The publication was where he began his august career as a film critic almost 50 years ago. He writes:
“What in the world is a leave of presence? It means I am not going away. My intent is to continue to write selected reviews but to leave the rest to a talented team of writers handpicked and greatly admired by me. What’s more, I’ll be able at last to do what I’ve always fantasized about doing: reviewing only the movies I want to review.
At the same time, I am re-launching the new and improved Rogerebert.com and taking ownership of the site under a separate entity, Ebert Digital, run by me, my beloved wife, Chaz, and our brilliant friend, Josh Golden of Table XI. Stepping away from the day-to-day grind will enable me to continue as a film critic for the Chicago Sun-Times, and roll out other projects under the Ebert brand in the coming year.”
I have always been an admirer of his. His example crystallized for me, as a young girl, that one could make a living talking about, writing about film. A pop culture junkie, I’ve always wanted some aspect of my career to lie in film. Roger Ebert built a brand on trust, honesty, and good journalism. The legacy of his words and work, I’m sure, will not be forgotten.
There’s been a lot of talk lately about disruption. I wrote a post about “Disrupting Yourself” a few months back. Industries such as publishing/journalism, music, etc. have been forced to change the way they do business because of increasing competition out of the tech sector that is making their business model obsolete. The education sector is no different. Lately, I have been taking classes from the following sites: Coursera, EdX, and Udacity. All three sites offer free, online classes from world renowned and top-tier schools like Harvard, Stanford, University of Michigan , Princeton, etc. Coursera, by far, offers the most diverse array of possible courses to take. EdX and Udacity are very heavily concentrated in math, science and computer science/coding. In my spare time, I’ve been taking a number of free classes online. Mostly in math and computer science, but also in other areas such as health, psychology, and history. The sites are great. At this junction, Coursera is my favorite because of the diversity of subject matter to choose from and the ease of navigating the site. For a couple of years now, I’ve made the decision to learn a new skill each year. French was last year and I’ve carried it over into this year. Learning to code is on my list for this year as well. How are you productive? How do you use your spare time, if you have any?
For the past year, I have been learning French. Each day, I set aside 30 minutes to an hour, to either read in French, listen to a French podcast or speak to someone in French. Learning a language is hard. At least it is for me. Living in New York, I’ve met many multilingual people who can weave fluidly and effortlessly between languages with perfect pronunciation and diction. I am envious. Growing up in southwest Louisiana, I was always exposed to French. In Catholic school, we had to learn our prayers in French. (To this day, I still say my prayers in French). I took French throughout my primary and secondary education. In college, I fell just a few credits short of having a double minor in French. After college, I became less industrious about French. And my command of the language drifted to someplace between barely intermediate and passably intermediate.
There’s something about the American educational system, in that a student can take a foreign language for four, six, or eight years and only comprehend said language at barely a beginner’s level. I always wanted to be multilingual. My ultimate goal is to speak 3 or 4 languages at the proficient or fluent level. French was a natural first choice. I was able to start again at the intermediate level but moving to the highly intermediate level was surprisingly a struggle for me. The Atlantic’s columnist Ta-Nehisi Coates documents the difficulties of learning French here, here and here. And he’s right. Its like taking up a sport. My ipod and computer, google alerts and gmail accounts are all in French. When I get my Netflix films in the mail, if its not a French film, if possible, I add french subtitles. I know all the major French publications and listen to the major French podcasts in my fields of interest.
And most importantly, I have a dear dear French penpal that I met here who has exhibited such patience and warmth with me as I try to gain a command of the language. I’m planning a trip to France in September so I hope to be at least minimally proficient by then. At this moment, I can understand most of what is being said to me. But I’m still unable to express complex thoughts and have deep conversations in French. As I embark on this journey, here are a few tips for all those interested in learning another language:
Its not a quick process. Admittedly, there are people who pick up languages very easily. I, and I suspect most others, are not as lucky. It takes discipline, attention to detail, and precision. For example, these two words in French: pécher and pêcher are pronounced very similarly but mean two completely differently things (the former means to sin and the latter means to fish). A slight mixup in pronunciation could lead to miscommunication.
Find different types of native speakers to speak to. Though my primary language partners are French, I seek out other native French speakers from places like Morocco, Senegal, Switzerland, Canada, Haiti, Algeria, etc. Its good to hear French (or whatever language you are learning) from different accents/countries if possible. That way, you can train your ear to specific nuances in the language.
Be consistent. It takes time, but you must be consistent and do it, if possible, every day. You can’t get better if you don’t practice constantly.
Put as much of your digital media in the language you are studying. At first its a pain, but you’ll be surprised how much you learn without trying.
Above is a movie with Kristin Scott Thomas, my model for language learning. A native English speaker (she’s British), she speaks French flawlessly. The above is a short clip of a wonderful french film called “Partir” (Leaving) with the Spanish actor Sergi Lopez. Through the process of learning French, I’ve learning several things about myself. Namely, the best ways for me to learn a new skill and how passionate I am about languages. I believe it was Pedro Almodovar who said that if you don’t speak Spanish, you miss out on 90% of what being said in his movies. I believe this to be true. I watch French films now and when the English subtitles are on, I am amazed at the lack of nuance between what’s being said and what’s being written. In order to get to something good, you must do the work. Language learning is no different.
A few months ago, this article surfaced on my twitter feed, courtesy of Fast Company, called “What Successful People Do With the First Hour of Their Work Day.” Prior to reading, I’d already incorporated light exercise, meditation and prayer into my daily morning routine. The article sparked my interest and one of the main takeaways for me was the idea of Tony Robbins’s “Hour of Power.” Over the past months, I’d had a significant elevation in stress because of personal and professional demands. The idea of staying still for an hour or even thirty minutes (“30 Minutes to Thrive”) seemed easy enough but as I tried to implement it into my routine, I found myself blocked and even more anxious at the idea of doing nothing. Slowly, I came to realize the importance of stillness and quiet. I could organize my thoughts, think linearly, reflect on gratitude and most importantly learn to clear my head. For me personally, meditating has been an essential part of my current journey. I learned to adopt a positive attitude regardless of if I felt positive or not, carve a blueprint for the rest of my day, and I began to get real clear on what my values are. If you are sure of your values, maintain a healthy state, and adopt an attitude of gratitude, life begins to pick up in an organic way. Above, I’ve included a song , a cover of Cindy Lauper’s “Time After Time”, by one of my favorite jazz vocalists Cassandra Wilson. Sometimes, I play it while I am meditating because its such a peaceful, hopeful song. Here is a link to a free download of Tony Robbins’ “Hour of Power” talk. If anything, the practice of finding at least 5 minutes a day to just be still and re-group has been invaluable to me.
Several years ago, a friend of mine and I visited the then recently opened 40/40 club in Manhattan, music mogul Jay-Z’s sports club. We weren’t there 10 minutes and who did we see? Mr. Jay-Z himself. I was then still new to New York and was completely starstruck at the idea of meeting a celebrity. I was content to just stay at our table and make furtive glances his way. But my friend grabbed my arm, pulled me over to him and introduced us to the superstar. Jay-Z was nothing short of warm, generous, and polite, graciously engaging us when he clearly was under no obligation to do so. Since then, I have carefully watched his career flourish to stratospheric levels. Most recently he has extended his already enviable brand to includesports agent. As I begin to build Think Young Media Group one of my “virtual mentors” has been Jay-Z. I find myself thinking back to his example often to find tried and tested strategies for taking myself and my career to where I want to be. Some of the most cogent business tips, courtesy of Jay-Z, include:
Treat everyone with respect. He didn’t know me from a hole in the wall but the amount of respect he showed me coupled with the attention he gave to us has always stayed with me. I believe it was Abraham Lincoln who said, “Nearly all men can stand adversity, but if you want to test a man’s character, give him power.”
Learn how to read people. Jay-Z, to me, embodies someone who possesses a range of intelligences, one of which is social intelligence. In particular, he has honed the skill of assessing the strengths and weaknesses of most of those who come into his orbit. There’s this great Jay line in his song “Izzo (H.O.V.A)” that says, “I do this for my culture…Show them how to move in a room full of vultures, Industry is shady, it needs to be taken over, Label owners hate me, I’m raising the status quo up…” Let’s face it, when you are dealing with people you will deal with both the good and the bad. Learning how to “move in a room full of vultures” as well as distinguish those that can add value to you and your company from others is invaluable.
Protect yourself, your brand and your business. Always handle attacks to you, your brand & business swiftly and then move forward.
Be inquisitive and identify smart, successful mentors who can offer you honest feedback. The video above is one that Forbes did with both Jay-Z and Warren Buffett (another of my idols)! Jay-Z has been very open about his curious nature and his desire to always learn. Smart questions are the lifeblood of knowledge.
Focus first. Then apply this focus to the most feasible, realistic way to make money.
Hard times make you into the person you’re supposed to be. You choose how you respond to the uncontrollable and controllable events in your life. Life from them and move on.
True Renaissance men master one area first before moving on to another interest/business opportunity. Looking back, I think one of the things that has held me back was my lack of focus. I admire how Jay really solidified his reputation in music before moving on to the sports, fashion, and beverage industries. Build your reputation first and branching out becomes much easier.
Never have I realized the importance of networking and making meaningful connections and relationships with people than when I decided to expand my brand and form my business, Think Young Media Group, LLC. Before I even knew the name of my business, incorporated myself or built a website, I leaned on acquaintances, both weak and strong, friends, family and colleagues for advice on securing potential clients, marketing, and the like. During this period, a generous network was a godsend and I began to think about asking some of these people to be my mentor. I’ve read a copious amount of material on mentorship that went into detail on the dos and don’ts of a good mentoring relationship, how to make the ask, setting realistic expectations and so on.
As I began to think about who I would ask and, if he or she agreed, what I imagined the parameters of our relationship would be, I began to think of people who were already inspiring me in my quest for professional success. The Queen of all Media, Oprah Winfrey, has always been a personal and professional example to me particularly because she began as a journalist and parlayed her success into a billion dollar global platform. Others who I admire — Ursula Burns, Richard Branson, Warren Buffett — had always been “mentors” of a sort in the sense that although I’d never met them, I often leaned on their examples and personal journeys in order to inform my own. I call them “virtual mentors.” Another one of those people is Melinda Emerson or Small Biz Lady. She successfully transitioned from corporate American to entrepreneurship, creating a public profile under the premise that she helps small business owners avoid failure. This interview is a recent one where she talks about her journey to professional success. I think its these examples that can also create a form of mentorship. I’ve learned the importance of identifying both actual and “virtual” mentors, leveraging their knowledge, and pulling from it tools specific to your journey that will provide value to your professional path.
The Thirty Mile Woman 