05/09/2012

Ross Revisited, & the Launch of CoupedOut

Back when this site launched last year, one of our first posts was about Ross Staszak. At the time, Ross, ever the entrepreneur, was working hard to develop a mobile app. One year later, we are proud to present CoupedOut, a mobile app that helps you save big on shopping, dining out, fun in the city and more.

How it works: Once you download the free app, you can use CoupedOut to scan whatever neighborhood you’re in for any nearby deals. You have a certain amount of time to utilize these deals, simply by showing the business the coupon on your phone (no printing or cutting out coupons needed!). If you’re a business owner, you can create and control your own promotions, and you can network with other local businesses in your community to cross-promote each other. You can also measure how well different coupons affect your business.

As a 20-something consumer, you can support your local businesses, get great deals, and bolster 20-something entrepreneurism all in one fell swoop!

Unfortunately, CoupedOut deals are only currently available to people in and around the Philadelphia area. But hey – the app is FREE – so download it anyway, as they plan to rapidly expand to other major cities ASAP. *

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04/21/2012

“Uuuugggghhh, SO many feeeelings”

Once again, Thought Catalog has bestowed upon us 20-somethings another article to help us put our “emerging adulthood” phase into perspective. “6 Things You Learn at 25″ contains much of what you have probably heard before (or have told yourself time and time again): you don’t know everything, your parents screwed you up, you’re not alone, etc. But author Jessica Blankenship does have a few refreshingly new ways of articulating her observations from year 25. Hope these help you cope!

Some of the highlights of Ms. Blankenship’s article:

With regards to expectations – “If you allow yourself to be pleased with forward progress in the general direction you were aiming for, you can save yourself a lot of bummed-out feelings about not hitting things directly on the exact mark you were aiming for. This approach is also a great way to always allow yourself openness for the best changes-of-plan that more rigid folks would miss out on while they’re being disappointed in landing a few degrees off target.”

With regards to comparing yourself to other 20somethings - ”You will feel drastically more mature than some people you know, embarrassingly less put-together than others, and acutely aware of these imbalances in lifestyle, career, and consciousness between you and the friends you used to feel absolutely in sync with. This can be isolating. …Your 20s is supposed to be a time of rapid growth and development in every area of your everything, but we don’t always — in fact, rarely ever — evolve along the same timeline.”

And, my personal favorite observation (so relevant) – “If you’re 25 and going through the brutal process of seeing yourself honestly and the many implications that echo throughout every part of your life along with that, you’re going to feel all of the following ways in the course of any given week: bitter, angry, enthralled, amazed, in love, impossibly unable to be understood, impossibly unable to understand, empowered, serene, confused, motivated, refreshingly young, achingly tired, too alive, numb, drunk, sleepy, indulgent, lazy, unstoppable, fat, horny, and simultaneously frustrated and at peace with the overwhelming chaos and unbearable lightness of all of this. And that means you’re doing 25 the right way”.

It’s difficult not to feel 3408094360 things in one week, but that’s all part and parcel of discovering the essentials of yourself and coming to terms with who you are, and who you aren’t.*

(Although the article is about being 25, it’s actually pretty applicable to any part of your 20s. If you have figured these things out before you’re 25, kudos to you! If you’re past 25 and still confused, you’re screwed!! just kidding… rest assured, you’re definitely not alone.)

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03/28/2012

Jose Miguel Salgado

Name: Jose Miguel Salgado

Current location: Santiago de Chile

Current status: Cultural Management student, employed as a tour guide, looking for new challenges.

Way for others to contact you: jocmgl {at} gmail.com

From what you know of American 20-somethings, do you think Chilean 20-somethings are similar? I think in terms of culture we are very similar. It is very easy to just talk about the same TV shows, news, etc. Now of course people from the US are very different according to where they are from, but in general terms, I think we have very similar interests. But in Chile, we’ve been going through some very important political processes and we have a very active young population in terms of politics…which I don’t feel is that strong in the US.

Describe in brief some of the political issues: We are one of the wealthiest countries in South America, and one with the highest levels of inequity. There are a lot of people here that still think that what happened during Pinochet’s dictatorship is ok. Many of them work for the government, and with the help of the constitution that Pinochet created they manage to make changes very difficult.  It is very frustrating – it is a very discriminatory society and very conservative. There is a constant struggle to ask for basic rights like freedom of expression.

Do most people go to University? Yeah, but it is complicated. There is not a lot of regulation on universities and there are a lot of private ones that are super bad, but people don’t have other options but to go there because they are the only ones that give a lot of payment offers and that don’t ask for a high grade in a exam we have that is called PSU (something like the SAT exam). Most of our public schools are bad, really really bad. So if you are poor you go to those [schools], you don’t get good grades so you [take out loans], you go to a bad private university and then can’t find a job because everyone knows your university is bad…. and you have a huge debt to pay with a bank. Sometimes banks take people houses to pay the credit they ask to go to university… so even if people do go to the U…they do it on very bad conditions.

That sounds rough. So there must be pressure to find a job right after graduation. Yeah … I know in a lot of places people can travel outside the country and go to Europe or some places really far. Here that’s very uncommon… usually you study, find a job, and when you get married or [become] a couple, you move out, cuz it is easier to pay the bills with someone else.

Is it easy for University graduates in Chile to find a job? I think it depends on your career. Some have a lot more opportunities than others, but I think that what’s very very difficult is to find a job with a good payment. The minimum income is around 460 USD a month … and the prices are almost the same [as those] in the US, sometimes even more expensive. The average income is 1,000 USD per month. So for most students, they can’t leave their parents’ house until they are 25–27 years old. My oldest sister left the house when she was 29 and she had a job as a nurse since she was 24.

What is one of the best parts about being a 20-something in Chile right now? We are the first generation in Chile with the highest average of university students, and the first one that didn’t know Pinochet’s dictatorship; at the same time, the one with access to internet and cable… because of all that, we feel there are a lot of things that are our responsibility to change, amend and develop. And, you feel that … you feel people have the energy to fight for what’s right…after a long wait, people just said “enough”. And that feels exciting.*

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03/14/2012

Will Healey

Name: Will Healey

Current location: West Hollywood, CA

Current status: juggling multiple part-time gigs, searching for a higher purpose.

Way for others to contact you: wfhealey{at}gmail.com

Briefly describe your current situation: I am currently living in Los Angeles, CA.  I moved out here in June of 2011 to explore acting, writing, and musical pursuits; to “test my mettle” and see whether these hobbies of mine can be careers or whether they should stay hobbies. I also very much needed a scene change from the east coast, where I’ve spent most of my life. I’d lived in New York City for the past 3 years and felt stagnant. L.A. is at the same time completely different and incredibly similar to New York. Right now I’m juggling 4 part-time jobs so I can pay the rent and still be able to work on my creative pursuits. That lifestyle was great when I first came out here hungry, but it’s starting to lose its luster. I wish I had more time to enjoy the many fun things and natural beauty that abounds in L.A. and its environs, but I have to hustle to pay my bills. The life of a starving artist is not the most glamorous thing. I doubt whether I’m doing the right thing all the time, but I’m happy to know that I’m challenging myself in a new environment.

Challenging yourself seems to be a strong suit of yours. People always hear such positive things about Teach for America, but your experience was not as delightful. Tell us a little about your 2 years with the program: I had a tough time in Teach for America, for a multitude of reasons. I taught 7th and 8th grade English and ESL on the border of Texas and Mexico. I had a pretty romantic view of going down there, thinking it would be much easier than it was, and I couldn’t have been more wrong. It was and remains the hardest thing I’ve ever done. My hat goes off to any career teacher who loves what they do- they have the hardest jobs in the world, and they directly shape the future. I could continue to make excuses for the problems I ran into during my commitment, however I realize that first and foremost, the problems I brought to the table (I simply wasn’t ready for that much responsibility at that point in my life) exacerbated the problems I encountered in my placement.

Would you recommend TFA for other 20somethings? I would. It’s a great program. Not a perfect model, but a necessary program until we fix education in this country.  I would however caution applicants to think long and hard about their reasons for doing it, and to understand what they’re getting into.  The day to day ain’t gonna be pretty.

It takes a lot of courage to pack up and head out across the country without much of a plan. What is the most valuable thing the experience has taught you? That I still have the courage to do something like that. At 22, I would have done it in a heartbeat, but at 27 there was quite a bit more trepidation. That terrified me: that I was becoming this complacent guy. I’m glad to know that I’m still the type of person that won’t just settle for things.

Is there anything that scares you now? Not taking risks. I decided to move across the country ultimately because I was more afraid of the fallout that would result from not having taken a risk than taking it. I’m also afraid of not being true to myself. Honesty with oneself is paramount to being happy and therefore better serving the world. The scary thing is not liking what you find, so you should constantly strive to be the best you you can be. Easier said than done.

Best thing about being a 20something: Trial and error. For the majority of people that aren’t blessed with knowing what their career and life arc should be right out of college, being able to try a bunch of different things out and cross them off the list is critical. Your 20′s, as I’ve come to understand them, are all about self-discovery.

In a perfect world, by the time you are 30….I will be working on something that drives me and sustains me over time, making a significant contribution that adds to life on this planet in a positive way.*

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03/12/2012

Generation Why Bother?

This week’s NY Times Sunday Review included an opinion piece called “The Go-Nowhere Generation” about, you guessed it, twenty-somethings. It drops a few fascinating statistics like: ”the likelihood of 20-somethings moving to another state has dropped well over 40 percent since the 1980s,” and that “young people want to stay more connected to their hometown these days.” While those both may be true, I have to take some issue with the article.

The authors, Todd & Victoria Buccholz, sound condescending and place blame on our generation for not trying hard enough, or as they put it, “slouching.” They mention the weak economy’s negative effects on 20-something ambition, how “children raised during recessions ultimately take fewer risks with their investments and their jobs”. But they do so in a way that sounds like 20somethings should know better, that this is un-American of us, and that we should ignore the very real recession and get off our lazy asses. I’m surprised none of the sentences start with the familiar ”back in my day…”.

Then the authors throw in some statistics that do not seem entirely on point. Bike sales have gone down since 2000, and apparently that is a reflection of the complacency of twenty-somethings. They propose that Facebook activity is connected to the decrease in the percent of young adults getting a driver’s license today. Facebook? Really? Factors like the cost of vehicles, insurance, and gas get dismissed because of the inclusion of this statistic: ”It takes fewer weeks of work income to buy a car today than in the early 1980s.” So expenses can’t be why young adults are car-less. It’s definitely Facebook.

The Buchholz’s say that this generation emphasizes luck over logic – which is an interesting point – but they do so in a strange way. They substantiate this observation by pointing out “how popular the word ‘random’ has become among young people.” Popular words and phrases come and go, and yes, some define a generation. However, analysis of the use of a word as commonplace as “random” can not be used as an indication of a generation’s complete behavioral and mental shift.

And what’s so bad about staying put, anyway? Pride and commitment to one’s hometown often lead to young individuals working within and for their community. Less 20-something drivers means more users of public transportation and a better situation for the environment. Maybe instead of hitting the road to find freedom, our generation has turned to hitting the web. We don’t need to jump on Highway 49 to find ourselves- we have the world at our fingtertips. Regardless of the route, we’ll find our way.

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02/29/2012

Megan Dearing

Name:  Megan Dearing

Current location:  Brooklyn, NY

Current status: Making the best of what’s around.

Way for others to contact you: megan.dearing{at}gmail.com

Briefly describe your current situation: Just last week I was promoted and I am now “E-Marketing Executive” at Tourism Ireland. I am responsible for developing and managing online advertising campaigns with the goal of convincing Americans that they should take a vacation to Ireland because it is an awesome country. I studied abroad in Ireland as a student and had the time of my life there. I now work for their official tourist board and am immersed in their culture everyday….so if someone would have predicted that this would be my future job 6 years ago, I probably would have cried with happiness. But the truth is that it is not a dream job – it has its problems like any office job. I’m not sure that dream jobs exist. Regardless, I feel fortunate to work in a field I find interesting and for an organization I feel passionate about.

Based on your work and life experiences, do you think 20somethings in Ireland have similar experiences and mindsets as 20somethings in the US? 20somethings in Ireland, and the rest of Europe really, for the most part are not career-focused. The norm is not to graduate college and go right into a job. It is tradition for them to spend the majority of their twenties abroad – living in various countries and working odd jobs on visas. Freely traveling and living a temporary free-spirited life is part of their culture. The recession and severe economic problems in Ireland have also forced young Irish to seek employment outside of their own country – or bide their time traveling until things improve in Ireland and they can return to a stronger job market.

What is one of your biggest challenges about being a 20something?  The feeling of being unsettled and in transit.  Even though I have remained in the same city through all of my twenties, I still find myself having to make a decision about whether I should stay or go every year.  I always end up staying, but the process of constantly thinking that decision over and not ever feeling totally content is a challenge.

Do you think that unsettled feeling is something many 20somethings struggle with? Yes. I think people associate their hometowns with settling down and all the comforts that come from living in the place where you grew up – family, old friends, security.  To some, that is the last thing they want, which I understand.  A lot of being a twentysomething is the adventure of it all and being self-indulgent. But there comes a point where you just want to sit down, breathe, and say, “Ok, this is where I want to be and these are the people I want to be with – this is what ultimately matters more than checking out a new bar on the Lower East Side every weekend.”  It’s a personal thing and right now I am somewhat torn because I just took a promotion at work meaning I am committing to probably another year in NYC – it’s a great move professionally, but on a personal level I am not 100% happy to be staying here.

Name one thing you’d like to do before you’re a 30something: Good question!  I am not pursuing writing right now, but it would be pretty cool to write a best-selling book before turning 30.  Practically speaking, I’d like to enter my thirties debt-free!  Otherwise, I’d like to fall in love.  Does that make me sound like a contestant on The Bachelor? *

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12/06/2011

Yes, Anything is Still Possible.


This evening I stumbled upon the article “11 Things to Know at 25(ish)“. I’m not sure how I didn’t see this when it was written in June! While the middle gets a little preachy about religion, I found there were several messages worth passing on to my fellow 20somethings, especially this gem: “There is a season for wildness and a season for settledness, and this is neither. This season is about becoming.”

Regardless of your faith, author Shauna Niequist’s 11 insights can comfort and nurture you in your quest for whatever it is you’re looking for at this time. Here are a few of my favorites, but I promise, it will not be a waste of your time if you read the entire article.

“You Have Time to Find a Job You Love. Now is the time to figure out what kind of work you love to do. What are you good at? What makes you feel alive? What do you dream about? You can go back to school now, switch directions entirely. You can work for almost nothing, or live in another country or volunteer long hours for something that moves you. There will be a time when finances and schedules make this a little trickier, so do it now. Try it, apply for it, get up and do it.”

“Don’t Rush Dating and Marriage. Now is also the time to get serious about relationships. And “serious” might mean walking away from a dating relationship that’s good but not great. Some of the most life-shaping decisions you’ll make during this time will be about walking away from good-enough, in search of can’t-live-without.”

“Give Your Best to Friends and Family. Lots of people move around in their 20s, but even across the distance, make an effort to invest in the friendships that are important to you. Loyalty is no small thing, especially in a season during which so many other things are shifting. Family is a tricky thing in your 20s—to learn how to be an adult out on your own but to also maintain a healthy relationship with your parents—but those relationships are really, really worth investing in.”

 And lastly, “Don’t Get Stuck. When you hit 28 or 30, everything begins to divide. You can see very clearly two kinds of people. On one side, people who have used their 20s to learn and grow, to find God and themselves and their dreams, people who know what works and what doesn’t, who have pushed through to become real live adults. Then there’s the other kind, who are hanging onto college, or high school even, with all their might. They’ve stayed in jobs they hate, because they’re too scared to get another one. They’ve stayed with men or women who are good but not great, because they don’t want to be lonely..they live in an extended adolescence, no closer to adulthood than when they graduated.”

While it’s good to be conscious of not getting stuck, the main point here is: take advantage of everything you may dislike about being a confused 20something. You are most likely only responsible for yourself, and you can afford to make mistakes. “Don’t get stuck in the past, but don’t try to fast-forward yourself into a future you haven’t yet earned. Give today all the love and intensity and courage you can, and keep traveling honestly along life’s path.” *

Posted in Community, Share, The job hunt, Writing | Leave a Comment »

11/05/2011

Tim Reis

Name: Tim Reis

Current location: Atlanta, Georgia

Current status: Gainfully employed/on my way to artistic fulfillment

Way for others to contact you: Timmy.yayo{at}gmail.com facebook.com/timboslice

Briefly describe your current situation: I’m currently working at a law firm in Atlanta doing paralegal/administrative type work. My whole family is made up of lawyers so it seemed like a natural thing for me to get into the practice. I graduated college with aspirations of law school but after taking the LSATs and spending a few years in the legal environment I’m coming to the realization that it’s probably not for me. I see what these people do all day and I just know that it would be a stifling profession for me. It’s a money job. I definitely want to make money but not at the cost of suffocating my creativity. It’s weird because I always kind of thought that a legal career was an inevitability for me. It turns out that you can do whatever you want to do, and would be foolish not to. I’ve always loved movies, especially horror movies. I’ve been making short films and skits with my friends for 10 years and now I’m working on producing an independent film and looking more towards a career in that field. I live with 2 working artists in the East Atlanta Village area. There’s so much culture to absorb. Surrounding myself with interesting and creative people has opened up a lot of doors for me.

Tell us about the independent fantasy/horror film, “The Demon’s Rook” that you’re working on. What is the story behind the project? The Demon’s Rook is a low budget fantasy/horror independent movie that I’m working on with my brother Loup’rah Garomore. The story is all his. He’s less of a man than he is a forest beast but he’s one of the most astounding creative minds I’ve ever encountered. I met him through my roommate; we were talking about some of our favorite fims and I expressed my desire to one day make a horror movie of my own and he shot me this leering grin as he pulled a script from his back pocket. It was really good. I committed all of my spare time and energy to that project and since then we’ve just been making it happen. The way we figure, in 2011, you can either wait for something to be handed to you or you can go out and do it yourself. We’re doing it all by ourselves. The bulk of our money goes towards masks, creature effects and other prosthetics and I couldn’t be happier with the results. We’re achieving what could be described as a “big budget look” with less than $25k, a little dslr camera, a minimal light kit and a lot of hard work. It’s tough but it’s fun.

How are you funding the movie? I’ve been using kickstarter.com and every name in my rolodex. We raised a little over $6,000 on kickstarter and are still raising the rest using good old fashioned connections and people skills. It’s taught me a ton about doing business. You can find out more about the movie at www.demonsrook.com. We’re always looking for people to get involved, whether it’s hands on or just monetarily.

Can’t wait until it’s finished. But your first big film break came with a freestyle battle that went viral on YouTube a few years ago. Explain. The infamous Eli porter vs. Envy rap battle. Some call it the best rap battle of all time; others call it hands down the best rap battle of all time. In high school, my friends and I got into a video production class that was especially well-funded and offered students a lot of creative freedom to experiment. One of the projects we handled was the “Iron Mic” freestyle battles. We would film rap battles in the studio and play them bi-weekly on a big projector screen during lunch. Eli was a physically challenged student who participated in one of the battles and unexpectedly made history. In 2007, the video got posted on break.com and collegehumor.com and took off. To date, the video, in its many incarnations, has almost 10 million views and was recently the subject of a documentary called “People’s Champion”. It was also featured on the season premiere of Comedy Central’s Tosh.0 this year. I heard that Eli’s making some pretty good money off the whole thing now, so I don’t have to feel bad about it ever again.

If we were to have interviewed you on your first day of college, where would you have imagined you’d be today? Working on my third year of law school, wearing an ascot or something, I don’t know. I was confused as hell my first day of college. I can tell you one thing for sure though–it’s perfectly fine to not know. No one has it figured out, no matter how much they try to convince you. In fact, I don’t trust anyone under the age of 30 who really thinks they have their shit together. The best thing you can do is be open. Figure out what you like and start something. Don’t be afraid of small beginnings. That is all. *

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10/18/2011

Erin Heaney

Name: Erin Heaney

Current location: Buffalo, New York

Current status: Happily employed.

Way for others to contact you: Email – erin {at} cacwny.org or find me on facebook

You became the Executive Director of the Clean Air Coalition of Western New York pretty much straight out of college. Was it scary to have so much responsibility so suddenly? I had no clue it was going to be so much responsibility! I knew a few things about organizing, but I didn’t know the first thing about running a non-profit. Financial management, building a board, fundraising – yikes! Luckily it was a small organization at the time so I didn’t have staff to manage right off the bat. I had a great board who helped me along and were patient as I learned. But yes, it was very stressful. The community was running a great campaign against Tonawanda Coke, filing for their 501C3 status, and growing rapidly. There was (and continues to be) a never-ending list of “to dos.” 

As you mentioned, the Clean Air Coalition of WNY has focused its mission on Tonawanda Coke, a foundry coke plant that was emitting dangerous levels of benzene. Have the benzene levels changed since your campaign? The company has agreed to reduce their benzene emissions by 2/3. The NY Dept. of Environmental Conservation has told us benzene levels have already begun dropping, but they are coming to town this week to show us the numbers for ourselves. 

In addition to Tonawanda Coke, CACWNY is working on other regional environmental issues. Do you get overwhelmed? All the time! But I wouldn’t have it any other way. We’re doing hard work solving real problems with some of the most wonderful people I’ve ever met in my entire life. But when you work for a small nonprofit you often have to wear 5-6 “hats” any single day. I go from being the Human Resources director to the bookkeeper to the organizer to the development director…you get the idea.

Do you plan on returning to school at some point? I doubt it. One of my favorite public health authors Jason Curburn argues that the professionalization of public health work has not helped improve health in our most vulnerable neighborhoods. And I couldn’t agree more. We don’t need more people with Masters of Public Health – we need to give community leaders a seat at the table when decisions that affect their lives are being made. People know what they need in their neighborhoods – we just need the people in power to listen to them. That requires us to organize and build power, not accumulate more knowledge.

You were recently featured on The Huffington Post’s “Person of the Day”. What was your reaction to that? It was great to see the organization’s work recognized by the Huffington Post. I was on vacation when it launched — a friend had to call me and let me know it went live. I hope it’s made more people aware of our work.

In your downtime, you… love to do yoga, read the paper and help coach the City Honors High School volleyball team.

You were an Executive Director by age 23. Where does one go from there? I’m not sure! I feel blessed to have been given this opportunity and don’t want to leave it anytime soon. I’ve been given a job where I get to live out my values every single day. Who would give that up? *

Posted in Community, environment, Non Profit, politics | Leave a Comment »

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10/17/2011

“The Kids Are Actually Sort of Alright”

For those of you who haven’t seen this week’s issue of New York Magazine (presumably everyone who does not live in NYC), the cover story is right up our alley. Although it takes until page 5 to get remotely uplifting, this article seems to hit the nail on the head regarding why our generation is the way it is, and how we are coping. 

The author, Noreen Malone, explores how our current disillusionment has led to the Occupy Wall Street movements throughout the nation, and how, somehow, twenty-somethings have remained rather optimistic about our future. She makes several novel connections between today’s economy and our generation’s obsession with FaceBook, YouTube, Etsy, and farming. Of course, Ms. Malone also includes a few bleak stories about down-on-their-luck college grads, but at the end of the article I did not feel more hopeless than I did at the beginning. Alternatively, I felt comforted and even encouraged.

Raise your hand if you ever received a “clip-art Certificate of Participation just for showing up.” Then read this article  and realize we are all in this together, and that is more than ‘sort of alright’.

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