Lisa Niver's Blog: We Said Go Travel, page 67
July 8, 2021
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Life as an Expat in Beijing- What to Expect and How to Adapt.
At age 11, I moved to Beijing and studied there for 4 years. A transformative experience, those years opened my eyes to understanding society, culture and privilege.
With foreigners in Beijing making up around 0.4% of the population, privileges are inevitable. A good way to kick off my experience in Beijing is explaining the “celebrity treatment.” After getting off the plane, I drove to my new home and went to explore the heart of the Beijing (Soho三里屯). In awe of the city, I noticed that something strange was happening- I felt eyes on me like never before. Am I overthinking? Those were my thoughts before the first person approached my mom and I to ask for a photo. Awkwardly nodding, we stood next to the nice man and smiled for the picture. Before I knew it, there was a line of 10 families waiting for a picture with us. I assumed I was being mistaken for someone else.
I was put on a pedestal on a daily basis. My older sister would go to a party and be offered the most luxurious combination of tables, food and alcohol, without paying a cent. I could pick and choose the school I went to, holding an overwhelming priority as an international student. Rules often did not apply to me- I was also able to cut lines and enter pools for “adults only.” At 13, I felt like an emperor. I could get away with anything. It felt great.
However, when you constantly feel like you’re winning, a loss can hit you harder.
I was introduced to the art of negotiation during my first week in Beijing. After school, my friends and I went to a market, mostly looking for school supplies. Similarly to everywhere else, we were all treated as the most valuable clients. Admiring the never ending supply of gadgets, I stumbled upon a collection of 12 brilliant golden animal zodiacs. The shopkeeper told me I was the year of the snake, making me humorous, mysterious and sophisticated.
According to her, if I bought it, it would bring me luck. Clearly I thought I could use some luck, so I paid her, walking away feeling proud to have found such a treasure. “Are you crazy?” My friend said, “You should have paid at least a tenth of what you did.” I felt embarrassed, used and powerless. I was made to feel so exceptional, that I became naive.
The concept of information in China definitely took me the longest to wrap my head around. Instagram, Google and YouTube were some of the many blocked platforms under the Chinese government. You even needed a VPN to see an accurate pollution index! As an 11 year old, I didn’t feel the need for a VPN account. But after a couple of years I started going online more and an accurate pollution index told if I could go to soccer practice or not. The idea of purchasing a VPN account began circling my thoughts. One night I was on BBC, reading some article about Hong Kong. Suddenly, my computer shuts off. Then it turns back on, but the article’s gone. I was confused for a while, and then I was angry. Realizing that I had to start seeing information as a luxury, I decided to get a VPN account.
I will never forget the week marking Obama’s visit to Beijing. Two days before his arrival, cars with specific license plate numbers could drive on certain days, and factories completely shut down. Beijing instantly turned into the most beautiful city I had ever seen. Traffic jams disappeared, trees revived and the sun was bright. I appreciated every single minute of those days. The day Obama left, Beijing snapped back into it’s polluted and censored reality.
That really made me contemplate the things I had taken for granted at home. Above all, my consistent fear of my freedom being taken away from me.
I was also sad that among a place with such a special culture and history, people feared it, and had to live according to its rules. I started feeling a sense of invasion and isolation. Like one single human surrounded by an army of robots.
Although my reality had completely changed, I was able to take matters into my own hands. I learned Mandarin, learned how to negotiate and got a VPN account. Although I had to fight for it, I had the power to protect my freedom. But for so many people, my normal world is their unknown. And even now, six years later, a country that has so much to say, remains silent.
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July 6, 2021
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Is Your Life FULLY CHARGED? with Meaghan Murphy
[image error]Thank you to Thrive Global for publishing my article, “Is Your Life FULLY CHARGED? with Meaghan Murphy“[image error]Lisa Niver and Meaghan MurphyLisa Niver: Hello. This is Lisa Niver from We Said Go Travel and I’m so excited to be here today with Meaghan Murphy. Hi Meaghan.
Meaghan Murphy: Hi. YAY!
LN: I love that you start with YAY! and I see that you have YAY! behind you. I absolutely loved your book, Your Fully Charged Life, a radically simple approach to having endless energy and filling your day with YAY. I know you have lightening bolts on you and behind you, could you tell us a little bit about how did the lightening bolt become this symbol of your book?
MM: I think it’s really important to surround yourself with visible and verbal messages of strength, positivity, and resilience, and things that you connect with that work as a mantra. For me, the lightening bolt, dates back to my mom. So, growing up there was this picture of my mom on the wall, and she was wearing this lightening bolt T-shirt, and she had these epic braids, and it was a honeymoon shot. She had road tripped to Yellowstone National Park with my father for their honeymoon. I grew up looking at this picture, and putting my mom on this pedestal because she was the type of person who was relentlessly confident and always taught us: don’t ask for permission, ask for forgiveness. Everything is always possible! I was really brought up that way. Having people in your life at a young age show you. encourage you and cheer you on, is key. I credit witnessing that confidence and that sense of possibility as encouraging and enabling me to find that for myself.
VIDEO of our dialogue about YOUR FULLY CHARGED LIFE
LN: I love that positive image from your mom, but can you talk about how growing up your image was more grumpy, and in the book you even say Neggy, like negative.
MM: I’m a person who trained to live with positivity, who trained to live with optimism and joy, and the same way I may train for a marathon or train to see my abs again after three kids.
I trained to prioritize positivity and reprogram my brain to live with optimism and joy. I am a person who has very strong negativity bias. I was a really grumpy kid. My nickname was Grumpy. I wrote a school play in 5th grade and my character that I wrote for myself was, Neggy, the embodiment of negativity.
I really was a very pessimistic, angsty kind of kid. I’ve always been an empath and I had these big, big feelings. Big happiness. Big sadness. Big fear. Big anger. I had big feelings and I didn’t know what to do with them, and for me, that translated into an eating disorder.
I wound up developing anorexia as a way to quiet all of those big emotions, right, because as a kid you sometimes get messages: don’t cry, why are you so upset, and so, for me it was like I don’t want all this attention on my feelings, I’m just going to shut them all up, and I shut them up with an eating disorder, because when you’re starving, you’re numb, and you can easily just quiet everything. So, that was what my teen years were like. Really, really tumultuous.
[image error]LN: You speak, in your book, about anorexia and your friend, and eating disorders. Working at a Women’s Magazine and writing about food and eating disorders as well as raising three kids, what do you say to people that are also struggling with those issues and trying to figure out how to quiet their emotions and pick something that is not harming?
MM: The first thing to know about eating disorders is it’s never about food, and it’s really never about exercise. It’s about what feelings or emotions that you’re trying to manage with food. What is fueling that addiction?
For me, I can now look back and say, I didn’t know how to handle my feelings. I had big swells of energy and emotions, and I just didn’t know what to do with them, and so I quieted them. For other people it could be perfectionism. For other people, they could have gone through some type of mental or physical abuse, and they’re band aiding it with an eating disorder.
An addiction is never really about the wine, it’s never about the drugs, it’s never about the food, it’s about this underlying problem that you’re medicating with whatever the addition is. I think it’s the beauty of my book, is that my book is a toolkit to help you get unstuck. It’s not a replacement for therapy. It’s not a replacement for medication, if that’s what you need, but it’s a toolkit, a happiness toolkit that will help inch the happiness needle so that when you are going through hard things and hard times, you have resources. You have tools that you can rely on to help get unstuck.
LN: One of the things I loved in your book is when you talked about being the boss of your brain, and I love that you said: “You can deliberately direct your brain to get on the YAY bus, or the it-will-be okay-bus, or the sad and sorry for yourself bus,” that really spoke to me. Can you talk a little bit more about how did that come to you and what people can do to switch buses?
MM: It’s very clear to me that most times in life I can’t necessarily control what’s happening to me. If my dad’s diagnosed with pancreatic cancer and dies, I can’t stop that. I can’t think cancer away, but I can absolutely manage my reactions so that I can move through that hard thing with grit and grace.
When I got COVID, I can’t think away COVID. I can’t pretend it’s not happening, but I change the way I look at it to help me move through it. It’s understanding that our brain is incredibly powerful. When we learn to do the tricks that I talk about in the book, with reframing and cognitive reappraisal, it makes those hard things easier to manage and easier to get through. So, we’re never thinking away bad times, we’re never thinking away bad things, but we’re making choices that makes those hard things more manageable.
[image error]LN: I’m so sorry about your dad. I know that’s something you talk about in your book and also turning a boo into a boo–yah. Can you talk about how journaling is not for everyone, and I think that journaling is definitely thrown out to many people as the solution. I love that you turned it into something so “of today and now” with theYAYList on Instagram. Can you tell people about it?
MM: First of all, gratitude is absolutely the secret sauce in life. Grateful people are happier people, that is unequivocal, and that’s science backed. It’s not even what I think, it’s science backed, but I’m not somebody who’s whoo-hoo, I’m not somebody who has crystals in my pocket, I’m somebody who works at this, and I want practical tips.
I’ve been a service journalist for 25 years and I’m Editor-in-Chief of Women’s Day, and I was at Good Housekeeping, and Cosmopolitan, and Self magazine. What my secret sauce is, or what my skillset is, is that I’m able to fun-filter news so you might actually want to use it.
We all need a gratitude practice, and we need to practice gratitude, yes. When someone tells me to put something down in a gratitude journal or a gratitude diary, maybe I’ll do it for a day, but then I think– thanks for one more thing to do. It’s homework and I can’t keep that up.
What I’ve learned, that by asking myself, what made you say YAY today, and asking my kids around the dinner table, what made you say YAY today, or before bed, what made you say YAY today, that is absolutely gratitude practice. It’s a way to pause and appreciate the good in your day and to understand that hey, there was good, even on a bad day there was good, and let’s find it, and let’s celebrate it, and let’s hang onto it by creating a YAY list. My standalone Instagram account, TheYAYList, that is simply a way to pause and appreciate. It’s a gratitude journal 2.0, it’s a fun filtered version of keeping a gratitude diary and that’s what works for me.
[image error]LN: I love that its on Instagram so everybody can find you and figure out how can they either do something similar or maybe respond to what you’re doing. In the book, you say: “Slam the brakes on your runaway brain, and that sometimes it feels like you’re on the Acela train to Sucksville.”
I know for myself, when I was getting divorced, I felt like I lived in Sucksville and when I read that you used the word Sucksville, I thought I’m not the only one. That’s one of the things that we are all searching for, is to know: Is this normal? How do other people feel? It’s great that you created this Gratitude journal 2.0.
MM: The key why gratitude works so well, is that when you’re pausing and appreciating what’s good in the world, it softens the edges of the bad, and it makes the bad less prominent and less loud, less pronounced, and that’s really the key because negativity can be so loud, and when you’re going through a divorce, or you’re losing a loved one to stage IV pancreatic cancer, like that negativity, that bad is so loud, and so glaring, and so consuming that unless you work hard to punctuate that and soften those edges with moments of levity and light, you will absolutely be pulled down, absolutely just completely drained, and that’s easier said than done, but the good that you’re punctuating it with doesn’t have to be big and it doesn’t have to be massive.
It can simply be noticing something good in your day, and I’ll talk about my neighbor Larry’s irises are blooming, and he came over with a pair of scissors and said: “Cut some.” And now, I have this beautiful bouquet on my table and that’s a good day. No matter what crap thing happened during the course of the rest of the day, what if I just allowed that to be loud.
What if I allow myself to appreciate those flowers and understand that even on this bad day, there was this moment of good. Sometimes that’s just what it’s about, putting fun on the calendar, allowing yourself, even in tough times, tough days, to experience some moments of joy and realizing that, that’s not frivolous and that’s not silly, it’s actually necessary.
I’ve heard from so many people this year that other people have it worse than me. They get caught up in the Hardship Olympics, and because other people have it worse, God forbid, I were to enjoy myself or get excited about Taco Tuesday or a new dress. Because other people have it worse and if I’m happy I’m being somehow disrespectful or I’m crapping on their bad times. No. No, no, no, no, no, we deserve happiness. We deserve happiness even in hard times.
LN: I really love what you just said about the Hardship Olympics because during this past, it’s been so uncertain during COVID, there’s been so many challenges, and I do think there’s a feeling that you can’t be happy. Can you tell people about being Chief Spirit Officer and how that connects with Larry giving you the flowers.
MM: Four years ago, the then mayor appointed me Chief Spirit Officer, and it was an honorary title in a voluntary capacity of cheerleading for my town. I run an Instagram called, Bestfield New Jersey. The town is called Westfield, I call it Bestfield, and it rhymes with west.
View this post on InstagramA post shared by BestfieldNJ (@bestfieldnj)
It’s an effort to celebrate small businesses, and the people, and the places, and the things that I think make Westfield the Bestfield. It’s absolutely a celebration of community and small businesses. I think it’s really important to love where you live and have a sense of community belonging and pride.
I know that if I connect with my community, if I give back, if I feel a part of something, I’m better for it, and so that’s an active practice for me. My neighbor, Larry, is an unlikely friend. He’s a divorcee and just turned 60 and has been my neighbor for eight years now. We had this beautiful exchange where my kids would leave piles of rocks by his fence and then he would paint them, and then we would hide these Bestfield rocks, these spirt rocks, all over town and they would have messages like, you’re stronger than you think you are, or there’d be pizzas in celebration of the pizza run, or he got really punny, he’s very clever, he’s an advertising guy and he would write crocodile rock, and it would be a crocodile. Really, really fun. He was going through some hard times in a divorce, and had lost his dogs, and so this became this beautiful exchange between my kids and Larry, Larry and me and my kids, and then the community because the people who found the rocks would get excited and celebrate, too. So, it was just this sort of happiness boomerang, just by this simple act of painting rocks.
LN: It sounds like you’re saying– meet people where they are. You had rocks and he had paint, but it became something so much bigger.
MM: It became such a really lovely exchange. Here’s the key, community is incredibly important. I geek out over the science in my book, and Martin Seligman and the PERMA Theory of wellness, but relationships are everything. People are the answer to all of life’s problems. It doesn’t mean your key relationships. It’s not necessarily your husband, or your mother-in-law, or your kids that are the solution. It’s the cashier, it’s the UPS driver, it’s the person you decide to look up from, look up from your run or your walk and acknowledge and recognize because people need to be acknowledged and seen, especially after this year. People need to be seen, that feels good, and that doesn’t mean you’re going to have them over for a barbecue and braid their hair, but see them. Put your phone down and see them.
LN: The other thing I really loved in your book was all the F words, because people love to think what the F word is. We get so focused on making mistakes and then don’t know what to do next. In your book, you gave a really clear path of the steps.
MM: When you make a mistake, the first F word is F**it, because that’s usually what comes out of my mouth when I’ve messed up. But then there is figure it out, where did you go wrong, and if you can fix it, great, fix it, take that effort and fix it. So, you say eff it, you figure it out, you fix it, and if you can’t then you have to forget it, no stewing and move forward.
And flashback because you need to learn from it, and you also need to sometimes flashback to a thing you did right so that you stop beating yourself up. That’s also really key. You’re not a failure because you F’d up in this moment, flashback to something you did right and understand you’re also a person who does things right. This was a blip on and radar, right, you F’d up, okay. Now onward, forward.
LN: What I’ve noticed certainly in hard times, like going through my divorce, I focused a lot of the F word of failure. It’s helpful to focus on looking for the positive, looking for the small things, activating gratitude. Without the steps of how to get out of the abyss, people just suffer.
MM: Take a moment, accept that, and that’s what the whole book is about. Your Fully Charged Life is simply about creating momentum for yourself, It’s not a guide, it’s not a plan, it’s not a life makeover and overhaul, it’s simply a toolkit that will help you create momentum so that you can get unstuck.
I loved that New York Times article about languishing, and I think so many people are in this joyless stuck state, even as the world returns to so called normal, and that’s because we’re not creating momentum. It’s literally that whole physics of a body in motion tends to stay in motion, and if you can start to create positive actions, well then you can create a chain of positive actions and essentially get yourself out of the hole and move the happiness needle.
LN: I loved the quote in your book: “The pessimist complains about the wind, the optimist expects it to change, and the realist adjusts the sails.” Optimistic realism really sums up what you’ve been talking about.
MM: Life is fricking messy and there’s no clear path. You’re going to make mistakes and it’s going to get messy again. Then you’re just going to course correct. Nothing is all bad, and nothing is all good.
What I like to say is: the glass is not half empty, it’s not half full, the glass is refillable. Get the pitcher of water and put some more goddamn water in it. You have to be a little scrappy, and embrace the happy chaos, and embrace the mess.
LN: If there’s one thing that people could take away, that’s a great thing to take away: Refill the glass, why are we so focused on how full it is.
One of the things I really enjoyed so much about your book is the examples really stayed with me. Can you talk about people being like taxis.
MM: If you’re standing in the street in New York and you’re trying to hail a cab, if their light is not on– they’re driving right by you. What if I’m that cab– what signals am I sending to tell people– I’m open, and receptive, and ready to take a ride.
How am I living, how am I presenting, how am I showing up– that signals to other people that I’m here and I’m ready, and that’s very, very important.
Are you living with your cab light on? Are you receptive and open to possibility? Because if you’re not, if you’re head down, hunched over, like nothing can happen, you’re ensuring nothing can happen because you are closed off to possibility.
LN: I love that, and then I also think another thing that fits in with your having your cab light on is you talk about saying goodbye to people, or signing emails with, HAVE YOUR BEST DAY EVER!
MM: I say that all the time: have the best day ever. Routine is really important for people. People thrive with a sense of routine. Kids need routine, adults need routine, we need routine, but within routine you need to shake things up or you wind up on autopilot and you stop noticing the world around you. How many times do you say to someone–good morning, but you’re not even listening because it’s just this autopilot response. Or you’re leaving somewhere and you say, goodbye, and you barely even hear that. So, when I end an exchange or I leave the gym or the grocery store, have the best day ever, because I really actually do believe it could be, but I’m also waking someone up in that moment to this interaction which is different than me just leaving with an autopilot goodbye.
LN: That’s really important! Can you talk about the Vitamin T?
MM: Vitamin T is Vitamin Touch. People need people. People need hugs, and kisses, and squeezes. For so many of us, the loneliness epidemic in this country only escalated by virtue of a pandemic where we had to hide from each other. For people who haven’t been around people, and haven’t had hugs and any kind of that affection, just recognizing how important that can be. Maybe that needs to come from a pet, or caring for something, like a plant, but people need to be needed. People need to feel held, and cuddled, and touched, and that’s important. If that means maybe you go for a massage just to have some kind of human connection, it’s actually important.
LN: Yes. It’s very important. Can you talk about how kindness is magic and the importance of #kindnessgoals.
MM: Kindness is life, it is everything, and it is magic. Kind people are clearly my kind of people. Nothing bad ever comes from being good and kind. If you can sprinkle kindness like confetti and every cliché in the book, we all benefit. We all benefit from kindness. The person being kind benefits, the person receiving kindness benefits, and there can be this kindness boomerang that when you put good out into the world, good comes back to you, and sometimes in very unexpected ways. I just can’t encourage people enough to practice kindness.
LN: Remind everybody about the name of your book and where they can get it.
MM: My book is called, Your Fully Charged Life and it is available wherever books are sold. Most people buy it on Amazon. I always encourage people to shop local, shop small at a local bookstore if you can, but hey, it’s available on Amazon, Barnes and Noble, and wherever books are sold, and I’m always so grateful if people rate and review the book on Amazon. That’s like an author report card. It’s super, super helpful.
View this post on InstagramA post shared by Meaghan B Murphy (@meaghanbmurphy)
LN: And if people want to find you, do you have a website? Obviously, you have the Instagram account.
MM: I’m super busy on Instagram at MeaghanBMurphy and then I have, my website is, MeaghanBMurphy.com and it’s all the letters, Meaghan B Murphy.com.
LN: Thank you so much for your book, and your wisdom, and taking time to talk with me. I’m sure it’s quite busy at your house with three kids and running a giant magazine. I appreciate you sharing with me and all the listeners. Thank you for your wisdom and I look forward to working on gratitude 2.0.
MM: Thank you so much.
[image error]View this post on InstagramA post shared by The Yay List (@theyaylist)
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July 4, 2021
Where to RUN? Best Trails and City Views in San Francisco Bay
I love to get out to explore my city by staying active, whether it is through hiking, running, or swimming. When I run, I forget about COVID-19 and all of the changes in our world right now, so I thought I would share my five favorite parks in San Francisco with great views and fun trails.
I first started running in high school, where I am on my school’s track and cross-country teams which have won at the state level. Running is a great way to explore new places and conquer challenges—I am always looking to switch up my regular running spots, and one of my favorite activities to do when I travel is to find local parks to explore. I am also an open water swimmer, and love the San Francisco Bay (the last swim I did was from the Golden Gate to the Bay Bridge), so many of my favorite spots have a great water view.
If you find yourself in San Francisco, check out these places (and remember to wear a mask)!!
McLaren Park[image error]Clockwise: water tower, playground, hiking trails.McLaren Park is located in the southeastern corner of San Francisco, next to Crocker-Amazon and Visitacion Valley. The third largest park in the city, it spans 312 acres and holds 7 miles of trails through forest, grasslands, and marsh areas. Most of the park was built by the Works Projects Administration as a result of the New Deal during the Great Depression.
Hikeability ★★★★☆ Loose dirt and many hills. Trail Length ★★★★★ 7 miles of trails to wander. Ambiance ★★★★☆ Secluded and vast, goes through many different habitats. Amount of Other Visitors Seen ★★★★☆ Very empty, stay on open trails. Brooks Park[image error]Clockwise: park sign, street entrance, the view, garden.A small neighborhood block park in Merced heights with a community garden and a really short trail. Good view at the top.
Hikeability ★★★★☆Trail Length ★☆☆☆☆ Ambiance ★★★★★Amount of Other Visitors Seen ★★★☆☆ I passed one or two other people, but it was mostly empty.Aquatic Park[image error]Clockwise: where to find the entrance to the trail from Aquatic Park, view from the pier, the pier, West-facing viewMarine access for open water swimmers. It is a hub for aquatic sports, seals and boats. This is one of my favorite spots in the city, so I am partial to this trail that goes up a hill next to the park.
Hikeability: ★★★★☆Trail Length ★★★★☆Ambiance ★★★★☆Amount of Other Visitors Seen ★☆☆☆☆ quite crowded past 9am.Holly Park[image error]Clockwise: playground (currently closed), park sign, stairs, baseball diamond.Holly Park has a baseball diamond and concentric paved trails to walk on in Bernal Heights. It is very dog friendly.
Hikeability ★★★★☆Trail Length ★★★☆☆Ambiance ★★★★☆Amount of Other Visitors Seen ★★★☆☆Lands’ End[image error]Clockwise: view from end of trail, hill above Lands’ End Lookout, beach view, paved sectionThe Lands’ End trail is pretty long. It has an awesome water view and it also leads into other city trails around it. Check out the cross town trail. This is section 1 of the cross town trail which it takes you through different city neighborhoods.
Hikeability ★★★☆☆ It’s a little hilly and sometimes there is poison oak on the narrow trail but it is worth it.Trail Length ★★★★★Ambiance ★★★★★Amount of Other Visitors Seen ★☆☆☆☆Thanks for reading!
Learn about Sydney’s swim from Bridge to Bridge: Swimming in San Francisco to Change the World! and Will You to Swim Bridge to Bridge to Change the World?Next swim: Bonifacio Strait from Sardinia to Corsica![image error]The post Where to RUN? Best Trails and City Views in San Francisco Bay appeared first on We Said Go Travel.
July 1, 2021
Trends in Travel Media: Women in Travel Conference 2021
[image error]Join me July 14, 2021 for the Media Panel: New Trends in the Travel & Hospitality Landscape
Rosanna Caira
, Editor/Publisher at Kostuch Media Ltd.Julia Cosgrove,
Vice President & Editor in Chief at AFAR Media
Amy Alipio, Associate Managing Editor at National Geographic Travel[image error]Interviewed by Lisa Ellen Niver, Founder, Travel Journalist, & TV Host of We Said Go Travel
[image error]Click here for more information and to get your ticket!MEDIA PANEL:[image error]Rosanna Caira:Rosanna Caira is the editor and publisher of Kostuch Media overseeing its varied portfolio of print, digital and events products. In her capacity as editor of Canada’s two leading hospitality publications, Foodservice and Hospitality and Hotelier magazines, Rosanna directs the editorial and graphic content of both publications, and is responsible for the editorial vision of the magazines and its many digital products.
In addition to her editorial duties, Rosanna also serves as publisher, directing the strategic development of the Sales and Marketing, Production and Circulation departments. She is also responsible for the company’s many events, ranging from the Icons & Innovators, to the Pinnacle Awards and the Women in Tourism & Hospitality conference.
Rosanna is well known in industry circles across Canada, representing the magazines at industry functions and has served on various Boards and committees. These include the Canadian Hospitality Foundation, the Ontario Hostelry Institute, and the Canadian Business Press. Rosanna is a recipient of the Ontario Hostelry Institute’s Gold Award in the media category, and has served on the Board of Directors of the American-based International Food Editors’ Council. In September 2006, the Italian Chamber of Commerce named Rosanna one of the 32 most successful business women in Canada of Italian Origin. And, in 2016, Rosanna was bestowed with an Honorary degree – the Bachelor of Business Administration in Hospitality — from Toronto’s George Brown College.
It was a challenging year for restaurant companies and nowhere is that more evident than in our annual ranking. https:// https://t.co/DEkgOV7acl via @Foodservice and Hospitality Magazine
— Rosanna Caira (@RCaira_Kostuch) June 3, 2021
[image error]It's Here! Check out the June 2021 Foodservice and Hospitality magazine digital issue! Available now! https://t.co/r1hJ1ijvFh pic.twitter.com/8LR3jEmL4R
— F&H Magazine (@foodservicemag) June 2, 2021
Amy Alipio:
Amy Alipio is assistant managing editor at Nat Geo Travel, where she started as an assistant editor 20 years ago. She has won several industry awards for writing and editing. Before Nat Geo, she worked as an editor at WHERE Washington magazine and Budapest Weekly. She has a Masters degree in Journalism from Carleton University in Ottawa, Canada.
Thoughtful piece + great pics just in time for #FathersDay!: thx to @ByHeatherGD @BeleafMel @dopeblackdads via @NatGeoTravel https://t.co/jZ8YIQ9BsW
— Amy Alipio (@amytravels) June 14, 2021
[image error] Julia Cosgrove , AFAR MEDIA:To experience this stark and stunning landscape is to be reminded of the good that can come of visionary public action to preserve our wild spaces—and how much more needs to be done. https://t.co/is1nHZW8c6
— Nat Geo Travel (@NatGeoTravel) July 1, 2021
I’m an award-winning, entrepreneurial executive with extensive experience launching, leading, and growing media brands; building highly engaged cross-functional teams and then inspiring them to do the best work of their careers; creating and implementing innovative, revenue-generating content and creative strategies; tirelessly advocating for out-of-the-box experimentation and product differentiation; and recruiting and cultivating top-notch talent in an ever-evolving business climate.
I’m a decisive brand steward, a journalist, an editor, and a highly creative strategist who cuts through the noise to reveal and distill what truly matters. I drive results and excellence. I build community through active listening, loyalty, respect, and an abiding commitment to doing right by people. I believe in the vital importance of trustworthiness, expertise, transparency, inclusivity, and authoritativeness.
I balance business needs with the craft of creative thinking. I lead by instinct, data, and example. I believe the best working relationships are highly collaborative and full of candor and direct communication, and I excel when I’m working with a diverse group of colleagues who bring radically different perspectives to the table. I approach leadership—and times of crisis—with empathy and humility.
I’m a bold ideas person and a creative problem solver who relishes a good challenge. As such, I thrive in nimble, forward-thinking companies led by teams who aren’t afraid to take risks and who encourage employees to bring their whole selves to work. I enjoy leadership roles focused on big-picture strategy, but I’m also happy to roll up my sleeves and get things done. I’m a stickler for a strong, confident, and consistent brand voice. What has driven me throughout my 20+ years in media? Conceptualizing, creating, and amplifying quality, engaging stories; honing and then staying true to a brand’s core mission and vision; turning customers into passionate evangelists; and intentionally converting good ideas into good business.
When an issue of afarmedia devoted to hospitality drops in the middle of a pandemic, do travelers hear it? I hope so. Our hardworking team, under the creative direction of our new,… https://t.co/YjFhzRGHZW
— Julia Cosgrove (@jules_afar) May 16, 2020
[image error][image error]Click here for more information and to get your ticket![image error]It would be one of the largest national parks in Europe. https://t.co/icXuboM0vW
— AFAR Media (@AFARmedia) July 1, 2021
The post Trends in Travel Media: Women in Travel Conference 2021 appeared first on We Said Go Travel.
It's Here! Check out the June 2021 Foodservice and Hospi...
It's Here! Check out the June 2021 Foodservice and Hospitality magazine digital issue! Available now! https://t.co/r1hJ1ijvFh pic.twitter.com/8LR3jEmL4R
— F&H Magazine (@foodservicemag) June 2, 2021
The post appeared first on We Said Go Travel.
It was a challenging year for restaurant companies and n...
It was a challenging year for restaurant companies and nowhere is that more evident than in our annual ranking. https:// https://t.co/DEkgOV7acl via @Foodservice and Hospitality Magazine
— Rosanna Caira (@RCaira_Kostuch) June 3, 2021
The post appeared first on We Said Go Travel.
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