Oprah Winfrey has graced the covers of countless magazines, but her proudest moment was when she ... [+] appeared on the cover of Vogue.

According to Forbes, Oprah Winfrey is one of the 10 richest self-made women in America. And her name is certainly the most famous to appear in the illustrious top ten. No American woman has ever managed to achieve the same level of fame as Oprah by their own efforts. Oprah Winfrey grew up in very modest circumstances. But, from a very early age, her goal was to become famous. In junior high, when she was asked to fill in one of those Where Will I Be in Twenty Years? forms every child is confronted with at some point or other, Oprah checked the box marked Famous. Many of the people who knew Oprah as a girl and young woman testify to the fact that she was always driven to become a star and be very rich. For her, wealth was primarily a means of attracting attention: In this society nobody listens to you unless you have some bling, some money, some clout, some access.

Oprahs Big Break

Oprahs career got started in 1976 with a television station in Baltimore. She was given the assignment of visiting a different Baltimore neighborhood each day to interview local people. Typical of Oprah, she judged her role primarily in terms of how it could increase her own popularity. It's good P.R. for me, she explained, It was a great way of introducing me to the city. Unfortunately, she lost her prestigious position as co-anchor after just eight months. She was demoted to weekend features reporter, which, by her own admission, was the lowest position in the newsroom hierarchy. The substantive stories Oprah was now asked to report on included a cockatoos birthday party at the local zoo. But at least she was still part of the newsroom. When she was chosen as the host of a new morning show, People Are Talking, she felt she had finally reached rock-bottom. Her boss at the time recalls: She really wanted to be a news person. She knew that news was all that mattered in television at the time. She saw daytime as a real come-down, a failure. She started crying. Please don't to this to me, she begged. Its the lowest of the low. ... What I was offering her was a real job and, quite frankly, she had no other option. Oprah finally agreed to do it, but she left his office with tears in her eyes.

It is a tribute to Oprah that she made the best of the situation, and in retrospect what seemed like a demotion proved a great opportunity for her further career. People Are Talking launched on August 14, 1978, and after interviewing two actors from her favorite soap opera, All My Children, Oprah said she felt like she had finally found her place in television. I came off the air, and I knew that was what I was supposed to do ... This is it. This is what I was born to do ... It just felt like breathing. It was the most natural process for me." Her show was so successful that it was soon picked up for national syndication.

Oprahs Image Change

Her show drew its highest ratings when it covered sex-related topics. Audiences also responded enthusiastically to features on diet and relationship issues. Later in her career, she reflected more critically on the kind of shows she had initially been so successful with: Ive been guilty of doing trash TV and not even thinking it was trash, she once admitted. Winfrey wanted to elevate her shows by focusing on more challenging featuresincluding, for example, promoting books. In addition to audience ratings, image had now also become important to Oprahshe no longer wanted to shed her reputation for doing trash TV.

She now saw herself as more of a motivational guru. In the late 1990s, Oprah started a series of Change Your Life shows. She positioned herself as the embodiment of the American dream: a woman who overcame a difficult and abusive childhood and went on to craft an unprecedented career for herself as and became the worlds first black self-made billionaire. Her story inspired many millions of peoplenot only in America but also in many other countries where her show was broadcast. For Oprah and her followers, her extraordinary success was proof of the power of positive thinking. People were inspired by her gospel: If I can do it, you can do it. Ultimately, talk shows were just one of the many vehicles that Oprah used to promote herself and achieve unparalleled professional success.

Oprahs Diets

As a girl, Oprah had never even dared to dream of being on the cover of Vogue. However, when the idea was floated, the magazines editor told Oprah, who was overweight for much of her life, that she would have to lose weight before she would be invited to pose for the cover. Oprah promised to lose at least 20 pounds by the day of the photo shoot. She enrolled in a weight-loss boot camp, followed a strict diet and trained hard to make it onto the cover of Vogue. In October 1998, Oprahs Vogue cover hit the newsstands. It went on to sell 900,000 copies, more than any other issue in the magazine's 110-year history.

Over the years, Winfrey has gone through repeated cycles of shedding pounds of weight, only to put them all back on again. On one of her famous diets, she lost 67 pounds. In order to show her audience just how much that is, she pulled 67 pounds of greasy animal fat into the studio in a small red wagon. To drive the point home, she tried to lift the bag of wobbly fat. Is this gross or what? Its amazing to me, I cant lift it, but I used to carry it around every day.

The show was the most successful of Winfreys talk show careerwatched by 44% of the daytime television audience. Following her diet, she declared that she would never gain weight again, but she had said the same thing so many times before and eventually always put the weight back on. Her mostly female viewers sympathized with her weight struggles, especially as so many of them had their own personal experience of this yo-yo effect. Her viewers found it easier to identify with a frequently overweight woman who struggled with diets all her life than they did with a presenter with the figure of a supermodel. But whether she was climbing up or down the scales, Winfrey always made her weight a topic of discussion on her talk shows and in numerous interviews.

Oprahs Affinity For Ordinary People

Just like Donald Trump, Oprah Winfrey, despite her incredible fortune and fame, has always managed to create the impression that she not only has an affinity for ordinary people and their problems, but that she was in fact one of them. And to a certain extent this is true. The problems Oprah had in her private lifeespecially her weight and diet issues, but also her relationship problemswere the same problems so many of her viewers were also grappling with.

As Oprah became increasingly famous, a growing number of acquaintances, both real and fake, contacted the media to sell scandalous stories about her eventful life. One of her ex-boyfriends threatened to expose the details of their past drug abuseover a number of years, they had repeatedly taken cocaine and other drugs together. Oprah initially tried to kill these damaging stories, but soon realized how difficult that would be and decided to adopt a more aggressive PR strategy instead. She invited a drug addict onto her talk show and thenseeminglyspontaneously confessed that she had also been a drug addict. This was an incredibly astute move: by publicly confessing her past problems with drugs, she defused the impact of the potential humiliation and robbed any such scandalous stories of their news value.

Oprah has always done everything within her power to shape her own image. She learned a painful lesson when she was humiliated by her drug-addict sister, who sold the story of Oprahs unwanted teenage pregnancy and drug abuse to a tabloid newspaper. After this devastating experience, Oprah made almost everyone in her life her sign a confidentiality agreement and forbade them from talking openly about Oprahs private life or business affairs. The more powerful she became, the more control she exerted over the medias coverage of all things Oprah. In fact, she even frequently hand-picked which photographer would be allowed to take her pictures for newspaper articles.

Image Is EverythingSeven Factors For Success

All celebrities care about their image, but rarely has anyone crafted their image as purposefully and consistently as Oprah Winfrey. She wanted control over media representations of her character, her appearance and her life story. The most important factors behind Oprahs success were these:

The rest is here:
The Seven Secrets Of Oprah Winfreys Success - Forbes

On Sunday afternoon, the University of Portland hosted its first full indoor track meet since the mid-1990s, according to mens track and field head coach Rob Conner. The Portland Pilots posted personal bests and came away victorious in several races.

The meet which was split into two days, with day one being hosted by George Fox University was the first of three that will be hosted by UP. The second will take place on Feb. 9 and the third on Feb. 23.

I feel like everybody did a great job, especially with this being our first home meet in a long time and first meet since having the track redone. womens head coach Ian Solof said. Considering that I think it was definitely a success.

Indoor tracks are different than the standard outdoor track. Most indoor tracks are around 200 meters while outdoor tracks are 400. Those lengths still vary, with the refurbished track at the Chiles Center measured at 240 meters around. For reference, the track at the University of Washington Invitational to start the season was 307 meters. Regardless, the strategy doesnt change.

Its more just kind of getting familiar with the track, Solof said. Thats a big part of it is just getting used to the layout and having a sense of where the finish line is, but it doesnt change the strategy. The basics of racing still apply.

That home track advantage came in handy. Portland had four winners combined between the mens and womens team as well as 26 personal records across all runners.

Senior Maya Murphy-Cook was a highlight for the womens team as she won the 200-meter dash with a time of 25.87 seconds, a personal record. Sophomore Grace Oswin won the 800-meter race with a time of 2:19.30, freshman McKenna Smith took second in the 3,000-meter (10:12.38) and sophomore Tara Fuitens 59.70 time in the 400-meter dash was the eighth-best time in school history.

The mens team dominated the distance races, earning the top five times in the 3000-meter and the top four times in the mile. Thomas Salas claimed first in the 3,000 with a time of 8:34.74 while Henry Chapmans time of 4:13.82 was good for first in the mile.

With this meet being the first for most of the runners this year, Conner and Solof were proud of how their teams performed.

So far, so good, Conner said. Happy with how the track held up, happy about everybodys efforts and I think its a really good place to build on.

While the meet was a successful one for their runners, the meet was just as successful from an organizational perspective in the eyes of both Conner and Solof, showing that the Chiles Center can be an option for future meets.

I was extremely happy with the organization of the meet, the structure that we provided, Conner said. Weve gotten nothing but positive feedback from the competitors and the coaches. This gets us established as a viable option for indoor track and I think youll see more people coming and coming and coming.

Kyle Garcia is the Sports editor for The Beacon. He can be reached at garciaky20@up.edu.

Read more from the original source:
First ever Portland Indoor meet 'definitely a success' for Pilots - The Beacon

While Microsoft(NASDAQ:MSFT) is best known for its operating system and software products, the company's resurgence in recent years has been largely attributed to its successful foray into cloud computing. This success helped push Microsoft's market cap above $1 trillion in 2019 while driving its stock up by more than 55% last year, easily outpacing the 29% gains of the S&P 500.

The company's cloud computing segment will likely be in the limelight once again, and many market watchers expect the segment's sterling growth to continue when Microsoft reports the financial results of its fiscal 2020 second quarter after the market close on Wednesday, Jan. 29.

Image source: Microsoft.

It's been just a decade since Microsoft introduced its Azure Cloud in February 2010, and the platform's ascent has been nothing short of phenomenal. Microsoft quickly became the second-largest cloud provider, behind just AmazonWeb Services (AWS), and continues to grow at a faster rate.

In its fiscal first quarter, Microsoft said its commercial cloud generated revenue of $11.6 billion, up 36% year over year. The company's intelligent cloud segment grew to $10.8 billion, up 27%, while Azure grew a more impressive 59% compared to the prior-year quarter.

While the cloud is currently part of a trifecta of Microsoft businesses, there are those on Wall Street who think this is just the beginning. Late last year, Stifel Nicolaus analyst Brad Reback pointed out that the transition to the cloud is still in the early stages and notes that Azure already has a run rate of $17 billion. With Microsoft's recent wins like the $10 billion JEDI contract, cloud computing could become its biggest revenue generator by 2023.

Look for more strong gains from the cloud segment.

Another factor in Microsoft's strong growth has been the company's ability to generate recurring revenue from the sale of subscriptions to its suite of software products like Office. Microsoft's productivity and business processes segment has been a consistent performer, with revenue of $11.1 billion, up 13% year over year in the first quarter. This included revenue from Office commercial products and cloud services that climbed 13% year over year, while Office 365 commercial revenue climbed 25%.

Microsoft's more personal computing segment grew at a much slower rate, up just 4% year over year, but still generated revenue of $11.1 billion.

Microsoft is forecasting total revenue in a range of $35.15 billion to $35.95 billion, which would represent year-over-year growth of about 9% at the midpoint of its guidance. This would represent a deceleration from the 14% growth the tech giant achieved last quarter. Analysts' consensus estimates are calling for revenue of $35.7 billion -- near the high end of management's guidance -- or growth of about 10%,while expecting earnings per share of $1.32, an increase of 20%.

It's important to note that Microsoft's management has historically been conservative with its guidance and has beaten its internal estimates for several consecutive quarters. Given that history, it wouldn't be much of a surprise if Microsoft were to exceed its own guidance yet again.

View post:
Will Microsoft's Cloud Computing Juice Its Earnings Results? - The Motley Fool

Josh Donaldson was fielding inquiries from several teams at the outset of free agency when he received one in particular he found intriguing.

I think it was probably about a week or two (into the process), I called my agent Dan (Lozano), Donaldson said. I said, Hey, man, I want you to call the Twins and let them know I want to be there. I think its a real opportunity for us. Theres a lot of things for me why it drew me here. I was just hoping that they felt the same way and obviously thats where were at today and its pretty special for all of us.

The Twins felt the same way but had to wait for Donaldson to make a decision as the Atlanta Braves, Washington Nationals and Los Angeles Dodgers also reportedly bid for his services. Ultimately, it was the Twins four-year, $92 million offer that the 34-year-old third baseman accepted. The contract, the most lucrative any of the teams offered Donaldson and the richest deal the Twins have ever given a free agent from outside the organization, includes a fifth-year club option that will be worth $16 million or enable the team to pay an $8 million buyout.

Donaldson was introduced Wednesday during a press conference at Target Field, one week after the news broke that he had decided to sign in Minnesota after spending his nine-year career in Oakland, Toronto, Cleveland and Atlanta. After an injury-plagued 2018 season limited him to 52 games with Toronto and Cleveland, Donaldson signed a one-year, $23 million contract with the Braves last year hoping to prove himself worthy of a much richer, multiyear deal.

Donaldson succeeded.

He won NL Comeback Player of the Year honors, hitting .259/.379/.521 with 37 home runs and 94 RBIs in 155 games for the NL East champions. Donaldson brings his 219 career home runs to a team that set the big-league single-season home run record last season with 307. Donaldson, who was the AL MVP in 2015 with the Blue Jays, does more than add power. He also brings afar better glove at third base than Miguel Sano provided. Sano, who signed a three-year, $30 million contract with the Twins this month, will move to first base to make room for Donaldson.

I think the division sets up well, Donaldson said, being back in the American League fits well, personal success in this stadium has definitely been something that I was looking forward to possibly being here one day.

Donaldson wasnt kidding about his success at Target Field. In 22 career games in the stadium, Donaldson has hit .373 (31-for-83) with seven doubles, 10 home runs, 21 RBIs, an .819 slugging percentage and a 1.283 OPS. Among all active players with a minimum of 75 plate appearances, his OPS ranks first and his batting average ranks third. Donaldson hit .444/.643/.556 in nine at-bats in a three-game interleague series at the ballpark last August.

You can insert your own joke about how much of this success came against bad Twins pitching through the years, but Donaldson feels there is a reason for his success at the ballpark.

If youve ever played golf, and Im an avoid golfer in the offseason, I think there are certain golf holes that set up to your eye, he said. For some season, this stadium sits up well for me. Maybe its the background, or whatever its been, Ive taken a liking to it. Ive had some great experiences here and Im looking forward to putting up more numbers here.

Excerpt from:
Perfect fit: Josh Donaldson says he identified Twins as attractive landing spot - SKOR North

The definition of a smart city essentially describes a city comprised of a more connective infrastructure. It means that data and technology are utilized to their most efficient capacity and capability to improve sustainability, spur economic development, and enhance quality of life. You can find them all over the United States. But why limit the possibilities of connecting a city, when you can connect an entire region? Welcome to The Connective, the first Greater Phoenix smart region.

Two years ago we announced the intention and vision for a smart region consortium in Greater Phoenix, says Chris Camacho, president and CEO of the Greater Phoenix Economic Council (GPEC). Now a reality, this consortium will elevate the regions competitiveness and enhance the reputation of Greater Phoenix as a preeminent market where companies can test, develop and deploy technology at scale while providing our residents with a technologically advanced lifestyle opportunity.

What will be the nations largest and most connected smart region in Greater Phoenix is the result of the unified effort of the Partnership for Economic Innovation (PEI), GPEC, Maricopa Association of Governments, Arizona State University and the Institute for Digital Progress.

The connective is a governing structure that establishes a process by which the region can holistically adopt smart technology by entirely re-engineering the system as we know it today, Camacho says.

The Connective, Greater Phoenixs Smart Region Consortium, was founded with support from Cox Communications, Dell, Maricopa County, Salt River Project and Sprint.

These great organizations are conveners of ideas and are key to developing a vision for our future, says Jenn Daniels, mayor of Gilbert. No one does anything alone. Each group brings strengths and expertise to the table without an ego. Its a remarkable accomplishment to collaborate across so many disciplines, but its also the Arizona way. Weve been working together on various issues for decades and weve gotten really good at it.

This collaborative effort to construct the nations largest smart region is designed to enable high-level problem solving that encourages connectivity, affordability, and intra-operative capability of services.

The Connective is another step forward for smart community applications and services, explains Ed Aaronson, vice president at Cox Communications, engaging city leaders and citizens, nonprofits, university faculty, student researchers, industry experts, and visiting scholars to build the metropolitan and regional infrastructure of the future.

The cities interwoven into The Connective include The City of Apache Junction, City of Buckeye, City of Casa Grande, City of Chandler, Town of El Mirage, Town of Fountain Hills, Town of Gilbert, City of Glendale, City of Goodyear, City of Mesa, City of Peoria, City of Phoenix, Town of Queen Creek, City of Scottsdale, City of Surprise, City of Tempe, City of Tolleson and the Town of Youngtown, with the potential for additional cities to join in the future.

While the needs of individual cities will certainly be addressed, The Connective seeks to solve the challenges of all jurisdictions by approaching solutions on a larger, regional scale.

According to Diana Bowman, associate professor for Arizona State Universitys School for the Future of Innovation in Society, The Connective is meant to identify what the challenges are from a regional vantage point. This is not about ASU having a research agenda and going out to deliver technology to the cities and region because we think thats what needed. Its about each participating city telling us what they need and The Connective finding the best solution to address that need.

Bowman provides a real-time, palatable example of how the concept of interchangeable systems will play out in the Greater Phoenix Smart Region.

When I wake up in the morning, explains Bowman, I wake up in the City of Phoenix. When I go to work at the Tempe campus, I cross a jurisdictional border. Most citizens in Greater Phoenix cross-jurisdictional boundaries every day whether they know it or not. To have smart system transportation that only operates in Tempe or Phoenix (independent of one another) makes no sense. Having an intra-operable system allows a seamless flow of vehicles and people.

Intra-operative transportation is but one aspect of The Connectives drive for refined fluidity between municipalities.

Seamless borders need to be seamless by way of technology, data sharing and integrated solutions, too, Daniels says. I would love to work with The Connective to ensure that solutions dont end at municipal boundaries, but that as a region and state, we all work together to ensure total integration when it comes to traffic management, 5G connectivity and resource protection.

Whereas smart technology solutions have historically come in the form of a pushed product upon a city council, Camacho reiterates that The Connective works in opposition to this strategy.

Ours is a partnership and governance that enables us to form audits with our cities to find out what residents want in terms of issues that they foresee in their communities, he says. We find common ground in shared challenges that propel the governance system to enable a call for innovation and to ultimately come forward and address what those issues are.

While The Connective goes to work on addressing the varied issues within the new Greater Phoenix Smart Region, there will be added advantages for those involved.

The training, knowledge sharing and awareness that will result from participation in The Connective will greatly benefit cities as they seek to better understand how and when to implement smart technologies in their cities, says Dan Cotterman, deputy city manager for Goodyear.

Often, cities share common challenges, further reinforcing the value of regional collaboration in working toward connectivity. Camacho explains that the likely shared challenges of The Connectives participating cities allow for the adoption of a scale. This scale enables the overarching cost that a city or set of cities would normally incur to procure needed technology to significantly decrease.

Cities arent the only entities that have the potential to save. Because The Connective ultimately seeks to provide the smartest solutions through the most efficient solutions, Greater Phoenix businesses and universities will likewise reap the rewards.

Think of Arizona in the last five years as becoming known as the proving ground for emerging technologies, Camacho says. In 2015, there was executive order on autonomous vehicles, then theres the FinTech sandbox, wearable technology, and the recent emergence of PropTech (property technology) and new regulatory sandboxes. All of this has evolved into a partnership with private industry, including APS, SRP and others with ASU.

The result of such partnerships is going to enable a mass number of proving grounds, testing models, where Internet of Things (IoT) devices can be deployed alongside other forms of state-of-the-art smart technology to be tested and validated before they get brought back to the consortium for adoption, according to Camacho.

Businesses are increasingly incorporating technology in their workplace environment, affirms Cotterman. The use of technology spans all business sectors, from engineering companies to advanced manufacturers, who use sophisticated technology to grow and compete in the global marketplace. The Connective allows us, as a region, to stay relevant and become more competitive as we vie for knowledge-based and other highly desirable companies.

While financial and logistics benefits are likely to manifest in both public and private sectors, Bowman emphasizes that there is a far greater motivation at play when it comes to the underlying drive of The Connective.

At all times, the discussion has ultimately centered around quality of life, Bowman says. Having the mindset that the Smart Region isnt so much about technology or business development but rather improving quality of life in the region has been the driving force for everything weve done and is critical to our mission moving forward.

If we do this well over the next few years, Camacho says, We believe as we put the new governance structure in place, well have a structure by which public and private interest in smart technology advance together, the result of which will yield an innovative brand for the region.

And, Daniels adds, When we demonstrate our willingness to drive change, we will attract others who see value in the same. Our universities are turning out world-class graduates already contributing to our economy. All levels of government are challenging the status quo and clearing the path for business and personal success. Our businesses are investing in solutions and in people delivering unprecedented Arizona growth. Were all in this together and it shows.

Go here to see the original:
Here's how the Valley evolved into the nation's largest smart region - AZ Big Media

Fitness & Recreational Sports at the University of Nevada, Reno is one of the largest employers of students on campus, with up to 120 on the schedule at any given time. Their two main facilities, E.L. Wiegand Fitness Center and Lombardi Recreation Center, are opened, run and closed down at night by students, who fall into a variety of positions designed to keep everything (and everyone) moving for the 362 days per year that the centers are open.

In the midst of all that, with more than 130 classes per week and monstrously large buildings full of people throwing around weights and themselves, FRS still manages to not only train student workers in the myriad policies that keep things ticking but also to take close interest in their students success and contribute to it.

Our foundation is our students, Assistant Director of Fitness & Recreational Sports Sheena Harvey said. We could not run this facility without our student workers. Harvey is talking about the four-story, 108,000-square-foot E.L Wiegand Fitness Center, which opened in February 2017 and grew the number student workers needed to manage and run things by quite a bit.

Harvey herself joined FRS in 2003 as a student worker, and 17 years later, she proudly calls the fitness center The best place on Earth! She beams with enthusiasm for the work and for her students. They probably get tired of me, Harvey said laughing, but thats their fault for working here.

Shes always checking in with her student workers, asking about how their classes are going and how tests went. Sometimes we see them all the way through to graduation, Harvey said, and I think thats the coolest part.

Getting more than 100 students trained in everything from customer service to personal training to officiating intramural sports is no small feat. Were getting students that this is their first job. Theyve never had to be somewhere on time, Harvey said.

Just to begin work with FRS, students have to meet the following criteria:

Student positions include facilities operation staff, lifeguarding staff, intramural sports official staff, sport supervisors and fitness instructors, and each of these has its own path to move up, as well as specific in-service requirements.

We trust our students, Harvey said. "I think thats a big part of it, always backing them up. Were a big ball of risk, and this is an active job.

In addition to building good communication and critical thinking skills, doing in-service work, cleaning and managing all of the various tasks and responsibilities mentioned above, the student workers are encouraged to pursue new avenues and certifications.

There may be someone who wants to be a yoga instructor but doesnt know the steps to do it, Harvey said. If we have some spaces and there are students showing interest and wanting to do instruction, well put them into a certification program, so they can have it and get it in before graduation and not have to pay for it.

One such student is sophomore and kinesiology major Dalton Taylor, who earned his certification to teach barre (a blend of weight training and ballet-inspired movement) and work as a substitute instructor for cycling classes. Taylor is working his way toward becoming a supervisor, but as a senior staff member, hes still helping guide the new hires, sharing his experience, helping them understand policies, constantly doing walkthroughs and making sure to be friendly with everyone. He said the program has not only made him more able to assist people who need help but has encouraged him to ask for help when he needs it, too.

Ive always been big into fitness. Ive done rugby and dance throughout my youth, Taylor said. I want to share that experience and share what Ive learned with other people. This job has definitely helped me with my communications skills.

Taylor credits two of his own student supervisors with taking him under their respective wings to help him learn the ropes and all the policies. Hes learned to build connections with patrons and other student workers, and as a kinesiology major, its actually E.L. Wiegand Fitness Center that drew him to campus in the first place.

The first time I came to the gym was my junior year of high school, Taylor said. My mom and I were touring campus and got to see, Oh, this is a brand new facility. That was one of the big things that got me up here [from Las Vegas] was the gym.

Its not all about making sure the facilities are running efficiently at Fitness & Recreational Sports. Its also about getting students across the stage at commencement and giving them the skills theyll need going forward.

Fit to graduate. When I say that, I mean it. We want every student that comes through our program to graduate, Harvey said. I think the biggest thing is and I literally say this to all my students When you leave here, youre going to be a better communicator. Youre going to be a better critical thinker. Youre going to be able to deal with conflict as it comes. And I just think theyre going to be a better person.

Fitness & Recreational Sports also offers the Steve Pomi Scholarship, named for the FRS director who preceded Director Jim Fitzsimmons, which consists of $3,000 awarded to three students each year. Winners get to see their own smiling faces across social channels and on monitors throughout the facilities. Students working for FRS are encouraged to apply and reapply if at first they dont succeed.

Community health sciences major and senior Kyle Harris is a recent awardee who was encouraged to give it another go. He said his time with FRS has given him purpose. If I werent part of it, I probably wouldnt be a part of anything other than a few clubs here and there, Harris said. Working here has given me more things to do in college. Its really helped.

Harris is currently working as a student supervisor and working toward becoming an instructor before he graduates in May and starts training to become a paramedic. His work with FRS has truly enriched his time at the University.

I enjoy watching people grow as individuals, Harris said. As a supervisor and a shadow for crossfit, its really heartwarming to see people change as a crossfit shadow, seeing people make gains across the gym; as a supervisor, seeing people get more assertive with their work.

Talking with students and staff, its abundantly clear that working for FRS is more than just a paycheck for everyone involved. Student workers are empowered to make decisions knowing that staff members trust them and will be there to back them up. In the workplace, students are encouraged to be themselves and work together to make things their own.

I always tell my students to be great in whatever theyre doing, in whatever they want to do, Harvey said. In my emails, I sign off, Okay, go be great!

More here:
Go be great: Fitness & Recreational Sports mentoring and student success - Nevada Today

As we progress further into 2020, it is evident that the issues and opportunities surrounding the topic of identity within the financial services marketplace are undergoing fundamental change. Because of technological advance, digital verification is playing a larger part in banking.

Developments such as social media and mobile phones have provided many more people around the world with access to financial services. As a result, new ways of validating and verifying existing and potential customers have come to the fore but significant problems arise when these systems are compromised, raising new challenges for banks.

While the World Banks Global ID4D Dataset estimates that there are currently one billion people who cannot prove who they are, the emergence of digital authentication has also provided many sectors of the population, especially those who struggled beforehand because of socioeconomic factors, with increased access to public and private services such as healthcare and education.

This digital new normal has led to an expansion of the identity industry. Governments, regulators, companies and banks across the globe are now attempting to manage both personal authentication and the associated data security and policy questions arising.

Despite this acceleration in available technologies, traditional banks continue to ask their customers for identification such as birth certificates and passports when opening a new account at a branch. They do so despite the economic advantages of moving to new identity services.

According to the Boston Consulting Groups report The Value of our Digital Identity, the adoption of digital identity services could lead to a significant annual value growth of 22%, which would result in 330 billion by 2020 for the private and public institutions in Europe.

Reluctance

In the UK, at the start of 2019, governor of the Bank of England Mark Carney suggested that digital ID cards would make it safer for people to access money online and that improvements need to be made to the security and privacy of online financial services, not only to customer experience, as reported in The Telegraph.

Following the internet boom and the parallel decline of bank branches, this harmonisation of different systems of online identity verification is overdue. As cybersecurity increases as a major concern and digital criminals improve their capabilities to threaten both individuals and the wider financial system, the imperative only increases.

National culture and historical legacy have played a key role in approaches to identity issues around the world. In the UK the concept of an ID card has always been a controversial subject despite almost every other European nation using one. Back in 2010, the UKs Coalition Government scrapped a plan inherited from its predecessor to introduce identification cards. The then home-secretary, Theresa May, said that the scheme would increase control over citizens. A year later, the Cabinet Office started work on the GOV. UK Verify system. It was declared live on 24th May 2016.

In March 2019, GOV.UK Verify was criticised in a National Audit Office (NAO) report after only 3.6 million users had signed up for the digital identification scheme way off the 2020 goal of 25 million. The NAO report examined the Government Digital Services (GDS) expectation that the flagship identity verification platform would cost 212 million and generate 873 million between 2016 to 2020. The UK Government, however, claimed that drawbacks like this were normal when introducing new technology, despite the initiatives intention of becoming the default identity verification process for online services such as benefits or income tax.

At the latter end of 2018, the minister responsible for implementation, Oliver Dowden CBE MP, made a House of Commons statement that highlighted that the UKs GOV.UK Verify programme was ready to enter the next phase of development. GOV.UK Verify promotes itself as a secure way of proving who you are online and one way that a UK citizen can access government services such as taxes or their driving license. The UK Government has partnered with Barclays bank, identity provider Digidentity, credit reporting agency Experian, the Post Office and verification service SecureIdentity to offer this service. Consequently, all these private sector organisations are certified to verify identity on behalf of the UK government.

In his statement, Dowden said that now the Government Digital Service was mature, the private sector will take responsibility for broadening the usage and application of digital identity in the UK. While the Government will continue to provide assurance, the UKs identity scheme operates under commercial organisations. Success in the marketplace will be determined this way, without direct funding and investment from the Government. The announcement also ensured that GOV. UK Verify will continue to protect public sector digital services from cyber threats, including identity fraud, and other malicious activity.

However, in conversation with Finextra Research, head of thematic research and chief analyst at GlobalData, Gary Barnett, says he believes that while the Verify programme does purport to be useful beyond providing identity assurance for public sector services, theres been next to no uptake. This is partly because organisations like banks or insurance companies already have established identity assurance and Know Your Customer (KYC) processes in place many of which are not all that compatible with GOV.UK Verify.

People deal with digital platforms that are not customer-efficient in three stages: irritation, dejection and then, acceptance. Consumers understand that problems arise and may take time to resolve. What we are seeing in the UK is that the Government would like the private sector to lead and refine how identity services are provided to the public.

On the other side

Agility is necessary in identity services and a simple way of providing this would be to establish just one process of authenticatingcitizens. In the US, the Department of Treasury released a report emphasising the importance of portable digital identity 5. The report pointed to the significance of establishing legal identity for new customer relationships at financial institutions without the need for the bank having to verify personally identifiable information (PII).

This proposed US plan has strong parallels to the UKs groundbreaking Open Banking experiment and in the same way, stated that trustworthy portable third-party digital identity services could potentially save relying parties time and resources in identifying, verifying, and managing customer identities, including for account opening and access.

The US Treasury also put forward a request for financial regulators to collaborate with them so that unnecessary barriers which private and public organisations might face could be eliminated, and the adoption of digital identity services would be better facilitated within the financial services industry.

Speaking with Finextra Research, Alex Bolante, managing director, consumer identity management at Deloitte Risk and Financial Advisory, discussed the US situation. Bolante considers that US financial institutions were already aware of the need for and benefits of digital identity. However, as customer expectations rise, so do those of the regulators.

According to Bolante, regulators are demanding increased transparency around transactions, meaning that financial institutions require greater granularity and accuracy in the identity information that they capture and are increasingly being held liable for inaccurate or missing identity information.

He adds that bad actors in financial systems are increasingly sophisticated in the technology and tools that they use to conduct illicit activity, increasing their ability to quickly cause financial and reputational damage by exploiting weak identity systems.

Identity risk

Despite this risk, banks could stand to benefit from creating digital identity solutions. Money and identity are two closely intertwined concepts that have started to operate on a parallel basis. In conversation with Finextra Research, Kaelyn Lowmaster, head of research at One World Identity, highlights that those two goals financial institution success and personal identity protection are not necessarily in conflict with one another. Its in the best interest of a financial institution to make sure that consumer identity is protected to avoid theft, fraud and compliance violations.

The contrast between banks and Big Tech an alternative source of consumer identity services is stark in this regard. Lowmaster continues: reliable identity data is critical for accurate risk assessment, financial product underwriting, and marketing but we find its helpful to think of personal data protection as a potential strategic differentiator for financial institutions.

On data protection a significant talking point in 2018 and not just in the financial services industry digital bank Tandems chief technology officer Paul Clark reiterates to Finextra Research there will always be a new threat for banks, and therefore they have a responsibility to inform and educate their customers.

The truth is that good service is built on a wealth of data and that benefits the customer and the bank. Part of data protection is keeping consumers aware. If you arent using customer attention to improve their security, you are doing something wrong, Clark says.

This article appears within the Finextra Research report on The Future of Identity. Download a copy of the full report here.

See the article here:
Cutting through the hype of personal identity - Finextra

When Castro launched his campaign last year, he strived to become the nations first Latino president, running as part of the most racially diverse slate ever of Democratic presidential candidates. But just like most of the other Latino and Black candidates in the crowded field, he dropped out after slamming against barriers some personal, some deeply structural to raising money and gaining support in the polls.

Now as Democrats approach the Feb. 3 Iowa caucuses with an all-white field of top contenders, Black and Latino politicians have become among the most sought-after endorsers and surrogates on the campaign trail. Their voices are needed to energize Democrats at a time when the party is searching for its direction and hoping to replicate the high voter turnout that won a House Democratic majority in the 2018 midterm elections on the strength of historic gains for candidates who were women and people of color.

I think the messenger does matter, said Amanda Renteria, president of Emerge America, which trains women to run for office, and served as national political director for Hillary Clintons 2016 presidential run. You have an electorate that really wants to be seen in their candidates.

Black and Latino elected officials, including Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms, this month rode through Eastern Iowa on a bus to shore up support for former vice president Joe Biden. At the University of Iowa student union in Iowa City on Friday, Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez revved up a crowd of some 800 people for Bernie Sanders, delivering impassioned defenses of his Medicare-for-All plan and bold economic proposals to tackle infrastructure and climate change.

When we hedge our bets we get more of the same, and the same has not been helping any of us, she said, calling on supporters to organize. We have 10 days left.

Its imperative for campaigns to have Black, Latino and Asian surrogates who can speak from experience to voters about candidates platforms, political analysts said. Their efforts have been particularly crucial to Warren and Sanders, who have been forced off the campaign trail to sit in as jurors in Trumps impeachment trial.

In Iowa, where voters declare their vote publicly at caucus meetings that can be complicated, confusing and feature one-on-one politicking, surrogates can help educate voters about the process, lure new participants and build excitement for candidates.

Kira Sanbonmatsu, a political science professor at the Center for American Women and Politics at Rutgers University, said congressional candidates of color, many of them women, put Democrats on notice when they leveraged their popularity and social media savvy into enthusiasm, money and votes during the 2018 midterms. Democratic presidential campaigns have since followed suit, she said, making greater strides to recruit people of color as surrogates, staff members and volunteers.

What we are seeing is intimately tied to the 2018 election, Sanbonmatsu said. Its a testament to their personal success as candidates that they can bring their supporters along in their presidential race.

At the Iowa City rally, attendees said they were thrilled to see all-star surrogates behind Sanders who reflected the diversity of their coalition and could counter the image of his supporters as Bernie Bros." Enaam Al-Quader, 41, who drove from Chicago, where he works as a social caseworker, said he could see their influence in the reactions of the Black and Latino students he works with.

Its huge, he said. When they see his surrogates, that actually stops them and makes them want to care about Bernie."

Once young, rising political stars from San Antonio, the Castro brothers now have weighty political bona fides and schedules that often keep them apart: While Julin Castro, a former secretary of Housing and Urban Development, was on his grueling run for president, Representative Joaquin Castro was at the frontlines of Trumps impeachment in the House.

But reunited at El Jimador, where classic cumbias played to a mostly white clientele, the Castros riffed off of each other. The jokes came swiftly over their looks (hes the uglier one") and their age (he was born a minute before me so hes the older one"). Later seated at a table, the two said they sought to encourage Latinos to participate in the caucuses.

The Latino community is a small but growing part of the Iowa electorate and often disengaged from politics. In Denison alone, Latinos now comprise 48% of the population, according to Census figures.

This is a place with a lot of potential for more people to come out and caucus, Julin Castro said.

National Democrats have been in the midst of a reckoning over the dynamics of gender, race and ethnicity in the 2020 campaign.

The party has done an overall better job than Republicans in increasing diversity among its congressional delegation and leadership but structural barriers, such as inequities in donors and funding, have continued to block women and people of color from pursuing the Democratic presidential nomination. And this election, questions over electability and who can beat Trump have largely hurt candidates of color, even in their efforts to build support among their own Black and Latino communities.

Some have argued not all can be blamed on structural issues: Some candidates were deemed too liberal by voters, others not liberal enough. Still, the all-white top of the field has spurred questions about the Democratic primary process, like the thresholds for getting on the debate stage.

Castro was among those vocal about the problems before he dropped out. On Wednesday, he doubled down on his concerns over the fairness of the process, saying he spoke with Tom Perez, chairman of the Democratic National Committee, and hopes he considers changes.

After the primarys over, the DNC has an opportunity to look at how its done the primary process, from the thresholds to the order of states, Castro said.

It has all made Iowans somewhat defensive.

Listening to the Castros at a table nearby, retired teachers Larry and Eilieen Peterson said they were still weighing candidates after California Senator Kamala Harris abruptly dropped out of the race last month. Larry Peterson argued it was unfair to call the caucuses biased against candidates of color, though the electorate is predominantly white, saying they served as the launching pad for Barack Obama to become the nations first Black president.

I think I hold the balance of the republic in my hands because what we do here will most likely lead to the nominee, said Peterson, now an assistant professor of education at Morningside College in Sioux City. Its a crucial decision.

Some see signs of progress as Democratic surrogates arent dividing along racial or ethnic lines in backing candidates, focusing instead on values and policies. The prime example is the four liberal Representatives, all woman of color, who form the so-called squad. Ocasio-Cortez, Rashida Tlaib and Ilhan Omar are campaigning for Sanders, while Massachusetts Representative Ayanna Pressley is a top Warren surrogate.

Its interesting to me that thus far the surrogates that are of color and women of color are just as varied in who they are supporting, said Erin OBrien, a political science professor at the University of Massachusetts Boston. Black and Latino voters might still be viable voter blocs for Democrats, she added, "but they might not be a bloc for a particular type of Democrat.

Still, before Ocasio-Cortez took the stage in Iowa City Friday, Barbara Canin, 58, a former English teacher, said she hoped the loss of candidates like Castro and Harris from the race would force Democrats to reevaluate how to even the playing field.

Change takes a long time, especially change around deeply, ingrained ways of being, she said.

Reach Jazmine Ulloa at jazmine.ulloa@globe.com or on Twitter: @jazmineulloa

Follow this link:
Looking for diversity in the presidential race? Its with Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and other surrogates for the all-white top Democratic candidates -...

Marta Wilson Releases LEAP with ForbesBooks

This release is posted on behalf of ForbesBooks (operated by Advantage Media Group under license).

NEW YORK (January 28, 2020) Marta Wilson, CEO of Transformation Systems, Inc., today announced the publication of LEAP: Master Your Superpowers, Soar to the Leading Edge. The book is published with ForbesBooks, the exclusive business book publishing imprint of Forbes.

The fundamental question of LEAP asks, What is it that makes a successful, effective, and sustainable leader? In Wilsons view, leading is among the most challenging things humans pursue, and for those who excel at leading there must be more factors in the equation than talent and drive. There must be a sort of superpower at work. After 25-plus years of applied research, Wilson and her team prove within the pages of LEAP that not only do effective leaders possess a certain superpower, but that we all do. Its simply a matter of learning how to access it.

Marta Wilsons book is a roadmap that can help any individual improve their life. In addition to being the title of Martas book, LEAP (Leadership Effectiveness and Potential) is also an actionable program designed to help individuals develop four types of mastery: personal, interpersonal, organizational, and motivational. It adds depth and insight to the proven leadership-improvement program, and Wilsons thoughtful advice gives readers the necessary tools to move their lives towards mastery and becoming high-performing leaders.

Of her leadership development approach Wilson said, What Ive discovered throughout my careerboth as an academic and as a consultantis: people who are masterful in the four areas that are the focus of this book tend to become superheroes, those whom others rely on to lead the way forward when things are at risk of falling apart.

LEAP: Master Your Superpowers, Soar to the Leading Edge is available on Amazon.com today.

About Marta Wilson

Dr. Marta Wilson is an industrial-organizational psychologist and the CEO of Transformation Systems Inc. (TSI), an award-winning consulting firm that helps leaders be their best, do great things, and have meaningful success. Marta has dedicated her career to helping people and communities expand potential and boost effectiveness through her work as a leadership consultant, business author, keynote speaker, board member, and charity fundraiser. Marta is the creator of LEAP, which stands for Leadership Effectiveness and Potential. LEAP is a framework and a program that includes assessments, workshops, coaching, mentoring, and a groundbreaking mobile app. Marta is the author of several books including Energized Enterprise, Everybodys Business, Leaders in Motion, and the Transformation Desktop Guide.

About ForbesBooks

Launched in 2016 in partnership with Advantage Media Group, ForbesBooks is the exclusive business book publishing imprint of Forbes. ForbesBooks offers business and thought leaders an innovative, speed-to-market, fee-based publishing model and a suite of services designed to strategically and tactically support authors and promote their expertise. For more information, visit Forbesbooks.com.

Media Contacts

Janelle Millard, Transformation System Inc, jmm@transformationsystems.com

Carson Kendrick, ForbesBooks, ckendrick@advantageww.com

The rest is here:
New Book Reveals The Superpowers Of High-Performing Leaders - Forbes

news, latest-news, Mathew Trinca, australia day honours, national museum of australia

Doctor Mathew Trinca AM - as he becomes in the Australia Day honours - committed a slight indiscretion when he heard of his award. At the time, the 94-year-old mother of the director of the National Museum of Australia was on her death bed. Her son whispered that he was going to become a Member of the Order of Australia. In technical terms, he shouldn't have told anyone. In human terms, who can blame him? "I understood that she wouldn't be here when I got it," he said. Mrs Trinca died on January 15 knowing that her son had been given one of greatest honours Australia confers. When she was told, she simply said: "Well done, son." Dr Trinca was brought up in humble circumstances in Western Australia. His father migrated from Italy as a stone-mason and then worked in Australia cutting wood, searching for gold and eventually having a chicken farm. His wife - Dr Trinca's mother - was born in Australia of Italian parents. They had four children, including Dr Trinca's three sisters. All are graduates - he says they achieved degrees because of the value his parents put on education even though neither parent went beyond primary school. READ MORE: CANBERRANS HONOURED He ended up with a PhD in Australian history at the University of Sydney. He joined the National Museum as a senior curator in 2003, after working at the Western Australian Museum in Perth. From 2006, he was the Museum's assistant director, Collections, Content and Exhibitions and then became the director in 2014. But perhaps just as important as titles and qualifications, was the atmosphere of his childhood. He and his three sisters grew up in a boisterous, talkative family, melding an Italian background with Australian life on the outskirts of a city, not that far from the bush. His father would talk to friends over red wine and walnuts and the children would be engrossed. The language would switch from Italian to English and back. Conversation was important - and conversation means ideas and argument. It was a world of enthusiasm and good fortune forged from hard work. He thinks the institution he runs is about telling the different stories which weave together to make up Australian life, from the original Australians through to the British colonisers and then to the more recent immigrants from all over the world - like his own family. "The Museum is the place where the stories of Australians come alive, where the long human history of this continent intersects with the more recent creation of the modern Australian nation we know today," he has said. It's a long way from his childhood. "I came from a modest, ordinary family in Perth. When I was growing up I never thought that I would end up living in Canberra and being director of the National Museum of Australia," he said. Dr Trinca attributes his success to those around him, both in the museum and in his family. "I'm delighted to have the recognition for my work," he said. "But I am struck by how much personal success depends on the work of others. "I've worked with fantastic people. I take it as a real tribute to the National Museum and the other associations I've been involved with." He also thanks his "great family". "My wife and children have been very involved in this work. Without them, I wouldn't have been able to do anything that I have done," he said.

https://nnimgt-a.akamaihd.net/transform/v1/crop/frm/silverstone-ct-migration/bc337d48-cac5-4971-8a00-0dbdae7a48d3.jpg/r2_0_728_410_w1200_h678_fmax.jpg

January 26 2020 - 12:30AM

Doctor Mathew Trinca AM - as he becomes in the Australia Day honours - committed a slight indiscretion when he heard of his award.

At the time, the 94-year-old mother of the director of the National Museum of Australia was on her death bed. Her son whispered that he was going to become a Member of the Order of Australia.

National Museum of Australia director, Dr Mathew Trinca. Picture: Jay Cronan

In technical terms, he shouldn't have told anyone. In human terms, who can blame him?

"I understood that she wouldn't be here when I got it," he said.

Mrs Trinca died on January 15 knowing that her son had been given one of greatest honours Australia confers.

When she was told, she simply said: "Well done, son."

Dr Trinca was brought up in humble circumstances in Western Australia. His father migrated from Italy as a stone-mason and then worked in Australia cutting wood, searching for gold and eventually having a chicken farm. His wife - Dr Trinca's mother - was born in Australia of Italian parents.

They had four children, including Dr Trinca's three sisters. All are graduates - he says they achieved degrees because of the value his parents put on education even though neither parent went beyond primary school.

READ MORE: CANBERRANS HONOURED

He ended up with a PhD in Australian history at the University of Sydney. He joined the National Museum as a senior curator in 2003, after working at the Western Australian Museum in Perth. From 2006, he was the Museum's assistant director, Collections, Content and Exhibitions and then became the director in 2014.

But perhaps just as important as titles and qualifications, was the atmosphere of his childhood. He and his three sisters grew up in a boisterous, talkative family, melding an Italian background with Australian life on the outskirts of a city, not that far from the bush.

His father would talk to friends over red wine and walnuts and the children would be engrossed. The language would switch from Italian to English and back. Conversation was important - and conversation means ideas and argument. It was a world of enthusiasm and good fortune forged from hard work.

He thinks the institution he runs is about telling the different stories which weave together to make up Australian life, from the original Australians through to the British colonisers and then to the more recent immigrants from all over the world - like his own family.

"The Museum is the place where the stories of Australians come alive, where the long human history of this continent intersects with the more recent creation of the modern Australian nation we know today," he has said.

It's a long way from his childhood. "I came from a modest, ordinary family in Perth. When I was growing up I never thought that I would end up living in Canberra and being director of the National Museum of Australia," he said.

I came from a modest, ordinary family in Perth. When I was growing up I never thought that I would end up living in Canberra and being director of the National Museum of Australia.

Dr Trinca attributes his success to those around him, both in the museum and in his family.

"I'm delighted to have the recognition for my work," he said.

"But I am struck by how much personal success depends on the work of others.

"I've worked with fantastic people. I take it as a real tribute to the National Museum and the other associations I've been involved with."

He also thanks his "great family".

"My wife and children have been very involved in this work. Without them, I wouldn't have been able to do anything that I have done," he said.

Go here to see the original:
A dying mother learns of her son's great honour - The Canberra Times