Artist Calixte Hetier Clements exhibition traces her journey of living in Abu Dhabi

DUBAI: Clement studied architecture at the Ecole des Beaux Arts in Paris, but later did courses in art and pursued both fields for several years. After moving to Abu Dhabi in 2018, she decided to focus solely on art. Through various series of oil on canvas paintings created in the UAE, Clement is sharing her feelings about uprooting herself from her own country, adapting to a new place and new cultures, and beginning to feel at home in the UAE.

Her first series, Love Reflections features a pair of hands in gestures evoking anxiety. I began this series in France and finished it here. Moving to Abu Dhabi was a big change in my life and these hands in the darkness express my uneasiness about the unknown and the scary feeling of losing control, the artist says.

After she felt settled in Abu Dhabi, she began the series, Hopiness a word she coined by combining hope and happiness. It features colourful paintings of people in different poses. Other series in the exhibition indicate her love for painting faces. Introspection, featuring close-up views of faces, is about looking deep into the soul of a person to discover their real self; and Faces reflects the multicultural community of the UAE. Another series, Freedom features joyful portraits of women indicating how comfortable she now feels here.

These paintings depict my personal evolution over the last year. It was difficult for me to move from my secure life in France, but now I am looking forward to the future and a beautiful life here. I have met people of many different nationalities here, and I have learnt that the most important thing is to be alive and to have plans. I have seen people patiently waiting and hoping for a better future and realised that the notion of time in various cultures is different from that in Paris. My palette is also changing with the bright skies and new light, and it is inspired by the colours of the fabrics, spices and handicrafts from various countries that I see in the souks. This exhibition is about introspection, self-awareness, and coming to terms with our own feelings as well as a tribute to the spirit of tolerance I have experienced here, the artist says.

Feelings will run at La Galerie, Alliance Franaise Dubai, Oud Metha Road until January 4, 2020.

Image Credit:

Image Credit:

Read the original here:
Coming home to the UAE | Arts Culture - Gulf News

CLAYTON EARLY LEARNING COMMUNITY MARKS THE HOLIDAY SEASON WITH A CELEBRATION OF INDIVIDUALITY AND CULTURAL AWARENESS Genesis Aguilar Pino, left, daughter of Jacqueline Pino Valenzuela, a child family educator in the Play and Learn community-based program at Clayton Early Learning, performed traditional Mexican dance with Kamille Pescador, a former Clayton Play and Learn student, at Clayton Culture Night.

Clayton Early Learning has its own special tradition when it comes to observing the holidays. Clayton Culture Night, the schools largest event of the year, recently celebrated the richly diverse individuals that comprise the Clayton Early Learning community.This years event was attended by 250 children, parents and Clayton staff.

Centered on the theme of This is Us, the celebration encompassed the unique life experiences that shape the students, families and staff as individuals and create community within the walls of the school and its early childhood programs, as well as the larger community of Denver and Colorado.

The event included an array of hands-on cultural cooking and crafting activities, as well as Mexican regional dance performances, and an African American storyteller.

Building and celebrating both self-awarenessand a sense of belonging is critical for healthy development in young children, leading to important socialemotional, cognitive, and language and literacy skills, commented Becky Crowe, president and CEO at Clayton Early Learning.This beautiful celebration is our way of honoring the individuality of everyone who is part of the Clayton community: children, their families, and our dedicated professional team.

Foods representing different family traditions were prepared in the Clayton kitchen, and staff and families also brought traditional foods of their own to share.

One particularly popular ethnic food was served by Clayton Teacher Edwina Annan, who teamed up with family and friends to share traditional foods from her Ghanaian roots. The team cooked all day to prepare Omotuo(rice balls) with peanut soup, and Jollof, a rice and chicken dish.I love cooking with my family, and we were happy to share our traditions with the Clayton community, said Annan. Im mastering these dishes so we dont lose the connection for future generations.

Clayton Early Learning is a hub for Colorados innovative work in early childhood development. Committed to the belief that healthy early childhood development offers one of the most powerful levers for ending poverty and inequality, Clayton applies a unique two-generation approach that demonstrates whats possible in the early years, and the positive impact that it has for children and families over time. Home to Colorados only Educare school, a nationally recognized model supporting children from birth to age 5, and their families, Clayton also influences systems change through research and evaluation services, professional development for educators and leaders, and policy and advocacy work at the state and federal levels.

With a professional team of teachers, social workers and health professionals, Clayton directly serves 500 families living below the poverty line, and 20,000 children are impacted through statewide systems-change work. Visitwww.claytonearlylearning.orgfor more information.

Susan Hagar is a public relations and communications consultant, and the owner of Hagar Communications.

Read the original post:
CLAYTON CULTURE NIGHT: THIS IS US - The Know

I have two answers to this case against laughter.

The first is a rejection of its final premise: Trump has indeed hurt vulnerable people, but between the leaven of incompetence in his cruelty, his rejection of some of the disastrous ambitions of his predecessors and a certain amount of fools luck, his administration is arguably responsible for fewer human tragedies so far than more high-minded, less personally degraded presidencies.

And I dont just mean to reference George W. Bush and the Iraq war here. To return to the subject of my last column, in President Barack Obamas first few years in office about 1,500 American soldiers and thousands more Afghans died for a futile and dishonestly justified campaign. If laughter was permissible while that deadly folly was transpiring (mostly out of the public eye), its probably O.K. to laugh at our situation now.

[Listen to The Argument podcast every Thursday morning, with Ross Douthat, Michelle Goldberg and David Leonhardt.]

The second answer, meanwhile, is a mild suggestion that a little more laughter might actually be good for the anti-Trump Resistance. In particular, anti-Trumpists might be a touch more effective if they could recognize how humorlessness and constant self-important dudgeon frequently helps the Trumpian cause, by setting up the dynamic I just sketched in my movie pitch where the country is asked to choose between two kinds of folly, one squalid and corrupt but the other pompous, insufferable and paranoid in its own self-important way.

The latter sort folly is at its worst, not on the far left, but on the establishment center-left and the Never-Trumper center-right, to which I belonged in 2016 and still do, in the sense that I continue to regard our president as unfit for his job and undeserving of a second term. But that belief, it seems to me, should coexist with some self-awareness about the many blunders by the great and good that brought us to this pass, some instinct for how absurd it sounds to write and talk as though the republic dies daily only to be resurrected overnight and slain by Trump anew, and some recognition that when our law enforcement agencies send their G-men to save the Republic from Vladimir Putin, sometimes they dont send their best.

Or to bring things to a finer point: If you couldnt see, long before the Mueller report fizzle or the latest revelations of F.B.I. incompetence, that Comey was a fundamentally comical figure rather than a paragon of old-school American virtue, then you have no business leading a resistance movement against a president whose main political talent is to make his rivals look ridiculous.

At the end of Burn After Reading, the pompous, alcoholic C.I.A.-agent character Ozzie Cox, played with urbane self-delusion by John Malkovich, confronts one of the civilians he believes has tormented and blackmailed him. You represent the idiocy of today, he says. Youre part of a league of morons.

Excerpt from:
Laughing Through the Trump Era - The New York Times

THE STEELSERIES ARCTIS 1 WIRELESS HEADSET IS COMPATIBLE WITH THE NINTENDO SWITCH, PS4, PC & ANDROID.

The launch of Apple Arcade introduced a lot of gamers to a bunch of fantastic experiences for iOS. The most memorable for the Press Start team was certainly What The Golf, a sharp-witted and hilarious golfing game that flipped the genre on its ear even more so than Dangerous Golf, inserting a lot of clever nods to pop and gaming culture.

Its explosive, insanely fun and very addictive. Its ideal for those happy to chip away at it on the go for short trips, though were sure theres just as many whove made it a fairway through the game in a single sitting. Were not sure what drives the developers to take such creative risks like this and if the question was ever which game in 2019 provided the most mindless fun then this game would have to be nearest to pin.

RELATED: Press Start's 2019 GOTY #10 - A Plague Tale: Innocence

Though the team didnt review What The Golf, Press Starts own Jake Barros featured the game in an episode of his Arcade Today channel.

Press Start Australia didnt publish a review for What The Golf though it holds a score of 79 on Metacritic.

Steven said: An absolute standout of the Apple Arcade lineup, and mobile gaming in general. Endlessly surprising, What The Golf played with the inputs of a mobile device in delightfully unexpected ways and kept me guessing until the very last moment.

Brodie said: What The Golf was one of the few games at launch that made Apple Arcade worthy of the asking price. Ive never been much of a mobile gamer, but What The Golf captured many of the things that made other wonderful puzzle games like Portal so fun and memorable. A satisfying, addictive core loop along with its self-awareness and the way it manages to be self-referential with regards to the industry its in only adds to the charm.

RELATED: Press Start's 2019 GOTY #10 - A Plague Tale: Innocence

Shannon said: When Apple Arcade launched, it reminded me of what I absolutely adore about mobile games (when done correctly). What The Golf ate up every free second of my day for at least 3-4 days when it launched. It was fast-paced, insanely clever and very addictive and Im still surprised that such a simple concept could work so well in a crowded library of games.

For our #9 spot, we send congratulations to Triband. Along with a spot in our top ten, a nomination for Best Mobile Game at The Game Awards is something to be proud of.

Current Top 10: 9. What The Golf 10. A Plague Tale: Innocence

Originally posted here:
Press Start's 2019 GOTY #9 - What The Golf - Press Start Australia

A nine-year-old legally blind girl who dreams of being a ballerina was able to watch The Nutcracker live for the first time after being gifted with special glasses.

Lily Lueders, from Austin, Texas, was diagnosed with Optic Nerve Hypoplasia when she was just three months old, with the condition causing blindness in her right eye and limited vision (20/800) in her left.

The nine-year-old also struggles with nystagmas, an involuntary shaking of the eyes, and has problems with depth perception which means she can only really see up to 3ft away making the ballet performance even more special.

You can find out more about Lilys story below:

Lily and other visually impaired people were invited to view a live performance of The Nutcracker called the Unseen Ballet sponsored by Dell Technologies and its partners, eSight and Ballet Austin at The Long Center in Austin on December 5.

With the help of advanced assistive eyewear technology eSight, which uses a cutting-edge camera, smart algorithms and high-resolution screens to create a clear, real-time image of what is in front of the user, Lily was able to watch the classic ballet for the first time.

Lilys mum, Kimmy, said the young girl has always been a fan of ballerinas and so was absolutely delighted by the ballet. She is not one to sit still, but there was a calmness and easy stillness to her during the performance, she told PEOPLE.

[It] was the most impactful thing she has experienced with the eSight [glasses] She absolutely loved seeing the details on the edges of the stage and the change of each set. I think the snow scene was her favourite. The giant beautiful snowflakes and falling snow. It was magic!

Kimmy and husband Dustin Lueders first noticed Lilys eye crossing and a lack of object tracking when she was a baby, after which she was diagnosed with Optic Nerve Hypoplasia. Lilys mum says her daughter has learned to navigate the world as she sees it, explaining how she has always done better than we could have imagined.

Kimmy said the young girl was awestruck when she first wore the eyewear technology and says her first fitting enabled her to read letters off a vision chart across the room for the very first time.

The first couple tries at home, she would have these moments where words would fail and she would just let out this excited giggle. It really is the sweetest thing for a mother to experience her child experiencing the world like never before.

The nine-year-old currently attends occupational and speech therapy four times a week to promote self-awareness, while her parents provide sensory activities and tools to help with cognitive focus.

However, the cost of four therapy sessions a week is taking its toll on the young family, who often find themselves struggling to pay bills and provide support for Lily and her younger brother, James. Because of this, they have set up a GoFundMe page to help with the $21,000 a year costs.

The family describe the therapies as crucial in maintaining Lilys quality of life and preparing her for future successes and say they would be so grateful for any donations anyone can make.

You can donate to their cause here.

Here is the original post:
9-Year-Old Legally Blind Girl Watches The Nutcracker For First Time With Special Glasses - UNILAD

Apparel businesses don't look too merry and bright this holiday season. So far this year, 11 of the 16 major retail bankruptcieswere filed by companies that mostly sell apparel, footwear or accessories and the majority of those are dominated by private label products. Though poor inventory management alone is unlikely to drive a retailer to such dire straits, good inventory hygiene is gaining importance in the minds of analysts and investors.

Last week, Moodys cut its fourth-quarter forecast for department stores, heavily reliant on apparel for years, predicting a 20% dip in operating income instead of the earlier prediction of 15%. "Inventory management is critical to success," reads the note, adding most retailers have maxed out operational efficiency gains and winners have managed to better match inventories and consumer demand.

Moodys also lowered its outlook for apparel brands in October from positive to stable. Analysts cited a stronger U.S. dollar, which increased cost of goods sold for apparel importers. Tariff pressure, as well, triggered inventory pull-forward before the expected Dec. 15 implementation of List 4B, though the round was canceled last week.

UBS named inventory growth as a top reason it is bearish on apparel, footwear and accessory sales for the 2019 holiday season. UBS noted in September that inventory growth for apparel, footwear and accessories has outpaced sales growth for four quarters running predicting higher than normal promotions in Q4 and lower gross margins.

"I'm hearing so many companies that brought in inventory a lot sooner than expected, in order to get ahead of what was going to be some tariff increases,"Moodys apparel and footwear analyst Mike Zuccarotold Supply Chain Dive.

But, tariffs, declining consumer spending on apparel and a cooling global economy may only be exacerbating a flaw lurking beneath the modern apparel industry for years.

The problem is the way apparel is sourced and the priorities of operations teams dictating those purchases, which leads to overbuying, argued John Thorbeck, chairman of Chainge Capital, which specializes in lead-time optimization, at the Sourcing Journal Summit earlier this year. The result is markdowns.

Coresight Researchput the value of retail markdowns at $300 billion in 2018 representing 12% of non-grocery retail sales. Apparel retailers had a 60% full-price sell-through rate, which Coresightchalked up to poor inventory management.

"What other industry starts with a 65-70% initial margin and ends up at one or two? Thats the cost of uncertainty. How has this industry dealt with this for fifty years or longer? Its finding what that cushion is in sourcing and cheaper and cheaper countries,"Thorbecksaid.

Demand forecasting, from style to quantity, is growing in importance in modern apparel.Retailers like Kohlsand brands like Nike tout their ability to decrease lead timesleading to a more responsive supply chain and more relevant product. But most brands arent prioritizing short lead times over the king of KPIs: cost.

Most mass-market apparel supply chains were built to optimize cost of above all else, according to Thorbeck. These supply chains seem lower risk, since the cost of goods is so low, but they raise the cost of uncertainty since they tend to require larger orders and more lead time.

"What other industry starts with a 65-70% initial margin and ends up at one or two?"

John Thorbeck

Chairman, Chainge Capital

Change how new suppliers are chosen, said Thorbeck, and the inventory burden could lift, resulting in a perhaps more expensive, but certainly more resilient supply chains.

"When production location is considered part of a sourcing strategy, thats a clear indicator that cost of goods sold is the ruling metric and thats how the industry ended up here,"said Thorbeck. "Speed and flexibility more than compensate for the cost of material and cost of location.I dont see enough attention given to process innovation,"said Thorbeck.

Though Thorbeck put the emphasis on lead times and sourcing, theres not one link of the supply chain that is completely to blame for the problem of chronically-elevated inventory. Best practices in nearly every area can help, said Zuccaro.

True omnichannel operations, which are largely intended to meet the customers where they are and therefore garner the maximum sales, require advanced inventory management skills. In many cases when retailers up their fulfillment speed or omnichannel options, investment, either in technology or more inventory, follows. Even Amazon saw increased expense from staging inventory when it shifted Prime shipping speed from two days to one.

Design, lead times, order sizes, tariffs, omnichannel fulfillment, baseline inventory management ..."There are a lot of different things that can go wrong," said Zaccaro and each company is a little different. Many of these potential areas for error lead to stranded inventory and eventually markdowns. But managing them well can also optimize inventory in an era where most fail to do so offering a competitive edge.

Zuccaro said many apparel sellers still need baseline operational investments to bring their supply chains into the omnichannel age and the ability to change, beyond self-awareness and will, stems from a firms financial health running much deeper than cost of goods sold. No new inventory management tech, no shift to a more expensive yet more flexible and responsive supplier is possible without funds available to invest in these areas. Subpar inventory management and wasteful buying doesnt generally spell doom for an apparel dependent company on its own but combine it with a sick balance sheet not strong enough to invest in best practices and even the best intentions wont turn a business around.

Forever 21s collapse didnt come without the potent combination of high inventory and the financial burden of long-term leases, said Jefferies analyst Janine Stichter at the same summit.

This story was first published in our weekly newsletter, Supply Chain Dive: Operations. Sign up here.

See the rest here:
Poor inventory management weighs down the apparel industry - Supply Chain Dive

Meghan McCain starred in a heated moment with Whoopi Goldberg on The View on Monday morning. The tension was palpable at the Hot Topics table when the ladies took on the issue of impeachment. After being away for a couple of days, the Sister Act star had enough of the conservative co-host and shut her down completely.

Sunny Hostin was noting the hypocrisy of the Republican-led Senate in refusing to take the impeachment proceedings seriously. McCain interjected reminding all of the viewers what her job on The View is.

My job here is not to litigate the ethics of it. Im an ABC political analyst along with being aViewco-host, my job is to analyze the politics of it, McCain said.

When Hostin interrupted to clarify that she was not referring to McCain personally the latter said, just let me finish. I let you talk, let me finish.

As things were getting out of hand, Goldberg tried to resume order at the table but McCain talked over her with a snarky remark.

Do you want to hear a conservative perspective on the show ever? McCain snarked.

This is when Goldberg completely lost it and made her aware who the shows moderator is.

Girl, please stop talking right now, Goldberg said.

No problem, McCain responded. I wont talk for the rest of the show.

Im ok with that, Goldberg added to audible gasps from the audience. If youre going to behave like this

Im not behaving like anything. Im here to show a conservative perspective, McCain responded.

To ease off the tension, Goldberg sent to a commercial break.

After the show, McCain took to Twitter to unload her frustration following the moment she had on TV.

[Democrats] and [Republicans] alike need to confront the ugly truth: both parties are failing to be impartial jurors, she wrote on Twitter. I wont be quiet, even if the reality reflects poorly on the entire political establishment. I have a responsibility to speak for the 50% that feels media doesnt represent them.

In a second tweet, McCain added, Pointing out things that are true is part of my job even if it angers people and even if its politically inconvenient.

Pretending half of the country doesnt exist wont make them disappear, McCain wrote in a third and final tweet. The culture war is real and Americans who arent part of the overwhelmingly anti-conservative media deserve to have their views represented.

McCains interactions on Twitter went off the roof as fans of The View replied to her tweets. Although the conservative co-host never mentioned Goldbergs name, they were seemingly directed at her as shes the one that didnt allow her to continue speaking.

Your view does not anger many, even when they disagree with you, a fan replied. Its your rudeness and complete disdain for others speaking. You interrupt and talk over everyone else. You act like your right to speak overrides all.

As a country, we are divided, another fan added. We need rational folks to debate issues and I prefer to listen to folks like Abby and Whoopi because they appear to be more rational. I can usually sense when Meghans going to have a bad day from the moment she walks out.

You just couldnt help yourself after Whoopi shut you down, a viewer pointed out. You have no self-awareness. The GOP, especially McConnel, ignores the will of the people. The majority of us want Trump impeached and removed. Remind me again who acts like the opposing party doesnt exist.

The Viewairs weekdays at 11 a.m. ET and 10 a.m. CT/PT.

Read more from the original source:
'The View': Meghan McCain Goes Off on Twitter After Getting Dragged by Whoopi Goldberg and Fans React - Showbiz Cheat Sheet

Apologies to Taylor Swift and Andrew Lloyd Webber, but the most interesting cat content online right now is a Snapchat filter that lets humans try on a feline face. The resulting clips are adorable, confounding, and a great example of just how little we know about cat cognition.

In a video compilation making the rounds online, cats look at a phone screen that shows their owners with a cat face filter. The cats whip their heads around to look up at the human, and then back to the screen. It appears the cat recognizes that their owners face should be on the phone, but it is not, Kristyn Vitale, who studies cat behavior at Oregon State University, said in an email to The Verge.

However, its particularly challenging to figure out what this behavior says about cats because we know so little about cat cognition to begin with, says Sarah-Elizabeth Byosiere, an animal behavior researcher and director of the Thinking Dog Center at CUNY Hunter College. In cats, its as elusive as cats general personalities can be, she says. Thats partly because they often dont cooperate well in research studies, making data hard to come by. When a researcher tried to test if cats understood what it meant if someone pointed at where food was hidden, for example, multiple subjects wandered off from the testing site.

The video hints at some interesting questions about cat cognitive awareness. It might be a sign the cat recognizes its owner, Vitale said. But it isnt a sign that cats pass the mirror test, despite what some people responding to the video seemed to think.

The mirror test is a key measure of self awareness for animal behavior researchers. It was designed in 1970 to figure out if an animal can recognize itself. When animals are introduced to a mirror, their first reaction is often an aggressive, threatening posture, Byosiere says. They first appear to think its another animal. And then slowly, you see many start to interact with the mirror, she says. In the test, researchers mark the animal with paint or a sticker somewhere they cant normally see. If, when they look at the mark in the mirror, they try to touch it on their body, its a sign they recognize themselves as the animal in the mirror.

But in the videos, the cat isnt looking at itself, its looking at a person. And the cat filters arent on a mirror theyre on a screen, which can flicker in subtle ways, and might be visually different from a mirror to animals. Researchers have started to study how dogs respond to stimuli on a screen, and it seems that they recognize objects on the screen the same way they do in real life. Because theres not much research on cat cognition, we dont know how cats interact with screens, or how they would perceive the properties of screens, Byosiere says.

Its also hard to draw conclusions from videos taken in an uncontrolled environment. We can never really get at what the owner did beforehand, she says. Theres no way to know if its the first time the cat has seen the filter, or if theres something else going on in the background that gets their attention. We dont know if this context is unique, or if it indicates anything about how attentive cats are.

The Verges deputy editor Elizabeth Lopatto tested the filter with her cat, Jeeves, with mixed results. Jeeves turned back to look at her face on the first try, but only after she spoke. And the second time, Jeeves uninterested jumped off her lap and wandered away.

Even if they cant prove anything about how cats think, the videos are fun. Most scientists and researchers really do like these videos, Byosiere says. If the cats are happy to do this, and its not disturbing them, great. They also show that people are interested in learning why their cats behave the way they do, she says. Its exciting because then hopefully theres room for people to do this type of research on cats.

Read the rest here:
The Snapchat cat filter shows how little we know about cat cognition - The Verge

At NerdWallet, we strive to help you make financial decisions with confidence. To do this, many or all of the products featured here are from our partners. However, this doesnt influence our evaluations. Our opinions are our own.

A group of Nerds from our Women in Engineering and Data ERG group attended the Grace Hopper Celebration (GHC) in Orlando, Florida. GHC is a computing conference that amplifies the research and career interests of women in tech, and is the worlds largest gathering of women in tech. Here are our takeaways to help you gear up for the conference next year!

Amanda Brown

Biggest Takeaway: We have a long way to go for equality for women in tech, but we have also come very far. Our goals are achievable if we (and our allies) band together to make it happen. This applies at a global level, company level, and team level.

Jenny Trinh

Biggest Takeaway: I have to surround myself with people who cheer me on in order to succeed in life. There will always be people who doubt my abilities or who try to put me down. However, I have to ignore their negativity and I have to focus on the positive people in my life who believe in me and who are proud of me. By having a solid support system that consists of family, friends, and colleagues, I will be able to stay motivated to do well in my career and in my personal life.

Maria Can

Biggest Takeaway:I attended several sessions on career growth, specifically on increasing self awareness. Its very important to identify yourown strengths and to make others aware of those strengths. This allows you to find work that can showcase those strengths and enables others to advocate on your behalf in a more concrete way.

Nadia Neusypina

Biggest Takeaway: There are so many successful women doing amazing things in tech! Weve come a long way, and while I dont personally feel like I have experienced gender bias, some people have and there is more work to be done. Its important to listen to other peoples stories, to be aware of the statistics, to support those around you and to speak up for what you stand for.

Pallavi Jain

Biggest Takeaway:Its incredibly rare to attend a tech conference that touches upon such a wide breadth of domains like GHC. I tookadvantage of multiple sessions focused on honing the tools and interpersonal skills to navigate career goals. What will continue to resonate with me well after the conference is the importance of taking complete ownership of my career goals, ensuring I continuously verbalize them to create a feedback loop with my stakeholders so that I can be my biggest advocate and hold myself accountable to them.Usually, I can count on two hands the number of underrepresented genders and minorities I see at tech conferences, especially in the Security industry, making my experience at GHC very unique. There is still much work to be done to address the known and unknown barriers that prevent tech from being inclusive for everyone, especially as it plays an increasingly larger role in our lives. Our shared goal for equal representation and inclusion of all people is ambitious and I look forward to partnering with other allies to help NerdWallet and the tech industry on our path there.

Raissa Policarpio

Biggest Takeaway: I am incredibly lucky to be able to say that I have never felt looked down on or short changed because of my gender. However, this is definitely not the case for the majority of women, and thats not okay. Theres so much I can do to be an ally and lift other people up to promote the kind of environment that I have been so lucky to be a part of.

Priya Bibra

Biggest Takeaway: We have made a lot of progress in terms of equal representation in technology. Getting the conversation going is a huge first step, but now its time to take more action to make our goals a reality. Theres still a long way to go! I think being an engineer at NerdWallet in a lot of ways shelters us. As a result of our inclusive culture, were not as aware of the prejudices that other individuals face (or were aware, but often forget because its not in our day-to-day). Its our responsibility as an organization to keep the dialogue for diversity and inclusion active. In niche, up and coming technology pockets such as AI, we have to be especially mindful of historical biases.

Satoko Ayabe

Biggest Takeaway: There are small everyday things everyone can do to help women in tech (e.g. amplifying others, raising a concern to your manager, being an ally).

Zara Gomes

Biggest Takeaway: You are the director of your own career, so identify and make the changes you need for yourself in order for you to make an impact in the organization where you work. This can include becoming an expert in an area you are not as familiar or comfortable with, and encouraging and mentoring people around you so that they can grow as well.

Hyatt Regency, connected to the Orlando Convention center by sky-bridges

GHC is a mega conference with 25k+ attendees, so make sure youre physically ready.One of our nerds calculated it took a 7 minute jog to get from one end of the convention center to the other. Thats a good 15 min walk. Getting from one talk to the next can take a while so get familiar with the layout of the convention center. Give yourself extra commute time and wear comfy shoes. You might have multiple sessions a day and have a hotel thats further away, so have that hearty room-service breakfast and carry some snacks for munchies and dont skip lunch! The lines are long everywhere, from registration, to the sessions, for the food court, to the afterparties, so account for that. Take notes on your phone instead of a notebook/laptop because with some speakers you only have enough time to click a picture of a presentation slide, and your laptop is too heavy to be carrying around all day long.

Be mentally ready to networkA big part of GHC is about networking and the stories people share are powerful! Its amazing that the Grace Hopper Conference provides a safe space for individuals to share their stories, and allows for an environment that can foster conversation about your workplace and career that may not naturally occur otherwise. Utilize this safe space to talk about difficult topics and dialogue with other underrepresented minorities in your workplace and outside of your organization. Walk away from the conference with a sense of community, having met at least one new person! Its easy to get wrapped up running from session to session but dont forget that GHC brings together over 20,000 diverse individuals in tech. Take it upon yourself to meet someone new because that new person can open up doors for you. Set time to explore the Expo Hall, there are booths with interactive demos, people who can talk about what it is like to be a woman in tech at different companies, and fun swag!

Opening Keynote, Orlando Convention Center

Some thoughts for the future:GHC provides many sessions that help develop skills that may not be considered technical but are just as important, if not more, for success in any organization. These kinds of sessions are not usually available at tech conferences and this conference is a great opportunity to sharpen those skills. Make sure to keep practicing those, even months after the conference.

As minorities in the tech industry it can be difficult to have a large impact and often exhausting to not only perform well in our jobs, but also be expected to convince others that problems exists. In the future, itd be great to see NerdWallet and other tech companies encourage more senior engineers and management (regardless of gender identification) to attend not only this conference, but others with a similar tone. In order to effect meaningful change, the urgency of the diversity and inclusion effort has to be in the minds of everyone, especially the people in positions of power. Building empathy at all levels is the only way to inspire widespread cultural change for the better.

See the original post:
The Grace Hopper Celebration 2019 Nerd Takeaway - NerdWallet

How many productivity hacks have you tried this year?

Whether its a new app, morning workout, green smoothie or an inspiring podcast, there are a myriad of things that have been touted to improve our efficiency each day. But something you may not have considered is taking advantage of neuroscience to boost your productivity.

Its not a new concept; its been used in high-performing roles including by the military and Olympic athletes for years. But now the corporate world is starting to pay attention and looking into how we can rewire our brains to be more productive, specifically with neuroplasticity.

Neuroplasticity was first discovered in the 1940s by Donald Hebb and describes how our brains change in response to repeated experience.

The brain is designed to learn, grow and rewire throughout our lives, based on different experiences, and it has various neural pathways connecting different responses. For instance, when you eat a food you love, you respond with happiness, while being stuck in traffic might make you respond with anger. These behaviours are learned over time and science has shown we can rewire our brains to change these automatic responses and regulate our emotions with some training and practice. By taking advantage of your brains neuroplasticity, you can create new habits to help you be more productive.

Stress can be a huge enemy of efficiency and productivity. Many of us have experienced stress that temporarily inhibits our ability to think clearly, but you may not know just how much it affects your brain. Being in a state of stress forces the blood in the brain to be redirected away from our prefrontal cortex, and then our amygdala and adrenal glands start firing. This effectively puts us into fight or flight mode, dropping our intelligence and increasing our motor skills instead. These days, most stressful situations require us to use our minds rather than our bodies, so being able to change your brains response will help you manage stress more effectively.

As a first step you need to be aware of exactly what causes a stress reaction, so you can train yourself to react differently. Once this is clear, you can interrupt or redirect your brains response when faced with a trigger and replace it with a positive response. Imagine yourself in the stressful situation and follow it with happiness, laughter or calmness. You will need to repeat this hundreds of times for it to build a new pathway in your brain. But after some practice, you will be able to stop the stress before it affects you negatively, helping you be more productive.

No matter how hard we try, no one can be 100% productive, 100% of the time. We all have states of being more productive, whether its at a certain time of the day, working in a specific location, or listening to music. Learn your own habits and become self-aware about your productivity patterns.

A great way to expand your self-awareness is to try journaling, which creates a process of regular self-reflection. Keeping a journal helps you become more conscious of your strengths and weaknesses. Once you know your own behaviours, you can use it as an opportunity to enhance productivity.

Aside from these broader patterns, its important to be aware of your thoughts and emotions when working on a task that requires your focus. Being mindful involves being present in the moment, and tools such as slowing your breathing and focusing on something tangible that you can hold may help.

Mindfulness helps you be aware of yourself without any judgment, so you can notice your thoughts and remove any negative emotions. You can then focus on the task and what needs to be done next, helping you stay productive.

Meditation is a powerful tool to help you notice and observe your thoughts and behaviours, so you can then choose to change your responses. Meditating has been proven to change brain structure, particularly for those who practise it over a long period of time. This is because meditation increases the level of oxygen and nourishment in different areas of the brain, making it easier to sustain attention and redirect focus, and therefore better manage your emotions and be more productive.

Meditation rewires and trains your brain to be more disciplined and less stressed, with research showingjust five minutes each day can make a difference.

You might think you dont have the time to learn something new, but using your brain in a new way improves your cognition, making you more switched on and, in turn, more productive.

It doesnt need to be work related either, it can be something fun! You can learn a new language, play a new sport or even just read a new book each week. If you want it to be job related, you can organise company training or try an online course. Whatever you choose to do, it will rewire your brain and improve cognitive function. Keeping the brain fit will help you improve your efficiency both at work and at home.

NOW READ:How neuroscience can improve your business marketing today

NOW READ:The entrepreneurs making it their business to improve your wellbeing despite the hype

Go here to read the rest:
How to train your brain to be more productive - SmartCompany.com.au