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Informational Interviews: How Drinking Lattes Landed Me 4 Jobs
How to Land Multiple Job Offers Using Informational Interviews: A Step-by-Step Guide As a result of drinking copious amounts of soy, sugar-free vanilla lattes, I landed not one, not two, not three, but four jobs. Four! Okay, it wasn’t just those daily Starbucks trips...
The Art of Poking: Tips to encourage teammates
Effective Leadership: How to Keep Your Team Accountable with Gentle Reminders I used to jokingly say that my title should have been "Chief Cat Herder" when I was responsible for overseeing 40 executive volunteers. Wrangling people can be one of the most challenging...
Dr. Seuss Lessons for the Workplace
How Dr. Seuss's Timeless Wisdom Can Transform Your Workforce on National Dr. Seuss Day March 2nd is "National Dr. Seuss Day" where we honor the birthday of the magical-thinking legend who made us all reflect and understand our humanity just a little bit easier. ...
What Dr. Seuss and Autism Can Teach Us
The Cat in the Hat, The Lorax, Sam I Am, The Sneetches, The Grinch are well loved Dr. Seuss personalities in The Ranno household. With three book-loving children, we have spent eight years enjoying the rhythms, delighting in the whimsical stories, and taking away...
A Guide for Making Room for Grief in Work & Life
Making Space for Grief: A Personal Journey of Self-Care and Healing Have you ever created intentional space in your work/life for grief? I never knew it was possible until earlier this month. I may be relatively young, but I've had my share of deaths to process...
The Places We’ll Go
As a child growing up in our family we read a lot, however, Dr. Seuss books weren’t a regular in our library. Instead, I gained an appreciation for his writings as an adult early in my career. From that, you may think my early career was in children’s education, but I...
SparkVision Welcomes 2018 Guest Bloggers!
Join me in welcoming and getting to know our new and returning guest bloggers! Moving into nearly my third year of business, I know that there is “workplace culture” territory I want to cover that I simply am not – nor do I have the capacity to be – an expert in. With...
Patience & Resilience: Lessons from the Ashes
Imagine waking in the middle of the night to a fire in your home, smoke flooding through the entire house. One night this past September, that happened to our family. Thankfully, the four members of our family who were home at the time, along with our three pets, were...
5 Ways to Feel the Love at work this Valentine’s Day!
5 Creative Ways to Spread Love and Appreciation in the Workplace This Valentine’s Day It's officially the month of love and a perfect time to show some extra affection for your work family! While I don't typically prescribe to fluffy employee engagement experiences, I...
How to Find a Mentor: 3 Questions to Identify the Right Mentor
Step-by-Step Guide: How to Find the Perfect Mentor for Your Career Growth Mentorship occurs when you accept feedback and direction from a trusted advisor. This is one of the key things to look for when you wonder how to find a mentor. There is no denying the good that...
Did you just say, ‘I don’t see color’?
Understanding the Impact of Colorblindness in Society: Why 'I Don't See Color' Matters Whenever I hear someone say, "I don't see color", I cringe. I take a deep breath and begin to unpack, understand, and hopefully inform the person why NOT seeing color is a challenge...
Top 7 Blog Posts of 2017
Reflecting on a Year of Growth: How Overcoming Writing Insecurities Led to Top Millennial Blog Success As the year comes to a close, I'm in full reflective mode on the passing of time. One of the most thrilling parts of the last 12 months has been the new attention...
Holiday Party Ideas: 5 Crucial Components
5 Essential Holiday Party Ideas to Create an Unforgettable Celebration We're halfway through the month, and I've already attended a ton of holiday parties. They've ranged from intimate gatherings at friends' homes to gala-like corporate celebrations. It's amazing how...
Santa is Real as Long as You Believe in Him
The Power of Belief: Why Santa Is Real as Long as You Believe "Santa is real as long as you believe in him." This was the perfect response my mom gave me when I started to get old enough to have my doubts about the big guy. My next-door neighbor had taken me into the...
Thank You Notes: 7 Post-Interview Tips
Mastering the Art of Thank You Notes: Essential Tips for Young Professionals to Stand Out in Interviews In a recent keynote address on "Workplace Culture: What's Your Fit?", I spoke to an audience of eager young professionals all looking to land an internship that...
Thanksgiving Conversation Starters: 3 Questions for You
How to Spark Meaningful Conversations and Strengthen Family Bonds This Holiday Season During the holiday season, people typically experience a wide range of emotions, from excitement and bliss to angst and stress. Often, at family gatherings, there's a sense of...
My Quest to Become a Cowgirl: Part 1
Embracing the Quest: My Journey to Becoming a Cowgirl and the Power of Following Your Calling Try saying the word 'quest' out loud. Doesn’t it sound romantic? So short and yet so big with wonder and hope for that ‘something more’. It’s a calling that starts as a...
4 Ways to Lead Millennials in the Workplace
Effective Leadership: How to Lead and Empower Millennials in the Workplace Time after time, people are asking for my advice on how to “deal with” their Millennials in the workplace. Typically, I know a big part of their issue simply by the way the question is worded....
The Heart of a Meaningful Staff Retreat
How a Powerful Staff Retreat to the Holocaust and African American History Museums Transformed Our Team's Perspective I’ve been on many retreats in my career; however, this past staff retreat was unique and impactful. In September, the Art with a Heart team visited...
5 Signs That You’re in a Toxic Company Culture
5 Warning Signs of a Toxic Workplace and How to Protect Yourself We’ve all been there…showing up to our job with all the best intentions for having a productive and positive day….and then, seemingly out of nowhere, we’re emotionally slammed by someone else’s bad...
Reflections on a New Kind of Sisterhood
Celebrating Two Years of Empowering Female Leadership and Embracing Sisterhood as an Entrepreneur As I just celebrated my 2nd-year anniversary as the Founder of SparkVision, I am filled with the desire to reflect on the unexpectedly wild and fulfilling journey this...
Lessons from 70 Years of Love
70 Years of Love: Timeless Lessons from My Grandparents’ Extraordinary Marriage September 13th is always a day that I feel immense gratitude. It's the day that reminds me each year of what love truly looks like - my grandparents anniversary. My grandparents have...
Millennial Ambassador: The Leaders Behind the Movement
Unveiling the Power of High Achieving Millennials: How SparkVision's Research Ignited a Movement in Workplace Culture Last summer, sitting around my dining room table with SparkVision's first-ever intern, an idea was born. I was fed up with being told what...
Total Eclipse of the Soul
This past weekend, something profound happened. Twelve incredible women from diverse backgrounds came together for a retreat in Deep Creek Lake. Most of them didn’t know more than one other person, yet they enthusiastically trusted me and my partner, Nakeia Drummond,...
Culture Keeper or Killer: Which are You?
How to Identify Culture Keepers and Culture Killers in Your Workplace: A Guide to Enhancing Company Culture When I started SparkVision, I found it was much harder than I realized to translate workplace culture into phrasing that was both productive and relatable....
3 Free Quizzes
Discover the Top 3 Free Personality Quizzes to Better Understand Yourself and Your Team I can't seem to avoid conversations these days about which "personality test" to give their prospective and new employees to see if and how they'll be a good fit for their company....
Messages You’re Sending with After Hour Emails & How to Fix It
How to Stop Sending Late-Night Emails: Effective Strategies for Overcoming Work Addiction and Setting Boundaries As someone who had a diagnosed work addiction for almost two years of my career, I can tell you that I was a massive offender of late-night (many times at...
Alignment of Values: Rules for Life
How a Solo Retreat Helped Me Realign My Life with Core Values and Find Lasting Balance Earlier this month I spent 10 glorious days completely alone in the mountains of Idaho with no cell service, internet reception or television. I was in my ultimate happy place,...
Milestones
The Power of Milestones: Celebrating Life’s Markedly Important Events and Our Never-Ending Evolving Stories In my workplace, we are nearing the end of the fiscal year. Each of us is required to write one or more self-assessments and, for those of us who manage, we...
The Apple & The Tree: Ted & Brad
In celebration of Father’s Day, SparkVision got to know some dynamic young professionals who work directly with their Dad and meet Ted and Brad. As the saying goes, “the apple doesn’t fall far from the tree” and these stories highlight the unique and special...
The Apple & The Tree: Zack & Barry
In celebration of Father’s Day, SparkVision got to know some dynamic young professionals who work directly with their Dad and meet Zack and Barry. As the saying goes, “the apple doesn’t fall far from the tree” and these stories highlight the unique and special...
The Apple & The Tree: Aronya & Victor
In celebration of Father’s Day, SparkVision got to know some dynamic young professionals who work directly with their Dad and meet Aronya and Victor. As the saying goes, “the apple doesn’t fall far from the tree” and these stories highlight the unique and special...
The Apple & The Tree: Chris & Seth
In celebration of Father’s Day, SparkVision got to know some dynamic young professionals who work directly with their Dad and meet Seth & Chris. As the saying goes, "the apple doesn't fall far from the tree" and these stories highlight the unique and special...
The Apple & The Tree: Ali & Bob
In celebration of Father’s Day, SparkVision got to know some dynamic young professionals who work directly with their Dad and meet Ali and Bob. As the saying goes, “the apple doesn’t fall far from the tree” and these stories highlight the unique and special experience...
The Apple & The Tree: Chuck & Dan
In celebration of Father’s Day, SparkVision got to know some dynamic young professionals who work directly with their Dad. As the saying goes, "the apple doesn't fall far from the tree" and these stories highlight the unique and special experience that's created when...
Advice for Graduates: What I Wish I Received
Essential Life Lessons for Graduates: What I Wish Someone Had Told Me Last night was a super proud mama bear, a warm-fuzzy milestone in the life of one of the most special people in my tribe. Morgan graduated high school. For those who don't know me personally, Morgan...
Culture Keeper Feature: The Children’s Guild
The Children’s Guild: Culture Card - Part I It is without any hesitation that I say the President & CEO of The Children's Guild, Dr. Andy Ross, is a pioneer in the ‘workplace culture’ space. This past fall, I was able to shadow him for a full day, visiting...
To Grow Up; To Grow Out
A few months ago, I attended a career development workshop; it was a panel session featuring professionals from diverse fields, each sharing advice from their working experience so far. One particular panelist made the following claim: the best way to achieve career...
Own Your Gifts: Everyone’s superpower is being themselves.
Unlock Your Superpower: How Emotional Intelligence and Authenticity Lead to True Success When we become “adults,” we go out into the world and hope to make our mark. Most of us want to live “successful” lives; we want to be financially stable, respected in our work,...
3 Ways to Improve your Cultural Awareness
Cultural Awareness is an important key to improving relationships with people from different backgrounds. Here are a few ways to step outside of your comfort zone and increase your cultural awareness. 1. Learn From Others One way I believe we can increase cultural...
Millennial Moms & Their Moms: Michele & Christiana
Celebrating this millennial and her mom Michele Mercer is currently the Sr. Director for Database Operations for the Foundation Fighting Blindness located in Columbia, MD. This is a wonderful organization that raises money to find the cures and treatments for retinal...
Mother’s Day Special: Vanessa, Phyllis & Alexis
Mother's Day Reflections Vanesa Ajayi is a wife, mother of two and a grandmother of four. She is a registered Nurse and the Patient Safety Officer at UMMC-Midtown Campus where she has been employed for 40 consecutive years. She believes that if you sow seeds of...
Mother’s Day Special: Jennifer & Jackie
Lessons for this Mother's Day Jackie Gaines, MS, RN is a high performing Senior Executive, National Speaker and Best-Selling Author with a progressive career encompassing more than 40 years of sustained leadership and accomplishments with major health systems and...
Millennial Moms & Their Moms: Nakeia & Linette
In celebration of Mother’s Day, SparkVision got to know some dynamic mother/daughter duos. Linette is a woman who paved the way to create the life she wanted for her family. She raised an entrepreneurial Millennial, Nakeia. As a mom now, Nakeia knows the values her...
Millennial Moms & Their Moms: Meg & Kathie
In celebration of Mother's Day, SparkVision got to know some dynamic mother/daughter duos. Kathie, a trailblazer in her industry raised a go-getter Millennial, Meg. As a mom now, Meg knows the values her mother instilled in her. We hope you'll enjoy a piece of their...
Death of a Loved One: When Everything Stops
Embracing Life's Unexpected Halts: Finding Reflection and Healing Amidst Chaos There are a few times in life that no matter what you have on your plate, everything must come to a stop. It’s an abrupt, jolting, whiplash-like experience where you surrender to things...
We’ve Launched
Last week's sold-out Launch Party celebrated the past 7 months of work and findings from Phase I of our High Achieving Millennial Research Project. The vibrant energy in the room was tangible, the connections were meaningful and the response to our project was...
Seeking My Primary Motivation
I recently had the opportunity to see my middle school son perform in a production of the musical play, The Wizard of Oz. One of the classic scenes from the movie and the play was when the witch turned the hourglass and told Dorothy that she only had the time that...
Drain & Fill: Your Emotional Inventory
How I Achieved Work-Life Balance: A Personal Journey from Overwhelm to Empowerment It was clear that I was headed in the direction of a breakdown. I was working all day, night and weekends – feeling like I could barely get through the day in one piece. This was not a...
My Mothers Legacy
Celebrating My Mother: The Unparalleled Legacy of an Art Therapist and Female Leader Like most children, few things were known as fact growing up. Few things that were 100% solid in my understanding of the world. But one thing was unwavering, it was crystal clear in...
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Our Weekly Newsletter Create Your Values-Driven Life
Create Your Values Driven Life, features unique ideas, common-sense reminders + inspiration to help you know and live your values.