Happy Mother's Day! Give Thanks and Praises

“Give Thanks and Praises.” Each day someone who I follow on twitter tweets this and it’s always a great reminder for me to be mindful at any pace in my day, because ultimately there is always time to think about the great times and people in your life.

When I saw it on this Mother’s Day morning, I thought about how thankful I am for my mom. How can I not be thankful for someone who strained through hours of labor and now the day-to-day stress of being a mom?

I’m thankful to have a mom who always shows affection, even when I don’t return it.

I’m thankful for a mom that will drive miles and miles to a concert that I want to attend.

I’m thankful for a mom who I can always talk into getting a morning latte.

I’m thankful for a mom that allows me to load some of my music on her phone.

I’m thankful to have a mom that does whatever she can to keep her kids happy.

I’m thankful for a mom who before she leaves for work each day says, “Bye Em, have a good day. Love you.”

I hope everyone today is able to “Give thanks and praises,” to the mother in their life, because the labor of a woman is why you’re breathing.

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Hello, I’m Emma Eekhoff. I’m a 17-year-old that would rather be networking for business than at a party with my high school friends. I’m not afraid to share my stance on something, whether it is an art form like music or recent events in the world. I’ve been writing in a journalist setting for only a few years, through my high school’s online newspaper, The Growl Online or for a music blog. I love to connect and network with new people in the worlds of business and music, travel to new places and eat new interesting foods.

Follow & connect with me on Social Media:  Instagram / Twitter / eekhoffemma@gmail.com

View all of Emma's posts here.

Explicit music: Is There Substance or Should It Get the Axe?

Everyday I take lunch in my schools’ ASB room with a group of women who I am very fond of. Each of them have insightful opinions and are much kinder than myself. We always listen to music, chat and eat lunch. I’m usually the one that supplies the music for the too-short 35-minute span of time in-between classes, and more often than not I play hip-hop tracks that include, to some, offensive lyrics. Many authority figures in my daily life have a problem with the “offensively worded songs,” I play. If the music is explicit, is there substance or should it get the axe?

I don’t play or listen to music that has unnecessary cursing in it. I listen to a variety of music and if it happens to have curse words in it, I don’t cover my ears.

Most of my music has explicit content and gets the axe from the teacher in the ASB room. I understand the part of this zero tolerance for music with explicit content, say, if my principal were to walk in while we’re playing Kendrick Lamar’s “i,” where he uses the F-word multiple times or even more controversial N-word. I can see how that could look really bad, because the teacher is responsible for what happens in the classroom.

But let’s keep talking about the song “i.” This single by Lamar is an anthem about loving yourself; even when the world is looking down on you and proving you wrong, Lamar preaches to us that you have to love yourself to save yourself from the world. So far that’s worked for him and for many of us.

You can imagine my face when I get told to “Unplug the phone!” look from a teacher when I mean well and just want to play a song that I think the message will speak to someone going through difficult times.

I do believe that songs like Lamar’s are misunderstood because when someone first listens to a song such as this, they only hear the curse words and won’t be able to listen to the story that an artist such as Lamar is telling, and that’s really too bad; because these are usually the people who don’t think inequalities exist.

We can all learn a lot about a struggle that is different from our own through To Pimp a Butterfly; a highly explicit album, but an album that has a valuable message. People need exposure to different thinking, and listening to music like this opens new worlds to them. Music isn’t just an empty vehicle for you to tap your foot to, it’s supposed to challenge and shape thinking.

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Hello, I’m Emma Eekhoff. I’m a 17-year-old that would rather be networking for business than at a party with my high school friends. I’m not afraid to share my stance on something, whether it is an art form like music or recent events in the world. I’ve been writing in a journalist setting for only a few years, through my high school’s online newspaper, The Growl Online or for a music blog. I love to connect and network with new people in the worlds of business and music, travel to new places and eat new interesting foods.

Follow & connect with me on Social Media: Instagram / Twitter / eekhoffemma@gmail.com

View all of Emma's posts here.

A Business Case for ‘Yo’: Cutting Through the Noise (by Titus Kimbowa)

With the risk of adding to the ‘Yo’ noise bubble, I will attempt to look at the business application of Yo. There are plenty of consumer applications.

Human communication has many forms with a unique purpose across every signal. We've used technology to cut the time in which we communicate; no matter the distance. Tools like email, phone calls, and SMS text have drastically changed how we communicate. One thing these tools share is a notification system that alerts users when someone wants to communicate with them. That’s a communication tool in itself.

In the case for Yo, the notification is the message. It’s like technology learned the subtle communication that goes on outside the realms of a conversation. It’s like a wink, a secret code, a secret handshake. And yes, it’s stupid.

Stupid simple.

Communication on a battlefield requires fast and timely communication. Words are replaced with hand signals and sometimes they are replaced with words that have little meaning to anyone outside the loop. A famous example of this is depicted in Henry W. Longfellow’s poem in which he mentions a secret signal by Paul Revere saying: “One, if by land, and two, if by sea.” Had Revere used Yo, one Yo would signal the land route, while two Yo’s would signal the dispatch by the water. Information is powerful and can be devastating to a business if it ends up in the wrong hands. Once at fruition, I believe Yo will have the capacity to give business sales teams and executives a way to quickly communicate and act on a given strategy/play without hesitation or worry of information leaks.

It’s a long-shot but certainly doable.

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Titus Kimbowa

 is a young entrepreneur living in Seattle, WA. He was born in Kampala, Uganda & moved to the States when he was 12. He’s currently a senior at the University of Washington and serves as vice-president of the UW American Marketing Association, and he's interning as the product marketing analyst for stealthy start-up Webtuner. He’s got past experience as part of the Zagat team at Google, Crown Social, TEDxYouth Seattle, and starting up an enterprise travel company. In his spare time (which he rarely gets) he likes to play basketball, read, and hang out around Seattle.

Find Titus on Twitter, and view all of his posts here.

What is Big Data? (by Titus Kimbowa)

Photo from Start Work Now

When at meet ups, there are plenty founders and entrepreneurs alike that talk a big game when it comes to big data. They tell you how they plan on using big data to get customers and design the best app ever. But how are you getting this big data and how are you using it to accomplish these goals?

*Awkward silence*

What’s big data to me? Here’s my short version:

Social graph of any given user:

Likes: 

• How many likes? 
• What do these likes mean? 
• What can you say about that person’s interests? 
• What’s their state of mind?
• Track and group likes in same vertical 
• Find influencers, etc.

Photos: 

• What’s the occasion?
• Who’s in it?
• Location?
• Date and time 
• Find influencers, etc.

Status updates, tweets, etc etc.

This can be done across all social and business graphs to find ways to target groups and communities at the deepest level.

Think: Zuck’s experiment

Analyzing and understanding what all these mean is the big challenge for many marketers. Luckily, there are plenty of tools to help you understand and use big data.

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Titus Kimbowa

 is a young entrepreneur living in Seattle, WA. He was born in Kampala, Uganda & moved to the States when he was 12. He’s currently a senior at the University of Washington and serves as vice-president of the UW American Marketing Association, and he's interning as the product marketing analyst for stealthy start-up Webtuner. He’s got past experience as part of the Zagat team at Google, Crown Social, TEDxYouth Seattle, and starting up an enterprise travel company. In his spare time (which he rarely gets) he likes to play basketball, read, and hang out around Seattle.

Find Titus on Twitter, and view all of his posts here.

Apple’s Strategy with Dr. Dre (by Titus Kimbowa)

Apple’s on the quest to continue the longstanding stronghold on popular culture. With the acquisition of Beats by Dre, they are well positioned to dominate the next wave of consumer products.

The first time I ever touched a computer was when I was 12 years old. I played games on my uncle’s HP desktop during the summer before I started school and thought it was the best thing ever. After that summer, I enrolled in the local middle school. Computers there were weird; they were colorful and were shaped different. The software design was also different; it was a lot easier to draw stuff on this computer. I also understood how it worked faster than I did the HP machine.

They were just different.

iMacs made it easy for students to express their individuality. These colorful machines were tools for expression. This approach to design is continuous in all of Apple products. We are all witnesses to the dent the iPod put on the music industry. It is in Apple’s DNA to do things differently; to influence and drive culture.

Dr. Dre’s Influence

Hip-hop has grown from being a genre that was ridiculed to one of the most influential genres on pop culture. This statement in itself could be a blog post so I won’t go too deep into that.

During the late 80s / early 90s, hip-hop took a turn from easy-going party music with some drug references to hardcore gangsta rap. This transition came as the opportunity for Dre to express himself.

At a time when rappers were by rapping with limited explicit lyrics; NWA came on the scene with brash, unforgiving lyrics that spoke of of the harsh life in Compton. Even after media uproar, they held no punches when expressing themselves. This was their life unfiltered and they saw no other way to tell it. This became the meat and potatoes of hip hop’s culture:

Expression has been a big part of the success of Beats by Dre. With a slick design and a multitude of colors to pick from, Beats allow music lovers to show their style through the color of their headphones. This is true at every level; from the NFL and NBA athletes, to the kids playing on school yards.

Outside of the slick design of the headphones and having color choice, Dr Dre’s influence on pop culture is what makes Beats’ stronghold on the premium headphone market unstoppable. Dre sits atop the influencers of today’s culture: Music. The Beats By Dre YouTube channel has multiple interviews with music artists and celebs alike. Additionally, the big screen shows athletes using beats as a way to tune out noise and redirecting their focus on the game.

Acquiring the mind and influence of Dr Dre will allow Apple to continue mission of influencing culture.

The crazy thing is that we have a (ex)gangsta rapper part of a team making decisions on products that will be used across the globe. Hip hop’s influence has hit it’s highest stage yet. My guess is Apple is switching gears from think different to express yourself.

Beats by Dre YouTube channel 

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Titus Kimbowa

 is a young entrepreneur living in Seattle, WA. He was born in Kampala, Uganda & moved to the States when he was 12. He’s currently a senior at the University of Washington and serves as vice-president of the UW American Marketing Association, and he's interning as the product marketing analyst for stealthy start-up Webtuner. He’s got past experience as part of the Zagat team at Google, Crown Social, TEDxYouth Seattle, and starting up an enterprise travel company. In his spare time (which he rarely gets) he likes to play basketball, read, and hang out around Seattle.

Find Titus on Twitter, and view all of his posts here.

#Seattle: Meet Winegarden, Happiness Delivered

Today I'd like to welcome back one of my contributors, Titus Kimbowa. A junior at the University of Washington at the time, Titus first approached me after a talk and asked me how to grow a network on Twitter, balancing the line between professionalism while building your personal brand. His drive and curiosity have taken him far in the last two years I've known him, and I'm honored that Fresh Jess is the first to bring you his new venture. Read on to discover Winegarden!

winegarden

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As a student at UW, one of the best experiences I was lucky enough to get involved with was building startups. Being immersed in startups gave me an opportunity to meet interesting people. As a kid from a little town in Uganda, the only place I could think to meet such wonderful people was in my dreams. During these meetings, a consistent social connector was wine. Aside from wine being an acquired taste that was lost on me, I knew nothing of its intricacies. After multiple attempts, I was finally able to grasp the basics of wine. There’s clearly a big learning curve.

Soon after I finished school, I was burned out! Working three jobs to pay for school while being a full time student took a toll on me. I decided to break from the stresses of work and school, and absorb more of the unique culture Seattle had to offer that I couldn’t properly appreciate in the past. To my surprise, I find that wine is again at the center of my cultural experience. I realized in order to fully appreciate what Seattle had to offer, I would have to uncork this wonder and learn firsthand what makes it so intriguing.

As I discovered and learned about the diverse selection of great wines, I noticed that wine is not well-cultivated here. Specifically, locally-sourced wines have yet to take a crack at Seattle’s eclectic culture. Wines made in Washington have won numerous awards on the global scale, yet Seattleites know more about California wines than Washington wines. Either we just don’t like Washington wines or the marketing sucks.

I’m with the latter.

The Seattleite in me wouldn’t allow me to give the city a pass on enjoying an inferior wine that’s not from Washington. I got in touch with a friend, Thomas Winegarden who had talked about a wine delivery service that he wanted to build. We discussed different ways in which the technology could be built and settled on a platform, to which local wine shops and wineries would market and sell their wine then have it delivered to consumers on-demand or at a set time that day. The challenge lies between the seamless communication between the customer, driver, and winery/shop. The delivery charge starts at $10 and $6, respectively.

We set forth on the journey to create a service that puts the customer at the center of every transaction. At Winegarden, it's now our mission:

We believe that shopping for wine should be an unforgettable, fun, and delightful experience.

Winegarden not only puts Washington wines at your disposal, but leaves little to no time between you and the perfect glass. Additionally, we put the guesswork out of wine by making it easy to search and discover wines that best fit your taste preference and budget. Washington wines are world-class and are slowly making waves across the globe. We want to accelerate this trend by providing the best service to every Winegarden customer.

With this goal in mind, we set out to land our first set of customers. Knocking on doors, and using referrals has been the only way we’ve delivered wine. During this period, we’ve learned a lot about the nuances of delivering wine. We are now ready to announce it to Seattle and take on more orders!

Join the revolution at www.JoinWinegarden.com.

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Titus Kimbowa is a young entrepreneur living in Seattle, WA. He was born in Kampala, Uganda & moved to the States when he was 12. He’s currently a senior at the University of Washington and serves as vice-president of the UW American Marketing Association, and he's interning as the product marketing analyst for stealthy start-up Webtuner. He’s got past experience as part of the Zagat team at Google, Crown Social, TEDxYouth Seattle, and starting up an enterprise travel company. In his spare time (which he rarely gets) he likes to play basketball, read, and hang out around Seattle.

Find Titus on Twitter, and view all of his posts here.

2014 Summer Style Picks w/ Courtney Liu

FJ Summer ’14: What I’m obsessed with for summer!

Fresh Jess Courtney Liu Summer Style 2014

Fresh Jess Courtney Liu Summer Style 2014

Short hair & light tones

– Last year I rocked bold ombré locks (really long locks) and although I enjoyed the black, reddish-brown and blond tones in my hair, I have recently graduated so I thought I needed a change. I decided to opt for a shoulder-length cut and as for the color; I went for a balyage/ombré technique with honey brownish-blonde tones. Now that summer is approaching and the heat is creeping upon us I’m loving the liberty of having short hair!

Fresh Jess Courtney Liu Summer Style 2014

Color me pink…and purple…and red

– It’s almost summertime so get ready for the vivid hues for your lips. One of my faves and staples is my “Rouge Shine” from Sephora because if you apply a light coat it creates a faint magenta color for day, however; if you’re going for more of a pop of color at night, you can apply a few more layers and your lips will be a gleaming violet. When I want a vibrant hot pink lip I go for my “Rouge Artist Intense” lipstick by Make Up For Ever. I also recently picked up two lipsticks from the “Kate” line of Rimmel London – a classic red and mauve (inspired by Kylie Jenner).

Fresh Jess Courtney Liu Summer Style 2014

Fresh Jess Courtney Liu Summer Style 2014

Bralettes are the new push-up

– Totally obsessed with the lightweight, lacey undergarment. Not only are they comfortable, but also they’re so cute slash sexy and may be worn to be seen too – for example, under a loose or sheer top.

Fresh Jess Courtney Liu Summer Style 2014

Fresh Jess Courtney Liu Summer Style 2014

Crazy but fun florals

– Be daring and don’t be afraid to wear lots of bright colors in the summer; it’s the time to shine anyways! I recently found a peplum top with a colorful bird-of-paradise floral design and I also have a crop top with a vibrant tropical flower print. I love that both tops have mesh inlays, which could allow the breeze to flow through– awesome for this sizzling season!

Fresh Jess Courtney Liu Summer Style 2014

Fresh Jess Courtney Liu Summer Style 2014

Be bold, with colors

– CHARTREUSE. It’s my favorite color for summer. I own an H&M skirt and an Urban Outfitters top (decorated with French lace) both in this color. I love how bold this color is and paired with subtle colors, it just stands out and can pull an outfit together.

Fresh Jess Courtney Liu Summer Style 2014

Pretty in powder blue

– One of the trendy colors of the season is powder blue! This pastel color, reminiscent of summer skies, is a soft hue that’s looks very crisp paired with white or black. I recently purchased a crop button-down top in powder blue, with white polka dots.

Xx,

Courtney

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Courtney Liu is a Hawaii native in the journalism program at the University of Washington. She loves clothes and styling herself and her friends. She hopes to pursue a career in public relations or in the fashion industry.

Find Courtney on Twitter, and view all of her posts here.

Fresh Faced: Uplift the Eyes

With a new year comes a new fresher desire to edge up and spice up your look. Some ladies have lashes for days that they like to play up, or an angled bone structure they enjoy contouring. For me, I thought I'd play up my overall face. I'm nowhere close to being a professional on beauty and makeup, but here are some newfound techniques I thought I would share to the world. I am well versed in the get ready in 15-minutes type of routine and these steps are completely possible to create in that time slot.

What's key for me is to always wash my face if not twice than at least once a day, keep it moisturized and glowing. Having just stepped off the plane from tanning in Hawaii, the tan will eventually fade. So in order to rejuvenate that natural glow, I play off with concealer, bronzer, blush and my brows.

Concealing below my eyes goes a long way. This step can literally transform your entire face from looking drab and tired to positively awake! Top that off with an all-over bronzer to blend. Personally, I enjoy a nice bronzed glow and in some ways, helps by adding to that awakened effect. Blush, if used correctly can add another dynamic layer by giving you that dewey look. Bam!

Photo by Fernando Milani

As for brows, lining in my brows is a very new thing. It transforms the shape of my face while continuing to uplift my eyes. Finding the right shade is a whole other challenge. This is just my two cents on how I get to look presentable for the day.

Guilty selfie!

Products I use:

Concealers

NARS Immaculate Complexion Concealer, custard

Inglot AMC Cream Concealer, 66

Bronzers

Bare Escentuals All Over Face Color, warmth

Inglot AMC Bronzing Powder, 73

Blushes

NARS Blush, angelica

Sonia Kashuk Beautifying Blush, sunset 03

Eyebrow pencil

Rimmel London Professional Eyebrow Pencil, hazel

Dior Powder Brow Pencil, sand

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Emilee Goo is an aspiring creator and adventurer living in Seattle, WA. She's currently a senior at the University of Washington double-majoring in communications and interdisciplinary visual arts. She was born and raised in the San Francisco Bay Area, but is Seattle-grown and Hawaiian at heart. She has had past experience working with Nectar Communications, State Farm Insurance, TEDxUofW, UW PRSSA and BSSP. She is a fashion enthusiast thriving on travel, food, culture, art and photography. She loves to blog ever since she discovered blogging with a friend during her high school years, and is now introduced to a whole new world filled with creative people. She loves sharing her interests over at her own blog, Life of Goobers.

Find Emilee on Twitter, and view all of her posts here.