Color Magazine - Dec. 2011 - January 2012

Edition

42 December 1st January 31st

2011-12

in a city rich in shades, here is a COLOR that includes all...

Diversity: Our Social Imperative

Color Reads

1Q84

by Haruki Murakami It’s a Waverly Life

by Maria Murnane James Hong discusses Asian-Americans in Hollywood

Shama Kabani

On the Zen of Social Media

Helping individuals and organizations communicate with today’s emerging majorities.

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Contents

DECEMBER/ JANUARY

Feature

with Shama Kabani the trendsetting Founder and President of Marketing Zen Group and author of the Zen of Social Media Marketing

12 | Q&A

Entertainment

8 | Color Reads: 1Q84 by Haruki Murakami and Q&A with Maria Murnane of It’s a Waverly Life 16 | Legendary actor James Hong discusses his prolific career and the state of Asian-Americans in Hollywood 17 | Pariah: From Dee Rees’s unique life story come universal truths Lifestyle

18 | Champagne for All by Trond Arne Undheim 20 | Red Flower: Natural Beauty 22 | The Thought that Counts

by Jay Calderin 23 | Society: VienneMilano Fashion Show

— 01 — 02 — 03 — 04 — 05 — 06 — 07 — 08 — 09 — 10 — 11 — 12 — 13 — 14 — 15 — 16 — 17 — 18 — 19 — 20 — 21 — 22 — 23 — 24 —

Business

5 | 21st Century Skills for Professionals of Color 6 | Diversity: Our Social Imperative by Vincent Pina

Dialogues

10 | Happy Mirth Day by Mimi Gonzalez

www.colormagazineusa.com December 2011/January 2012

3

Welcome

From the EDITOR

O

ur fourth annual All-Inclusive awards

have come and gone. While there’s usually not much time for us at the Magazine to reflect, with the New Year around the corner, it seems like the right time.

For more than four years Color Magazine has been promoting professionals of color in a significant way. The All-Inclusive awards have boasted some amazing keynote speakers: Soled O’Briend, Forest Whitaker, Sheila Johnson and Russell Simmons. We have honored more exceptional people and organizations than I can mention here. And there many more worthy nominees who have not won but are working hard to promote inclusion.

At this years Awards, Russell Simmons said that all people and peoples need to be able to integrate to succeed – striving separately will only take us so far. That is what I saw in the crowd this year: an audience more diverse than you might find at any other event in Boston, yet like-minded in their support of diversity. Thank you to all who attended and supported this year – it’s great to be able to reflect on a vision realized.

Michael

In a city rich in shades here is a color that includes all…

Color Magazine is the premier all-inclusive monthly magazine that highlights and promotes professionals of color.

4 Copley Place | Suite 120 Boston, MA 02116 (617) 266.6961 sales@colormagazineusa.com Publisher

Josefina Bonilla

josefina@colormagazineusa.com Editor

Michael Chin

michael@colormagazineusa.com Event Strategist

Desiree Arevalo Social Media/Marketing Coordinator

Yaritza Pina Publisher

Color Media Group, LLC Distribution

GateHouse Media Advisory Committee

Sandra Casey Buford Mark Conrad Beverly Edgehill Yvonne Garcia George Gilmer Kimberly Y. Jones Samson Lee Juan Carlos Morales Pussel Pergament John A. Sims, Jr.

CONTRIBUTING WRITERS

Joanne Choi is a freelance journalist who also regularly contributes to AsianBoston Magazine. Her passion is staying up-to-date on people and society.

She is working on her first novel.

4

Anna GiraldoKerr founded Shades of Success, a career coaching firm, to help professionals of color proactively manage their careers. In 2006, Anna’s editorial commentary on immigration and education was awarded national recognition at the First National Ethnic Media Awards.

Mimi Gonzalez is a stand-up comedian actively touring since 1998. She’ll go anywhere to make people laugh, including Iraq and Afghanistan to entertain the U.S. military. She’s also a part-time blackwalnut farmer in between comedy shows and writing assignments.

MAGAZINE December 2011/January 2012

Trond Arne Undheim is an entrepreneur, speaker and author. He lives between Boston and London, speaks six languages and has a Ph.D. in sociology. He writes frequently on wine and society.

Jay Calderin is the author of Form, Fit & Fashion,’ and Fashion Design Essentials.

Jay is an instructor and the Director of Creative Marketing at the School of Fashion Design, as well as the Executive Director of Boston Fashion Week, which he founded in 1995.

21st Century Student Outcomes and Support Systems

Business

Learning and Innovation Skills — 4Cs

ready for the economic, technological, social and cultural demands of the 21st century workplace. Given the cultural scripts shared by many communities of color, professionals of color are raised to become natural collaborators, cultural navigators and master innovators.

Core Subjects — 3Rs Natural Collaborators. Collaboration is and 21st Century Themes ingrained in professionals of color since birth.

Life and Information, Child upbringing is a collective experience Career Skills Media, and among communities of color, where it is comTechnology mon practice to engage extended family and Skills neighbors in the care of the young.

Kids learn to share, barter and Standards and negotiate their way to toys, Assessments activities and treats.

This practice remains as children grow to Curriculum and Instruction be adolescents and become active parProfessional Development ticipants in the care and upkeep of their homes and neighborhoods. Once Learning Environments in the workplace, professionals of color could easily leverage their honed in collaboration skills to build consensus and pool resources for the betterment of 21st Century Skills and the organization.

Professionals of Color: Cultural navigators. Given their communal way of living, children in communities of color are generally comfortable being in different environments (i.e. an aunt’s or neighbor’s house). As they enter the school system, students of color – who tend to be in the minority — become savvy about entering different environments and adapting as the environment

By Anna Giraldo-Kerr dictates. At times, they help their families bridge the dominant and minority cultures. sk a teacher about 21st century skills and she could probably give you As adults, professionals of color could build on a strong argument in favor or against implementing changes in the Kinthis skill by assisting their organizations explore dergarten through 12 grade school system. Ask a manager in corporate new market opportunities, engaging a diverse America about 21st century skills and she will perhaps articulate a few sentences workforce and forging strategic partnerships about having a skilled workforce in order to remain competitive. across regions.

Master innovators. Creativity is a skill that no child lacks. When it comes to children in communities of color, creativity is sometimes heightened by lack of resources. As the saying goes, “necessity is the mother of invention.” At for local, state and federal policies that supWhat are 21st century skills, anyway, and times the most popular and cherished toy in a port this approach for every school.” The 3Rs are professionals of color 21st century ready? child’s world is a plain box. It becomes a plane, describe Reading and Writing and Literacy skills The term “21st century skills” generally a train or a hat as needed. Similarly, professionin several thematic areas (e.g. financial, envirefers to a multi-layered and multi-faceted apals’ of color built-in resourcefulness mindset ronmental, cultural). The 4Cs are for Critical proach to learning and teaching. According to could facilitate the effective management of thinking and problem solving, Communication, The Partnership for 21st Century Skills (P21), organizational assets to maximize results.

Collaboration, and Creativity and innovation.

“As the United States continues to compete in a As the 21st century unfolds, the demands This novel approach to prepare the current global economy that demands innovation, P21 required to be successful in the workplace of student body to become 21st century skilled is and its members provide tools and resources to the future will continue to evolve. Professionals commendable to say the least. The question rehelp the U.S. education system keep up by fusof color are naturally poised to meet and exceed mains, however, are professionals of color 21st ing the 3Rs and 4Cs. While leading districts and these demands. There is no doubt in my mind. century ready? In my opinion, we are innately schools are already doing this, P21 advocates Critical thinking • Communication Collaboration • Creativity

Leveraging Synergies The missing link in understanding the human asset

A

Anna Giraldo-Kerr coaches, consults and writes about leadership and diversity. She can be reached at annagkerr@gmail.com

www.colormagazineusa.com December 2011/January 2012

5

Business

Diversity: Our Societal Imperative Strategies for diversifying your workplace

By Vincent Pina, vice president of h u m a n r e s o u r c e s , N e t w o r k H e a lt h

L

ife experiences shape who we are and influence our value set. I have based my career on teaching others the value of diversity because I know firsthand what it feels like to experience racism. I grew up in a place where I looked different from everyone in my classes. People didn’t understand why I wanted to go to college because “folks like you don’t go to college.” In 1969 a landlord refused to rent me an apartment because I’m black; I filed a lawsuit that ended up in federal court. The judge ruled in my favor, and the outcome of this landmark case led to major changes in Massachusetts housing laws.

These experiences shaped who I am and cemented my value set. Diversity and its implications are very important to me — it’s a part of almost everything I do — especially in the workplace. At my core, I believe it’s our societal imperative to employ people with the same diverse backgrounds as the mix of ethnic, racial, and cultural differences we find in our society. Our society is changing, and the world is changing — and each of us has a responsibility to reflect those changes in our choice of employees.

At Network Health – a nonprofit, comprehensive Massachusetts health plan that provides high-quality health care coverage to residents with low and moderate incomes – it’s critical for us to have a diverse workforce because our membership comprises people with a wide range of ethnic and racial backgrounds.

The more our employees are familiar with our members’ cultures, the better we can meet and serve their needs. It’s simple: If our employees speak the same language as our members, and know our members’ neighborhoods, struggles, customs, and traditions, we can be more efficient and effective in connecting and communicating with them.

In order to diversify Network Health’s workforce, Network Health set an aggressive three-year strategic goal to build our workforce in accordance with the United States Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) employee-diversity categories. We also set a corporate goal to hire into Network Health twice the number of mi6

nority employees as the BLS standards proposed. We met those diversity hiring goals in two years.

To date we have 375 employees, 45 percent of whom are non-white. I believe it would be a mistake to diversify our employee population but have no leadership that mimics that, so 27 percent of our supervisors are non-white. Our employees provide customer service support in nine languages, produce materials in 10 languages, and maintain both English and Spanish versions of our website.

If you want to diversify your workforce you can start by making yourself aware of the BLS data and understanding how many people of various ethnic or racial backgrounds are available in your geographic area by job function.

Then set growth targets, and hold yourself accountable to meeting them.

Our greatest diversity is in our nonmanagement roles, so in order to diversify at the management levels we started posting jobs internally. For five days after a new position is opened, we give employees the opportunity to raise their hand. If they have the basic qualifications for the position, we take the best of that population to fill the job. If they don’t, we coach them on the qualifications they need to be strong candidates in the future. We’ve also

MAGAZINE December 2011/January 2012

conducted job fairs in the communities that we serve, encouraged employee referrals, and made a concentrated effort to talk to candidates who are representative of the communities we serve.

As part of creating a diverse workforce, it’s critical to create a corporate culture of awareness and understanding. At Network Health, we wanted to create a culture where employees believe in our values and work together to continue our mission. To do this, Network Health’s human resources team conducts diversity training for new employees that teaches them about our commitment to diversity and increases awareness of themselves and others to foster a culture of openness, respect, and growth.

We also created a Diversity Council to promote acceptance, individuality, and respect, and to engage employees to embrace and celebrate diversity. The 10- to 15-person Diversity Council’s activities include delivering weekly diversity trivia, hosting “Taste of Culture” potluck luncheons where employees can share their favorite dishes that reflect their heritage, and running short videos at lunch to educate staff on various cultures. The group also created an art gallery designed to showcase artists from variety of backgrounds and their work.

It’s also important to make sure you have commitment from the very top of your organization. Your organization’s leadership should be as committed as you are, as it can be very difficult — if not impossible — to do this alone.

In short, make a commitment in your heart and drive to that. The world is a better place if your employee population is representative of where you live and the customers you serve.

Make no mistake: The upside is significant.

Employees who are comfortable where they work, feel respected, and know they are making a difference are more likely to be committed and motivated to achieve business success.

Vincent Pina is the Vice President of Human Resources for Network Health, a Medford, Mass.-based nonprofit health insurance plan serving nearly 180,000 Massachusetts members with low and moderate incomes.

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11/15/11 9:52 AM

entertainment

Color Reads:

Maria Murnane of Q+A It’s a Waverly Life

By Joanne M. Choi

A

t the 2010 Massachusetts Conference for Women

Maria Murnane gave a talk entitled “Want to become published?” It’s a fitting question that the former public relations professional is uniquely suited to answer: she self-published her first book, Perfect on Paper, after deciding she needed a career change. And after a savvy and relentless marketing campaign, AmazonEncore came calling and published her book in the more traditional way.¶ The sequel, It’s a Waverly Life (AmazonEncore), was released last month and continues the adventures of Waverly Bryson. The heroine possesses enough vulnerabilities to be believable, yet she experiences pie in the sky moments that make you muse about the what-if possibilities of life and love.

Joanne Choi: I love that you played semi-pro soccer in Argentina. Who is your favorite pro athlete?

Maria Murnane: I don’t think I really have a favorite. For soccer I love watching Marta and Messi, and I’m always impressed by Wayne Rooney. In American football I love Tom Brady, but what woman doesn’t?

JC: Quitting your job in PR was the way for you to embark upon your career as a writer.

Is there anything you miss about your previous identity?

MM: The steady paycheck! Other than that, not much.

JC: What are you reading for fun?

MM: Born to Run, although, the crazy distances people run in it do not sound all that fun.

JC: Two underlying themes in your books 8

MAGAZINE December 2011/January 2012

seem to be taking risks and valuing one’s friendships. What else do you want readers to take home from Waverly?

MM: That it’s okay not to have everything all figured out. So many people in American culture pretend they are happy, even when they’re not.

I’m not sure why we do that. ‘Suck it up’ isn’t a good life motto!

JC: Do you think dating gets more challenging for a single woman in her 30s?

MM: I think it’s a little easier when you’re older because you’re more focused on “Will I like HIM?” as opposed to “Will he like ME?” When I was in my 20s I put up with some things I never should have because I was too young to realize I deserved better. Plus in your 30s you have more life experience, which makes us all more interesting. And dating is easier when you have interesting things to say.

JC: Why do you think Waverly Bryson has been so relatable to fans of your book?

MM: Readers often tell me they love Waverly because she’s real. She’s smart and funny, but she also falls on her face a lot. And they love how she always picks herself up and doesn’t take herself too seriously. I guess she makes people realize they’re not the only ones who aren’t perfect.

1Q84 by Haruki Murakami Haruki Murakami hooks his readers by effortlessly leading you to into his world full of Review colors, scents and possibilities that existed before staid adulthood snuffed out the wonderment and imagination we all possess.

His latest book 1Q84 (Knopf) was published in the author’s native Japan as a three part series; the much-anticipated U.S. version combines all three. When you open the thick, 925-page volume, you are entering a seemingly normal yet off-kilter world.

Murakami brings you so deeply into the mind of his two main characters, Aomam and Tengo, that you could become them on their journeys to come unite.

Although there are some trademark Murakami elements in this book, including an emphasis food, music and detailed descriptions of ears, he has stayed away from the formulaic. Reading this work wasn’t a love-at-first-page experience (my expectations for this long awaited novel were simply too high, he is one of my favorite authors) and the sinister and creepier elements threw me for a loop. The sexual relations depicted were surprisingly edgy and dark while the religious cult plot elements puzzled me at times. Nonetheless, 1Q84 is storytelling of the first kind and is worthy of the hype.

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NOTES

Embracing Diversity, Empowering Individuals 85 lpi

4-color

Harvard Pilgrim is proud to support and promote inclusion for a better world.

Eastern Bank is a proud sponsor of Color Magazine’s 2011 All-Inclusive Awards

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www.harvardpilgrim.org Eastern Bank recruits for diversity at all levels of our organization, we are an equal opportunity employer.

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9 11/14/11 9:20 AM

Dialogues

Happy Mirth Day

By Mimi Gonzalez

W

hat you need is a healthy laugh. Heard that one? How about,

laughter is the best medicine – another saying high on the list of cures for what ails you. In 1964, famed journalist and activist Norman Cousins prescribed himself Marx Brothers movies, a nurse to read him humorous stories and large doses of Vitamin C to combat a form of arthritis that attacked his connective tissues.¶ Alternative medicine in 1964? Neil Armstrong wouldn’t even land on the moon until 1969. So how did Cousins discover such an effective and utterly unorthodox method to counter his ailment?¶ He was the editor of the Saturday Review for thirty years. The research department of the periodical collaborated on the study of his symptoms, and discovered the effects that negative thoughts have on the body. As one M.D. put it in the movie, The Secret, what you think about, you bring about.¶ So if Cousins could turn his thinking and feelings into positive emotions, he reasoned he could have a positive effect on his body.

An early pioneer in understanding the effects of stress on the human system, he defeated his infirmity and published “Anatomy of an Illness.”¶ Long before stress became the catchall diagnosis of our time, his research led him to an understanding that his body was buckling under the effects of it. Heart disease, arthritis, his work toward nuclear disarmament all contributed to his need to either heal or succumb to his doctor’s prognosis that he had little chance of surviving.

10

MAGAZINE December 2011/January 2012

“I made the joyous discovery that ten minutes of genuine belly laughter had an anesthetic effect and would give me at least two hours of pain-free sleep,” he reported. “When the painkilling effect of the laughter wore off, we would switch on the motion picture projector again and not infrequently, it would lead to another pain-free interval.”

Laughing one’s way to a state of health.

Proved positive by a man who did it, chronicled it and shared it. And that process of giving back may be another hidden key to the health equation – something so many spiritual traditions teach as the apex of enlightenment – service.

Here we are, in the midst of another holiday season. A time for ending and reviewing another year and giving thanks for the accomplishments and relationships we benefited from.

Even the mythic Santa Claus is ecstatic from his place of giving presents to all the children of the world. His merry cry is always launched from his big-bellied laugh of “Ho! Ho! Ho!” It is during this time that I – a lone woman without children – acknowledge the connections to friends and extended family that offer me feelings of wealth and satisfaction.

The World Health Organization declared in 1948 that health is a state of complete physical, mental and social well-being, and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity. And the Buddha said, “Health is the greatest gift, contentment the greatest wealth, faithfulness the best relationship.”

Laughing is sometimes the hardest thing to do. Life is full of moments of humiliation, failure, mistakes and the banality that accompanies our humanity. Horatio Walpole, a man of letters from the mid-18th century, declared the world a comedy to those that think and a tragedy to those that feel.

He offered a sort of clemency for us mortals by acknowledging the duality that is our very nature. And while not ranking thinking above feeling, it’s implicit in his statement that comedy is the way out of tragedy.

Bill Cosby – the legendary comedian who was once considered “America’s Dad” – had to break through many social and color barriers in the 1960’s to successfully launch his career. He certainly had to endure his share of hardships, but like a true master, he recognized, “Through humor you can soften some of the blows that life delivers. And once you find laughter, no matter how painful your situation might be, you can survive it.”

Here’s a toast that you find laughter and good cheer during the holidays to return you to your health. Ho ho ho and ha ha ha.

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11

SHAMA KABANI How this trendsetting entrepreneur

mastered 12

the zen of social media marketing

MAGAZINE December 2011/January 2012

I

f you’re a devout believer in social media, then Shama Kabani is a messiah. If you consider it merely a tool

of our times, she is a master craftswoman. And if it’s still an enigma to you, she might be able to shed some light on this new and ubiquitous part of society.¶ Kabani is the founder and president of The Marketing Zen Group, a digital marketing firm specializing in social media, and author of The Zen of Social Media Marketing. In addition, she hosts a web tv show (shama.tv), is an international speaker, and in 2009 Business Week named her as a top 25 entrepreneur under 25 in North America.¶ Today, social media seems integrated into almost everything, yet few were as quick to realize the potential of the trend as Kabani. After graduate school, she applied to 18 different companies, each of which passed on the woman who FastCompany.com would later call “an online marketing shaman” and a “master of the millennial universe.” Instead of giving up on her passion she started her own company, and the rest is, well, on Wikipedia.

Color Magazine: On the rise of social media, how did you see it coming and how did you become an expert in it?

Shama Kabani: I was in graduate school in 2007 and I studied organizational communication. This was the time when Twitter was just emerging and social networking was just peaking its head out, not even in its infancy I would say, but I was fascinated by it. I had a graduate advisor who was extremely supportive of my decision to explore social media, which was not the phrase it is today – people didn’t know what that was.

In the academic world you’re looking for trends and what’s new. I had a very encouraging graduate advisor and I started following my passion.

I remember going to a conference in Las Vegas called BlogWorld and New Media Expo and it had just a few hundred people attending. I remember Twitter had 2,000 users – it has 275 million now – and just being enthralled by this whole new world that was peaking out. That same conference has grown so big in the last two years alone. that they now host one on the East Coast and one on the West Coast because of the thousands of people who attend.

CM: I remember when I first heard what Twitter was and I couldn’t understand why it was becoming so popular. What did you see in it?

SK: It’s a good question. I studied it from an academic standpoint, I did my thesis on Twitter because I had the same questions: Why are people using social networking?

Why are the numbers growing by the hundreds of thousands by the day? What I found in my research was that this was more than people being in social networks, and people connecting, it was a dramatic shift, a changing in society. We were going from a culture of press doing media – which of course is huge – to people being the media. I saw that shift and that’s why I started writing about it.

CM: Most company’s were slow to pick up on this. How did they miss out on this early on, and how did they miss out on hiring you?

SK: Yup, 18 companies rejected me.

When you are a big corporation, you have a lot of red tape. It’s harder to move. Back then, social media wasn’t that big and they didn’t see all of the repercussions. I think they felt like it was a fad. Just think about websites and how long it took for a lot of companies to even get a website – the internet was a fad!

Social media seemed like something the kids do. In that time that was partially true – Facebook was only open to college students – it didn’t have the vast business potential that we see now.

CM: It seems like there’s a new social medium appearing fairly often. How do we spot the fads versus the ones we should pay attention to?

SK: A lot of it is history and what makes a good social networking site. Google Plus, for example, that’s going to be important. And here’s why, it’s run by Google and Google controls a big chunk of the search that happens. If it was anyother-company plus, it wouldn’t have the same power. So you look at those kinds of things, who is behind a certain company, what kind of hold do they already have in the online world. There’s another social network called Pinterest and their users have nearly doubled almost every single week since they’ve launched. You have to look at those trends to see what to focus on next.

CM: You’re releasing a second edition of your book, The Zen of Social Media Marketing.

What are the new trends that you discuss?

SK: Of course Facebook itself has changed so much, really going from a place where people connect to being the digital timeline and digital platform for people. Social advertising – things like groupon, group buying, Facebook advertising – these have really come to the forefront. We covered Google Plus extensively, online video has had a lot of changes happening in terms of the growth and different mediums available. If I could, I would write a new edition everyday!

www.colormagazineusa.com December 2011/January 2012

13

CM: You emigrated from India when you were nine. How has your background affected your career?

SK: In a big way. The school system in India is very different. The focus there is much more on discipline, memory-based and very analytical skills. The U.S. education system is more about creative thinking, teamwork, independent critical thinking.

Different skills are weighed differently. I think that because I came here at the age of nine, I got the best of both worlds. I felt like I had that discipline ingrained in me from doing the Indian – well Catholic school really – then coming here and having a very different skill set emphasized.

I certainly think I grew up a little faster than other kids my age.

CM: When you started your company you were an expert in social media, but you had to learn to become a CEO and leader. Can you talk about that process?

SK: The expertise, that’s the easy part, being the CEO that’s really challenging. Everyday is a learning process. With a bigger organization I think you have more structure.

When you build a company from scratch and and you’re used to wearing many hats, and then you have people who take away those hats, you have to really figure out what your job is within the company. I feel like mine’s not so much a CEO but really a chief value officer. I measure my work as, how are we adding value to our clients, to our internal team, and then providing value to a greater audience. We have a global audience who reads our blog, watches our videos, so we serve a much bigger audience than just our clientele.

CM: Do you now see yourself as a mentor?

SK: I do see myself as a mentor. I actually mentored a group of young Egyptian women entrepreneurs who are starting the equivalent of iVillage for the middle east and the Arabic speaking part of the world. There’s lots of startup competition and they are doing very well. I’ve been mentoring them using Skype. [Laughs.]

14

CM: Is social media one field where being younger increases your credibility?

SK: Certainly age has its advantage no matter where you are in the spectrum. My husband is a lawyer and he’s young. Clients will say, ‘You’re young to be a lawyer,’ even though he’s essentially paid his dues.

In my case I’ve had clients say, ‘Oh good you’re young. You grew up with this stuff, this stuff is innate to you.’ I don’t know if being younger makes me better at my job, but there’s certainly that perception and it helps us. If I were starting a law firm instead of a cutting-edge web marketing agency, it would be a lot harder to grow it, because you’re judged using a different bar.

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This 2012 edition includes the latest Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn updates, along with new information on Google+, social media advertising, and more.

MAGAZINE December 2011/January 2012

CM: What are the most successful social media strategies you’re seeing right now?

SK: The smartest companies are doing two things. One, they’re integrating social media as part of their bigger picture, because that’s where the [Return on Investment] really lies. Meaning you don’t get anything for tweets, you don’t get anything for your Facebook page, but you do get something when, for example, you do an event, and PR works with social media to leverage those platforms. Or take search engine optimization for example, that team works with the social media team to make sure that the stuff that they’re doing is not only good for building relationships, but also it’s helping get ranked in Google [searches]. There are so many nuances that I think the best companies are the ones that are integrating it.

The other thing that good companies are doing is realizing that social media is about the individual, not about the company. One of the things that I found when I was doing my thesis, was that the number one reason people use social networking is to showcase their own identity. It is very much a digital mirror. The companies that are good at that are saying, ‘How can we be that brand that people want to connect with?’

It doesn’t have to be sexy, it doesn’t have to be a consumer brand, it’s all about providing value. The biggest mistake I see companies making is mistaking the medium for the message. Great, you’re on twitter, but what do you have to say?

CM: I feel like the generic advice to professionals is to not post anything online that you wouldn’t want an employer to see. Is that still the case?

SK: You absolutely have to be very careful, now more then ever perhaps. I was speaking to a group on social media and parenting. One of the statistics I came across in my research was a survey done by ADG, the anti-virus company. They found that 82 percent of kids, by the age of two already have some sort of digital footprint. That’s staggering. But think about grandparents posting pictures of their grandkids, people now put up sonograms, I’m not sure what that’s all about! [Laughs.]

But people share things, and it starts long before you are even able to consciously control it.

Especially people looking for jobs have to realize that the web is like a digital canvas and the idea isn’t to avoid getting paint on it, but how can I really create a masterpiece. I think that people are asking, what do I need to hide, when they should be asking, what do I want to showcase.

CM: You’ve stressed giving back as a part of your company and something that all companies should do. Why? SK: Because its a really short life!

I feel like if your business isn’t doing something good and you’re not giving back, then your impact is so limited. As cliché as it sounds, I realized that to whom much is given, much is expected, and I’ve lived by that. For successful business owners and CEOs, so much is given. Even just living in this country, the infrastructure we have, the resources we have. If we don’t give back it’s really sort of a waste isn’t it?

When I was in Cairo and we were talking about this very subject with a bunch of CEOs, one of them said, ‘Social entrepreneurship is almost a misnomer, because to be an entrepreneur is very much to give back.’ Maybe the new wave of thinking is that its not just about the bottom line, but the bottom impact you are having on the world.

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15

entertainment

James Hong Pioneering actor reflects on his prolific career and the state of Asian-Americans in Hollywood

secret desire to be an actor and to perform kept getting stronger.”

One summer Hong came out to California hoping to make it in Hollywood with his

By John Black comedy partner Don Parker.

“We called ourselves Hong ith an acting resume that includes and Parker, just a couple of working with everyone from screen legfresh guys from Minnesota. A ends like Clarke Gable and John Wayne, comedy writer got hold of us to modern box office stars like Kurt Russell and Harand agreed to take us on. He rison Ford, it’s strange to think that James Hong’s met with the producer of You acting career began with a duck. More specifically, Bet Your Life in the summer of 1953 and told him you the duck holding the secret word on the old Groucho need to look at this Chinese Marx television game show, You Bet Your Life. guy. He’s funny and he does imitations. He even does one of Groucho, so that hooked them.”

Hong first acted professionally in a movie When I was in college studying engineerwith Clark Gable called Soldier of Fortune. ing at University of Minnesota I was also doing That led to some small TV roles before he standup comedy during the intermission at got his second movie, Blood Alley with John dances or wherever I could,” Hong said in an Wayne. That was quickly followed with a part interview with Color Magazine while in Boston in Love is a Many Splendid Thing opposite shooting his latest film, R.I.P.D. “I didn’t tell William Holden. After that, things just kept my parents, of course. They didn’t think I going for Hong and it wasn’t long before he could make a living in show business, but the

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MAGAZINE December 2011/January 2012

was averaging ten movies and TV shows a year.

“I don’t think my dad knew what was going on until I got a part in the Charlie Chan TV series in 1958,” Hong said, “There was a big party at my house to send me off to London and a lot of reporters showed up. That was when my dad realized I was doing OK, although I’m sure he was glad I had engineering to fall back on.”

Although his career was strong, there was a weakness to the Hollywood system that Hong saw not so much as a threat to his own career, but as challenge that needed to be faced to help all Asian-Americans who had the dream and the drive to become actors and filmmakers.

“I was happy, as were the rest of the AsianAmerican people I knew, earning a living with the roles that they fed us, but over time it wears you down. I saw that the scripts always presented us in the same image; ninety-five percent of the parts were what I call gimmick roles.

They just put us in the script as a gimmick, some sort of oddity. We were told to be stoic and non-expressive. It became less about our abilities as an actor and more about us standing there and ‘looking Chinese.’”

Hong decided to fight against the “cliché images” Hollywood was presenting to the world, but not by picketing or protesting or quitting the job he loved. He came up with a plan to show the world that Asian American actors could be more than waiters or villains. He formed the East-West Players, the first Asian-American theater group in Los Angeles as a place where actors, writers, directors and other artists could showcase their work in a cliché-free environment. Later, he helped organize the artist of his community into the Association of Asian Pacific American Artists as a way of solidifying their growing power in the film and television industries.

“I wanted to form these organizations not only to see if we could better our positions in the performing arts, but to give the world a better image of the Chinese,” Hong said. “Sitting here now, I can say I’m not happy with our progress. We are still in the silent minority.

The industry doesn’t treat us very well. There are not many roles for us and what you see are still mostly token roles.

“After 57 years as an actor, I’m still not happy,” Hong added, “but the day is coming when we will dominate filmmaking because of the influence Chinese cinema is having on the world today. American films are huge in China, and a lot of Asian-American actors are going over there to be in Chinese movies. It’s a very slow process, but I think it’s inevitable. As my character Lopan said [in Big Trouble in Little China], ‘I’m not about to wait another thousands years.’ But I’m afraid I might have to.”

entertainment

Pariah From Dee Rees’s unique life story come universal truths

By John Black

I

t would be easy to slap a few labels on Dee Rees’s debut movie, Pariah, to shoehorn it into an easily definable category.¶ It would also be wrong.¶ Although the movie, based on her own life experiences, chronicles one Black teenagers struggle to find her identity – as a person, as a poet, as a lesbian and as a daughter – the film’s message is far too powerful – and too universal – to be easily defined. It’s far too important, as well.¶ “The beauty of the film for me is that it is told from the perspective of a young, black woman in NYC, but you do not have to be [like her] to relate to the film,” said Adepero Oduye, who stars in the movie as Alike. “On the journey we’ve made, taking the film to festivals like to Sundance, I’ve had a chance to meet all kinds of people and they all take something different from it. It’s been really overwhelming hearing from parents who have teenagers, and people who remember being awkward as a kid, or from kids going through their own awkwardness. They’re not necessarily gay or Black or female. Watching the film makes them want to share their experiences.”

Pariah tells the story of Alike (pronounced ah-lee-kay), a 17-year-old African-American woman living with her family in Brooklyn’s Fort Greene neighborhood. She is a good student with a gift for poetry, but when Alike embraces her identity as a lesbian, it causes her friends and family to change the way they treat her.

“I was 27 when I came out, and I had

no idea I was a lesbian when I was the age Alike is in the movie. I had some crushes, but didn’t know at the time. They were just girls I admired. I even dated a guy through most of college,” Rees said. “It wasn’t until I was living independently that I really fell in love with someone and then it was undeniable what I am. I talked to mom on the phone about it and

she told me that I was going to art school, so it was just a phase. When w started dating and introducing her as my girlfriend, things changed.

My mom and grandmother flew in to New York for an intervention. I tried to tell them that I was the same person I had always have been, but they would not believe me. There were years of silence between us after that, but I just had to hold my ground. Eventually they came around significantly. They saw I wasn’t going to change. The more comfortable I was the more comfortable they were.”

When it came to telling Alike’s story, comfortable was the last thing that Rees wanted to make her audience feel. From the very first scene of the film, showing Alike and her friend, Laura (Pernell Walker), at a lesbian dance club, the director sets the tone for her film with a soundtrack that blasts out Reema Major’s “Cocky,” featuring lyrics that can’t be repeated here.

“It’s important that the opening be provocative,” Rees said. “You’re either going to get up and leave or stay to see what happens next. I wanted the audience to feel as uncomfortable as Alike does in the club. It’s just as important to switch things again on the audience when they get out of the club. I don’t want them thinking they’re going to watch a Hip Hop hood movie. I want them to know that they don’t know these people, and they know their stories.”

www.colormagazineusa.com December 2011/January 2012

17

Champagne

LIFESTYLE

FRANCE

Champagne for All

By Trond Arne Undheim

S

parkling wine is for every occa-

sion. But did you know it also is for every kind of person?¶ Ever since sparkling wine was invented, it has been linked to festivity. We are all festive, right? Well, yes, but we are not festive in the same way. A festive thing for a Red Sox fan is not always the same as for an executive, a student, a stay at home mother (or those that are all of the above).

First, a bit of background. Champagne is a region in northeastern France with chalky soils. Most are blends of grape varietals (Chardonnay, Pinot Meunier and Pinot Noir), vintages, and wine from many vineyards. Each gives a unique expression of fruit, flavor and finesse. The good ones taste rich and toasty, and have fairly complex, toasty aromas that could be described as variations of apples and pear. The type you typically want is labeled dry (“brut”). They should be served slightly chilled, and should only spend moments in a fridge, never days. Champagne is expensive. This is justified by it being rare given the finite 86,500 acres devoted to such wines. Rare vintages such as 1999, 1996, 1976 etc. are out of budget.

The rest is fairly obvious, and apart from matching Champagne to life situation (done below) choosing a Champagne has to do with personality, marketing, feelings, brands, taste buds and context, not necessarily in that order.

The Red Sox Fan A sports fan typically drinks beer, you may think. Not necessarily so. Think custom wine labels, accessorizing, combos and context. You might spruce up an otherwise typical sports night by announcing the arrival of a Champagne bottle as the beginning of more refined post-game celebration. The champagne in question should be uncomplicated, uncompromising, but could on occasion be a tradeable commodity — although you should want to keep it for a few seasons. You might get away with a Spanish crisp, dry Cava or maybe more appropriate with a sweeter Italian Prosecco, or even with some U.S. made sparkling wine. Just think of what else the person is beyond being a Red Sox fan.

The Stay-at-home-Mother Moms everywhere love their kids, but they also relish the moments (some say nanoseconds) they can get away from it all. A bottle, a glass, a sip of Champagne may provide this break. Any occasion or no occasion at all will do to give away this wine, because sparkling wine is almost like medicine to this category of individuals. The more expensive and refined, the better, since Champagne always gets better with price and, with sparkling, people always can tell. Besides, Champagne is cheaper than diamonds, or it should be, anyway, and it provides a time out until those diamonds can be procured. I recommend a recent Cristal, Dom Perignon, or Krug. If the budget is tight, and you can get away with it, go for Cremant de Bourgogne, plenty of sightly larger bubbles for less.

The Graduate Student Students are notoriously poor, yet always seem to have the money to go out. Once in a while, although actually, come to think of it, too seldom, does a student indulge in Champagne. By the time you are a grad student, Champagne should be commonplace. It is hard to know what to give a grad student, anyway. All they care about is their degree and their future. With them, what you need to do is give them something for Christmas, but reiterate on the card that it cannot be opened until they graduate.

This is good, because they obsess about graduating. In fact, they dream about it.

Any part you can have in somebody’s dream tends to be a good thing. Go for an expensive bottle of a French Champagne with a very complicated name. (The latter is not hard, since they all come that way.) I recommend Perrier-Jouët Belle Epoque for the name alone, although you may wish to skip the Belle Epoque part so you can still afford your mortgage.

MAGAZINE December 2011/January 2012

Bollinger Special Cuvee Brut

(NV, $70, 91/100) My personal favorite. The name is good. The taste is good. The price is good. Unbeatable. Apply, stony, bone dry, toasty, ultimately, good stuff. I seldom take tips from fictional characters, but, well, it helps that James Bond recommends it, right?

Veuve Clicquot Brut Yellow Label Champagne

(NV, $40, 88/100) The classic everyday Champagne which tastes more than nice, does what it needs to do and has great brand recognition, being associated with Louis Vuitton, and sporting a nice, yellow bottle. Few of us need more than that. On the negative side, there are much better ones out there.

Louis Roederer Cristal Brut, Champagne

(2004, $210, 93/100) With its characteristically clear bottle, gold label, and unforgettable mention in Jay-Z’s rap lyrics which first led to a surprising embrace then a full rejection by the rap movement, it does not really matter what this sparkling wine tastes. It is a classic Veblen good, as economists would say, the perfect specimen of conspicuous consumption.

The Executive Leaders like Champagne. It makes them feel victorious.

They like that. Winning is good. Only that this feeling does not characterize the life of executives lately. There is downsizing, recession, crisis. Every executive longs for a Champagne moment. They do not get it at work any more. In fact, the drink has been banned from many holiday parties not to seem like they are overspending. All the more reason to gift a Champagne to this lot. They can have it at home, secretly with a few trusted colleagues, or even better, with you. Make sure the wine looks more expensive than it is. This can be accomplished by picking the bottle that most exudes the kind of elegance this particular executive aspires to. Bollinger is a good brand.

Investor grade Champagne include aforementioned Cristal, Krug Clos de Mesnil (both owned by Moët & Chandon) and Dom Perignon, plus Taittinger Comtes de Champagne or Veuve Clicquot Grande Dame.

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Trond’s Picks

The World of Champagne Bollinger www.champagne-bollinger.fr James Bond (Champagne appears 35 times in Flemings’ books) www.007.com Champagne Bureau (trade association) www.champagne.us Moët & Chandon (world’s largest producer) www.moet.com Louis Roederer (makers of Cristal) www.champagne-roederer.com

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11/23/11 10:56 AM

LIFESTYLE

Beauty Tips from Yael n Acupressure facial massage should be part of the daily skincare ritual. (See red flower active omega berry oil-serum skincare for technique.) n Protect the skin from the sun year round.

The most effective way is to wear a hat avoiding the chemicals in sunscreen.

Icelandic Moonflower cleansing hair wash $28.00

A daily skincare practice must include purification, exfoliation, massage and rehydration. n

n A diet rich in kelp and fish deliver omega 3s and 6s to the skin.

Nutrition is considered a big part of keeping skin healthy and balanced.

Taking onsen, mineral bathing, is essential to lasting health, vitality and radiant beauty. n

Beauty from a Flower

By Joanne M. Choi

A

ccording to Yael Alkalay, “Beauty is how you feel

about yourself and the optimism and possibility you see in life. We each carry vibrancy, energy, health and vitality within us, expressing, cultivating and appreciating this is the essential beauty mantra that I believe in.” Yael (pronounced yah-EL) is the long-tressed and photogenic founder of Red Flower, an upscale, hippie-chic hair and skincare line with a green focus.¶ “I had a life altering accident in my mid 20s while skiing in Corcheval, France. It made me realize in a very immediate way how fleeting life is and how essential it is to live fully and with appreciation and awareness. I created Red Flower as an expression of that vision,” she explained. As if to reinforce those sentiments, while living in Japan, Yael narrowly missed the 1995 nerve gas attack, referred to as the Subway Sarin Incident, simply because she realized she had forgotten her lucky coins and went home to retrieve them.

20

MAGAZINE December 2011/January 2012

And lucky for us, Yael is creating some exceptional beauty products. Red Flower’s Icelandic Moonflower Wash and Conditioner has a mesmerizing aroma of moonflower, freesia, boronia, and apple blossom.

The fresh scent, which made me think of seductive water nymphs and sylphlike fairies, lingered in my hair. I have been using it for months and have been quite pleased with the natural results.

The Guaiac Perfume contains flower, leaf and bark and smelled clean and natural. Red Flower is known for their scents; Yael grew up steeped in a world of flowers, herbs, and oils and learned how to blend them properly. “Red Flower is about how to experience the absolute difference of a synthetic free fragrance,” she explained.¶ She wants to help consumers renounce the parabens and petrochemicals contained in many products out there. Red Flower has everything from hair care to skincare to tea, and is available at Barney’s and www. redflower.com.

Icelandic Moonflower softening hair conditioner $32.00

Guaiac perfume 10ml travel roll-on $48.00

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21

LIFESTYLE

The Thought That Counts Dorothy Parker

B y J ay Ca l d e r i n

E

njoying the holiday season often means giving in to a sense of

nostalgia. The appreciation of times gone by is not limited to just our personal histories. We can tap into any era we find we have an affinity for. The romance of the Victorian age, the abandon of the Roaring 20’s, or the propriety of the 1950’s, are just of few of many time frames ripe with ways to celebrate the holidays and bring in the new year in a new and interesting way.

Edith Head

In search of vintage inspiration I discovered two books that proved to be great resources (and great gift ideas for someone who shares your penchant for the past):Let’s Bring Back – An Encyclopedia of Forgotten-Yet-Delightful, Chic, Useful, Curious, and Otherwise Commendable Things from Times Gone By by Lesley M. M. Blume, and Encyclopedia of the Exquisite – An Anecdotal History of Elegant Delights by Jessica Kerwin Jenkins.

Simply selecting a theme should not be the primary goal. Instead, set out on an adventure that will allow you to discover symbols and relics of a bygone era, through which you can experience your life, whether it’s for a day, a week, a season or a lifetime. When we take ourselves even slightly out of context we can discover new things about ourselves and cultivate eccentricities that reflect what makes us unique.

“You can have anything you want in life, if you dress for it.”

– Edith Head Dressing for what you want is only one avenue. Instead of a list of resolutions (or specific gift ideas) the suggestions below are meant to serve as new/old ways to approach presenting a gift, designing an experience, making a memory, expanding your mind, recharging your creativity.

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MAGAZINE December 2011/January 2012

Make the time.

Put a personal slant on your search for inspiration and forage through your family tree for inspiring ancestors.

Delve into the past via the movies, books, museums, and even vintage clothing shops.

Explore exotic cultures for unusual traditions that tickle your fancy and stimulate your imagination.

Pay homage.

Our society is already obsessed with celebrity.

Why not celebrate someone who made a mark in time for actually doing something? What famous (or infamous) person could serve as your guide to the past?

Woody Allen’s recent film, Midnight in Paris illustrates how much influence the heroes of another age have over us. The main character Gil, is awestruck when he encounters the likes of Scott and Zelda Fitzgerald, Picasso, Dali, Hemingway and Gertrude Stein, while the character of Adriana, a fashion designer living in the Jazz Age is fascinated by the Belle époque. (The DVD is available on December 20, 2011) Dress the part.

FOR HER: Accessories are always accessible.

Black velvet chokers,

Owen Wilson in Midnight in Paris (Photo by Roger

Arpajou, Courtesy of Sony Pictures Classics)

lockets, dressy gloves, garter belts, faux beauty marks, and red lipstick are ways to blur the timeline. Haute hats or flirty fascinators by a local milliner like Marie Galvin strike the ideal balance between then and now.

FOR HIM: Pipes and pocket watches are the trappings of another time. Few men would dispute the appeal of grooming rituals. Facial hair has come back into fashion so books like Moustache Grower’s Guide by Lucien Edwards and The Inspirational Moustache

by Ziggy Hanaor are great ways to get a hold of your handlebar. A gentleman still needs his locks shorn, so why not patronize an establishment like Barbershop Deluxe for a taste of tradition?

Set the stage.

Beaded fringe lampshades and brocade pillows aren’t the only way to recreate an environment. The traditional Japanese rules of food arrangement called Moritsuke might appeal to those who respect the power of presenting a meal, while the ritual of serving Absinthe – pouring it over a sugar cube placed on a special slotted spoon – could conjure the Green Fairy for connoisseurs of fine spirits.

Talk the talk.

“Silly of me to blame it on dates, but so it happened to be.

Dammit, it was the Twenties, and we had to be smarty.” – Dorothy Parker.

Good conversation and clever wordplay are

lost arts, but armed with some smarts and some slang can be enough to get you started on the path to an Algonquin Round Table of your very own.

Name that tune.

Watching the Mrs. Bradley Mysteries with Diana Rigg a few years ago started me collecting music from the 1920’s. That play-list has grown considerably since I add something every time I watch a film set in that time. Now all I need to do is hit play and no matter where I am, I’m transported to an epoch of cloche hats, Model Ts, and the Charleston – when men were dapper and women were daring.

Kick up your heels!

Party like it’s 1929!

Imagine a blue Victrola, rosewood chairs, and walls painted with poems by Langston Hughes and Countee Cullen. That is a description of A’Leia Walker’s Dark Tower, a literary salon/nightclub in Harlem during the late twenties. In lieu of a complete makeover, hanging framed, hand-written poetry throughout your home touches on the magic of that moment in time.

Not everyone will appreciate your vision. Remember, relevance is relative.

What holds meaning for you may just seem odd to another. That doesn’t mean you can’t have fun with it all the same. Take comfort in the schmaltz, and the sentiment. Be out of time and in style.

Society

VienneMilano Fashion Show Launch Party

1

B

oston-based fashion

2

startup VienneMilano

held its runway debut at the InterContinental Hotel on November 11 in Boston. The brand celebrated its premier exposition as the first luxury hosiery brand in the United States devoted exclusively to italian-made, thigh-high stockings. The Italian General Consul, Giuseppe Pastorelli, even made an appearance at the soldout event. The launch also marked a milestone for founder Vienne Cheung who, in an economic standstill, took a leap of faith to pursue her love of fashion. Vienne left an executive position at a product placement company to travel throughout Italy in search of the best materials to design and produce a luxury hosiery brand that she felt would provide women with style and confidence for every occasion. Now, one year later, the entrepreneur has released her first collection that included a variety of both classic and vivacious colors, patterns and materials.

VienneMilano’s first collection is sold exclusively online at www.

VienneMilano.com.

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6

5

4

1 Alice Hage, VienneMilano Founder Vienne Cheung, Cindy Wong 2 VienneMilano Founder Vienne Cheung 3 Nitita Pongsanarakul 4 A VienneMilano model on the runway 5 Italian Consul General Giuseppe Pastorelli 6 A VienneMilano model poses

www.colormagazineusa.com December 2011/January 2012

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Seasons Greetings from The TJX Companies, Inc.

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