text:
What It's Really Like Being a Content Creator, Launching a Product Line, and Prioritizing Yourself with Alexis Barber
It's challenging to stay balanced and relevant as a Black woman content creator and business owner with a full-time job. That's why in today's episode we're continuing our discussion of side hustles with Alexis Barber.
Alexis is a full-time tech industry employee, content creator, and owner of Too Collective luxury robes. She's also the host of the podcast Too Smart for This and lives a bi-coastal lifestyle between New York City and Los Angeles. And even with all that on her plate, she reminds us that it's imperative to put yourself first.
Join us as we discuss the realities of transitioning from content creator to business owner and how to practice self-care and setting boundaries in the digital realm.
Episode 161 Topics:
The shifts in how content is consumed.
Quality vs. Quantity in your follower count.
How to get brand deals that are aligned and successful.
Launching a physical product as an influencer.
Episode 161 Resources:
Follow Alexis on IG
Check out Too Collective on IG
Catch up with Alexis on TikTok
Preorder your Too Cozy Robe
Check out Norby
Watch Alexis' YT video the truth about becoming an INFLUENCER and getting PAID deals in 2022
Listen to Alexis' podcast Too Smart for This
Episode 161 Sponsors:
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Episode 161 Transcript:
00:00:08.726 --> 00:00:16.858
You for joining me today if we haven't met yet I'm less and I like facilitating conversations that are real.
Uplifting and encouraging and right now we're talking all about business baby whether you run a business.
Interested in business or are nosy like me and like seeing what happens behind the scenes with black-owned businesses this series is for you.
So last week I kicked off our black women in business series talking about side hustling I shared my experiences with it and some of my tips for staying balanced while you build your business on the side
for our first interview for the series I wanted to keep the side hustle conversation
going to talk to another black woman in business he was building her business while holding down a 9 to 5 job which is why I invited my girl Alexis Barbara to join me on the Pod today.
Alexis is a content creator who shares the realities of managing everything from her Tech Career to social life to launching her first product line while living by Coastal splitting her time between New York and l.a.
She's a host of the you too smart for this podcast which I love listening to you and I've had the pleasure of being a guest on through her content and products she reminds you how important it is to put yourself first.
In this episode Alexis and I talked about the realities of being a black woman content creator the good the bad the ugly and everything in between we also talked about the transition from content creator to business owner because getting started as a content creator can be a Savvy way to build the foundation of
business we talked about practicing self care and setting boundaries in the digital realm and so much more this episode is jam-packed so let's get
so Alexis welcome to balance black girl I'm so excited to have you here because I wanted to have you on the show for so long so
I'm glad it's time I'm so glad to you know your shows one of my favorites and running into each other at these hostesses of events to is incredible so.
I love your show and I'm so happy to be here thank you thank you well there's so many things and I'm excited to talk to you about.
First off I would love to hear how Allah is treating you you are a newly bicoastal batting kind of dividing your time between New York and l.a.
You're in kind of an l.a. season right now like how is that going.
It's going well when I keep saying to people is that in New York I had a lot of work I have multiple different like jobs that I'm doing and.
It was really impossible to relax there and so here I have the same
amount of work if not more but I feel like I can actually recharge because the city isn't just like attacking me 24/7 there's
parts of LA that are like annoying and weird but they're not as all-encompassing and consuming as New York and so that's what I love about it so far and having all this space Girl's Crazy I mean you went from having like
your studio to a full living space with separate rooms and room to breathe.
It's crazy I have too much room in like I don't know what to do with this corner like there's too much in here and it's like my living room in this apartment is the size of my studio and it's just crazy
does it be Furnishing and everything but I still feel like it's not mine like I still feel like I don't like it was too.
Expensive or I shouldn't have done it even though like I can realistically afford it it's like I still have that like imposter syndrome in my own house so.
We're getting through that yeah and I mean it takes time and those transitions to.
To get settled in and I think to your point what you were saying about New York and I love New York and I've never lived there but I've spent time there.
I do think that it is just a place of sensory
overload where you can have the same amount of things on your plate but just you your senses are on 100 all the time and I what I appreciate about Allah as you can have different sensory experiences you can take space you can get some quiet.
You can connect with nature you can get some calm to mix it up when you need to precisely like that's exactly what it is because.
It would be like oh and I'm in New York which I love New York I'm going back for the next month very soon let for me I work from like 7:00 to.
We either doing content or doing.
But by 7 p.m. it's like it's screaming outside like their Sirens everywhere if you want to relax.
You feel like you can't breathe because everyone's on top of each other whereas here it's 7 p.m. and I like.
Can go on a beautiful walk and smile at seven of my neighbors and run into like three dogs and just enjoy the sunshine like I feel like the sun here isn't real like it's made me really appreciate.
Not just nature because you know I'm not going to be sitting here like Emma hikinggirl no I'm not I'm not going outside but.
It's made me appreciate the beauty that is in the world or is New York I think you can get cynical after a while yeah yeah definitely even just being disconnected from things like trees which sounds so simple and so.
Basic and I think when we think of nature we think we have to go like wild in the wilderness but literally just having access to like shade from trees.
Changes your whole mood your whole vibe changes just having like grass that you can like put your feet on change exactly
and the beach I mean I love it I I love that I can do both and
people always ask me which one do you like better it's like I like both equally and I kind of just want to live a life where I could be in both for the rest of my life because
I need that balance and I must say I do have a lot of Sagittarius in my chart manifesting generator so I need to have things switch up in order to like be my best yeah yeah and it's amazing that you've been able to create that
write yourself especially being so young only that's still thank you yeah I mean we'll talk about oh yeah definitely
so the central question that I initially wanted to explore in our conversation today was around content creation experience being a content creator as a black woman
the first question that popped in my mind was like our black content creators okay.
Yeah there you know yeah next question do you want answers
exactly I think what's really cool about content creation is that it's sort of.
In some ways levels the playing field for Building Wealth and building an audience and I think that's very obvious and clear like I don't think I would have been able to make.
As much money in my early career if I hadn't started being a content creator however I do think that the mental side of it.
Is really hard because.
For me personally like getting just first it's sheer amount of work just this year amount of you know mental capacity it takes two
balanced a full-time job and share your life consistently it's fun but it's still you know draining because it's a lot of time but then when you run into any sort of criticism or negativity.
I think it feels like more of a failure because you're supposed to be the successful one you're supposed to be the strong one and if you let people.
Bother you or if you have a reaction to any sort of criticism or hate or negativity or even just a frustration that you're not growing fast enough.
The most frustrating response I get to that is why do you let the haters bother you because you're supposed to be strong and you're not supposed to let people bother you and like I feel like it's really hard as a black Creator to balance like having the weight of
all black people who want this on your shoulders while also running into
all these people's opinions about you that your brain is not you know built to here so I think generally it's a lot harder for black content creators out there
by all means but I do think it's
one of the only ways to really grow is one of not the only but one of the easiest ways to also grow wealth right now and the accretor economy is only expanding so
I think like there's a lot of work to be done to support the mental health of black content creators by all means so yeah definitely and I'd love to talk about that a little bit more because I think sometimes people forget.
The humanity of those that we see online we've all grown up maybe watching TV consuming music consuming what we think are characters but with content that we see online
I definitely think a lot of content creators can have a bit of persona work but they truly are still people whether or not they show their whole lives they're showing aspects of their life so it's really hard to like rise above the haters all the time right if you
just are inundated with comments of people just being
wild right if your name is getting dragged through the mud on Reddit like you're human you're gonna react nobody creating content doesn't give you this magical armor where all of a sudden things like that.
Don't bother you.
Yeah but I think people they and I guess when I was a probably it's karma for me because when I was little the Disney stars like Miley Cyrus and Demi Lovato and then they would talk about cyber bullying and how bad it was for them.
And I was like let's just a computer
I guess no one's saying anything to your face and it's not that hard you'll be okay I guess because you have all this Fame and you have all this money but I think now that I'm on the receiving end of it and my career as a content creator started with so much of that
there is like trauma there because.
I feel like every time I check my DMs or something I'm like expecting a negative message which is really unhealthy because.
I'm never getting them like that that only happens like maybe five percent of the time but I just have a lot of fear around it because when you grow up.
you grow up in a survival mindset 24/7 like I need to it could be walking home from school it could be getting into a good college is the way you respond to your situation like you're constantly in survival mode and so to have that like
on the Internet it's just a whole nother level of like survival mode so I'm just always expecting that something
that is going to happen which is not healthy and it's not something I like but it is my truth and I
want to be honest about it but even saying and I'm like people are just going to be like you're so out of touch like you have all this money so you shouldn't care and it's like.
At the end of the day it's just how I feel yeah and that those those feelings are.
Are definitely valid have there been any things that have
helped you in terms of how you navigate that maybe if there are people who are aspiring content creators who are listening and they're like oh wait a minute how do I navigate this if there have there been any things that have helped you yes
totally so I think in the beginning I cared way too much and I was really really scared which is normal like when you first start getting like.
Criticism even if like they're like your outfit said especially on Dick Top you're definitely going people say whatever on Tik-Tok yeah
exactly you're definitely going to feel it more in the beginning but what was cool like I just remember this one time I made a Zara haul video and I talked about how the mediums like the sizing at Zara is all over the place gets crazy and it ended up in like Europe
I later found out but I was called a size 6 are Hall and they were like I can't believe you dumb bitch
fat ass thought that you were a size 6 you're obviously not a fucking size 6 like you got a million views and there were like two thousand comments just telling me I was stupid and fat and this was like.
Maybe four months into creating on Tick-Tock and I was just like I just remember that feeling like was
so devastating but what made it worse was everyone around me telling me that like I shouldn't let those people bother me because then I felt more guilt for caring you know that was like my first like and the biggest like.
Hardest one for me and then over time I started talking to other content creators about it and something that really helped me was
if a negative comment cannot hurt you unless you believed in and in that moment I thought that I
I was fat like I did think I was like oh my God maybe I am stupid like maybe I have gained weight like I don't know and that's why it was frustrating to me and now if someone calls me
nasty out-of-touch bitch which is what the saying on Reddit oh your boyfriend is going to leave you because you moved to LA which is my favorite one because it's so funny
you really thought you knew my man's like you really don't babe but those types of things they don't hurt me because they're not
true and you can't do anything about that you know like it doesn't bother me because I know where I came from I think I just sometimes need to do a better job of talking about where I came from because people.
When they see you have a really cool life now they don't
realize that you worked for it and so their own jealousy in their own frustration often jumps out in that projection that like attack and when you know that because
I'll be honest like I definitely have been mean to people in my past as in high school or in college or whatever like I'm not a perfect person but I know that every time I
was acting or doing something - it was because I was hurting I needed attention and so.
The only reason the only World in which I would create a Reddit account to go talk shit about somebody is if I was really deeply hurting and felt really frustrated so that those two things like it can't hurt you if it's not true and.
They're projecting most of their own frustrations and insecurities
those are the two big things that have helped me get through it and it's very possible to get through and like I'm saying this as if it's like the hardest the most thing it's not the majority of my life you know it's like 5% of it
that is such good advice I loved the you know it can't hurt you if you don't think it's true.
Because I think that also encourages us to like reflect a little bit on okay what do I believe to be true about myself invites us to just look at okay.
This is what I'm offended by let me investigate that a little bit deeper and I often find that when people are online trolling.
They're absolutely projecting and they don't ever expect the person that they're trolling to actually see it and nine times out of 10 when they get called out for it they're like oh my bad didn't think you'd see this they're just truly projecting just too
spew things and sag is interesting perspective.
Oh yeah I had a girl you saw this because you're on my close friends but this girl who messaged me calling me like out of touch I did a response on my story being liked
this is not true and then she got really mad because I like left her name in it and she was like you're such a horrible person like you're leaving my name in the sand like I had like the response was very normal and she did it was very
chill whatever but she just like went on a rampage for like 3 days a week later I'm so sorry for the way I acted like I shouldn't have done that and it's like
yeah we know because you had to face consequences for your actions and when your creator you've got to do that on a higher scale and if I fuck up what gives me peace now is like I know.
That I have enough self-awareness to apologize when I do something wrong and if I did something wrong.
That's okay I'll apologize and I'll Mend my mistake and move on and I think most humans you know deserve that chance to definitely yeah and it's also like you don't get to be
nasty to somebody and then have them
protect your identity like if you're going to say mean stuff say it with your chest let people know that you're mean I think that's what I'm saying like say it with your chest
please I would love to talk about it sweetie put it in the comments oyy have it be in the DM let everybody see it I mean if that's how you really feel exactly so
what has been some of your biggest learnings as your platform has grown what have you learned about yourself what have you learned about.
The world around you other people the Creator space anything that comes to mind oh my goodness.
It's crazy because I also work full time in the Creator space so I work at YouTube
I'm the global shorts content strategist so one of our biggest priority products at the moment is shorts which is our short form video ecosystem
and I work to help creators big and small get started and thrive on shorts.
And so internally I'm working with creators who have tens of millions of subscribers and I've never heard of and I'm like oh my God.
What is this and in my own life I'm like creating my own content creation like.
Community Etc the main things I've learned are one this is the future of a lot of our.
Media consumption and people who say that it's too saturated or people who say that like the Creator economy is dying the numbers do not support that in any way shape or form it's simply going through a.
Democratization phase that hasn't we haven't had before it was like we went from celebrities where there were the only people we ever talked about.
Ever and it was always them and they had millions and millions of fans and followers to their being these content creators and we were like oh my God this is crazy and then there's
Niche content creators and now we sort of have this Middle Ground where it's like there are people who are going to make a living a very good living from content creation for
five to ten years
and never hit a million followers that is okay not everything has to be this you don't have to become Logan Paul or Emma Chamberlain
we will see a lot less of that and happening generally as this ecosystem continues especially because gen Z is very focused on.
The niche interests so
the people who you follow because you for some reason love hydrangeas that are in Newport Rhode Island and like that's your favorite content creator ever that's your life fabulous but your boyfriend might be really interested in this one guy who.
Is obsessed with Lighting in his garage those things show not only that you no matter what your interests are
you can create a platform a monetizable platform and a living off of that but also that there's room for everyone because
people watch content a lot more than they watch TV and there's not always as much ads on TV and so this is an expanding industry at the moment it's not one that's Contracting at all
because it's where eyeballs are as long as eyeballs are there there's going to be influencers and there's going to be ads absolutely actually I think it was yesterday I was on Tick-Tock and I saw this really interesting video
talking about the future of platforms like Tick-Tock and short form video and how you know obviously we know Instagram in reels is like trying so badly to be Tick-Tock and.
That basically Tik-Tok is more so likely to compete in the future with a Netflix with the streaming platforms for for how much time and attention people give it.
And I thought that was such a really interesting perspectives that shows just how much in the past decade the way we approach content and consume content has changed so drastically.
Well yeah I mean we had this phase at YouTube where our biggest value prop was.
CTV are connected TV which is when people are watching YouTube on their televisions.
And that's what we were selling advertisers we're like this is basically TV there for like.
You should buy and they did and people do watch YouTube as TV people also watch Tick-Tock SUV but gen Z doesn't really care about whether it's what format it's on it's where our brains are like this is where we're consuming information and.
We spend a lot more time on that and we spend time on it even when we're watching TV at the moment like that's sort of where everything is heading in my opinion.
I still think that there's room for everyone and I think it's definitely not saturated.
You can do it it's just takes a lot of consistency and a lot of Direction I think the other thing I've learned like about myself probably is that like it's important.
To have a y and to be focused but your wide doesn't have to be
that you want to help people necessarily it could just be because you want to fulfill.
Something creative within you or to grow something because I always felt this guilt because I have trouble feeling like when someone DMZ and I like Alexis you.
Like this is so helpful I'm like I'm so glad that it is but I don't always
put out content just to help people I do it because I love it and because I want to and I guess like that was.
A big realization for me is that like I can just like fulfill my own little childhood dreams and have fun on the internet and it's really cool that other people get to watch it but the main goal for me is just.
Continuing to evolve as a human being and that is what.
Content creation has allowed me to do absolutely and I also think that we as the creators don't necessarily get to determine what is helpful
to our communities and to people who consume our content they decide whether or not it's helpful so I think the biggest thing creators need to do is like share if they want to share and share what they want to share and the audience will perceive it how.
Perceive it if it's meant to help people it will but we don't really get to determine that and we shouldn't try to I guess I think audiences can tell when you're trying too hard to show up as like.
An expert in something and like for me it's like I'm I work full-time as well so a lot of people ask me like.
About work and stuff like that and helping them or whatever and there's this like group of people who are working at Google and they make their hole.
Content about like how to get a job at Google but in reality like I would never do that because
it's very difficult it's very dependent on your experience I'm not going to promise everyone a job at a company that accepts one percent of applicants.
And so when you start pushing as if you're like the most helpful person in the world and you're saying that like.
Your goal is to help people get a job at Google I just think that like you can't determine whether or not that's helpful as you said because you can't determine everyone's backgrounds and create.
Opportunity for them out of thin air audiences can always tell and they start to get frustrated that you kind of lied to them in a way absolutely and I think that's something that we're starting to see more of in the Creator space is audiences are smart and they're they're getting pretty Savvy about
who's credible who's not.
I mean scammers are always going to scam but I think it's getting increasingly harder to scam people into scam audiences because they're getting very smart
they're very smart so you can't you can't get that's why I'm with the launch of my product line I'm just like being honest
this is what I'm trying to do this from scratch by myself I don't know what the hell I'm doing and if I mess up we're going to mess up together and you're going to learn from it just as much as I did because
I could pretend so much when you're launching a product and just do it the same way as.
Millennial or older or seasoned influencers have done in the past when they just have a credible launch that like.
Seems like it was coming out of Sephora or something like that but that's not what my generation is interested in at the moment they want to know how it happened how yeah.
And we're definitely going to get more into creating a product because I'm just super excited for you and interested in how you do that.
But I also love what you had shared just now especially when you were talking about your work at YouTube about finding ways to find opportunities for creators and.
The fact that the space isn't saturated and I'd love to talk about what that means specifically for black content creators for aspiring black content creators
there's been a lot of conversation around the like if everyone's influence or no one's an influencer kind of conversation and Emma Chamberlain had I mean I have lots of thoughts about that
love to hear more of your thoughts about that and ways why that's not true specifically for black content creators
for sure I mean.
The a Chamberlain discussion which I meant listen to the whole thing because I just couldn't do that to myself but I feel like there are.
Not Mega influencers anymore no you can't just be a quirky girl vlogging and.
Become the face of Louis Vuitton as easily as you could in the past no
you can't so much went into Emma's career and there aren't going to be 75 Emma's but this concept of like no one's an influencer and everyone's an influencer.
I think that this is a confusion as to like.
What makes a superstar and what makes a Creator and what makes an influencer because if it's follower count then yeah there's a lot more people with over 10 million followers on the internet right now 100%.
Are those people still relevant is another question because on YouTube used to be you get to like a million subscribers something you can stay relevant for years you can make a
transition into mainstream TV and that's because your audience since they've spent
hours a day with you and your life understand you love your personality or connected to you a lot more deeply than they are
to your 60-second dance on Tick Tock where you didn't even say three words and so we had Charlie we had Addison these huge creators who had all of these numbers but are they going to stay famous forever not in the same way so that is the conversation of everyone's an influencer oh no one's an influencer
yes you can grow a lot more quickly and have a lot more followers behind you but the question is actually about longevity and I think that a lot of influencers
and a lot of people who are want to be influencers optimized for followers but if your followers are not engaged in there they're not going to stay for years
they're worthless
objectively worthless like it does not matter if they are not going to convert for you and if they're not going to show up for you and you have to go to another platform.
So the way that this applies to Black creators specifically is that
we now have more of an opportunity to grow those followings and have the legitimacy of those numbers but
again we're sort of at a loss because how do you monetize that long-term how do you create that longevity a lot of black Tik-Tok creators I think get
scammed into these like predatory Tick-Tock agencies who are like give us 30 percent which is.
Absolutely out of control never give someone thirty percent as your.
Twenty percent is the maximum fifteen percent is the industry standard they just don't know a lot about this industry so it's harder for them to.
Grow this into what it can be which is a.
Place where you can grow a business long term and so that's where the conversation needs to go now because black people are funny black people are stylish black people can dance black people make these platforms go round but they don't get as much
credit for it and when they do it's harder for them to keep it forever 100% I
absolutely absolutely agree and I think a big part of the like everyone's an influencer or no one's an influencer conversation that really frustrates me is a lot of these very privileged largely white creators have
dominated the space extracted all they want from it.
And now that they see more of Us coming in and taking pieces of it now they're claiming it's over and it doesn't matter anymore I feel that even with the brand peace
I just know in the next six months we're going to have this Tik-Tok conversation of is the influencer brand dead and it's going to be because.
Oh Jackie I launched the line like there's going to be all of these black creators who do that and they're like oh I don't like an influencer product and it's like.
It's because once you they sort of have everything they wanted out of it.
We it's not it's no longer prestigious you know and that's what's so frustrating it is it is.
I think super power that that we could have and I think a way that black content creators and
POC content creators specifically.
Can really benefit is I think we're going to do incredibly well in this increasing shift towards Community oh yeah people of color we are
more communal like we tend to move through life in community we tend to be more energetic racional with our families we tend to look out for one another more and as audiences are also sick of being extracted from
right they don't want to just be extracted from and to just use people's codes and links and make people Rich they want to be a part of something and I think that we as black people
do a good job of being a part of something
together and I think that that could be a really interesting opportunity for us as entrepreneurs and content creators 100% because you cannot start a brand today without starting a community.
One like million percent like I see plenty of black creators who.
Are doing something and have a million followers because they're just fucking hilarious and the community of people around them is so strong what I want to see more of is people.
I don't want to say capitalized because whatever like I'm capitalism critical 100% but you cannot be alive and not participate in capitalism at the moment like I would like to see more black people take back the wealth that was extracted from our.
Hilarity our fashion our everything and do that through the communities that we build and then support the people who are creating those things because when.
It's just so funny I mean the de Mille owes the Addison re all those dances are created by black people and now they are multi millionaires.
And we didn't get a revenue splitting and you know that's not fair and so I think that I would like to see us use our communities to uplift more of each other but we have to do that with.
A lot of support and that's probably the biggest thing I've learned in the last year at two years as a Creator and in the last year as like a founder.
Is I cannot do it alone and a lot of black women although we're in community we still feel like we have to do it alone and.
When it comes to capitalizing and building these businesses I think that's what we need to do is support each other and just give as much information as possible because.
There's no play we all need to win together we're creating culture absolutely and I think the more of us that can get together and
organize and strategize together while we leverage that innate.
Creativity that we have black people are so creative it blows my mind sometimes like how creative we are as a community that when we organized a little bit and strategize it's going to be amazing.
Absolutely mean you said it Beth agreed so
as we kind of wrap up our content creation kind of portion of the conversation because I absolutely need to talk more about your next business venture
you know are there any emerging Trends or things that you foresee kind of happening being really big being really important in the Creator space that you think we should get ahead of.
Totally the first is it's not just because I work there but because I work there and see the back end and the numbers YouTube shorts
I don't care if you're just really uploading your tick-tocks definitely take the watermark off but it doesn't matter.
We have 1.5 billion monthly logged-in users that's not a market to ignore start posting your content on YouTube shorts it's the easiest way to grow a YouTube channel to start.
The second place I think that you can capitalize on is by connecting with your audience directly.
And a lot of people don't do this but I don't know if you all remember November 2020 when we thought Tik-Tok was going to be banned but that was a crazy time and there's still chances that can happen simply because of the.
Yes but you know I would say that connecting with your audience directly building an email list building an SMS list even if you're not using it.
You want to be doing that in a great tool to do that is actually nor B which is a black-owned founded company but actually founded by my friend who also into Northwestern and it's funny I didn't know that he had found today
because my brand designer was like you should we should use nor be for your.
Part of your product launch and I was like cool and then I was at a party at my boyfriend's house and he is his name is Steven and he was there and Jeff is like
give you literally use this product I'm like well here's all my practice here's all my thoughts but we went to school together into Northwestern and so it's a great.
Great product you literally it's basically like a customizable Lincoln by O'Toole where Pete you can also
collect emails and SMS they give you a number and you can basically text your audience you can email them right from that link so they don't have to go to another website and sign up
you can do it right in that link and that's what I've been using to collect emails for pre-orders for my robes so
that is something that I would encourage all creators to get started with is build out that professional back-end ecosystem where you have your own website where you have an email list and you have an SMS list because
the people who have that and who don't
it's going to come down to that long-term you know like you've got to be as professional as possible with it so shorts and Norby you sign up
immediate those are amazing tips I and I love that nor Beast black-owned actually recently signed up for Nora be and and.
I started using it and I didn't even know it was black on that makes me even more excited to use it yeah he found it with a partner I don't know if the partner is also black but
he's black so I know you got enough good enough and I also just have to Echo the importance like you said of starting an email list starting an SMS list having a portion of the internet or of your content that you.
Own not relying solely on social media platforms.
I cannot stress it enough like creating a website does not have to be expensive you can create an inexpensive Squarespace WordPress whatever starting an email list not expensive the software I use is like $19 a month like.
Having a way to connect directly with your audience having something that you own is in valuable because these platforms are not where you should put all of your time and resources into.
Never that 100% And also I think another tip that I will give black creators is not all money is good money there I worked with batches and I love bitches I love their content I loved working with that I loved
the founders and I loved my podcast co-host but at the same time I took that opportunity because
I felt like I couldn't get as big of a community on my own and I wanted to be attached to that name and it ended up feeling like very
it was hard for me because.
What I learned from that experience like I didn't need that and I felt like I did because I feel like it wasn't legit enough because they didn't have the numbers but something Simone Alyssa recently told me and she learned this from another woman Chelsea she's great she's incredible
is that a hundred thousand followers for a black person is equivalent to 500 thousand followers for a white person
you cannot compare yourself to white people and that's what I was doing when I took this bet just contract and I was like I'm going to work with them and it ended up being okay and like
I had a great experience and still have a wonderful relationship with everyone there but I did feel like I was doing it from a place of insecurity as opposed to a place of wanting
to evolve as a person and support my community and so a lot of creators do that whether it's through
the agency that they choose even though they don't have any history of working with black creators a lot of people do that in.
A myriad of ways taking deals that just think they seem legitimate because there's like white people behind it but don't compare yourself.
All the time two white people because they don't have the same.
Community Building skills they don't have the same experiences and you don't need that to be on your own in your own right and incredible create absolutely and.
To that point I think
even if you do have an audience that is a little bit smaller but it's the right people that is so much more valuable than millions of people who are not your people I think the last.
Few weeks of like launching my product has taught me that the most because I was I just always felt like I wasn't good enough because I didn't have a million on Tik Tok.
And like the truth is it does not matter because I have ambitious incredible women who follow me and I'd rather.
Have those people feel empowered and like they can do whatever they want with their life than to have a million people who just want to know where black T-shirt was from
and I don't even care about the outfit I'm wearing you know like I think it's so important to just know that and always remind yourself that when you're stressed out to.
This is so good I like have been in the content creation game 4
a very long time and I wish that conversations like this even existed back when I started.
They definitely didn't but seriously if anyone is interested in content in any way like.
Take notes during this conversation precisely one hundred percent and I have to YouTube videos about it.
About like how to get brand deals and get paid and stuff on my YouTube channel
if you want more I don't consider myself like an influencer expert by any means but I'm just transparent and so check those out as well if you want to get started with contact make sure that those are linked in the show notes so they're super easy for people to find.
So recently you shifted your content a little bit where you started taking us behind the scenes as you get ready to launch your first product which we've mentioned a little bit earlier in the conversation but I'm
so excited to get into because launching a physical product is no.
Easy feet there's so much that goes into it so first can you tell us more about what you're launching and how that experience has been
of course so I'm launching for my first product a super cozy robe it's called the too cozy robe my brand which sort of.
Grew out of my podcast too smart for this is called to Collective and so this is the too cozy robe
the idea for it came when I had covid on Christmas and December and I was shopping to make myself feel better and try to get through my first and only like holiday alone.
And I wanted something that was going to make me feel cozy and luxurious because I was supposed to be in Paris with my boyfriend on a romantic fun trip.
And obviously like robes just sort of signify that luxury and I'm also a naked sleeper I do.
Pajamas so I was looking for a really nice robes and none were like standing out to me none more interesting I ended up buying a few of them and like.
They all had the same frustrating.
Lack of functionality that I was like why was this two hundred dollars if you have to be kidding me again supposed to change my life and so I just started thinking about how I did some research I was like there's nobody doing this and it doesn't make sense because robes are.
Genderless which I soon found out because my boyfriend stole them and wanted one for Valentine's Day they're ageless I got my grandma a row I've gotten my cousin a robe who was like only 18 like everyone loves her robe.
And they're seasonless you wear a robe all year no matter what like maybe it's not the same one but every day you need it when you wake up and when you go to bed.
So I was just shocked and I kept it in the back of my head and for a few months I was.
Working on other projects but everytime I would mention it to someone their eyes would light up and they were so so excited.
So I finally took the plunge and trying to figure out how to do it and that's what I'm taking my audience through.
How I figured that out and I do plan on expanding to other product categories but this one is most important to me because
it signifies taking care of yourself and it signifies allowing yourself to relax at the end of the day and create a ritual which I love your shows and your series on rituals and resetting that
just really it sort of signifies to your mind like you deserve a moment for yourself and that's something I had only learned in the last two years and even being a Creator and so
it means a lot to me and I'm really excited that other people get to experience it too absolutely I
don't know if you know this I'm a big rope girl a big rope girl like I have several although the one that I wear the most is the same ink kind of Ratty old one that my grandma got me but
with love and elevated robe experience and I feel like this process is so deeded.
When we think about a lot of the common barriers that black entrepreneurs and black women in particular face when they're launching something like a physical product to begin with is usually Capital like watching a physical product takes a lot of capital.
That's really hard you do not come from having like generational wealth and a silver spoon in your mouth and I appreciate all of your honesty around that and so you are truly building something
kind of thrum Llorona Foundation what has that process been like for you.
Zoe I think it's like the two things that have given me the capital are not necessarily the money but.
Two main things are just stability and delusion so the my my stability comes from my full-time job which I have not quit and don't plan to quit
until I hit a certain very high number that I've set for myself but having that job helps me know that.
I'm a bills are going to be paid so I'm going to be able to put my interest in a friend of I have multiple friends of mine who also work in Tech who
half full million dollar businesses outside of work and.
They still keep their full-time jobs and I used to think that that was like.
Not what was possible at all for anybody and it's not if you're raising Venture Capital because you know you need to put your whole life into it
but they're not gonna give you know Venture Capital over here you're black so I'm just kidding but you know like that you're not only thing this ads are not encouraging so no like having my full-time job is one of the main reasons because I know I'm going to have a roof over my head
the other two areas that stability comes for me are my influencer side hustle so all the money I've gotten from this I've either invested into.
My influence like I haven't made profit I haven't peed myself like I have a cool lifestyle and I get to share that but it's business like it's a business expense it's not just.
Me personally like if I had made all this money and kept it for myself I would have.
But my family houses and you know but you have to put money into things to help them grow the other stability is my boyfriend that man is a rock he is.
My opposite in many ways and he's a software engineer and he's incredible with finances and
I absolutely couldn't do this without him and it's just I just want to give like him his flowers but I also just want to say like
it's people around you especially if you are hyper independent black woman like myself.
He had to beg me to let him help me and like still does and I think that.
Having that support is really important the other part is pure delusion and I didn't realize how delusional I was that I felt like I could start a business and.
Have it become this major thing which it hasn't yet because I haven't even launched yet but you know like I to believe it you can do that it's a lot and
when I talk to other Founders seeing how delusional they are about their businesses when you're like I don't know if it's going to be huge but they believe it will be that's how you know like you are an entrepreneur is when you have that
crazy belief in yourself and I think that just comes from trusting and realizing that where you are is always where you're meant to be
my grandma definitely instilled that into me and I'm glad that she did and that I've grown up to keep it with me oh absolutely I think you
can only be but so realistic if you want to create something new
yeah or if you even if you want to be happy that you can't think about you can't think about how.
Horrible the world is 24/7 if you want to bring more good into it you have to just think about the good and try to create more of that
yeah it's delusional maybe it's out of touch but it is going to save your life and your business and bring happiness to other people 100%.
And something that I want to touch on that I think is really interesting here that you're kind of doing it something that has also been the model that I've.
Followed in my head though I don't yet have a product I would love to one day whenever I get you know the inspiration or the idea that I wanted to lose not only follow his seeing content creation almost as like.
The fundraising portion like that's how I treat it I also still work full-time and then you know have been grateful enough to surpass my salary from creating content but I don't
pay myself that like that is an investment in the business and creating something in the future and so.
Seeing that as a blueprint of like okay maybe instead of spending one to two years trying to get VC's to give you money what if you spend one to two years really honing in on a community figuring out a sweet spot to monetize content and then using that to launch something
even greater and then you already have the built-in audience and Community who trust you who like you who's going to be ready to buy from you and support you I think that that's an approach that I would love to see more black entrepreneurs take
100% I think because we've talked about at the numbers for black VC are very low but more importantly.
Everyone I've talked to you about raising because I've had a lot of have a great community of fellow entrepreneurial women and everyone I've talked to you about raising talks about how.
When you raise money you give up equity in your company which means that you're beholden to other people's opinions and most of those people who are giving you that money
our don't look like you and don't have the same experiences as you so you're getting unsolicited or now you solicited it you're getting solicited advice from people who don't understand you
and that to me my biggest inspiration when starting a company are people like
Sara Blakely who bootstrapped the whole thing and became a billionaire
easily because she owned everything and that to me is much more
groundbreaking especially for black people because you may grow a billion-dollar business and you own three percent of it at the end of the day what does that do for black people other than give them representation that there are black Founders like it doesn't create generational wealth it doesn't
redistribute wealth in any way because you know.
You literally are just making white men richer and so I'm not saying I'll never raise because in the perfect world I would be able to make this my full-time job
but I am saying that it's way more.
Efficient to build a community and to grow it and then transition that into a product.
And you can do that even if you don't like content creation and I think that's extremely important because another person I follow and
love her her business model is Grace Beverly I watched her YouTube videos
and I just liked her because she was another woman going to an elite school at the same time as me she went to Oxford and she would do college vlogs.
And I just liked being able to relate to someone because most of the college YouTubers went to State schools which no hate to State schools at all it's just a different experience than a private institution and
I wanted to see someone else who was a really ambitious on the internet and she was that and she said in a recent interview she's like.
I don't make great content
but I have a community and like she's monetize that and I don't personally make great content I don't mean like I feel like just keep showing this.
But exactly you keep showing up and you being you is enough you do not need to make a.
Cinematic look if you want to cool but you don't need to be a movie director to build a community online.
It does not matter what you want to sell but if you want to be an entrepreneur you have to build a community and it's much smarter to start doing that while you have a full-time job.
And then turn it into a business then it is to like.
Go to these VCS where you're not even going to own what you create by the end of the day and you're still going to have to build a community.
Yeah you're just doing it in a different order and I think sometimes when we get really hung up on like what money people won't give us where.
Stopping at the first obstacle instead of saying okay maybe is there a different path to get here can I change directions can I take a different way okay if a car is not working let me take a plane if a plane is not working let me take a train like let me figure out another way to make this happen
yeah and like with money.
I have in this current moment like drained everything and have a personal loan riding on this and like that's.
Scary but at the same time like there's ways around it like I'm doing a pre-order model which means before I place that huge inventory order that's really hard to make
I have the money from the people who are buying the product to actually place that order and that way if I can
still get them what they want yes they have to wait but I can still get them what they want without me having to suffer or give up part of my company or give up part of my like.
Future wealth or whatever you know it just means that you have to be really customer-centric and transparent with your community and I think being honest is the best thing you can do like.
I was always so ashamed growing up that I like came from a low-income background or that I like didn't have what other people had but that's kind of my superpower now that I'm older is that like.
Did come from that and that's why people can trust me more I think oh yeah I think people people want to see us when when we bring them along the journey and so that's what I really love about this approach you're taking and launching.
The road wine is like taking us behind the scenes to see each part of the process.
Thank you it's fine it's scary as hell it's scary but such a cool thing to do so
what's next for you how can we support you how can we get our robes and put our pre-orders in yes so what's really cool about this robe is that
it has a really functional design so the Belt doesn't come off there are buttons to where you can adjust the sleeves because you don't want to getting your sleeves in when you're cooking and stuff like that
and it's a really functional material that you know withstands its softness after it's been lost.
So that robe the too cozy robe is available for pre-order as of now and I believe I'll keep it open for pre-orders people just have to.
Know when it's going to drop and if it's not available at the time this episode comes up it will be at some point so just subscribe to that email newsletter.
Wink the newsletter but the other thing is this rope design comes in multiple Fabrics so in January will launch the classic terry cloth version
and then later down the line will launch it in different fabrics and lengths and colors so you'll have opportunity there and so just.
Keep following at to Collective on Instagram follow me at Alexis Barber and that's where you can support there as the and I'll be letting you in on the process because there's just we're at the very beginning there is so much more.
That is coming after this and how I even decide what to launch and what inventory orders I need to place if you guys are coming with me because I have no fucking
house will be will be cheering you on each step of the way and I'll make sure that we have all of your links in the show notes so that people can order so that people can follow sign up for us
it's on make it super easy
Barry Alexis thank you so much for joining me today I feel like this conversation was so jam-packed I feel inspired I hope the listeners feel inspired and thank you for sharing with us.
Of course I love it this is so fun and I love your show it does amazing thing so thank you for having me
huge thanks to Alexis for joining me on the show today I love getting to talk to other content creators and hear their experiences because it can be really isolating and it's still such
a new fields and I really appreciated our conversation and her sharing her expertise and experiences with us
head to the show notes so you can give Alexis to follow check out her podcast too smart for this and order your 2 Co 0 which is perfect for winter I am so excited to get mine.
Want to give a huge shout out to our sponsors for today's episode or hooking you up with amazing discount codes and offers to help you find your balance make sure you head to the show notes and check them out.
Next week we're talking about what it looks like to bootstrap a startup as a millennial black woman.
I'll be joined by my friend and Nisha Anya founder of kids table it is such an inspiring episode for anyone who has ever wanted to go and unconventional route and create something totally new.
So make sure you're subscribed so you don't miss it see you.


text:
History of the town's Jewry
In 1744, 12 families resided in Miskolc, while by 1775 there were already 23 families living there, creating the principal institutional framework for the community. The region was characterized by two-way migration: on the one hand, from the East from the direction of Galicia, and from Moravia on the other. As an intermediary station, this latter canalized migration coming from the Holy Roman Empire. This duality had characterised the whole Kingdom of Hungary.
Greek merchants (with Greek Orthodox religion, mediating with the Ottoman Empire, being of mostly South Slavic origin) and, after Maria Theresa's accession to the throne, Jewish merchants were also involved in wine trade. The goal with involving the Jewish was to change the direction of trade routes, and ensure the cohesion of the empire. This had sometimes led to conflicts between Greek and Jewish merchants and Hungarian wine producers.
The number of Jews began to increase from the 1810s, but they only managed to fulfil an actual role in society from the middle of the 19th century.
After settling the local institutional controversy following the Jewish Congress of 1869-69, an orthodox Jewish community was formed in Miskolc by the second half of the 1870s. Later, a small group of Hasidic Jews tried to separate from them, creating an institutional system within the institutional framework of the Orthodox Head Office, parallel with the Sephardic Orthodox label. The reason behind that was the fact that countrywide some Hasidic communities had joined the orthodox institutional system referred to as Sephardic Orthodox. (See, for instance, the Sephardic temple at Teleki tér.) Besides the ritual of the service, the explanation for that was the differing interpretation of the strictness of religious law, and the contrasting sociocultural background. (Differing direction of migration, different language, social class and way of life.) The Orthodox Office did not support the separation, resulting in conflicts in the community lasting for several years.
In 1880, the majority of the Jewry of Miskolc was born elsewhere. The total number of the Jewish population was 5 117 in 1880, 5 874 in 1890, 10 291 in 1910, 11 300 in 192, 10 862 in 1930 and 10 428 in 1941. In 1910, 20% of the total population was Jewish, while by 1941 this number decreased to 13,5%.
Besides trading, craftsmanship has provided an independent livelihood, in which people could set their own hours to adapt to their religious life. As a result, the number of craftspeople was growing continuously. They established their own guild in 1833. Unlike the practice of the era, Jewish craftsmen were included not based on their occupation, but on denomination. It served as an alternative to Christian guilds, which were formed based on denomination. After the abolition of guilds in 1872, the Jewish guild of Miskolc was the first to become a trade corporation. It eradicated the corporate form and restraints of the pre-modern world, creating space for the free competition of modern capitalism, along with a free financial market, devoid of religious aspect. It also served the economic empowerment of Jews.
Following general tendencies, produce trading Jewish families invested their accumulated capital surplus to the development of infrastructure and the food industry, alcohol distilling in particular. In 1844, Móric Weisz established a distillery in Miskolc, followed by the brickworks of the Furmann brothers, which was one of the first family businesses in the town. The economic climate facilitated the growth of the Jewish community and the settlement of Jews in Miskolc. By the turn of the century, prominent members of the orthodox community (with an Ashkenazi ritual) worked mostly at agricultural ornamental farms, in the food industry, as magistrates or lawyers, in the banking industry, in commerce or as intellectuals. Craftsmen and retailers, however, continued to be parts of the religious community.
In accordance with the general urban tendencies of North-eastern Hungary, large investors and financiers were members of Ashkenazi families with Czech-Moravian roots, while Hasidic Jews were mostly craftsmen, home craftsmen and retailers.
Prominent personalities
For pilgrim tourists: rabbis buried in the 3 ohels of the Jewish cemetery on Avas Hill: Meyer Rosenfeld, Chaim Mordechai Yaakov Gottlieb, Asher Anshel Wiener
Heritage tourism:
Samuel Austerlitz "rabbi, born in 1870 in Vienna. He was trained in several yeshivas, and received his semikhah at the yeshiva in Bratislava. He worked in Vienna, Pápa and Mesto Šamorín. After 1914 he held the title of chief rabbi of the orthodox community of Miskolc. An outstanding orator, author of several Halachic works (Hungarian Jewish Lexicon, p. 70)
Meyer Rosenfeld "chief rabbi of Miskolc, born in Brezová in October 1830, died in Miskolc in 1908. Student of Ezekiel Baneth, chief rabbi of Nitra, and Jakob Fleissig, rabbi of Hlohovec. He started his career as a rabbi, becoming the chaplain of the prison in Leopoldov. Then, he had worked in Nádudvar for 17 years. Simon Vogel, who later became a general of the infantry, had been his student there. In 1878, the Jewish Community of Miskolc appointed him as chief rabbi. This is where he continued his blessed operation as rabbi until his death. He was deeply respected by all, regardless of denomination. (Hungarian Jewish Lexicon, p. 753)
Prominent rabbis/wonder rabbis
Thoughts concerning the use of the notion wonder rabbi:
Journalists of the enlightened Hungarian society associated the deeds of wonder rabbis with folklore, superstitious practices, psychological pathology and humbug. The word is the loan translation of the German term Wunderrabbiner. It is one of the clichés in the literature of the Jewish Enlightenment, which criticized Eastern European Jews with a pejorative undertone. The shift in meaning was resulted by the need for Jewish juvenile fiction, which basically happened in a modernizing Jewish bourgeois medium. (e.g. literary works by Martin Buber, paintings by Isidor Kaufmann, short stories by Lajos Szabolcsi.)
County rabbis (office existing until 1832)
Izrael Mandel
Asher Anshel Wiener (-1880)
Avraham Wiener Posselburg (1880-1832)
Ashkenazi township rabbis (from 1836)
Chief rabbi Mózes Fischmann (1836-1875)
Rabbi Mór Klein (1866-1870) [father of Dr. Arnold Kiss, chief rabbi of Buda.]
Chief rabbi Mayer Rosenfeld (1878-1904)
Chief rabbi Dr. Sámuel Spitzer (1904-1908)
Chief rabbi Samuel Austerlitz (1914-1939), elected member of the municipality council
Preacher Dr. Salamon Spira (1898-1944)
Rabbis of Sephardic (Hasidic) prayer associations
Mózes Vitriol
József Reinitz (-1926)
Sámuel Smelke Grüntzer (1926-1936)
Juda Gottlieb (1936-1944) [as son of the rebbe, without election]
Mayer Rosenfeld chief rabbi (1836 - 1875)
Asher Segal Lowy (? - 1944)
Miskolc – Hanukkah (40)
Miskolc – archives (3)

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


text:
Help Me Rwanda — "Necessary Stories" from The Jerusalem Report
February 11, 2018 February 11, 2018 by Haim Watzman
Abel surveyed my massive suitcase, carry-on wheelie, and backpack as if he'd never seen luggage before. It had taken a lot of knocking to get him to the door, and I was losing patience.
"You're going away?" he asked.
"I'm cashing in the chit, my Eritrean friend," I said, pushing my way into the tiny living room of his mildewed housing-project apartment. "Even a bleeding-heart leftist like me has his limits. For the last two years I've held your hand in the line to get your residence permit renewed, recommended you for menial jobs, taught you English, and invited you over for Friday night meals. It's time to pay up."
"But Haim," he said, still confused. "Where are you going? How will I manage without you?"
I pulled the brochure from my pocket and threw it expertly so that it covered the large hole in the upholstery on Abel's flea-market sofa. "If there's one value I hold by, it's justice," I said. "If I've done good, I should get rewarded."
Abel's high forehead furrowed as he picked up the brochure and unfolded it.
"Your Future in the Third Country," he read.
"It arrived for you in the mail. In my mailbox, of course."
Abel looked confused. "What Third Country?"
"The one our government intends to deport all you Africans to, on the grounds that you are not really refugees. See, according to our government, at the age of twelve you braved death by walking all the way to the Negev from some godforsaken village in the Horn of Africa because you heard you could get a job here washing dishes in a falafel joint."
Abel picked up the brochure. "One of the most thriving economies in the world today," he read, "offers top-tier jobs and career opportunities." He looked up. "I don't know, I know it's strange, but I'm kind of used to Israel."
I pointed to the glossy photos. "Look that that beach. And those girls! And look here, it says: 'Your future is secure in the Third Country, which has not experienced a genocide or a coup d'etat in at least ten months, and where violent harassment of immigrants restricted by law to two days a week.'"
"Does it have a name, this Third Country?"
"I'm sure it does. The planes need to know where to go, don't they? Don't you trust Bibi and Deri?"
Abel shook his head. "I don't know. Ever since my mother was raped and had her throat slit by bandits in the pay of the Eritrean government and my little brothers and sisters got sold into slavery in Sudan and my father died of thirst in the Sinai desert I've been very careful about who I believe. I think at the very least I'd want a country where violent harassment of immigrants is limited to two evenings a week, with weekends off."
"That's not very nice," I chided him. "After all that Israel has given you, you cast doubt on this glossy flyer printed at government expense?"
"Look, Haim …"
"Don't look Haim me. Anyway, it's a moot point. You're not going, I am. Do you think I skipped out on work and neglected my family just so you could get a free ticket to paradise?" I glowered at him. "Sorry, buster. You can have my humdrum, stress-filled life as an Israeli citizen while I take the stairway to heaven."
Just then came an ominous knock on the door.
"Someone is knocking on the door ominously," Abel observed. "It must be the immigration agent come to deport me."
"I'll get it," I said.
The black stocking mask the agent was wearing made it hard to judge his reaction, but something in his eyes indicated surprise, as did the way the expulsion order fell out of his black-gloved hand and fluttered to the floor.
"No need for that," I said, kicking at the piece of paper. "I'm packed and ready to go to the airport."
The agent looked warily at me, at Abel, and back to me again. He drew his phone out of his pocket and pressed on the screen. "Hey boss," he said into it. "I got a problem."
"No problem at all," I declared, grabbing the phone from him. "Take me away."
The agent cleared his throat. "It seems to me," he said doubtfully, "that they told me I was supposed to take a black guy."
I drew myself up to full height. "Young man," I said. "Didn't you pass your civics bagrut? The law is colorblind."
"Are there any window seats left?" I asked the woman at the check-in counter.
"Would you mind just scooting up onto the scale?" she asked. A second baggage claim tag snaked out of the printer and she affixed it to my arm. "Sorry, no windows in the African section."
"You mean I'm going to paradise as baggage?" I asked, looking behind me at my travel companions. "The brochure said I get a free ticket."
"You were expecting business class?" she said with that loveable rudeness that makes flying out of Ben-Gurion Airport such a pleasure each time. "What would you guys do with china service and cocktails? The interior ministry has thoughtfully provided for you people to travel in the way you Africans are accustomed."
"What kind of seats are there in the African section?" I asked suspiciously.
"We chain you to palettes and stack you one on top of the other below decks."
The guys began to murmur angrily.
"Can you check my frequent flyer miles?" I asked her. "Maybe I have enough for an upgrade?"
She punched my number on her keyboard and stared at the screen. "For 12,000 points I can put you on top."
"You mean in the cabin?"
"No, on the top pallet in the pile," she said. "By the way, I suggest using the lavatory before boarding."
"Welcome to the Third Country!" sang a class of cute kindergarten kids waiting for us at our arrival gate.
"Here we are," I said to my friends, who were rubbing the sore spots made by their shackles. "Work! Money! Beautiful women! A great future for all of us!"
"So what country is it?" one of my companions asked.
I looked around. "I'm sure someone will tell us at some point."
"I don't like the look of it," one of my companions said, pointing at a posse of uniformed thugs approaching us. The leader of the group stepped forward and read from a sheaf of papers in his hand.
"Welcome to the Third Country," he declaimed. "Here we have many jobs waiting for you because a million of our people have resigned from their positions on account of being dead. If you work hard you may soon move into the top ten percent earnings bracket here, which is not so hard because nobody makes any money at all."
"What about the women?" one of the guys asked.
"They are beautiful," the commander declared. "If you like very, very skinny."
There was a huge explosion and half the ceiling fell in.
"It is nothing," the commander assured us. "We have a little war. Very little. Nothing you would notice."
But I was too busy dialing Abel to pay much attention.
"Hey, Abel," I said when he answered. "Listen, I changed my mind."
"Haim!" he said. "Hey, thanks so much for everything you've done for me. I'm really enjoying living your life."
"I don't want you to live my life. I want to come home."
"How are you going to do that, Haim?"
I pondered a minute. "I know. I'll apply for refugee status."
"You? A refugee? But you went to the Third Country to find work, to get rich, to get a woman. You are a classic labor migrant, not a refugee!"
I thought he'd never stop laughing.
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Don't miss the next performance of Necessary Stories: Through Women's Eyes, at Tmol Shilshom, Jerusalem's fabled literary cafe, 6 Yoel Moshe Salomon St., Nahalat Shiva, Jerusalem, on Sunday, March. 11, at 7 p.m., NIS 40 minimum order per person. As the venue is small and our last performance at Barbur Gallery was packed, we advise purchasing tickets in advance. With Jane Golbert and Annabelle Landgarten
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Necessary Stories, a collection of twenty-four of the best of Haim Watzman's short fiction, is now available as an e-book and paperback on Amazon and all other vendors. Click here for purchase links and more information.
Three Codas — "Necessary Stories" from The Jerusalem Report
Transfigured Night — "Necessary Stories" from The Jerusalem Report


When thinking about preventative pet care, wellness exams and vaccinations often come to mind first. Then, you may think of parasite preventatives. These are a crucial part of your pet's health care plan. Parasite prevention not only keeps pests and internal parasites at bay, but it lessens your pet's chance at developing serious illness. Pests such as fleas, ticks, and mosquitos can all transmit dangerous diseases to your pet.
The positives for pest prevention far outweigh any negatives. The potential for contracted diseases is a much greater concern than any potential side effects. Yet, there has been some apprehension about the safety of some of these preventatives, but severe cases are few and far between. Some of the products in question include Bravecto, Credelio, Nexgard, and Simparica. Yet, we can assure you that these are all very safe for your pets.
Before they are approved for use, all animal drugs go through rigorous evaluation and testing by the FDA. Even after the drugs are in use, the manufacturers are required to report any suspected reaction. The most common adverse reactions include vomiting or diarrhea, and in very rare cases, neurological side effects. Whenever a veterinarian comes across what he or she believes to be a side effect from a particular drug, they report it to the manufacturer, who in turn reports it to the FDA. This creates a high level of transparency so that manufacturers, vets, and owners can all be better informed about potential side effects.
Another important safety measure when purchasing your pet's parasite preventatives is to always get them from a trusted source, meaning either directly from your vet, or from a pharmacy associated with your vet. Manufacturers do not sell to online pharmacies that are not associated with a veterinarian. This means that drugs you get from these sources are not regulated and could be repackaged, counterfeit, or expired. The best thing for you and your pet is to play it safe and purchase preventatives and other medications from your vet or their trusted pharmacy.
If you're interested in learning more about these flea and tick preventatives, you can read this fact sheet provided by the FDA.


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Why John McCain voted against 'skinny' repeal of ObamaCare
By Yaron Steinbuch
July 28, 2017 | 10:41am | Updated July 28, 2017 | 11:11am
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Sen. John McCain — who stunned his fellow Republicans by voting against the "skinny" repeal of ObamaCare — said Friday he did not think it would "actually reform our health care system" and ensure proper coverage for Americans, according to a report.
"While the amendment would have repealed some of ObamaCare's most burdensome regulations, it offered no replacement to actually reform our health care system and deliver affordable, quality health care to our citizens," McCain said.
"The speaker's statement that the House would be 'willing' to go to conference does not ease my concern that this shell of a bill could be taken up and passed at any time," he added.
The 80-year-old Arizona senator was recently diagnosed with brain cancer, but he returned to the Senate in time to cast a decisive vote in favor of opening debate on GOP legislation to repeal and replace ObamaCare.
But he stunned his party when the final vote was at hand early Friday when he voted "no" and killed the legislation.
In the process, the maverick dealt what looks like the death blow to the Republican Party's seven-year quest to get rid of President Barack Obama's 2010 health law.
Along with McCain, GOP Sens. Susan Collins of Maine and Lisa Murkowski of Alaska joined Democrats in the dramatic 51-49 vote rejecting the bill despite intense pressure from the White House.
Vice President Mike Pence arrived in the Senate chambers shortly after midnight in case he was needed for a tie-breaker.
Before voting, McCain would not say how he would vote, but told reporters to "wait for the show" as he arrived in the Senate chamber.
Trio of Republican senators help vote down 'skinny repeal' of ObamaCare
Republicans' last-ditch effort to zap ObamaCare failed early Friday when...
Later, he was seen giving Murkowski a thumbs-down, signaling his intentions, MSN reported.
McCain said he's repeated many times that one of the "major failures" of ObamaCare was that it was "rammed through Congress by Democrats on a strict party-line basis without a single Republican vote."
"We should not make the mistakes of the past that has led to ObamaCare's collapse, including in my home state of Arizona, where premiums are skyrocketing and health care providers are fleeing the marketplace," McCain said.
"We must now return to the correct way of legislating and send the bill back to committee, hold hearings, receive input from both sides of the aisle, heed the recommendations of the nation's governors, and produce a bill that finally delivers affordable health care for the American people," he said.
The Senate's action means that the Affordable Care Act, which extended health insurance to 20 million people, remains in place.
"This is clearly a disappointing moment," Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said early Friday. "The American people are going to regret that we couldn't find a better way forward."
Filed under health care , john mccain , obamacare , republicans , senate
Pet boa constrictor nearly strangles woman in her driveway


The Roanoke College Maroons Men's Soccer College Prospect Camp is a three-day event that will run from the 15th of June until the 17th of June. It is going to take place at the state of the art Donald J. Kerr Stadium which is in Salem, Virginia. This soccer prospect camp is open to all male soccer players in grade 9 up to grade 12. In addition, the program is set to start at 1:00 PM on Day 1 and end at 11:00 AM on Day 3. It is open to both commuter and residential camper registrants. The registration fee for commuter campers is $325 while it is $425 for residential campers. Furthermore, this program is a venue to showcase outstanding skills in from of Division I, II, and III coaches.
Roanoke College, originally Virginia Institute, is a private, coeducational, liberal arts college in Salem, Virginia. It is an affiliation of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America. As a whole, the institution as a whole has an accreditation from the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools and is using a semester-based academic calendar. Presently, Roanoke College's total undergraduate student population is 1,992. 41 percent of this undergraduate student population are male students and 59 percent are female students. This undergraduate student population is also through a selective enrollment acceptance rate of 73 percent. Correspondingly, Roanoke College's student to faculty ratio is 11:1. Roanoke College is also among the nation's top-performing academic institutions. As a matter of fact, it is 138th in the National Liberal Arts Colleges category of the 2018 US News and World Reports Best Colleges rankings. Roanoke College is also 168th in the High School Counselor Rankings. In the sporting world, Roanoke College fields its men's and women's teams in the Old Dominion Athletic Conference (ODAC) of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division III. They are the Maroons and maroon and gray are their identity colors. Overall, the Roanoke Maroons has already two team national championships won by its basketball and lacrosse teams respectively.
The head coach of the Roanoke College Maroons men's soccer team is Ryan Pflugrad. He is now in his fifth year at the helm of the Maroons men's soccer program. Coach Ryan Pflugrad is a bachelor's degree graduate from Roanoke College and a master's degree graduate from Goucher College. Ultimately, Coach Ryan Pflugrad is the 2014 ODAC Coach of the Year awardee. This award comes after he led the Roanoke Maroons to an undefeated ODAC regular-season. He also led the Maroons to the same feat in the 2016 season. Coach Ryan Pflugrad is a United States Soccer Federation (USSF) "B" coaching license holder. Then, the Roanoke College Maroons men's soccer assistant coaches are Alistair Moore and Austin Rose. Coach Alistair Moore is now entering his third season with the coaching staff. He is an alumnus of Emory University. Coach Alistair Moore is a standout soccer player himself. In fact, he was a Virginia High School League (VHSL) Group AA State Player of the Year during his Blacksburg High School years. He was the leader of the Blacksburg Bruins two championships. Coach Pflugrad was also part of the Emory Eagles University Athletic Association (UAA) Conference title team in 2012.
The Roanoke College Maroons Men's Soccer College Prospect Camp is intended for high school players who desire to take their game to the collegiate level. This program is under the supervision of the Roanoke Maroons men's soccer coaching staff. Coaches from other top colleges and universities are will also attend and help facilitate the event.


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Have flying mosquito disease and drink black bean soup
Abstract: floater disease is actually vitreous opacity. Congenital residual embryonic cells or tissues in the vitreous, retinal or uveal hemorrhage invades the vitreous, and vitreous opacity can also occur, such as eye trauma, long-term retention of intraocular foreign bodies, parasites or tumors.
when you stare, there will be floating dots and filaments in front of you. You can even see them when you close your eyes. In fact, most people have experienced this situation, which is the so-called flying mosquito disease. When talking about "disease", many people will have some worries. The doctor suggested that you should not worry blindly about flying mosquito disease. You should have more rest at ordinary times, but you should also check in time when you aggravate your condition.
eye floater disease is caused by vitreous degeneration. It shows that there are black spots in front of the eyes and will fly around with the rotation of the eyes, just like flying mosquitoes. Its shapes are round, oval, dot and linear. There are many reasons for eye floaters. Traditional Chinese medicine believes that the disease is caused by the loss of liver and kidney. Mulberry, Ligustrum lucidum, medlar and black beans can tonify the liver and kidney, so they have a certain effect on alleviating flying mosquitoes. Patients with
can try the following two prescriptions: Chamomile Flower Tea and golden cicada flower soup. Chamomile Flower Tea: 9g Chamomile Flower, 15g medlar, 10g Cornus meat and 12g plantain. Drink it instead of tea after brewing in boiling water for about 20 minutes; Golden cicada flower soup, 30 grams of golden cicada flower, 60 grams of Huai yam, 30 grams of medlar, 1 piece of sheep liver, add about 1000 ml of water and drink the soup after boiling for two hours. It can be used to alleviate flying mosquitoes, cataract and night blindness.
. Abstract: floater disease is actually vitreous opacity. The hemorrhage of embryonic cells or tissues, retina or uvea left in the vitreous body can invade the vitreous body, such as eye trauma, long-term retention of intraocular foreign bodies, parasites or tumors., When your eyes stare, there will be floating dots and filaments in front of you. You can even see them when you close your eyes. In fact, most people have experienced this situation, which is the so-called flying mosquito disease. When talking about "disease", many people will have some worries. The doctor suggested that you should not worry blindly about flying mosquito disease, and rest more at ordinary times, but you should also check it in time when you get worse., Eye floater disease is caused by vitreous degeneration, which is characterized by black spots in front of the eyes and will fly around with the rotation of the eyes, like flying mosquitoes. Its shapes are round, oval, dot and linear. There are many reasons for eye floaters. Traditional Chinese medicine believes that the disease is caused by the loss of liver and kidney. Mulberry, Ligustrum lucidum, medlar and black beans can tonify the liver and kidney, so they have a certain effect on alleviating flying mosquitoes.,
, patients can try the following two small prescriptions: Chamomile Flower Tea and golden cicada flower soup. Chamomile Flower Tea: 9g Chamomile Flower, 15g medlar, 10g Cornus meat and 12g plantain. Drink it instead of tea after brewing in boiling water for about 20 minutes; Golden cicada flower soup, 30 grams of golden cicada flower, 60 grams of Huai yam, 30 grams of medlar, 1 piece of sheep liver, add about 1000 ml of water and drink the soup after boiling for two hours. It can be used to alleviate flying mosquitoes, cataract and night blindness.,
Folk prescription for alleviating flying mosquito disease: black bean soup
Flying mosquito disease began to focus on young people's traditional Chinese medicine syndrome differentiation treatment of flying mosquito disease
Flying mosquito disease began to focus on young people, and traditional Chinese medicine syndrome differentiation was used to treat flying mosquito disease
"Flying mosquito disease" does not need to worry about the syndrome differentiation of traditional Chinese medicine in the treatment of flying mosquito disease
Flying mosquito disease is not terrible. See how ancient and modern traditional Chinese medicine treats flying mosquito disease
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Q: Are resources in the same origin if they have different IP's but the same domain? I have a backend server hosted in the cloud (AWS) and a front-end which is just a Docker container running NGINX routed to an index.html. The backend is a cluster of containers behind a Load Balancer (ALB), so from my understanding this would be considered one "domain" because I access the backend through the ALB's DNS address. The frontend runs on a separate EC2 instance from the cluster. In this situation, the backend is on a different domain from the frontend, which means I would need to enable CORS to allow resources to be shared from the backend to the frontend. Once I get the domain setup, would it be possible to have the two ends be on the same domain so that CORS is no longer needed? Will they be considered to be under the same domain even though they are on two different IP's?

A: Yes.  The precise definition is in section 4 of RFC 6454, which in most common cases comes down to the origin of a resource having three components:

*

*Scheme part of the URL, e.g. https

*Host part of the URL, e.g. example.com

*Port number, e.g. 443

The IP address used to access the host does not enter into consideration here, so in the scenario you describe the frontend and the backend would have the same origin.

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


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Chilling Particulars Revealed as Possible Trigger Affidavit is Launched in College…
Chilling Particulars Revealed as Possible Trigger Affidavit is Launched in College of Idaho Homicide Case
The surprising killings of four University of Idaho students left the city of Moscow, Idaho on edge for almost seven weeks whereas authorities looked for a killer.
On Friday, after remaining tight-lipped over the course of the preliminary investigation, authorities introduced that Bryan Kohberger, 28, was arrested in Pennsylvania and charged with 4 counts of homicide and one depend of felony housebreaking in reference to the stabbing deaths of Madison Mogen, 21, Kaylee Goncalves, 21, Xana Kernodle, 20, and Ethan Chapin, 20.
On Jan. 3, Kohberger waived his extradition, and he was transported to Idaho on Jan. 4. His preliminary listening to, the place he'll enter a plea to the costs towards him, is scheduled for Jan. 12. Now that he's again in Idaho, the possible trigger affidavit has been launched, shedding gentle on what led investigators to arrest Kohberger.
In line with the affidavit, which has been reviewed by PEOPLE, a sheath of the knife used within the stabbings was left on the scene within the mattress the place Mogen and Goncalves had been discovered deceased. That is the place detectives discovered DNA linking Kohberger, in response to the affidavit. Brokers took trash from Kohberger's dad and mom' house in Pennsylvania to check for a DNA match, the paperwork allege.
For more on this story, listen below to our daily podcast PEOPLE Every Day.
In line with the affidavit, one of many surviving roommates mentioned they noticed the killer, described within the affidavit as "a determine clad in black clothes and a masks," who walked previous her as he left the crime scene, and he or she heard crying on the evening of the killings. Kohberger was linked to the crime scene from DNA and cellular phone pings, the affidavit alleges.
Ethan Chapin, Madison Mogen, Kaylee Goncalves and Xana Kernodle.
Round 4:20 a.m., a white sedan known as "Suspect Automobile 1" within the affidavit was seen leaving the realm of the house at a quick fee of pace, the affidavit alleges. In line with the doc, the automobile and telephone related to Kohberger returned to the scene between 9:12 a.m. and 9:21 a.m.
Whereas investigating earlier cellphone pings, authorities realized that the cellular phone related to Kohberger pinged within the space of the 1122 King Highway house the place the killings happened on not less than twelve events previous to November 13, 2022, the affidavit alleges.
"All of those events, aside from one, occurred within the late night and early morning hours of their respective days," the affidavit reads.
Bryan Kohberger on Jan. 3, 2023.
Matt Rourke/AP/Shutterstock
On the time of the slayings, Kohberger was a Ph.D pupil at Washington State College learning criminal justice and criminology. The college, which is in Pullman, Wash., is roughly eight miles away from the residence in Moscow, Idaho the place the 4 college students had been killed.
A white Hyundai Elantra — which is similar automobile authorities had been trying to find in reference to the case — was taken from the Kohberger household house on the day of the suspect's arrest.
Goncalves, Mogen, Kernodle, and Chapin — who had been all shut mates and college students on the College of Idaho — had been stabbed to demise on the second and third flooring of the off-campus residence within the early morning hours of Nov. 13. Two additional roommates had been house in the course of the assault however had been unhurt. Early within the investigation, the surviving roommates had been ruled out as suspects.
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It was beforehand reported that the 2 surviving roommates each slept by way of the assault on the primary ground of the residence, however the affidavit states that one of many roommates was on the second ground the place Kernodle and Chapin had been killed.
Kernodle acquired a DoorDash order round 4 a.m. and was on TikTok on her telephone at 4:12 a.m., the affidavit alleges. Goncalves, Mogen, and Kernodle had been roommates and Chapin was staying the evening with Kernodle, his girlfriend. A motive for the killings has not been launched presently.
In a statement on Friday, Moscow Mayor Arthur D. Bettge thanked regulation enforcement for his or her work on the case that shocked the nation.
"I perceive that regulation enforcement's lack of ability to share data in the course of the course of the investigation has been irritating, however their main responsibility was to guard the integrity of the investigation and discover a decision to the case for the victims and their households," the assertion reads, partly. "I hope this arrest and subsequent felony justice system course of will start to offer consolation and closure to the sufferer's households, our neighborhood, and the nation."
The Moscow Police Division is asking anybody with details about the killings or Bryan Kohberger to name 208-883-7180 or e mail tipline@ci.moscow.id.us.
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Fantasy Island TV Series Is Reborn On Fox; Roselyn Sánchez Brings Latina Star Power To The Classic
A film crew dominated by highly skilled women is shooting the series' remake in Puerto Rico.
By Roberto Leal August 10, 2021
Roselyn Sanchez was the Ambassador of the National Park Service in 2015. Now, she stars in the remake of 'Fantasy Island.' (Charley Gallay/Getty Images for National Park Service)
Finding someone who could fill the shoes, or more accurately the iconic white suit, of Latino legend Ricardo Montalban in his role as the mysterious but always courteous, courtly and cultured Mr. Roarke on "Fantasy Island," which ran from 1977 to 1984, had to be a daunting task. But the series has proved it repeatedly: dreams do come true.
The producers of the show's new incarnation, which premiers on FOX on Aug. 10, may have taken a secret trip to the tropical paradise and asked the island to send them a star to take Montalban's place.
Roselyn Sánchez ("Act of Valor," "Without a Trace") has managed in only four episodes to make the role her own.
Elena Roarke is the grand-niece of Mr. Roarke. She continues the Roarke dynasty that owns and runs Fantasy Island. Ms. Roarke wears in every episode a sleek, feminine, custom-tailored white suit that replicates Mr. Roarke's right down to the vest.
In every episode, Ms. Roarke helps her guests realize their fantasies with friendly persuasion, gentle encouragement and tough love with a velvet touch. But, as the storyline develops, she finds that accepting the responsibility of becoming the new Roarke comes with a price of personal loss and self-sacrifice.
Different fantasies, different voices
A film crew dominated by highly skilled women artists and technicians in front of and behind the camera is shooting the classic's new version.
The dynamic writing duo of Elizabeth Craft and Sara Fain, who previously teamed up to work on "The Shield," "The Fix" and "66 Park Avenue," has infused the "Fantasy Island" remake with a feminine point of view. Thanks to Craft and Fain, new visitors to "Fantasy Island" explore their feelings, desires and uncertainties in a more nuanced way, permeating the lessons they learn and the decisions they make.
In Episode One, Kiana Barnes ("The Bold and the Beautiful," "Stick with You"), as Ruby, experiences loss, self-sacrifice, and the painful realization it often takes more strength to let go than it does to hold on. Ruby ultimately finds herself forever transformed.
A post shared by roselyn sanchez (@roselyn_sanchez)
Craft and Fain have created a wide range of ethnically diverse visitors to Fantasy Island, allowing them to tell their stories in their distinctive voices. They also have found creative twists for tried and true story structures.
"Da plane" is not just a plain plane
The show no longer opens with Tattoo ringing the bell announcing the arrival of new guests with the two most imitated lines in TV history: "Da plane! Da plane!" In the new series, "da plane" still arrives but without all the previous fanfare.
However, the plane puts a twist on the plot.
John Gabriel Rodriguez ("The Vampire Diaries," "NCIS") plays Javier, the handsome, hotshot pilot who brings anxious fantasy-seekers to the mystic isle. Javier harbors a desire of his own involving the lovely Elena Roarke.
Unlike the old series, in which Mr. Roarke seemed like an unapproachable, mythical, almost godlike being, Ms. Roarke is a real woman. Despite her powers to make things happen on her island, she has vulnerabilities and desires of her own. Sánchez has not only instilled Ms. Roarke with beauty, intelligence and lots of moxie, but also with a huge dollop of humanity.
"What can this Island do for you?"
Ms. Roarke's humanity is evident when she asks all the excited arrivals, "What can this island do for you?" The question reflects her generosity and willingness to share the island's mysterious gifts with those seeking answers or wishing to change something in their troubled lives.
The magical place will fulfill a fantasy for viewers, who will witness the birth of a Latina superstar, Roselyn Sánchez. Her refreshing Latin charm, vitality and down-to-earth humanity make Sánchez the likable and logical heir to the Roarke legacy.
The crew is shooting "Fantasy Island" in Puerto Rico, Roselyn Sánchez's birthplace. The island is a lush tropical Caribbean gem whose warm sea breezes carry the whispered allure and promise of fantasies yet unrealized.
Roselyn Sánchez Brings Latina Star Power To The TV Series Classic was first published in LatinHeat Entertainment.
Edited by Gabriela Alejandra Olmos and Kristen Butler
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Who Owns Your Financial Success?
My mistake not to take last turn.
A transformational leader can utter the words "I messed up" even once seated in the c-suite. Accepting responsiblity is challenging for most, but it is particularly so for those in leadership roles.
While working as an organizational consultant in graduate school, I saw this play out in a way that was less than ideal. My colleague and I had prepared a presentation for a prospective client: we included numbers, statistics, data – here's how our product can impact your business. The client was in the transportation industry and, we knew they were statistically savvy given that their business ran on numbers: fuel use, on time performance, cost per pound, etc.
However, our leader didn't think so…and got his way. No numbers were to be shared.
What would have happened if he had owned this mistake? How would the client have reacted, and how might that have impacted both of our businesses? Could we have recovered the account? And, how might I have felt about him as a leader?
Throughout the research my father collected that ultimately led up to The Millionaire Next Door among his other books, and today when we study the life experiences of Americans that span the economic strata, having ownership of financial success is a key component of one's potential to build wealth. We've found this regardless of one's age income, or how much one has received in gifts/inheritance. Responsibility means understanding that our behaviors have consequences. It means understanding the things we can control (our own spending habits, investing behaviors), what we cannot control (markets, geopolitical changes), and being reasonable about how each impacts our household's bottom line.
In organizations, taking responsibility for outcomes is a tricky pill to swallow in the c-suite. But, for those who want to be transformational leaders, it is imperative. Bringing this back to personal finance and leadership in one's household, a realistic view of how we impact our economic outcomes can not only help to change our behaviors but can also instill trust in those who we lead through life. If we can accept that the behaviors we make on a daily basis can impact our financial success, from spending to saving to investing to planning, then we might feel more compelled to make changes. However, if our financial success is "owned" by someone or something else, then why would we ever change to improve it?
This entry was posted in Financial Competencies, Leadership & Management and tagged behavior, economic success, environment, investing, leadership, life experiences, responsibility, success, volitility. Bookmark the permalink.