Bella Luce

Just listening to them talking about yawns, made me yawn. I consciously tried to not yawn, just because I knew that is what the response that was supposed to happen. Just speaking or hearing the word yawn signals a physical response in my brain, I did not even need to see someone yawning face to face, I saw it in my head.

I honestly had never even though that much about communication and the beginnings of interpersonal communication. Studying marketing and graphic design at the time I did, mass marketing was always the focus. Actually, mass and interpersonal communications were used together. I learned how important it is to mass communicate interpersonally. You want to be able to focus your message to a large audience, but make them feel like you are just speaking to them.

I was hoping for a different learning experience when I decided to start this master’s degree and from this first lecture, I know I made the right decision. I was exposed to so many ideas and thoughts on the history of communication than I had ever imagined. It fits perfectly with my random knowledge filled brain, that helps me to think more thoroughly and completely about many subjects I come across in my daily work and life.

With Whitney Houston’s big “comeback” album on the horizon and all of this talk of who will sell more albums question, her or Mariah Carey, got me thinking about how all of this viral publicity is a huge asset to both of their promotional communications campaigns and really needed to sell albums. This also reminds the public that they were/are two of the biggest, talented “divas” of the music industry over the past 30 years or so.

How easy do artists have it today? Instead of years of struggling playing to crowds of 5 people at a bar in the seedy area of the city or the backwoods of some country town, I could make a video and post it on YouTube or Twitter and have millions of people view it within a week and be signed to a record label in a month. My sister and I were discussing this after hearing about a YouTube success story of a teenager, not even able to have his license, but his pick of record contracts from a pile of stars like Justin Timberlake and Usher.

Today, America’s culture is over exposed to music it has become very difficult to stand out amongst the crowd and through mediums like YouTube and Twitter, they have been able to do that. People across this country have very differing opinions as what constitutes talent and are able to share those opinions instantaneously. We are able to access multiple opinions, inevitably forcing these musicians to impress us within the first 30 seconds of a song clip we hear on the internet, or risk losing our business. Only a few years ago this wasn’t the case, if we wanted to hear the music, we had to buy the CD or the Record and form the opinions on our own. We bought the music, the record companies made their money, and all was right in the music business. Now, it has become easier to get noticed, but longevity is extremely fleeting. Working hard and developing your talent over time is a luxury only those who win a spot in the top ten on a reality television show like American Idol or America’s Got Talent have the time to do. Even then, that is not a lot of time.

So, I guess, who is to say which generation of musicians is luckier? Those that had to work their butts off to get noticed and therefore more likely to stick around, or those who have the many interactive avenues to get noticed, but have more pressure to be successful their first time out? And who would win the fight? Whitney or Mariah?

I am a self proclaimed dork and lover of all things random. Need a trivial pursuit partner? I’m as kick-ass as they come. I spend way too much time thinking about the inner workings of authors and writers minds and too little time at my gym. Television shows aren’t purely for pleasure or relaxation, but animated research. I try to draw inspiration from everything and do not stay focused on one thing for long.
I am pretty much the textbook case of the middle of four children and the oldest girl, take from that what you wish. I have a very hard time making decisions and known as the “wild child” of the family. That is, if you could call dying my hair red for a week and getting a small tattoo at 18 “wild.” I just found I needed to express myself differently than my good Catholic parents had in mind, though let us not even get into their crazy days in the 60’s and 70’s. I’m not a talker, I’m an observer. Let’s face it, in a family of six, you either talk loud enough to get heard, or blend into the madness.
I need more than one hand to count the number of colleges I’ve attended in my short life, but that doesn’t bother me. It is part of my ever changing list of wants and desires. I like to think of myself as a well-rounded professional student with a deep knowledge of the ins and outs of applying, transferring, graduating, financing, and residence living in colleges throughout Connecticut and New York. Come to think of it, maybe my next degree will be in college counseling.
I started my college career in NY state as a Math major with a Computer Science minor, working to get a degree in secondary education. The only thing that came out of that experience was the already mentioned tattoo and a heartbreaking new view of my best friend. I moved back to CT, newly marked body and all, to a new school and a new major, English. Or was it Psychology? Ahhh that’s right, over the three years, it was both. By leaving that school and moving closer to my parents, about 10 yards and 2 walls into my old bed, I found a love for Graphic Design; and by god this one stuck. First college degree, check! Turns out there are very few design jobs in the middle of CT, so I had to settle for my first “grown up” job as a secretary.
My daily hatred of office work pushed me to the next school on my list for a degree in International Marketing. I always try to add the “international” part to make me sound more sophisticated when I am clearly not. That more or less came from wanting to find a job where I could see more of the world than I84. Which has consequently led me to my current job and more exciting travels.
Not being one to rest on my laurels, graduate school was calling my name as I quickly learned that in the business world you either bring “it” to the table every day or get stuck in the same position, doing the same thing every day until you retire; or as the current state of the world requires, work yourself until you die, that is if you are one of the lucky ones who has not been laid off. I know how extremely blessed I am to be one of the lucky ones and I want to do everything in my power to keep it that way for as long as I can. I want to be that person that the company I am working for cannot live without.
I lasted for a semester in an MBA program finally realizing that business and numbers analysis was not going to make me happy, but what was? There had to be some course of study out there that would appeal to my creative side and my desire to succeed in being at the edge of new opportunity. What was I going to be a part of that utilized all of my creativity and desires?
One thing I learned in my business classes was the power of networking, which has led me to you. A friend of a friend learned of my passion to be different, to change the world creatively, and bring out the dork in everyone.
This is the path that has led me here, to this blog, and a completely new experience. I can’t wait to inspire and be inspired.

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