The Need for a Safe Space/Anti Bullying Community Organization

For those who follow my tumblr either directly on this platform or through my auto repost system for Twitter & FB – don’t worry! I’m not looking to do anything to harm myself! My last post was in response to a tumble I read from a young high schooler who apparently is going through a lot at the moment and doesn’t know how to cope with it. And it’s a feeling that many of us have experienced at least one time in our lives, including myself.

It’s heart breaking to me to see other young people going through so much stress & emotional heart ache who don’t feel like they have anywhere to turn to, anyone who cares that they’re going through something. The reality is, there’s always another option besides suicide. And, no matter how worthless, etc you may feel you are, you will always matter to someone & taking your life will effect those around you. In my high school, at least 2 people committed suicide during my time there (one actually took place IN school) and it most definitely effected those around them – even people who didn’t particularly know them.

I say all this to say I really want to work on creating an organization or some form of safe space that gives people – especially young people – a place to turn to when they’re feeling overwhelmed with life. Most importantly, a place where they won’t be judged for revealing their emotions. Obviously, there’s enough misplaced judgement in this world, they don’t need more.

And to add to that, I want to ensure that it’s a safe space that everyone feels they can utilize. I feel too often, for those of us who grow up in minority communities/households, there’s an additional stigma placed on issues like depression, emotional stress, etc. It’s seen as a form of weakness to admit to having any kind of problem besides an addiction to drugs or alcohol. It’s considered a negative to seek out professional help – or even to admit to having a problem, or being overwhelmed. As if, those “emotional” problems are things that “we” don’t admit to – when in reality EVERYONE goes through it at some point.

I know I’m just ranting at the moment, but this is definitely something that I want to get behind, and I do want to use my company Big Apple Style Marketing as a platform to bring awareness to the reality that life is not easy and whether it’s due to bullying, problems at home, issues of self worth/etc, young people are facing a lot of pressure and need to have a place where they can vent positively, address the problem and overcome it.

East Meets West Event Recap in “The Ticker”, Daily Newspaper of Baruch College

This news article came out last week but is still relevant! On March 26th two reporters from The Ticker, the daily newspaper of Baruch College (an NYC college that is part of the CUNY system), attended our East Meets West event held at Webster Hall in NYC. Below is the screenshot to their review!

East Meets West event review in The Ticker

To read the full review, go to The Ticker or click here!

East Meets West was the first in what will be a series of charity benefit concerts that took place in NYC and brought together artists of various genres and fans from a multitude of backgrounds. The goal of the event was to raise awareness and financial aid for the continued Tohoku Rebuilding Effort. Tohoku was the region worst affected by the 3.11.11 Japan Earthquake & Tsunami disaster.

Baruch College is located in NYC and is part of the CUNY (City University of New York) system. For more information about Baruch College, visit www.baruch.cuny.edu/

For a complete event recap of East Meets West, click here.

For inquiries regarding East Meets West please contact:

Big Apple Style Marketing
Attn: Dorian Smith
Email: Dorian@BigAppleStyleMarketing.com

East Meets West Charity Benefit Concert Recap Now Available!

It’s finally here!

After many hours spent tonight with photoshop & waiting for final releases from press, we now have the complete East Meets West event recap ready for you to read! It includes a few select performances, live interviews, tons of pics & press clippings too! Click here or the image below to check it out!

East Meets West Concert Event Recap

East Meets West was a charity benefit concert held at The Studio at Webster Hall in NYC on Monday, March 26th, 2012. Performances included HipHopGamer, JR Junior, RIZE & fade. It was definitely a night to remember so if you didn’t get the chance to attend, do the next best thing and check out our event recap!

Inquiries or comments regarding East Meets West or RIZE and/or fade can be directed to:

North America
Big Apple Style Marketing
Attn: Dorian Smith
Email: Dorian@BigAppleStyleMarketing.com

International
C.E. United
Attn: Cozy Mizoguchi
Email: Cozy@CEU.co.jp

Read for a Cause with Mind Games Available in All Major eReader Formats!

Yes, I’m doing it again. A huge marketing push for Mind Games. I really want to help raise money and awareness for Building Community Bridges (@BCBInc). So, to follow up on last night’s post, Mind Games is officially available for the following e-reader formats & platforms: Nook, Kindle, Sony eReader, iTunes, Diesel, Kobo & Barnes & Nobles.

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And to help keep holiday shopping affordable, I’m offering a 25% coupon code (DY42G – code valid until 1.20.12) for the Mind Games ebook if you purchase it directly through SmashWords.com. If you’re curious, the benefit to buying directly through Smashwords is that you pay one price for an ebook to receive access to all possible available file formats for that book including pdf, rich text or html for desktop viewing.

So, instead of paying the list price of $3.99, you’ll end up spending roughly $2.99. Either way – whether you purchase at a discounted rate or not, 10% of each book sale will be donated to Building Community Bridges to assist with their necessary & amazing work to provide clean sources for drinking water and other vital services to rural villages in West Africa.

So, this holiday season, feed your mind & soul by unlocking your imagination and doing some long term good in the process!

You can purchase Mind Games at:

Bn.com

Kobo

Sony

Smashwords

Amazon

Diesel

iTunes

 

For more updates on Mind Games, follow me on Twitter: @mindgamesbook

Japanese Rock Band “fade” Launches Their US Invasion By Debuting on Pandora Internet Radio

September 30, 2011

For Immediate Release:

In the United States, music-philes and industry insiders are always searching for the next new wave of music – especially from international sources. That search can end since one of Japan’s top rock groups, fade, timed their latest album release “Kings of Dawn” with the launch of their international tour this Spring – ending with a huge focus on US penetration beginning this Fall.

fade's 6th and most recent album release "Kings of Dawn"

“fade” is a unique five member rock group from Japan that truly embodies the ability to effectively bridge Eastern and Western cultures by seamlessly blending the iconic 1980’s American rock sounds with their inherent international flavor. Of its band members, four are originally from the United States. Kansei (guitar), Noriyuki (bass) and Rui (drums/writer/founder) hail from New York and their lead singer Jon Underdown is from Seattle – two influential cities known for heavily shaping the American music scene over the years. The fifth member 5° is from Japan and a noted artist within the community.

Hence fade is called “Blue eyed Samurai x Black eyed Cowboys”, or “California Roll of Rock”, based on their real international blend of authentic mixture between East and West insights and culture.

Although the majority of the members are from the US, fade officially launched in Japan, where the group has been very successful since their first album dropped in 2003. Since then, all five albums have been well received, with chart topping hits that have earned them music placements on popular video games such as Drum Mania, Guitar Freak, and lead vocalist, Jon, featured in Gran Turismo as well as in popular movies and television series that were released in Japan.

With their sixth and latest album release “Kings of Dawn”, fade is now ready to focus on connecting with their international fans via their “Return Home” tour in the United States this Fall/Winter, hugely motivated by the fact that they faced the 3.11 earthquake and tsunami disaster in Tohoku this year. fade, decided to ”become a ‘Music Hub’ for encouraging people via the power of Rock” by leveraging their unique international formation and global culture.

To initially kick off their US marketing campaign, fade paired up with the strongest American Internet radio station, Pandora this September to release their three most recent albums: “To Find a Better Tomorrow”(2008), “Age of Innocence”(2009) and “Kings of Dawn”(2011). “One Reason” from “Kings of Dawn” has been featured as the theme song for the popular TV animation program “Dead Man Wonderland”.

Like the “California roll” has evolved, originating from Japan to become a popular dish globally, fade is fully ready to enter the world market with their global quality level of “tasteful” rock sounds.

For more updates about fade, their upcoming tour dates and to learn more about the members, visit www.fadeonline.com.

Find fade on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/pages/fade_tokyo/270416539205

For US/North American inquiries, interview requests & bookings contact:

Big Apple Style Marketing
Attn: Dorian Smith
Dorian@BigAppleStyleMarketing.com

For International inquiries, interview requests & bookings contact:
C.E.United, Inc / Offical International Rep of fade
Attn; Cozy Mizoguchi
cozy@ceu.co.jp

Let’s Earn 5K in 15 Days to Bring Clean Drinking Water to Togo in W. Africa!

I previously wrote a post about Building Community Bridges (BCB), www.bcombridges.org, a non-for profit 501 (c)(3) registered charitable organization with a focus on providing clean drinking water sources to villages in West Africa. This is a severely vital necessity, since in many areas, not only are villagers trekking long miles just to access water, but are also sharing those same water supplies with local animals – leading to potential contamination from deadly diseases. Building Community Bridges is the brainchild of Enyonam Nanevie, a native of Togo who after living in the US for many years, has returned to her home country to work diligently at removing these inadequacies, one village at a time.

BCB received their second grant in February which will enabled them to break ground on a solar water pump in the village of Koussougba in Togo! This is only one of a variety of services that BCB provides when they reach out to villages. In addition to an initial focus on providing access to clean and consistent drinking water, BCB also focuses on developing education services, providing health care in areas where it is much needed and acting as an advocate for women and children, in a country that has a high incidence of child trafficking and gender imbalance.

As of March 23rd, 2011, BCB is extremely honored to be part of the Segal Family Foundation (http://segalfamilyfoundation.org/index.asp) as a grantee. Besides their generous support for BCB’s work in awarding them two grants (one for the training and empowerment of women leaders in WASH [a training program that teaches sanitation best-practices] and the second to build the water pump) this wonderful foundation will further support them through the Matching Challenge that they have created, where they will match every $50 dollars donated from March 22nd at 6pm until April 15th! The Segal Foundation will match BCB’s fundraising efforts up to $5000. With your support and those of your friends, we can raise this money!

Visit www.bcombridges.org today to donate, get involved, and share with others!

AT&T & Verizon Offer Free Calls & Texts to Japan

Another post tonight…but definitely for informational purposes! For those of us with friends, family or colleagues in Japan, the past few days have been a bit crazy trying to keep in touch and up to date with what’s happening on the ground in Japan. Thank goodness for Facebook and Twitter! Well, doing it just got a bit easier now two major telcos in the US are now waiving all fees associated with calling and texting numbers in Japan. Today AT&T, and Verizon announced that they’re providing free calls and text messages to Japan for the month of March – retroactive to the 11th. Verizon customers get an extra week and a half as Verizon is waiving fees through April 10th.

As an aside, Sprint & T-Mobile consumers can expect to have their text message fees waived when submitting mobile donations via text when donating via select charities supported by Sprint. For more details visit your  mobile provider’s website (visit the corporate portion as that’s where all the press releases regarding waived fees and Japan outreaches are located).

Note: This post is about major national telcos, not regional providers. If your mobile provider isn’t mentioned above, then at the time of this posting, they haven’t submitted a release mentioning a waiver for texts and calls to Japan.

 

Mobile Ads that Care – Zynga’s Japan Disaster Donation Ads

Okay…

So, if you know me at all, you know that there are a few things that get me passionate: food, marketing, entertainment and JAPAN. I ♥ Japan with a passion – visit there as often as I can and am even working to launch my company there later this year, and am even ready to relocate to Tokyo for a while. And, unless you’ve been living under a rock for the last few days, you also know that Japan has been rocked by a double whammy of one of the strongest earthquakes in recorded history followed by a devastating tsunami that added insult to injury in terms of damage and recovery efforts. I’m happy to say that all my friends and colleagues who live and work in Japan are doing well!

But, something that made me happy is that just like with the earthquake in Haiti last year, people and companies immediately began a push to provide emergency assistance to Japan. ^_^ One thing in particular I noticed was through my Words With Friends app (originally from NewToy but recently bought out by Zynga) and the advertisements (I have the free version – it’s rare I feel the urge to buy a game – even if for $1.00!). If you’re not familiar with the game, it’s essentially Scrabble. Except instead of being tied to the game for an hour, you can play at your own pace, and open the app from time to time to see if your opponent has made a move – quite nifty. Now, in the free version, everytime you create a word and submit it, an ad loads which you then have the option to skip the ad or click it to be directed to a web page with more information. Now, take a look at the screenshot of the ad that played non-stop while I was playing “Words With Friends” Saturday morning.

Zynga's internal ad for Japan Earthquake Relief Effort

I currently have 5 games running simultaneously with random opponents, and each time I submitted a word, the above ad consistently displayed. And for those who would question that this happens all the time – it doesn’t. Normally, even when playing multiple rounds without exiting the app, the ads usually work on rotation. I might see the same ad multiple times in a day, but normally not consistently one right after the other. I just think this is awesome, and a direct way to connect with people. Obviously, we know from the earthquake in Haiti that mobile donating was one of the biggest forms out outreach. I’m hopeful that the Japanese people and country of  Japan will bounce back better than before and continue to be the cutting edge and gracious nation that they have been before! ^_^

*If you haven’t already, please donate to reputable organizations like the Red Cross or Save the Children.*

Building Community Bridges – A Charity Providing Clean Water to West Africa

Building Community Bridges - Providing Clean Water, Advocacy and Economic Sustainablity to West African Villages

As some of you know, there are things that do get me in the civic mind. I’m not always about funny commercials and frivolity – a few of them are creating sustainability within the community, affordable healthcare (especially for children) and the advocacy of human rights in regions not typically known for civility – especially through the boycotting of industries that exploit humanity (but that’s a topic for a separate post!). Well, one of my very dear friends, Enyonam Nanevie, has just made new headway with her charity, Building Community Bridges (BCB) and this post is to celebrate that milestone!

Enyoname’s brainchild, BCB, is a not for profit charity that focuses on initally providing water pumps in West African villages to offer alternatives for clean drinking water. This is a severely vital necessity, since in many areas, not only are villagers trekking long miles just to access water, but are also sharing those same water supplies with local animals – leading to potential contamination from deadly diseases.

Well as of this week, BCB just received their second grant which will enable them to break ground on a solar water pump in the village of Koussougba in Togo later this month! This is only one of a variety of services that BCB provides when they reach out to villages. In addition to an initial focus on providing access to clean and consistent drinking water, BCB also focuses on specifically training women in a variety of the villages with trades that offer financial self sustainability, education services, providing health care in areas where it is much needed and acting as an advocate for women in children, in a country that has a high incidence of child trafficking and gender imbalance.

BCB is an amazing charity and touches my heart because it is about someone who is actually working hard to give back to their own community. It’s easy to be bewildered by the concept of not having something as basic as clean water when you’ve spent your life in an industrialized nation where people complain when their non-fat drip soy latte isn’t frothy enough for their tastes. Causes like these help to ground and refocus our minds to the things that are truly essential. Please forward this message, visit the BCB website and become involved in a movement that will truly help to minimize the inequities that many people around the world face just because they were born into a different country with a different infrastructure.  For more details about Building Community Bridges and how you can become involved in the movement, please visit www.bcombridges.org.

And in case you’re curious: YES! BASM fully supports Building Community Bridges as our preferred charity of choice! How’s that for full disclosure!