Tell Us Your Story: Laura Zax, Harry's H'University

On Monday April 21st 8pm EST., The Niche Movement presents a live interview with Laura Zax, Director of Social Innovation at Harry's, a men's grooming startup launched in March 2013. They're going to talk about H'University and the importance of "real-world" career development for today's college student. We also may talk about shaving tips too...sorry we can't help it.

Laura came to Harry's from Ashoka, an international network of the world's leading social entrepreneurs. At Harry's, she developed and manages Harry's 1+1, a community engagement model through which Harry's gives 1% of its sales and Harry's employees give 1% of their time to organizations, like Harry's current partner City Year, that prepare people for personal and professional success. She also co-created H'university, a program preparing college students for and connecting them to their first internships and jobs.

Hosted by Kevin O'Connell, founder of the Niche Movement.

 Join the conversation...

Use #nichestory to participate in the Twitter convo, and if you have a question for Laura be sure to use #nichestory so we can ask it live on air!

@nichemovement @koco83

@laurazax

Are you a college student and want to find out what H'Univeristy is about? Learn more here.

www.thenichemovement.com www.harrys.com

5 Reasons We Believe We Can Change the World

Since I was six years old, I knew I wanted to be: a history teacher. However, a common thing I have heard over the years from teachers is "don't go into teaching." Not only is this discouraging and frustrating, it’s also sad. I have read blogs from teachers, families, administrators, and students telling me to ignore it.

But what I haven’t read are the reasons myself and all of the future teachers in the world who believe we will be the ones to make change should follow our passions - but these are the reasons.

1.     The potential impact is worth the risk of not changing the world. Maybe changing the entire world is not possible, but I can change the life of one child (or adult). There are flaws in the system of education, we know this. We need educational equity; we need to find a happy medium between having standards and not teaching to a test, we need to do a lot of things. Can one teacher change all of these problems? No. But, those who give up on it are perpetuating the problems. This idea goes into every career - there are problems, and we are imperfect beings. But then we should actively decide to be part of the solution and don’t add to what is already messed up.

2.     An individual can radiate a message that can shift a system in the right direction. As an RA in undergrad, I had an interaction with a student the first few days of the year that was less than positive; she was angry that I wrote her up for a policy violation. Every day following she would advert her eyes or roll them when I would pass her. And every day I would smile and say hello. I would ask how she was doing and she would ignore me and keep walking. But, I never stopped saying hello. On the last day of the school year I found a card on my door and inside that same student had written "thank you for never giving up on me." I made an impact on a student that needed to be shown there are people who won't give up on her, despite mistakes, and despite circumstance. As an individual I radiated that message and perhaps as she continues in the world she will remember it when she has the choice whether or not to give up on someone else. I caused a shift.

3.     Because I have people that believe in me, I can believe in people I haven’t even met yet. I truly believe that no one gets anywhere alone. Everything in your life is determined by others and by their perceptions. Somehow, I’ve had many people who have believed in me and because of that I am determined to believe in other people. So I give advice when I am asked, I say kind words about others, and if I see someone upset even if I don’t know them I stop and ask if they are okay. Most of all, I root for people to be successful. I think anyone, in any career, can search to find people to believe in. One small action causes a reaction. Return the favor and the world will change, becoming better than it was before.

4.     We have gotten this far because there were a few people that believed that changing the “way things are” was not only possible, but it was their responsibility. The history buff in me really stands by this one. If you paid attention at all in history classes, you know that throughout history there have been really awful times and events that someone thought had to stop, and so they caused the world to change. Can everyone be a major historical figure? No. However, you can view it as your responsibility to take active ownership in making things better and refusing to accept the “way things are” if they are not working. Why are historical figures like these remembered? They changed lives. If you take ownership like this, I’m sure you’ll change someone’s life.

5.     Because I love what I am doing. I love inspiring people, I love teaching them something new. I love teaching them how people no one thought were going to amount to anything have completely changed history. Basically, I am going to spend the rest of my life teaching kids that people like them can change the world, so I guess it’s a good thing I believe I can change it, too.

So let's pledge to not discourage young professionals from making an impact. When we tell someone that they should not go after their dreams what you are really saying is that their ability to make an impact is impossible. Michelle Obama has said, "we've got a responsibility to live up to the legacy of those who came before us by doing all that we can to help those who come after us." Let's allow them the space to take risks and to have a niche.

See What Sticks: Questlove's Guide to Success at the Office

Hi everyone, Amma Marfo here. Two quick things about me that you’ll need to know before we begin: (1) I am a reader. I am a library-loving, constant tome-carrying, unapologetic bibliophile. (2) If there’s anyone you will meet who can connect what she’s reading to the world around her, it’s me.

As such, I want to dedicate my time in this space to sharing with you what I’m reading, and how it could inform a budding professional’s daily life. 

In addition to being an avid consumer of books, I'm also a huge fan of music. With that said, if I'm a huge fan, Ahmir "Questlove" Thompson is a COLOSSAL one. So great is Mr. Thompson's love of music that The Roots drummer and member of the Tonight Show band wrote a memoir that featured its own playlists. But amidst the words that detail the rise of the Roots and the love of music that fueled it lies a great deal of wisdom about life- wisdom that could help you navigate your job search and the early days in your new role. I've selected a few highlights from Mo' Meta Blues to consider as you pore through postings and embark on interviews. He's a wealth of wisdom where soul is concerned, but who knew he was such a great career coach too?

On Expectations

"You hear so much about the tortoise and the hare, and the beauty of that story is that the hare is always going to come smoking out of the gate, but you know that eventually you're going to see his car set up on the side of the road as the tortoise moseys past on the way to the finish line. But what if you're the tortoise and you keep getting passed by other tortoises? What if the band that was signed after you becomes huge? What if the band that opens for you becomes huge?"

Who among us has never fallen victim to the feeling Questlove describes above? Answer: no one. It's a completely normal feeling. Even the least competitive person can feel pangs of confusing envy watching friends get calls from their dream employers or go on interviews, especially if his or her own search is moving more slowly. And even if we find our own jobs to enjoy, we can be plagued by insecurity that our friends are making more money than us, or get to travel more, or have more appreciative bosses.

As several of The Roots' contemporaries such as Common, D'Angelo, Erykah Badu and Outkast started to surge in popularity in the early 2000s, even Questlove fell victim to these pangs. But as we now know, his time came- in a big way. So even when we feel as though we may not be there yet, we have to avoid letting our expectations dictate our satisfaction with our current state.

"Thing was, I had expectations, and that was a problem. I took every failure personally and every imperfect experience as a failure, so every time another artist hit the big time with a magazine cover or a top video, it was like an arrow in my side."

But it is helpful to remember that unless you're competing directly with a peer, their success and yours can be mutually exclusive. If your classmate gets a job before you, it means they found their fit before you. It doesn't mean that you won't find your fit, or that their fit will be better than yours. Each process is just different.

(You might find that this advice sounds a LOT like the advice given out to those looking for love. I have another post about that- check it out here!)

On Seeing Opportunities to Learn

Questlove cites the early days of his experience with Jimmy Fallon and Late Night as a a music re-education. He speaks specifically of a band from Brooklyn called the Dirty Projectors, a group that he was convinced he knew the style of. He assumed that their Brooklyn origin meant the same sound and attitude as many other groups from the same place. But he was taken aback when he was proven wrong, and created his first viral video with them.

It's easy to make assumptions about a job based on the name of the company or institution, or how the job description is written, or especially the title. In fact, Questlove did this when Jay-Z started to express interest in working with him. His familiarity with his Blueprint album, combined with his assumptions about Jay from his commercial success and eyes on entrepreneurship, allowed him to write him off initially. But after his road manager encouraged him to call him back, he found a kindred spirit in Mr. Carter.

The lesson that can be learned from this pair of stories, is that every moment that something makes you uncomfortable, that challenges you, that you feel compelled to make an assumption about, is an opportunity to learn. Take the time to look deeper beyond your assumptions and discomfort, and you can find new sources of inspiration (like the beautiful, full vocals that Questlove heard from the Dirty Projectors) or unlikely collaborators (when Jay-Z became the president of Def Jam, he ensured that The Roots had a deal, and he allowed Quest to produce the tour featured in the Fade to Black documentary).

On Finding the Courage to Create

In addition to featuring the tales of Questlove's life, and interjecting testimony from The Roots' longtime tour manager Rich Nichols, Mo' Meta Blues features a few letters between the book's "Bens"- cowriter Ben Greenman, and the editor Ben Greenberg. One of the last ones features a really interesting question: "what is the value, even the marginal value, of new music?" Greenberg makes an excellent point: we all have our few comfortable go-to albums, our classics...so what's the point in finding new things? Ultimately, he comes to the conclusion that we create new things to prove to ourselves that we can, to lay the foundation for a body of work we can call our own.

The first job that you find out of the gate will likely not be the one that allows you to create your masterpiece. But it will help you to progress beyond the finger paintings and crayon scrawling that build the skills needed to create it. Ben says it well when he asserts, "When I write fiction, I don't worry about whether the novel I'm working on is similar to other existing novels or whether the reader would be just as well served going to a library archive as to the bookstore." And the more of that fiction he writes, or the practice at art that we do, or time and energy we put toward any calling we find ourselves pursuing, the closer we come to creating those classics that later people will fall back on in lieu of what's new to them. But the practice has to come first. See your early career pursuits as that practice, preparing you for a future command performance.

See What Sticks: Getting Naked With Your Job Search

Hi everyone, Amma Marfo here. Two quick things about me that you'll need to know before we begin:

(1) I am a reader. I am a library-loving, constant tome-carrying, unapologetic bibliophile. (2) If there's anyone you will meet who can connect what she's reading to the world around her, it's me.

As such, I want to dedicate my time in this space to sharing with you what I'm reading, and how it could inform a budding professional's daily life. 

I can't tell you how many times I've been told that the job search and quest for a work environment that "fits" is like dating. The first dates that feel like interviews, the seemingly interminable waiting by the phone, the dress code that seems to go with the "courting" process...the similarities go on and on. And as I read Harlan Cohen's latest offering Getting Naked: Five Steps to Finding the Love of Your Life (While Fully Clothed & Totally Sober), I couldn't help but draw connections to my professional life. And not just because the pursuit of a job should always be done fully clothed and totally sober, though I do highly recommend that. Consider the steps that Harlan recommends for finding love, and think about how they could look like the same ones we use to find jobs that will make us happy.

Step One: Embrace the Secret Truth

In Harlan's estimation, the secret truth is that there are thousands of people in the world that could love you, but millions will not. The secret to navigating that sometimes gratifying, sometimes terrifying notion? Being accepting of the "millions" part.

So many of us have trouble with job searches because we find one job posting, "fall in love with it," and let our confidence and momentum shatter if we don't get offered the job. But Harlan's notion of being accepting of the millions means that we don't let what we don't get bring us down. There are many jobs in this world that we might not want, and we're perfectly okay letting those go by as we pursue the right opportunities. But if you can get equally comfortable with the idea that some jobs you're interested in will pass you by, and that's okay, you'll have a far easier time focusing on finding the position that is right for you.

Part of Harlan's Step One discusses "putting yourself in rooms." You're never going to meet people if you don't start putting yourself in rooms- dating events, online chat rooms or dating sites, group activities and networking socials, etc. Similarly, job opportunities don't (generally) show up on your doorstep in the pouring rain, proclaiming that they just have to have you. To embrace the secret truth, you have to fight the urge to wait for the right opportunity to "show up," and go out looking for it.

Step Two: Train In Your Thong

Harlan's book refers to three "thongs": physical thongs, emotional thongs, and spiritual thongs. He provides guidance to put on each one, stand in a mirror, and speak honestly to yourself about what you see. Why a thong? It's easy to be self-conscious in a thong, and very very difficult to hide in one. You can see everything, and it therefore is the best attire for pointing out vulnerabilities.

Not enough people talk about the vulnerability associated with the job search. But incorporating "thong time" into your search and periodic evaluation of yourself forces you to address it. What do you see, when standing in front of a mirror in your thong, that you like, that you're proud of? Conversely, what do you see that you don't like, that bothers you? Emotional and spiritual thongs are likely more relevant in this discussion, although jobs with physical components such as lifting, standing, or other manually laborious elements may require a try-on of the physical thong too.

Harlan says: "accept what you can't change, and change what you can't accept." The thong exercise is all about identifying priorities. Do you need to stay in a certain geographical area? That's part of what you accept. Not pleased in the field you're in and want to switch to do something new? That's a part of what you change. Take this time in front of the mirror, letting it all hang out, to decide what you need, what's important to you, and what steps it might take to get there.

Step Three: Stop Making Excuses

We all do it. We look at a posting for a job, feel that moment of elation and excitement, and then allow ourselves to be brought back down to earth by any number of things: "I'm not qualified." "I'm too qualified!" "I'm too young/too old." "I don't want to live there."

Harlan's advice? Stop. Just stop. Humans have a tremendous ability to talk themselves out of things they're not sure they can't do, but an equally tremendous ability to talk themselves into things they do want to do. Steps two and three are intimately connected: if a specific excuse comes up more often than others, it may be a vulnerability you need to return to the mirror to look at more closely. The trick here is to turn that doubt around. Find the pieces of that description you're sure you could do better than anyone else in the environment required, and focus on that.

A great tip for this? Use storytelling. Think of a time when you've completed a task or held a role similar to what this job is asking you to do, and spend some time thinking about how those lessons could apply to the task at hand. And if you've never done something they're asking you to? Tell a story of going into a situation with little knowledge or experience, and talk about what strategies you employed to be successful in that role.

When you decide to stop making excuses, a funny thing happens. Opportunities that might not have seemed surmountable, suddenly seem possible. Similarly, if something is truly out of your reach, you are more likely to recognize that fact.

Step Four: Take the Risk

Write the cover letter, then ask a friend or a career counselor to look over it for you. Get dressed up and head to a networking event. Look at a job board you might have never seen before. Apply to a job that you're mostly qualified for. Simply put, step into those "rooms" that Harlan spoke about in step one. All this self-work on preparing to take risks, and learning how to navigate them, is useless if you don't eventually do something with that knowledge.

It should be noted that much of this advice will hold as you ascend the ranks of your career. If you find yourself yearning to ask for a promotion, these same steps can be taken. Accept the possibility that it may not happen, truthfully assess your needs and vulnerabilities, explore the excuses you might make in your head, and then go for it. This advice even holds if you're looking to find a new career. Accept that it could be difficult, truthfully assess what you'll need in front of a mirror, examine the root of any excuses you might make to talk yourself out of it, and then do what needs to be done to make that dream a reality.

Step Five: Celebrate, Reflect, and Repeat

Congratulations! You put yourself out there! Regardless of outcome, I'm of the belief that such a step deserves celebration, and so is Harlan.

Now, let's address the outcome.

If your risk didn't pay off, it's okay to take time to mourn the loss of an opportunity gone by. You did invest time, energy, and some of your spirit, and you are well within your rights to feel badly about it...for a time. However, you then must return to the lesson of step one- remember that there are thousands of opportunities that will be a fit for you and your talents; there will also, statistically, be millions that will not. It might seem cold to dismiss failures as a numbers game, but if you truly went forward with your best effort it may have not been a fit for you. But let me be clear, you should always seek feedback with goals of improvement. Request feedback from the employer, share materials with friends, colleagues, and mentors, and seek professional guidance if needed. And most importantly, you'll need to start back at one and continue getting naked to pursue your goals. Eventually, the process will pay off when the right opportunity comes along.

And if you were lucky enough- nay, prepared enough- for your risk to pay off, congratulations! Your calculated and methodical efforts have paid off. Enjoy the success that you've found, but be prepared to return to the "getting naked" process to continue your upward trajectory. Continued career prosperity isn't the product of luck, any more than getting your foot in the door is. Success at any stage of your working life takes work- don't ever forget that!

If you're nervous about your job search, and in need of a new way to approach it, Harlan Cohen's Getting Naked is a surprising, but ultimately effective, way to consider your process. If you're willing to embrace the harsh but very real truth, incorporate and accept your needs and vulnerabilities, throw away your excuses, and act on your desires, you could very well find a job you truly love- all while fully clothed and completely sober.

One Tweet Pivots a College Student's Future

Guest post written by Nikki Uy

Senior at St. Joe's University & Niche Movement Cohort member Spring 2013

It started with a tweet...

Actually, it started with a depressed feeling after watching The Pianist and also failing at everything else I wanted to complete one rainy evening this past summer.  To cope, I searched relentlessly on Netflix for a pick-me-up. I came across “Shelter Me”, a documentary highlighting the lives of shelter pets and how they have improved the lives of those who adopted them. In this process, new pet owners are providing these special animals another try at life, allowing them to avoid being euthanized and worse – living a life without love. After reading the summary, this was my tweet:

 

Consequently, @ShelterMeTV caught wind of my tweet, “favorited it”, and followed me. I am still new to Twitter etiquette (seeing that I only began using it for a few months) so my apologies if it seems weird to some people that I sent the account a DM thanking them for the follow. I also mentioned that I am from South Jersey and that I go to school in Philadelphia expressing my interest in helping out if they are ever filming in the area. To be honest, I did not expect a reply, let alone the announcement that they were actually filming in the Atlantic City vicinity in a month.

I offered my e-mail address, continued to send, what I thought, pestering DMs on any updates and waited weeks with little response. I actually began to forget about the opportunity once the semester started. But then I received an e-mail from Mr. Steven Latham, director and producer of the Shelter Me series asking if I was available to chat on the phone the following day.

Praise the Lord that I decided to skip my first class that day or else I would have missed his call. When I answered, he gave a quick summary of what the Shelter Me project is all about. The filming in Long Beach Island (LBI), NJ focuses on a bloodhound named Tex, who went from shelter animal to a beloved member of the LBI police force. He also became the delightful pet of Officer Mike Tyson of the LBI Police Department.

He then asked if I had ever done anything with film or productions. I replied no, I am Philosophy major. I was just a fan of the story. However, I did mention my growing interest in photography and how I basically took my dad’s old camera and messed around with it sometimes. He said great. Take the camera to take some pictures too.

The most amount of publicity my photos ever gain is being chosen for a friend’s new Facebook profile picture, let alone having them serve for a T.V. series’ documenting process.

 Regardless, I traveled to LBI on a Sunday evening three weeks later with an apprehension of the thought of what I could have possibly just gotten myself into.  

However, the next three days of helping Shelter Me’s production was more than I could ask for. My responsibilities on top of taking pictures included holding reflectors, posing as pseudo-Tex for camera angles, and assisting the crew with errands up and down the island. As simple as these tasks sounds, I was basking in the opportunity to be helpful in anyway. Being in the midst of the experienced team put me in complete awe. They have worked with National Geographic, the Travel Channel, MTV, as well as many other popular networks. They even worked together on The Future We Will Create, a documentary that tours the annual TED conference event. Officer Thompson has been working with the K-9 unit for almost a decade. He spent five years to get certified to train dogs like Tex, which he claims, “never stops.”

The most humbling of this experience, though, is found in the Shelter Me stories themselves. They glorify the dignity of shelter pets, giving them a second chance, and allowing them to form that bond between animals and humans that is impossible to describe within one blog post. Before Tex became an honored member of the LBI police force finding lost kids on the beach and chasing down car thieves, he was waiting in an enclosed area at a local shelter just hoping to know what was in store for the rest of his life.

Finding another niche...

I can’t say that I came back to school aiming to change my life and switch my major to something media related. I will say, however, that my time working with the Shelter Me project has encouraged me to use my progressive interest of taking pictures to tell stories like Tex’s in a creative and artistic way. I basically found another niche. Regardless of my wonderful experience and new perspective on the way I see photography and telling these sorts of stories, I am even more humbled by the fact that none of this would have happened had I not reached out to those involved via Twitter. Those who know me have heard my strong distaste for this social media paradigm, but I am willing to admit how wrong I was. It took something so minor to give me an experience I can say I will always be proud to be a part of.  Call it fate, luck, divine intervention, but I think Forrest Gump said it best: “I don’t know if we each have a destiny, or if we’re all just floating around accidental-like on a breeze, but I think maybe it’s both.”

 It ended with a tweet.