inspiration
CINspirational People: Amy Scalia
We are eager to share our first CINspirational People feature focusing on Amy Scalia, publisher of Cincy Chic. CINspirational People will spotlight a broad range of people in Greater Cincinnati and some of what inspires them. Please read what Amy shared with us.
GTGA: What is an accomplishment you achieved that you are proud of?
Amy: Being a mom is hands-down my greatest accomplishment. Not just because bringing a child into the world is a miracle (which it is and it’s amazing!), but we experienced many issues getting pregnant. I wrote more about that here — but in short, after years of thinking I might not ever be a mom, I was able to and she’s the greatest thing that’s ever happened to me.
Second to that achievement is starting my business, being the proud owner for eight years, and the impact we have on the community. We provide weekly content to 25,000 subscribers, help hundreds of local businesses grow through our services, and we donate nearly $20,000 annually to local charities through our events.
Mabel Storer
GTGA: Tell us about someone who has been a positive influence in your life.
Amy: My grandma, Mabel Storer, was one of the first female newspaper reporters in Ohio. She had so many amazing stories, and it sparked a life-long fascination with media. She had such a giving heart, too, and that inspired me to add the philanthropy arm of our business where all our event proceeds are donated to select local charities.
GTGA: What is a motto you live by and why or how has it impact you?
Amy: “Go to sleep with a dream and wake up with a purpose.” This is my motto because I think it’s important to not just dream, but also figure out a way to bring those dreams into reality.
GTGA: What is your biggest motivator?
Amy: Life is short. What more motivation do you need?
GTGA: Tell us about an act of kindness you have done, witnessed or been the recipient of and how that made you feel.
Amy: My husband has a severe case of rheumatoid arthritis and it’s gotten much worse over the past few years. In fact, he got double hip replacements last year and double knee replacements a few months ago. All of this while I was pregnant and then with a newborn. I’d be writing this from the looney bin if it wasn’t for the kindness of others. They came out of the woodwork for us. Bringing us food, helping us bring in and put together baby furniture, do yard work, you name it. Even just recently, we were at a restaurant after Pete got his new knees and we had the baby with us. The restaurant had a 45 minute wait and someone who already had a seat gave us theirs so we didn’t need to wait and they sat there and waited again for a table. I couldn’t believe it. These past few years have been my most challenging by far, but I’m humbled by and so thankful for all the acts of kindness that got us through it.
GTGA: Tell us about what you do and what are some of the reasons why you enjoy it.
Oh gosh. What don’t I do?! haha! My main responsibility is running Cincy Chic, an online publication in Greater Cincinnati. I also oversee its sister publication in Columbus, which is called Cbus Chic, and its “brother” publication called Cincinnati Profile. In addition to that, I blog for Cincinnati.com and am on-air talent for Star64. What I love is that every day is different, but what remains constant is that everything I do tells the stories of local business owners and helps them grow.
Andrea Francisco Shares Her Lessons Learned As My Good Things Intern
I am so very proud of Andrea Francisco, a recent Indian Hill High School graduate who has been interning with me this school year; and I am grateful for the opportunity to get to know her and all of her abilities. She is no doubt going to be going on to great things. Before then she took a few minutes to share how the experience has helped her grow.
written by Andrea Francisco
Over the past year, I have learned some important lessons on life that I want to share with you all. From my experience writing at Good Things Going Around to having a blast finishing my fourteenth year at the Indian Hill, I have had a wonderful year, perhaps my best yet, with many lessons learned along the way.
Being Grateful and the Importance of Giving Back
In the past, I always took all of my blessings for granted, and never fully appreciated the scope of how lucky I am. I live in a free country, go to an excellent school, and have little hardships compared to others. However, this does not mean that I should sit back and relax: because I have been given so much, I believe that I should give back even more. This sounded overwhelming to me at first, but I am now convinced that this is the meaning of life: to lift up and help others. Also, I am inspired by this quote from the French writer and poet Antoine de Saint-Exupery: “When you give yourself, you receive more than you give.” In other words, when you give back to others even a little bit, the joy you have inspired in them will be reflected back to you, and you will have more joy than what you started out with.
Being Joyful and Sharing With Others
The power of sharing stories and experiences with others is that it is incredibly moving; just think about the countless lives that are touched everyday by the stories in Good Things Going Around alone. Without sharing, we would be unable to connect with each other, particularly strangers whom we might be tempted to judge, in meaningful ways. Sharing improves trust and understanding between different and sometimes conflicting groups or individuals. Furthermore, I have learned that it is important to be joyful in sharing, as that joy can touch the lives of others in ways I can’t imagine. I have found that the saying “Be the change you want to see in the world” is really true, because when I am more joyful the people around me tend to be the same. For instance, I notice that when I smile around others they tend to smile back also. It’s incredibly empowering to think that if I choose so, I can influence the people around me to be joyful if I show joyfulness myself.
Balancing Life and Prioritizing
The art of balancing life is an important lesson that I have learned this year, as it is the first year in my young adult life I have felt truly balanced. Some years I would be lazier and procrastinate, while other years I would spend too much time studying and working. However, this year I have found a happy medium between the work-life balance, and part of this is because I learned to spend more time working on the things that make me more happy and fulfilled. Yes, school and work are important, and you should work hard, but always remember to find time to do the things that make you happy. In my case this includes helping others, exercising, writing, making art, cooking, and spending time with friends.
People are Truly Amazing
I am actually shocked at how amazing people are! I never knew the world had so many talented, happy, and strong people, especially in the greater Cincinnati area, previous to starting my internship at Good Things Going Around. The ReelAbilities Film festival was definitely the pinnacle of the newfound amazement I have for people with disabilities. Watching the different film trailers made me laugh and cry, and allowed me to connect with people that have disabilities in ways I never imagined. I saw the film called “Stand Clear of the Closing Doors”, a drama film about a boy with autism, Ricky, who lives in Queens and hides in the subway with Hurricane Sandy approaching, all while his family desperately searches for him. In addition, the photography work done by Rick Guidotti in his program Positive Exposure, which exposed the true beauty of those with genetic, physical, and behavioral differences, such as albinism or autism, was a real eye-opener. I don’t know a lot of people with these kinds of differences personally, so being able to see how beautiful they are in reality rather than how society tells us to think of them is really enlightening. It’s made me really realize that just because someone looks or acts different from most people does not make them inadequate or inferior, as society might lead us to think. I once heard a quote about autism from Paul Collins saying, “Autists are the ultimate square pegs, and the problem with pounding a square peg into a round hole is not that the hammering is hard work. It’s that you’re destroying the peg.” I think this can also apply to anyone that is different in some way. It teaches society that we need to stop trying to mold everyone into perfect round pegs, and instead let people be as they are, imperfect, but still striving to do their best, which is all that matters.
Why I Want To Be Betty White When I Grow Up
My Top Reasons For Loving Betty White
Betty White loves life. Period. And at 92 years young, she has lived a lot of life.
She loves her job. 10. Her response to the question about when she will retire was:
“‘Why should I retire from something I love so much?’”
She has said about life that it is better to have a good attitude and ‘accentuate the positive.’
As an animal rights activist, she has donated time and millions of dollars to animal charities.
She is the oldest person to have hosted Saturday Night Live.
She loves to laugh and give others a reason to laugh too.
Mentoring Inspires Greatness, Pass It On
I had just come across a paragraph I had written awhile back for the Big Brothers Big Sisters of Greater Cincinnati. It was about the importance of mentoring. Reading it inspired me to share some thoughts.
To Big Brothers Big Sisters…
All of us, no matter what our upbringing, will face obstacles and detours on our journey through life. Having a positive role model – a mentor – who we can count on to help guide us, teach us and inspire us is a true gift that has the rippling power to uplift our entire life. The power of an adult who cares to an impressionable young person is so huge. It is the greatest feeling to know you have made a positive impact on a child. I have been the mentor and the mentee. Those relationships will be ones I will always 
treasure. They have taught me about empathy and integrity. They have made me a better, stronger person. Thank you to the Big Brothers Big Sisters of Greater Cincinnati for fulfilling such a vital need in our community.
Mentors change lives
So I got to thinking about the people who I have been lucky enough to have crossed paths with, people who I consider my friends, role models and mentors. There have been many, each impacting my life in a different way.
There is Bill Mefford, who took me under his wings as a young professional, had the confidence in me to let me learn by doing on amazing projects, and was always available to share his knowledge when I needed it. Bobbi Harrison, one of the most creative people I have ever met, is someone I can always count on to bring out my smile. Just being in the same room with him inspires me to think in ways I hadn’t considered before. Toni Miles, Peg Gutsell and Sandy Kerlin were three clients turned friends whose appreciation for my strengths gave me wings. Friend Dianne Wente has never let me quit and always pushed me to see my potential. Mike Shikashio met me for the first time at an Association of Professional Dog Trainers conference and continued to find me throughout the weekend to ask if I was going to pursue dog training. Since then, he has never once waned in encouraging me and pointing out my strengths. Mike has been a rock to me, always finding time no matter how busy he is (and believe me – as a father, husband, successful dog trainer and president of the International Association of Behavior Animal Consultants, he IS busy) to be my sounding board, providing information, and offering advice. Other dog training friends Barb Gadola and Sheri Boone have also been there for me. Carolyn Dickerson has reminded me about inner strength and inspires me to be a better person. And of course my parents who taught me about kindness, love, standing up for what I believe it, and so much more.
I know I am missing out on so many who have played a role in my being the person that I am today. I am grateful to each and every one of them. And I strive to pay that forward by using my gifts to empower others.
My challenge to you is this – take a moment to reflect on those who have been a positive influence on your life and how their presence has impacted you. Be grateful. Pay it forward by being that positive influence in someone else’s life.
Twitter CEO Dick Costollo Inspires With Commencement Speech
This time of year I get so much inspiration from reading commencement speeches. Words of wisdom shared with graduating seniors are words from which we can all benefit.
Dick Costolo, Twitter CEO, had this advice to share at the University of Michigan
“When you’re doing what you love to do, you become resilient because that is the habit you create for yourself. You create a habit of taking chances on yourself 
and making bold choices in service to doing what you love. If on the other hand, you do what you think is expected of you, or what you are supposed to do, and things go poorly or chaos ensues as it surely will, you will look for external sources for what to do next because that will be the habit you’ve created. You’ll be standing there frozen on the stage of your own life. If you are just filling a role, you will be blindsided…What I implore you to do is that if you make courageous decisions and bet on yourself and put yourself out there, that you will have an impact as a result of what you do and you don’t need to know now what that will be or how it will happen because no one ever does.“
Here is the full speech:
