Tuesday Tweets: Spread Light, Spread Literacy #SLSL2013

As promised, I will provide more information about the philanthropy project I'm participating in on behalf of Capital Cause, a young philanthropist organization based in Washington, D.C. If I recall correctly, I first learned of the organization at the end of 2010. I saw an email in a Yahoo! group from one of their board members as they were recruiting leadership for 2011-2012. I applied but did not get the membership director position. I was asked to be a volunteer and decided to support the organization. I've been a volunteer member ever since!

This spring, I signed up for one of their giving cirlces projects and was matched up with three other young philanthropists. A giving cirlces project is an intensive, 60-day fundraising initiative. Small groups of young philanthropists crowdsource their skills to crowdfund a project.

My team is made up of our group leader and only guy, Anthony, Krishana, and Shantae. Our Capital Cause advisor is Jalisa. Special shoutout to Darla, our Capital Cause liasion! Our challenge is to raise $2,000 for a public charter school in D.C. The funds will benefit 144 students and the school's online literacy tools as well as new laptops. For more information and to make a $25 to sponsor a letter on our keyboard, visit our fundraising page - www.spreadlightcc.eventbrite.com. Don't be shy, tell a friend, tweet and like our Facebook page. I've always been a bookworm, so this particular initiative is certainly worth my time (and hopefully yours).

Like previously mentioned, my role is to manage our social media presence which includes or Facebook page and tweets via our hashtag (#SLSL2013). I try to post relevant images, quotes and fundraising updates to our Facebook page. This week, I am ramping up our efforts to ensure we reach our goal. One of the ways I keep track of our hashtag is using Tagboard. You can do hashtag searches through Twitter but I learned of www.tagboard.com last week and I am huge fan. I like the interface and you can easily browse through uploaded photos as well - all in one convenient place.

Check out all of our tweets on my team's Tagboard page - http://tagboard.com/slsl2013. You will see tweets from all of us as well as photo uploads from our recent game night. If you want to join us, feel free to tweet about your favorite book, word or letter with the hashtag, #SLSL2013. While you're at it, make a donation.

I will keep you posted on us. Go Team Spread Light, Spread Literacy!

- IJ

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Sunday Roundup, Heads Up: Motherly Advice

Happy Mother's Day to you and yours!

Don't you just love that everyone and their mother (pun intended) is posting pictures on Facebook and tweeting about their loved one. It's cute to see the warm fuzzies all over the Internet but you may want to watch the Mother's Day PSA from Twitter, in case you missed the memo.

Happy Mother's Day from my kindergarten self.

Festivities and appreciation aside, this week will be major! Before I get a head of myself, I have to give a shoutout to my giving circles project, courtesy of Capital Cause, Team Spread Light, Spread Literacy. Later in the week, I will share more information and feedback out the sixty day fundraising project I've been involved with since early March. My team has already raised over, $1,000 in about a two weeks. See for yourself and donate while you are at it. I came up with the team name and am responsible for managing our social media presence, including our Facebook page and tweets. Follow our hashtag, #SLSL2013 and support us! 

For my internship, I've initiated the social media strategy which culminated in a Twitter chat this past Tuesday. I have participated in many Twitter chats but never conducted one until last week. I had a guest panelist and promoted the event over the course of a few days, which included direct tweets to influential people and education based organizations. The Twitter chat was thirty minutes but easily could have lasted an hour. We had a handful of followers tweeting along with out hashtag and gained several new followers. Thanks to the data collection and analysis via SproutSocial, I can say that it was a good first chat and look forward to more. I used Storify to aggregate the chat discussion and to highlight the different followers. I think Storify is really useful in keeping Twitter chats organized and cataloged for future reference.

Last week was busy but I had good developments. I am hoping for the same positive outcomes for the final decision on my Startup Institute application. I first mentioned I was applying in March and now I'm in the last rounds. There was a Google Hangout with one of the founders, Aaron O' Hearn, on Friday. I like Google Hangouts a lot and find them really convenient to host meetings or just to "hangout" online. Aaron's insight and feedback was just what I needed to understand the program a bit more while meeting my potential colleagues. I'm nervous but ready no matter what the decision. 

My photoshop class ends this week as well. Sad face. I had no idea how complex Photoshop is but am thankful that I can at least navigate my way. I don't have Photoshop on my laptop or desktop but Adobe Creative Cloud is apparently the way to go for professionals. My instructor recommended Sumopaint, which has been fun to use. My design skills and knowledge will only get better and better. 

Before I end this post, I have to offer some of my mother's advice to the world. 

1. Family is the most important thing.
2. When you wash the dishes, clean the entire sink and the stovetop.
3. Take care of your health. <--- This is really important, as my mom is a nurse and attests to a good diet, exercise and sleep. 

Cheers to motherly advice - past, present, future.

- IJ

Want more of Lucky IJ? Check me out on Pinterest and Twitter.