Starting my 30-minute brain break

Me sitting in my favorite escaping corner/couch. Everyone should have one. 

Today (when I was writing this) was one of those rare days when I found myself with 30 minutes free from work. It probably happens to you as well. You’ve been doing things non-stop, either at work or at home. Your to-do list is never ending. Then suddenly… you have 30 minutes. 

They were not planned. They just happened because a task you deemed complex, turn out to be simpler than expected and therefore you completed it in good time, enough to have this unexpected free time that you don’t know what to do with. 

And it’s not like you don’t have other tasks you could do. In fact, you have so many that you don’t know which one is deserving the honor. 

But this time, instead of going on to cross-off something from my tomorrow’s to-do list, I decided to go sideways. I decided to write. 

The Challenge

My challenge was to write a simple blog post in 30 minutes. Using my version of the Pomodoro Technique. In case you are not familiar with it, it’s a technique that works well for those who get too used to working under pressure. Those who hate “productivity hacks”. Or those who procrastinate when we don’t have much to do, but do it all with high stress levels when we have too much. 

All you need to do is set a timer and focus on completing the task within that time frame. With no distractions of any kind. With no excuses. 

The Outcome

I managed and this is the first post that resulted from it. My new goal is to find this time every week or every other week. Either at home or at work. To take back this therapy of writing which is one of my favorite pastimes, and one of my favorite brain-stress-relieving activities (as ironic as it sounds). 

I closed it, then the next morning -while taking a shower- new blog ideas where showering my mind (see the pun there?). I wrote them down in my phone’s notepad and now I’m ready to keep the creative juices flowing. 

It’s amazing how a little action, a little step back can have such a productive result.  

My hope is that next week I will have something new to share with you. Either in this blog, or in Fina en la Oficina, or in my Linkedin, depending on what fits my inspiration. 

The last challenge was to find the time to actually post this. If you are reading this... I conquered!

Aurea by Jenny Polanco

Me acabo de sentar para escribir todo el contenido atrasado pendiente en mi cabeza.

Mayo y Junio han sido meses muy agitados, y Julio lo será aún más cuando inauguremos la 1ra Muestrade Cine de Moda Fashion Films RD, en República Dominicana.

Comencemos en orden cronológico. El pasado 30 de mayo fue la apertura del Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week Santo Domingo 2016. Con toda la agitación de esa semana, sólo tuve la oportunidad de estar presente para el desfile inaugural con Jenny Polanco como protagonista de la noche.

Como saben, Jenny Polanco es mi diseñadora dominicana favorita. Admiro mucho su trayectoria y su esfuerzo por mantener una línea adaptada a nuestra realidad caribeña. Este estilo estuvo presente en esta nueva colección: Aurea, inspirada en elementos marinos y sobre todo en una concha llamada Nauthilium, por lo que se pudo apreciar muchas curvas en los patrones y texturas.

La misma no fue un trabajo exclusivo de Jenny, sino que por primera vez presentó sus piezas como un trabajo en conjunto, junto a la diseñadora Solange Jiménez.

El resultado: opciones trabajadas con telas frescas como es característico de Jenny, y su interpretación de tendencias actuales como las blusas y vestidos con hombros al descubierto, los vestidos camiseros y los vuelos, entre otras.  

Comparto con ustedes estas fotos que me cedió Mónika Valverde, pasante de Pandora. Pueden leer su reseña sobre el desfile aquí. 

Fotos: Monika Valverde

Nota: Pasteles de primavera

Y no estoy hablando de bizcochos, sino de los colores pasteles que se llevan esta primavera y que de seguro su tendencia se extenderá hasta el verano. OPI acaba de presentar en Santo Domingo una colección de esmaltes con estos colores, en un evento conjunto a Tiendas Anthony's. 

María Conchita Alcalá a.k.a. La Peccata Minuta, fue la anfitriona del evento, que incluyó un workshop sobre cómo llevar las tendencias actuales impartido por ella. 

Por cierto, pienso que María Conchita es una de las mejores bloggers dominicanas, ha sabido hacer crecer su blog con contenido de calidad y ahora ha evolucionado su estrategia de negocios presentando "La Pecata Consulting". Thumbs up!

I’ll be Latin Trending!

Now that I’ve finished getting everything ready, I can’t wait to let you know that tomorrow, or should I better say tonight since it’s already Tuesday, I’ll be on the red carpet of Latin Trends End of Summer Party!

I’ll be working as a volunteer for the PR team of Azúcar Agency. I like to get involved in things that leads me to more learning and experience, and of course this is going to be so much fun!

The magazine throws this party every year and is “invitation only”. This time it will be held at Stage48, in Midtown and will be co-hosted by The Gentleman of Salsa, Gilberto Santa Rosa. Many other celebrities from the latin community will be attending as well.

I’m so excited about the whole thing, working on a big red carpet from the PR side instead of the journalist side and danciiiiiiiinnngggg with one of my favorite salsa artists!!! Gosh I haven’t had a truly good dancing night since I moved here!

I won’t be able to post about it so soon –this week I start classes-, but meanwhile you can watch last year’s video here.

(En español)

Ahora que terminé de preparar todo, no puedo esperar para contarles que mañana, o mejor dicho hoy que ya es martes, estaré en la alfombra roja del Latin Trends End of Summer Party.

Trabajaré como voluntaria junto al equipo de Relaciones Públicas de Azúcar Agency. Me gusta involucrarme en cosas que me permitan aprender y obtener más experiencia y, por supuesto, ¡esto será muy divertido!

La revista realiza esta fiesta cada año, sólo por invitación. Esta vez tendrá lugar en Stage 48, en Midtown y será co presentada por El Caballero de la Salsa, Gilberto Santa Rosa. Muchas otras celebridades de la comunidad latina también estarán presentes.

Estoy muy entusiasmada por todo, por la oportunidad de trabajar en una alfombra roja desde el punto de vista de las relaciones públicas y no desde el lado de la prensa y ¡por bailarrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr con uno de mis salseros favoritos! ¡Dios no he tenido una buena noche de baile desde que me mudé aquí!

No tendré tiempo de postear sobre la fiesta muy pronto –esta semana empiezo clases-, pero mientras pueden ver el video de la fiesta del año pasado. 

The Wolf of Corporate Communications!

I’ve been taking a Corporate Communications class this winter semester that have made some serious damage to my brain (jajaja). Since day one, we’ve been discussing how our personal culture and the environment we grew in mold our way to communicate in our professional environments.

I know this doesn’t sound like nothing new, It totally sounds logical, but the discoveries we’ve made in class, along with the differences we’ve found comparing our dominican way to communicate to the north American way, is a whole other topic to discuss in another post.

What I want to talk about is how this class made me notice something I wouldn’t have noticed before while watching The Wolf of Wall Street. Yeah! I’m talking about that movie for which Leonardo DiCaprio totally deserves the Oscar for Best Actor.

The thing is that, seeing it from my new point of view, the main character, Jordan, totally owes his success to his amazing communication skills. And the movie encompasses everything I’ve learned in class about what Corporate Communications is all about:

Lesson #1 – Communicate effectively: While working on the “pennies” stock market, Jordan convinces (or fools if you want to say) its clients to support startups companies with no merit.  I’m not praising the fact that he lies, but the fact that he clearly tells his listeners what he wants them to do, how and why, with clear guidelines and measurable amounts.

Lesson #2 – Empower your employees and communicate your vision:  Once Jordan gathered his soon to be partners in crime, he believed they could do a lot more than what they even knew they could. He saw further. He knew they had abilities that were meant to be exploded, so he pushed them. But he was not a careless demanding boss, au contraire, he carefully taught them how he did things, and how he wanted them to do things.  Every day he sat with them to show them, to practice with them, to make them feel involved, until they all got it and assumed it.

Lesson #3 – Give them something to believe in: Jordan also acknowledged that there was something missing. His company had no structure, no material evidence to turn to. That’s when he created a name and a logo of a company that they would once be proud to work in, Stratton Oakmont, and he worked his words to make them believe so.

Lesson #4 – Implant the company’s culture: Let’s say it like it is. Jordan was twisted, had no moral and the kinky things done in his company were not to copy at all. But being crazy was part of its company’s culture as well, and he was the first supporter of all the craziness. Everything was a surreal, depraved party at Stratton Oakmont, and whoever felt like it was to much, needed to find another place to work, because that was “the way they did things there”, which is the simplest definition of what a company’s culture is. And he was himself the personified icon of what his company was all about.

Lesson #5 – Communicate with your employees: Stratton Oakmont’s employees were Jordan’s sidekicks. They knew that what they were doing was not legal. They knew his boss was sick of his mind. They knew the tax authorities were after them. They knew everything. Because everything was told loud and clear from the mouth of the boss, using a microphone placed in the middle of the open office. Jordan used that microphone everyday; he announced his own “almost” retirement. He delivered the good and the bad news. So his employees got to see his face everyday and he was no stranger or unreachable leader to nobody.

These lessons are the main reason why I liked the movie overall. It is overloaded with drugs and nudity (which I found excessive and could’ve been cut a little to reduce its length). It made me wonder if all this is really going on outside my world bubble, and made me feel a little sad for people. But I can’t deny it was a great movie and one worth to see. 

Dominicana Moda 2013: Caribbean Showcase!

Cada año, el martes en Dominicana Moda es dedicado a un circuito de diseñadores caribeños invitados a participar en esta plataforma. El año pasado, hubo mucha presencia colombiana, pero este año la apuesta fue mucho más diversa. 

I Lashan de Bahamas

Marsae de Guyana

Patwa Apparel de Jamaica

Andrew Harris de Barbados

Los representantes de Honduras fueron de los más aclamados del día. 

Galeano

Es la marca de los hermanos Francisco y Daniel Galeano, iniciada en el 2008. Se enfocan en ropa masculina con toque vanguardista, y una mezcla entre el estilo rockero y preppy. 

Los hermanos Galeano

G.I.A.N. de Honduras (Mi favorita del día)

Es la marca de la diseñadora Gian Padilla Suárez, cuya colección lleva por nombre "Muñecas", inspirada en los recuerdos de la infancia de esta joven nacida en Tegucigalpa. "Me inspiré en los vestuarios tradicionales hondureños, latinoamericanos, japoneses, africanos... y los conjugué con prendas más modernas como la falda lápiz de los años 50's", afirmó la diseñadora. 

La diseñadora Gian Padilla

Meiling de Trinidad y Tobago

Una marca que ya es recurrente en Dominicana Moda. Este año presentaron Cocoon, una colección en rojo y negro, bastante básica destinada a crear combinaciones con accesorios más sobresalientes. 

Eclíptica de Puerto Rico

Es también la marca de un dúo de hermanas diseñadoras, Michelle y Norein Otero. Su marca es muy famosa en Puerto Rico, gracias a su popularidad entre celebridades como Roselyn Sánchez, Adamari López, Kate del Castillo y Dayanara Torres, entre otras. 

Fotos del Fan Page de Dominicana Moda