What's in a name?

My need to photograph the world began at a young age. I started taking pictures of my pets in the field when I was 10 years old with my Dad's Nikon camera. I remember sneaking around his office to steal it away for a few shots just to see what would come out after the film was developed.  Dad's camera equipment was off-limits, so capturing a quick picture of my cat in the sunlight was an adventure at times.

There were days when Mom let us use the camera only if we promised not to break it and have it back in its place before Dad came home from work.  We would dress up in our finest glamour shot outfits, cake on the makeup and set up shop in the living room next to a window that gave us just the right amount of light. 

I have always been an artist; however, the digital revolution changed my world at age 19.  I purchased a version of Adobe Photoshop to start editing photos and began to squish, pull, twist, and discolor every image I could find.   After several years of simply messing around with the program, I decided to use it for a purpose.

Soon, I had requests for engagement and wedding photos, logo designs, and more lined up on my busy schedule of things to do.  I thought, maybe I should take the next step and become a real business.  And that I did, in 2008 Ooh! Aah! Creative, LLC. was born on the sixth floor of my River market loft in Downtown Kansas City. 

The name says it all. As I spent most of my life being a complete fool (a monkey of sorts) for the camera and for art in general; performing on stage for a production, singing opera at weddings or bouncing around in the pool reenacting Olympic synchronized swimming for my nieces, I felt it necessary to come up with a name that would define someone as crazy as myself.  Thus, Ooh! Aah! Creative was born. 

How to properly pronounce Ooh! Aah! Creative 

The Makerista

Ooh! Aah! Tip Of The Day:

For a beautiful view on life, check out The Makerista.

When I'm in need of inspiration this is the place I go. I would say more but Gwen (The Makerista) does a fabulous job of explaining on her own.

Enjoy!

Social Media Experts.... not really.

Check out this article from Peter Shankman.... My Thoughts Exactly!  Explaining why hiring a Social Media Expert is a waste of your time and money. "Being an expert in Social Media is like being an expert at taking the bread out of the refrigerator. You might be the best bread-taker-outer in the world, but you know what? The goal is to make an amazing sandwich, and you can’t do that if all you’ve done in your life is taken the bread out of the fridge."

Yes, you need a communications person to manage your social media, but in the end... it's all what you make of it and how you utilize your creativity.  Social media works best when you don't try to do what everyone else is doing. Don't be part of the cool kids club.   Click "like" to see more... NO, just let me see more.  The more transparent you can be with your business through social marketing, the more response you will get from the consumer.  It's not a secret society where only special people can get in.  Make it available to everyone, when they want it, where they want it, and how they want it.  Otherwise, they'll go to your competition to find what they need.

Five Things People Don’t Do – That You Should

Five Things People Don’t Do – That You Should

Top Ten Things That Get You Unfollowed/Unfriended.

Peter Shankman strikes again!

Love this. Save this. USE THIS in your social media plan.


Top Ten Things That Get You Unfollowed/Unfriended.

Merry Christmas!

The Future That Milo Brings..... Kids with no living friends. Great.

Now with a friend like Milo, kids will stay inside all day and talk to their computer screen. They will miss out on real human interaction. No baseball games or GI Joe in the garden. No more climbing trees or looking for frogs in the pond. I'm looking forward to building relationships with my future co-workers from this generation over a web cam and/or screen that has a live feed on a giant white wall for all of us Gen Y’ers to look and be amused.

Kansas City trolls for tourists in its own backyard - Kansas City Business Journal

More to do than you ever knew!!
A new tourism campaign from an alliance of 15 local cities struck me as an interesting idea. KC Destinations launched an advertising push to educate local residents about the things there are to do around town.

Read more: Kansas City trolls for tourists in its own backyard - Kansas City Business Journal


Enter to win great prizes at www.kcdestinations.com !

Construction jobs fall in 25 states, others gain work

The Kansas City area ranks No. 1 for construction jobs, largely due to a new spate of work in western Wyandotte County, Kan. Other areas of the country are not as fortunate. Construction employment declined in 25 states between April and May with New York state losing the most jobs, according to data compiled by the Associated General Contractors of America. Construction jobs in Florida fell to 360,200 in May from 364,700 the previous month. Louisiana added the most jobs over the month, and Hawaii saw the highest addition by percent of construction jobs. The Kansas City Star (Mo.) (6/22) http://www.kansascity.com/2010/06/22/2037186/kansas-growth-in-construction.html

Matt Held Studios - Gallery

Love this.

From: http://ping.fm/2lS6X

Area girls to ‘Rock the Parkway’ as part of empowerment program - KansasCity.com

Girls on the Run is So MUCH FUN!!!
Area girls to ‘Rock the Parkway’ as part of empowerment program - KansasCity.com

The Seven Deadly Sins of Leadership

The Seven Deadly Sins of Leadership

The following is a guest post from, Kimberly Ciesla, Rowan University Chapter President.


In PRSSA, students are exposed to a number of opportunities to lead. But often times, teams don’t work together as cohesively as they could because leaders make common mistakes that can break down the morale of the team. During PRSA’s recent webinar, Getting to Great Leadership and Influence: How to Fast Track Your Leadership Impact, David Grossman of The Grossman Group discussed the seven deadly sins leaders make and how to solve them.

Myopia. Leaders often don’t understand that everything communicates—body language, facial expressions, etc. Often, team members will read into these actions based on their perceptions and current feelings, sometimes skewing the anticipated message. It is the leader’s job to reflect the message in all aspects of communication. Grossman suggested three solutions: (1) Get a mirror on your desk to remind you that you’re always communicating (2) Become familiar with your leadership style (Now Discover Your Strengths by Marcus Buckingham is a good tool) and (3) Get feedback from your team on how you’re doing.

Hypocrisy. Another common mistake leaders make is not practicing what they preach. The key to building trust is consistency. Match your words and your actions. Also, choose someone on your team to be your truth teller.

Sloth. Sometimes leaders become so comfortable with communicating that they don’t take the time to plan basic communication, like meetings. Messages need to be properly thought out and communicated in the best way to reach a mutual understanding. Know your message for each meeting and make sure the team is on the same page.

Detachment. Leaders often detach themselves from the “human element” when leading and often fail to show they care about team members. How well do you know your team? When was the last time you socialized with them? Wrote them a thank you note or recognized their hard work? These simple things will boost team members’ morale.

Materialism. Instead of thinking about end results and outcome, leaders tend to put emphasis on individual tasks. Take a step back and instead of micromanaging, inspire the team to do a good job by coming up with a shared outcome and how you plan to measure success. Use sentences like “The outcome we seek on this project is…” or “What’s the problem we’re trying to solve?” to keep your team on track.

Presumption. Another mistake leaders often make is communicating from a leadership perspective rather than the perspective of the audience. Grossman said, “Real communication happens in the mind of the listener.”

Irrelevance. The last deadly sin occurs when leaders don’t provide context or relevance. Make sure team members understand what’s going on. Always keep an audience mindset about how you can move people to action.

Attention as a Currency and Noise

Attention as a Currency and Noise

Posted using ShareThis

KCK casino gets final state approval - KansasCity.com

KCK Casino Final Approval

From: http://ping.fm/DzKci

Today's quote of the day: The Home of Peter Shankman

Quote of the day

From: http://ping.fm/1Ejvf

$35 million development proposed for 39th and Rainbow - KansasCity.com

Major development for Rosedale Neighborhood!

From: http://ping.fm/P1RaZ

Year's Biggest Full Moon, Mars Create Sky Show

As I drove home last night I noticed how amazing the moon looked in the sky. This morning National Geographic posted this story... to answer my questions. Love Nat Geo.

From: http://ping.fm/L8BWA

http://ping.fm/nsIqL
Unified Government approves development plan for Wizards stadium, Cerner Corp. campus - KansasCity.com

Social Media In Times of Crisis

Interesting trends in social media and how it has literally changed the way we respond in crisis situations- Not just connecting with loved ones to let them know we are ok, but in reaction time to saving someone’s life deep in the rubble.

New media makes worldly disasters appear closer to home. For decades war and turmoil seemed worlds away almost like a story from a book. Now with instant updates, access to detailed-by the minute- pictures and live streaming videos, the crisis has become “In your face” reality and has a new sense of urgency.



As we found after 9/11, phone messages of people saying farewell were recorded and saved forever. With the magnitude of causalities it will be heartbreaking to hear and see the messages left on these new social media formats from those who were unable to be saved as they cried out for help from their unknown location. My prayers are with all the victims during this unimaginable time of despair.

[Excerpt from the Wall Street Journal]

"Phone calls, tweets, video, emails and texts from Haitians abroad and at home trying to find and share information about loved ones"

Social-media Web sites were put to the test by the disaster. Twitter Inc. and Facebook Inc., as in past crises both political and natural, were swamped with messages and photos. Carel Pedre, a deejay and television personality in Haiti, has been regularly updating his Twitter feed, including with images of cars crushed by debris and citizens running from the wreckage in tears.

The largest cellphone provider on Haiti, Digicel, with more than two million subscribers, said its network had been damaged but remains operational. Two staff members were killed in the tragedy, a company spokeswoman said. The company, based in Jamaica, dispatched a team Wednesday morning to assess the damage.

The United Nations Foundation said it has deployed to Haiti a team of about 10 people, together with the U.N. World Food Program and Telecom Without Borders, to help get communication links up and running again. Telecom Without Borders is a nonprofit agency that brings telecommunications services to crisis zones.

"A phone line can be a life-line for moving supplies and getting help to where it's needed most," said Adele Waugaman, a spokeswoman for the U.N. Foundation.

New media makes worldly disasters appear closer to home. For decades war and turmoil seemed worlds away almost like a story from a book. Now with instant updates, access to detailed-by the minute- pictures and live streaming videos, the crisis has become “In your face” reality and has a new sense of urgency.

As we found after 9/11, phone messages of people saying farewell were recorded and saved forever. With the magnitude of causalities it will be heartbreaking to hear and see the messages left on these new social media formats from those who were unable to be saved as they cried out for help from their unknown location. My prayers are with all the victims during this unimaginable time of despair.

Suggested Reading:
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Interesting news from my day job at the CVB

With some strings attached, KCK-Wyandotte County CVB now independent
Posted by Nick Sloan on December 18, 2009 - 11:18am

The Unified Government's Board of Commissioners voted last night to allow the Kansas City, Kan. – Wyandotte County Convention and Visitors Bureau to become an independent 501(c)(6) non-profit organization.

However, the UG will still have a say in some of the matters of the new organization and a voice on the newly created board.

The UG will have one-third of the nine seats of the established CVB board. Under the agreement, the CVB will receive nearly 75 percent of the transient guest tax collected in KCK.

One sticking point that consumed several minutes was the location of the now mostly independent CVB. Discussions surrounded whether or not the location should be mandated to be within the Kansas City, Kan., Chamber of Commerce's facility.

The Chamber and CVB have had a contract for nearly 15 years where the Chamber would provide some services and functions for the CVB.

Cindy Cash, president of the Chamber, spoke out in favor of keeping the CVB's location in the Chamber building on Minnesota Avenue.

"The Chamber accepts the move in good faith," she said. "But we ask for the CVB to remain in the offices of the Chamber."

Meanwhile, CVB Director Bridgette Jobe spoke against mandating the location at the Chamber's office.

"It could tie their (future board's) hands together," she said. "It's not logical. Good business decisions are not based on synergy."

After discussion between UG commissioners, the board voted in a 6-4 vote (with Unified Government Mayor/CEO Joe Reardon voting yes) to approve of a resolution that would require the CVB to approach the UG about moving.

As part of the compromise, the CVB must also inform the Chamber a year in advance.

"We're changing a lot of things here tonight," Reardon said. "I'd like to see their vision. If they provide a new plan for a location, that's a decision when it comes forward."