Tag Archives: Networking

Here’s How Danielle Fontus is Helping Women Live a Daring Life

Posted in Empowerment, On The Rise by

In light of women’s history month, I wanted to shed light on an amazing individual who created a platform for women to lives their best social life. Danielle Fontus is the creator of She Dares, a women’s adventure community, where she helps women step outside of their comfort zones through experiences, from happy hour to horseback riding. Let’s find out more about Dani!

Tell me about yourself 

I may have also been spotted in a few adventures myself like Carnival in Trinidad and jet skiing in Tobago. I love to travel, eat, dance, play and indulge in whatever tickles my fancy.

Since graduating from Emory University in 2007, I have found a home in hospitality. I am now transitioning into the area of retreat planning while building my personal brand as an adventure influence.

Where were you 6 months after graduation?

I graduated on May 14, 2007 and started a job at a tutoring center in September thanks to a friend. It seemed like a good idea – I went to school with the intention of being a child psychologist. So the position made sense. For my first job, it was decent. I lived at home with my mom, and my loans were in deferment, so bills were minimal. In some ways, I was living my own piece of the post college dream. Yet there was a little piece inside of me that was restless and unsatisfied. I didn’t LOVE what I was doing, and I was craving more and starting to feel stifled. Come November 2007 (6 months after graduation), I was trying to figure out how to get out of my job and didn’t have a plan for what was next.

Fast forward to December 2007, I was laid off because the company downsized, which was such a serendipitous blessing for me. At the beginning of 2008 I spent 6 weeks in Trinidad that absolutely changed my life.

What prompted you to start She Dares?

During my time in Trinidad, I was so awestruck that I really wanted to share it with those who had never experienced anything like it. That year I started Her Journey travel magazine, which was an enhanced rebirth of the newsletter I used to send to my college friends to motivate us through those days when college life got real.
After doing that for a while, I wanted to CREATE these experiences instead of just writing about them. After doing a lot of these experiences alone, I realized that I wanted to find more daring women like me, I created She Dares to help form genuine connections in the best way I know how through fun and adventure. I LOVE meeting new people and finding out about them and I LOVE a good adventure. Putting those two things together, She Dares was born.

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5 REASONS EVERY YOUNG MILLENIALS SHOULD ATTEND OUR FAMILY DINNER

Posted in Out and About by
Our Family Dinner Crew: NYC 2016

Our Family Dinner Crew: NYC January 2016    Photo Courtesy: Errol Dunlap

When was the last time you went somewhere to unwind and meet people, free of an agenda? Simply to breaking bread and sharing a few hard-bellied laughs? Last weekend, I had the opportunity to attend “Our Family Dinner,” an initiative with a sole mission to bring complete strangers together and turn them into family, one dinner at a time!  The brainchild of Lawrence Adjah, “Our Family Dinner” was brought to life 8 years ago, when he became drawn to addressing the need to facilitate community-based family-style dinners for young adults.

Here are my top 5 reasons you should attend:

  1. They greet with hugs and big smiles.
  2. You connect on a strictly personal level. Professional networking and jargon is better left at home.
  3. You share food and create a space where everyone feels important.
  4. You get the opportunity to share major life events, just like you would with your family. (ran half-marathon, new home, birthday, new family (baby) arrival, engagement, promotion, etc)
  5. You create organic relationships, just like you did in the playground as a child. We can get so lost focusing on the amount of social media “friends” we have that we lose touch of the personal interaction. This dinner allows you to put your people skills to the test and gained some valuable relationship by being yourself.

Whether you just moved into a new city, looking to make friends or just need someone to tell you where the best hair salons are located, making a connection is very important. Our Family Dinner allows you to step out your comfort zone by welcoming strangers into your physical and spiritual space as family. This event happens twice a year! The next one in NYC will take place in July!

Check out the website for more info.

I Don’t Do Clubs!

Posted in MUSE: Food For Thought by

I Don't Do Clubs I have to be honest: I rarely ever surface the club scene unless it’s for a close friend’s birthday celebration; rather, I enjoy concerts, museum trips, hiking, and poetry jams. Since leaving my undergraduate years behind, I’ve gotten over buying the expensive drinks and stepping out in my most impressive club-wear. It doesn’t mean that I don’t like to have fun, it’s just that the club scene can sometimes be overrated

. Of course, when I became acquainted with “I Don’t Do Clubs” (IDDC), I was instantly hooked! The woman behind this ingenious idea, Genese Jamilah, also shared the same sentiments as myself after moving to NYC from Atlanta, and thought that there must be other ways to meet people beside the club.  So, in 2011, the current EBONY Digital Production Manager, decided to expand the social life of young black professionals (in major U.S. cities) beyond the club, and founded IDDC.

From promoting popular brunches to after work mixers to fun networking events, Genese has become the go-to woman for young professionals who are looking for a “different way to party.”  Unlike the conventional methods of advertising local social events, IDDC goes a step further by providing purposeful details about the event in question. For example, Cage’s most popular tags “Bring your Business Cards Boo,” “You Might Sweat Your Hair,” “ Give Back,” and “Future Husbands Potential Ring Scale.”

Recently, IDCC made its services available to iPhone and Android consumers as an app. This transition will undoubtedly prove beneficial to those who are always on the go.

 

Don’t say I left you out! Hopefully we see each other at one of the IDDC events this summer!