just my silly thoughts on why i love the latest igtv.

This segment features artists who have submitted their tracks/videos to She Makes Music. If you would like to be featured here then please send an e-mail to [email protected]. We look forward to hearing from you!

Ronley Teper

Children at heart who love comedic, poetic, theatric, yet at times serious storytelling alongside truly magical music, should prepare themselves for the surprising world of Ronley Teper. Born in South Africa and growing up in Toronto, she is an active composer, producer and multimedia artist. Teper invites a rotating roster of some of the finest musicians, animators and multimedia artists to publicly improvise around her storytelling and songwriting styles that cycle through many influences from folk, funk, jazz, cabaret, cinematic, post rock and pop musical sensibilities. She has been described as reminiscent of artists including Tom Waits, Mary Margaret O’Hara, Laurie Anderson, Kate Bush and Frank Zappa. A musician and performance artist, Teper has been an active member in the arts scene for almost two decades. Over this time, she has recorded 5 independent LP’s; with an upcoming 6th Everyone Loves A Good Story (coming Jan 2021). Of her latest single 'New Love' Ronley says: "In a world of uncertainty and chaos and an overall general sense of loneliness, the possibility of companionship that comes with new love – be it romantic or any type of connection – has greater meaning now than in any other time. 'New Love,' embodies our yearning for the what if, nestled in the hope and possibility for loving connection." Listen below.

X62

X62 (Ten-Sixty Two) is a pop/soul duo from Edmonton, Alberta. Think of that thrilling and terrifying period of time when you’ve fallen for someone, but don't yet know if they feel the same. Their new single, 'Hopelessly Hoping,' is about "those nights spent laying awake in bed picturing life with this person, desperately hoping they feel the same, knowing full well you can’t force someone else’s emotions. To turn it into a duet, we created a story where both people feel the connection, but neither is bold enough to let the other know. Mutually wondering if it's a hopeless endeavour or something greater. The song ends and we still don’t actually have an answer. We'd like to think that it ends happily and they both figure it out." Listen below.

X62 · Hopelessly Hoping

Romana

A self-taught multi-disciplinary artist inspired by the human condition, the cosmos, our ancestors and the spaces in between – Romana experiments with several mediums to express her journey as a woman of colour in Toronto. A true artist, Romana is a singer-songwriter, painter, installation artist and experience designer. As an expressionist and artist, Romana feels that it is her responsibility to use her art as a platform for awareness. Her music specifically lends a voice to the issues and ideas that are important to her and the many diverse communities she belongs to. Romana's music addresses identity, belonging and healing. Topics that are not often addressed in the mainstream, Romana's messages are made accessible and easily consumable through smooth 90s R&B-inspired sounds. Her musical style is definitely a reflection of her experience growing up in a desi household in the 90s. Romana is changing the way we view artists today and giving people everywhere permission to do it all. "I have had many conversations with my friends about energy vampires: individuals that can drain the life out of you!" says Romana. "My new song, 'ENERGY,' is about the give and take that each relationship needs to be healthy. Jeia Rouge produced this track and it was one of the most floetic, fun and egoless experiences I have had. Jeia is also the first and only female producer I have worked with. There is always something special about women coming together to create! If something or someone is not actually adding to your life then it has got to go! I want you to assess your own circles to make sure that there is no one in your life who is sapping your energy." Listen below.

Romana · ENERGY

Gefahrgeist

With meaningful lyrics and a dreamlike atmosphere, ‘Graceless’ is the perfect ethereal pop soundtrack. Gefahrgeist combines the different musical expertise of two of Scotland’s most promising young musicians - Fiona Liddell and Niall Rae. Fiona Liddell is a singer-songwriter from Glasgow with a ten year music career performing with various bands and musical projects (Jack Hinks, Echo Arcadia, Loud Poets). This summer, she released a live album of original songs with her husband, Sam Thorne, on piano. Niall (Neel) Rae is a producer and bassist from Aberdeen. With a degree in composition from Edinburgh Napier University, Niall has taken his skills to new heights with Gefahrgeist. With his creative drive and musical imagination, Niall is able to transform songs like ‘Graceless’ from a simple piano piece into an eclectic pop anthem. Listen to 'Graceless' below.

Violet Hull

Violet Hull is a 20 year old singer songwriter of Thai and American descent currently developing her craft in Sydney, Australia. 'Buy This' is her debut single and is self-written, recorded and produced.  "It unleashes a lot of feelings I have about the world right now– the pleasures and pressures," explains Violet. "When will our selfishness eat us up? Will we make it out or sell ourselves into the ground? Creative sampling and satire taps into poignant realities about consumerism, narcissism, and social media. Though spacious, the song crescendos like the feelings of crisis that are palpable at the moment." It was first released with a stop-motion music video (created with conceptual artist and painter Kaye Mahoney) on youtube and IGTV. "'Buy This' doesn't just allude to consumerism, but the self-centred ideologies thrust upon us in a world that supported Trump's rise to US President," she continues. "I would love more people to be able to hear its message." Listen below.

Violet Hull · BUY THIS

Tekla Waterfield

Trouble In Time marks a first for husband and wife collaborators, award-winning Seattle based singer-songwriter Tekla Waterfield and multi-instrumentalist and producer, Jeff Fielder. Their two aesthetics have found maturity, meshing together to produce sensual, ephemeral songs nestled in lush beds of laid-back and stripped down grooves. Most of the album’s nine songs were written in 2020, in response to the heavy and anxiety-filled events taking place around the world. Despite the heavy subject matter, there is a resounding takeaway of hope for a brighter tomorrow in this collection of beautiful and haunting songs. Trouble in Time is out January 8. Stream the title track below.

Tekla Waterfield · Trouble In Time

Jade Hilton

Heartfelt lyrics and emotive vocals have helped Jade Hilton evolve into her distinctive sound. The singer-songwriter fuses earthy folk melodies over lo-fi soundscapes. After graduating  from the University if Illinois at Urbana-Chapaign on a full athletic scholarship, she moved back home to Toronto and began releasing music  featuring her indie folk style with R&B-pop production. "My new song, 'Falling,' is about that uncontrollable feeling when you first start liking someone, but not finding the words to tell that person how you feel," says Jade. "The more time you spend with that person, the more you realize how beautiful they truly are. Writing this song was my way of expressing that." Listen below.

Jade Hilton · Falling

Business Why Instagram’s founders are resigning: independence from Facebook weakened

Business Why Instagram’s founders are resigning: independence from Facebook weakened Business Why Instagram’s founders are resigning: independence from Facebook weakened https://ift.tt/2DrZwzR

Business Facebook promised Instagram autonomy, but reduced it over time leading to today’s bombshell revelation. Eight years after launching Instagram and six years after selling it to Facebook, Instagram co-founders CEO Kevin Systrom and CTO Mike Krieger are leaving the company, according to The New York Times. The founders apparently did not give a reason for their departure when they informed the company today that they’re resigning and that they’ll depart in the next few weeks. Why? But according to TechCrunch’s sources, tension had mounted this year between Instagram and Facebook’s leadership regarding Instagram’s autonomy. Facebook had agreed to let it run independently as part of the acquisition deal. But in May, Instagram’s beloved VP of Product Kevin Weil moved to Facebook’s new blockchain team and was replaced by former VP of Facebook News Feed Adam Mosseri — a member of Zuckerberg’s inner circle. “Adam is a very strong-willed individual” said a source, and “Chris [Cox, Facebook’s Chief Product Officer] and Kevin never really got along.” Between the two, they could pressure Instagram to do more for Facebook — which was important given the impact of scandals and dwindling teen usage on Facebook’s brand. “When Chris started taking initiative and with Adam as more of the old-school in-crowd of Facebook, it was clear that it wasn’t going to be pleasant. I saw that this guy [Systrom] is gonna get squeezed.” Systrom and Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg had historically gotten along, but they had diverging opinions at times. A source said that a few times a year they’d clash before resolving things. Those clashes included “Sharing back to Facebook. Kevin wanted to keep the sharing on Instagram but at some point Mark wanted content production on Instagram to flow to Facebook. But things got more heated lately. “Recently Mark decided to pull all of the links to Instagram from Facebook.” The evidence of that standoff can be seen in Facebook, which last year confirmed it was adding a shortcut to Instagram to its bookmarks menu. That shortcut has since disappeared. This year, some Instagram users started getting both Facebook alerts inside their Instagram notifications tab, and seeing a Facebook button with red notification counts inside Instagram’s settings menu. Facebook removed the shortcut to Instagram from its bookmarks menu, as seen in the second line here The stress imposed by Facebook also manifested in other departures. Earlier this year, Instagram’s director of public policy Nicole Jackson Colaco quietly departed the company, according to a source. She’d served in the role since 2013 and as a Facebook privacy manager since 2009. Despite still listing herself as employed at Instagam on LinkedIn, Colaco subtly confirmed her departure by commenting on Krieger’s departure post that “IG was the best place I’ve ever worked”

And two weeks ago, Instagram’s COO Marne Levine who was known as a strong unifying force, went back to lead partnerships at Facebook. Without an immediate replacement named, Instagram started to look more like just a product division within Facebook. And without Levine, it’s unclear who’d be fit to lead Instagram other than Zuckerberg loyalist Mosseri. Our source says that “Mosseri was very disappointed that he didn’t get the ‘head of Facebook’ gig which went to Will Cathcart. VP Of Product at Instagram was kind of a consolation prize.” But they say his assignment to Instagram VP was Zuckerberg doing “succession planning for Kevin and Mike. Mark is a brilliant strategist and of course he’s going to want to install someone. Despite rumors about a potential departure, Instagram staffers were surprised and saddened to hear Systrom would leave. “Kevin left some big shoes to fill” a source says. “There’s some internal skepticism about whether Adam can fill the role.” Facebook has begun invading Instagram with alerts in its settings sidebar (left) and notifications tab (right) After growing the app to 1 billion users, conquering its archrival Snapchat, turning it into a massive advertising business, Instagram’s founders may feel that they’ve done their duty and are ready to tackle different challenges. And rather than fight through Facebook’s impositions, they’d rather go build something new. In a statement (and Instagram post), Systrom and Krieger wrote that “We’re planning on taking some time off to explore our curiosity and creativity again. Building new things requires that we step back, understand what inspires us and match that with what the world needs; that’s what we plan to do.” Zuckerberg gave his own statement to TechCrunch, stating “Kevin and Mike are extraordinary product leaders and Instagram reflects their combined creative talents. I’ve learned a lot working with them for the past six years and have really enjoyed it. I wish them all the best and I’m looking forward to seeing what they build next.” CEO Kevin Systrom still gives final approval of all ads on Instagram Krieger And Systrom’s Rise The pair, former Stanford classmates, originally built a social location app Burbn but discovered its photo filters were by far the most popular part of the app. By combining tools to make grainy photos from early smartphone look good with a social feed for sharing them, Instagram became perhaps the world’s most succesful mobile app. Deemed such a threat, Facebook spent $715 million to acquire the startup and its less-than 50 million monthly users. Supercharged by Facebook’s engineering team, Krieger could finally rest a little after spending years fighting server fires in attempts to manage Instagram’s meteoric growth. Sales, internationalization, anti-spam, and other resources from Facebook let Instagram fuel its growth and sprout an advertising business.

The moment of truth for Instagram came in late 2016 with the launch of Stories, a clone of Snapchat’s trendy ephemeral sharing feature. At the time, Systrom admitted “they deserve all the credit”. But by jamming Stories atop the already-thriving Instagram feed, sorting them to show your best friends first unlike Snapchat, and focusing on performance in developing countries Snap neglected, the copycat soon surpassed the original. Instagram Stories now has 400 million daily users compared to 188 million on Snapchat’s whole app. Instagram’s Legacy During those six years, Instagram also had its share of troubles. Cyberbully became rampant, leading the company to eventually invest heavily in artificial intelligence and human moderators to keep the app clean. Russian military operatives spread misinformation and propaganda on Instagram that reached 20 million Americans, implicating the company in an election interference scandal that will continue through the upcoming mid-term elections. Instagram CEO Kevin Systrom unveils IGTV at the glitzy June 20th launch event Facebook had largely allowed Instagram to run independently. Systrom and Zuckerberg worked closely, yet Instagram wasn’t forced to drown its users in cross-promotion for other Facebook products or make worrying privacy decisions. As Mosseri moved in and Facebook wanted Instagram to pull its weight, its autonomy was endangered, leading to disagreements between the two factions’ leaders. The departure follows fellow Facebook acquisition WhatsApp’s founders leaving under much more grim circumstances. Brian Acton cited Facebook privacy concerns amongst reasons for his departure, tweeting “Delete Facebook” amidst one of its recent scandals. Facebook has gradually moved to exert more control over all of its acquistions. Chris Daniels, head of Internet.org, was moved to oversee WhatsApp. And Oculus was moved under the purview of Facebook’s head of hardware Andrew “Boz” Bosworth, another long-time confidant and Harvard classmate of Zuckerberg. Together, the moves seemed to endanger the independence of the conglomerate’s biggest acquisitions by appointing Facebook loyalists at the top. Without Systrom and Krieger, Instagram could see its autonomy dwindle. That might in turn endanger its ability to recruity retain talent.

Perhaps the strongest legacy of Systrom and Krieger will be how Instagram changed global culture. It made non-artists feel creative, and let people give friends a window into their world, engendering empathy and friendship. An early, heavily-filtered photo of the two founders At the same time, a desperate lust for Likes led many people to manicure their online image while hiding their sorrows and vulnerabilities. Instagram became the premier venue for success theater, where people engender health-harming envy in others by showing off just their most glamorous moments. And when Instagram launched Stories to try to get users to share more than just their life highlights, it ended up normalizing the behavior of interrupting every special moment with their smartphone camera. Systrom took a stand on the digital well-being issue, saying “We’re building tools that will help the IG community know more about the time they spend on Instagram – any time should be positive and intentional . . . Understanding how time online impacts people is important, and it’s the responsibility of all companies to be honest about this. We want to be part of the solution. I take that responsibility seriously.” Perhaps Systrom and Krieger’s next project will seek to offset some of the distortions to society caused by their creation. Or they could take another shot and bringing people together through the lens of art and self-expression. Instagram rose to dominance in part because they stuck around to keep its culture and product distinct from the company that bought it. Like their app encourages, Systrom and Krieger saw the potential for art where no one else did. This article has been updated with context from sources regarding why the founders are leaving, and with their official statement.

Read More | https://ift.tt/2NDHjDZ | Josh Constine

Business Why Instagram’s founders are resigning: independence from Facebook weakened, in 2018-09-25 07:44:25

Behind the Stationery: PleaseNotes

For our next Behind the Stationery feature, I’m excited to have Cheryl Sutherland’s share her empowering story behind PleaseNotes. Cheryl’s journey is rooted in realness and self-discovery, which is an important part of the business that isn’t always talked about. She talks about everything from exploring her manufacturing options to exploring herself to discover what she wanted to her line to become. Take it away, Cheryl! —Megan Soh

From Cheryl: I would’ve never thought that I would be interviewing anyone, especially not an internationally acclaimed speaker like Les Brown, but as I was adjusting the lighting rig in his hotel room in Toronto it hit me. My life had unfolded in a way that I could of never expected based on one decision to follow my inspiration.

Growing up my family unit was pretty ordinary. My parents were from St. Vincent, a small island in the Caribbean, and had divorced shortly after I was born. The youngest of three, I noticed how much emphasis my parents put on working to support themselves and additional family back home without regard for their own personal enjoyment in their work. When it was time for me to go to university, I wanted to be different from my parents and to choose something that interested me, that aligned with my personality and gave me the ability to grow. That decision making process is what got me through school, into some great positions, and drove my decision to move to Los Angeles from Canada.

I got the idea for PleaseNotes after reaching the end of the road with my last employer. At that point I wanted to work on something I was really passionate about, learn new things, and feel excited and confident when I spoke about work. I had always seen myself as a great second in command, but not good enough to actually run a business or even have a good idea for one. I knew in order to level up I needed to make a huge shift. I took a leap of faith, quit my job and focused on changing myself. I knew I had something important to contribute, so I worked with affirmations, read amazing books, and started journaling. I had taken and supported tons of personal growth courses in Canada and the USA, and journaling allowed me to realize what thought processes I had that were detrimental, and replaced them with ones that encouraged me to believe in myself and see myself in a bigger, bolder way.

I wished there were a way to surround myself with reminders of who I really was and stay positive, and that’s when I got the idea for the PleaseNotes Sticky Notes which had a different affirmation or sweet message on each page. After a couple months, I realized that I had another really great idea to take the work a little bit deeper through a guided journal. I poured processes and exercises that I loved and used when I was “finding” myself into it and added tons of secret messages, affirmations, and extra love and care into it. I decided to launch it as a Kickstarter and it was an amazing success—shipping to the US, Canada, UK, Spain and Asia! A couple more ideas flowed in to round out the whole product line. I wanted to make my line tailored yet inclusive, so the products outside of the Journals are color coded and fall in one of three themes.

Since people have different things they want to work on I called the bright blue Carefree, and filled with messages of “I Am Living With Grace and Ease” and “ Life Loves Me” that are great for those struggling with anxiety or that want to have more fun every day. The bright pink is Cheeky, filled with messages that are more sarcastic like, “I Am A Gift The World Gets To Unwrap” and “ I Am Amazing At Everything And Anything I Do.” Lastly, the Confident collection is black and gold and is filled with grounding messages of “I Am Powerful Beyond Measure” and “I Am A Magical Manifestor.” These are reflected in the sticky notes, the mirror decals, and these really cool dual-sided water bottle labels. The thing I love about my company is it’s not just aesthetically beautiful, it has the ability to catalyze someone into changing the way they feel about themselves and their world. Being able to go into a situation and say “I can do this” versus “ I can’t do this” is literally the ability to change the whole course of someone’s life, and I feel so grateful that I get to do this.

My creative process is pretty holistic. I’m really grateful that I read Elizabeth Gilbert’s “Big Magic” because it helped me set new expectations and grow as an entrepreneur coming out of the corporate space. I get an idea and then ask myself if it is something I can do or not, which the answer has always been yes! If it’s a brand new item, I start sketching, decide on the medium and logistics, and send it to my amazing graphic designer friend for feedback and revision. After I get it back, I tweak it until I feel really good about it usually in InDesign or Illustrator. At the same time, I look for a manufacturer. Since the Journal and Sticky Notes are highly customized, it took a while to find manufacturers I liked who also had the ability to scale and maintain the same level of quality. My favorite part of working with manufacturers is getting samples and going back and forth in the creative process. That’s allowed me to see, experience, and notice nuances like paper color and texture, ribbon and elastic characteristics and different textured covers. I want people to have a authentic, safe, luxury-like self care experience, and it shows itself in the details. You may notice little things I’ve tucked in like sacred geometry and symbolism, and there’s a bunch that only myself and my manufacturers are aware of. It’s like a little blessing for the user and based on feedback, that feeling comes through.

When I found out about the National Stationery Show, I thought it would be an amazing chance to really get my name out there. I walked it in 2017, exhibited in 2018, and I loved the experience of being there, seeing what other companies were doing, and getting great feedback about the line from “real” stationery people that my line was as great as I thought it was. I really wanted to connect with people who “got it” such as stationery reps, wholesale buyers, retailers and media. There were some really great contacts that I connected with and I’m excited to build great relationships.

My day is pretty go with the flow. I primarily work from home or a co-working space like WeWork or Make Lemonade here in Toronto. This allows me to go to the gym, meditate and eat properly. I usually have a list of things I want to complete this week or month and knock them out or add to them. I tend to work best between 10am – 7pm. Right now my main focus has been marketing. I’m still figuring out how to best convey and connect people to the magic, so I’ve been playing a lot with influencer marketing, videos on IGTV and YouTube, and creating new exercises that people can download. I really enjoy working on custom journals and right now I just started a new project with one of my influencers that I know people will love that is super authentic for both her brand and mine! I use a fulfillment center in California to ship out the goods since they get a better rate then I would.

Flashing back to September 14, 2017, I was setting up my booth at an E-Women Network event in Orange County and I was feeling great being there. I always loved the women that attended and the vibe. That day shouldn’t have been any different, however they ended up having a surprise last minute attendee. I heard whispers about Les Brown and I thought it was hilarious because I actually have a couple of his quotes included in my Journal. When he came in, the room became his as he walked around, shook hands and took pictures. Eventually he ended up at my table and I was able to tell him about my line. That day was one of my proudest moments because someone who was such a noted icon in the industry that I respected not only loved my brand, gave me a endorsement, he also offered to do a Facebook Live with me to share PleaseNotes with his followers!

This was just one of the amazing things that have happened to me because I chose into following this dream and I’m so grateful for all the things I’ve been able to see and do as a result of building PleaseNotes. If I had to give advice to anyone thinking about going down this path it would be to expect great things to happen to you, dwell on the positives and breathe in the great moments.

All photos courtesy of Cheryl Sutherland.

Want to be featured in the Behind the Stationery column? Reach out to Megan at megan [at] ohsobeautifulpaper [dot] com for more details.

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