Review by Michael Smith (Veshengro)
Fay is a social entrepreneur and has worked with influencers, businesses, governments, and non-profits to leverage their resources effectively to create change. Prior to moving back to California, Fay lived and worked in Washington, DC, where she served as the Co-Director of the Congressional Human Rights Caucus and as a key staff member on the Africa and Global Health Subcommittee of the House Committee on Foreign Affairs. After leaving Capitol Hill, Fay served as a Policy Advisor at Oxfam America, leading the organization's advocacy and campaigning efforts during the 2008 drought in Ethiopia.
Seeing the need for a more multi-disciplinary approach to today's pressing social issues, Fay formed a new type of consultancy, Red Balloon Ideas. Her consultancy combines behavior change communication, strategic planning and cultural anthropology to develop effective change strategies for non-profits, governments, and businesses interested in tackling social issues. Fay holds a B.A. from UCLA in International Development and a Master’s degree in Public Relations and Corporate Communications from Georgetown University.
A global citizen, Fay was born in South Africa and emigrated to the San Francisco Bay Area at a young age. The daughter of two social entrepreneurs, she spent much of her childhood traveling, visiting over 26 countries before she graduated from high school. These experiences embedded the deep belief that we are all part of one large global village. Fay has lived and worked in Hungary, India, Ethiopia, Kenya, the United States and South Africa.
Prior to her work on poverty and social justice issues, Fay ran her own business as a professional organizer, helping clients create order in their homes. Her favorite projects involved organizing closets, a skill she hopes to pass along to readers. Her second company was a photo preservation and scrapbooking business which allowed her to hone her design skills. Fay currently lives in Oakland, California.
deliberateLIFE Magazine is her latest project and incorporates many lifelong passions.
Fay says that it is her hope that the magazine will be the basis for a growing community of people who are looking to make the ‘right’ choices, that will create a better tomorrow for all of us. A community of people who believe their choices matter.
deliberateLIFE will be available exclusively through the iPad Newsstand, Apple’s platform for periodical content though the aim is in the future to also eventually move to the Android platform. Also, the magazine is meant to be read like any other print magazine and therefore it is not and will not be available on the iPhone or other smartphone. The reader would lose a lot of the visual content on a small screen, along with possibly their eyesight.
In each issue the reader will find actionable ways to be more deliberate in their daily lives. The magazine will also examine social challenges in each issue, and provide a domestic and international perspectives on the topic. In the first issue this topic is homelessness.
Furthermore the magazine will bring the reader inspiring stories of organizations and people doing great work, ethically made products that that editors and authors think are worth keeping and many more information on how we can all do our part to build a better tomorrow together.
Articles that I especially likes in the first issue were:
“Stuffed” on page 10 and “Why it’s time to give up on time management” on page 13, but the others also were inspiring, well-written and well-presented.
By purchasing a copy of the magazine, readers are supporting groups who are working to improve the situation and 15% of profits from each issue will be donated to the charitable organizations highlighted in that issue of the magazine.
© 2013
