Monthly Archives: January 2022

What does the future hold?

Two years ago, after the New Years Eve snowmageddon storm, my first column of the new decade predicted the beginning of the new roaring twenties with the roar not coming from wild dance parties, but instead from wildfires, intense storms, rising social upheavals and yet more wars.

Sadly, most of these predictions are coming true and are joined with continued societal stress from the pandemic that refuses to go away. The weather and its impacts now dominate the news as we anticipate more crisis generating intense storms, heat domes and summers filled with smoke and the threat of local wildfires.

One result of the pandemic is that continued social isolation has prevented the completion of volume two of Everything Shuswap, because all the chapters involve social interaction. With many restrictions still in place, many cultural activities are on hold, community events are cancelled, and the economy remains at half-throttle. Consequently, my columns have branched out to cover other fascinating topics such as the intentional communities of the 70s and 80s.

The plan for the final chapter of the last volume is the topic What does the future hold?

The future for humanity has the potential to head in one of two directions, either towards environmental and social collapse or towards a more promising future where solutions to the current problems are working, society has become more equitable and sustainable, and health and happiness are the norm. In order to achieve a more promising future than what the cards are currently dealing, a number of prerequisites need to be met that would lay the foundation for a better future.

With the climate continuing to heat up as more carbon and methane is pumped into the atmosphere, the earths biological support system is in free-fall. It was easy to think that the Shuswap would be less impacted because of its geography, but in fact the temperature is rising faster in the north than in mid-latitudes and, like most of the continent, we are in line for the increasing number of impacts from jet-stream instability. Thus, key to our ability to thrive in the future will be pre-emptively adopting climate change adaptation measures that will minimize the impacts from fires, heat, drought, storms and other emergencies.

Read more: Column: Ancient cedar stands at risk in Shuswaps own Fairy Creek

Read more: Christmas & climate change: Shuswap environmentalist recommends planet-friendly season

Another key prerequisite is overall, societal and economic stability from the world level down to the regional level. It is possible that one day soon, political tensions could ease, and financial inequality will lessen given the need for everyone on the planet to concentrate on survival by working together as the planet overheats. If co-operation replaced competition, if the wealthy paid their true fair share, and if governments and citizens adopted common goals, all regions like the Shuswap would benefit.

Think back to how different our world was in 1992 when personal computers were just being developed, cellphones looked like large walkie-talkies, there were few homeless people, homes were affordable and massive forest fires, storms and intense droughts were a rarity.

Considering how massive societal changes are occurring now, what might the Shuswap be like in 2052? In the following series of articles, I will explore the possibilities that the future holds if the key prerequisites are met to accelerate climate change adaptation, improve sustainability and achieve equitability.

What might the city of Salmon Arm and other local communities look like with mass migration likely, as people are forced to flee flooded coastlines and southern regions where temperatures are too hot to support populations? How will land and water be managed to support both a larger population, as well as to promote greater carbon absorption and conserve water? How will education work, and how will people keep in shape and enjoy sports and recreation when snowfalls are rare and summer temperatures are too high for outdoor activities? How will agriculture work? What will people eat?

One value of considering what a better future might look like is that it enables backcasting to identify what policies and programs are needed to reach the future desired state. By imagining an ideal future condition, one can better understand what is needed to get there. If we want our grandchildren to experience the best possible future, there is no better time than the present to help make that happen.

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Column: How will climate change impact the Shuswap? Salmon Arm Observer - Salmon Arm Observer

Federal payments that kept millions of families out of poverty have expired without Congress allowing them to continue, plunging people in need back into a state of indigence they believed theyd never have to endure again.

Its foolish and short-sighted and unconscionable, said Beth McConnell, director of policy in Philadelphias Office of Community Empowerment and Opportunity. We are literally taking food out of childrens mouths.

The Biden administrations one-year expansion of the child tax credit (CTC) starting last July was meant to help families navigate the pandemic with cash infusions of as much as $3,000 a year per child ages 6 to 17, and $3,600 a year per child from newborn to age 5.

The expanded CTC has especially helped the poorest Americans. To get the credit before the expansion, households had to earn at least $2,500 annually, omitting those who didnt make that much.

Under Bidens plan, however, the CTC became fully available to all those in poverty, regardless of income.

But now, as the omicron variant proliferates exponentially, that lifeline has been snatched back, allowing those in poverty to languish without a means of survival theyd grown to depend on, advocates and low-income people say.

Its definitely a hardship, said Samantha Rodriguez, 28, a South Philadelphia child-care worker with a 6-year-old daughter. Shed been receiving a CTC payment of $250 a month that started in July and ended last month.

That money was paying for our food, said Rodriguez, who described herself as a single mother making less than $20 an hour. She has a masters degree in business and is enrolled in a teachers certification program. Her goal is to some day open a charter school to help children with special needs. But Rodriguez is yoked to student debt of $90,000, making economic survival precarious.

Ill have to figure out now how we eat, said Rodriguez, whos applied for a second job as a driver for Uber Eats. Im determined not to have to go to food pantries for help.

Overall, Mai Miksic, early childhood policy director for Philadelphia-based Children First (formerly Public Citizens for Children and Youth) predicts longer lines at food pantries, and people relying more on community-based programs that give out diapers and clothing.

As dire as life might get, there will be some short-term relief, however small.

The CTC expansion was supposed to be for 12 months. That means those whove received payments between July and December of 2021 are still owed another six months of cash.

But, there are two conditions. First, the money will be given only to people who file their 2021 income taxes this year. That could be a problem because many low-income people dont ever file, often because they dont make enough. Many of these individuals were allowed to sign up for the CTC in 2021 by using a non-filer portal on the government website.

But, advocates say, the non-filer option will no longer be available, and people will have to file traditional tax returns, something those in poverty may be unable to do because theyre unfamiliar with it, or cant afford filing help. Tax services for those in poverty are available.

Second, even if people do file their taxes, the CTC wont be mailed to them in monthly installments as it was last year. Instead, the money will come in one lump sum, like a tax refund after being processed by the IRS, making it more difficult to meet monthly bill payments.

I intend to file my taxes to get the remaining six months payments, said Susann Ali, 38, a Head Start teacher from Germantown. But until then, we are without money that was helping me pay my three kids Catholic school tuition.

And after those payments are completed, Ali said, she worries that Congress wont restore the help shed grown to rely on:

I thought that by now, theyd have extended the credit, and Im scared it might not ever happen.

The expanded CTC was expected to be so popular that Congress would automatically renew it for 2022 and beyond.

But so far that hasnt happened, despite continued efforts to do so. And surveys show that not all Americans like the idea. A December Morning Consult/Politico poll discovered that just 47% of Americans favored extending the expansion, as opposed to 42% who were against it.

More important, Sen. Joe Manchin (D., W.Va.) said he wouldnt support the credit expansion going forward without a work requirement attached. Manchins vote is key in an evenly split Senate.

That view is espoused by conservative entities such as the American Heritage Foundation, which explains that extending the expansion in 2022 would actually stymie anti-poverty efforts by persuading people not to work, but simply collect government funding.

Thats a minority view.

In a widely recognized study last fall, Columbia University found that the enhanced CTC has had no negative impact on workforce participation among parents.

Columbia research also discovered that the augmented tax credit kept nearly four million children out of poverty and that food was the top item families spent their federal money on.

If one of the goals was to reduce child poverty, the expanded credit was tremendously successful policy, said Temple University sociologist Judith Levine, director of the schools Public Policy Lab.

But now children are being thrown back into poverty and the timing is terrible with the pandemic surging and parents having to stay out of work to be with their children as schools and child-care centers close.

The end of the expanded CTC wont halt the typical CTC that families have been receiving for years. But it will mean less money. The expanded CTC grew to amounts of $3,000 to $3,600 per child. The normal CTC was around $2,000, and given in one lump sum.

Congress failure to expand the CTC beyond 2021 rankles experts on poverty and inequality.

Allowing the expanded child tax credit to expire is yet another demonstration of the U.S. governments intentional neglect of families with children, a clear example of legislative violence, said Mariana Chilton, director of the Center for Hunger-Free Communities at Drexel Universitys Dornsife School of Public Health.

Chilton espouses universal basic income, a proposed government program in which every adult citizen receives a set amount of money regularly.

The failure to make the CTC expansion permanent means a moment of optimism in which deep injustices and hardships could have been changed may be over, noted University of Pennsylvania sociologist Pilar Gonalons-Pons.

And, Levine said, the United States, which fails miserably at reducing child poverty, loses an opportunity on the world stage to catch up with peer nations that treat children and families better.

That failure resonates with Mia Thomas, 37, the unemployed mother of a 13-year-old daughter in West Philadelphia.

The expanded CTC had allowed Thomas, who suffers from multiple sclerosis, to attain something rare in her life: a bank account.

The money was a godsend that allowed me to actually create a small nest egg, she said. But now, Im straining without the monthly payments to make rent and pay bills.

Ill still try to keep my bank account. But its going to be a struggle.

Read the rest here:

What happened to those in poverty with the child tax credit expansion ended? - The Philadelphia Inquirer

On Wednesday, the Atlantic published an article by Professor Emily Oster, an economist at Brown University, titled, Universities Need to Catch Up to the Post-vaccine Reality. Oster argues that the recent decision by a number of colleges and universities to temporarily return to virtual learning in the face of skyrocketing COVID-19 cases is a mistake.

Oster makes three deceitful arguments: 1) Students are not themselves at risk of illness; 2) Campuses will not lead to community spread of the virus; and 3) campuses must be opened to protect students mental health.

Osters arguments are not based on science or experience. They are made on behalf of the political establishment and with no regard for the lives and livelihoods of the students she claims to care for.

The reality must be stated clearly: No, colleges and universities are not safe from COVID-19, especially as the vaccine resistant Omicron variant has taken its place as the dominant strain throughout the country.

Young people are in no way immune from infection and death, and, if infected with the virus, will spread it to all those with whom they come into contact. While mental health issues are an important concern, Oster, following the lead of the entire political establishment, has weaponized the severe mental health crisis among young people to justify the intentional infection of the population with the virus.

The arguments made in Osters article are reflective of the entire strategy of the Biden administration and worth answering in some detail. But let us first address the question: Who is Emily Oster?

Ivy League Democratic Party operatives fight for a policy of mass death

Oster is a well-seasoned official Democratic Party academic operative who has been tapped throughout the pandemic to advocate for the unsafe reopening of schools. In 2020, she authored a number of articles where she argued that schools were not significant spreaders of Covid-19.

Among these articles are two for the Atlantic titled Schools Arent Super-Spreaders and Go Ahead, Plan a Family Vacation with Your Unvaccinated Kids. Another notable piece by Oster was published in the Clinical Infectious Diseases Journal titled Effectiveness of three versus six feet of physical distancing for controlling the spread of COVID-19 among primary and secondary students and staff. This latter study published March 10, 2021 was picked up by the CDC and used as its primary evidence for changing social distancing guidelines.

Remarkably, Oster has no background in public health, biology, or any other field related to the science of the pandemic. She holds a PhD from Harvard in economics, is currently a professor at Brown University and has authored books on pregnancy and parenting. She has no expertise or authority in the field in which she is meddling.

The data she uses to back her arguments for keeping schools open are riddled with errors at best, and are purposefully skewed and distorted at worst.

In August of 2020, for example, Oster claimed she had created a database of COVID-19 infections in schools that showed that just 0.23 percent of students and 0.49 percent of teachers had become infected, making her case that schools are not super spreader events.

However, this information was derived from just 550 public and private schools, and over 200 of them were fully remote during the time the data was collected! Additionally, the most populated schools from urban areas where there have been the largest outbreaks were excluded.

In the three versus six feet article, similar erroneous errors were made to claim that a three or six-foot social distancing guideline made little difference in transmission and could be abandoned. Most notable was that the study only compared schools that had differing official guidelines without actually investigating if they followed those guidelines.

In other words, the study contains no actual science or experiments to test the different social distancing methods. The actual science of COVID-19 has shown that the virus is airborne, meaning that even six feet of social distancing is not sufficient to stop its spread.

In short, Emily Oster is not an expert on the pandemic or school safety in any sense. She is a mouthpiece for the ruling class in its aggressive drive to reopen schools to keep parents at work and the economy afloat. Her concerns are not the health and wellbeing of students and families but the profit demands of Wall Street.

There is no way to evaluate the current pandemic conditions and conclude that schools, including colleges and universities, are safe to reopen without engaging in an immense level of self-deception or false arguments. For Oster, it appears to be the latter.

Oster writes in her article that the world has changed since the pandemic began, and yet, the rise of the Omicron variant and the ensuing spike in COVID cases have led many university administrators to articulate the same old concerns: Students could possibly spread the virus to community members, who could in turn end up in hospitals, which could be overwhelmed.

She continues: Such a chain reaction is of course possible, but the probabilities are not what they used to be, because the great majority of students are now vaccinated and the percentage of people in the surrounding communities who are at risk of landing in the hospital is much, much smaller than it used to be. [emphasis added]

Students could infect others, and the hospitals could become overwhelmed, Oster skeptically suggests. Is this not the very situation taking place in towns and cities across the country right now?

It is false to suggest that the percentage of people who are at risk of landing in the hospital is smaller than it used to be. In fact, hospitalizations among 1829 year olds is at a record high since the start of the pandemic, standing at a seven-day average of 1,433 new patients per day. For those aged 3039, the average is 1,532 hospital admissions per day, also a record high.

Child hospitalizations are also at their highest point ever, at 766 per day. Lurie Childrens hospital in Chicago reported Thursday that child hospitalizations have increased ten times compared to the number of admissions at the end of November.

Across the country, one in five hospitals reporting to the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) noted that their ICUs were above 95 percent capacity. Don Williamson, president of the Alabama Hospital Association, told CBS 42, Im worried now! Thats right now where my main concern lies. You know, we may have beds, but we dont have anybody to staff the beds.

Hospitalizations have increased 161 percent in the last ten days across the state.

Patricia Maysent, chief executive officer of University of California San Diego Health, told the San Diego Union-Tribune that the university system had more than 500 health care workers test positive over the last week, forcing some of their departments to operate at half capacity. This is the first time, she said, from the very beginning of the COVID pandemic, that Im actually worried that we dont have enough staff to take care of the patients.

On Thursday, Beaumont Health, one of the largest hospital systems in Michigan, with nine hospitals in the Detroit area, reported that 430 employees had COVID-19 symptoms in a notice sent to the public headlined, Were at a breaking point. The notice said that hospitalizations have increased 40 percent in the last week.

It is in this context, in which nurses and doctors around the country are at a breaking point, that Ms. Oster insists that closing the schools reflects an outmoded level of caution.

She goes on to claim that, in fact, closing colleges expresses a failure of universities to protect their students interests. The natural question to ask from such a statement is what are students interests and how are they best protected?

Osters only answer to this question is to point to the youth mental health crisis. Her claim is that the closing of schools and a temporary shift to online learning has too great an impact on students mental health, and schools therefore must remain open at all costs.

Oster writes, Moving to remote schooling when the conditions on the ground have changed so dramatically is an abdication of universities responsibility to educate students and protect all aspects of their health. College students are in the midst of a mental-health crisis.

There is no question that mental health issues affect an alarming number of young people. But the arguments made by Oster do not in fact have students interests in mind to the slightest degree.

While it is true that mental health issues have been accelerated by that pandemic, alongside all other social crises, it is not their root cause. Oster and those she speaks for never made the slightest noise about mental health issues until it became a convenient cover to justify the unsafe reopening of schools.

Students do indeed need immediate access to mental health treatment and services. But deteriorating mental health is only the symptom of a much deeper problem.

The situation facing the average American student even before the pandemic is a distressing one. Many young people find themselves stressed to the point of exhaustion balancing studies while also working to make ends meet. Those who live on their campuses and in the university dorm rooms must deal with poverty-like conditions with crumbling facilities and unhealthy food.

Most students will come out of school saddled with thousands, tens of thousands, or even hundreds of thousands of dollars of debt and few quality jobs to repay their loans. For many young people, a trip to the emergency room or even an unexpected car repair is enough to entirely cripple them financially.

The pandemic has undoubtedly added significantly to these issues with an abrupt shift to online learning certainly being a challenge. But how are these issues to be resolved? Are we to be expected to believe that, by keeping campuses open, students will have forgotten all these other inescapable problems?

Oster has nothing to say about the real difficulties and challenges students and youth face living under capitalism. For Oster and people in her privileged middle-class layer, the pandemic has been merely an inconvenience where their routines have been disrupted by lockdowns or mitigation efforts. Their solution: pretend like nothing is happening, return to classes, and resume business as usual.

Students need relief from their crushing debt and access to healthcare and resources, so that they no longer need to rely on food pantries and other charities to survive. Students need the ability to study and learn without the concern that they might become infected or infect their parents and loved ones with COVID-19.

If mental health is the concern, the situation currently underway in high schools and colleges that have opened can only deepen them. In recent days, students have flooded social media with reports of schools practically devoid of teachers who are all sick. Students are testing themselves for COVID-19 in bathrooms followed by a panic as they are left to figure out how to appropriately respond. How is forcing students into this kind of environment supposed to relieve their anxiety?

There will be no resolution to the mental health crisis as long as the pandemic rages on. And to defeat the pandemic requires the intervention of the working class, which is already under way.

Thousands of teachers and students are in the midst of a struggle against reopening, fearing for their lives and the lives of their loved ones. Teachers in Chicago have bravely voted not to return to in-person learning amid record-breaking case numbers, with graduate students at the University of Michigan, teachers in San Francisco, and other major cities following closely behind them. There is growing anger and outrage among broader layers of the working class over being forced to continue to work in factories and workplaces that are centers of COVID transmission.

The working class is the social force that must be mobilized. To defend students is to protect them from infection from COVID-19 and fight for an international program to eliminate the virus once and for all.

See the rest here:

No, colleges and universities are not safe to reopen for in-person learning - WSWS

Hello, 2022.

Its Q1. Time to start anew.

With the fresh start comes a chance to put forward your hopes and goals for the year ahead. Its a chance to reframe what didnt get done in 2021, or get going on a project youve always wanted to tackle.

With that in mind, we asked Baltimore tech and innovation leaders to share their resolutions. Responses ranged from the personal to the professional. Others are setting out to give back.

Take a look:

Keep practicing authenticity. Being authentic unlocks so much richness in conversation, connections, even in strategic discussions why waste time not being real? Not everyone is ready to hear real talk, however, so I want to continue to practice to communicate well and bring self-awareness to every interaction.

Our goal at JHTV is to use every presentation as an opportunity to compel people to care about and support the high-impact work we do. We want our team members to leverage storytelling and other best practices in presentation-making to captivate our audiences and stand out amid information overload (and Zoom fatigue).

At a personal level, my resolution is to prioritize my mental health and wellness. I will continue to prioritize my time for meditation, yoga, journaling and self-reflection, as we continue to go through stressful and anxiety-filled times with the pandemic into 2022. One of our 1501 Health startups, WellSet, a marketplace for holistic wellness providers like acupuncture, yoga and nutrition coaching, offers classes for breath work and meditation that can provide much needed balance during the holidays and the start of the new year.

At a system level, my resolution is to prioritize addressing the mental health crisis faced by healthcare providers two years into the pandemic. Burnout is a major concern for healthcare providers, with nearly 50% reporting burnout, according to AMA in 2020. Stress scores were highest among nursing assistants, medical assistants, social workers and inpatient workers such as nurses and respiratory therapists as well as among women, Black and Latinx health care workers. Even Health, one of our 1501 Health startups based in Maryland, offers mental health support for healthcare employees, through their flagship product, Cabana. My resolution is to launch our Cabana pilot at LifeBridge Health for our healthcare providers and help champion the growth of Even Health with health systems in our region and scale across the nation.

Our hope for 2022 is to be able to expand Hutch to include programs and opportunities that more entrepreneurs can leverage outside of our existing two-year digital services incubator.

Get hip to all the great talent that came out of Odells in the 70s and 80s.

My 2022 resolutions include looking for inspiration in unexpected places and challenging myself to find the fun in being wrong.

If you cant fly, then run. If you cant run, then walk. If you cant walk, then crawl. But whatever you do, you have to keep moving forward Martin Luther King Jr.

I just finished Amanda Ripleys High Conflict, and so Im trying to find more opportunities to be curious, especially during disagreements.

In 2022, I resolve to prioritize work-life balance, invest in the leadership of our amazing team, and find joy and possibility in speaking truth to power.

My New Years resolution is to have a great day on purpose. I want to be intentional with the understanding that every day I wake up is a blessing. Its a new day to grow, positively impact anyone I come into contact with (even if that is putting a smile on their face or just acknowledging them with a hello), and continue going after my dreams without fear because if I fail, it will be fast and forward.

My New Years resolution professionally is to fully embrace my new team and keep establishing our culture. Listen more, talk less, and allow my teams talents to shine through. Personally, my resolution is to continue to over indulge in self care, embracing a life of ease and wellness. Hustle culture is canceled.

My New Years resolution is to continue to invest just as much time in my family that I do in my business!

I want to help make life fair for everyone. I am creating new community software codenamed the GRID, for Graphical Resources Investment Directive. It will allow communities to use data to visualize their broad needs and includes tools for them to organize as a community to set the direction for future investments.

To help at least 50 underrepresented entrepreneurs and social enterprises in Baltimore to raise funding.

To bring back the GBTC. It will be through a sub-chapter of the Maryland Tech Council called the BRTC. Just wait and see. Its gonna be awesome.

My New Years resolution is to gain a greater understanding of what problems the businesses in Maryland are solving. In the past, I focused on Baltimore. Next year, Im going to make an effort to learn more about businesses across Maryland.

Lean more into trusting myself, the process, the journey, and the results.

Eat more protein shakes, consistently. Finish reading the Dune series.

Invest more in both PDs: professional development and personal development.

In March 2020, I was boarding one of the last flights out of Lisbon, Portugal, homeward-bound to an uncertain America on the brink of a global pandemic. Portugal is one of my favorite remote work destinations, and my trip was ending abruptly. As we approach the two-year anniversary of that event, Im starting to see some patterns in this pandemic world. Specifically, when cases are likely to spike, and the burnout feeling that comes from the blurred lines of work and home life. My New Years resolution is to re-establish healthy boundaries with work and to see if I can safely work remotely abroad again. My best life has always included Baltimore and a blend of several cultures and countries.

Read more:

20 Baltimore tech and entrepreneurship leaders offer New Year's resolutions for 2022 - Technical.ly

Joan Kabugu at the Standard group's offices along Mombasa road, Nairobi on December 30, 2021. [Elvis Ogina, Standard]

Having recently had her short film,Throttle Queensair onAl Jazeera,Joan Kabugu is counting her wins. Her journey has been one marked by highs and lows, but she has stuck to her passion. She is the founder of Ecila Films, which focuses on women, teens, and indigenous communities.Joan has many hours of TV content under her belt and has directed several environmental documentaries under the series,Giving Nature a Voice,and short films touching on heartfelt themes such as fatherhood and mental health. The creative is currently completing a multi-media documentary about a deaf dancer called. Sounds of Silence. She shares her journey.

Your short filmThrottle Queenjust aired onAl Jazeera. How does that feel?

Exhilarating, exciting and rewarding! I have come a long way from where it all began. The journey started 10 years ago when I stumbled onto a TV and radio training programme (in Medeva Media for Development in Africa). With no background in media, I had to work extra hard when I landed an opportunity on the job, training for a political talk show production. To get toMedeva TVfor the month-long training right after graduating from university, I had to walk from Nairobi CBD area to South B a distance of four kilometres - and back daily for almost a month because I had no source of income and the bus fare I had was not sufficient. I started from the bottom, labelling camera tapes, training on camera operations and assigned a camera for cutaway shots. Maisha Film Labs was another platform that helped me grow in my early years; I submitted two of my short films and got invited to compete for a production grant two years in a row. In second year, I won and went ahead to work on my first short film -Madam Chief- a mustard seed that allowed me to not only carry the writer credit, but also director and producer for the first time. My friends at Medeva came together to make the short film a success, I am forever grateful.

As a producer how have you managed to continually bag opportunities?

The biggest opportunities have come from learning. I have done this through attending workshops on writing, content creation fellowships and taking part in business and leadership training. These have made me understand the business side of things and how I can leverage my craft to make a living. When I attended the Obama Leaders Forum in 2018, Ecila Films was given a major spotlight for the work we have been doing; telling stories about women, teens, and the indigenous community. That has been our niche.

What have been some of the challenges this far?

I was recently having a discussion with fellow African creatives, trying to understand two phrases; love what you do and do what you love. This was against the backdrop that it takes a lot to make a living out of the creative industry and stick it out for the long haul. My toughest issue has been financing projects I care about, and convincing investors to come into the film space - it is hard to get a solid return on investment, unlike other industries. It has also been hard to gain traction and visibility, making it hard to reach my audiences both with my company Ecila Films and my personal profile.

How have you handled the challenge of having a steady stream of income?

Overtime, I have developed different skills and used them to multiply my revenue streams. The top three are; writing, directing, producing, and working as a production manager. I balance between doing independent content for my company, writing, and taking on production assignments. This ensures that as a creative I am not frustrated when it comes to finding jobs and paying bills.

Which have been your greatest highs as a producer?

Being part ofGiving Nature a Voice, which was an award-winning environmental documentary series. We won the bBest TV Series in ZIFF Awards. This series helped me improve my storytelling ability and took me to far corners of Kenya to find stories; from Cherengani to Bogoria to Rimoi. My first two short films were sponsored by grants and investors respectively. Working on three consecutive independent films after that, has been a proud moment; I have invested in myself. These projects have not yet offered a return on investment, they have, however, served as a portfolio for me and my team and opened doors for new projects, which have been sponsored.Winning an award for a Chevrolet project by Mofilm in 2015 was another proud moment, I did Richard Tureres Story;Lion Lights. In 2021, I won an award in New Yorks Oniros Film Award for the short film Its All A Game. I know the future holds even greater wins for me.

What have been some of your lowest moments?

I missed out on a few great opportunities earlier in my career because I felt inadequate. I have learned to be a loud introvert and get heard while communicating confidently and politely. Being able to work with people across the world from New York, Spain, Ethiopia and Liberia have expanded my worldview and by default made me more boisterous.

What have you discovered about yourself?

I am aggressive, which means that when I put my mind to something, I place all my cards on the table and go all in. I can take criticism; this makes it easy for me to put my work out there without fear of judgement. I am not a perfectionist, but I value exceptional excellence. That means I do not procrastinate in publishing what I want, I just ensure that I am growing in the process. I know how to plan and this has helped in saving money when it comes to film production. I rarely lose my cool, I keep the production team calm. While filming on location, ones patience is tested and I feel like I have passed that patience test every time. When it comes to working with a team, I believe in the leadership of self. If we all bring our A-game, it is a win-win situation.

What would you count as the rewards of pursuing your dreams despite the challenges?

The reward comes in getting the chance to create more content each year, working with a diverse cast and crew from Kenya and beyond and of course being paid to do so. Being nominated for awards has increased our visibility and assured us that we are being seen and appreciated. Something as simple as getting direct feedback for stories from our viewers whether in person, over the phone, or on social media is a big deal for me.

What next for Joan?

(2021 was) a defining year for me as a film-preneur. I have won a grant as an innovator from Stanchat Women in Tech, I also started my one film per month project beginning with a Lake Baringo Story Saving Pink Beauty,a coming of age story about a father and daughter. We recently had our first project featured onAljazeera-Throttle Queens- for their one of a kind series Africa Direct featuring exclusively African Stories by African Filmmakers. You can check it out on YouTube. These three highlights all point to one direction; creating more stories, consistently, and for an even wider audience.

The goal of Ecila Films is to create more authentic African stories with multiple teams, stories that transform communities and create discourse and dialogue. Making our content easily available on YouTube via our channel, Ecila Films and affiliate channels such asAljazeera, means we can have more people watch engage and dialogue. The plan is to also use our platform to launch new and upcoming storytellers and filmmakers, I know how hard it can be to break through in this industry. This is one way I can pay forward what I have benefited from other platforms.

What would you say is the importance of working towards consistent growth?

Continuous learning has made me understand different aspects of creativity, business, and leadership. I have been part of numerous fellowships, training, and workshops throughout my career: Amplify Content Creation Fellowship, Obama Leaders Fellowship, Maisha Film Labs Writers Workshop, Docubox Screenwriting Workshop, Young Africa Leaders Initiative, Women in Tech Business Incubator, Generation Africa Workshop, ZIFF Writing Workshop, Talent Campus Durban and One Fine Day Production Training, to name but a few.

I have found that consistency is the oldest formula in the book; keep at it, improve your craft, improve yourself. Improve and people will notice you before you know it, more people will be willing to pay for what you have to offer.

The other thing that has worked is becoming my own investor. I have save and foot the bill for some of my productions. Invest in the stories you love and share them with the world. Sometimes, the world needs to see you believe in yourself first before they believe in you.

In the last five years, I have worked a lot with mentors and this has allowed me to see my blind spots, personally and in the business of storytelling. I have also done a small portion of mentorship and it is something I hope I can do more of in the days to come.

Finally, there is no growth that comes from magic or presumption. All growth is intentional, and even if some opportunities find us as we work, such opportunities come because we are putting in the work to be bigger and better.

Plan out your 2022, even if you achieve only 50 per cent of what you set out to do. It is better than the five per cent you will achieve if you are not intentional about your growth.

Have an intentional New Year.

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I learnt to come out of my shell and be heard - The Standard