Quiet frankly, the title of this digital art poster I made says it all. It is a self-portrait. It is a symbol of my path to being triumphant over tragedy.
"Claim the Fiery Babe Inside You" ©2011AllisonMassari
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TEDxZaragoza and "The Future of Happiness"
Allison Massari TEDxZaragoza
Without question 11.5.11 was one of the best days of my LIFE! The event was in Spain and the love and generosity of the organizers was off the charts…
Oh my, oh my I was blown away... A small group of 7 of people in Zaragoza with no money for the event, got a TEDx license. Their dream was to bring happiness to the people of Spain where there is a lot of suffering because of a 25% unemployment rate in some areas, among other things. They worked for one entire year, long hard hours (after full-time jobs) and convinced people to sponsor this event in a country where most did not know about TED.
They did all of the marketing on Twitter and managed to get over 7,000 people watching the event live on the internet! Plus almost 1million twitter comments!
The event was beyond amazing! EVERY detail and possibility was dreamed up and executed. They had unbelievable technological video and light shows creating visual impact on the stage and music that was created just for the event....
They answered (literally) hundreds of thousands of emails personally, helped coach the speakers, made videos to promote the event, they had a live jazz band as we entered the building and served chocolates while everyone gathered. And chefs volunteered to surprise all of us with food that would remind us of Happiness... the most beautiful confections in bright colors. As we entered the room after a break we were each handed little wrapped gifts. It was a magical day of constant giving like this and I was in awe. When the event was over the team went up to the stage (see photo below) and they said, "The entire stage set here behind us is made of boxes. Each big box has a gift inside, and everyone here gets one." Then they immediately began deconstructing the set and handing us all of these boxes one by one.... It was like they were giving us EVERYTHING they had to the end. It was so symbolic. I was crying...
TEDxZargoza Building
I left a piece of my heart in Spain...
Then all of the speakers walked around and served the whole audience champagne! There was so much love and laughing and sweetness and hugging... Then when I thought it was over they gave me bottles of champagne and then the whole team came to the hotel and stood shoulder-to-shoulder smiling and they handed me a box of special Spanish wine. They took all of us to an amazing dinner in Zaragoza. We shared late night stories and mojitos. Wow... I did not want to go to sleep.
Life is sweet when we make it good.
Let us all be inspired by what they have done.
Video Screen Shot
Other speakers with me were Barbara Ehrenreich, Nic Marks from the UK, Erling Kagge the adventurer from Norway, and more...
Organizers
p.s. Many of my Spanish friends now have Russian alias names. Need I say more?
While I was in Spain giving my TED talk I was given the name, "The Ambassador of Happiness". It seems to have stuck. I love that... May I always bring you happiness.
I love you all.
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