52 Books in a Year: Week 12
Last week, I read Half Broke Horses, a true-life novel by Jeannette Walls. It was fabulous, as I knew it would be because the first book I read from Walls (her childhood memoir called The Glass Castle) I read in one sitting. Within reading the first few pages of both books, Walls captivates you with her incredible […]
Member Spotlight: Dan Vache of United Fresh Produce Association
Last week, I sat down with Dan Vache, who is a long time member of the thinkspace community. Dan works for the United Fresh Produce Association which is a trade organization. Since 1904 they have been representing all parties involved with handling fresh fruits and vegetables – from the grower to the shipper to the distributer. Dan […]
52 Books in a Year: Week 11
This week I re-read #SocialEra by Nilofer Merchant. Reading this book is a rite of passage to work at thinkspace. I was actually given the book before I accepted the job here (probably to make sure I aligned with the community’s core values…which I do). The book outlines everything thinkspace strives to be – a […]
[Double-header!] 52 Books in a Year: Weeks 9 & 10
Due to Memorial Day weekend, I am late on posting Week 9 (my apologies!). For Week 9, I read the novel Bel Canto by Ann Patchett. The book is a beautiful blend of cultures. The setting takes place somewhere in South America, and the two main characters of the book are Mr. Hosokawa and Roxanne Coss. […]
52 Books in a Year: Week 8
A few months ago, I attended a simulcast of The Justice Conference in Bellevue. One of the speakers at the conference was Claire Diaz-Ortiz. Claire (@claire) has worked at Twitter since 2009 and manages Twitter’s social good initiatives, including the Twitter for Nonprofits and Twitter Ads for Good programs. She is also known as “The Woman Who Got the Pope on […]
Coworking: who you surround yourself with matters.
In a recent presentation given at thinkspace, the CEO and founder of thinkspace, Peter Chee, spoke on the importance of mentors and role models. He confessed that when he first started out, he had a 50 page business plan which he was pretty jazzed about, but “didn’t grab ahold of the models of mentors early […]
52 Books in a Year: Week 7
This week, I got hit with a high fever for three days, so have moved my Week 7 book to Week 8. However, I did manage to still read an entire book…but not exactly a novel. This week I read a children’s book to my nephews, Cooper (age 4) and Jack (age 2): Llama Llama Red […]
52 Books in a Year: Week 6
For week 6 of my yearlong reading project, I sped through The New Digital Age by Eric Schmidt and Jared Cohen. If you are anything like me (and intimidated by the sheer volume and language of such a book), stop right there. Just reading the introduction hooked me in to want to know more about […]
Happy 5th birthday, thinkspace!
The thinkspace community first opened its doors 5 years ago today, on May 1st of 2008. Since then, thinkspace has been – and continues to be – home to many startups and established businesses. Upon starting thinkspace, Peter Chee understood that if he took a conventional path, he could expect conventional results. But from the […]
52 Books in a Year: Week 5
One Thousand Gifts is a book by Ann Voskamp. In a similar style to C.S. Lewis, every word that Ann writes is poetic, and filled with depth and meaning. Sometimes reading just a few pages gave me enough to stew over for a while. And then I’d re-read those pages and see something new. Her words […]