Lauren Simone Blogs

I just celebrated my birthday. My husband took me on a road trip from Connecticut to New Hampshire. He wanted to fill my wish about visiting Mount Washington. Mount Washington is the highest peak in the Northeastern United States at 6,288.2 ft and the most topographically prominent mountain east of the Mississippi River. Not only is the mountain super tall, it is also notorious for its erratic weather. So to climb it, we did not hike, we took the cog rail. The Cog Railway, or simply “the Cog”—was chartered by the New Hampshire State Legislature in 1858 at the request of Sylvester Marsh (1803-1884). The...

Girls for Technology hosted a Building for Equity accelerator and pitch competition. The competition took place Thursday, November 2021 at the Society of Hartford. Nine female entrepreneurs were chosen to participate in weekly Master Academy Sessions with Sabrina Tucker-Barret, Anthony Barret, Kim Moxie, Monisha Edwards, Vinasia Miles, Karlet Hewitt and TC Mack.  There were five judges and four prizes: $10K, $5K, 3K and 1K. It was hosted by Free from 106&Park and the music was by award winning DJ Q Boogie. The photographs were taken by the one and only, award winning Leslie from LMG Photography.  The 9 entrepreneurs went on...

Verify Your Business Account Brands should apply for a ‘verified badge’ through Instagram.  Apply for Instagram verification when your Brand is in the news and getting media attention: During a time when you've sent out press releases. Your Brand/name has been in a major publication or promotion. Instagram performs its own research about your company, so when your name is media visible - that's the time to apply. How to Apply for a Verified Instagram Badge: Go to your profile and tap ‘Menu’ in the upper right corner. Tap ‘Settings’. Tap ‘Account’, then tap ‘Request Verification’. After you've filled out...

I have been thinking about this quite frequently due to three recent experiences. I saw Marvel’s “Shang Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings”, I read an attempt at a joke, and I participated in an icebreaker activity. The movie covered the phenomenon that Asian Americans tend to have two names; one from the family and one that is easily pronounced by English speakers (e.g. Shang-Chi changed his name to Shaun). The joke was: “Don’t name your kids after biblical characters without telling them the bible story, because Moses just robbed me.” And the icebreaker was “What is the meaning of...