Design, Technology, Innovation

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Blogging from bus en route to mornings event w/ Ford. Follow me if Twitter for the real time goods @casiestewart. These photos were yesterday. So fun!

Started the day w/ coffee & sausages 😉

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I Hear The Mermaids Come Out in The Moonlight

I love when the sun shines and makes rainbows like this.

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Up early and off to Dearborn, Michigan!   I usually wear heels when I travel but at this temperature and 7am for a 1 hour flight, I couldn’t be bothered. Plus, my five pairs of shoes fit nicely in my now broken suitcase. I need new luggage ASAP.

Thank you Barbie for these great MK shoes. I need a pedicure.  There’s a wicked deal for shellac mani/pedi on Buytopia right now for $25. Ends tomorrow! 875 people have already got it. I have one, gonna try and go this weekend.

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This app is called TripIt. It pulls flight & travel info from your email and puts it all here for you. SUPER convenient if you travel heaps. It’s also free 😉

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I flew on the smallest little peanut ever. 18 people!

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Asked the security lady to take my photo. What a diva!

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Later Toronto! Nice being in ya.

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Hellooooooo Michigan! Sat in the car with someone from Spain Newswire and Karl Lohnes who is on CTV Metro News & HGTV. Both from TO & super nice.

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I’m here at the Hyatt in Dearborn, Michigan for Go Further With Ford a conference about Innovation & Design. INNOVATE OR DIE!  Told you that was a trend last week. I think it’s mostly traditional media which is exciting for me. Digital kids paving the way for new media huzzahhhhh!

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Ford is super savvy about this whole conference from the invite, to registration, logistics and delivery. I was here w/ Ford in January for the International Auto Show and was quite impressed. I posted about it here and here. They sent 150 of the worlds top bloggers for a three day press tour. I met  Stuart Flatt from Average Joe’s Blog in England and stalked Dylan Culhane from  South Africa. There were heaps of cool kids & journos. Looking forward to what the next few days will bring. I’ll keep you in the loop!

Room service is here. I’m starving. Hope you’re having an AWESOME day!

 

$2 Short To Take Over The World

That would be he name of a song in my band if I had a band and wrote songs. I can write but I don’t write many songs. I used to write prose and poetry before I had a blog and that made me very happy. A blog is like a long poetic story, this one about my life. I hope it goes on forever and I will go back and read it, living it over and over again. Each day as if it happened yesterday. A romance.

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There was something disarming about his smile. I gave him my last cigarette in trade for this photo. I shouldn’t smoke anyways. It’s gross.

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Tomorrow night I am seeing a band. A band I did not know, but a band I know now. They are called Blind Pilot and they are from Portland. Thank you to my friend Jonathan for being a legit hipster who knows bands ,for opening my ears to this lovely sound. They are playing the dinner at the Ford Design conference. You might like them too. I do. 

[arve url=”https://youtu.be/8qyoxYEM3mI”]

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FW 2012 Levi’s Preview & Your Personal Brand

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Last week I attended the FW 2012 preview from Levi’s at The Burroughs Building, one of my favourite venues in the city. I’ve been a lover of the Levi’s brand since I had my first pair as a kid. I remember how excited  was to rock my first 501s.

I was happy to see the brand taking a stept outside the denim box into lifestyle clothing. I’d really in love with the little dress. There’s a bunch of denim dresses in the SS collection I would love to be wearing right now.

It was nice to see some creativity in the fashion show. You’ll see how the models each came out and walked the stage playing ‘characters’ who wear Levi’s.

There was a few couples dressed in similar styles, the preppy kids, hipster boy with a fixie to show lock holder on jeans, pretty girl in the dress, and suave babe in blazer. It was nice.

Not to mention the whole performance starting with shirtless hunk.

Watch The Video:

I’m pretty sure every fashion editor in the city was there.

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We watched all the models get dressed in different styles right before our eyes.

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This guy was the babe of all babes.

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Last year I wrote a piece for The Levi’s Girl blog about building your personal brand.

“Casie Stewart knows a thing or two about leaving an online footprint. Recognized by Klout as one of Toronto’s top tweeters and bloggers, she has plenty of tips on how you can leverage social media channels as an invaluable element to your personal brand.”

                Mum used to tell me I was “someone special,” and I guess you could say I believed her. I’ve had lots of different jobs growing up, but my current job is one I only ever dreamed of.  When I started a blog, I didn’t think I was starting a brand. In 2009, I was on a TV show and the host asked, “What do you want to be?” I responded without hesitation and said, “I want to be a world brand.” Yes, that was reaching pretty far, but I knew one thing was certain: I was building a personal brand and nothing could stop me.

Not too long after that, social media really started picking up. I was right in the middle of it, spinning a web of content around me via my blog, Twitter, Tumblr and Facebook. I fell in love with the Internet and social media because it gave me an outlet to let my creativity run wild. That’s the beauty of building a personal brand: creating a representation of who YOU are and sharing it online.

A personal brand is you in an art form; it’s a mix of business and creativity. My mum used to say, “Casie, just because you don’t have money doesn’t mean you can’t compete. You just have to be more creative.” We’re lucky to live in a day and age where you can set a profile, create a voice and build a brand with an idea and the Internet.

Here are some tips on building your personal brand:

  1. Set a goal: Make a plan for your brand. What are you passionate about? What do you want to be known for?
  2. Start a blog: Use WordPress, Tumblr, Blogger or Posterous to create a free home for your online activity.
  3. Find a mentor: Find someone who is doing what you want to do and introduce yourself, learn from them and get inspired.
  4. TGIF: Twitter, Google, Internet, Facebook: Create profiles for yourself online and update them regularly with things that align with your brand.
  5. Get Involved: Seek out events related to your passion and get involved by volunteering. This is a great way to grow your brand, meet others and learn from experts.

I’ve been building my personal brand online for over five years. At first, no one read my blog, and I had no followers on Twitter. We all have to start somewhere but have the potential to go anywhere. In the words of Napoleon Hill, “What the mind of man can conceive and believe, it can achieve.”

Read the original article on The Levi’s Girl blog.

When did you get your first Levi’s? Do you have any now? LMK!

Maybe I can ask then to do a giveaway? Hint. Hint.

Have an AWESOME DAY!

Casual Sunday, Content Conductor

Limitless, the movie, the you seen it? Bradley Cooper takes a drug that allows him to use ALL of his human brain. He goes crazy. I’d go crazy. I don’t really go to the gym but I work out my brain. Imagine you could use your whole brain. I love science news.

“to that mystery is the contention that humans “only” employ 10 percent of their brain. If only regular folk could tap that other 90 percent, they too could become savants who remember π to the twenty-thousandth decimal place or perhaps even have telekinetic powers.” Scientific American, 2008

I’m working brain triple time today. Backing up my entire Macbook, making it new again. Keri would be proud! Dell Ultrabook is good. iPhone is a such an incredible device for making things.

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I’m watching Edie Segdwick in Ciao! Manhattan on Netflix. Welcome to THE FUTURE. I wonder what her blog would be like if she was here? Maybe like this, talking to herself.

Then I replaced it Rum Diary. Johnny Depp as Hunter S. Thompson.Last night a friend and I made mojitos with mint from my OWN garden. Oh yeah. Thanks Mum for bringing back my green thumb.

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I read a great article about the making of the movie and Johnny Depp’s Rum Diary promise. It talks about them being at Hotel Nacional in Cuba. I stayed there. Been to Puerto Rico where it’s filmed too.  Somebody get me a mojito.

Good quotes. The babe girl in the video has a turtle covered in Swarovski. Are big turtles good pets?  I wanna live at the beach, again.

Oh God, why did she have to happen? HA! The fashion in this movie is amazing. Happy Sunday!

 

The Weekend: Beer Bacon Balcony Breakfast

This lettuce is from my garden!

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Relaxing day, catching up on sleep. Feels good!

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INNOVATE OR DIE!!!!!!!!

EVENTS: Post Party Meltdown – MMVA, NXNE

Latest ep of my show on @CoralTV. I’ve been more active on YouTube since working with the Coral team. Viddy will load right into YouTube which makes things super fast & easy. From all the conferences I’ve been to this year, it’s clear that the future is in video. TV on the Internet FTW.  LMK what you think! Big ups to Shannon Lit who shoots/edits THIS.

I love my Lita’s! Ordered those shoes from Nasty Gal. Wish I had them in every colour/pattern/material. Super high but comfy to wear. I walked for hours in them this weekend.

Photos from Carla’s Instagram. I love these Global Warming Tees from Gingerich Group. I got one that says ‘Peace Be With You‘. I’m wearing it in next CoralTV episode of THIS.

Caught an awesome set of old school & new school hip hop covers at The Ballroom by Down With Webster after they won a few MMVA awards.  CONGRATS AGAIN TO 1188 FILMS FOR WINNING TOO.

Rock version of Drake’s motto. I love this track. I did a lip dub on Viddy the other week. 

Instagrammy photos from the weekend made with Flipagram I blogged yesterday.

 

My YouTube channel has a few updates and we’re over 120,000 views now. Subscribe to it! You don’t wanna miss a thing. Aerosmith FTW. I just drank an iced tea, I forgot how refreshing it was.

Enjoy the day. Drink lots of water!

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Feel well. I have no energy. No energy but that to work here with my computer and iPhone. (Which actually takes quite a bit of energy TBH.) I would like to sleep for days but that is not an option. Send love <3

BTW iMovie for iPhone is pretty neat! Happy SUMMER.

TECH: Take a look, It’s in a book, A Reading Rainbow!

I’m so glad digital kids get to experience Reading Rainbow. OHHHHH YES.

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I like wizards & fairies, princes & princesses, and pirates. Right now, just like I did as a kid. I actually like all these things. Ocean adventures? Travel? Things that go? Yes, yes and yes.

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I first visited the genius academy. Obviously! The app picks books for you (the kid) based on selections then the books come aliiiiiiiive! There’s video fieldtrips, easter eggs, and games.  I grew up in the library and spent every summer in the Summer Reading Club. I LOVED RR.

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I really should read more books now.

But I read the whole internet every day?  It’s like a thousand books. 🙂

LeVar was on Jimmy Fallon last night. Jimmy did a cover of the Reading Rainbow song as The Doors once. I chatted with LeVar in 2008 at a dinner I did some work with Women’s Post in honor of  Winnie Mandela. I can’t find any photos or links but it happened! There is on Women’s Post link but it’s got a warning on it. He was super cool &   high energy! We bonded!

From Mashable: Reading Rainbow is Back

Their app makes good business sense. Many children who grew up watching the television show now have children within the app’s target age range of 3 to 9 — giving Reading Rainbow a clear nostalgic edge over other children’s books in the App Store.

But the project is also a sincere attempt to encourage reading. Its digital enhancements of children’s books look more like the subtle, story-building interactivity of pop-up books than distracting bells and whistles.

Where the app most departs from its television roots is in the virtual world outside of its books. Each story, for instance, comes with games and puzzles. Kids design their own virtual backpacks, can track the minutes they’ve read from a dashboard and receive digital stickers as rewards for finishing new titles.

The strategy is the same as it was when Reading Rainbow was a TV show. By meeting young people in a new medium, the brand hopes they’ll pick up an old one.

I can go anywhere. I can do anything! So can you.