Part II of recent post, GIRL YOU BETTER [NET]WORK IT: TOP 10 TIPS TO GET AHEAD.
With over 175 million users, LinkedIn is certainly a resource you want to familiarize yourself with. Even for teens, LinkedIn is a powerful tool for establishing connections and maintaining professional relationships that may be of value in the future. Below are a few tips for getting started and building a strong network.
Gaia is Executive Director at Florida School of Traditional Midwifery.
Role Call is a Petal + Sass blog section featuring interviews with professional young women who occupy diverse careers- and their advice to teens.
Name: Gaia Zori
Age: 31
College & Major: University of Florida, Health Science (Minor in Business Administration)
Graduate School & Concentration: SUNY Albany, Master of Public Health, Epidemiology and Social, Behavioral & Community Health
A genuinely shocking headline made waves last month; and then, just as suddenly, disappeared quietly under the water. Self harm- suicide- is the leading cause of death of girls between the ages of 15 and 19 worldwide. Why aren’t we all talking about this?
The most flattering filter of all
Thinking about sharing that skin-selfie with a significant other? Consider just a few teensy points before you hit send.
The media (what you see on tv, in magazines, and in theaters) is a wildly messy and confusing melting pot of body shaming, unrealistic expectations, social and sexual pressures, and more than a few heaping tablespoons of misogyny. It’s hard to find a plot that doesn’t involve the abuse of women in some way, and yet it is simultaneously glamorized and glossed over to make us all think “should I be more like that?”
The phrase “slut shaming” often pops up in social media and magazine article commentary. What does this mean and how is it applied to women? And why is it only applied to women and not men, when guys are having just as much sexual interaction?
School is almost out for the summer… and no doubt it will feel pretty great to take a much needed break from projects and assignments. Summers are most definitely the perfect time to focus on yourself and re-evaluate who you are and where you’re heading.
What is it that makes a good friend?
Particularly in middle and high school, friends seem to wade in and out of our lives. Often you gravitate toward people with common interests, or perhaps someone who is in two or three of your classes- or maybe on your field hockey team- and you become friends situationally, bonding over a certain project or event. Some friends you can just laugh and have a good time hanging out with; others, you can trust with your deepest secrets.
For some people, finding friends is as easy as getting dressed in the morning. For others, making (and keeping) friends can be a tremendous source of anxiety. Whether you are a person who thrives in social situations or someone who winces every time you have to “find a partner” in science class, we all have a responsibility to get to know each other, even those who you might think you have nothing in common with.
Why get to know each other? What’s the big deal?
One time, at Band Camp…
Constructing an on-line identity is powerful tool, both socially and- eventually- professionally. It’s hard to imagine when you open your first facebook or instagram account and post that amazing selfie (the light was perfect) that you are starting a life-long trail of personal images, thoughts and even emojis that will follow you into your 40’s and beyond. The internet is such a commonplace, every day tool for social interaction and research that it’s sometimes hard to fathom that it can also be used against you! Whether you plan to apply to college, a part time job, or to be the future President of the United States or Late Night talk show host, it’s critical to be aware of the persona you are putting out into the word via the web. You will see yourself again someday- frozen in time as a 15 year old. You’re pretty great, but you might not want your 1-D obsession following you to law school.
Many high schools across the country are dealing with bullying and fall-outs from the new app, Burnbook. While anything in the latest app-form seems cutting edge, the idea of the “Burn” or “Slam” book has been around for as long as composition note books and pencils (note: even before the movie Mean Girls, 80’s YA novels dealt a heavy-handed lesson when it came to anonymous bullying.) Burnbook, however- an app that lets users target and attack specific people with name-calling, public shaming, and even violent threats- is slightly different in today’s ever-shrinking, all-too-public world, thanks to the viral capacity of social networking. What was once “name-calling” on the playground has evolved into a tweet or comment that can reach thousands of followers in just minutes, and the results can be long-lasting, deeply damaging, and even deadly.
Petal + Sass 