#5SmartReads - August 15, 2022

Olivia Howell is the co-founder of Fresh Starts Registry, the first ever support registry and resource guide for anyone navigating life changes, including divorce or breakup, moving, career changes, stepping into your truth, or starting again after grief. Her background is in social media marketing, and she’s the founder of March Lion Media, where they have managed social media for all sorts of companies and people for a decade. Olivia is a single mom of two amazing boys on Long Island (born and bred!), and in her spare time, she loves to watercolor, read about sociology and families (and romantic novels!), and collect crystals she know nothing about but love the way they feel.

It Took Me 2 Months To Recover From Working As A TikTok Moderator (Insider)

The world of social media management is VAST, and something we don't think about, practically ever, is that behind the scenes there are a lot of folks at work moderating everything we see on the platforms.

This eye-opening piece on what it's like to be a TikTok moderator was shocking, but not surprising; I've read similar pieces from the people who moderate Facebook and Instagram as well. As with any platform on social media, there is so much happening we simply don't see, and that content we don't see? It can be deeply traumatizing for those who do see it - this piece brings up a lot of topics, including labor wages, trauma in the workplace, and toxic work environments. The feeds we see across our channels are (safely, mostly) curated because of the people who do the hard work behind the scenes and it's time we owe them major props.

Meet The Woman Who Wrote The Toys ‘R’ Us Jingle (CNN Business)

This article is a few years old, but I simply had to share it! As a child of the late 80s/early 90s, everyone knew all of the lyrics to the Toys 'R' Us "I Don't Want to Grow Up" jingle.

As I was singing it in the shower the other day and STILL KNEW all of the lyrics 30ish years later, I wanted to learn more about where this jingle came from! Turns out, it was the genius of marketing pro Linda Kaplan Thaler when she was a junior copywriter at an ad agency - and the song has lived on! I did a little deep dive into her work and she's an advertising hall of famer, and the brains behind many other slogans and jingles we love. I love learning more about the people behind our culture, don't you?

Do you ALSO know all of the lyrics to this jingle?

He Lived In Oregan, And She Lived In England. A Drawing Of A Cat Brought Them Together (NPR)

Well, this meet cute has everything I love: romance, twitter, and art! Let's break it down for you (and read the whole piece, because it's ADORABLE). Boy in Oregon commissions twitter artist to create drawing of his cat named Luna. Artist creates drawing, posts it to twitter.

Girl in the UK sees the photo of a cat named Luna and says, "I also have a cat named Luna!" Girl goes the boy's twitter and sees his many cat photos. Girl swoons. Girl contacts him on Twitter...and the rest is history!! It's amazing how the universe can bring people together, right? How did you meet your significant other? I love a good Meet Cute story!!

We Know Greek Statues Weren’t White. Now You Can See Them In Color. (NPR)

NGL, this piece from NPR had me quite literally screaming with excitement. I was a Classical Studies major at Drew University and spent SO MUCH TIME at the Greco-Roman Art exhibits of the Metropolitan Museum of Art that I could practically lead the tours in my sleep. This article blew my mind!

We know that the Greek sculptures weren't just white, and now, as the article says, "a new exhibit at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York scatters recreations of what these statues ACTUALLY looked like throughout its galleries: they're painted in garish colors with multiple patterns." You have to take a look at these pieces - they're GORGEOUS and have so much life and culture in them! I'm so excited to head in and see them this Fall - have you seen this exhibit yet?

Fresh Starts Registry Founds Olivia Howell And Genevieve Dreizen Have Created A One-Of-A-Kind Site To Help You Design Your Future During & After A Divorce (Medium)

I get asked a lot about my journey to co-found Fresh Starts Registry. A few months back my co-founder (my sister), and I did an interview with divorce journalist Ilyssa Lipschultz on why we decided to shake up the registry industry and create the term, "support registry."

At Fresh Starts, we don't believe that the items on a registry are gifts, they are support - when you purchase items for someone from their divorce/grief/career change/life change registry, you are not just purchasing the item for them, you are telling them through your action that you support their brave decisions and their journey.

We firmly believe that when you change the stuff around you, the stuff around you changes - and when you can make decisions about the little things (a new toothbrush holder, a new shower curtain, a new kitchen knife), it empowers you to make decisions about the big things, as you start to see your new life come together before your eyes. We're proud to be the forerunners the Support Registry space and are passionate about making sure no one is ever alone on their Fresh Start journey again!