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[Social Entrep.] 8 Steps Nonprofits Can Take to Adopt AI Responsibly

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[Social Entrep.] 8 Steps Nonprofits Can Take to Adopt AI Responsibly

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The breakneck rate at which people have adopted the generative AI writing tool ChatGPT has been astonishing. ChatGPT, which creates new text based on user prompts, surpassed 100 million monthly active users in just two months, according to data compiled by UBS. Compare that to TikTok and Instagram, hit platforms that took nine and 30 months, respectively, to reach that same benchmark.

Using the Scoville scale, a scientific measure of the spiciness of chili peppers, we can, somewhat unscientifically, analogize our way to understanding just how much of an outlier the ChatGPT phenomenon really is in the history of software applications.

Generative AI is now in stage two of the Gartner Hype Cycle, a graphic representation of innovation maturity used in the business sector. It has moved past stage one, "innovation trigger," wherein the technology shows up everywhere all at once, and is now at its "peak of inflated expectations." We have seen this cycle many times before with technologies like personal computers, mobile phones, and social media. However, there's one difference between AI and previous ones: It's making decisions that only people could make until right now. This includes decisions about who to hire and what stories to tell, and it makes this moment both exciting and terrifying.

In the social sector, many nonprofits believe AI will solve all our work problems, instantly and painlessly. (It won't.) Others have outsized fears about it wreaking havoc and supplanting staff. Some organizations are jumping in early; others will wait. But one thing is clear: Nonprofit engagement with AI is necessary and requires thoughtful preparation.

How Nonprofits Are Using AI Now

Fully integrating AI into the workplace will likely take years, as a recent McKinsey study indicates, but the process is already underway. Fundraisers are currently using it to help write donor thank-you notes, newsletters, grant proposals, and press releases. One development officer told us that using ChatGPT to help draft and edit these kinds of materials is saving her many hours of work a week. And a grant writer for a human services agency shared that she used ChatGPT to edit three different grant proposals for conciseness and all three were funded!

Everyday software products such as Google Workspace and Microsoft Office have also begun to incorporate generative AI functions to help users craft presentations, respond to emails, and schedule meetings. Nonprofits are just starting to use these tools, and efforts like Microsoft and Data.org's Generative AI Skills Challenge, a grant for generative AI training and upskilling to drive social impact, will no doubt accelerate adoption.

Other types of AI are taking hold in organizational life as well. Chatbots (conversational interfaces using large learning language models) like ChatGPT can answer questions from website users or provide internal information to nonprofit employees on demand. AI-powered screening tools are assessing potential employees and service recipients. And there are numerous AI-driven fundraising tools to help with donor prospecting and managing donor communication.

Handling AI With Care

Used carefully and skillfully, AI has the potential to save people thousands of hours of rote, time-consuming work a year, freeing them up to do the kinds of things only people can do: solve problems, deepen relationships, and build communities. And approaches like "co-boting," which involves using AI tools to augment rather than replace human jobs, can bring out the best in both bots and people and yield the dividend of time.

However, we're concerned that organizations eager to collect on that dividend of time are diving into the use of incredibly powerful technology without enough consideration of the human or ethical ramifications. In 2022, the National Eating Disorders Association (NEDA), the largest nonprofit organization supporting individuals and families affected by eating disorders, became the poster child for rash and reckless use of AI. The COVID-19 pandemic created a surge in calls to its hotline, and the employees and 200 volunteers who monitored it could barely keep up with the demand. In response, the organization implemented Tessa, an AI-driven chatbot that responded to queries from people suffering from eating disorders, and promptly handed out pink slips to hotline staff. Worse still, NEDA failed to adequately supervise or control the chatbot, which began dispensing harmful advice to callers.

Generative AI raises a host of ethical questions and complexities. Large learning language models like ChatGPT are trained on content from the Internet, including sites like Wikipedia, Twitter, and Reddit. Because this data includes overrepresented, white supremacist, misogynistic, and ageist views, the tools trained on it can further amplify biases and harms. ChatGPT can also provide false information, or what researchers call "hallucinations," responding to user prompts or questions with very persuasive but inaccurate text. Another danger is that fundraising staff using any of the public, free models might accidentally enter private donor information into the model, effectively giving other users access to it. There are increasing concerns and lawsuits about intellectual property because many generative AI tools have incorporated copyrighted text and artwork from the Internet into their databases without permission. And there are risks related to ethical storytelling. The Toronto-based nonprofit Furniture Bank, for example, switched to AI-generated but realistic-looking images meant to evoke sympathy in its 2022 holiday campaign, raising many ethical questions alongside donations.

Adopting ChatGPT also brings reputational risks, especially if people don't carefully review the text it generates before sharing it; results can be insensitive and offensive. A KFC restaurant in Germany, for example, recently sent out an AI-generated tweet suggesting that people commemorate Kristallnacht with a KFC meal. The text translated to: "It's a memorial day for the Night of Broken Glass! Treat yourself with more tender cheese on your crispy chicken. Now at KFCheese!" Vanderbilt University's Peabody College in Tennessee meanwhile deferred to ChatGPT to write a "heartfelt" letter to students about coming together as a community to cope with a mass shooting at Michigan State University.

Using AI ethically is not a technical challenge but a leadership imperative, and its adoption must be deeply human-centered. Leaders need to develop guidelines and offer training to ensure that everyone understands what it does, and is careful and thoughtful about its use. This includes not only the people in charge of the technology but all staff. Imagining that staff members aren't using generative AI because your nonprofit either hasn't developed guidelines or has forbidden its use is foolish. Recent research from Fishbowl shows that 43 percent of working professionals in many fields are using generative AI and that 70 percent of them are doing it without their boss's knowledge. (Maybe the boss is using it, too!)

8 Steps to Adopting AI Responsibly

We urge organizations to take a variety of steps toward the smart, ethical adoption of AI right now. Rather than a one-and-done checklist, the considerations below provide a framework for ongoing exploration, experimentation, and growth.

1. Be knowledgeable and informed. Nonprofit leaders must understand how the AI tools staff are using or plan to integrate into their work can affect operations and outcomes, and rather than rushing to experiment and failing fast, think through potential risks and rewards before diving in. Developers are pitching AI as a kind of magical fairy dust, but it's important to be clear on what each tool does and doesn't do. For example, using a chatbot on the frontline to dispense mental health information or therapy is potentially dangerous, because clinicians are still trying to figure out how to effectively deploy them, and under what conditions.

2. Address anxiety and fears. Perhaps the greatest fear about AI is that it will take away jobs. In a recent Fishbowl survey of 52,000 people across 44 countries and territories, almost a third of respondents were concerned that AI or other technologies would make them redundant within the next 3 years. However, the likely reality, according to the World Economic Forum job report, is that jobs will change, not disappear, and that it will happen over time, not immediately. Leaders can mitigate the anxiety staff have about changes to their jobs and work by having open and honest conversations about the use of the technology and the steps the organization is taking to ensure that its use is values-aligned and human-centered. They can also offer guarantees that no employees will be laid off as a result of the organization adopting AI and that AI will augment and support staff work.

3. Stay human-centered. Before adopting AI, nonprofits should create a written pledge explaining that AI will be used only in human-centered ways. It should state that people will always oversee the technology and make final decisions on its use, in ways that don't create or exacerbate biases. As Amy Sample Ward, CEO of the Nonprofit Technology Enterprise Network (NTEN), told us, "I think one of the simplest and most important guidelines is that tools should not make decisions. That's been a core part of NTEN's internal approach." Organizations should pay special attention to instances where AI intermediates human interaction, such as collecting client information to assess mental health conditions or providing counseling services, where risks to human well-being are greatest. This includes thinking through workflows for co-boting: What will people always oversee, and where and how can bots augment that work?

4. Use data safely. The nonprofit sector can and should raise the bar on the safe and ethical use of data. Leaders must answer yes to questions like: Is our AI tool using written materials by authors who have consented to be included in the data set? And are we giving our subscribers, donors, and other supporters opportunities to be "forgotten" as the European Union recommends? The Smart Nonprofit, which two of us coauthored, devotes an entire chapter to how leaders can start to answer these questions and understand the privacy issues related to different tools they are thinking of adopting.

5. Mitigate risks and biases. The cybersecurity field uses a process called "threat modeling" to envision what could go wrong when moving an AI-use-case concept from prototype to pilot to full implementation. Nonprofits should deploy a similar risk-based planning approach to ensure that AI use is safe and unbiased, including discussing and identifying worst-case scenarios. The nonprofit Best Friends Animal Society, for example, wanted to use a chatbot to help potential cat adopters select cats during its Black Cat Adoption Week campaign. However, during the testing stage, it discovered that it would be easy for the chatbot to repeat racial slurs or inappropriate sexual innuendos. Even with a controlled pilot, it was almost impossible to train the bot on what not to say. In addition, the programmers had favorite cats to recommend, creating bias, so the team ultimately decided to pursue other strategies.

6. Identify the right use cases. Nonprofits should begin by using AI to solve exquisite pain points, bottlenecks, and problems that are stopping other things from happening. Recognizing that it was spending enormous amounts of time doing prospect research, for example, the National Aquarium in Baltimore development staff turned to an AI-driven donor database that fully integrated wealth screening data, in part by assisting the process of copy-pasting data and research from different sources. Other pain points might include frustration and wasted time searching for documents or fielding the same questions from constituents. Tasks that are both time-consuming and extremely repetitive are often good candidates for AI automation or augmentation.

7. Piloting the use of AI. Organizations should never use AI at scale without careful consideration and controlled experiments. Leaders should start with a prototype test that's small, time-limited, and assessed by staff, including how the use of AI affected their jobs, their relationship with the organization, and their time. In addition to measuring the impact on staff and external stakeholders, organizations need to carefully and thoroughly check the accuracy of results and determine any bias before rollout. For example, the nonprofit Talking Points developed an app that uses AI for translating conversations between teachers and non-English speaking parents but began using it only after extensive user testing to ensure that the translation into different languages was accurate.

8. Job redesign and workplace learning. As AI frees up staff time and allows them to take on other job functions, job descriptions will need updating and some staff will need upskilling so that they can effectively oversee and reap the productivity benefits of tools such as ChatGPT. Organizations should create a shared playbook with best practices that includes guidance on things like how to craft prompts. It should also establish ground rules, such as staff can use AI output only as a first draft, must manually fact-check responses, and not share confidential information with public AI models. At NTEN, staff can use any analysis, machine learning, or other tech systems to gather or provide some perspective on data or information, but they must serve only as one point of analysis. NTEN staff makes all the decisions and takes all the actions. Finally, a healthy workplace requires human connection, so professional skills development must include exercising emotional intelligence, empathy, problem formation, and creativity.

AI, generative and otherwise, will likely find its way into every aspect of organizational life over the next few years. It will fundamentally change what people do in organizations and what technology does. To prepare, senior leaders of nonprofits should begin to create robust ethical and responsible use policies right now to ensure that their organizations stay human-centered and in charge of the technology. Responsible, thoughtful engagement will not only reap productivity benefits and improve the work experience for nonprofit staff, but also help nonprofits serve clients better and attract more donors.

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8 Steps Nonprofits Can Take to Adopt AI Responsibly (SSIR)

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How organizations can engage with AI in smart and ethical ways right now.

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[Social Entrep.] How to Tell Real Stories About Impact 

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[Social Entrep.] How to Tell Real Stories About Impact 

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21 Trendiest Fashion Blogs to Follow in 2023

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21 Trendiest Fashion Blogs to Follow in 2023

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When it comes to fashion, visuals are key. It's no wonder, then, that many lovers of style turn to Instagram and fashion blogs to get their fill of all things fashion.

Instagram is great when it comes to OOTDs-outfit of the day-and quick style inspirations, but blogs are where the serious fashionistas go to write about trends, advice, and the latest fashion innovations. Not feeling particularly stylish today? Fashion blogs can give you inspiration for dressing well even on those lazy mornings. Got your eye on this season's hottest trends? These blogs are great for helping you figure out which clothing pieces and colors suit your frame. They can also provide you with ideas about mixing and matching pieces to create a dozen perfect looks without breaking the bank.

The rise of fashionable Instagram influencers and stylists paved the way for the bloggers on our list to have a significant presence online. Many of these bloggers started out on social media, and their keen eye for style did not go unnoticed by their followers. While they have their own website, most of them continue to be active on Instagram and YouTube.

21 Trendiest Fashion Blogs to Follow:

Atlantic-Pacific creator Blair Eadie has been in the fashion industry for several years now. Having worked for companies such as Tory Burch and Gap, she has the insider's experience in how the industry has evolved over the years. She started Atlantic-Pacific in 2010 to showcase her own fashion aesthetic, which she describes as "east-coast-meets-west-coast." She has built up a significant social media following, including over 1.9 million Instagram followers.

She has worked as an influencer with many brands, including Nordstrom, Amazon, Sephora, CoverGirl, Gucci and many more. She has also collaborated on global campaigns with luxury brands such as Vogue, Elle, and Harper's Bazaar, among others.

A quick perusal of her website shows eye-catching images of the latest trends that she loves and her tips on what to wear and where to get them. What's also great about Atlantic-Pacific is the regular updates of FAQs that Eadie posts, where she responds to questions she receives from fans and followers.

Typical recent articles include:

The Daileigh's Ashleigh Hutchinson wants her readers to build their perfect closet. She aims to help women of all ages find or create a style they love. In particular, Ashleigh wants older women to feel confident in their own style. She wants to break the assumption that some trends are suited only to a particular age group. Ashleigh's philosophy centers around the notion that "age is only a number."

Ashleigh's blog is full of advice for the regular woman to make better fashion choices, whether it's "Dressing Better With the Clothes You Have" or starting a capsule wardrobe. Along with her blog posts, she has also published e-books and has even held online webinars to help people improve their fashion sense.

Ashleigh frequently posts "How To" articles, often adapted to target a particular segment of her audience. She has written posts that are aimed at women of varying ages:

The whimsically named Egg Canvas is the brainchild of Erica Choi, a design director and photographer based in New York.

Why the name "Egg Canvas"? Erica was inspired by her Korean childhood nickname, which means , while "canvas" is the medium with which art is created. "Egg Canvas," therefore, is her life-creating beautiful things each day on a blank canvas.

A licensed esthetician and graphic design graduate, Erica has a discerning eye for visuals. The posts on Egg Canvas have beautiful photos that are accompanied by short texts.

The blog includes a section showcasing the latest New York Fashion Week as well as a guide around NYC.

The Fashion Guitar is the online blog of Dutch-born Charlotte Groeneveld-Van Haren. Now based in New York, she is a mother of two and runs her blog full-time.

Charlotte had worked with fashion blogs in one of her former jobs until she decided to create one herself. As a personal style blog, The Fashion Guitar showcases Charlotte's own fashion sense. When she became a mother, the posts naturally featured her maternity and motherhood style, and it became a significant part of the website. Charlotte has worked with her favorite brands and designers, and loves collaborating with them.

The Fashion Guitar splits its posts into nine categories:

Let's face it-the body type of models is far from reality. Slim people do exist in real life, but there are women with bigger sizes who can look just as good. People come in all shapes and sizes, but many of us have been conditioned to believe that only one body type is ideal for fashion.

This is the mindset that Girl With Curves hopes to shatter. Tanesha Awasthi created Girl With Curves in 2011 to represent everyday people who aren't a size 0 or 2. The blog describes itself as an "award-winning blog made possible by people who believe women deserve to look and feel beautiful, regardless of weight, shape or size."

Since starting the blog, Tanesha has become a favorite plus-sized fashion blogger in the industry. She hopes to help women-particularly bigger sized women-build their confidence and self-esteem through fashion.

The blog includes trends, style tips, beauty advice, plus parenting and wellness. Their hashtag #StyleHasNoSize emphasizes their belief that fashion and style are for everyone, regardless of their body type.

In 2021, they launched the Girl With Curves at QVC collection, featuring pieces with true size inclusivity.

Fans of the minimalist aesthetic will love Australian blogger Sara Crampton's website Harper & Harley. Her "less is more" philosophy is unmistakable in her posts, from her fashion to her home design. Since starting the blog in 2008, Sara has made a name for herself as the go-to brand for the classic, timeless, and minimalist wardrobe.

Sara has appeared on the Australian reality show Fashion Bloggers. She has also worked with global fashion brands such as Gucci, Estée Lauder, Uniqlo, and Nike. Sara's influence has also extended to non-fashion brands, and she has also been tapped by Jaguar, YSL Beauté, L'Oreal, and Dyson.

If you love whites, blacks, and grays, head on over to Harper & Harley for a look at Sara's minimalist but super trendy fashion style. Some of her posts include:

Hello Fashion by Colombian-American blogger Christine Andrew features posts covering everything from fashion to beauty, family, lifestyle, and travel.

Christine created her own fashion brand called ILY Couture in 2011. In the same year, she started Hello Fashion, initially as an online diary where she shared her favorite fashion finds as well as helped customers wear and style their ILY Couture buys.

Christine is a true style icon, having appeared on Vanity Fair's Best-Dressed List. Ironically, she was rejected from a fashion design school-it was this rejection that drove her to strive in the fashion industry.

Some recent posts in Hello Fashion include:

Blog creator and editor Tala Samman defines fashion as "what declare is in," while style is more personal-"what declare is in." My Fash Diary is Tala's personal style diary, often posting about the things that she loves, what she wears, the hottest trends in Dubai and in cities where she travels, and others.

Dubai-based Tala, who was born in Chicago and has Syrian roots, gives us a glimpse of the fashion and styles in the Middle East. Although the blog's name implies a heavy leaning toward fashion, Tala also posts about beauty, food, and travel.

My Fash Diary has gained international recognition, receiving nominations for Marie Claire, Twitter, UK Blog, and Ahlan! Magazine's Best at the Dubai awards. She was cited in 2011 as one of Dubai's Hot 100, and has been recognized in prestigious publications like Grazia UK, Grazia Middle East, Harper's Bazaar Arabia, and Marie Claire Middle East.

We often think of fashion blogs as exclusive to women, but fashion is for all genders. One Dapper Street is one blog that focuses on men and aims to change how they think about fashion. This blog is the online home of Marcel Floruss - "a German dude who loves fashion and all that goes with it." Fashion is Marcel's passion, bringing him from Germany to New York City.

A former model, Marcel went to fashion school in New York. While studying for his bachelor's degree, he decided to do something about the way men dress and how they perceive fashion as feminine.

In One Dapper Street, Marcel has combined his two other passions-photography and shopping. As the name suggests, the blog offers a mix of dapper and street styles for the modern man.

The blog includes numerous highly visual articles on a variety of style and lifestyle topics geared toward men.

Multi-hyphenated creative Grasie Mercedes is not your usual fashion blogger. She is an actress, writer, filmmaker, director, and podcast host who also happens to have a rocking sense of style. Her website, simply named Grasie Mercedes, features her work in the entertainment industry. The blog section is where she posts about fashion, travel, beauty, and lifestyle.

You can find luscious photography in her posts. You will see Grasie sporting the latest fashion trends and her favorite outfits.

One might consider Grasie's website as her online portfolio, where her huge creative talent is showcased. Her posts about fashion prove her worth as a stylist and a blogger.

What My Boyfriend Wore is not the blog of a fashion-forward girlfriend, but it did start out with creator Sergio Ines' now former girlfriend posting photos of his outfits on Instagram. This "fashion diary with a difference," as Sergio describes it, is all about fashion and styling for the ordinary man.

It covers many aspects of men's lifestyle and fashion, from wearing suits properly to different ways of wearing a T-shirt, and even posts on drinks. The blog articles are accompanied by photos of Sergio in his dapper outfits, or photos of his trips. A regular topic is "Dressiquete," where the South African blogger tackles common style rules for men's fashion, such as matching your belt with your shoes, and where your tie bar should sit. (It's between the third and fourth buttons of your shirt, in case you were wondering.)

Some of the blog's fascinating categories include:

We Wore What is one of those remarkable blogs that have found success as an online shop. Founder Danielle Bernstein started We Wore What in 2010 while still a student in New York City. A self-taught photographer, she started with photographing street fashion in her campus. Eventually, the blog evolved into something more personal, and Danielle's career as a fashion influencer began. She has since written a New York Times bestseller entitled "This Is Not a Fashion Story," and was cited by Forbes in their 30 Under 30 list before the age of 25.

Although it has transformed into an online store, We Wore What has not abandoned its roots and is still active as a fashion blog. Danielle and her team posts about the latest style trends, gift guides, and other accessories.

If you're looking to strike a balance between effortless daily wear and healthy living, pop over to We Wore What.

You won't often find a fashion blogger with the title "Dr." But Inthefrow's founder Victoria Magrath, Ph.D., successfully completed her postgraduate studies in Fashion Marketing at the University of Manchester, around the same time that she launched Inthefrow. Now one of the most established fashion blogs around today, it wowed the world. Victoria's talent and skill in fashion has also been recognized by others: in 2016 and 2017, she was named Glamour's Woman of the Year, and she won the Best UK Fashion Blog for 2018 in the Vuelio Blog Awards.

Victoria's fame has seen her represent global brands. She's worked with Bvlgari, Dyson Hair, Lumene, St. Tropez, and Armani Beauty. But that's not all what Inthefrow is about. A former university lecturer, Victoria has written a book called The New Fashion Rules and has also worked with retailer, Edge of Ember, to design her own line of sustainable silver jewelry.

If you're looking for some of the finest advice on what to wear and how to style your closet and makeup, visit Inthefrow. You might be interested in these posts:

Glamazon Diaries is the perfect blend of fashion, beauty, lifestyle, travel, wellness, and a touch of wedding advice. One of the earliest fashion blogs in Washington D.C., Glamazon Diaries was created in 2007 by Makeda Saggau-Sackey. As an influencer in the body positive movement, she's committed to making women of all shapes and sizes feel confident in their skin, and do so on a budget.

Makeda's take on fashion is a very personal one. The wedding section of Glamazon Diaries, for instance, documents Makeda's own experience, from their proposal story to her wedding to Frenchman Thomas Rabioux, a senior manager at Louis Vuitton.

You'll find tons of great takes on trends and seasons, and get a peek at what Makeda loves to wear. And if you see something you absolutely must have on her blog, Makeda helps you out by posting links to where you can shop for the look.

Another doctorate graduate on our list is Monroe Steel, founder of Fashion Steele NYC. Back in 2010, Monroe completed her Ph.D. in Physical Therapy and needed an outlet for her creative side. She was brimming with ideas and a love for fashion-it didn't take long for her to capitalize on both. Since then, Monroe has swapped her scrubs for a more fashionable outfit, transitioning to full-time blogging to make the most of her two passions-writing and fashion. From the best thrift buys to look out for to high-end events like New York, Paris, and Milan Fashion Week, you'll find all the inspiration to look your best.

Fashion Steele NYC also explores travel, beauty, lifestyle, and events. This makes it a smart guide for what to do, see, and keep up with weekly. And if you're thinking about starting a blog or an online business yourself, Monroe also gives advice like "How to Not Suck at Public Speaking" and "7 Tips for Being a Successful Entrepreneur."

Maria Vizuete is a former stock analyst t urned fashion blogger. She was working in Wall Street when she started her fashion blog Mia Mia Mine as a creative outlet. Like other bloggers on our list who came from other industries, Maria believes her shift to fashion blogging was the best decision she has made. Her background in finance can be seen in some of the themes of her blog. She gives advice to women on investment pieces they can splurge on, along with tips on how to pair them with more affordable clothes. Her target market is the working woman who wants to look her best anytime from day to night.

Like many savvy fashion bloggers, Maria has expanded her scope to other niches. Today, a visit to Mia Mia Mine will get you home decor, marriage, fitness, travel, and blogging tips. If you're wondering what fashion pieces to invest in and which ones you can get away with purchasing at a thrift shop, Mia Mia Mine can help you.

Vanessa Rodriguez Lang is not just a fashion blogger-she considers herself an entrepreneur, fashionista, and consultant. Running a digital marketing agency alongside creating and managing the Stylishlyme blog, Vanessa keeps her hands full helping other entrepreneurs build sustainable businesses and bringing her love for fashion to life. In 2009, her husband suggested she start a blog, so she could have an outlet for her passion. Thus, Stylishlyme was born.

Stylishlyme has your usual fashion and style tips, including posts on how to wear fashion pieces like midi dresses, boots, hats, and ankle strap heels. Aside from these, Stylishlyme also dedicates a section of the website to personal growth. The blog offers advice on improving yourself through proper time management and good habits, among others.

One of India's top fashion bloggers, Akanksha Redhu started her blog in 2010 as a journal to document and express her thoughts and ideas. It has since evolved to be a full-fledged fashion, beauty, and lifestyle blog, including posts on Indian Fashion Week.

In her blog, Akanksha posts about clothes and beauty products she personally uses, her everyday style, interesting events, and travel posts. She has collaborated with numerous brands, including Armani, Swarovski, Ralph Lauren, Estée Lauder, Burberry, L'Occitane, and even Uber, Airbnb, and Amazon.

With the rise of fast fashion brands, many environmentalists are getting concerned about the impact it has on our society and environment. True to its name, the Fashion Advocate by Australian blogger Claire Goldsworthy champions sustainable fashion trends. She brings the conversation around fashion to a higher level, prompting readers to consider the impact their fashion choices have around them.

The Fashion Advocate features brands that align with her values and ethics, and encourages her followers to also "shop with your values."

Their online shop only stocks items from brands that have a minimum of three out of ten values:

This Brazilian fashion blogger with over nine million followers on Instagram also posts about makeup, skincare, and travel. She started as a beauty vlogger on YouTube back in 2010, doing makeup tutorials. Today, she is one of the most popular online fashion bloggers, even launching her own clothing line on Revolve.

She's not just all beauty and fashion, though. Camila also serves as an ambassador and board member of the Epilepsy Foundation of America. As a person with epilepsy herself, Camila aims to share her own story about the disorder and raise awareness about the challenges and obstacles of living with epilepsy.

Recent interesting fashion posts on her website include:

Korean-American stylist Chriselle Lim started the Chriselle Factor in 2011 as an outlet for her creativity. Alongside her blog is her YouTube channel, which now boasts almost 66 million views and more than 700 thousand subscribers.

Working with luxury brands such as Gucci, MiuMiu, Dior, Cartier, and Versace, Chriselle has firmly established her name as a top stylist and fashion blogger. A mother of two, her blog also features posts about motherhood and parenting. She has even amassed a large following on the popular app TikTok where she is nicknamed "Rich Mom."

Among her recent posts on The Chriselle Factor blog and YouTube channel include:

Frequently Asked Questions

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21 Trendiest Fashion Blogs to Follow in 2023

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The successful online fashion bloggers are as much influencers as the big names who post fashion images on Instagram. Here are 21 Fashion Bloggers you should follow right now!

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For most of us, a typical day involves fielding a succession of requests from different people. Many you truly want to abide by, while others you might feel you have no choice but to attend to. In between those two extremes, there will be many demands for which saying no is a reasonable option. Everyone needs to strike the right balance, but people pleasers can find themselves saying yes too often, and for the wrong reasons. So, how can you tell if you have what the psychologist Harriet Braiker called the 'disease to please'?

This will require a version of what, in cognitive behavioural therapy ( CBT) is called self-monitoring; let's call it 'yes-monitoring'. For a week, keep track of all the requests you say yes to, how many there are, how these yeses make you feel, and how much these yeses interrupt your life - how much time the requests take.

At the end of the week, reflect on your notes and bear in mind that people-pleasing comes in many forms. It might manifest as a complete inability to say no: always agreeing to that extra project at work or watering your neighbour's plants even when you're feeling utterly burnt out. But it might also appear in more subtle ways than actively saying yes. You could want to seem nice and agreeable in every single interaction, hold back what you really think, say sorry for something that didn't cause harm, or go massively out of your way to help others feel comfortable, even if it inconveniences you. In some cases, you might participate in risky behaviours that you don't want to, so as not to disappoint or impede others around you.
Reflect on your motives for
In this way, it's less about the quantity of the yeses you recorded during the previous week, and more about the why. People-pleasing, at its core, is about acceptance from others at all costs. According to work by Aaron Beck, the father of cognitive therapy, and his colleagues on sociotropy, people pleasers tend to feel safe only when they're receiving approval from others. If that feeling underpins all of your yeses, you could be saying yes too often.

People-pleasing is an attempt at generating social currency. 'We please others and expect something in return,' Toru Sato says. 'This may include things like acceptance, recognition, gratitude, kindness, promotion, money, power, respect.' If that's where your desire to say yes stems from, rather than because you genuinely want to do whatever is being asked of you, it could be a reason to consider saying no.
Think about what you fear will happen if you
Asnea Tariq studies maladaptive 'schemas' or thought patterns that emerge in early life that can lead to problematic ways of relating to other people. One is called the other-directed schema, and it's related to people-pleasing. When evaluating people in her research, Tariq will ask them to rate how much they agree with statements such as: 'I find myself clinging to people close to me because I am afraid they will leave me,' or 'I'm so busy doing things for the people that I care about that I have little time for myself.'

During your yes-monitoring, ask yourself a similar question: what would the consequences of saying no be? Notice if the answers are less about logistics (the laundry wouldn't get done) and more centred on disappointing others, ruining relationships, or reflecting badly on your own character - if so, this could be a sign that you are saying yes out of fear and anxiety rather than for more practical or rational reasons.

Ultimately, the best way to tell if pleasing people has gone too far is if your behaviours in service of others are regularly causing you discomfort, leading you to feelings of sadness or anxiety, or disrupting your everyday life. Those activities are where the seeds of people-pleasing are blooming, and these are also the best moments to apply the following tips on how to say no.
Pause before answering
One of the most effective ways of saying no is to not say yes right away. It may have become a habit to simply agree when requests are thrown your way. Before even trying to say no, first try to create a gap between a request and your answer.

You might be surprised how much of an impact even the smallest delay can have on your brain's ability to weigh up information. For instance, in a study from 2014, researchers studying visual perception showed that pausing for merely a fraction of a second was associated with participants making more accurate judgments about a visual pattern.

The longer you prolong your decision-making period, the more time you have to gather information about what you're being asked to do, and how it might affect you. Not saying yes right away gives you space to think, Tariq says. If you're in a face-to-face situation, you might be able to create this time for yourself by saying you need to check your diary or that you'll get back to the person making the request as soon as you can. Obviously creating time and space is easier if a demand comes via text or email - you could simply wait before replying, or acknowledge the request and say you'll let them know.

For when you're mulling over whether or not to say yes, Tariq suggests considering the following: check in with your boundaries. This means considering what you're willing to do and whether fulfilling the request aligns with those limits, or whether saying yes would lead to an overcommitment. This is related to your current capacity. Take a moment to assess your workload, schedule and energy levels. Also consider the decision's short-term and long-term consequences. Saying yes may lead to temporary relief, but it could create more significant challenges in the future if you set up unreasonable expectations, or put yourself in a position to burn out or become unwell. Avoid guilt as a sole motivator; don't say yes only out of the fear of disappointing others. Recognise that it's OK to prioritise yourself alongside others.

'Remind yourself that setting boundaries is a healthy and necessary part of maintaining balanced relationships,' Tariq says.

Get as much practice as possible to adjust to the difficult emotions that might arise when you don't do what you think will make others happy.

Start with nos that have lower stakes. Say no to extra guacamole (if you don't want it) or don't sign a petition (if you don't care about the cause). These are cases in which saying yes would please the other person, by making your bill higher or helping someone reach their signature quota. But the interaction isn't as personal as a family member or colleague asking for yet another favour.

Through these small nos, you can practise being more assertive. From refusing extra guac, you might move to saying no to low-stakes requests that you frequently say yes to that wouldn't have extreme consequences, such as practising saying you'd like to take a break from doing a menial task around the office or with friends.

Another approach is to change your use of acquiescing language in your digital communications, such as when writing emails or texts. There's even a Google Chrome extension that can help, called Just Not Sorry, that warns you every time you use phrases such as 'I'm just', 'I think', or 'I'm no expert', or 'sorry' that obscure what you might really mean or think so as not to upset other people.

If there's a person or situation that you have a lot of trouble saying no to, small nos can build up to saying no in a more challenging circumstance. If you learn that it's OK to say you can't arrange the dinner reservations this weekend with a friend, and you see how they're fine doing it themselves instead, then you'll likely find it easier when it comes to telling an overbearing neighbour that no, you can't water his plants for the fifth week in a row because you're going away to visit family.

A similar technique, known as exposure, is used in CBT, where people are taught to gradually face more intense versions of their fears and phobias, starting with something very mild and building up to the more daunting. This technique has been shown to help reduce the anxiety involved in everything from agoraphobia to a fear of flying to heights, and you can also apply the same principle to making it easier to say no. You could make a 'no hierarchy', and try a harder no each day or week until you're ready to try saying no in the situations that feel most difficult.

When you're ready to say no, be specific about your language. Framing your response as 'I don't', compared with 'I can't', has been shown to be a more effective way to refuse a request. 'I don't' transforms statements into an active choice, such as 'I don't eat meat', or 'I don't do work tasks on the weekend'. Compare that framing with 'I can't eat meat' or 'I can't do that assignment this weekend', which convey less agency.

In a study from 2011, researchers compared the effects of 120 students saying 'I don't' versus 'I can't' about food choices. The statements were self-directed: the students were told to maintain healthy food choices, and say to themselves 'I don't eat candy' versus 'I can't eat candy'. When leaving the experiment, the participants were offered a snack for the road; 64 per cent of those who said 'I don't' chose the healthier option of a granola bar over a chocolate bar, while only 39 per cent of those who said 'I can't' picked the healthier choice.

'I don't is experienced as a choice, so it feels empowering,' wrote the social psychologist Heidi Grant Halvorson, who wasn't involved in the research. 'It's an affirmation of your determination and willpower. I can't isn't a choice - it's a restriction, it's being imposed upon you. So thinking "I can't" undermines your sense of power and personal agency.'

You can even turn this phrasing trick back on yourself, like the people in the study. Rather than thinking 'I can't say no', or 'I can't let them down', you might say to yourself: 'I don't always say yes,' or 'I don't always put others' needs before my own.'
Try a relational refusal
When saying no, you might be tempted to offer lengthy explanations for why you're saying no. A better way to tell others why you can't squeeze in their request is to offer a relational refusal: a way of saying no that emphasises your connections or relations to others as the underlying reason why you can't help out this time.

The organisational psychologist Adam Grant gave this example from his own life. If a student reaches out to ask for guidance, and he's already at capacity helping others, he might respond: 'Students are my top priority professionally, and since I teach more than 300 students per year, I don't have the bandwidth to take on additional mentoring.'

A similar approach for you might mean saying that you can't help with an extra work project or family errand because of time promised to children, or advising on another project. Framing your no in this way explains your situation and how others are depending on you.

A study from 2008 applied a version of this to women negotiating for raises. The study's first author Hannah Riley Bowles called it an 'I-We strategy': you say what you want, and then tie it back to what 'we' (you and the other person) want. In a series of experiments, the authors showed that women were more likely to get raises, and to experience fewer social consequences in the process, when they explained how what they wanted (ie, higher pay) was connected to their care for the company and the other people who worked there.

Relational nos aren't a trick; they can be honest about your emotional commitments to both yourself and others. But this kind of no humanises your refusal and, as Grant pointed out, it highlights how it's ultimately related to making sure your obligations to others can be upheld.

In their book How to Say No Without Feeling Guilty (2000), Connie Hatch and Patti Breitman wrote that, once you start paying attention, you'll see people saying no to requests all the time - without the world crumbling around them, or everyone turning their backs on them. We have all been on the receiving end of plenty of nos and made it through unscathed.

Spend a day keeping a 'no diary' - write down or make a note in your phone of all the times that people can't make it to drinks after work or stop by the grocery store, not because they're terrible people, but because they simply don't have the capacity right now.

Reflect on the times that people have said no to you. 'Surely you've had invitations turned down, been denied favours or privileges, experienced some romantic disappointments. In the end, was it really so terrible?' Hatch and Breitman wrote. 'Did you end up hating the person who said no to you? No, you probably survived, maybe even thrived. Your own ability to weather life's ongoing "nos" is proof that people can withstand all kinds of rejection and move on. So don't assume you're going to inflict serious harm by saying no to somebody.'

In an episode of his podcast, Tim Ferriss read rejection letters that people had written to him in response to him asking them to talk for his book Tribe of Mentors (2017). Ferriss didn't do this to ridicule or call out these people, but to highlight how these nos were compassionate and understandable: they explained why the decision wasn't personal, and what else the person had on their plate.

Saying no might feel scary, but it's also common. 'If you've had any modicum of success, even a toehold in something that might be a success ... your default answer to almost everything should be no,' Ferriss said.

This isn't because success or being true to yourself means isolating or not caring for others. But saying yes to everything and everyone doesn't provide enough space for what you truly care about - whether that's other people, hobbies, work, leisure or family. We all have to do things for others that we don't want to at times, but the constant pressure to please for the sake of pleasing will end up crowding out your connection to what you really value.

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It's a little word, but if you're a chronic people pleaser it can be so tricky to say it. These tips and tricks will help

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Facing a tedious to-do list? This trick could make it easier

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Facing a tedious to-do list? This trick could make it easier

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Facing a tedious to-do list? This trick could make it easier | Psyche Ideas

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The ‘easy addendum effect’: how careful timing of your easier tasks could help you feel better at the end of the day

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Paper-mache: Puppets, Piñatas and Bowls Anyone Can Make

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Paper-mache: Puppets, Piñatas and Bowls Anyone Can Make

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"During the pandemic, we've accumulated a lot more cardboard boxes around the house than we're used to," says Tatiana Bell, an artist and designer in Atlanta, Georgia, in an email interview. "I was attracted to the sustainability of paper-mache, as it lets me use materials I have around the house that would be thrown away otherwise."

You can explore the versatility of paper-mache by adding steel, wire mesh and bamboo to create a framework before adding the paper-mache. Other artists use dye, pigment, dirt, flour, concrete and more to add textures and color to their projects, according to Bell.

"I started collecting paper a few years ago when I worked at a museum. I started exploring other uses of paper: cutting the paper, weaving it into new shapes, creating window installations and even making recycled handmade paper," Bell says.

That three-dimensional capability is what captured Bell's attention after painting and drawing for years. "Paper-mache has been my most three-dimensional approach thus far. It's not only a great tool for exploration and expression, but also a sustainable tool by requiring the reuse of paper and resulting in beautiful, functional creations," Bell shares.

" "
Lio Diaz-Colin makes a paper-mache brain with classmates during a pre-K class at St. Francis de Sales Catholic School in Denver, Colorado.

AAron Ontiveroz/The Denver Post/Getty Images

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Paper-mache: Puppets, Piñatas and Bowls Anyone Can Make

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Paper-mache has been used by ancient cultures and schoolchildren alike to create sculptures, masks and statues that are durable, light and easily fashioned from readily available materials.

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8 Most Expensive Things in the World, From Parking to Palaces

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8 Most Expensive Things in the World, From Parking to Palaces

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When you want to splurge - really go all-out - what do you purchase? Whether it's ordering an extra slice of cheese on a burger or upgrading to first class on an international flight, the opportunity to treat oneself is sometimes worth the price. But, at what price? If you had that much money, how far would you go to experience the most expensive things in the world?

To that end, we've compiled this list of the most expensive things in the world. From a pricy spice to an incredibly expensive parking spot, where people opt to put their money may just surprise you.

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8 Most Expensive Things in the World, From Parking to Palaces

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If money was no problem, how much would you spend on a car, painting or house? We've got the items with the biggest price tags here.

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How to Brainstorm Brilliant Ideas in Teams

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How to Brainstorm Brilliant Ideas in Teams

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Brainstorming sessions can be more productive if participants do some independent work first.

In a group, this can be done simultaneously over minutes or even days, with team members writing down their ideas individually then sharing with the group later. This process, known as divergent thinking, can also be done virtually through collaborative websites like miro, mural and figma. Working individually ensures everyone will bring ideas and everyone's voice will be heard.

Next comes "convergent thinking." The group evaluates proposals to identify the best innovation or solution to the problem at hand. Building on someone else's idea is encouraged.

There are many other approaches to group brainstorming, such as "design thinking," in which quick brainstorming sessions lead to tangible prototypes. The " six thinking hats" method has group members focusing on each aspect of proposed idea at a time. For example, they will discuss negative aspects, then positive, feelings, risks, and possibilities for each solution.

While brainstorming may sometimes be an arduous process, it promotes the buy-in of ideas and team bonding. And it's important to remember that within a space where everyone feels free to express themselves, good ideas can come from anyone.
Sabrina Habib is an associate professor of visual communications at the University of South Carolina. This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. You can find the original article here.

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How to Brainstorm Brilliant Ideas in Teams

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Creativity is one of the most desirable job skills. Here's how to make yours shine at work, without sliding into "groupthink."

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As creators, we hear a lot of admonitions to avoid perfectionism: "Don't let the perfect be the enemy of the good," and so on. I suspect that a lot of us respond to this advice as I do: I take it in, nod my head sagely-and go back to trying to make my work perfect. I mean, be honest: We do want our creations to be perfect, right? And so what would the alternative to perfectionism be?

Perhaps we could hope for an adaptive form of perfectionism, but research suggests that "healthy perfectionism" is an oxymoron. Perfectionism of any stripe is associated with negative mental health outcomes like anxiety, depression, and burnout.

And, perversely-since perfectionism is all about producing the best possible results-a perfectionist orientation is also associated with decrements in performance. Even worse, perfectionism is especially harmful for creativity.
In other words: perfectionism's pursuit of high standards comes at a cost. Is it possible to reach for those high standards without

Perfectionism is the relentless pursuit of extremely high and strict standards of perfection, along with a tendency to evaluate oneself according to those extremely high standards of perfection.

Excellencism is a tendency to aim and strive toward high, yet attainable standards, in an effortful and flexible manner. People who pursue excellence are satisfied once they reach it, and do not see the value of exceeding it.

the cost?
It turns out that there is an actual, viable alternative to perfectionism, called excellencism. The researcher who devised this concept, University of Ottawa psychology professor Patrick Gaudreau, distinguishes the two in the following way:

It's important to note that excellencism is not a watered-down version of perfectionism. It's a qualitatively different mindset, and it produces qualitatively different results.

A recent study by Gaudreau and two colleagues found that participants who rated high on excellencism and low on perfectionism achieved much higher scores on a test of creative potential than those who rated high on perfectionism. The excellencists generated a greater number of responses to the creativity prompt than the perfectionists, and their responses were judged as more original than those produced by people pursuing perfection.

A reading of the small but growing scientific literature on excellencism turns up five distinct reasons why excellencism is such a productive way to approach our endeavors-and our creative endeavors in particular:

Reason 1: Excellencism is rooted in an accurate sense of reality and a capacity for flexibility, both of which are essential to creativity. The rigid and unrealistic mindset characteristic of perfectionism is antithetical to the spirit of creation.

Reason 2: Excellencism appears to protect against anxiety, stress, and burnout. It allows us to keep striving to meet high standards, without getting tripped up by the dark side of perfectionism.

Reason 3: Excellencism puts a bigger, healthier space between our work and ourselves-between what we do and who we are. One problem with perfectionism is that achieving perfection becomes tightly bound up with people's sense of self: If my work is bad, I'm bad. Excellencism avoids this trap.

Reason 4: Excellencism allows us to savor rewarding experiences at every stage of the process. A study by Gaudreau and two coauthors found that perfectionists were only able to savor positive experiences when they achieved at the highest level. Savoring the good feelings associated with creating gives us emotional fuel to keep going when the creative process gets difficult.

Reason 5: Excellencism generates an upward spiral, with strength building upon strength. By contrast, Gaudreau has found that perfectionism often leads to a downward spiral, in which unrealistic standards for perfection collide with the imperfections of real life, leading to increased anxiety, leading to further impaired performance, and so on.

Try evaluating yourself on the Scale of Perfectionism and Excellencism, developed by Patrick Gaudreau and Benjamin Schellenberg, below. If you score high on perfectionism, consider whether you might be able to move toward an excellencist perspective.

have perfect performances.

be a perfect person.

accomplish great things perfectly.

be exceptionally productive all the time.

be a flawless person.

produce error-free work.

attain perfection.

perfectly learn difficult things.

reach perfection.

perform perfectly.

work relentlessly until I reach perfection.

Positive responses to these items indicate a perfectionist orientation.
Scale of Perfectionism and Excellencism (SCOPE)

have very good performances.

be a competent person.

accomplish great things.

be very productive.

be a skillful person.

produce high quality work.

attain difficult but realistic goals.

successfully learn difficult things.

reach excellence.

perform very well.

work very hard until I reach excellence.

Positive responses to these items indicate an excellencist orientation. What do you think-could adopting an excellencist orientation work for you?
As a person, my general goal in life is to:

As a person, my general goal in life is to:

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Don't worry-you don't have to give up your high standards.

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Ted Talk Collection: Where do Ideas come from

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Ted Talk Collection: Where do Ideas come from

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How does the metaphorical lightbulb go off? Is it a flash of genius? The power of crowds? These heady talks explore the nature of ideas themselves: Where they come from, how they evolve, and how each of us can nurture them.

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How does the metaphorical lightbulb go off? Is it a flash of genius? The power of crowds? These heady talks explore the nature of ideas themselves: Where they come from, how they evolve, and how each of us can nurture them.

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Despite our best intentions, sometimes we just make bad choices. Is it possible to fight your own worst instincts? Only if you can spot these flaws in your decision making process.