 |
|
|
|||||
A makeup illusionist, a photography project, and an innovative DJ are among the winners of Instagrams inaugural Rings awards. The award, whose recipients were announced on Thursday, celebrates 25 creators who, in the companys words, bring people together over creativity and arent afraid to take creative chances and do it their way. Among the winners is Mimi Choi, known for turning her face into mind-bending works of art. Celebrating her win, she penned in an Instagram post: Because of its visual nature, Instagram has really helped spread my work and jump-start my career, providing me with numerous different types of collaboration opportunities that I couldnt have even dreamed of when I began this journey. Then there’s Life on Film. Run by Grant Weintrob, Christian Baiocco, and Griffin Katz, the Instagram-first creative project hands out disposable cameras to strangers, as well as to some recognizable faces, turning their candid shots into cinematic Reels. [Image: Instagram] DJ AG Online, another winner, has accrued tens of millions of views online by transforming the streets of London into spontaneous DJ sets. Self-identifying as an open format DJ, he joins the list of creatives awarded with both a physical gold ring designed by Grace Wales Bonner and a golden halo that sits around their profiles. The full list of 2025 winners are Aki and Koichi, Ari Miller, Brian Lindo, Chris Brickley, Cole Bennett, Ashley Gordon, Dolly Singh, Elyse Myers, Futuradosmil, Gabriel Moses, Golloria, Laufey, lifeonfilm, Linda Lomelino, Mimi Choi, Nigel Sylvester, Mika Ninagawa, Olivia Dean, Adrian Per, Sebastian Jern, Katie Krejci, Mohammed and Humaid Hadban, Thalita and Gabriela Zukeram, Tyshawn Jones, and Zarna Garg. While many of the winners have established followings, that wasnt a factor in the judging process. Instead, each winner was honored by their peers. A panel of creativesspanning fashion and makeup to sports and entertainmenteach nominated their own favorite creators and voted on which 25 of Instagrams 3 billion users would be among the first to receive the honor. [Image: Instagram] The panel of judges included fashion and jewelry designer Grace Wales Bonner, who designed the gold ring each winner will receive; movie director Spike Lee; fashion designer Marc Jacobs; artist Kaws; makeup artist Pat McGrath; influencer Marques Brownlee, aka MKBHD; actress Yara Shahidi; pastry chef Cédric Grolet; Olympic rugby player Ilona Maher; music producer and songwriter Tainy; photographer Murad Osmann; Instagram exec and fashion journalist Eva Chen; and head of Intagram Adam Mosseri. This award is for the creators who dont just participate in culturebut shift it, break through whatever barrier holds them back to realize their ambitions. Because every act of creativity, big or small, can lead to something great,” Instagram said in its press release. Were witnessing a new era of digital entertainment, Maria Rodriguez, vice president of marketing and communications at Open Influence, a creator marketing company, told Fast Company. Just as the Oscars, Emmys, and Grammys celebrate excellence in film, television, and music, its only fitting that we recognize the talent, innovation, and artistry thriving on the platforms where audiences now spend most of their time. Keep an eye out for the exclusive gold ring around each winners profile.
Category:
E-Commerce
When companies undergo a major change, such as a CEO transition, reorganization, merger, or acquisition, most leaders default to one well-worn instinct: control the message. Lock down talking points. Tighten the language. Make it polished and official. In working with executive teams across industries, from tech to retail, weve seen time and again that simply trying to control the message isnt enough. In fact, it often has the opposite effect, creating more confusion and mistrust than clarity. Because in every high-stakes moment, your audienceemployees, customers, investorsis asking the same unspoken question: Whats in it for me? And if youre not answering it, someone else will. Why WIIFM isnt a selfish question For years, the phrase Whats in it for me? (or WIIFM) has gotten a bad rap. Leaders dismiss it as self-centered or marketing fluff. Not a serious strategy. But the opposite is true: WIIFM is one of the most powerful lenses available to a leader navigating complex change. Its not about pandering. Its about making strategy personal and anticipating needs. When people understand how a change will impact them, theyre far more likely to align with it, advocate for it, and stick around to help execute it. WIIFM isnt about promising perks or pay raises. Its about translating organizational ambition into something timely and tangible for the people you need on board. Weve seen this across the board: in mergers and acquisitions where alignment felt impossible, in CEO transitions where trust was on the line, and in executive team restructurings where internal politics threatened progress. Leaders who start with WIIFM consistently build momentum, while those who skip it often lose the narrative . . . and the talent. What happens when leaders skip the WIIFM moment Not long ago, we worked with a company making an acquisition. The executive team was excited about the deal and confident about the shared mission, but in those critical first weeks after the announcement, they froze. Without all the answers in place, they waited to finalize every detail before they communicated anything to the acquired organization. During that time, the acquired organization was left to speculate. Rumors flew. Teams filled in the blanks. Fear took over. By the time the executive team had the certainty the acquired company was looking for and formal messaging landed, it was too late. Some talent had moved on, and for the rest, they were left with months of unwinding the rumors and working from a deficit to rebuild trust. We see this pattern again and again: silence creates space for confusion. In the absence of clarity, people default to self-protection and assume the worst. The longer the silence lingers, the further they go down the rabbit hole. But when leaders show up early, even if all the answers arent yet clear, and acknowledge the WIIFM questions head-on, they build trust. As one client told us, When you show your face, you get the benefit of the doubt. By anticipating their needs, you can limit their anxieties and show that you considered how they may be impacted. How to answer Whats in it for me? (without saying those exact words) Lets be clear: this isnt about scripting new taglines. Its about pausing to ask a better question before you write the message. Before announcing any change, take five minutes to ask: What might my audience be worried about right now? What might they hope this change will solve for them? What could this feel like from their seat? As one senior leader we worked with put it: People don’t expect their leaders to have all the answersthey expect presence. Leaders must be transparent, empathetic, and engaged in navigating change alongside their teams.” One message, many audiences: How to stay consistent One of the biggest hesitations we hear from executives is: How do I tailor the message without creating inconsistencies? The answer is to identify a core message and then deliver it in audience-relevant language. Your strategy may not change, but the way you communicate it will. For example, your core message might be: Were evolving our structure to accelerate innovation. For employees, that might sound like: Were investing in clearer roles and fewer bottlenecks so teams can move faster and focus more on the work that matters. For customers: This means quicker product releases, better service, and less lag time. For investors: We expect this change to improve speed-to-market and reduce operating inefficiencies. Each message serves the same strategy. But each audience hears what matters most to them. Four prompts to make it personal Weve developed four simple prompts that help leaders shift their communication from top-down announcements to audience-centered leadership: What are they worried about losing?Security? Status? Control? Address it head-on. What might they gain?New opportunities, visibility, development, autonomyspell it out. But dont make any promises. What does this mean for them in the next 30, 60, 90 days?Use time as a grounding tool and a project management asset. This may present an opportunity to reengage with the audience after each benchmark. What will we be transparent about even if we dont have all the answers yet?Uncertainty is okay. Silence is not. These prompts do more than clarify the messaging. They help you show up as a leader who gets it and who doesnt just recite vision statements but connects them to the lived realities. Leading in the uncertainty gap As leaders, we often feel the pressure to have everything figured out before we speak up. But that instinct is counterproductive. Waiting for perfect information, especially in M&A scenarios, means youve already lost the room. As ProjectNext senior advisor Connie Rawson often reminds our clients, Even saying, We dont have all the answers yet, but heres what you can expect in the next 30 days, creates more stability than radio silence. Because the real risk isnt in saying the wrong thing, its in saying nothing at all. In an era where trust is harder to earn and easier to lose, hierarchical authority doesnt command unbridled loyalty the way it used to. People want clarity, connection, and honesty. They deserve it. The good news? WIIFM isnt just a tool for crisis moments. Its a muscle you can build into your everyday leadership. When you consistently make strategy personal across teams, stakeholders, and situations, you dont just manage chage. You lead through it.
Category:
E-Commerce
A typical three-bedroom house in Austin, Texas, can sometimes rack up monthly utility bills of $200 or $300 in the summer. But in new homes under construction in a nearby suburb, residents will owe little beyond the basic utility connection fee. The homes, built by Habitat for Humanity, tap into a shared geothermal system in a fully geothermal neighborhood. Heat pumps in each house connect to pipes that loop hundreds of feet underground, making use of the earths steady temperature for heating and cooling. The houses are also built to use as little energy as possible, with features like deep eaves that shade the interior and reduce the need for air-conditioning. Solar shingles on the roofs produce enough power to match each homes expected electricity use. Our goal is to make sure that they have a very, very low energy bill at the end of the day, says Billy Whipple, chief impact officer at Habitat for Humanity’s Austin office. The nonprofit, known for working with volunteers to help lower the cost of construction, sees affordable housing holistically. Its not enough just to have a low monthly mortgage payment; homes also need to be designed to have low maintenance and utility costs, especially as energy bills keep rising. [Rendering: courtesy Austin Habitat for Humanity] A 100% geothermal neighborhood The houses are part of Whisper Valley, a larger development that was designed to rely on geothermal energy. This type of geothermal technology, also known as a ground-source heat pump, isn’t new. Habitat for Humanity has used the tech itself in other developments. But it’s still fairly uncommon because of the cost. Depending on the house, some systems can cost as much as $45,000. Building a connected network for the neighborhood, rather than adding the technology home by home, helps make it more affordable. EcoSmart Solution, a company that builds geothermal infrastructure, drills boreholes on each lot that connect to a larger energy system. “It allows us to implement the geothermal heating and cooling system at a fraction of the cost of doing it on a home-by-home basis,” says Chris Gray, EcoSmart’s CEO. “We bring it as a service. We do all of the drilling, all of the piping, all of the network connecting to each lot before the builders ever take over the lot.” Taurus Investment Holdings, the original developer behind the property, had a vision of making sustainability mainstream. “They were looking at what we can do to really create sustainability, but in an accessible, affordable way that can be approachable for the mass market,” Gray says. [Photo: EcoSmart Solution] The first homes began construction in 2017, and hundreds are now in place. Ultimately, the neighborhood is projected to have around 7,500 homes built by a variety of developers, along with businesses and around 700 acres of green space. Houses currently listed for sale range up to $465,000. Habitat for Humanity’s three-bedroom and four-bedroom homes, available for families earning 60% to 80% of the area median income, are much more affordable, at $230,000 to $245,000. (That’s also well below the average cost within the city of Austin, where the median sales price was around $575,000 last month.) The nonprofit budgeted around $33,000 per house to add the solar and geothermal systems, according to Whipple. Ultra-efficient homes To minimize energy use, Habitat’s homes are well-insulated with an extra-tight building envelope. “When [homeowners] heat and cool, they won’t have to do it as frequently,” Whipple says. The houses also use passive design techniques, like deep overhangs on the windows that provide shade on sweltering Texas days. Inside, the appliances are Energy Star certified. The homes also use LED lighting, smart thermostats, and heat pump water heaters. While it’s impossible to predict how much energy a particular family might useif they like to crank up the AC especially high, for examplethe size of the solar system installed on the roof was calculated to cover all typical usage. That obviously makes a difference for residents on tight budgets. Skyler Korgel, one future resident who will be a first-time homeowner, says that she currently pays between $35 and $70 a month on energy bills in her apartment. “Having that jump to $200 to $300 per month, or unpredictably more during the summers, in a traditional home would be financially unsustainable for me,” Korgel says. “Between the geothermal heating system, rooftop solar panels, smart energy management systems, high-efficiency appliances, and a tight building envelope, I am hopeful that I can reach energy usage of effectively zero, eliminate my energy bill for some months, and even be able to provide power when the electric grid is strained,” she says. A model for future development Habitat for Humanity is building 48 homes in the neighborhood, including 25 that will be constructed in October by volunteers in a five-day sprint. (Skilled construction workers are handling more complex tasks like connecting heat pumps to the geothermal system.) But it’s also considering using the solar-and-networked geothermal approach for future homes. That may include more houses at Whisper Valley. EcoSmart is working with other developers to plan new projects across the country, from single-famiy homes to multifamily buildings. Others are also turning to geothermal. In Brooklyn, for example, a 463-unit apartment building that recently opened uses hundreds of geothermal wells for heating and cooling. An even larger all-geothermal apartment complex is opening in another part of Brooklyn. In some cases, existing neighborhoods are also moving to geothermal. Near Boston, one neighborhood has been testing a shift from gas heat to geothermal heating and cooling over the last two years. In Ann Arbor, Michigan, the city is building a geothermal district system in a neighborhood where 75% of residents are low-incomeboth as part of the city’s work to reach climate goals and to help residents significantly cut energy bills.
Category:
E-Commerce
All news |
||||||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||||||