Gina Rudan's Blog

On The Lawns of the White House

Yesterday I had the great honor and privilege to visit the grounds of the White House for a welcoming ceremony for his Excellency, Felipe, Calderon, and the President of Mexico. 

 

When my best friend Katina invited me to venture to the White House with her for this event, I immediately envisioned an intimate breakfast of 100 Latinos enjoying huevos rancheros with a side of grits with the man who inspires me most, Mr. President Barak Obama and his amazing genius of a wife, Michelle.

 

As the date neared I began to prepare accordingly, which for me meant: rereading parts of Dreams From My Father, getting a haircut, listening to the Sound Track of Black Orpheus (President Obama’s mother’s favorite movie as well as mine) and having my image guru, Tonya Evans, find me the perfect White House dress.

 

Yesterday was the big day and of course it was a completely different experience than I imagined. The 100 guests were more like 500 and the only access we had was to the White House lawns.

 

Although we were literally corralled by ropes limiting our access, we did enjoy a beautiful ceremony and the savvy bilingual remarks from both men. As I listened, watched and enjoyed every drop of the experience, I realized what a privilege it is to be alive at this point in our history. From the energy felt from the crowd, they probably felt as I did and it was there that the greatest experience happened.

 

As Katina and I made our way to what we thought was the front of the ropes, privately praying for the off-chance that the President would be “working the ropes,” we met an amazing group of young men from the fraternity, Sigma Lambda Beta who had traveled from NYC for the event. We immediately adopted these young men and engaged them with insight, advice, support and encouragement as we waited for the event to start. This small but meaningful encounter quickly reminded me of the power of young people and the importance of encouraging them even if they are at first a group of strangers.

 

The second surprise encounter on the lawns was  meeting Mr. Chris Simmons, an executive with Pricewaterhouse Coopers, a great soul with a passion for dance. We bonded with Chris, spoke of cultural connectivity and during our “keep it real” encounter, learned that Chris is a major salsa dancer.  This to us was a classic moment, which we will never forget. Picture this. It's 7:30 in the morning; we are on the lawns of the White House networking as we wait; and we meet an amazing man who loves to Salsa. We shared Salsa stories, corporate stories and after the event continued the story telling over breakfast. What an awesome day.

 

While I didn't get to meet President Obama my willingness to open myself to this incredible experience led me to some amazing people doing amazing things. God is good.

Top 5 Lessons I learned from Oprah

This past weekend I celebrated mother’s day with 6,000 women in attendance for O Magazine’s Live your Best Life Weekend and of all the lessons I learned from Oprah and her tribe which included my favorites, Martha Beck, Suze Orman, Adam Glassman and Nate Berkus, the following were the greatest insights.

1.    Live boldly. Not one but three of the speakers, including Elizabeth Gilbert, author of Eat, Pray Love all shared the importance and power of living boldly and I couldn’t agree more. In the last 15 months, I have taken risks, conquered fears and have realized the more chances I take, the bolder my life becomes and the bolder my life becomes the greater the rewards.

2.    Fill your cup first before you fill the cup of others.  “Wow,” I thought to myself, as I listened to Oprah share this simple yet profound piece of advice at Radio City on Saturday night. Both men and women suffer from this but women are the biggest culprits..  Why is it that we take care of our mothers, our husbands, our children, our cats and dogs before we even begin to think about our own needs? Why, why, why? If I could stress one insight the most, it’s this one. Fill your cup first ladies. And remember you are really doing a disservice to everyone you love by continuing the role of sacrificial lamb, so stop.

3.    Your work needs to be your play and your play needs to be work. It’s a simple lesson that I am finally living   and it’s so true. My work is my play and my play is my work and I can’t stress how life changing it is when you experience this shift. This may mean that you have to make a career change and I know that’s scary. But what scares me most is not living my very best life.

4.    Be the master of your own destiny.  In the novel of your life, remember you are the author and no one else. Instead of allowing others to write the next chapter in the story of your life, begin to write it yourself. We give our futures away and leave it in the hands of others. Take your destiny into your own hands and make the choices your intuitive side knows is best. And if anyone tells you otherwise, send them to you know where.

5.    Find time to be still. This year Oprah decided to practice the art of being still and has grown significantly because of it. Yes, I know, Oprah still has room in her life for growth.  Like Oprah, most of us are living a mile a minute life and it really is too much. I am a victim of this overextended disease and am here to invite you in joining me in a “be still” crusade. Every morning I have decided before I start my day of insanity to practice stillness and quiet.  For it is only when we are still that a new idea can be born.

This post is dedicated to my best friend, Katina Rojas Joy and step mom, Melba Olmeda who attended with me.  Ladies, we will never forget that experience. Enjoy the photos

Be A Part of the Change

This morning I woke up like many of us, a bit hung over from both champaign and joy. Was I dreaming? Is today really the first  day of the biggest shift of our country's history? "Its been a long time coming but change has finally come to America." What a great impactful sentence, message and call to action.

Thinking about this change, I can not help but ponder how all of us can benefit, leverage and maximize this opportunity for change. We sent this message of defining hope to the world and now its up to us to own it.

In the spirit of sharing some recommendations on how we can own the change, embrace the change and leverage the hell out of the next four years, lets consider the following:

• If you have an idea and have not acted upon it for fear. Do it! Take the risk! Give yourself permission to be bold. Life is temporary and there is no better time than now to actualize your vision. From vision to venture should start today.

• If you have walked in the shadows of the expectations of others, liberate yourself from that burden and begin to walk alone with hope and pride on your own independent path.

• If your career has been stifled and you have desired a change. Go for it! Start the job search today. Opportunity is for you to seize and you will get there, I promise you.

• If you are a artist and have not practiced your craft recently because of lack of time and or energy. Feed off the victory energy around us and get to it. I am sure genius will show itself.

• Above all, hold unto this moment and maximize each day as a Victory day. This is our time, cultural modernists! This is our moment!  Its our responsibility to foster and spread new ideas, new platforms, new agendas and most importantly this is our time to soar. I can smell it, a new cultural era of intellectual prosperity, productivity and insight. I am sure many of you can smell it to.

God Bless America

Its Ok to be Outrageously Excited!

I am beyond motivated today. I am beyond inspired. I am anxious, joyful and reflective. And i am experiencing a high level of electric energy which I project many other cultural modernists are experiencing all over the world. Rather than resist the urge to scream, laugh, cry or hug your neighbor, do just that. Reach out to others, discuss what you are emotionally experiencing and realize there is great power in pushing and feeding your electric energy forward.

Many of us have the desire to cry more than anything and I think crying is also powerful. So shed a tear for our past while shedding another for our future. And for those that desire to pop open the champaign early in celebration, i say go for it. Gather friends. Build momentum and celebrate, for this will be one of the most memorable evenings of our lives! 

Its ok to be outrageously excited so don't hold it in, don't hide it and know that the positive energy will feed the positive outcome we are all hoping for.

Yes WE can!