Brandon Stanton moved to New York in 2010. As an amateur photographer, he was fascinated by the crowds of characters throughout the city. He began to take street portraits of the people he met and share them in an album on his timeline named, Humans of New York.


As his photos started to gain a following, he created a Facebook Page that started a movement. There are “Humans of …” Facebook Pages for nearly every major city in the world, while the Humans of NY photographer himself is something of a celebrity on the streets of New York.

Brandon’s Facebook community of more than 2.3 million people is more than just an audience. Together, they have raised hundreds of thousands of dollars for charity and have propelled Brandon to become a New York Times bestselling author after he published a book of his work in 2013.

Browse through past Humans of New York photos on Facebook and like the Page to see more in the future: facebook.com/humansofnewyork  #humansofnewyork

"Your gender shouldn't determine whether you get an education"
                                                                                   Tirunesh, 15 Ethiopia
Girl Rising will inform you and it Inspire you.

Girl Rising is a global campaign for girls education. The movie tells the stories of nine girls from different parts of the world who face arranged marriages, child slavery, and other heartbreaking injustices. Despite these obstacles, the brave girls offer hope and inspiration. Each girl's story was written by a renowned writer from her native country.

By getting an education, they're able to break barriers and create change. Using the power of storytelling, leveraged through partnerships, to share the simple truth that educating girls can transform societies.

From Academy Award-nominated director Richard E. Robbins, Girl Rising journeys around the globe to witness the strength of the human spirit and the power of education to change the world. These stories are told with the help of celebrated writers and renowned actresses such as Meryl Streep, Cate Blanchett and Selena Gomez.

 If you want to get involved with Girl Rising go to: http://girlrising.com/
                                                                                                           
                                                                                                        Credits: GirlRising.com CNN.com

Here is a link to Girl Rising Blog -  http://girlrising.com/blog/ #girlrising

I stumbled across this story first on the internet, then of all places on Good Morning America - Linsday Bottos is 21 years old and a senior at Maryland College of Art. Even though in this story she focuses on the incredibly rude and hateful comments people post about her selfie's  online, this story is about so much more and at it's heart is truly inspiring.        

                        "Stark illustration of the contrast between
                                        cowardice and bravery"

She's the young woman turning cyber-bullying on its head.
Maryland College of Art senior Lindsay Bottos, 21, was so sick of the cruel anonymous comments about her selfies, that she decided to fight back.
Instead of hiding from the hateful messages, the photography student gathered them – and turned them back against her tormenters. In a compelling and artistic plea for change, she's layered images of herself with the devastating words. "I've always gotten anonymous messages that were really hateful, especially comments about my appearance," Bottos said. "I've basically been screen-grabbing them and saving them for something, and decided to do a project."

The project serves as a stark illustration of the contrast between cowardice and bravery. Appropriately, she called her creation, "Anonymous." Bottos' decision to put a spotlight on those ugly comments – even at the risk of public humiliation – has generated a rush of positive commentary. She hopes her project will help girls maintain their self-esteem, especially given online attacks.

"I think that we really should be concerned with women's self-esteem, especially girls and women online," she said. "I think it's so important, and if this project can help the way girls are treated online and help anyone with their self-esteem at all, I think that's amazing."

Clinical psychologist Dr. Jeffrey Gardere said the Internet exposes peoples' dark sides. "More than anything, there's really no consequences to the things that are said. You can be ugly, you can be very inappropriate, you can say the rudest, most horrible things and you don't have to pay the price. You have the cloak of invisibility," Gardere said.
http://lindsaybottos.com/anonymous

By ABC News | Good Morning America

Seven years ago, on January 9, 2007, the late Apple CEO Steve Jobs took the stage at the Moscone Center in San Francisco to introduce the first iPhone. "Today, Apple is going to reinvent the phone," Jobs proclaimed:

"This is a day I've been looking forward to for two-and-a-half years. Every once in a while, a revolutionary product comes along that changes everything. And Apple has been -- well, first of all, one's very fortunate if you get to work on just one of these in your career. Apple's been very fortunate. It's been able to introduce a few of these into the world. 1984, introduced the Macintosh. It didn't just change Apple. It changed the whole computer industry. In 2001, we introduced the first iPod, and it didn't just change the way we all listen to music, it changed the entire music industry. Well, today, we're introducing three revolutionary products of this class. The first one is a widescreen iPod with touch controls. The second is a revolutionary mobile phone. And the third is a breakthrough Internet communications device. So, three things: a widescreen iPod with touch controls; a revolutionary mobile phone; and a breakthrough Internet communications device. An iPod, a phone, and an Internet communicator. An iPod, a phone...are you getting it? These are not three separate devices, this is one device, and we are calling it iPhone. Today, Apple is going to reinvent the phone, and here it is. No, actually here it is, but we're going to leave it there for now."

#inspire #changetheworld #Inspiringproducts #stevejobs #apple

It is true, just about every successful person has a story to tell you about the time they failed.

"Our Greatest Glory is not in never failing, but in rising up every time we fail"  Ralph Waldo Emerson

I've come to believe that all my past failure and frustration were actually laying the foundation for the understandings that have created the new level of living I now enjoy. - Tony Robbins

It's fine to celebrate success but it is more important to heed the lessons of failure. Bill Gates

Success is the result of perfection, hard work, learning from failure, loyalty, and persistence. Colin Powell


Thomas Edison, whose most memorable invention was the light bulb, which purportedly took him 1,000 tries before he developed a successful prototype.

“How did it feel to fail 1,000 times?” a reporter asked. “I didn’t fail 1,000 times,” Edison responded. “The light bulb was an invention with 1,000 steps.”

Many of life's failures are people who did not realize how close they were to success when they gave up. Thomas Edison