The following are commissioned news articles.

Arianna Huffington redefines the metrics of success at CCBA luncheon

By Emma Polini, Anna-Melissa Tribune (2018)

The Collin County Business Alliance (CCBA) celebrated their 6th anniversary with a luncheon held on Friday, Dec. 1 that featured keynote speaker Arianna Huffington, founder of the Huffington Post, as well as founder and CEO of Thrive Global and an international best-selling author who has penned 15 books, including her most recent publications “Thrive” and “The Sleep Revolution.”

Many know Huffington from The Huffington Post, a news and blog site that was launched in May 2005 and has been ranked as one of the top 50 most frequented websites by TIME Magazine. Huffington served as co-founder and editor-in-chief of the publication before launching consumer and corporate productivity and heath platform Thrive Global in August 2016. After a fall from sleep deprivation left her with a broken cheekbone in 2007, Huffington has devoted her time to promoting well-being and redefining the metrics of success.

Huffington has been named in TIME Magazine’s list of the World’s 100 Most Influential People and in Forbes Most Powerful Women in Media and Entertainment. She appeared at the meeting on Friday to discuss the new media, politics, the economy and lessons she learned on her road to success, sitting down with CCBA Chairman and Capital One Financial Services President Sanjiv Yajnik.

At the luncheon, Huffington said money and power — commonly labeled by others to be the metrics of success — were “incredibly shriveled definitions of success.” Instead, she offered a third metric of success: well-being. Her book redefines the four metrics of success to include well-being, wisdom, wonder and giving.

“The least happy people are the most narcissistic,” said Huffington, who stated that a shortcut to happiness is helping others.

Huffington also spoke on the current social-political climate and how technological advancements have altered and affected the spread of news and media.

She discussed teachable moments in hyper-growth companies she is a part of, such as Uber, stating that it is no longer acceptable to miss the importance of culture while striving for growth.

“Companies can no longer hide behind expensive billboards and ads, because in the world of social media, everything becomes public one way or another,” she said.

In the current world, Huffington said, people have found their voices. They no longer need to have publications pick up their stories in order to be heard. Instead, people can turn to social media and blog online. This phenomenon of modern technology prevents negativity and abuse from remaining buried for long.

“A lot of what is happening now is about more personal things,” said Huffington. “A lot of things that have remained in darkness, kind of buried, are coming out to the light… things can’t remain in the shadows anymore. It’s kind of an amazing time.”

Circling back to the finding of her book, Huffington stressed the importance of sleep, self-care and recharging in order to live a happy, healthy and successful life. Huffington stated that the most important point to take away from her talk was that people need to pick a time of the night to turn off their smart phones and lay them down to charge —outside of the bedroom.

“Data overwhelmingly shows the difference that’s going to make on your health (and) cognitive importance,” said Huffington, stressing this point to the audience. She said that disconnecting from one’s day is a vital step necessary for the brain that one must take before sleep. This “sacred time” needs to be carved out each day so that we can help break our smart phone addictions.

Huffington and Thrive Global are currently developing an app to help people achieve the goal of breaking their technology addictions so that they can instead focus on real world connections. The app will have a “Thrive-Mode” that will, as Huffington put it, “turn a smart phone into a dumb phone.” The setting, which cannot be overrode, will prevent users from accessing apps such as social media or e-mail during family time or leisure time. It also will give users a mirror of their social media usage, so they can learn how much of their time they truly devote to their phones. If users wish to cut down on screen time, the app will send them reminders when they have been using apps for long periods of time.

Huffington said that people tend to take pride in living hectic, workaholic lives that leaves little time for leisure. It is her goal that people will instead start bragging about how they are not plugged in all the time, but are actually out living their lives.

Another point that Huffington touched on was women in the workplace. She said that studies show females are at a huge disadvantage when it comes to burnout due to work. She attributed the higher rates of stress, heart disease and poor health in businesswomen to be due to two main factors. The first factor is that many women are still saddled with responsibilities at home. The second is due to biological factors.

“Women internalize stress differently,” said Huffington. “Women in high stress jobs (have) much more chance of sickness.” She added that issues for women are also exacerbated by a “subconscious bias of sexes” that comes out in men and leads to “bad behavior.” At some point, for many businesswomen, stress in the workplace becomes too high and many women just leave their positions, never to return full time.

“If you go to an office and they have room for a ping-pong table, but they don’t have room for a woman who just gave birth to pump milk, there’s a problem,” said Huffington.

She teared up at one point when discussing how she admired a businesswoman who stood up for herself and politely told her boss that an aspect of her work environment was not how she performed at her best.

Huffington, who is an outspoken advocate of establishing healthy work environments that promote happy workers, said it takes guts to stand up for oneself and advocate for one’s well-being.

Also honored at the luncheon was Charlotte Jones Anderson, EVP and chief brand officer of the Dallas Cowboys, who received the CCBA Leadership Award, though she was unable to attend the event in person.

Formed in 2011, the CCBA is comprised of business leaders who believe that people must take action now in order to shape the vibrant community, or future success is put at risk. By acting as a catalyst to address key issues such as water, education and transportation today, the CCBA works to ensure that the already successful Collin County has an even brighter future.

Remembering our story

By Emma Polini, Herald Democrat (2017)

You cannot blame people for allowing tragedies to become textbook events. When enough time elapses, even the most monumental occurrences fade into history. But with Monday marking the 16th anniversary, I would like to take the time to share one story of the Sept. 11th terrorist attacks that reminds us why it is so important to remember.

On Sept. 11, 2001, I was a second grade student at Franklin Elementary School in Westfield, New Jersey. The terrorist attacks shattered my sense of safety, comfort and childlike rationality. An already somber child at age 7, the destruction of my beloved New York upturned my sense of security. But this is not my story. It belongs to many people, and one of them is my father.

Anthony Polini was born in Queens, New York. His blood flows with pride for the New York Yankees, Mets, Giants and Jets — an almost cardinal offense to native New Yorkers, but he embraced all symbols of New York pride.

“Almost every day I’d be there for some reason,” he told me, referring to the World Trade Center buildings. In September 2001, my father held the title of Wall Street equity analyst. He worked in downtown Manhattan in One Financial Center, the building next door to the famous Twin Towers, which for many stood as a proud symbol of progress, industry and international advancement.

On Sept. 11, 2001, he was scheduled to have lunch with a client at the Windows of the World, a venue complex located on the 106th and 107th floors of the North Tower, also known as Building One — the tower that would be struck at 8:45 a.m. that day, 18 minutes before the South Tower would be hit as thousands of commuters arrived at what at first seemed like a normal Tuesday at the office.

But my dad, who usually caught the 5:30 train and arrived to work by 7, never anticipated making that lunch. The morning before, his client had called and requested the lunch be held that day; he agreed without hesitation, entertaining his client in what was once known as New York City’s tallest building.

“I remember that Monday when I was going to lunch, thinking just how cool it was to be there,” he said, as he recalled the World Trade Centers with a mix of respect and awe. The Towers, my father said, were alive with shops, people, professionals and tourists alike. “It was really a very cool place to be visiting on a regular basis.”

My dad recalled stopping by a friend’s office in the South Tower that Monday after lunch. The office building was close to the top; less than 24 hours later, the majority of the people on that floor would have lost their lives.

When the first Tower was struck, my father’s friend and his colleagues were instructed to remain where they were and not leave the building. Luckily he and a several of his fellow workers decided to ignore orders and flee the building — a decision that saved their lives. At 9:03 a.m. on Sept. 11, the South Tower would be struck beneath where the people worked, making escape an impossibility.

My dad was one of the lucky ones.

“I got home that Monday evening, laid out my clothes for the next day, and my wife said that there was a special speaker at church the following morning and would I like to go, and I said actually my lunch meeting was moved to today so I’m free to go. … It was a nice day that morning, the weather was nice, and I decided to stay home and go to church,” my dad said.

After dropping us three children off at school, my dad and mom, Anne, went to St. Helen’s Church. While in service, somebody announced that a plane had crashed into one of the Trade Centers and that everyone needed to pray.

“Everyone assumed it was a small private plane that occasionally hit things in Manhattan. No one assumed anything more than that,” my dad said. “When we went home, we watched the TV, and we actually saw the second plane go in, and we realized that the first plane was a commercial jet … and then we started to appreciate the severity of the event.”

My father said the attacks were life-changing. “People in the U.S. always felt safe and somehow isolated from the terrorism that was sweeping across Europe, and this was the first attack by foreign terrorists on our soil.”

It was difficult to contact people at work. Shutdown cell reception and mass chaos made it a nightmare to determine who was living and who was among the dead. My dad managed to connect to his partner, who did go to work that day, and was trying to get off the island amongst traffic and confusion.

“One of my best friends was in the Trade Center. I couldn’t get a hold of him. And it turned out he escaped,” my father said. Another friend missed the train to work that day and was also saved.

But in the days to follow, my dad learned that nearly 100 people he knew well had passed away, including two very close friends and over 60 colleagues from a single firm. In the following weeks, he experienced anxiety and tension when riding in the tunnels to get to work, a sentiment that he said all New Yorker commuters seemed to share.

“The destruction and chaos downtown was incredible. Nothing was open, there was still dust and debris everywhere, you couldn’t get close,” he said, adding that he watched the debris slowly get cleared out. “I watched the Trade Center basically get ripped down to nothing but a giant hole. And it was very eerie.

“The biggest loss that day was the loss of innocence as a country. The rebuilding process was long and hard, but New Yorkers united.”

Ten days after the terrorist attacks, major league baseball resumed play in New York. My father took my brother to the first Mets game at Shea Stadium (now Citi Field), where the field was flooded with the valiant first responders of New York City, including the police and firemen who had selflessly risked their lives in the aftermath and were lucky enough to have survived. Beloved catcher Mike Piazza hit a home run, bringing the Mets to a comeback victory, and Diana Ross sang “God Bless America.”

“New Yorkers were not going to give into terrorism and were going to live their lives with dignity and freedom,” my father said.

Rebuilding after 9/11 was no easy feat, but over the years, Ground Zero was transformed from a barren and bleak reminder of terrorism to a site of remembrance and strength. On the 10th anniversary of the attack, the 9/11 Museum — located at Ground Zero — became open to the public. Lizzy Fischetti, a fellow 2012 graduate of Westfield High, now works there as a Special Exhibitions Researcher, and she was gracious enough to take a moment to share the importance of the museum and remembering the attacks.

“There are so many extraordinary and inspiring stories from 9/11, and I encourage anyone who can to visit the Museum, or our website, to explore them,” Lizzy wrote to me. “One of the most poignant lessons I’ve learned in my work is that living and growing up in what has been called a ‘post-9/11 world’ means that there was a ‘pre-9/11 world’ before the attacks. A sentiment that feels obvious, but being eight at the time of the attacks has made me accept what is dubbed ‘post-9/11’ as normal. I grew up in New Jersey, and remember the day very clearly, but even so, I’ve never really known a world in which I don’t have to have my bag searched at a baseball game or go through strict airport security. 9/11 changed everything about our nation’s foreign policy, the threats we face, the skills of our military, and our overall approach to public security.

“It also means that there once existed a world where nearly 3,000 people lived alongside their family, friends and coworkers, celebrating birthdays, graduations, weddings, anniversaries and enduring losses, struggles and hardships. Each was a rich, fruitful life that was taken 16 years ago. Sometimes it feels like the imagery of the Twin Towers falling or the crash sites at the Pentagon and near Shakesville can eliminate the personal losses of that day. I am routinely reminded of how personal the attacks were for family and friends through my work, and I am thankful for the opportunity to share in commemorating their lives and hearing their stories. ‘Never forget’ means remembering how they died, but equally importantly, celebrating how they lived. For survivors and families and friends of victims, 9/11 is not something they have the benefit of memorializing only once a year; to them, it is daily. At the Museum, we remember 9/11 so that each individual’s memory is preserved.”

The Sept. 11th terrorist attacks are now something that is written about in history books. It may not be your story; I remember the aftermath of the event as vividly as memory can be trusted. But it isn’t just my story either — nor does it just belong to my father or Lizzy. As Americans, it is our story to remember. We will not be defeated by terrorism. It is our duty to persevere, to honor the fallen, to remember the past in order to erect a brighter future.

In the age of social media, do YouTube stars have a responsibility?

By Emma Polini, Anna-Melissa Tribune (2018)

Ah, a new year, a fresh start —no wait, already a celebrity scandal, albeit featuring a name that only younger generations will likely recognize. For those of you who aren’t familiar (or have missed the rather high-profile story), YouTuber and actor Logan Paul —know for producing comedy videos online after his rise to fame on the now-defunct Vine and featuring in films that might be played at preteen sleepovers —went under fire on Jan. 2 for a video he posted of himself and friends in the Japanese forest Aokigahara, also known as “Sea of Trees” and the “Suicide Forest” due to the high number of lost souls that flock to the forest to claim their lives.

While in the forest, Logan and his friends strayed off the path and are seemingly shocked when they find the body of a recently deceased suicide victim. At this point Logan —who is 22, not 15 —makes the choice to continue recording. The body of the deceased is shown with a blurred out face, though this content is certainly considered graphic, especially to young viewers. With a demographic consisting mostly of children, preteens and teenagers, Logan did put a warning at the beginning of the video, and he does discuss in the video why suicide is never the right option. However, Logan and his friends appear to laugh at the body at several points in a show of apparent disrespect. And, of course, there is the blatant distastefulness of filming the body in the first place.

Visitors to Aokigahara are not supposed to leave the path in order to allow souls the chance to find their peace. This is a place people who are in deep pain seek out, so exploiting the forest for its spooky content (as Logan originally intended to do) already does not seem like a wise idea. Furthermore, it is an offense to traditional Japanese culture to film or photograph the deceased. And this wasn’t a mistake. Logan chose to not only film the incident, but edit the video, upload it and then use an image of the encounter in the thumbnail of his video in order to garner more views.

Despite any intended takeaways, Logan ultimately exploited a tragic death in order to gain views, and thus earn more money in his career by building up notoriety and attention. With YouTubers getting paid per view —with more money rolling in with advertisements —the concept of “clickbait” is not unusual. It is a hallmark of popular vloggers (video bloggers) to sensationalize a part of their video and tease at it in the headline, to goad their viewers into clicking their link for something that is often purposely misleading. It doesn’t matter if a viewer is disappointed —the vlogger is still making money off the view. But at what price are we paying for such mindless exploitation?

We cannot shield youth from the horrors of the world. In fact, it would be unfair and unwise to insulate them from reality. But we need to be mindful of what stars the younger generation is crowing, what messages the stars are glorifying, what values they are championing and what they are exploiting.

In response to a fan video “Logan, You’re My Hero,” Logan Paul flew a young fan out to his home in Los Angeles several months back to duet on a song (that Logan Paul wrote), with the young boy singing lines such as “Everyone has a hero,” “Logan is my hero, he is really nice,” “Everyone needs someone to idolize.” Logan Paul’s ego aside, this kind of mentality is unhealthy to instill in children. Rather than idolize such popular YouTubers —who spend a large deal of time selling merchandise (as Logan does repeatedly in the mentioned music video) and flexing (a.k.a. bragging about their designer labels and excessive sums of money spent) —if children feel the need to be like people, they should focus on truly impactful and worthwhile individuals.

There is nothing wrong with making comedy videos. There is nothing wrong with creating a brand for yourself, realizing that people respond to it and capitalizing off that brand to make money. Not all content produced has to be deep or meaningful. But I do believe that these social media influencers, as they are called, have a degree of responsibility —especially those with younger audiences. As social media continues to rise —crowning new stars on a daily basis —many young stars now pick up thousands to millions of followers. Among the sea of selfies, clickbaiting and yearning for views and likes, I hope we give credit to the influencers who serve a more meaningful goal — and end the reign of those, such as Logan Paul, who have misused their position of power.