Issue 1
Summer 2019
ST O R I E S / I N S P I R AT I O N
G E N E R AT I O N MAGAZINE
CONTENTS 03
Editor’s letter A written piece from Generation Mag’s founder & Editorin-chief.
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Natural Eye A gallery of photographical art captured by Angela Carabelas.
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Not Another Diet Helpful tips from Certified Personal Trainer, Chelsea Cherry.
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‘Queens’ A lyrical piece written by recording artist and rapper, Stefan Otto.
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The Administrator An interview with Excutive Adminstrator, Misty Hood
OL I V I A WA L LS
Founder & Editor-in-chief
With this issue being the very first
However, may it be this generation
of Generation Mag, it will always
that fights not only to find the good,
hold a special place in my heart.
but fights to be the good on a day-
This is the start of something new.
to-day basis. Generation Mag exists
What better way to ring in a new
to feature the stories, creativity, and
endeavor than to feature content
art of people sharing their authen-
so near and dear, so precious and
tic human experiences. These sto-
inspiring that it helps you begin to
ries shine a light on what it means
see the fighting good in this world.
to be human. My hope for you while
Everyday, it can be a struggle to see
reading this issue is that you will be
beyond life’s challenges and heart-
ignited with inspiration and excite-
aches.
ment for the future. Welcome to Generation Magazine and thank you for reading our very first issue.
with love, Olivia Walls 3
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Natural Eye by Angela Carabelas
Angela Carabelas is an Orlando-based photographer with skill in both film and digital photography. As displayed in the following photo gallery, the heart for her craft is seen indefinitely. Film photography has seen an interesting renaissance in the last few years. Fueled mostly by analog trends and the wedding photography industry, people have started to remember the magic of light and color that doesn’t feel so digital.
Many argue that ‘making’ a picture is far more rewarding than just ‘taking’ one. It requires craft, passion and patience. Patience being the chief among them. Additionally, shooting film is not as cheap, so it lends itself to be more focused and less frivolous.
With the rise of digital photography, the limits of film seemed to fall away in an exciting way. More than ever, anyone can take a great photo with some basic skills. As our times have become increasingly digital, a growing niche of photographers have chosen to pursue “the shot” in the harder, yet at the same time, more natural way.
Last year on a road trip through California I decided to put myself to a test. I used my medium format Hasselblad 503cw as my main camera but still had a digital Fujifilm as a backup. There was a couple times where the learning curve had caught me and I either missed shots, or found myself googling to troubleshoot some film-loading issues. I was nervous, uncertain, and seriously putting a lot of faith in a newer process to record a very special trip.
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On the way to the airport, I shipped off my film to my professional lab, praying things would turn out okay. I waited about five days to get my results, though it felt like an eternity. And finally, I received the scans. It was a relief! Not only did the images come out beautifully, but they far surpassed the look I was going for in my digital files. Even when I tried to edit them to be exact, it was rarely the same. My hard work and frustrationmanagement paid off.
Since then, I’ve been using film in my travels whether big or small. I’ve relied less on digital backups and have even left my Fujifilm at home sometimes. As I get to know my favorite Kodak Portra 400 film, I’ve been more confident and more free. It’s been sweet, and quite personal from an artistic standpoint. There is no shortcut way to find your own style or taste with film photography because it’s not designed to be quick. Digital photography is great for “quick”. However, I like slow.
Often one looks at a photo shot on film and realizes that it’s simply special. It’s special because there is risk involved to get the final result. Color and depth can be read more like a dream or a memory. And most importantly, it has soul.
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By Chelsea Cherry
Chelsea Cherry is an Orlando-based personal trainer and founder of The Triple Threat Lifestyle. She experienced a personal transformation that has inspired and influenced many others. Chelsea shares her personal story to serve as inspiration for people seeking overall wellness and balance in life. chealsea is a trainer that helps sculpt both the body and mind.
Frustration,defeat, inconsistency! These are common words that I hear being used frequently when asked to describe one’s attempt at pursing a healthy lifestyle. Allow me to introduce myself: my name is Chelsea Cherry. I am the founder of a holistic health brand, The Triple Threat Lifestyle. As a professional in the health and wellness field (certified personal trainer and holistic health coach), I have created a brand that fully embodies the physical, mental and emotional fitness trifecta—the three pillars on which everything else stands. Once these three areas are in alignment, this will cause a person to be a powerful Triple Threat! Having experienced my own transformation journey, this method has been studied, tested, and proven to produce ideal results for a sustainable lifestyle.
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It’s much more than just fitness and nutritional needs, it’s an entire holistic balance of life. Sustainability is key to not only beginning a healthy lifestyle change, but also in maintaining it for a lifetime. If we’ve ever tried forming or breaking a new or existing habit, we can all probably relate to the stop-and-go flow, or lack there of, in some area of our lives. Having been there and done that, it gives me a deeper level of understanding and relatability in pursuit of such a journey. With taking great pride in changing lives, each drop of sweat is what ultimately makes this the most rewarding career. I’d like to offer you a new perspective, and a few pieces of experiential advice on ways that you, too, can successfully pursue a consistently healthy lifestyle.
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@triplethreatcc
thetriplethreatlifestyle.com
NO MORE FRUSTRATION, DEFEAT, OR INCONSISTENCY! go 1.) Nutritionally, healthy alternatives
for for 90% of your week to satisfy cravings, and reward yourself with a treat in moderation the other 10% (i.e. during the week you may have whole wheat noodles or fiber noodles with low calorie sauce, but on the weekend you may have a meal of real Italian cuisine. The same goes for sweets).
Fitness wise, realize that not everyday will be your best day. Showing up and doing something rather than nothing is the game changer in which keeps you consistent.
2.)
Socially, if you have an event with friends coming up, plan ahead to eat lighter healthier meals throughout the day, and save your extra calories for your outing.
3.)
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Pay it forward: meaning put your money where your mouth is for extra-accountability. If getting fit is your priority, invest your finances in advance, that way you will still show up on the days you don’t feel like it.
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Show yourself love and care along the journey. If you’re out of shape, realize that you must be patient in getting results. Remember, getting out of shape didn’t happen over night, so neither will your fitness journey.
5.)
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Creat tak Cour G E N E R AT I O N
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tivity kes rage - Henri Matisse 19
FEATURED ARTIST: RECORDING ARTIST & RAPPER
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STEFAN OTTO @STEFAN0TTO
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An interview with
the a d m i n i s t r at o r By Olivia Walls In light of the current fascination with organization and project management, I thought it would be appropriate to write a piece on the topic! How cool would it be to interview a person who’s been in the business of organization and administration for over 20 years. I knew just the person to interview.  Misty Hood is an Executive Administrator at Church on the Living Edge. Everything about her job requires her to be organized, eff icient, and on top of her game. I had the special opportunity to sit down with her.
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OLIVIA WALLS: How did you get started doing what you do? Did you always want to work in the field of administration? MISTY HOOD: No, I started working full-time when I was 15 years old as a receptionist within my family’s ministry. It was a world-wide ministry so it was busy. I did that for a couple years until I took over the mail-order department. So, I was facilitating all the orders that came in—I made sure those got shipped [and] I was responsible for getting all of our shipping supplies. All that kind of stuff. O.W. That is busy. M.H. Yeah. And then, the next phase of work for me was overseeing a Creative Department. So, I was not in administration really much at all. I was dealing with apparel, music compact disks, and even *lowers voice* cassette tapes at that time—that’s how far we’re going back. Books. [T]here always was a lot of organization going on but you wouldn’t have said “oh, you’re the administrator of that”. I was really overseeing a Creative Department. Then...I took over the Purchasing Department. Which meant every purchase that was made for the ministry had to come through my department and had to be approved and tracked. That’s where I started to get into the crossing the t’s and dotting the i’s. Because, at that point you’re dealing with finances being tracked, you’re dealing with budgets and that requires a great level of attention to what’s happening. So, I did that for…gosh…probably 10 years. O.W. Did you enjoy it?
M.H. Um, I did enjoy that. Whenever you do something for a long time, there’s always that risk you run into where you feel like you’re just in the day-to-day, you’re just going through the motions. There wasn’t really anything new that was going to happen. It was “you’re gonna keep this train going”—which was fine! You know, that’s okay. I wasn’t dissatisfied with that at all. I was young, running departments. So, I mean, from a view-point of “success”, you know, that would have all had been there. I had people that were reporting to me and all that was fine. And then, I had a major transition where I switched jobs. [Initially] when I came into the position I’m in now, I came over to handle a pastor’s schedule— speaking schedule and such. I didn’t really have experience with that one-on-one. Obviously, I was used to that with my family. They were booked in with things. So, you know, I just jumped in with two feet...and I jumped into a storm of chaos. There were no procedures, no organization, no proper chains of communication. There was nothing in place. It was a freefor-all. So, I was like “Okay, there’s nothing established”. You want to talk about attention to detail…you’ve got to make sure they’ve got rides to where they’re going, you got to make sure the hotel is taken care of, product has to get there… So, there was a lot of moving parts. O.W. And you didn’t have a team to work with either? M.H. Oh no, it was ME! It was me.
And then, something came up like “well, the pastor needs a new website”. And I said, “Well, I’ve worked with web companies for 15 years”. So, we redid his website. We turned around a website in something stupid like 7 days, it was unheard of. We’ve should have never done that. I don’t recommend it! The website was great but [now] your timeline for everything going forward is: “everything happens in 7 days!” And it doesn’t. Suddenly, more things kept coming over to me. So, inadvertently, even though I wasn’t the “administrator”, I starting to put systems in place all while— I’m a “scheduler”. That’s why you want to be prepared when you go into a job. Even if you know something that’s not directly related to what you’re doing, you know, you always want to offer it. You don’t want to push it. Be an answer to problems that exist inside your organization, whether it’s directly related to you or not. And yes, there is a proper way to do that, but hopefully, you’re at a business where the leadership is based on relationship and not just your job description. [Because] that allows everybody to flow together. You know, you hear it said, “you’re better together”—that’s true in every situation. So, then there began to be some transition of some people that were here on staff and I moved into what was considered the “Administrator”. Then at that point, the staff was reporting to me on day-to-day operational things and we just really started to move through and just bring things into a place of efficiency.
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O.W. When you finally moved into official Administrator, did you feel very much prepared for it at that point? M.H. Yes, because I’ve been working since 15, I have seen the ins and outs of every part of “ministry”. From the financial aspect to leading the team. I was immersed in that type of culture. So, when I was moved into this position it wasn’t scary for me; now there was a lot of work to be done from an administrative perspective. Because now all, for lack of better words, “roadblocks”, they’re out of the way. You now have the freedom to set the course the way you think its going to be best for everyone. Not for yourself—it has to best for the team. [The] worst thing an administrator can do is be focused solely on what they want. Here’s the real truth about administration that nobody wants to talk about: you do a lot less work than your team does. The reason is, is that my primary role is to make sure that my staff has what they need to do their job. You must be others-focused…you don’t have a choice. O.W. Are there skills that you didn’t initially have that you learned along the way? M.H. Absolutely. And you have to always, always be willing to learn. None of us has it all right. So whether you look for some coaching in an area that you feel you’re not at your peak: that’s great! I highly recommend assessments of your personality thats gonna help you identify your blind spots in how you deal with people that may have a different personality than you. G E N E R AT I O N
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There is so much that you can’t know until you experience it. If you see someone that is doing something in a way that you like, say “How does that fit in [with] what we’re doing?” You know, my plan is not always gonna be the right one. But sometimes you don’t know until you’re in the situation. You better be flexible or you’re just going to be angry. Flexibility is a major key. O.W. With all the experience you’ve had, would you say that administration is a gift or something learned? M.H. I think it’s both. I don’t think a highly creative person is going to be your strongest administrator because they’re gonna die on the vine. And I don’t want to spend all of my time creating things, that’s not what gives me life. What gives me life is to make sure everybody has what they need to create. I think one of the dangers of administration is that… just because you’re organized doesn’t make you a good administrator. Administration is much more than organization. I know a lot of very organized people that cannot relate to others. And so you may have everything perfect, but nobody wants to work with you. I don’t ever want to be that person. Remain a person that people want to be around and work with. It has to be bigger than executing a plan. As administrators, we have to watch (because we are typically focused on the final goal) that we don’t lose sight of people in the process. You hear all the time about a “spirit of excellence”—that has nothing to do with crossing your t’s and dotting your i’s—a spirit is internal.
That is how I carry myself. O.W. So, it’s not about how perfect the results are… M.H. No! Absolutely not. Excellence is a spirit and a spirit is internal. That is the way we carry ourselves in a situation. If something has gone awry [and] someone says to you, “Your presence calmed me down and made me feel better”—that’s the highest complement you can ever get as an administrator.
Misty Hood: wife, mother, pastor, & a freakin’ awesome administrator.
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Special thanks to our contributors
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ST O R I E S / I N S P I R AT I O N
G E N E R AT I O N MAGAZINE
Angela Carabelas, Harif Hazera & Jennifer Hazera, Chelsea Cherry, Stefan Otto Norris, and Misty Hood.
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