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Cybel Martin Blog March 13th
I have no idea what I did this week. Except Wednesday. As mentioned, I created my own charity and don’t know the first thing about fundraising. My modus operandi was to just start it, take in donations and start giving money away. That I have done but I want this to be much bigger. One day, while I was reading “Fundraising for Dummies”, I saw a commercial for Oprah’s new show about being a Philanthropist. Perfect. So Wednesday morning, I got in line with about 1000 other New Yorkers and waited to audition for the show. We waited outside for 2 ½ hours. I heard people at the front of the line got there at 5pm the day before. It was snowing. 14 degrees. And every variety of person was there. Women in luxurious furs and 3 ½ stiletto boots. Students. Men with bling in their teeth. Gucci bags. Conway bags. It was amazing. Everyone was so happy. Getting each other a cup of coffees. One group of women starting singing songs from Sesame Street.
Cybel Martin: Go Make Nice If everything in my life were as easy as my ability to make friends, I’d already be a billionaire, married, 2.5 kids and 3 Oscars. So, I waited out in the snow for 2 ½ hours and met the most amazing entertaining people. One woman described in delicious detail her upcoming wedding (except there was no fiancé yet). Another woman teaches lacrosse at my high school and runs four companies (wow). And this other guy was an opera singer. The list of new buddies goes on and on. I think I got 2 job offers out of the day. We got inside around 1130am and I left at 730pm. They gave you 2 minutes to pitch why you should be on the show and how you plan to “pay it forward”. I just KNEW I had won a callback. No. But I did gain so much in the process. I took the opportunity to ask full time fundraising people what one tip I should know. One woman’s advice was that, end of the day; donors just want to know who was helped. Specifically. That makes sense. Cybel Martin: Battle of the Coasts A good friend and producer is moving back to Los Angeles this week. Hopefully we can get together before she goes. I have moved to LA twice and moved back to NYC each time. All I can say, speaking from lots of experience, is when you move that much and are never satisfied with the city: The city is not the problem. You are. Both LA & NYC have their plusses and minuses for us film folks. I realized that I have to commit and make it work. Oh. One other cool thing is I met someone through this blog. We might work together in the near future. Very cool.
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