Angela Shelton

Today, as I was checking my Twitter Stream, I caught a tweet from Angela Shelton (@angelashelton), about reuniting some angels.

You may recall that a while back I recommended Angela, a groundbreaking filmmaker and storyteller, and her excellent documentary Searching for Angela Shelton (aff. link) where she traveled the country meeting other Angela Sheltons, and discussing their common experience: surviving sexual abuse.

I have been a  big fan of Angela’s for quite a while…first, through the Safeside Superchick video (aff. link) that we’ve watched many times with my son (and will watch with my daughter when she’s a little older.) Then a few weeks back, I saw Searching for Angela Shelton, and found her on Twitter, and every time I learn more about her, I become an even bigger fan.

Here is a person who is actively seeking to discover herself through interaction and engagement,and she’s confronting big problems, head-on. I can think of few issues more important than confronting child sexual abuse and child trafficking, yet they are not often discussed so openly and in such powerful and personal ways. The stigma associated with these issues is so often placed on the victims, and discussing the prevalence of the issues is unsettling and often avoided. As a society, we know about it, we are troubled by it, and we want it to stop. But it’s easy to sweep aside, as something that happens to “other people,” and to excuse ourselves from the discussion because we “don’t know anything about it,” or that we “can’t imagine what it’s like” to go through it.

Those excuses are blown to smithereens by people like Angela Shelton. She easily fits the mold of the wholesome, cute girl next door, who’s funny and good at cheering people up. It’s easy to relate to her. So when she exposed the dark secrets of her family, and starkly demonstrated how commonplace sexual abuse is, by finding others all across the nation, with the same name and this common experience, she hit a raw nerve, and personalized the issue. Simply put, you won’t be able to brush it aside as something that happens to “other people.” Angela Shelton is clearly “one of us.”

And though she laments at times that she really wants to do more comedy, she’s accepted the possibility that some part of her purpose in life is to bring these issues into the light of day, and to bring together survivors of sexual abuse and human trafficking, and empower them to fight together for better education and efforts to combat these crimes. Angela posted a video on her blog about her efforts to fund an “Army of Angels” conference this fall in Asheville, NC. She shared a very powerful story of two survivors she brought together through social media, who will be at the conference. And she is seeking sponsors for this worthwhile event.

Please visit the blog post and make a donation.

I’ve been pretty busy lately, both online and off, and I’ll be sharing all sorts of news with you soon about the sites, plus some upcoming programs and podcast guests.

For now, though, I am continuing to use SeanCook.Net for some basic stuff, including my Follow-Friday suggestions, and eventually my blogroll, online store and more about me, my business and my personal interests.

Let’s start with a couple of Follow Friday suggestions.

As I’ve mentioned before, I am a member of the great online community at Third Tribe, where I am learning about how to market myself authentically, build a brand, and develop my ideas into actionable products and services.

On the HigherEdCareerCoach show today, I am going to have a couple of guests from Third Tribe. Dennis Charles joined us before on the show, and was mentioned mentioned in an earlier Follow Friday post.  Susan Giurleo, a psychologist, business consultant and  marketer for health care professionals who want to diversify their income streams and utilize online tools to provide services and market their practices. Susan runs a therapy practice, Child Development Partners, but is also engaged in small business development, online health care,  and social media marketing through her blog BizSavvyTherapist, where  she teaches  psychotherapists and other health care professionals how to ethically market and diversify  income streams while utilizing online tools and social media. She is definitely an authority on helping those who may need help, but have issues admitting it.

Last weekend, I volunteered for the local arts and music festival here in Athens, called Athfest. I’ve been getting involved with the organization as a member of the Athens Half-Marathon and will be running for a position on the board for next year (Artist Market chair). During the festival, I got to hang out a lot with Andy Payne, who has been running the Artist market for the last few years. He’s a nurse recruiter, an avid runner, and a really fun guy. Hanging out with him was a total blast.

I also met some really interesting Athens personalities, including Angie Tillman from Phickles Pickles. Their company produces all sorts of interesting pickled items, including some pickled okra that my wife and I have been scarfing down since. She is really funny and we talked for quite a while about her desire to do a mini-festival at their business parking lot someday. I tried to sell her on the idea of calling it Phickles Phun Phest and having an open mic comedy thing, and give out an award, which they could call the Phickles Pickle Tickle Award. After all, who wouldn’t want a large pickle-shaped trophy with a slightly naughty name. (If you don’t get the reference, watch A League of Their Own, and listen for it in a line from one of John Lovitz’s zingers. He was so great in that movie.)

The "Heaven and Hell Car" by Chris Hubbard

For my last recommendation this

week, you won’t be able to follow Chris Hubbard (known locally as Chub) on Twitter, but you can follow his art car, dub

bed the “Heaven and Hell” car and visit his site. Chris is a really neat guy, very nice and funny, and his folk art is something else. Definitely give it a look.

There are many more people I’ve met lately worth mention, and I’ll do my best to tell you more about them soon.

I’m still working to figure out what content I am moving from my other blogs to this one, so that this can serve as more of a personal home page of sorts, as well as a general introduction to my business.

What I’ve figured out so far is that I am going to start putting my Follow Friday posts here, my blogroll, my resume, and links to my various social neetworking profiles. I’m also considering moving my web storefront here, and to start a couple of categories about some of my personal passions, including music, homebrewing, writing (including original poetry), gardening tips, and home projects.. I hope you’ll come back soon and see how the site evolves.

My Follow Friday for this week is made up of people I’ve met on the membership site Third Tribe (aff. link). This is a great community of people who are engaged in running their own businesses and trying to use social media, blogs and other methods to market themselves authentically, without being annoying. I’m really enjoying my involvement in this community so far and I’ve met some really interesting people. Here are a few examples.

• If you listened a couple of weeks ago to my BlogTalkRadio show on perfecting your elevator pitch, you’ve aready heard of Dennis Charles. (@fourth_wave). Dennis runs a coaching practice that focuses on helping young adults successsfully transition their adult lives. He’s smart, good-humored and dedicated to helping people live their best lives.
• D.J. Coffman (@djcoffman) is a talented comic artist and comedian who lives in the Pittsburgh area. I’ve been talking with him about developing some spot art illustrations for HigherEdCareerCoach.Com
• Billy Broas (@billybroas) is a beer geek. He runs a site callled BillBrew.Com and he and I have been talking about beer. He also invited me to guest post on BillBrew.Com while he moves from Virginia to Denver Colorado.
• Chris Garrett (@chrisgarrett) is a professional blogger who’s been published on Problogger, Copyblogger and other top sites. He recently co-authored ProBlogger: Secrets for Blogging Your Way to a Six-Figure Income (aff. link), and he is the guy who got our new Third Tribe Twitter Chat rolling each Tuesday at 5 pm EST.
• Shane (@ipaddaily) over at iPadDaily seems to be a guy who is really trying to do ambitious things.  His goal is to put out a daily blog about everything related to the iPad. I’ve sent him a few leads already, but if you are someone who can share intelligent news, tips and trick, or perspectives on how to get the most out of your iPad, get in touch with him. I would, but I don’t have an iPad. : (

Note: If you stopped by earlier, you probably wondered where I was going with that last paragraph, and you followed an incorrect twitter link or two. I finished the post really late last night (or early this morning) and I guess that’s the hazard of trying to write while sleeping. My apologies to anyone who might have been a little puzzled or frustrated by incomplete thoughts and bad links. All should be good now.

Sean Cook, M.Ed.Certified Life Purpose & Career Coach

My name is Sean Cook, and I am a Life Purpose & Career Coach from Athens, GA.

I publish several other blogs, related to my coaching business:

• Higher Ed Career Coach (featuring posts on working in higher education, career development, getting ahead, and maintaining work/life balance)
• Higher Ed Life Coach (geared toward helping college students and their parents make successful transitions to college ad from college to the “real world”
• Higher Ed Coach (coming soon-will be geared toward helping coaches, consultants, trainers and speakers that work with the higher ed market and with college students, college parents and higher ed professionals)
• Putting Your Purpose to Work (a companion site to my upcoming book and coaching program.)

SeanCook.Net will be more of a conventional home page, where you can learn about my life as well as my business. Here you will find posts about my personal life, family, political and philosophical leanings, poetry, artwork, gardening and home projects, and a multitude of other things.

Thanks for visiting. Please come back soon and see how this site develops.