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On the subject of me


Hi everyone! I’m Ain. I am a personal and professional development enthusiast, a bookworm and an event professional.

Welcome to my notes!

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ainchiara
Productivity seems to be the word of the year. Des Productivity seems to be the word of the year. Despite everything that's happening in the world, we feel constantly compelled to strive for more, to do more, but we rarely stop to look at what all that 'more' was for. I'm as guilty of that as anyone and I can feel myself losing a little bit of me to the 'productivity beast' everyday. Don't get me wrong, I think it's important in life to have a purpose and be driven. It makes things more interesting and enjoyable. It's makes it easier to go through the shit bits (because those exist too, even though not visible on IG) if we know it is all for a reason. For something that matters. But I have started questioning who does it matters to. Is it me? Or is it for someone else? In reality, it will be a bit of both, but the question for me has become: does it matter enough to sacrifice all the rest? So here's a picture of a moment I loved and I will cherish forever. My first time visiting the Lake District. Though I'm not a very outdoorsy person, I do love nature and the peace it can offer. I hate noise, crowds and chaos. This is a spontaneous shot of me that Sam took. Not my favourite expression or hair. But it captures a moment in time when I stopped to enjoy nature, literally just admiring it. Nowhere else to go, nothing else to do and nobody else to be. All worries suspended in time. This photo reminds me of that feeling. It was a little bit like floating on a cloud. The kind of calm that can only come after a storm. And as I wrap up my week, I look forward to that. A moment of peace, away from the 'beast'. Because let's be honest, if the state of the world hasn't stopped that, I don't know that anything ever will. Swipe for colour 🎨
Happy Monday! My phone has kindly reminded me tha Happy Monday! My phone has kindly reminded me that this time last year I was chillin by the pool in Cyprus with a read to match the view (and the mood!) 😂 One week to go before I get to take some time off to rest and unplug. Holidays will be different this year but perhaps never more necessary. I am going to plan some reads for that week so if you have any good recommendations for holiday reads, let me know 🙏🏻📚⬇️ Have a great week 💕
GIVEAWAY 💫 The Vanishing Half by Brit Bennett! GIVEAWAY 💫 The Vanishing Half by Brit Bennett! You’ve asked for fiction and I thought I should pick a book that will touch your soul. I am currently reading this and I can’t think of a better book to share with the world. HOW TO ENTER: 1. Like this post. 2. Leave a comment: share the title of a book by a Black author that you loved or that you’d like to 3. Tag a friend. EXTRA ENTRY: share this post in your stories and tag me so that I can see it! IMPORTANT INFO: Giveaway open to UK, Ireland & Europe only. Not affiliated with Instagram, the publisher, the author or anyone. Winner must be over 18 and willing to share their address to receive the copy. No giveaway accounts. Closes June 30th at 5pm BST. Thank you for taking part & good luck! xx P.S. this is the first ever giveaway that I do so please let me know if you think I’ve done something wrong! 🙏🏻
One day at the time. I have a little confession t One day at the time. I have a little confession to make. I always talk about how much I love being in two industries, but sometimes is really hard trying to manage being present in equal part in both. In the past few weeks, I have had to really step up at work both in terms of resposibilities and workload, which is obviously requiring a lot of my energy. I've had to drastically reduce the amount of virtual events and webinars I was attending. Networking and training have both had to take a step back to allow me to be there for our authors and clients 150%. And I love it, I'm so lucky I love every minute of it (ok maybe not every minute, I'd quite like to forget about the admin). But I can't help feeling a little absent and like I'm falling behind on the chance to connect, learn and join important conversations across both publishing and events. I know I'm not alone in this and many of you have probably felt the same, having to look after your mental health, your family and loved ones, or focussing on your job which has no doubt changed since lockdown. It's ok. Those things are important. You are not falling behind. You're just prioritising. "Career is a marathon, not a sprint." This is one of my favourite quotes and I do live by it. I thought I'd share it in case you needed a reminder too 💕
Hello! 👋🏻 Thought I'd introduce myself for a Hello! 👋🏻 Thought I'd introduce myself for anyone new here. I'm Ain, I'm a B2B sales & events manager and I work in publishing. I LOVE all things career and personal development (that's literally what I talk about all the time) and I'm sharing my notes on publishing, events and the world of work on my website &, more recently, on my YouTube channel both called Ain's Notes (links in bio). You may have noticed a few books in here: thay's my 'other' huge passion. Growing up, books were my best friends and gave me the opportunity to dream big and to learn about the world. They were often an escape and my very first personal development tool (pretty sure I learnt to visualise thanks to them!). I'm 50% Italian & 50% Algerian (hence the name), but I've been living in the UK for a while. Being an immigrant has always been part of my identity and has shaped my career journey in unexpected, but wonderful ways. Thanks for joining me in here and do say hi if we've never met/spoken before! I love to connect 🙂
Listening, processing, reading, watching, learning Listening, processing, reading, watching, learning and unlearning. I have picked up several books, started them but couldn’t finish them. Then a friend last week reminded me of one of the reasons why we often publishing so many books on sometimes very similar topics. There are different genres, different authors, different styles. There’s a book for everyone, for every moment, for every mood. A book for everything. I have shared many lists of books in my stories (saved in my highlights) that were kindly created and that we can read to educate ourselves, to learn about Black history and Black cultures & stories. Some are non-fiction, some are fiction. But if you are struggling to choose one to start with, perhaps a good starting point is confronting the very thing that may be causing you to find this difficult. It’s called ‘white fragility’ and there’s of course a book about it. I’m currently listening to it myself and I’m finding it a helpful tool to understand my unconscious self to tackle head on my white privilege mindset. I can see myself re-reading or re-listening to this book for the rest of my life. Because there’s so much wrong information that we have assimilated through the years that it won’t be an overnight change for anybody. And it will need constant work, for the rest of our lives. “We are so rarely asked to think about ourselves or fellow white in racial terms. But rather than retreat in the face of that discomfort, we can practice building our stamina for the critical examination of white identity, a necessary antidote to white fragility.”

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ainchiara
Productivity seems to be the word of the year. Des Productivity seems to be the word of the year. Despite everything that's happening in the world, we feel constantly compelled to strive for more, to do more, but we rarely stop to look at what all that 'more' was for. I'm as guilty of that as anyone and I can feel myself losing a little bit of me to the 'productivity beast' everyday. Don't get me wrong, I think it's important in life to have a purpose and be driven. It makes things more interesting and enjoyable. It's makes it easier to go through the shit bits (because those exist too, even though not visible on IG) if we know it is all for a reason. For something that matters. But I have started questioning who does it matters to. Is it me? Or is it for someone else? In reality, it will be a bit of both, but the question for me has become: does it matter enough to sacrifice all the rest? So here's a picture of a moment I loved and I will cherish forever. My first time visiting the Lake District. Though I'm not a very outdoorsy person, I do love nature and the peace it can offer. I hate noise, crowds and chaos. This is a spontaneous shot of me that Sam took. Not my favourite expression or hair. But it captures a moment in time when I stopped to enjoy nature, literally just admiring it. Nowhere else to go, nothing else to do and nobody else to be. All worries suspended in time. This photo reminds me of that feeling. It was a little bit like floating on a cloud. The kind of calm that can only come after a storm. And as I wrap up my week, I look forward to that. A moment of peace, away from the 'beast'. Because let's be honest, if the state of the world hasn't stopped that, I don't know that anything ever will. Swipe for colour 🎨
Happy Monday! My phone has kindly reminded me tha Happy Monday! My phone has kindly reminded me that this time last year I was chillin by the pool in Cyprus with a read to match the view (and the mood!) 😂 One week to go before I get to take some time off to rest and unplug. Holidays will be different this year but perhaps never more necessary. I am going to plan some reads for that week so if you have any good recommendations for holiday reads, let me know 🙏🏻📚⬇️ Have a great week 💕
GIVEAWAY 💫 The Vanishing Half by Brit Bennett! GIVEAWAY 💫 The Vanishing Half by Brit Bennett! You’ve asked for fiction and I thought I should pick a book that will touch your soul. I am currently reading this and I can’t think of a better book to share with the world. HOW TO ENTER: 1. Like this post. 2. Leave a comment: share the title of a book by a Black author that you loved or that you’d like to 3. Tag a friend. EXTRA ENTRY: share this post in your stories and tag me so that I can see it! IMPORTANT INFO: Giveaway open to UK, Ireland & Europe only. Not affiliated with Instagram, the publisher, the author or anyone. Winner must be over 18 and willing to share their address to receive the copy. No giveaway accounts. Closes June 30th at 5pm BST. Thank you for taking part & good luck! xx P.S. this is the first ever giveaway that I do so please let me know if you think I’ve done something wrong! 🙏🏻
One day at the time. I have a little confession t One day at the time. I have a little confession to make. I always talk about how much I love being in two industries, but sometimes is really hard trying to manage being present in equal part in both. In the past few weeks, I have had to really step up at work both in terms of resposibilities and workload, which is obviously requiring a lot of my energy. I've had to drastically reduce the amount of virtual events and webinars I was attending. Networking and training have both had to take a step back to allow me to be there for our authors and clients 150%. And I love it, I'm so lucky I love every minute of it (ok maybe not every minute, I'd quite like to forget about the admin). But I can't help feeling a little absent and like I'm falling behind on the chance to connect, learn and join important conversations across both publishing and events. I know I'm not alone in this and many of you have probably felt the same, having to look after your mental health, your family and loved ones, or focussing on your job which has no doubt changed since lockdown. It's ok. Those things are important. You are not falling behind. You're just prioritising. "Career is a marathon, not a sprint." This is one of my favourite quotes and I do live by it. I thought I'd share it in case you needed a reminder too 💕
Hello! 👋🏻 Thought I'd introduce myself for a Hello! 👋🏻 Thought I'd introduce myself for anyone new here. I'm Ain, I'm a B2B sales & events manager and I work in publishing. I LOVE all things career and personal development (that's literally what I talk about all the time) and I'm sharing my notes on publishing, events and the world of work on my website &, more recently, on my YouTube channel both called Ain's Notes (links in bio). You may have noticed a few books in here: thay's my 'other' huge passion. Growing up, books were my best friends and gave me the opportunity to dream big and to learn about the world. They were often an escape and my very first personal development tool (pretty sure I learnt to visualise thanks to them!). I'm 50% Italian & 50% Algerian (hence the name), but I've been living in the UK for a while. Being an immigrant has always been part of my identity and has shaped my career journey in unexpected, but wonderful ways. Thanks for joining me in here and do say hi if we've never met/spoken before! I love to connect 🙂
Listening, processing, reading, watching, learning Listening, processing, reading, watching, learning and unlearning. I have picked up several books, started them but couldn’t finish them. Then a friend last week reminded me of one of the reasons why we often publishing so many books on sometimes very similar topics. There are different genres, different authors, different styles. There’s a book for everyone, for every moment, for every mood. A book for everything. I have shared many lists of books in my stories (saved in my highlights) that were kindly created and that we can read to educate ourselves, to learn about Black history and Black cultures & stories. Some are non-fiction, some are fiction. But if you are struggling to choose one to start with, perhaps a good starting point is confronting the very thing that may be causing you to find this difficult. It’s called ‘white fragility’ and there’s of course a book about it. I’m currently listening to it myself and I’m finding it a helpful tool to understand my unconscious self to tackle head on my white privilege mindset. I can see myself re-reading or re-listening to this book for the rest of my life. Because there’s so much wrong information that we have assimilated through the years that it won’t be an overnight change for anybody. And it will need constant work, for the rest of our lives. “We are so rarely asked to think about ourselves or fellow white in racial terms. But rather than retreat in the face of that discomfort, we can practice building our stamina for the critical examination of white identity, a necessary antidote to white fragility.”
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