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9/11 Remembrance, Sacrifice and Resilience

9/11/2015

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I don't think people who were alive in the US during the 9/11 attack will ever forget the moment.  For me, I was sitting at my cube @Cisco.  This was during the time that we were exploring all the possibilities you could do with the internet.  We had CNN Live that we could watch from our laptops.  We were living the technology dream at that point in time.  Then we were all gasping and running to make sure everyone was tuned into the news.  How could it be that America was under attack and happening on our soil?  We always saw war as else where not here.  We all gathered our stuff and headed home to be with our loved ones and stayed glued to the TVs.  We watched in horror and shock about what was going on.  
We began to process the images we saw and reflected on the people we know and stood amazed at all the stories.  There were some amazing stories.  We watched the fire fighters run towards the buildings and up the stairs to save whom ever they can.  So many died that day including the heroes that came to rescue them.  The passengers that stormed the cockpit and took the plane down in PA knowing that they were ending their own lives to save others.  Not to mention all the countless behind the scenes people who made sure all planes were grounded and people are safe.  It was a day that I'll never forget though I was only an observer and did not feel the real impact that so many families did.  May God bless all those who were impacted in a tragic way.

True leadership had to step up in order to bring back the peace and comfort we have lived in for many years.  You can read through the transcript of the famous phone call President Bush made to the New York Governor and Mayor.  These leaders had to process what just happened, what is next and where do go from here.  I just can't imagine being the President of the Unites States of America and meeting with the people of New York.  C-Span captured that video of President Bush getting a first hand view of the devastation and the people who are trying to go forward with so much pain in their hearts.

If you get a chance to visit New York, I highly recommend that you visit the memorial.  It is breath taking.  As we observed the waterfall, it takes you back to the moment of the towers falling.  At the top surrounding the memorial of each building, you will see listed all the names of the people who died there.  It is overwhelming and so beautifully done to honor those gone.  I've added a few pictures of our visit there.  As you reflect yourself on the preciousness of your loved ones those known and those to be known, remember life is shorter than we realize.  People need to know that you value them and love them.  Make it a daily practice to share your love.  Know that no matter what evil comes our way, people who love will do what is right.  They are remembered.  Some will be called to sacrifice, some will be called to carry on in resilience and some will be required to do both.  No matter what, make your life matter.  Be sure to share yourself with others so that they know they matter too.

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August 24th, 2015

8/24/2015

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Reinvention is a word that everyone should be familiar with since we all go through various phases of life.  Things happen sometimes planned and sometimes they pop up as a complete surprise.  Because stuff happens in life no matter how difficult or challenging they seem, they really don't define who we are.  What defines us is what we do while in the circumstances.  For me, my life at times seems like I stay in the reinvention mode: from my parents dying while I was in high school, to being divorced and moving to NC from Texas with a baby and pregnant, then to college in Electrical Engineering as the only female in most of my classes to career changes of developer, tester, project management to operations.  Through it all I've learned a few things that I would like to share with those who might find themselves facing a time of reinvention.

First and foremost People do not get to define your success, you do!  I had the wonderful privilege of meeting Stedman Graham and spent an entire day with him while I was at Cisco.  He has written a few books about leadership that focus on two key things that hit home to me "You Can Make It Happen" and "Leaders Not Labels".  While he was presenting, he kept asking us what do we really love and try to name all things we love in 1 minute.  The funny thing is people could rattle off things in the first 15 seconds and then start thinking hard after that and are usually done before 1 minute is up.  Yet sometimes we find ourselves chasing after a success mark that doesn't even align with what we love.  Mostly we end up chasing someone else's definition of what they believe our success or even our outcome should be.  I know for me, I was told just like Stedman was that I was nothing but trash and would not amount to anything.  If I believed that lie, I would not be here in NC working at the Startup Hub of the South - American Underground Google Hub.  
Second is patient in getting your goal.  I love this definition: "able to accept or tolerate delays, problems, or suffering without becoming annoyed or anxious."  This is especially true in the startup arena.  You wish you could just throw together a few images and instantly you have a product.  But as many project managers and operations people will tell you there is this famous thing called the mythical man month in which management can throw people at a problem and 9 women can make a baby in 1 month.  There are foundation items that are required to happen before other things can be added to it until you have true completion or accomplishment.  It really does take a woman 9 months give or take a few weeks to have a normal healthy baby.  However during the waiting of the baby arrival, we kind of want to rush it.  We want to see the baby and hold it.  Same is true during a reinvention, we want the success of the new me to be fully complete the next day.  It is the going through the length of the process while continuing to press forward that takes us to transformation.


Third is know the difference between results and hard work.  This is one thing I held dear from times at Cisco.  John Chambers always told us to never confuse the two.  I've seen so many people get caught on a wheel of hard work going no where.  Granted work is required prior to the results you want to see happen and it does take hard work to be successful.  However, you also need to know what is the right work to do in order to get results.  Large companies especially get caught in this trap when they can start to measure data.  People are zealous of the stories they can say about the data but they forget the destination of where telling the data will take you.  There is a fable story about that called the Ant Worker.  In the startup arena, I see many people become self nominated advisers for a fee that offers help to entrepreneurs for achieving their business objectives.  The entrepreneur loses both time and money because it was wasted on people who really can't help them. 


Lastly is be open to where the journey goes.  We can limit ourselves through what success means that we expect the encounters of people we engage with and the circumstances in life itself to take us exactly according to plan.  However what we actually find is it will force us to go outside the plan.  In gambling this is called "know when to hold them and know when to walk away".  On our journey, we have to determine when is it time to force holding the course and when is it time to turn.  Sometimes we can guess wrong but don't lose heart as long as you are alive, you can pivot on the right course.  In the Startup arena, we have to be sensitive to the voice of the customer.  We might think we know the solution. But until we really listen to our customers and hear the real problem, do we fully understand if our solution solves it.  Through this, we learn to pivot several times before we can get to the results that satisfies the customer.


These are a few of the nuggets that I hold on to take me through the reinvention journey.  I also lean into my inner self and try to understand who I am as well as who I want to be in order to walk down the journey.  In the end, I want to say I did make a difference in the lives of people especially those who felt overwhelmed.  That I was able to leverage this technology in such a way that families can benefit instead of just making money for people.  And lastly that my family and friends would know that I truly loved them in the best way I knew how.  That I was generous and brought some positive difference that encouraged them to have the best journeys they could.    


Here's to our journeys!   May we all find the alignment of our value system to the success we are focused on achieving.  May we always be open to turns in the journey.  May our hearts be happy in what we do.  May we end the journey with an achievement that we stayed true to ourselves.  Let us go make our marks on the earth as one that makes a positive difference because we lived our lives to the fullest!




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National Coverage Expands - Nightly Business Report Features My Family Cloud Story

7/29/2015

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Fortune has smiled upon us again, as the national spotlight on My Family Cloud continues. Our story was featured along with the American Underground and Mati Energy on the Nightly Business Report as part of Durham's Tobacco Road business revival. The show aired Tuesday, July 28th, and brought national attention to our region and the startups who call Durham home. This was an amazing opportunity. If you haven't seen the segment, check out the story on the link below.

http://nbr.com/2015/07/28/durham-nc-sparks-a-tobacco-road-business-revival/
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MY FAMILY CLOUD Gets National Attention

7/28/2015

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Kerri Patterson, co-founder and CEO of My Family Cloud was interviewed today by CNBC. The segment focused on her ability to reinvent herself after being laid off, by pushing the boundaries as an individual and a woman in the world of tech startups.
This was an amazing opportunity to reach a national audience just as we are preparing to launch our private beta product to 250 customers this fall, and actively raising capital to fund the project for 2016 and beyond.  With a three year enterprise plan in place, My Family Cloud is looking to reshape how families communicate and interact by creating a socially engaging way to keep families connected.  Check out the interview! 
http://video.cnbc.com/gallery/?video=3000401348


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HELLO New York City!

7/13/2015

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Kerri Patterson and I traveled to New York City to attend the “Ask a VC NYC” TechBreakfast on Friday, July 10th.  The event was held at the Microsoft offices in Times Square. Over 35 investors were present, and the event was sold out with 200 attendees ready to network their way to funding.

The morning activities included two different sessions with VC panels discussing Emerging Trends and Seed and Series A Financing, and there was an opportunity to sign up for two lightning rounds – a random selection from the participants to “pitch” your story.  In addition, attendees were also given the chance to each meet with two VCs of our choice at the Venture Fair.

Kerri and I decided to divide and conquer by attending separate sessions to give ourselves a better chance to be selected during the lightning rounds.  Neither one of us was picked during the first lightning round, but we were both selected during the second lightning round. If you think about it, the odds of being picked were crazy that one of us would be picked, but both of us…all I can say is WOW.

The trip was amazing, and we were fortunate to make connections with some fabulous individuals. We’ll be back New York!!!

--Teri

Kerri and Teri pictured in front of the Microsoft offices in Times Square, NY, NY.

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Officially Patent Pending Status

6/18/2015

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What a journey and the people you meet along the way are simply a joy!  People who know me well call me "The Connection Queen" because I usually know someone who......(fill in the blank).  It does bring me a lot of joy to see people gain synergy when they are connected.  However, one thing that I least suspected was that one of the connections would come back and bless me.  Several years back while I was at Cisco, we put on an event to introduce Cisco's CLO Mark Chandler to local CLOs and local Attorneys.  This at the core was to connect Marvin Genzer to Mark.  Since Marvin teaches at NCCU Law School, he brought Mark out to meet the students.  At that time, John Sotomayor was studying for his Law Degree.  Mark helped John connect with others to land a job as a lawyer.  As time progressed John started his own firm Sotomayor IP Consulting.   Our Attorney recommended that we connect with John to talk through patent filing.  And as they say, "The rest is history".  So many thanks to Mark Chandler, Marvin Genzer and John Sotomayor for taking a journey that  impacted me in a positive way!
This picture is of John and me celebrating a great start to the journey!






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Client reviews a success!

6/3/2015

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Thank you for those who braved the Thunder Storm to provide feedback on the mobile view of My Family Cloud!  Congrats to our winners: Jim Wyman, Susan Darby, Heidi Walker and David Patterson!

The Minimum Viable Product comparison is thinking about delivering a skateboard as the first release of a car.  What does that look like for My Family Cloud?  Look in Pinterest and search for Family Message Center or Family Command Center.  There are lots of great ideas associated with how to produce one for your kitchen that is very creative but still in paper form.  We are transforming this in a digital format for the families on the go.  If you view the graphic we show on our homepage, the dashboard has it in the upper right hand corner.

We shared the Family Message Center from a mobile perspective and received great feedback.   Here's what one of our Clients had to share with us in the video below.  Thank you Heidi for taking time out of your busy schedule to share your excitement and reasons why My Family Cloud was put together.  We are excited to provide solutions that help families feel connected and focused on what's important - appreciating and loving each other!


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Client Feedback - Come see the Mobile side of our tech!

5/31/2015

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We are excited about our session June 1 (Tomorrow Night) 7pm RTP Frontier building (800 Park Offices Drive).  If you are part of a busy family, you will not want to miss this.  We will be revealing the Mobile side look and feel.  I can't wait to share the great progress that we've made! 

We will kick off the night with a video from the Walker Family describing their needs for My Family Cloud.  In their words, "this will revolutionize our family through collaboration in the Cloud."  The entire family will become involved in managing the household and all activities pertaining to the family.  My Family Cloud is "empowerment with a swipe."

Kids have been especially enthusiastic about our product.  Why?  Because My Family Cloud is helping kids engage with their parents. Parents will be reminded of field trips, hair appointments, birthday party items, and more.  Kids are able to create tasks that they need their parents' help in getting done.  

Do you have plans and schedules that just don't happen because something comes up at the last minute?  No worries; swipe that task over to a person in your family that can cover it.  We even have the ability to broadcast items to the family such as "What's for dinner." 

We are connecting families together to make life easier.  Join us on the journey of transforming technology for the family.

If you want to learn more, come on out and see us tomorrow night. You will not be disappointed!
When: Monday, June 1st
Where: RTP Frontier building at 800 Park Offices Drive, Durham, NC 27703



Sign-up on our Home page to be included in our monthly updates as we transition from concept to product.  
Thank you so much for all of the excitement and positive energy. We would not have come this far without the help of those who reached out to us with their time, feedback, and support.
Together we are making a positive difference in the lives of families!
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My Family Cloud Presents: 5 Ways to Make Family Life Easier

5/29/2015

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Every busy family knows the importance of having a schedule. From planning family dinners to coordinating trips to and from the kids' soccer practice, My Family Cloud is here to bring sanity back to family lives.

Top 5 ways that My Family Cloud will help you:

1. Time saving. Our technology allows you to add events, tasks, reminders, and more to your schedule in seconds. 

2. Family-wide visibility. Posts are immediately accessible to everyone in the "family," whether that family is your significant other and kids or that family is your team at work. 
*But privacy is important, too. The details of a post can also be sent to specific individuals or groups. Anyone else will only see a blocked-off time.

3. Timed reminders. Need to remind your SO to pick up the kids after school, but don't want them to forget? Easy: My Family Cloud allows you to choose when a reminder is sent. Now you can type the reminder at 8:00 AM but have it sent at 3:00 PM. 

4. Easy to organize. Our tech does it for you! All posts have a color-coded icon that designates their purpose. Important events can be recognized at a glance.

5. Brings families together. No more texts or calls from kids saying "What's for dinner, when will you be home?" Now, your family can easily and consistently create time for one another. Family time is valuable time.



About the author: Anna Emslie is a Political Science major and Legal Studies minor at UNC-Asheville. She has a background in Social Entrepreneurship and developed her own business plan ("Drop-In to Success") at age 18 with her two co-partners. She is the newest intern for My Family Cloud. 
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Calling Raleigh-Durham Family Service Providers

5/11/2015

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Today marks the day!!!  We are excited to host the first My Family Cloud Service Provider Event.  Local to the Raleigh-Durham area, join us for a great night of feedback.  We will meet at the Frontier Building in RTP - 800 Park Office Drive.
We want your business to be at the top of the list for consumers to engage with you local.  Looking forward to learning more about local business owner needs and how to bridge the gap of end user engagement.
Details about tonight's event

Looking forward to seeing familiar faces tonight!
  
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    Authors: 
    Teri Brigham and
    Kerri Patterson

    Teri is one of the co-founders of My Family Cloud and is a business development individual with a true innovator mindset. During the past 15 years, she has developed an expertise in business development/sales in the ever-expanding world of new technology.  Her recent focus has been in the start-up environment.

    She graduated from Baker University with a BA in Business. She lives in Carrboro with her husband, Kevin, and dog Mickey. Her free time is spent hiking, camping and riding motorcycles, and she is always looking for a new adventure.

    Kerri is a technology enthusiast who strives in leveraging the best solutions to make life less complicated.  She graduated from UNC Charlotte with a degree in Electrical Engineering Technology.  Apex is the peak of good living in which Kerri calls home with her husband David, son Christopher and a sweet Shih Tzu Blakey.  She loves to cook and enjoys time at the Outer Banks

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