AfroSolo & Mo’ MAGIC Summer 2014

August Summary

Working with AfroSolo was an amazing opportunity that has given me a new perspective of not-for-profit businesses.   I gained great experience as well as learned advanced word processing skills, communication, and time-management skills.  I had to be creative, problem solve, and figure out best practices for the tasks I needed to complete.  I am very lucky that I had a chance to work with AfroSolo Theatre Company.

As we wrapped up the month of July, there were a few more things on our list of tasks.  I needed to create and promote the Arts Festival that was fast approaching.  One of the ideas was to create a Facebook event and share that throughout all of the social media outlets.  With the Free Concert at the Yerba Buena Gardens coming up, I created the event on Facebook and shared it with his friends.  I also utilized the company Facebook page to promote the event and spread the word.  By doing this, people were made aware of the event details.  I was able to reach over 500 people with the invitation to the event.  In order to maximize the outreach, I also shared information about the event on a daily basis through social media.  For five days, I had different information to share with the attendees.  For instance, I featured the artists that were performing at the event and explaining why the concert is paying a tribute to Paul Robeson.

In order to further promote the rest of the activities for the AfroSolo Arts Festival happening throughout September, Thomas needed a list of middle and high schools in the Bay Area.  I was able to find over 100 schools located in the Bay Area.  I entered them into a spreadsheet so that I could use Mail Merge to maximize efficiency of contacting them.  I can now use Mail Merge as a new skill.

To wrap up my internship, I made adjustments to the blog that better suit the needs of the AfroSolo.  I also made sure that WordPress was a tool that Thomas could use on his own.  The social media campaign was a new aspect to this business that previously did not exist.  The outreach to the community is now larger and stronger.

Throughout the summer, I gained invaluable experience from working with AfroSolo.  It was inspiring to see how much hard work and motivation is put into a small company.  And as a one-person business, the responsibility falls solely on Thomas to coodinate and complete tasks.  I am so glad that I was able to support him and the company which in turn gives back to the local community through the Arts Festival.  This was an extremely rewarding experience.

July 27, 2014

As I continue to work from home, I have been focused on the promotion and marketing of the AfroSolo Arts Festival this August.

With the first event of the AfroSolo Annual Arts Festival this Saturday, our main goal is promoting this event through the usage of social media.  I’ve created a Facebook event for the August 2nd event at Yerba Buena Gardens.  I now have access to the Twitter account and have also promoted the event through tweeting about it.

On Pinterest, I created a few boards of what AfroSolo will be presenting at this years Arts Festival.  On Facebook, I invited his friends to the upcoming events in the San Francisco community.  On WordPress, I’ve continued to blog about a variety of things including a Thank You to the donors, education on the artists performing at the festival, and overall promotion of the free events that support the community.  What is posted on WordPress is shared on both Twitter and Facebook to create consistency in the information.  This is allowing us to reach the largest audience for the AfroSolo Arts Festival.  I also created a social media plan for the next week to get all of the events onto social media.  By educating the targeted audience, AfroSolo is hoping to build awareness about this community event.  This social media plan will give us the most effective results for the 2014 Arts Festival.

I also created a list of schools in the Bay Area to use Mail Merge to promote the Arts Festival by mail.  Using Mail Merge was another tool that I learned from this internship.  It simplifies the process of sending a message through email or mail, which will be helpful for me in the future.

To see more, follow us on Pinterest, Facebook, WordPress and Twitter.

July 13, 2014

Thomas at AfroSolo has been a great mentor for my entrepreneurial endeavors.  His dedication to AfroSolo and his community is inspiring!  I have sat in one of the meetings to plan the health fair that is approaching in less than one month, which is a part of the larger AfroSolo Arts Festival.  I had the opportunity to meet partners from local health organizations that will attend and contribute to the success of the health fair.  Some of the organizations are listed below:

• Kaiser Permanente
• San Francisco Vegetarian Society
• Maxine Hall Health Center
• University of San Francisco Health Center
• Office of Citizen Company
• University of San Francisco EMR
• Sutter Health California Pacific Medical Center
• Rainbow Grocery
• St. Mary’s Medical Center

Another important aspect of the AfroSolo Arts Festival is the compilation of letters that are written to the African American youth by men of the community.  I drafted and compiled letters that were sent to great leaders in the community such as President Obama, former San Francisco Mayor Willie Brown, and other doctors and professors.  The importance of educating the community is crucial to helping the African American youth.  I plan to follow up with the men that we sent letters to so that we’ll have the best collection of letters to be distributed for free to youth. Thomas has reached out to different organizations and has presented a set of pictures to tell his story.  I recently put together a PowerPoint presentation to enhance the presentation to his audience.  I created a photo collage for Thomas to use as a marketing tool on his website and other materials. I also had the opportunity to research community partners that focus on the African American youth.   I found many great organizations that are doing amazing work for the San Francisco community.  We plan on inviting these organizations to the Arts Festival this August.  Among these groups were the Larkin St. Youth Services, San Francisco Black Firefighters: Youth Academy, Bay Area Youth Arts, The Beat Within, LYRIC, Each One Reach One, Center for Youth Women’s Development, Youth Outlook, Vernon Davis Foundation, Coleman Advocates, Boys and Girls Club of San Francisco. I am still maintaining the AfroSolo blog on WordPress.  Recent blog posts can be found here.

June 18, 2014 My name is Shae Otsuka.  I am an Entrepreneurship and Innovation student at the University of San Francisco.  As a rising senior, I am gaining the necessary real-life experience that I need for my career.  I am working with Sheryl of Mo’ MAGIC and Thomas of AfroSolo Theatre Company.  My main objective as an intern is to gain experience with a small non-profit organization while learning how an organization is maintained.  By working closely with these entrepreneurs, I can get a better idea of the day to day tasks that arise.  I would like to develop my skills in online and social media marketing, gain professional connections, apply skills that I’ve learned in the classroom, and find insight in my career interests. AfroSolo Theatre Company Mission: AfroSolo Theatre Company’s mission is to nurture, promote, and present African American and African Diaspora art and culture through solo performances and the visual arts. Since 1993, we have provided a forum to give an authentic voice to the diverse experiences of Black people in the Americas. Through art, we bring people of different ethnicities together to explore and share the human spirit that binds us all. Website: Click here. Main Tasks: 1. Social media Plan:

• Create and maintain a blog for AfroSolo – click here to view.
• Update Facebook page – click here to view.
• Promote Afro Solo Arts Festival in social media outlets.

2. Project Empowerment- Lighting up the Future Book

• Find contact information for possible contributors.
• Send letters to members of the community asking them to write a story for the book.
• Follow up with the contributors.

3. Update Website

• Provide current information for the website and coordinate with Webmaster.

4. Create PowerPoint presentation

• Create PowerPoint that explains current issues for the African American Community
• Advertise this year’s arts festival

Mo’MAGIC Mission: Mo’ MAGIC is a collaborative San Francisco neighborhood-based nonprofit organization whose mission is to transform the community and youth through the MAGIC of collaboration. Website: Click here. 1. Follow up with organizations that will attend Health Fair on August 9th 2. Be a point person for information at the Health Fair.