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Sometimes, helping a customer requires hanging up the phone and equipping them with your best automation and self-service technology.

When clients want quick answers fast, customer success managers from Austin tech companies FloSports and Khoros said they use automation tools like chatbots and self-educational resources like video tutorials and articles.

But these tools dont render the customer success team unnecessary. Instead, the CSMs said the extra time allows them to analyze data and determine the most important times to reach out to customers and employthe human touch. This technology also frees teams up to think about another business-critical task: scaling. Workflow tools like Salesforce and Gainsight come in handy with juggling a growing list of customers, giving CS teams access to reporting tools, usage activity and touchpoint reminders.

The most significant takeaway the following CS leaders had for Built In? Automation tools are supposed to assist the customer and keep them engaged with the product. If the client isnt seeing results from that technology, or has a situation too complex for the computer to solve, its time for the customer success team to step in.

Sandy Zepeda

Director of Customer Support

Sandy Zepeda, director of customer support, knows the main objective of her customers is simple: they want to watch live sports. Therefore, at sports streaming platform FloSports, sometimes an in-depth conversation about customer goals and pain points is unnecessary. Automated tools, like chatbots, sometimes do a better job at helping customers reach solutions quickly. If automation tools risk a positive experience, however, Zepeda said her team is always available for more complex questions.

When it comes to scaling your customer success team, what are the most important considerations and why?

One of my early areas of focus was to make sure we could scale the team successfully when live sports returned. Top of mind is always the customer service experience. In some cases, you can automate a process, but it may not be the best solution for a customer or the business in the long run. We want to balance experience, value and risk to revenue.

It makes sense to automate a process or provide a self-service option and limit human interaction when it does not risk customer experience and retention. It is also important to consistently measure the effectiveness of any scaling efforts and pivot as customer needs or business goals change.

We want to interact with our customers when it makes the most sense for them.

What tools or technologies do you use to make customer success more scalable?

One of the guiding principles we look at when implementing new tools and technology is how it will support the team and make their lives easier. At the beginning of this year, we moved our customer support team over to Salesforce, which refined our workflows, provided a better view of the customer, offered improved reporting and made it much easier for our team to get things done. This allowed us to integrate several of our other tools into one interface and streamline processes that were once cumbersome to one-click.

We are now looking to implement chatbots, more self-service account management features, one-click ticket reporting for technical issues and streaming issues, as well as a more robust support knowledge base, giving customers access to better tools and information. This allows our team to be more available for complex or sensitive issues where we want to spend more time working with the customer one-on-one.

How are you striking the right balance of automation and the human touch?

We want to interact with our customers when it makes the most sense for them. Most customers want a quick resolution to their questions so they can get back to watching sports. With that in mind, one of our recent endeavors was to measure how many contacts it takes to resolve each type of issue and then review which ones could be resolved with a knowledge-base article, a few easy troubleshooting steps or a new self-service feature.

We also love to run experiments. Most new ideas are run through A/B testing, so we can measure outcomes with different approaches before we roll something out completely. In some cases, this is testing an automated solution versus a human interaction to see which has the best outcome for both the customer and FloSports.

Martn La Rocca

Senior Manager, Customer Success

Senior CSM Martn La Rocca said scaling means focusing on business outcomes rather than customer growth at customer engagement platform Khoros. In order to accomplish this goal, CSMs provide customers with resources like articles and tutorials so they can best use the platform.

When it comes to scaling your customer success team, what are the most important considerations and why?

There are a few ways to think about scaling. We always want to have more people available and grow a team, but when considering the cost for our business, weve focused on scaling the most critical strengths of the team. Khoros is committed to a partnership without customers.

CSMs are particularly focused on business outcomes, so we scale this by making sure users have profound resources for more fundamental things in an easily accessible format, including hands-on product help.

What tools or technologies do you use to make customer success more scalable?

We utilize workflow tools like Gainsight. Additionally, a robust and easily accessible (e.g. in-app) knowledge base helps keep CS conversations focused on business outcomes, rather than on feature functions.

One unique way we scale strategicbusiness outcomes is by having a complimentary team of product experts who help individual users in hands-on sessions.

The highest-value live conversations tend to be around strategic business outcomes.

How are you striking the right balance of automation and the human touch?

Khoros operates with an information experience team that complements and empowers the work of customer success. This is the backbone of highly accessible self-service that is on-demand for users and accounts.

Our choice to automate versus have a live conversation hinges on creating an information experience where the conversation isnt a requirement, but rather an additional resource. The highest-value live conversations tend to be around strategic business outcomes.

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How to Scale Customer Success Without Losing the Human Touch - Built In Austin

Updated 7:51pm EDT, Monday, June 29, 2020

Photo: Michael Probst, AP

Domino's expands delivery options, home buying moves online

The outbreak of the coronavirus has dealt a shock to the global economy with unprecedented speed. Following are developments Monday related to the national and global response, the work place and the spread of the virus.

________________________

FOOD SERVICE:

Domino's Pizza is now offering carside delivery service, allowing customers to stay in their cars while one of the pizza company's workers delivers their order to them.

The chain said Monday that customers can choose the new contactless carryout option when placing a prepaid order online. It is available in U.S. stores.

When a customer places a carside delivery order online, they'll be prompted to add their vehicle color, make and model, which will be used to identify them when they arrive at the store. Customers can also choose where theyd like their order placed the passenger side, back seat, trunk or the option to decide when they arrive.

The parent company of Burger King, Popeyes and Tim Hortons says sales are improving even though most North American restaurants are only offering takeout and delivery. Restaurant Brands International said Popeyes same-store sales or sales at locations open at least a year were in the high 20% range in mid-June thanks to its popular chicken sandwich. Burger Kings U.S. sales, which were down more than 30% in March, are now flat compared to last year. Tim Hortons sales are still down more than 15%; about 10% of the brands restaurants in Canada remain closed.

U.S. restaurants saw fewer customers in mid-June as coronavirus cases surged in multiple states. Customer transactions at chain restaurants fell 13% from the previous year in the week ending June 21, according to The NPD Group, a data and consulting firm. That was softer than the 12% decline the week before.

It was the first time in two months that transactions didnt improve week-over-week. Restaurant transactions fell in Arizona, Florida, North Carolina and Nevada, all of which reported spikes in coronavirus cases. The U.S. restaurant industrys road to recovery is going to have some bumps along the way, said NPD food industry analyst David Portalatin.

SUPPORTING MOMS AND POPS: American Express said it will set aside up to $200 million to help spur spending at small businesses.

The program will consist mostly of a cash-back program for cardmembers. For every $10 an AmEx cardholder spends at a small business, they will get $5 back, up to $50. Like other credit card companies, AmEx codes each of its merchants in its system by size and industry, so the cashback will only work at small businesses.

AmEx is also setting aside $10 million that will go directly to Black-owned small businesses in the form of grants to help address the challenges they face due to racial and social inequalities.

BONUS ROUNDUP:

Amazon is paying out $500 million in bonuses to its front-line workers. The company stopped paying a $2 an hour bonus at the end of May.

Amazon said full-time warehouse and Whole Foods workers who were employed by the company in June will get $500, while part-time workers will get $250. Managers will get $1,000. Those who started a package delivery business with Amazon will get $3,000 and their drivers will get the same bonuses as the warehouse workers. Those who delivered packages for at least 10 hours using Amazons Flex service will get $150.

Home improvement chain Lowes is handing out another round of bonuses to its workers. The Mooresville, North Carolina-based company said Monday that full-time hourly workers will receive $300, and part-time and seasonal workers will receive $150 in July matching the funds provided to all hourly workers in both March and May. The new bonuses amount to $100 million in investment to its workers.

TRAVEL:

Several U.S. airlines say they are already asking or will be asking passengers about their health during check-in before flights. American, Delta, Hawaiian, JetBlue, Southwest and United said they will ask passengers if they have symptoms of COVID-19 including fever, coughing or difficulty breathing. The airlines will also ask if passengers have been in contact with someone who tested positive for the virus in the previous 14 days.

Travelers at Frankfurt airport, Germanys biggest and a major intercontinental hub, will be able to get an on-site coronavirus test before jetting off.

Airport operators, German carrier Lufthansa and medical research company Centogene are opening a walk-in testing center near the main terminal Monday.

CENTRAL GOVERNMENTS & BANKS:

Germanys parliament has signed off on a government plan to lower sales tax and provide more money for families that it is hoped will stimulate spending and help the economy as coronavirus restrictions are eased.

The lower house of parliament on Monday approved the plan to lower the countrys value added tax from 19% to 16% for a half a year, starting July 1. A reduced tax for food and other necessities will be lowered from 7% to 5% under the plan.

MARKETS: Stocks rose on Wall Street Monday, clawing back some of the ground they lost last week.

HOUSE HUNT: Home buyers dealing with serious health concerns or other issues can now use a new secure platform to bypass the traditional home selling process during the pandemic.

HomeQuickie.com announced Monday a system that automates the entire home selling process, providing access to the selling, marketing and closing tools that industry professionals use. The program offers full self-service options for a flat $1,495 fee or expert support for a 2% commission on the final sales price.

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Domino's expands delivery options, home buying moves online - The Pioneer

Written by Asad Rehman | Lucknow | Updated: June 27, 2020 10:28:59 am The PM received feedback from Tilakram, a resident of Rakhauna village in UP, regarding the benefits of government schemes the latter and his family is receiving.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi spoke to several people across six districts of Uttar Pradesh via video-conferencing on Friday, as part of the Atmanirbhar Uttar Pradesh initiative. Snippets from some of the conversations:

Bahraich

A beneficiary of the PM Awas Yojana, Tilakram, a resident of Rakhauna village (around 49 km from the district headquarters), blessed Prime Minister Narendra Modi to lead the country for the rest of his life. The PM received feedback from Tilakram regarding the benefits of government schemes the latter and his family is receiving. Work on laying roof at his house was under way when the PM spoke to him. He expressed gratitude for the Rs 1.20 lakh given by the government. He told the PM that he used to stay in a hut and it used to be a struggle during rain. The PM told him to ensure that his children get an education.

Gorakhpur

Nagendra Prasad, a resident of Tikariya Khor village who used to work at a steel factory in Ahmedabad, had returned to his village on April 29 after the lockdown was announced. After completing his quarantine period, he took a loan of Rs 1 lakh from a Purvanchal Gramin Bank under the Mudra Yojana. He bought two buffaloes with that money and started business of supplying milk. He told the PM that he was making Rs 375 daily.

Gonda

The PM spoke to women working at a self-help group in Gonda districts Kamlapur village. The PM praised the efforts of the head of the group, Vinita Pal. He also praised the work being done by the women and said it was inspirational for others, too. The group had established a nursery in the village during the lockdown. The move has helped them earn a substantial amount of money. The women were encouraged to work harder after speaking to the PM. The groups women are becoming self-sufficient by also being involved in pisciculture, cultivation of flowers and vegetables.

Siddharthnagar

PM Modi spoke to a migrant worker, Qurban Ali, who used to work as a mason in Mumbai, in Kodra Grant village. The PM asked him what kind of work has Ali received as part of the state governments initiative to provide employment to migrants who returned to the state. He told the PM that he is working as a mason in the construction of a public toilet in the village. Ali also thanked Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath for the work he is doing to ensure employment for migrant workers.

Jalaun

The PM spoke to a migrant worker, Deepu, who used to work at an aluminum unit Hyderabad before he came back to the state owing to the lockdown. He told the PM that he has been provided employment in the construction of the Bundelkhand Expressway. He expressed satisfaction over the money he is earning through the construction work.

Sant Kabir Nagar

The PM spoke to two self-employed persons in the district and urged them to pay their loan installments on time. He expressed happiness that the two entrepreneurs have helped in providing migrant workers employment. He spoke to Amrendra Kumar Rai, who owns a food production unit in the district and had taken a loan of Rs 25 lakh and has employed 12 migrant workers. He also spoke to hosiery unit owner Ramchandra Verma, who took a loan of Rs 11 lakh.

The Indian Express is now on Telegram. Click here to join our channel (@indianexpress) and stay updated with the latest headlines

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In PMs list of 6: migrants, self-help group members and entrepreneurs - The Indian Express

June 29, 2020 08:30 ET | Source: World High Life Plc

NEW YORK, NY, June 29, 2020 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- World High Lifes (OTCQB: WRHLF) wholly owned subsidiary, Love Hemp, is embracing the idea, when life gives you lemons, make lemonade. In early 2020, COVID-19 turned into a global pandemic, and in an instant, created a tough environment for both businesses and consumers alike. Tony Calamita, the CEO of Love Hemp, a London-based CBD company playing a leadership role in the development of the United Kingdoms (UK) leading range of trusted CBD products, accepted the challenge and has capitalized on these tough times with a dramatic surge in online sales.

While the world began to lock down and shelter-in-place, Calamitas team got creative by dedicating all of Love Hemps resources and team to building upon their advanced e-commerce platformsrealizing that the major retail path would be beyond their control during the pandemic. As a result, consumers began to engage with the company in an unprecedented fashion, and Love Hemp, with its multiple e-commerce platforms, has accelerated its online brand strategy months ahead of planned targets.

And Love Hemps strategy and execution has worked to perfection.

World High Life announced that Love Hemps online sales in May 2020 eclipsed online sales figures from January 2020 by an astounding 107%. These numbers come on the heels of month-over-month growth every single month since January. The year 2020, while dismal for many businesses across the globe, has been a breakout campaign for Love Hempa company that expects the jump in sales during the pandemic to lead to longer-term gainsall while putting World High Life and its efforts to grow an investment portfolio in the legal medicinal cannabis, hemp and CBD industries, on the map as a serious competitor in these industries.

Brands, like Love Hemp, that have enjoyed a surge in online sales have most likely also enjoyed a rush of first-time customers giving them a monumental opportunity to differentiate themselves from other brands with what is a captive audience experiencing new innovative products as theyre rolled out among the already-popular choices.

Love Hemp already has over 80 products, including oils, sprays, edibles, cosmetics, and vapes, and has around 1,200 retail listings. Combined, these products have positioned the company as one of the UKs leading CBD and hemp product suppliers, but the company isnt stopping there because as Love Hemps CEO points out, the company is always expanding its product line to meet the demands of its growing customer base.

Love Hemp has always been passionate about creating a leading range of trusted CBD products. Over the past few years, we have seen the demand for CBD products soar in the UK as more and more people become aware of its benefits to well-being. Tony Calamita continued, New product development is at the heart of our businesswe were the first functional spring water in Europe to be infused with CBD. Oils, sprays, vapes, chocolate, jelly domes, and beauty products, including the first CBD-infused face masks and body salves, have all followed.

One such product that illustrates Love Hemps desire to meet consumer demand is Love Hemp Immune. The company successfully pushed this product to market well ahead of schedule to meet the needs of consumers. It is an innovative product that truly confronts the current times were all living in, so Calamita and his team made it a priority to launch it sooner rather than later. Love Hemp Immune is made with the highest quality ingredients, including a combination of CBD, Vitamin C, Vitamin D, and Bilberry extract. It contains all of the essential supplements that support a healthy immune system, and the company says its available in both a 100 ml atomizer spray, as well as, in capsule form.

Calamita said of the early release, We were due to launch Love Hemp Immune in the Winter of 2020, but we have worked around the clock to get it to consumers soonerand moved forward the launch by six monthslaunching it in April 2020 instead. Boosting our immune systems has rarely felt more urgent than now, and Love Hemp Immune contains the perfect combination of beneficial ingredients that will help boost the bodys natural defenses.

Last month World High Life announced that Love Hemp is achieving its plans of growth and brand expansion with a host of notable highlights, including:

Brightfield Group, the leading consumer insights and market intelligence firm for the CBD and cannabis industries said of weathering the pandemic, Smaller brands often rely on small or local retailers to distribute the bulk of their products. In the current environment, mass shuttering of retailers is likely to deal a death blow to many of the smaller brands in the market. This could actually work in favor of many of the larger brands, who are better positioned to weather the storm and be able to support a robust e-comm strategy. If they can keep the lights on over the next few months, they may be competing in a much less crowded field once we emerge from the crisis.

Love Hemp, however, is unlike many smaller brands and has proven that it is an exception to the rule as it is not only weathering these tough times but thriving in them. The companys success is likely due to the infrastructure it already had in place to prosper in times like these.

Love Hemp has its own wholesale production business with LH Botanicals, which is the UKs biggest seed-to-shelf premium CBD supplier. It provides a complete range of CBD products for wholesale, bulk, and white label and it works with brands to formulate and develop their own finished products. Additionally, Love Hemp has its own secondary online retailer, and it has already secured shelf space in pharmacies and with leading retailers, and the company has a team that is constantly thinking outside-the-box to develop new products and negotiate shelf space with some of the UKs largest retailers.

Brightfield Group released new consumer research in mid-March 2020 that indicated, anxiety rated as the highest ailment among CBD users with depression and insomnia following close behind. But, interestingly, Brightfield Group found that self-care products have become a popular topic on social media. With much of the world in quarantine or slowly emerging from it right now, Brightfield Group says, many are turning to self-care indulgences to keep themselves sane and even just pass the time, which is likely to help boost some CBD self-care products during quarantine time.

Love Hemp is in a position to offer products that can help with what is ailing each of these groups. First, all of the companys products have certified CBD concentration and are certified to be 100% THC free. Globally there is growing awareness about the possible health benefits of CBD oil, including for anxiety relief, as an anti-seizure solution, for pain relief, as a neuroprotective, etc., and Love Hemp even offers self-care products.

Brightfield Group has estimated significant growth over the next four years in the European market. The firms research expects 400% growth in Europes legal cannabis market by the end of 2023, and with Love Hemp situated in the UK and succeeding, it is in an ideal position to capture a large share of that growing European market. Read about World High Life/Love Hemps planned brand expansion in other global CBD markets: https://www.globenewswire.com/news-release/2020/06/15/2048074/0/en/World-High-Life-Subsidiary-Continues-Massive-Sales-Growth-in-the-UK-CBD-Market-with-Eye-to-Future-Brand-Expansion.html

To learn more about World High Life visit: https://www.worldhighlife.uk

To learn more about Love Hemp visit: https://love-hemp.com

Or to ask questions directly, call their toll-free number in North America: 1 (888) 616-WRHLF (9745)

About World High Life

World High Life PLC is an investment company with a strategic focus to invest in and/or acquire companies operating in the CBD wellness and medicinal cannabis industry. The Company's wholly owned subsidiary, Love Hemp Ltd., is one of the UK's leading CBD and Hemp product suppliers and has more than 40 product lines, comprising oils, sprays and vapes, and a variety of edible and water-based CBD products. Love Hemp has established relationships with over 1,200 stores in the UK, including leading brands such as Ocado, Holland & Barrett, and WH Smith.

About Stock Market Media Group

Stock Market Media Group is a news & media content development IR firm offering a platform for corporate stories to unfold in the media with press releases, research reports, corporate videos, radio-style CEO interviews, and feature news articles.

This article was written based on publicly available information. Stock Market Media Group may, from time to time, include our own opinions about the companies, their business, markets, and opportunities in our articles. Any opinions we may offer about any of the companies we write about are solely our own and are made in reliance upon our rights under the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, and are provided solely for the general opinionated discussion of our readers. Our opinions should not be considered to be complete, precise, accurate, or current investment advice, or construed or interpreted as research. Any investment decisions you may make concerning any of the securities we write about are solely your responsibility based on your own due diligence. Our publications are provided only as an informational aid, and as a starting point for doing additional independent research. We encourage you to invest carefully and read the investor information available at the web site of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission at http://www.sec.gov, where you can also find all of World High Lifes filings and disclosures. We also recommend, as a general rule, that before investing in any securities, you consult with a professional financial planner or advisor, and you should conduct a complete and independent investigation before investing in any security after prudent consideration of all pertinent risks. We are not a registered broker, dealer, analyst, or advisor. We hold no investment licenses and may not sell, offer to sell, or offer to buy any security. Our publications about World High Life are not a recommendation to buy or sell a security.

Should Stock Market Media Group and its management own shares in the profiled company, they may benefit from any increase in the share price of the profiled companies and hold the right to sell the shares bought at any given time including shortly after the release of the companys profile. Section 17(b) of the 1933 Securities and Exchange Act requires publishers who distribute information about publicly traded securities for compensation, to disclose who paid them, the amount, and the type of payment. Under the Securities Act of 1933, Section 17(b), Stock Market Media Group discloses that it was remunerated one-thousand, two hundred dollars paid for by a third party (three-thousand, six hundred dollars total to date) via bank wire, to produce content related to World High Life.

Stock Market Media Group and its management do not own any shares in World High Life and never accepts compensation in free-trading shares for its marketing services of the company being profiled, however third parties that have compensated Stock Market Media Group may hold free-trading shares of the company being profiled and could very well be selling, holding or buying shares of the companys stock at the same time the content is being disseminated to potential investors; this should be viewed as a definite conflict of interest and as such, the reader should take this into consideration.

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Love Hemp Thriving in 2020 Leading the Way for World High Life in the CBD and Hemp Markets - GlobeNewswire

In the beauty industry, they call it the Caroline effect. Skin-care influencer Caroline Hirons is so powerful that she can bring a product back from near death. Legend has it that in 2013, Clinique was about to discontinue its Take the Day Off Balm. But after Hirons gave a wholehearted recommendation of it on her site, the boost acted like defibrillator paddles and saved the product from entering the product graveyard. (Clinique even provided an official statement about the incident.) Hirons has done the same for other beloved products, among them Biologique P-50 and Pixi Glow Tonic.

On the beauty boards and on YouTube, Hirons comes across as a wisecracking straight-talker who isnt afraid to cut through the jargon and deliver the truth, scattered with a few F-bombs. Her first book out this week is called SkinCARE: The Ultimate No-Nonsense Guide. It answers basic questions like how much product you should use, with helpful cheat sheets devoted to eye cream and other skin-care categories. Theres also a section called Get Into the Sea filled with products Hirons considers a complete waste of space and time. Among them: face wipes (Hironss public enemy No. 1), sheet masks (wipes with holes cut out for eyes), and foaming cleansers (No part of your body should squeak).

The Cut caught up with Hirons to talk about beauty routines during COVID-19, how she thinks Black Lives Matter will affect the beauty industry, and whether skin care is, ultimately, kind of a scam.

How has the pandemic affected the way youve thought about skin care and beauty? It hasnt changed anything for me. For other people, I think its made them sit up and take care of their skin a bit more. Ive heard that many peoples skin is changing. Most people have gone one of two ways. Theyre either dry, dehydrated, flaky, or theyre breaking out.

I am just doing what I always do. If people are avoiding wipes and doing something properly, then thats good. People who are active in the skin care community have been loving it. Its a great time to soup up the actives, retinoids, without having to worry about downtime.

A few years ago, an article went viral suggesting that skin care was a scam. What did you think of the piece and the premise? I saw that. I was not happy. I read that and thought, Shes either blessed with great genes, is the most cynical person on earth, or both. If anything, it got me a few more followers because I became a safe place for people who not only need skin care but enjoy using it.

Ive always said that people should feel like the healthiest version of themselves. I hate the term anti-aging. Surely thats a bonus to life, getting older. You need to talk to someone you trust about skin care. Everyone comes at it with a different angle at a different time of their life. Theres not one product that will make you a skin-care believer its much more nuanced than that. If youre jaded about skin care, what was your previous bad experience? And just like any industry, theres good and bad. Whats up with your skin genetically? Are you going through menopause or puberty? Everyone has a different story.

When I meet someone I say, Tell me what youre using and what you want from this. Its not about my agenda. My agenda is to help them get the skin they want. If they say, I want everything firmed up and dont want to look a day over 30, then I say, Well, you may need a needle. Considering we all have the same skin, its all different.

What motivates you to have a skin-care routine, personally? Is it because its your job? I dont do it because its my job. Its been ingrained in me since I was a teen. Ive been doing it almost 40 years. This job happened because I took care of my skin and went down that road. I dont need motivation to do it. Its an integral part of my everyday self-care.

Why do you see skin care as self-care? I think of vanity and self-care as different things. Its not vain if you take care of yourself. Its fundamental. Youre not vain when you eat dinner. Washing your hair and face and rear end is not vanity. Its self-care. Vanity comes into it if you are obsessive about things about yourself that you want to change. It ties into self-acceptance when people grow up hatingcertain parts of their body or themselves.

Why not take care of your skin? If you need encouragement to proceed with self-care, theres a bigger issue besides that you dont feel like cleansing. Your skin and hygiene are some of the first things you neglect when youre not well. For example, I have quite a few readers in the North Corridor who have Lyme disease. They tell me that they dont have the energy, and they cant do anything. They ask me, Whats the bare minimum I can do?

Do you see skin care as health? Theres a certain element of health. But its no different from my two cats licking themselves. Its self-care; its related to their health. Theyre all kind of intertwined. Is brushing your teeth vain? Its just grooming, and humans have been doing it for centuries. Before there were toothbrushes and toothpaste, there were sticks. Men get away with calling it grooming, but when its women, theres negativity.

Ive been doing Instagram Lives all during lockdown. Ive done it with gray roots in a bun. My lashes fell off in week two. My nails fell off who knows when. Beauty is prone to a lot of judgment because people like to judge women. Some reports seem to suggest that its the sole responsibility of the beauty industry to reduce plastic, as if plastic bottles and straws dont exist. Again, because its women.

Face wipes, however, are a whole other argument. Theyre created for laziness. Theyre destroying the planet. What you wont get from me is making women feel guilty for taking care of themselves.

What effect do you think Black Lives Matter will have on the beauty industry? Im 50, so Ive seen uprisings. Things then quickly went back to normal. The fact that LOral apologized publicly to Munroe Bergdorf is great and long overdue. Over here in the U.K., Boots was called out by a Black woman who noticed that all the Caucasian hair care was on a shelf, and all the Black hair care was security-tagged. Little things like that chip away it suggests that youre a thief or you cant be trusted because of your skin color. Im hoping were turning a corner we dont have to visit again. I hope it doesnt once again just become the way we operate because the beauty industry is run by middle-aged white men.

My daughters generation will see hopefully more change. They wont have to go through what I went through coming up the ranks. Like when you tell people youre pregnant and they ask you, Are you keeping it? emphasis on it. Well, no Brian, if I wasnt keeping it, would I be telling you? Now I look back and think, Oh God, we put up with so much crap.

In the long term, the vision has to be that we support more independent businesses, and Black-owned businesses. These businesses also need financial aid so that we can lift them out of the trials that white people have put them in. We need to think about how we can fix this. Once COVID-19 has ended and we have some sense of normality, it will be key to see who is still left standing and has honored what theyve said theyre going to do.

When you recommend a product, is it based on the merits of the product only? Or do you take other things into account, like the companys values and their political stances? It had always been product first. So if the product is great, then I think about the brand. There are a couple of brands I dont talk about because I have personal history with them and I wont give them the oxygen. The main thing my readers ask about is animal testing and then whether a product is vegan.

In my autumn and winter skin-care kits, we will be doing a shout-out to smaller Black-owned businesses. We may have to help them financially, as a lot of these brands may not be used to making the quantity needed for these kits. Were looking at ways we can support business while still doing ours, and extending it into, yes, they have to be ethical. If LOral hadnt apologized to Munroe, it would have been a different situation.

It depends on the politics, and its nuanced. One of the Lauders has donated millions to Trump. If you were to say, Right, we are boycotting Lauder, youre also boycotting the biggest employer of Black people in our industry. No one employs more nonwhite people than M.A.C. If you boycott Lauder, the knockdown effect is not supporting Black makeup artists.

Lauder does a lot of things very well. Lets face it, they are a massively privileged family. The way they counter it is with charity donations and breast-cancer awareness, and the people I know in management and head-office roles there are very happy. They do employ a lot of people who arent white. It all depends on whats important to you. Every person will have to vote with their own dollar.

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Charles Richard Webb was born on June 9, 1939, in San Francisco, and grew up in Pasadena, Calif. His father, Dr. Richard Webb, was a heart specialist, part of a wealthy social circle like the one Charles would skewer in The Graduate. (Charles described his relationship with his father as reasonably bad.) His mother, Janet Farrington Webb, was, he said, a socialite and an avid reader from whom he was always looking for crumbs of approval. He said The Graduate was an attempt to win her favor; it went decidedly wrong.

A younger brother, Sidney Farrington Webb, became a doctor in Las Cruces, N.M.

Charles went to boarding school and then to Williams College in Massachusetts, where he earned a degree in American history and literature in 1961. He said his schools had been chosen for him on the basis of how it looked. A mediocre student, he nonetheless managed to win a two-year writing fellowship, which he used to write The Graduate.

While at Williams, he met Ms. Rudd, a Bennington College student. She was a former debutante from a family of teachers with a bohemian streak her brother was the avant-garde jazz trombonist Roswell Rudd and they both rejected the bourgeois worlds of their families. Their first date, they told interviewers, was in a cemetery.

Their romance, and her mothers disapproval of him, became the basis for The Graduate. The inspiration for the character Mrs. Robinson, who seduces young Benjamin, may have come from one of his parents friends, whom he accidentally saw naked.

Reviewing the book in The Times, Orville Prescott called it a fictional failure but favorably compared its protagonist to Holden Caulfield of The Catcher in the Rye.

With its mumbling ennui and conversations that do not connect, the novel captured the moment just before the repressed Eisenhower era blossomed into the Technicolor 1960s. The characters are not idealistic; theyre groping for ideals, their flight from their parents values and lifestyles more solitary than collective. In the last pages, Benjamin and Elaine are alone on a bus, shaken, heading into a future that is opaque to them. Hello darkness, my old friend.

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Charles Webb, Elusive Author of The Graduate, Dies at 81 - The New York Times

Nii Lante Wallace-Davies and Sharon Harris, both head of business developmentof Ieso Digital Health, provide some insight into the current state of peoples mental health in the UK and what tools can be used to help manage it.

Over the past few months, the world as we once knew it has altered dramatically. It has been a time of change for everyone and, after many weeks of confinement at home, the extraordinary times we now live in will be taking their toll on many peoples mental health. However, as lockdown measures ease and people come to terms with this newmality, the transition period we are now in maybe the time when people will need mental healthcare the most.

Continuity and quality of mental health services has never been more crucial and, as a key priority for the NHS, IAPT has been working hard to keep mental healthcare services up, running and available during these uncertain times. During the COVID-19 crisis, many healthcare providers have put contingency plans and measures in place to support the remain open directive, including:

While many mental health services are still available and running as usual (albeit online) across much of the UK, in April and May mental health referrals to services appeared to experience a 30-60% drop off which is surprising during a collective crisis such as COVID-19. In recent weeks, referrals have begun to pick up again, but they are still not at pre-COVID-19 levels compared to the months prior the pandemic. This decrease in referrals could be for a number of reasons:

The signs of delayed onset mental health issues

A recent report by the Royal College of Psychiatrists, which surveyed 1300 mental health doctors across the UK, also found that 45% of experts experienced a fall in routine appointments during the COVID-19 lockdown, with psychiatrists worried about a looming mental health crisis from problems stored up during lockdown.A report on the early warning signs of a mental health tsunami published by JMIR publications, also documented similar observations after speaking to multiple digital platform providers including the Ieso team.Its initial data indicated the onset of a mental health crisis and fears of a surge in demand as lockdown restrictions ease. The JMIR study also highlighted the complexity of, and change in mental health concerns witnessed by digital providers, notably the increased presentation of anxiety and loneliness, and a recurring observation that demand for digital support has risen.

At Ieso, we have interpreted our own mental health data in much the same way and expect a surge in the number of patients in need of treatment due to the delayed onset of symptoms. Initially we saw a significant increase in online CBT referrals in the weeks leading up to and just after lockdown started - an 84% usage increase in fact compared to the same period last year. This suggested that NHS mental health services had turned to digital delivery to help cope with demand and were sending more people our way. However, this surge soon saw a drop in health-seeking behaviour, suggesting the delayed onset response that has been observed in other critical incidents over time.

COVID-19 role in mental health difficulties today

The patterns of change in referral numbers, and particularly referral pathways (i.e. service vs self-referrals) are often complex and dynamic, and can be difficult to interpret or accurately predict what will happen next. However, Ieso has been observing the language used within therapy sessions and, while this is preliminary analysis on data collected, we have found a significant increase in worries about viruses including Coronavirus and COVID-19. With 20% to 30% of patients now mentioning COVID-19 in therapy, this does not necessarily indicate that patients are having mental health difficulties caused by the current crisis, but it does suggest that the current crisis is playing a substantial role in mental health difficulties for patients in therapy, and raises concerns about the long-term impact of the crisis on the mental health of the population.

This compares to approximately 40% of worries about family, and 5% of worries about finance, which seems to have remained stable during this period (April 2020).

A unique mental health situation

The COVID19 situation is pretty unique when compared to other modern times crisis. The virus has not been over a discrete point in time but instead prolonged over several weeks and months. It has caused trauma exposure at a global scale and at various levels with compounding sets of triggers for mental health conditions. On top of this, there is a lack of ability for people suffering from anxiety and depression to return to anything that remotely resembles normal life, which is usually the primary path to recovery.

We also expect that people may not be able to address the difficulties they are currently experiencing with their mental health due to other factors going on in their lives. However, as more people start to acknowledge symptoms due to factors such as isolation, family or financial distress or pressures, we believe they will start to seek help. Milder symptoms are usually detected in people in the immediate aftermath of a trauma, which become more severe with time. By intervening early we find that exposed individuals have better clinical outcomes. For those that dont seek help we suspect this will lead to a rebound effect, where mental health difficulties increase as lockdown measures are lifted but life does not necessarily go back to normal.

Measures to move patients through treatment and prepare for a rise in mental healthcare cases

When this surge will hit no one really knows, but with generally lower numbers of referrals overall, we are seeing some healthcare service providers using the technology, time and budget they have to start to clear their waiting lists in preparation for any future disruption to healthcare services. Also, some NHS Trusts are taking steps to enhance their digital efforts further, by adopting services like Iesos online CBT, which can introduce more capacity and supplement NHS teams when workforces maybe depleted.

Ieso has already been helping with waiting list reduction programmes to clear pathways ready for the impending and expected surge in mental health cases. Keeping digital services up and running, and continuing to move people through treatment during a mental healthcare crisis is critical, particularly if healthcare professionals or therapists are re-prioritised to deliver frontline critical care or taken ill.

Digital services such as Iesos also offer patients the added benefit of flexibility and choice in terms of the time and location they receive therapy so outside normal working hours and at home if they prefer. By utilising these more modern forms of digital communications, service providers can deliver much needed end-to-end care more immediately in times of emergency or crisis, meaning more people can get the treatment they need. People can seek treatment, continue to engage, and can also remain in touch if they need additional support, particularly as circumstances continue to change.

Digital therapy is the new business as usual

As the NHS Trust re-models for the expected newmality and an increase in demand for mental health services, healthcare providers recognise that digital as a delivery method for therapy is here to stay. Digital delivery methods provide more flexibility for both therapists and patients, who are becoming more comfortable with these treatment platforms. GPs are also seeing the benefits in referring to online services to get people into treatment faster. With terms being used across the industry, such as going back to better, NHS Trusts are starting to invest more in tools like Iesos online CBT to enable remote and more flexible access to therapy for all. Digital delivery will be more embedded into working practice generally, and so for the most part, many NHS Trusts are being pragmatic and flexible in their approach and seeing digital as business as usual until we all have more clarity on what will happen next.

As digital delivery methods become newmailty in mental healthcare, we will continue to closely monitor the state of the UKs mental health, and report back findings.

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Monitoring mental health in the UK through a digital lens - Med-Tech Innovation

Now doesn't feel like the right time to worry about personal productivity, and yet we all have things we need to get done. But with the world in a state of pandemic; unemployment skyrocketing; and mass protests against police violence and systemic racism deserving our attention, time, energy, and emotions, we're all experiencing more stress than ever. When we're overstressed, we can't get things donewhich leads to more stress. We all have the capacity to handle some stress, of course, but like a muscle, it gets exhausted when it works to hard for too long, we need to help it recover. That's easier said than done, and, for many of us, it may require prioritizing self-care in a way we never have before.

Imagine that we keep resiliency to stress, as a resource, in a bucket. When things are going well, our bucket is full. As we encounter stress, whether in the form of problems in our personal lives or projects at work, we use our resources to combat the stress. The more stress, the more resources we use. Over time, the supply in our bucket dips.

Thankfully, we get breaks from some of our stressors, often in the form of free time and weekends. Those breaks allow the bucket to refill. We go on vacation, our bucket refills. We ask someone to watch the kids for a night, the bucket gets topped up. Even routine breaks during a workday help. As long as we have sufficient breaks from stressors, the bucket occasionally refills, which allows us to remain reasonably well equipped to function in the world and take on new problems as they arise.

Even in the best of times, when the resiliency bucket runs low and we start to run out of resources, we can't handle new problems, and more importantly, we don't handle existing problems very well either. As everyone knows from experience, when we get hit with too much stress at once, everything becomes more difficult to manage.

Right now, we're all working from buckets that are much lower than what we're used to. Some sources of stress, like COVID-19 and all its health and economic complications, are new and (mostly) unexpected. Other stressors, like the protests against police violence are not only new forms of stress in themselves, but also remind white people that that black people face persistent long-term stressors that white people don't. Repeatedly watching the shocking footage of people being murdered or other images of police violence causes a further escalation of stress.

With all these compounded stressors, even regular daily troubles can seem unbearable. Some of us who have never experienced an empty bucket are struggling, and those whose resilience was depleted to start with feel helpless and adrift. We all have to think about our strategies for dealing with stress much more purposefully than ever before.

If you're hoping to be highly productive right now, I invite you to take an inventory of your resources and stressors to decide whether it's worth your while. If you don't have enough resiliency to combat all the stressors coming your way, adding a stressful new productivity goal isn't going to help. You might decide that you're simply going to be getting less done for a little while and cut yourself a break. Look instead at where you might be able to get away with doing less, and talk to the people who will be affected, whether it's your job, your friends, or your family.

Keep in mind that if our bucket runs empty, we are not effective people in the world. We don't do a good job of helping our families or one another and we don't do much good for ourselves. So we have to find a way to refill our resiliency bucket. One research paper that analyzed how people recover from work-related stress points to three options: relaxation, control, and mastery.

Relaxation is pretty straightforward. Do something that relaxes you. Make sure you do it in such a way that you actually take a break from stressors. You've probably heard people talk about self-care in terms of treating yourself to something you enjoy. Have a glass of wine. Soak your feet in the tub. However, the trick is to do it in a way that gives you a break from stress. If you pour a glass of wine while looking at police violence on TV or social media, that's not getting you away from any of your stressors. It's similar to the idea that taking a proper lunch break at work means not eating in front of your email inbox.

Mastery means developing a skill, and it can be completely unrelated to your professional work. It's easiest to picture mastery as a hobby, such as making art, practicing a musical instrument, or playing a sport. The main idea is that you're engaging in a skill you enjoy and working to get better at it, which is how it's different from relaxation. The hobby or skill doesn't have to be clear cut, either. It can be something like telling jokes or redecorating your home, as long as you're actively trying to get better at it. If you feel like you don't have a skill to master, sites such as MasterClass and Skillshare can help you explore new areas and ideas.

Control has to do with having agency over your time. If you spend most of your free time taking care of others, no matter whether they're children, adults, or seniors, you may not have really chosen to do that. Even with care responsibilities, though, you might be able to exercise some control. For example, choosing to read a book to or listen to music with the people you give care to is a small way to have some decision-making power.

Regardless of our stress levels, many of us still need to do some kind of work or chore that requires focus. It might be to keep our income. It might be to organize social or political movements. There's still important work to be done. So what can you do when you're too stressed to focus?

Let's look at a few possible strategies. Keep in mind, though, that if your resource bucket runs empty, you won't be able to focus. Try to refill your bucket, even if it's just a little bit, before you try to tackle something difficult.

Time Blocking is exactly what it sounds like: blocking off time in your calendar and dedicating it to certain tasks. People use this technique to dedicate long, unbroken stretches of time to a task or activity. It's useful for tasks that require a state of flow, such as writing at length, reading long reports, or creating a presentation.

To use this technique, write a daily agenda using 15-minute increments (or more). Focus on scheduling your most important tasks in a few uninterrupted blocks. For example, from 9:30 a.m. to 11:30 a.m., I will work on Project X. From 11:30 a.m. to 12:00 p.m., I'll take a break and make sure my kids have what they need. Then from 2 p.m. to 3 p.m., I'll finish Project X. Don't schedule your entire day down the minute.

Because life is more hectic than usual, I recommend leaving fairly big gaps between your blocks so you can take care of problems that arise. The goal is to protect the time you need to focus, and you can't do that if you don't leave some wiggle room.

The Pomodoro Technique comes from a book of the same name. The idea is to work intently for a fixed number of minutes, usually 20 to 25, and then take a short break. The name of the technique comes from the tomato-shaped kitchen timer (pomodoro is Italian for tomato) that author Francesco Cirillo used to time his work period and breaks when he invented the method.

The Pomodoro Technique is useful for work that can be done in spurts. It's not good if you need to get into a deep flow state to accomplish your task. You'll need a timer and notepad, which can be physical or digital.

Start by setting your timer for 20 to 25 minutes. Work intently on your task. If a thought interrupts you, jot it down in your notepad quickly and forget about it for now. Do not stop working until the timer rings. When it does, reset it for three to five minutes, and take a break. In the traditional method, you would repeat this process three or four more times, and then take a longer break. There are plenty of browser plug-ins that help you use the Pomodoro Technique. I happen to like StrictWorkflow. It puts a timer in your window that counts down the minutes in red when you're in a focus session and green when you're on a break.

In the current climate, when stress is high and resilience is low, it might be effective enough to simply set a timer for 20 minutes and try to focus on only one thing for that time. Don't worry as much much about timing your breaks or jumping back into the repetition.

Keep Unusual Hours. If there's something you desperately need to get done and you're having difficulty making time for it, try working during unusual hours. It might be very early in the morning, late at night, or while your family eats dinner. I don't recommend using this method long term; if you did, those hours would no longer be "unusual," right? That said, if you need to get something done and you have the opportunity to wake up at 5:00 a.m. two days in a row to bang it out, it's worth trying.

In normal times, there's a similar technique of working in unusual locations. Some people find it easy to concentrate when they're in a public place, such as a cafe or even on airplanes and trains. You don't have to book a flight to finish your big project, however, as you can replicate the same experience by going somewhere with similar elements, like background chatter and no access to Wi-Fi. With COVID-19, being in alternate locations is tough or impossible. So use time instead of location to shake up your routine.

Without a doubt, we're living in a time of deep suffering. Acknowledging and honoring your unique hardships, as well as those of people around you, may help you process and understand just how low you're running on resiliency as a resource.

The first step needs to be taking care of yourself. To do that, do anything you can to reduce or at least get a break from some of your stressors. Even small actions, like ordering groceries or meal kits instead of going to the store, can alleviate a little bit of stress. And when the stress load starts to lighten, we have a chance to refill that resource bucket.

Secondly, when you do need to focus and get work done, try using a technique to help you set aside time and make progress. And keep in mind that it's OK if you aren't as productive now as you were a year ago. We're in conditions that make it nearly impossible. Be patient with yourself and try to take everything one moment at a time.

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It's Time to Put Self-Care Before Productivity - PCMag

Timothy K Mtonga (61) and family: Timothy K Mtonga (61) and his wife Christine (54) with grandchildren Memory (10), Agnes (6), Diless (8) and Issac, nine months, in southern Zambia.

The initiative between QUB and Self Help Africa is designed to provide a low-cost response to the heightened resistance of goats in Malawi to de-worming anti-microbial treatments.

The work by Professor Eric Morgan and his research team at QUB, in collaboration with Lilongwe University of Agriculture and Natural Resources in Malawi has developed a five-point test that Community Animal Health workers can use to estimate the level of worm infestation in goats.

Regular deworming of animals in Malawi has led to a resistance in herds to the treatments. However, rural poor farmers often cannot access or afford the testing that is recommended to determine levels of resistance.

The team at QUB is testing for signs of scouring, nasal discharge, bottle jaw, body condition and anaemia, with their results determining whether it is cost effective to treat the animal with de-wormer, or with plants that are known to possess anthelmintic properties.

The project is cataloguing and testing plants that farmers already use as natural de-wormers and testing other plants that may be de-wormers. As well as reducing the risks of resistance to de-wormers and costs, if successful the research will help build natural immunity to worms within flocks. A related project is using remote sensing and rainfall data to determine when the risks of goats picking up worms from pastures is at its highest.

Denny Elliott, Head of Northern Ireland Self Help Africa, said: This collaboration for Self Help Africa with Queens University Belfast is helping the poorest of farmers to protect their livestock and secure their livelihoods for the short term by providing them with this test that they would otherwise not be able to afford.

We are also working with Queens and a number of other institutions in the UK and Africa to field test an app with our farmers which is being created to analyse rainfall and determine high risk periods of worm infestation so farmers will therefore only need to treat their animals during this time.

Although we have been faced with an unimaginable challenge during the pandemic, collaborations are invaluable as we look beyond 2020 and Self Help Africa is also facilitating a Phd project blending traditional and new animal health solutions funded by the Northern Ireland Department for the Economy which supports agro-pastoral livelihoods under climate change.

Eric Morgan, Professor in Veterinary Parasitology at QUB, said: Smallholder farmers in Africa face high losses from worm infections in goats, which impact productivity and animal welfare. Chemical treatments are often unaffordable, and are not needed by all animals, while plants available locally can also support animal health and nutrition for free. By working with Self-Help Africa and farmers in Malawi, we can identify problems in individual animals and focus limited resources on those, to support health, production and livelihoods. Healthy livestock have never been more important for people to fall back on in these uncertain times.

If you would like to make a donation or find out more about Self Help Africa and how you can help, visit http://www.selfhelpafrica.org

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Queens University Belfast and Self Help Africa in Malawi collaboration project - Farming Life

When the novel coronavirus pandemic hit, the Inland Empire Community Foundation jumped into action doing what it does best: helping organizations and people throughout the IE in need of assistance.

The IECF expects to present about $450,000 in grants to local nonprofits assisting those most seriously affected by the pandemic as well as aid groups that need to continue operating.

One of the foundations first efforts was the COVID-19 Resilience Fund, with recent grants ranging from $5,000 to $20,000 for such nonprofits. Among them, that top amount was awarded to Angel View, which assists disabled children and adults in Riverside County through a variety of programs including group homes and support for families caring for disabled kids at home.

Based in the Coachella Valley, Angel Views award has been a blessing, said Executive Director Patti Park. The grant was especially well-timed because the nonprofits 21 Inland Empire retail stores, through which it receives funding, were forced to close on March 20. The stores reopened May 23.

It got crazy busy for the case managers trying to help families in a new way, Park said.

Grant funds are helping case managers assist disabled children through the Angel View Outreach program, which provides essential support and services at no cost to families; and with mileage reimbursement when families need to take their kids for treatment at Loma Linda University Childrens Hospital.

The San Bernardino-based Child Care Resources Center also received $20,000. Director James Moses said that since the pandemic began, requests for assistance from his organization have more than tripled. Grant funds are being used to buy, box and distribute fresh food and personal care items weekly to low-income families from CCRC facilities in San Bernardino and Victorville.

This has a great impact on our families, he said. One, it provides them with healthy and nutritious foods they might not normally be able to purchase on their own if money is tight fresh food and vegetables, beans and rice, and dry goods. Also soap and laundry detergent.

We are seeing more and more requests for these items, especially self-care items, Moses continued, adding that childcare providers need more cleaning supplies to keep their facilities safe.

Most local childcare providers, especially family based providers, remained open to serve the children of essential workers, and while the revenues are down, costs remain high, Moses said.

The Inland Empire Community Foundation administers the Brouse Scholarship Program, which was awarded to these women in 1965 and continues helping students to this day. (Photo courtesy Inland Empire Community Foundation)

In 1941, local civic leader and banker Charles Brouse established the Riverside Distribution Committee, the precursor to todays Inland Empire Community Foundation. (Photo courtesy Inland Empire Community Foundation)

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Michelle Decker, IECF president and CEO (Photo courtesy Inland Empire Community Foundation)

Molly Adams bequeathed more than $4 million in real estate to what is now the Inland Empire Community Foundation to establish the Molly Adams Endowed Scholarship Fund, which benefits disabled youth who are pursuing a college education. (Photo courtesy Inland Empire Community Foundation)

Founded in 1941, the IECF is the oldest and largest community foundation serving Riverside and San Bernardino counties. It helps individuals, families and businesses, partners with donors, and invests and administers more than $100 million in charitable assets, said Michelle Decker, the president and CEO.

Previously called The Community Foundation, that more generic name was changed this year to add Inland Empire.

This was a chance for people in the IE to see they had their own foundation, Decker said. When the pandemic hit, we saw it through the lens of a disaster. Opening the COVID-19 Resilience Fund was a chance for us to say, Here we are, we are going to have to take care of each other, right here and right now.

Fast facts: Inland Empire Community Foundation

Information: http://www.iegives.org

Editors note: A version of this story appeared in the summer 2020 issue of Riverside Magazine.

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Inland Empire Community Foundation has a history of helping in the region - Press-Enterprise