Ana Maria Popa, Author at Ana Maria Popa

Bad Moms: Not just another dumb movie

August 3, 2016Ana Maria Popa Leave a Comment

I must admit that the trailer helped me get the idea that Bad Moms is just another cliché and stupid movie, perfect for watching only when you’ve got nothing better to do.

I got to watch it pushed by a friend. We found ourselves in the mood for a movie and we had to choose between Legend of Tarzan and Bad Moms. So the guy wanted this one, thinking it’s gonna be really funny and dumb and we’re gonna laugh our hats off. But we both got surprised and concluded it’s a pretty good movie that’s more than meets the eye. It really deserves to be watched and felt.

From here on: spoiler alert! Well, the action goes around the war between moms at a school – who is perfect, who does what good, who is trying to dictate trends and events, etc. Mila Kunis, Kristen Bell and Kathryn Hahn go against the perfect moms at their kids’s school, so they start this game of power and proving wrong to the team of Christina Applegate, Jada Pinkett Smith and Annie Mumolo. And here the trailer paints it best – they start to drink and go out, spend time in town and put their kids on second place.

They give up on cooking for their kids and make them do their own homework, they go to the school baking event with stuff they weren’t allowed to bring so they get into a fight with the perfect moms that start to search revenge by messing with the kids. It all gets real when children have to suffer for their mothers’s war and they start to blame their mothers for the egotism they reveal.

Then, Mila Kunis thinks she will beat the perfect mom’s boss – Christina Applegate – at her own game so she gets ready to run for parents committee presidency. Although the end of the movie is a happy one, it brings balance to every situation. Yeah, I know, I know – no catfight, you’re disappointed. But Mila Kunis wins the elections thanks to a speech where she admits she is a woman and a human being, in addition to the mother status. The kids learn to cook for themselves and manage their own homework. Aaand the fight with the supreme-perfect-mom ends when this one stops being rude and shows off her human side, by crying after she lost the elections and admitting her life wasn’t perfect at all, that all she enjoyed in her life was that parents committee activity.

Aside from the fast-forwarded image I painted above, the movie has really got some funny moments that will make you laugh. But what gets you the most is the message and the feeling you get. And that is – mothers are not perfect, no matter how much we got that idea during childhood. I know we were taught that they are supreme gods and they’ve got all the answers. And however extreme some things in the movie get, the idea is that they are still human beings just like anybody else and not even they know everything all the time, what to do in every situation of their life. They also need rest and peace, they need their own time and they don’t get it right every time, they don’t get their kids and they do make mistakes, even if it’s out of love.

One of the things I appreciated in Mila Kunis’s speech was – ‘When I think I got my kid and I know what he wants, he grows up and and I have to start all over again, to adapt to him so we can get along and don’t fight anymore.’ 🙂

The movies has got literally nothing stupid or dumb in it, it just paints the day-to-day image. And even if moms don’t practice what the actresses in the movie did, that doesn’t mean they haven’t thought about it at least once. Understanding that they too are people and make mistakes will make everything better in the end.

But the cherry on top was the personal note that closed the movie – the main actresses and their moms got together and shared stories about their own childhoods and the struggles they had in their mother-daughter relationship. It was made to feel it and I haven’t seen not one person that would not leave the cinema without a smile on their faces.

All I can wish to you is to enjoy it 🙂 And I bet it will really make you wanna call your mom afterwards.

Photos: IMDB și one more.

How come I didn’t cry watching Me Before You

July 6, 2016Ana Maria Popa Leave a Comment

The answer that probably everyone’s waiting for is that I am an insensitive human being or that I am ashamed of crying in public. But it’s not about either of that, nope, sorry to disappoint you.

I went last weekend to watch the movie ‘Me Before You‘. And somehow, despite all the emotional reviews and the warning about crying your heart out, I was safe. And it’s me that we’re talking about – I cry at animation movies. ‘How to Train Your Dragon 2’, ‘Up’, ‘Inside Out’, ‘Despicable Me’, ‘Bolt’, etc., they all made me cry. Oh, and ‘Little Prince’, also.

So, if you don’t like spoilers and you haven’t seen Me Before You, then don’t read any further. But if you’re okay with it and you’ve seen it, then go ahead and read and make me feel like I’m the heartless one.

The movie is about love (well, duh!), and more specifically, about a standing girl and guy in a wheelchair (almost completely paralyzed) and they meet and fall in love and spend some time together. She finds out by accident that he’s scheduled to die – because he couldn’t live in a wheelchair when he was a really active person before – and she decides to show him that life is worth living, no matter what. So she makes him get out of the house and takes him on vacation and they do all sort of sweet things together.

Well, once they got closer, he tells her what he had planned. She replies saying she knew and all that she did was to prove him that life is still beautiful and worth living and that she hoped he would change his mind after the time they spent together. He told her nicely that he cannot live a life in a wheelchair, especially after he traveled the world back and forth and experienced amazing things, practiced extreme sports and so on. He also explained to her that he cannot be with her like that, sitting in a wheelchair and not do to her all the things he wants to, not touch, not caress her because he can’t move his hands. Etc, etc. And then she just starts crying and preach him about ambition and will and the worst part was when she said she regrets getting attached to him. That was where I lost interest.

Maybe I’m the type of person that’s all in when she watches a movie, maybe I feel it too much, but we’re talking about a person in a wheelchair that wasn’t having a nice time in this life and all she can do is take things personally. Like that man isn’t tormented enough, she has to act like a spoiled child that loses her toy. This is the way I see it – if it’s love and if you care about the other person, you would think of what makes him happy. Not you. Let’s give up the ego for a bit. Set an example for real life also, just saying.

She got mad, ignored him and didn’t talk to him, left home and didn’t accompany him on that journey. Well, at first. Cause it’s a movie and she changed her mind afterwards, goes after him and catches him right in his last moments, enough to kiss him and lay her head on this chest.

I actually really enjoyed the ending. After he died, he left her a certain bank account with a certain amount of money that she can use to build a path, to travel a bit and experience moments and find her own place and purpose in this life. Even more, I loved the way he put it – ‘There is enough money here to make a life, but not enough that you don’t have to work anymore in your life’. Well, that’s love for sure – helping someone in the way they want it, they need it, just give them a start but not make them get lazy *the-aww-factor* 🙂 It’s the idea that you better teach someone how to fish and they’ll have food for a lifetime than you fishing for them and they’ll have just one meal.

Anyways, over all, Me Before You is a nice movie, makes your feelings go crazy for someone who thinks of love that way. The girl – Emilia Clarke, was extremely cute and funny. I think she’s a very good and expressive actress, one thing you don’t see everyday. Him – Sam Claflin, played his part extremely well and he’s got my appreciation even more because of the static part. I mean, being happy and energetic is easy, but playing a part where you have to control your reflexes, calm them down and act immobilized is a whole other story.

As for me, I just discovered I’ve also got the book that the movie is based on, written by Jojo Moyes. Apparently, I bought it some time ago in London. 3 years later and I still didn’t get a chance to read it. But now I’m really curious, cause usually they say the book is better than the movie. I will find out soon 🙂

Photos: IMDB și Youtube.

Double Standards and Je Suis Istanbul

July 1, 2016Ana Maria Popa 2 Comments

We like Turkey. We love to spend our holidays there, the people are nice and friendly. They’ve got yummy food and amazing weather.

Oh, did an attack happen and lots of people died? Yeah well, we are sorry but we will write a status on it on Facebook and we’ll be over it by tomorrow. It’s enough for a night to pass and we are back to out normal day-to-day life. Changed profile pictures and hashtag support were only for Paris and Brussels, you can’t compare the two. Why would we? It’s not like we haven’t got double standards.

anamariapopa.com terrorist attack brussels paris istanbul turkey ataturk airport double standards

Photo: world wide web, found on Twitter (I think).

Ataturk attack was a few days ago and the count is at more than 40 dead and around 250 injured. ISIS confirms it’s their attack the one that had 3 people shoot others and then blow themselves up. And the fact that it’s Europe’s third most important airport only provided them the right opportunity. Even with the high security from what I’ve seen when being there, that wasn’t enough.

I read that night with the horrible attack – I think it was on Twitter – that turks didn’t find the security too high and they were complaining about how there is no control for what you’ve got inside your car. And, on the contrary, I thought that was one of the most secured airport, since you weren’t allowed to enter through the doors free and you had to be searched right there at the entrance, no matter the fact that you’re just dropping someone and you’re not actually traveling. And still, with all this, one of the terrorists managed to get past the security with a gun and start shooting people in the departures area.

After Brussels, Paris had the Eiffel Tower turn into the colors of the Belgian flag – that meant their support and mourning for what Brussels what going through. Same thing happened with the Fontana di Trevi in Rome and The Brandenburg Gate in Berlin. Same actions of solidarity. And so you see and feel the difference. Anybody can see it and only those involved one way or another, can feel it. People died there, people like you and me, people like our families, like the French and Belgian people and their families. But this didn’t bring any sign of solidarity and no landmark was colored in Turkey’s flag. And it will never actually happen, no matter how many attacks Turkey will suffer and no matter how many people will die.

And this is where we show our double standards. Somehow, a life or many lives taken in Turkey value much less than the ones in Eastern Europe. Even if terrorism is the same, same reasons, same attacker – ISIS, but the media gets over it much easier. The only problem is that people don’t.

That night, I received a text from a Turkish friend who lives in Istanbul. It was right after the attack and at first, I didn’t think of the amplitude of the happening. Then I spoke to him and he told me what was there as he was living close to the airport. Ambulances, helicopters, news crews, people screaming and shouting. Apparently, they had already found one of the recording tapes with the exact moment when the guy in the departures blew himself up. Of course, he shouted about Allah before doing that and my friend says to me, both in Turkish and English: ‘How can that motherf*cker talk about Allah and use his name in some thing like, when murdering people?!’.

Istanbul-noIstanbul, we are talking about people, no matter where in this world. People that’ve got feelings and emotions. The event was already too much so I didn’t go any further, but my friend’s last words got me thinking. He is supposed to fly today from Ataturk, no matter if the flight’s gonna be delayed or not. So I told him I am worried about this situation and I pray for his safety, but his answer came quickly: ‘I am more worried about my nephews and all the children in this world. I don’t know what we can do…’.

And my mind went like: ‘I don’t know either…’

Later Edit: Apparently, the Germans did show the same support and solidarity towards Turkey like they did to Belgium, so they colored the Brandenburg Gate again 🙂 The impressive images – here.

Overcome the fear of making calls

April 29, 2016Ana Maria Popa Leave a Comment

Making calls for business is terrifying to many people – What if I stutter? Or if I say the wrong word? What if I don’t get the answer I want? What if I don’t make a good first impression? etc. are questions that most of the people faced with making calls have. So they just don’t want to do it…

Now, the first photo I found on Google was the most relevant one so I had to pick this one (which you can find here). I suspect most of the people having to make phone calls look like this. Or at least, they would look like this if we didn’t have cordless phones 🙂 Hey, I once looked like that!

It takes a lot of work with yourself, but you can also practice some tricks to help you get more relaxed. These bits of information will help you before making the call, during the call and after you finished it. It’s no rocket science, just basic common sense. You will be talking to people just like you, with two eyes, two arms, one nose.

First of all, before the call, you should:

Do a bit of research about the person/company you’re calling. After all, you don’t want to seem like you randomly picked them to call, even if you did. But showing a bit of interest beforehand looks really nice!
Set your mind to show the value your product/service add to their life. It’s about them so make them feel the can’t live without what you’re offering or that they need it so bad that don’t know how they lived before finding out about you.
Detach from expectations. Just set your mind to expect any response and be prepared to answer afterwards. Do not set high or low expectations, do not set them at all! Treat your conversation partner as you’d treat a friend.

Second, when you’re actually on the phone with someone, you might want to try the following during the call:

SMILE! Just wear a smile on your lips while talking to them. From ‘Hello!’ to ‘Thank you, goodbye!’, people can sense your mood and if you’re smiling to them, even on the phone.
Make sure you are brief. People are busy and do not have patience to hear stories. Just get to the point quickly. Who, what, when, why, where – the wh-questions are the golden rule!
Ask questions and listen to the answers. Find out what they need by asking just a few questions to help you get their idea. Also, if they are big talkers, just listen to them, do not interrupt. After all, you called to have a conversation and would be a two-way communication.
Be passionate. Even when presenting yourself and the company, make sure you speak from the heart, like you really believe what you’re saying. Actually, you should really believe in what you’re saying, because then why-the-heck are you doing it?!
Close on a positive note. Okay, maybe you didn’t get the answer you wanted, but that might be just for the now. Ask if you can call them again after some time. Ask for recommendations, maybe their friends are potential clients. Also, you can ask for an email address, so they keep updated about future news.

And last but not least, after the call make sure you got everything right. Maybe you wrote it down while talking to them. Do not call them again because you did not write down their friend’s name or just to double-check the phone number. And if you promised to call back in three month, then do that then. Not earlier! Maybe a bit later, like after three months and a week. Also, if they gave you their email address and you said you’re going to send them an email, make sure you don’t forget. So just do it right after you hung up the phone.

You get nervous and anxious when you concentrate on yourself, your emotions and what can happen to you. Instead, think of the person you are talking to, treat them as a friend whom you’re trying to make life better. They will perceive you less as a stranger and more like a person who treats them like human being, not a buyer.

My advice to you is that you make that call you hate between two phone calls with friends or family. Call your best friend or mother, talk about life things, going out or having dinner together. Then, right after you finished talking to them call the person you’re supposed to immediately, while you are still in the happy and relaxed mood. Keep it short with them – for you and for them both. This way, you haven’t got time to start panicking. After the call, call another friend or member of the family to keep your mind from going crazy and start analyzing what you did wrong. And so on.

Tip: it gets easier in time! Good luck on the practice!

7 PR Myths… Debunked!

April 21, 2016Ana Maria Popa Leave a Comment

You think you know PR, right? That doing PR is not difficult, that PR is all about having fun…

I have to say, I might have heard it all. I used to laugh whenever someone came to me saying they haven’t studied it, they haven’t read about it, they had no contact with the field whatsoever, but they think they would be great Public Relations representatives. So, here it goes…

1st of all – Anyone on the streets knows how to manage Public Relations. No, they don’t. And you know why? Because it requires a certain professional skill set – good communication, patience, creativity, ambition, a friendly personality, etc. It is true that anyone can learn how to master the basics of PR like writing a press release or learn how to paint a brand or product from another perspective, but it all comes down to the skills you acquired through life experience most.

2nd – Bad publicity is still publicity! God, no! Think that and you fail. Bad publicity is awful, bad publicity makes products lose credibility in front of customers, bad publicity makes brands disappear. No car company wants to be associated with most accidents in one year, no watches company wants to give their clients skin rashes because of the blend they treat their metals with, no food company can be okay after selling infested meat.

3rd – PR gives you a lot of free time to do whatever you want to do. Yeah sure, you can paint your nails if you can find time between filling in daily reports, doing research, setting up interviews for your clients, going to interviews with the clients, solving issues, writing letters, translating articles, brainstorming and explaining to the client your ideas, attending product launching. maybe eating and going to the bathroom…

4th – Life as a PR representative is a big party! Of course there is a little party involved, a PR needs to socialize and make the most of networking and creating connections. But that takes 2 hours of a week, tops! The other hours are filled with researching, brainstorming, act of creation and pitching. Still, nothing wrong with pitching your clients to the media during a cocktail, but that is not the big picture of a PR’s life.

5th – PR is all about the press release so if you nailed that one, you’re going to do great! Oh no, knowing how to write a good press release is just a small part of the ocean PR is. It is important but not enough, that is just one of the tools that help build your client’s image and reputation. Also, in big agencies, there are people who write amazing press releases and other who have no idea how to that, because their skills can be used is some other departments. The press release is a great tool to get the message out there, but you still need other skills to pitch, support the Social Media part and talk about information in the press release without knowing it by heart.

6th – PR is used to lie and cover up mistakes of brands. Do not mistake a PR pro for a lawyer! Of course there are pros and cons in every field, but a PR agency is not a gathering of moral degenerates who lie for their clients. A PR takes care of a brand’s reputation and that means no lying is involved. They do, however, build strategies in order to solve that company’s issue and clear its reputation. Just like in life, lying gets you nowhere and any PR pro knows that.

7th – A PR campaign can replace the Sales department. This is the most common misconception, so I am going to make it very clear: PR does not equal Sales and PR results can’t be seen overnight. What PR does for you is create brand visibility and awareness, so that people know you exist. It also handles reputation management and enhances your credibility so that when your sales department contacts a potential client, they already know you can be trusted and so the sale closes faster and better. It can turn cold leads into warm leads, which I hope makes it easy to understand now – PR helps Sales, but is not Sales.

PR really is more than meets the eye. Yes, it is press releases and parties, but it also is creating brand consistency, good writing and communication, strategic thinking, brainstorming and idea pitching, building strategies and creating media relations. And this is why a PR pro can do amazing things for your brand or company.

Photo source: effectdigital.com

Life’s plans for you…

April 19, 2016Ana Maria Popa Leave a Comment

There are times when what you plan doesn’t work out your way.

How many times did you had it happen to you, when you believed in something, even in someone, and you planned either the near or far future, only to have something happen afterwards and without knowing it, everything fell apart?…

Oh yeah, I had it happen also, and not just once. Last time, I was writing here that my plans revolved around the idea of moving out of my country in order to change the continent, having found a career opportunity that made me very happy. But oh well, in the meantime, something changed, something that I’ve got no idea about, but something that made me not act on that anymore. So I quit that idea, I unpacked everything and now I’m gonna start search again for challenges in this area.

On Wednesday at lunchtime I was supposed to embark on a one-way ticket to Asia. On that very morning, it was all cancelled.

But, even in this kind of situations, there is something that comes along. So I created Plan B – 12.37PM: ‘I miss the sea. Let’s go!’

That’s the story of how I got on the highway, destination: Mamaia Beach of Romania. Around 2 hours and 2 butts plus 4 asleep feet later, I was on the beach.

Pause. Peace and quiet. Sun and soft sand.

I take my shoes off, I feel it and this feeling of happiness overwhelms me, that I was there before all the people.

Oh, my! What a feeling of being present in the moment, with my feet in the warm sand, and my head in the clouds.

‘Can we stay in this moment forever?’, I asked my partner in crime. He said ‘yes’, and so I smiled.

The moment is gone now, but the pictures are still here. And, Oh-Ma-God, such pics! Oh yes, short videos also.

So yeah, my plan on leaving the country and changing the continent is gone, but I like to think that everything happens for a reason. I don’t know it yet, haven’t found it out, but maybe at some point… Still, I managed to get out of Bucharest for a bit and I visited her. The rest of the story will be written, when the right time comes for me to leave. 🙂

Twitter 101 – 5 Tips for B2B Marketing

April 13, 2016Ana Maria Popa Leave a Comment

Many professionals are still confused about Twitter – How can 140 characters be relevant for brands and B2B Marketing?

Truth is: it’s a challenge. But the good news? Not impossible!

Since its launch almost 10 years ago, Twitter has been defined by simplicity. Less is more – targeted audience, public engagement and easy-to-find information. Businesses have so much to take advantage of, the social network being a powerful tool in testing and sharing content. So let’s get it right:

Be short and sweet, but professional

Tweets are only 140 characters long, so make sure you stay on subject. However, be careful to use proper grammar and spelling! Of course, sometimes you’re going to need to cut short words, but make sure you still make it nice. And this leads to the next tip.

Use hashtags

Not only that hashtags help you keep it short, but it’s a great way for grabbing the attention also.

Carefully choose your message and then use the appropriate hashtag to help you send the same information. Changing the emphasis of the sentence gives you a chance of grabbing the attention.

And this leads us to the next one, very important!

Engage your audience

The virtual space is impersonal enough and the idea of talking and tweeting to a brand can be even more. So make it personal, be the voice that reaches out to the customer, in ways that make them feel special and connected.

Twitter is not the place for speeches or one-way conversations. You want that, you buy a megaphone and focus on expressing your thoughts. You, as a professional, need to go the extra-mile. Be the human behind the brand, make the audience feel the person.

Plan ahead

Twitter lets you schedule your posts. Try and think of the whole audience or even potential audience. Just because you’re a night-owl or a morning person, doesn’t mean everyone is up at 4AM. Even when you schedule the posts, make sure the right amount of time in between tweets is respected. People need to feel the human touch, not a robot who posts a tweet every 5 seconds. Search for Hootsuite or Buffer and check them out!

Monitor your field

Hashtags help you a great deal, not only in making it short and sweet. Use them from the shadow – check out your competitors, get in touch with other specialists from whom you feel you’ve got things to learn. Also, set alerts with tools like Twilert, that help you with keywords and mentions of your brand. This way, you can also maintain the relationship with your audience. Remember, we hit that earlier…

Twitter can be very useful in B2B Marketing – it’s just like in a relationship. Take the time to get to know and value it and it will work its magic afterwards!