In this interview with genConnect, Arianna talks about the future of blogging and the inspiration behind The Huffington Post, below. Watch:

WATCH: Arianna Huffington Reflects on Losing Friend Nora Ephron

“It’s really about everything we love in our lives and trying to fulfill all our curiosities,” Arianna says of the content on The Huffington Post.

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Watch: Arianna Huffington and the Future of Blogging (YouTube)

Arianna Huffington

Huffington meditates and practices yoga. She calls herself a “sleep evangelist.”

“I try to get 7 to 8 hours,” she says. “I don’t succeed every night but it’s a big priority. At the Huffington Post offices we have nap rooms where if people get tired, exhausted in the middle of the day they can take a 20-minute nap, which is infinitely more preferable than a sixth cup of coffee.”

Related: Natural Ways to Rejuvenate Yourself in 2013

Huffington says recognizing stress levels is very important.

“I think that when we learn to unplug and recharge and connect with ourselves, we are really not just more creative, but more effective, more joyful,” she says.

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Seven years ago, in an age when many people thought of bloggers as unemployed young people sitting at home in their pajamas, Arianna Huffington launched a blogging platform with the goal of bringing together an array of voices. Watch The Huffington Post founder Arianna Huffington talk to genConnect about the growth of her blogging platform:

Arianna with Huffington Post Italy staff before launch

WATCH: Arianna Huffington Reflects on Nora Ephron’s Passing 

“I wanted to bring a lot of the great voices that were offline, online,” Huffington said of starting The Huffington Post. She mixed young writers with older, more experienced writers, and gradually added established journalists to her roster, with many doing long-form, investigative pieces on an array of topics.

But did she ever imagine The Huffington Post would become the institution it is today?

“You know, I dreamt about it,” Huffington said, “but I can’t say that I had a five-year plan of how exactly we would get there. That’s part of the magic of any startup. You never quite know what the great moments, the breakthroughs, are going to be. Part of it has been bringing together great people.”

On launching Huffington Post Italy, Huffington wrote in a blog post: ”While L’HuffPost will devote plenty of space to what isn’t working in Italy, we will also put the spotlight on what is working: the innovation, ingenuity, spirit and resilience of the Italian people. …Above all, L’HuffPost will celebrate Italy’s vibrant culture, from its cuisine, operas, and art to its traditions, ancient history and legendary cities.”

In August, Huffington launched HuffPost Live – a streaming network that uses the Huffington Post’s stories, editors, bloggers and commentators as its real-time script. It also encourages viewer participation and to help shape the news. It’s yet another example as to how Huffington is expanding her blogging platform into all corners of media.

Related: The Power of Online Communities

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Arianna Huffington

HuffPost Live streaming network brings you Huffington Post stories, editors and commentators in real-time; Arianna Huffington talks to genConnect about the expansion of her blogging platform

Arianna Huffington has done it again.

The media maven on Monday launched HuffPost Live – a streaming network that would use the Huffington Post’s stories, editors, bloggers and commentators as its real-time script. It would also encourage viewer participation and to help shape the news. It’s yet another example as to how Huffington, founder of the Huffington Post, is expanding her blogging platform into all corners of media.

Seven years ago, in an age when many people thought of bloggers as unemployed young people sitting at home in their pajamas, Huffington launched a blogging platform with the goal of bringing together an array of voices. Watch her talk to genConnect about the growth of her blogging platform:

WATCH: Arianna Huffington Reflects on Losing Friend Nora Ephron

But did she ever imagine The Huffington Post would become the institution it is today?

“You know, I dreamt about it,” Huffington said, “but I can’t say that I had a five-year plan of how exactly we would get there. That’s part of the magic of any startup. You never quite know what the great moments, the breakthroughs, are going to be. Part of it has been bringing together great people.”

Related: The Power of Online Communities

As for the HuffPost Live launch, Huffington says it’s a great way to engage readers in the news.

“I knew we had found the right vehicle for bringing HuffPost’s voice, attitude, and disruptive approach to video,” Huffington said on the site of the impetus behind HuffPost Live. “It was also an innovative way to tap into our active and passionate HuffPost community and the world’s growing hunger for self-expression. People don’t want to just consume news; they want to be part of shaping the story of our time.”

Watch the first HuffPost Live segment here

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Arianna Huffington with genConnect’s Baruch Shemtov

“I wanted to bring a lot of the great voices that were offline, online,” she said of starting The Huffington Post. She mixed young writers with older, more experience writers, and gradually added established journalists to her roster, with many doing long-form, investigative pieces on an array of topics.

But did she ever imagine The Huffington Post would become the institution it is today?

“You know, I dreamt about it,” Huffington said, “but I can’t say that I had a five-year plan of how exactly we would get there. That’s part of the magic of any startup. You never quite know what the great moments, the breakthroughs, are going to be. Part of it has been bringing together great people.”

genConnect is credentialed press at the 2012 Aspen Ideas Festival in Aspen, Colo., where we are interviewing the premier speakers and attendees at the conference. For more of our video interviews and articles from the Ideas Festival, click here.

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Nora Ephron (left) & Arianna Huffington (right) at HuffPost's 2010 Game Changers event.

“Nora was a critical part of HuffPost,” Huffington told genConnect. “She was an amazing cheerleader. At the beginning when there were a lot of naysayers, she was a great sounding board for me. She was an Editor-at-Large who became a blogging evangelist.”

More than just an editor for the Web site, Ephron created the incredibly popular HuffPost Divorce section.

“Over breakfast, she said to me, ‘We should start a divorce section,’” Huffington said. “She gave it the tagline, because as she puts it, ‘marriage comes and goes, but divorce is forever.’”

Ephron died June 25 of pneumonia brought on by acute myeloid leukemia (AML), a cancer of the blood and bone marrow.

genConnect is credentialed press at the 2012 Aspen Ideas Festival in Aspen, Colo., where we are interviewing the premier speakers and attendees at the conference. For more of our video interviews and articles from the Ideas Festival, click here.

Follow us on:

• Twitter @genConnect, or @aifestival #AspenIdeas
• Facebook
• Google +
• genConnect.com