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Carolyn Everson: What She Learned at Free the Children Kenya

Carolyn Everson — Mon, 26 Nov 2012 13:00:16 +0000

Watch Facebook’s Vice President of Global Marketing Solutions discuss Free the Children Kenya during this season of giving back

In addition to making Facebook the platform for which businesses can further their brand and raising two daughters to appreciate a good work ethic, Carolyn Everson is also committed to helping children in Kenya.

Watch genConnect interview Carolyn Everson on her work with Free the Children Kenya:

Everson, who serves as Facebook’s Vice President of Global Marketing Solutions, has long been involved in various animal and pet causes, as well as supporting her local hospital trying to prevent premature infant deliveries. But in August, after visiting Kenya, she was inspired to get involved with Free the Children in Kenya. Free the Children also works in India, China, Ecuador, Sierra Leone and Haiti. The founder, Craig Kielburger instills in his volunteers the idea that community service needs to be an important part in everyone’s lives. While in Kenya, Everson and her family helped Free the Children build a school.

“It was quite an extraordinary experience as a family, and I’m very hopeful that experience is the start of many future opportunities where, together as a family, we can give back.”

The people in Kenya, Everson added, “they have nothing, but they have everything,” meaning they have few material items but are so willing to open their homes and their hearts to others. “You come back and you really start to question our society and all the things we are all consumed with from a material standpoint,” Everson added. “I learned more from the people in the villages of Kenya than I’ve probably learned from anyone in my life to date.”

For more on giving back:

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How Facebook Helps Small Business (VIDEO)

Carolyn Everson — Wed, 21 Nov 2012 11:30:23 +0000

Black Friday – the day after Thanksgiving and the busiest shopping day of the year – and the upcoming weekend is a vital period for many businesses, particularly those hoping to stay in the black throughout the year. And who needs your business more than America’s small businesses? From the local clothing retailer down the street to the mom-and-pop toy store in your community, small businesses are the heart of America’s economy.

Many smaller companies have flocked to Facebook in hopes of turning their small business big.

We connected with Carolyn Everson, Facebook’s Vice President of Global Marketing Solutions, to discuss how Facebook is changing the world. Among the many new Facebook initiatives and trends Everson addresses, one in particular is Facebook’s power to leverage small businesses. With millions of people engaged on Facebook every single day, “why don’t small businesses go where people already are?” Watch:

Video PlatformEverson told genConnect that companies of all shapes and sizes around the world need to ask themselves:

Related: The Facebook Effect on the World

“Why should somebody be a fan of my brand? Why should someone pay attention to my page? You need to give them something back.” Whether that be in the form of discounts, early sales notifications, preferred treatment, or other returns, customers have to be rewarded for being loyal.

“The big lesson is that things are changing so quickly in terms of the technology that’s available to us but there are some basic human truths and basic marketing truths that haven’t changed at all,” Everson said. “A recommendation from a friend is still stronger than a brand telling you about themselves directly. That’s really at the heart of what Facebook is trying to do for marketers.”

WATCH: Internet Generation to Forever Change Corporate America

Tell us: Do you have a Facebook page for your business? What rewards do you offer your fans?

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How Facebook Helps Small Businesses (VIDEO)

Carolyn Everson — Mon, 15 Oct 2012 10:00:37 +0000

With over 800 million users, Facebook is definitely a big business. But may smaller companies have flocked to the platform in hopes of turning their small business big.

Everson told genConnect that companies of all shapes and sizes around the world need to ask themselves: “Why should somebody be a fan of my brand? Why should someone pay attention to my page? You need to give them something back.” Whether that be in the form of discounts, early sales notifications, preferred treatment, or other returns, customers have to be rewarded for being loyal.

Related: The Facebook Effect on the World

Tell us: Do you have a Facebook page for your business? What rewards do you offer your fans?

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Cycle for Survival: Ride to Fund Cancer Research

Carolyn Everson — Wed, 18 Jan 2012 16:30:26 +0000

Cycle for Survival's Jennifer Goodman Linn

Facebook’s Carolyn Everson to join thousands in cities across the U.S. next month as they cycle to help raise money for underfunded, orphan cancers that plague 50 percent of all cancer patients in this country

When it comes to cancer, there’s an endless need for more research and money in order to find effective treatments and, hopefully, one day, cures for even the most rare forms of the disease.

Enter Cycle for Survival. Co-founded in 2007 by Jennifer Goodman Linn and her husband, Dave, Cycle for Survival is the national, indoor relay-style team cycling event that has raised more than $9 million in support of lifesaving research on rare cancers at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center. In the past five years, Cycle has funded 25 clinical trials and research studies. All funds raised from the events go directly to Memorial Sloan-Kettering for research on “orphan” cancers – the more rare form of cancers that plague an astonishing 50 percent of all people living with cancer in the United States today.

“Orphan cancers are those diseases that typically are not given the research opportunities and funding, as opposed to major cancers [such as that of the lung, breast, colon and prostate] in the United States,” Dr. Gary Schwartz – the Chief of Memorial Sloan-Kettering’s Melanoma and Sarcoma Service – told us. Apple Co-Founder Steve Jobs died last year from such a cancer; he suffered from a rare form of pancreatic cancer. “The Cycle for Survival provides an opportunity to raise research dollars directly for these orphan diseases and all the money raised from those efforts goes here,” Dr. Schwartz said.

Carolyn Everson of Facebook

Founder Jennifer Linn died last year at the age of 40 from sarcoma, one of those rare cancers. Her fearless fight against the disease and the energy she put into making Cycle for Survival take off in order to benefit cancer research inspired many across the globe.

On Saturday, Feb. 4, Cycle events will take place in San Francisco, Los Angeles and Long Island. On Saturday, Feb. 11, people will bike in Chicago and New York City, and on Sunday, Feb. 12, Cycle participants will hop on bikes in Washington, D.C. and New York City.

Cycle for Survival is particularly important to Carolyn Everson, vice president of global marketing for Facebook, who was a close friend of Linn’s.

Carolyn is leading Team Facebook for the first San Francisco Cycle event on Feb. 4.

Donate to Carolyn’s Cycle for Survival team here.

“Cycle is so important to me to support because it carries on the legacy that Jennifer started to raise awareness and funding to treat orphan cancers,” Carolyn told genConnect. “Jennifer was a close friend who I knew for over a decade and her life was way too short on this planet. I do believe her impact will be bigger than she ever imagined. It is the least I can do to make sure her legacy continues.”

Giuliana Rancic

Giuliana Rancic, the E! News co-anchor and creator of FabFitFun.com, recently went public with her own diagnosis of breast cancer at the young age of 36, supported last year’s Chicago Cycle event.

“Cycle for Survival is a great event and I encourage everyone to take part in it,” Giuliana told genConnect. “You get to get in shape, have fun and support a great cause. What more could you ask for?!”

Dr. Schwartz said research into orphan cancers is important not only because they make up 50 percent of all cancer cases in the U.S., but also because they are finding connections between orphan and the more well-known cancers – which could aid in finding more effective treatments. Once researchers better understand the molecular biology of cancerous tumors, drugs can then be created to specifically target those cancerous pathways.

“There has been a transformation – a shift, so to speak – in understanding the role of developing drugs in these orphan diseases,” Dr. Schwartz explained.

Thanks to funds raised by Cycle for Survival, once those helpful discoveries are made, they can quickly move from the lab to the clinic to test them out.

Dr. Gary Schwartz

“This is our safety net,” Dr. Schwartz said of the fundraising event. “This is our basic foundation we can use. With this research money, we can develop these therapies and hope, in the meantime, the pharmaceutical industries will engage us in the development of treatment for these orphan diseases.”

Dr. Schwartz himself will be cycling this year; he rides every year. It’s an event that brings doctors, patients and their families, and others together for a great cause.

“I do it for my patients. I do it for their future. I do it for the future of oncology,” he said, hoping that one day such events won’t be needed, as orphan research will receive adequate enough funds to ensure all patients receive the treatments they need to battle the disease. ”I’d like to one day say ‘this is our last event.’”

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Carolyn Everson: How Facebook Can Change the World (VIDEO)

Carolyn Everson — Sun, 20 Nov 2011 19:00:40 +0000

Carolyn Everson, Facebook’s vice president of global marketing solutions, on how Facebook provides a platform for others to change the world

CAROLYN EVERSON: Hi Nancy.NANCY SPEARS: So Facebook has grown in the last seven years to, what, 750+ million users. Quite amazing. It’s impacting lives all over the world. How do you see Facebook as a major change agent?CAROLYN EVERSON: The way we think about it internally is that we’re not the change agent, but we’re enabling populations to actually be change agents because of the technology and the platform we provide. So if you looked at what happened in Egypt or Tunisia or any of the countries that have had significant change happen, some people would call us up and say you must be very busy at Facebook given what’s happening.And the truth is we weren’t because we weren’t the ones risking our lives on the line to protest for change. We were really the ones behind just building a platform that people have taken advantage of to actually express their opinions. We’re starting to realize the power of that technology and platform, whether it is looking at in Egypt example, or even organ donations, which are up because of what’s happening on the site.Friends are sharing their needs, whether it be a family that’s in need of a kidney, or a friend. Networks of people are coming together that have never thought about donating organs, suddenly that is starting to spike. Or even how people are getting treated with cancer.I just lost a friend, as you know, a couple of months ago due to cancer, and how people are seeking treatment and advice on disease states is changing dramatically. Because now they’ll post that they may be diagnosed with something, and someone in their network will weigh in that they know somebody that had a terrific doctor or a terrific treatment regiment, and that’s even changing.In my role, as running Global Marketing Solutions, instead of sitting with brands and talking about their next marketing campaign, my big question that I’m really focused on is what can Facebook and Coca-Cola do to change the world that’s never been done before? What can Facebook and General Electric do? Because if we can answer that question and come up with something that’s really significant, we do have the ability to change the world for a really positive direction.Whether it’s making people aware of certain community service opportunities, whether it’s making people aware of the billion people that need electricity, which GE is really behind, or making people aware of the plight of polar bears, which Coca-Cola cares about. Whatever the topic may be, there is something magical that can happen when you take a brand and Facebook and say what can these two companies do together that no one else can do. That’s really the power, how we think about Facebook as a change agent.NANCY SPEARS: Terrific. It’s so interesting how the view becomes bigger than just the person, the one person that has the account.CAROLYN EVERSON: It’s so much bigger, and it’s also I don’t think we know yet what this potential of the platform is. We observe behavior every single day and we learn from it. We know now that, for example, 74% of new moms will seek advice from their friends on Facebook about how to raise their children, or questions of parenting, or even products to buy. Three-quarters are seeking advice from their friends. That is a fundamental change with the way you would have surveyed five years ago where they would have gone and gotten expert advice.So I just think we’re all trying to understand what the power of this platform is, and what is the power of connecting 750 million people globally for the very first time. I don’t think we know yet what’s going to happen.NANCY SPEARS: It’s a great thing to think about. You have a huge job. It’s a wonderful job. You’re so privileged, really.CAROLYN EVERSON: Thank you.NANCY SPEARS: And my privilege to talk to you. Thank you.

Carolyn Everson

Facebook has grown to 800 million plus users, and is impacting lives all over the world.

“The way we think about it internally is, we’re not the change agent, but we’re enabling populations to actually be change agents because of the technology and the platform we provide,” Carolyn said in an interview with genConnect.

People in Egypt, Iran, Yemen, Tunisia, and other countries have utilized Facebook and other social media in recent years to organize political protests for change – and have succeeded.

“We’re starting to realize the power of that technology and platform,” Everson said – whether that power be in helping organize political rallies, or helping people search for organ donors, or helping with cancer diagnoses and treatment. “How people are seeking treatment and advice on disease states is changing dramatically,” she said, noting that often, people will post their diagnosis on Facebook and receive responses from others in their network with doctor or treatment referrals that could literally change a person’s life.

As vice president of global marketing solutions at Facebook, Everson said, the “big question that I’m really focused on is, ‘what can Facebook and Coca-Cola do to change the world that’s never been done before?’ ‘What can Facebook and General Electric Do?’ Because if we can answer that question and come up with something that’s really significant, we do have the ability to change the world.”

For more videos from Carolyn Everson on genConnect:

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Facebook VP Carolyn Everson on Motherhood & Career (VIDEO)

Carolyn Everson — Fri, 28 Oct 2011 13:30:10 +0000

Mom of 9-year-old twins helping to lead fast-growing Facebook says integrating your career and family life is easier than separating them

Carolyn Everson is a busy woman.

Not only is Everson working as Facebook’s Vice President of Global Marketing Solution, but she’s a mom to twin 9-year-old girls, as well. So how does she juggle everything?

“I think the most important thing is to know what your priorities are,” Everson says.

Watch Carolyn Everson talk about how she melds motherhood and career:

When Everson introduces herself at conferences or other large work-related events, she identifies herself as a mother first, Facebook executive second, “which is a really unusual thing for somebody to say in business.”

Watch Carolyn Everson on How Facebook Can Help Small Businesses

Everson’s work life gives her family experiences they may otherwise not have had. For example, each quarter she brings her family on work trips with her; while she’s working during the day, her husband takes the kids on tours. They often eat dinner together, even if it is a working dinner.

Everson believes a working mother can be an incredible role model to her daughters or her sons. “I say mommy works because we need to pay the mortgage … I am trying to instill a work ethic in the kids that hopefuly will last a lifetime.”

One of the best pieces of advice Everson ever received as to how to support motherhood and career came from Wendy Clark, senior vice president of marketing at Coca-Cola. “She said, ‘It’s not about work-life balance, it’s about work-life integration.’ She said, ‘Think about how your family can be part of your job, and vice versa, as opposed to trying to divide everything up,’” Everson says. “And it was really great advice.”

For related stories on genConnect:

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Cycle for Survival Founder Jennifer Goodman Linn Legacy Lives On

Carolyn Everson — Thu, 21 Jul 2011 18:14:44 +0000

Inspirational cancer fighter Jennifer Goodman Linn died July 20th. Her fearless legacy and Cycle for Survival program will continue to make a difference …

Cycle for Survival in Chicago

She was fearless. A motivational figure among cancer patients, Cycle for Survival founder Jennifer Goodman Linn, died July 20th, announced her website YouFearless.com. Jennifer was 40 years old.

At 33 years old, the marketing executive for Fortune 500 companies, was diagnosed with a rare cancer, called sarcoma. One in every 10,000 Americans are diagnosed each year and about half of them will survive it.

Jennifer founded Cycle for Survival in 2007, originally as a grass-roots program inspired by her love for cycling and the encouragement she found among her gym buddies. Thousands of cyclists team up each year with friends, family and coworkers to ride against cancer in New York City, Chicago and satellite events around the world. The event has raised more than $4.5 million in support of research on rare cancers at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center – becoming one of the most successful patient-led fundraising event in the 125-year history of Sloan-Kettering.

Reprinted from Jen’s blog is the following message:

“It is with great sadness that we want to inform all of you who have supported and loved Jen throughout the years that she passed away earlier this morning. As tough as a fighter Jen was, her death was peaceful and she did not seem to be suffering; she was surrounded by loved ones. Obviously this is tragic and heartbreaking for all of us, but we are grateful that she is no longer suffering.

Jen’s funeral will be held at Riverside Memorial Chapel, located at 180 West 76th Street (near Amsterdam Avenue) at 11:45 a.m., Friday, July 22nd, 2011. In lieu of flowers, Jen preferred that you please consider donations to Cycle for Survival to keep alive her determined fight to eradicate rare cancers.”

With appearances on “The Today Show”, CBS, ABC, MSNBC and FOX, Jen told her story of treatment, remission and survival. She was the recipient of Self Magazine’s Do Good Award in 2008, was named one of Kraft Foods’ 100 Extraordinary Women in 2009, and was a 2010 Energizer Hall of Fame Finalist.

Jennifer Goodman Linn

Her fearless life mentality inspired cancer patients, everyday people, acquaintances and family.

“Jen is a force of nature, an extraordinary human being whose will to live and perspective on life, business and all its challenges are beyond measure,” said Carolyn Everson, Vice President of Global Marketing Solutions at Facebook. “It is more than a privilege to see her in action…it is life changing.”

Jennifer is survived by her husband, David.

Visit Jennifer’s website to read more about her incredible journey and to contribute to the Cycle for Survival efforts.

genConnectgenConnect » Carolyn Everson

Carolyn Everson: What She Learned at Free the Children Kenya

How Facebook Helps Small Business (VIDEO)

How Facebook Helps Small Businesses (VIDEO)

Cycle for Survival: Ride to Fund Cancer Research

On Saturday, Feb. 4, Cycle events will take place in San Francisco, Los Angeles and Long Island. On Saturday, Feb. 11, people will bike in Chicago and New York City, and on Sunday, Feb. 12, Cycle participants will hop on bikes in Washington, D.C. and New York City.

Donate to Carolyn’s Cycle for Survival team here.

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Carolyn Everson: How Facebook Can Change the World (VIDEO)

Facebook VP Carolyn Everson on Motherhood & Career (VIDEO)

Cycle for Survival Founder Jennifer Goodman Linn Legacy Lives On

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