Posts made in April 2022

Behold, Bespoke – Livby

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Saturday, March 26, Livby cultivated a one-in-a-lifetime style fashion experience at the Livby House of Style hosted by stylist Mimi Cuttrell at an exclusive, luxury residence in Beverly Hills. The event set out to celebrate the brand’s newfound concept sure to change the world of online shopping forever.

Transforming the once bland scene of e-commerce, Livby Inc. promises to upgrade the US fashion market with a new age livestream video sale platform. As livestream e-commerce has already taken off internationally in locations like Asia, projections estimate that virtual shopping in the United States will soon, also, be elevated to such distinction.

Livby’s lead investor and CFO Yorick Evans-Freke spoke on the uniqueness of the company’s new approach to traditional shopping methods, stating, “From concept to execution, Livby is the first of its kind. Far from a typical investment, Livby is a true disrupter in a world desensitized to the term. As the live e-commerce revolution makes the leap from China to the US, Livby is the most investable play.”

The launch party was full of appointment-only previews and styling experiences creating a luxurious fashion event like the new platform that Livby has been working on. The guest list included top influencers, celebrities and fashion/beauty pioneers that help to elevate the fashion industry day in and day out. These innovators in the fashion industry play an integral part in Livby’s new e-commerce platform, too.

Providing insight on the formatting of the new platform, Livby’s Founder and CEO Shai Sudry simplified the workings of the new program, stating, “It’s as if the mall and social media marketing collided. Livby provides a seamless shopping experience from the first touchpoint to the last. We’re transcending fashion for the next generation of customers.”

The innovative concept generated by Livby is perfect for consumers in search of a new, fresh approach to shopping. The brand-new technology will showcase a platform allowing users to feel fully immersed in a shopping experience aside their most beloved influencers and fashion icons.

At the forefront of Livby’s new strategy is Madison Nagle, leading approaches with the executive team. Before landing this position, Nagle worked with top fashion companies like Revolve, Guess and even at Harvard University, where she graduated from, leading sustainability marketing projects.

Through collaborations with their esteemed team of professionals, Livby has created a collaborative platform that combines the top upcoming industries affecting the fashion industry today – Influencer marketing, E-Commerce and Livestreaming.

Livby has adapted the early QVC/HSN live-sale formatting with a more modern, Gen-Z approach. Their business model follows a commission-based structure, like eBay or 1stDibs. Renowned as the first company to cultivate such a platform, Livby Inc. offers a unique and admirable shopping experience with your favorite influencers.

So, how does it work?

An influencer agrees to conduct a live sale with a brand while setting their commission with the messaging and commission-slider features on the Livby app.

The brand and associated influencer encourage their followers to take part in the live sale via social media. If interested, consumers can create their own profile while adding payment details and viewing live sales.

After registration is completed, users get notifications relating to times and products in a specific livestream sale. Users tune in, can live message with an influencer throughout the sale and have the option to purchase conveniently with a click of one button on their device.

After the sale is complete, live video from the livestream is archive onto the app where prospective customers can re-watch and purchase at their convenience while stock persists. That’s it; it’s that simple!

Throughout the in-person experience, guests had the opportunity to take part in one-on-one meetings with stylist Mimi herself. Known for her red carpet and street style looks on esteemed celebrities such as Gigi and Bella Hadid, Ariana Grande, Lily Rose Depp, Madelyn Cline and Iris Law, Mimi is based in both New York and Los Angeles working for the crème of the crop across a scope of industries.

Throughout the personal styling sessions, some of the hottest brands right now were available, such as Aureum, Cult Naked, Dolce Vita, E.B. Denim, For Love and Lemons, Heart of Sun, Jaded London, Lack of Color, Lu Goldie, Montce, Réalisation Par, and Revice denim. It’s safe to say that guests were more than taken care of at the private event cultivated by Livby.

While not consulting with Mimi, guests were pampered with beauty/wellness activations conveniently set poolside. TYS Beauty refreshed guests while crafting beautiful brows and nails, and even had in-fad tooth gems to add opulent, modern touches. Pause Studio helped cleanse guests with their assortment of IV drips, wellness shots and lymphatic drainage techniques, while Jessica Stone cultivated soothing, introspective tarot card readings.

Samples from brands such as Benefit, Elaluz, Hum, Inked by Dani, Trademark Beauty, Artha and Versed were additionally offered at the event. Whether you were in search of a little beauty reset, or just some well-deserved self-care time, the activations had everything you could have been in search of.

After enjoying the beauty/wellness activations, guests were encouraged to treat themselves with personalized sips and bites provided by Decada, Sunny Vodka, El Cristiano Tequila, Hampton Water, Poppi, PATH Water, Caliwater, Sugar Taco, Craigs Vegan and a personal Sushi Chef.

Nagle spoke to the advancements and shifts that are coming in the fashion industry, while stating, “We live in a world where experiential retail is valued more than ever. With the rise of digital commerce, livestream shopping is quickly becoming the future of fashion retail. The virtual commerce technology that Livby offers allows brands and influencers to take back creativity and control. Now is the time for brands to become digitally savvy and adapt.”

Livby House of Style Launch Party press images via BFA for use by 360 MAGAZINE — Images Courtesy of BFA

Fabletics Makes a Splash

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By: Yash Thadani

Fabletics, the brand that has taken the athletic wear space by storm is now entering the swim apparel market. To showcase their new collection, the team put on a spectacular event in a beautiful house in Los Angeles, CA.

Approaching the residence, the women’s swim collection was on display in the center of the house. Immediately able to tell the quality of the fabric was exceptional, and the silhouettes of all the women’s pieces depicted originality. A few of the styles included were different variations of bandeau bikini tops and flattering one pieces. The crowd favorite from the women’s collection was the Noa String Tie One Piece in wild wisteria. The piece is appropriate to wear around your grandparents, but desirable enough to wear at a pool party with friends.

The assortment of mens swim garments were to die for. The wardrobe consisted of chic colored swim trunks made with chlorine resistant material. The mens collections also included a matching terry-cloth shirt and shorts for throwing on when you hop out the pool. The athleisure brand’s design team had really outdone themselves with this compilation of swimwear.

“Our members love Fabletics because they can count on us to always offer something new and bold. We are thrilled to officially introduce swim and deliver the best combination of style and performance at an unmatched price to complement the rest of our customer’s lifestyle and wardrobe,” said Jennifer Chevchek, VP of Design.

Wandering towards the back of the home, an enormous backyard with the guests participating in yoga and enjoying brunch with an amazing view of Los Angeles. Attendees were welcomed to blueberry muffins, croissants, fruit cups and more. There was also a bar that was serving coffee, pressed juice and hard kombucha.

The entire event was planned extremely well, and the whole collection exhibited versatility. The emphasis on the brand trying to be inclusive of all body shapes and sizes is admirable. Size from both collections range from XXS-4XL. Shop their latest collection on April 1st, 2021 at www.fabletics.com.

About Fabletics

Founded in 2013 and headquartered in El Segundo, CA. Fabletics is the largest digitally native activewear brand in the world. By fusing style-centric designs with high-performance technology, Fabletics is creating the world’s most fashionable, high-performance active lifestyle products at an accessible price. Driven by its innovative VIP membership program serving over 2 million loyal members and powered by analysis from its Fashion OS tech platform enabling deep customer understanding, Fabletics has evolved activewear beyond the gym into every walk of life, guided by its foundational belief that everyone and everybody deserves to look and feel their best.

See and shop the collections in the US, Canada, Europe and in person at the brand’s state-of-the-art retail stores in over 75 locations.

Sex Pistols: The Original Recordings

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For the first time in over 20 years, 20 of the Sex Pistol‘s recordings from 1976 to 1978 are collected together to tell the story of one of the world’s most influential and extraordinary bands.

The Sex Pistols: The Original Recordings covers a historic period when the band was rarely out of the news or the charts and will be available on double vinyl, digital and CD, as well as limited edition double transparent green vinyl and collectors’ cassettes. All configurations of The Sex Pistols: The Original Recordings can be pre-ordered HERE.

The Sex Pistols left the British Establishment shaking when they exploded onto the music scene, kickstarting what later became known as punk—a term the band was never comfortable with. Young people ripped up not just their musical forebearers but their social ones too, and Sex Pistols were the snarling, ferocious figurehead of the revolution.

They made one incredible, 40-minute album for the ages in 1977’s Never Mind The Bollocks and from its artwork to the individual players, the attitude and music—every bit of it influenced the world we live in.

The record is frequently listed as one of the most influential albums of all time. Musicians like Joy Division, New Order, Kurt Cobain, Noel Gallagher, Green Day, and YUNGBLUD have cited them as key inspiration. And this was not just musically, punk showed that anyone could create and many took the hint across fashion, art design and more.

Their 1977 single “God Save the Queen” was banned by the BBC and reached Number 1 on the U.K.’s NME chart but appeared at Number 2 on the Official U.K. Singles chart, leading to accusations that the song was purposely kept off the top spot. For the only time in chart history, the track was listed as a blank, to avoid offence to the establishment.The collection soundtracks the period and features key singles “Anarchy In The UK,” “God Save The Queen,” “Pretty Vacant” and “Holidays In The Sun,” essential tracks from Never Mind The Bollocks. Further originals and covers from The Great Rock & Roll Swindle soundtrack album and some essential B- sides in “I Wanna Be Me” (the flipside of “Anarchy…”), “Satellite” (the b-side of “Holidays In The Sun“) and “Did You No Wrong” (from “God Save The Queen”).

Masked Wolf × Bring Me the Horizon

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Platinum-certified recording artist Masked Wolf has shared his new genre-bending single “Fallout” featuring chart-topping, GRAMMY Award-nominated rock band Bring Me The Horizon. Masked Wolf and the group originally joined forces in the summer of 2021 to record the track, which is complete with the rapper’s skillful verses and a massive chorus spotlighting frontman Oli Sykes‘ powerful, uniquely-recognizable vocals. With its dark, cinematic vibe, the collaboration is heavily influenced by HVDES and features some of her vocals and production. Adding Wolf’s vocals to HVDES‘ contribution gives the track a deeper feel, creating a new world for Bring Me The Horizon to step into. The song also arrives following Bring Me The Horizon‘s recent collaborations with Ed Sheeran on “Bad Habits,” first performed live at the BRIT Awards, and Machine Gun Kelly on “maybe.” “Fallout” is available now on all streaming platforms, along with a companion lyric video available HERE.

Of the new collaboration, Masked Wolf commented, “I haven’t done a collaboration that felt dark; I always felt that my brand had that edge of darkness to it, and I was waiting for the right opportunity to come along. When I heard ‘Fallout,’ it grabbed me straight away. The way I felt like I was meant to be in the rubble but could still be brought out, that’s the feeling it gave me.” He continued, “The way the song builds over time made me feel like there was nothing wrong with it at all. To me, it’s perfectly structured and gives me the emotions I love diving deeper into when writing songs.”

Last fall, Masked Wolf unveiled his debut 17-track mixtape Astronomical, highlighted by the Australian rapper’s RIAA Certified double-platinum smash “Astronaut In The Ocean” and standout track “Pandemonium.” “Astronaut In The Ocean” proved to be a phenomenon, hitting No. 1 in eight countries around the globe and amassing over one billion streams to date, not to mention becoming the eighth most-consumed song of 2021 and earning multiple nod’s on Variety‘s esteemed Hitmakers List. It spent 22 weeks on the Billboard Hot 100 and climbed to the Top 10 at Top 40 Radio in the U.S. Meanwhile, the official music video has logged nearly 300 million views on YouTube alone.

Masked Wolf made his world television debut with an epic performance of “Astronaut In The Ocean” on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon followed by his first, primetime television appearance of the song on The Voice and then on The Kelly Clarkson Show. He also delivered a stellar performance of “Pandemonium” on Jimmy Kimmel Live! and most recently on Dick Clark’s New Year’s Rockin’ Eve with Ryan Seacrest.

About Masked Wolf

Transforming from a mild-mannered man by day into an unrestrained beast in the studio, Masked Wolf (aka, Harry Michael) has unassumingly established himself as a powerful, passionate and primal hip-hop force. After graduating from school, the Sydney, Australia native tirelessly worked in sales to fund recording. He even took out a loan to build a home studio as he cut hundreds of songs and logged thousands of hours in the lab. In 2018, he dropped his independent debut “Speed Racer.” It gathered millions of streams and turned heads across Australia. Following “Night Rider” and “Water Walkin,” he unveiled “Astronaut In The Ocean.” Awash in airy guitar, jagged 808s, neon keys, and deft wordplay, he submerged himself in honest lyricism, facing depression head-on. Re-released via Elektra Records in 2021, “Astronaut In The Ocean” has become a global phenomenon, amassing over one billion streams and hitting #1 in 8 countries around the world.

About Bring Me The Horizon

BRIT and GRAMMY-nominated, multi-platinum-selling quintet Bring Me The Horizon is one of the most electrifying and successful rock bands to emerge from the UK. The group kicked off their post-human era in 2020 with the release of the first of four EPs aptly titled POST HUMAN: SURVIVAL HORROR. The critically acclaimed release debuted at Number 1 on the UK charts and was praised by NME for being “rooted in raw relevance for today and the cyber-punk energy of tomorrow.” In 2021, the band shared their hit single “DiE4u,” the most recent addition to the post-human collection. To support the release, the group embarked on a sold-out UK arena tour in September 2021 and are set to headline Reading & Leeds Festival in August 2022. Bring Me The Horizon has sold over 4 million albums globally to date, played sold-out shows in over 40 countries, including two sold-out nights at London’s O2 and one night at The Forum in Los Angeles, wowed a traditionally non-rock crowd at Glastonbury Festival in 2016 and 2018, and stole the show at high profile festivals across Europe all summer of 2019. They have now also amassed over 1 billion video views on YouTube. Bring Me The Horizon is made up of vocalist Oli Sykes, guitarist Lee Malia, bassist Matt Kean, drummer Mat Nicholls, and keyboardist Jordan Fish.

KISS – Off the Soundboard: Live at Donnington

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On June 10, rock icons KISS will release the next installment of their popular Off The Soundboard official live bootleg series with KISS – Off The Soundboard: Live At Donington 1996, recorded during the Monsters Of Rock Festival at Donington Park in England on August 17, 1996. This is the latest in a series of live releases by the band and will be available to stream and download, with a 3-LP standard black vinyl set, a 2-CD set, and a limited-edition 3-LP set pressed on 180g red vinyl available exclusively through the Official KISS online store and can be pre-ordered HERE.

KISS–Off The Soundboard: Live At Donington 1996 was recorded during the final year of the original run of the renowned annual music festival held at Donington Park in Leicestershire, England, and the 17-song set features powerhouse performances of classic KISS concert staples such as “Do You Love Me,” “Shout It Out Loud,” “God Of Thunder,” and the title song from their 1976 multi-platinum Top Five album Love Gun. KISS closed the festival on this date, which was also part of the highly anticipated Alive/Worldwide reunion tour featuring Paul Stanley, Gene Simmons, Ace Frehley, and Peter Criss, making KISS – Off The Soundboard: Live At Donington 1996 a stunning sonic souvenir of this moment in KISStory.

KISS is globally recognized as one of the greatest live bands of all time and are the creators of what is universally considered the best live album ever, 1975’s gold-certified and No. 9 Billboard charting Alive! The KISS – Off The Soundboard series continues their storied legacy of groundbreaking live albums with a document of the spectacular, larger-than-life extravaganza that is a KISS concert.

Known for their trademark performances, KISS has proven for decades why they are hands down the most iconic live show in rock n roll. The Rock & Roll Hall of Famers have sold more than 100 million albums worldwide and are America’s #1 Gold Record Award-winning group of all time in every category. Peerless as a live act, the band’s illustrious legacy has been marked by record-breaking global tours during a remarkable 49-year career.

GAME THEORY F/ BOMANI JONES

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GAME THEORY WITH BOMANI JONES continues its first season SUNDAY, APRIL 3 (11:30 p.m.-12:00 a.m. ET/PT). New episodes debut each Sunday on HBO and will be available to stream on HBO Max.

The episode features topical commentary on this week’s most-talked about issues in sports, a one-on-one interview with actor and comedian Tracy Morgan and a deep dive into the Master’s Tournament.

Praised by The Guardian as “a sports savant and a sharp cultural critique” who is also “thoroughly engaging,” the Emmy®-winning Jones shares his satirical takes on the intersection of sports and culture through topical monologues, sketches and deep dives. Jones has been regarded by GQ as a “star with something to say” and “the most insightful sports commentator on television.”

About Bomani Jones:

Jones is currently a contributor on HBO’s “Back on The Record with Bob Costas” and has made appearances in HBO Sports documentaries “The Battle for Tobacco Road: Duke vs. Carolina” and “Runnin’ Rebels.” As the co-host of ESPN’s “Highly Questionable” and “High Noon” and host of the podcast “The Right Time with Bomani Jones,” Jones has enriched sports commentary with his own unique style.

GAME THEORY WITH BOMANI JONES is executive produced by Bomani Jones, Adam McKay and Todd Schulman from Hyperobject Industries, Stuart Miller, Morgan Murphy and James Davis.

Madame Tussauds × The Rock

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Global entertainment, fitness and entrepreneurial icon Dwayne Johnson revealed his four new wax figures at Madame Tussauds New York, Hollywood, Las Vegas and Orlando—dominating the screen, the ring, and now the wax figure game! One of the world’s most successful male actors and producers Johnson starred in a number of record-breaking box office smash hits, including Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle and Jumanji: The Next Level, Hobbs & Shaw, Jungle Cruise, Rampage, Skyscraper, Red Notice, Disney’s Moana and many more. Also widely regarded as one of the greatest professional wrestlers of all time, Johnson first rose to fame reaching global recognition as WWE‘s “The Rock” before transitioning to the big screen. Dwayne Johnson revealed his figures with a video on Instagram giving an exclusive glimpse of the incredible immortalizations of himself up close, styled and themed to align with the spirit of the city in which it’s located.

Madame Tussauds extensive creative team of sculptors, colorists, hairdressers and stylists contributed to all four of Johnson’s figures, representing the celebrity in diverse and prominent poses that capture his recent success. Each figure also offers a unique interactive guest experience.

Madame Tussauds New York

Johnson’s New York figure highlights the actor in a blue suit with a black turtleneck—resembling his red-carpet moment at the premiere of Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle in 2017. Surrounded by photo flashes and positioned at the front entrance as the first figure guests will see, New York City’s Dwayne Johnson will be the ultimate star-studded welcome at the iconic Times Square attraction.

Madame Tussauds Hollywood

In Hollywood, Johnson’s figure will greet guests setting the scene for the ultimate VIP party. The movie star and entrepreneur figure strikes a shaka power pose in an outfit inspired by Johnson’s Hobbs and Shaw press conference look in Beijing.

Madame Tussauds Las Vegas

The Vegas figure welcomes fans with a cheers as they raise a glass at a Teremana Tequila-themed bar, bringing the Mana exclusively to the Las Vegas attraction. Johnson’s figure in the entertainment capital of the world is posing in attire recreated from his Voss Water campaign in 2019.

Madame Tussauds Orlando

The Orlando figure pays tribute to his action-packed, box-office characters, featuring the action movie icon in rugged attire while scaling a building. Special set effects including lights, sound effects, wind and fog set the scene for an unforgettable movie poster moment. Dwayne Johnson headed to Instagram to say, “The only way I can describe this…So f’in cool.”

“We’re thrilled to welcome Dwayne Johnson’s four new amazing figures to Madame Tussauds New York, Hollywood, Las Vegas, and Orlando. He’s a humbled icon, and a figure that has been highly requested by our fans. We’re honored to have had the opportunity to represent him at the world’s greatest wax museum,” said Madame Tussauds Head of Marketing, Matthew Clarkson.

Madame Tussauds is the world’s greatest wax museum with no ropes or barriers holding guests back from meeting their favorite celebrities. They continue to highlight well-known idols and icons in mind-blowing accurate detail in a life-like persona.

Fabletics × Vanessa Hudgens

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Friday, April 1, marked the exciting announcement of The Sun-Daze Collection from Fabletics, by Vanessa Hudgens. Returning to work with the brand following her collaboration as the successful face of the December Velour campaign at Fabletics, we see Hudgens involved in the design process on this new collection, seeking inspiration from “California cool girl vibes.”

Motivated by 2000s trends that are modernly making a comeback, Jennifer Chevchek, VP of Design at Fabletics, raved about the new collection, stating, “With warmer months around the corner and so much to look forward to, the Fabletics customer can’t wait to have fun, look chic and be comfortable, which is exactly what The Sun-Daze Collection is all about, […]

“We are especially excited to bolster our fabric offering by introducing the brand-new Island Terry material in Vanessa’s collection. It is lightweight and breathable, making it versatile enough to wear to the beach or hanging out with friends.”

Sporting iconic activewear designs by Fabletics, The Sun-Daze Collection by Vanessa Hudgens encapsulates everything in-trend that will be a great addition to your summer wardrobe. From the new bright, eye-catching prints to the classic styles known as a staple of Fabletics, the collection consists of 16 styles, with VIP prices stemming from $9.95 to $59.95.

Hudgens exclaimed her excitement surrounding the collection, stating, “I’m obsessed with this collection, and it couldn’t be more perfect for festival season. My personal faves are the leggings for the fit and print (designed by yours truly) and the terry baby doll dress which is so cute and flattering. I wanted to do a full lifestyle collection so there’s something cute in there for all the Spring moments ahead.”

Highlights from the collection include:

The Prowl String Bikini Top is a convertible style that can be worn six different ways and comes with the matching Prowl String Bikini Bottom, which are both made from partially recycled materials and chlorine resistant.
Fabletics’s tried and true Powerhold and Seamless matching sets ground the collection and are introduced in all new, eye-catching prints, Desert Wavy Leo and Pink Rave Geo.
The Baby Crop Tee has a raw edge and vintage-inspired graphics chosen by Vanessa, and will feel like your favorite lived-in tee.
The Terry Wide Leg Sweatpant is styled with the Towel Terry Built in Bra Tank, both cut from the new Island Terry Fabric. The bra features a hidden pocket and the pants have a cool, beach vibe patch chosen by Vanessa herself.
Go from brunch to the beach in the versatile Terry Halter Baby Doll Dress cut from our new, breathable Towel Terry fabric.
Two accessories complete the collection: the Reversible Terry Bucket Hat, purple on one side and brown on the other for maximum versatility, and a playful Phone Charm Accessory for your cell phone to keep you on-trend and from never losing your device.

About Fabletics

Founded in 2013 and headquartered in El Segundo, CA, Fabletics is the largest digitally native activewear brand in the world. By fusing style-centric designs with high-performance technology, Fabletics is creating the world’s most fashionable, high-performance active lifestyle products at an accessible price. Driven by its innovative VIP membership program serving over 2 million loyal members and powered by analysis from its Fashion OS tech platform enabling deep customer understanding, Fabletics has evolved activewear beyond the gym into every walk of life, guided by its foundational belief that everyone and everybody deserves to look and feel their best.

Vanessa Hudgens Sun-Daze Collection w/ Fabletics press image via Carli Bendetti Fabletics for use by 360 MAGAZINE

Tyler Robinson Foundation

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Founded by the GRAMMY Award-winning music group Imagine Dragons, the Tyler Robinson Foundation (TRF) has been dedicated to assisting and providing support for families affected by pediatric cancer. The nonprofit organization was created with the goal of providing relief of expenses that entail families confronting a pediatric cancer diagnosis.

Throughout the year of 2021 alone, over 500 Emergency Fund expenditures were granted to families in need.

The foundation was initiated after learning about the moving story of Tyler, who was diagnosed with Rhabdomyosarcoma, an incredibly rare form of cancer, at the age of 16-years-old. His inspirational story and bravery shown throughout the duration of his battle with cancer inspired countless of individuals around the world.

Coming together, his family and Imagine Dragons created the TRF, who advocate the message that, “the real battle is not whether you live or die, but how you respond to the challenge.”

The TRF has grown immensely and now supports over 2,000 families to date. Continuing to expand their foundation, the foundation continues to partner with more organizations like the Children’s Hospital Los Angeles (CHLA), where they have founded a TRF.

Beginning with a donation of $10,000 from Imagine Dragons, this specific fund provides support with meals and food insecurity for pediatric cancer families. Imagine Dragons, too, went in attendance of a virtual meet and great with patients from CHLA where they discussed music and meditation.

The foundation has also partaken in events that tie in with their ambassador program Team TRF. Such events include a raffle to win a ZERO-G Flight experience with Imagine Dragons that accumulated nearly $10,000 and the Rise Up Gala one-night-experience that raise of $2.6 million for TRF.

TRF, too, was named a 2021 Top-Rated Nonprofit by GreatNonprofits, a provider known for providing user reviews of charities and nonprofits. TRF received a 2021 Platinum Seal of Transparency with Candid.

Since their founding, TRF has been able to provide aid to over 2,500 families internationally and has raised a mass accumulation of over $12 million. For each dollar that is raised by TRF, over 85% goes back to families that are affected by a pediatric cancer diagnosis. To learn more about TRF, visit TRF.org and follow TRF on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.

Do Korean Lessons Have to be Daunting?

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For native English speakers, Korean can be a challenging language to adopt later in life. Unlike the Spanish or French languages, which often feel more intuitive to English speakers, Korean is challenging precisely because it shares neither alphabet nor origin with the Romance languages. Korean is written in Hangul, and requires English speakers to navigate an entirely new character writing system. Luckily, learning to read Korean can be done within a couple hours with the help of an experienced Korean tutor and one or two private lessons.

Chinese characters share a pool of 250 radicals of which they are comprised; meanwhile, Korean is written in “bundles” of letters that are themselves consonant blocks. Each of these blocks is made of several elements—some combination of consonant and vowel—which are combined into one consonant element, then grouped into words. This means that the writing system is actually fairly easy for many native English speakers to grasp, once they have a solid understanding of the basics.

Is Korean Always Difficult to Learn?

Learning Korean is generally less difficult for native English speakers than picking up, say, Chinese or Arabic. Pronunciation is fairly straightforward: Korean phonetics tend to be easy for English speakers, and there are no tones such as in Mandarin.

Korean grammar has certain points of ease: there’s no grammatical gender, and verbs don’t conjugate much. However, the sentence structure is basically “backward” according to native English speakers: subject-object-verb.

Formality and relationships also affect how Korean is spoken. The ending of a sentence may change based on whether you are speaking to someone older or younger than you, someone who “outranks” you, or someone you are familiar with. Korean vocabulary is where things get tricky; for native English speakers, there are very few loan words from English, and Korean words can often be quite lengthy, especially during formal speech.

Overall, Korean can pose many challenges for those who do not also speak Chinese or Japanese; those that are familiar with either of these other languages have a leg up on native English speakers trying to learn Korean from scratch. That said, with dedication, practice, and the assistance of a private online Korean tutor, most students determined to master the language can do so in relatively little time!

What Are My Options for Learning Korean On My Own?

Depending on where you are, you may be able to take Korean lessons from a nearby university or college. The primary drawback of college courses is that they can be cost-prohibitive and may not work with your schedule. Some schools may not even offer Korean language classes.

If you are an ardent self-starter (lucky you), then online Korean language learning resources such as EllenJovin.com and apps such as DuoLingo may work for you. Though ideally used as a supplement to actual courses, some people can make serious headway using only language learning software and a heaping helping of internal motivation. That said, many language learning apps struggle with the nuances of the Korean language; for example, some don’t differentiate between formalities, bothering only to teach students the most formal, stilted version of the language—this has dubious applicability at best.

With a private online Korean tutor, a student has the benefits of human feedback from someone not only fluent, but able to function as a cultural point of contact. This means that a student’s resulting fluency will not only be comprehensive in terms of grammar and vocabulary, but also organic, natural-sounding, and conducive to actual conversations. Plus, on websites such as Eurekly.com, you can find a wide range of private online Korean tutors within your price range, as well as easily discern their compatibility with your scheduling needs. Local scarcity of in-person teachers is no longer an issue with the advent of video technology such as Zoom, Discord, or Skype.

Where Can I Find Private Online Korean Tutors?

Websites such as Eurekly.com host thousands of tutors, each rigorously vetted to ensure that prospective students select from a range of experienced and culturally competent teachers. With Korean lessons starting as low as $13 a session, private online Korean tutoring is something available to anyone with a computer and functional internet access. With many tutors to choose from, you’re sure to find one who is able to work within your required parameters: each tutor’s language fluencies and location are listed upfront, so you know exactly where their specialties lie. Some tutors even offer free trial lessons to ensure that teaching styles and student needs all align. Stop by Eurekly.com today and take your first steps on the journey to language mastery.