Kivo Daily Staff, Author At Kivo Daily

Richardson Studio Launches 40 Over 40 Portrait Experience Celebrating Women Across Indiana

Kivo Daily Staff on September 14, 2026

By: Thrive Locally

Richardson Studio, a portrait photography studio in Bloomington, Indiana, has launched its first 40 Over 40 Portrait Experience, inviting women in their 40s, 50s, 60s, 70s, and beyond to join an inaugural portrait series celebrating their stories, individuality, and who they are today.

The studio is currently photographing the women who will make up its first 40 Over 40 volume. Each participant will have the opportunity to step in front of Michelle Richardson’s camera for a personalized portrait experience, share her story, and ultimately be celebrated alongside the other women in the collection at an exhibition gala.

For Richardson Studio owner and photographer Michelle Richardson, the project reflects a philosophy that has shaped her work behind the camera for years. Portrait photography can be more than documenting a milestone. It can be an opportunity to recognize and celebrate who someone has become.

Celebrating Women at 40 and Beyond

By the time a woman reaches 40, she may have spent decades building a career, raising a family, growing a business, navigating change, pursuing goals, caring for others, or reinventing herself entirely.

Yet women are often more accustomed to being the person taking the photograph, planning the family session, or supporting everyone around them than intentionally stepping in front of the camera themselves. Richardson Studio’s 40 Over 40 Portrait Experience gives women an opportunity to change that.

Rather than focusing on looking younger or turning back the clock, the experience celebrates women exactly where they are now. Each portrait session is an opportunity to document the confidence, personality, style, strength, and individuality that have developed through years of living.

That idea is central to Michelle Richardson’s approach to portrait photography. She wants the women she photographs to walk away with more than a beautiful portrait. She wants them to see themselves with renewed confidence and appreciation for who they are today.

Inside Richardson Studio’s 40 Over 40 Portrait Experience

For many women, stepping in front of a professional camera can bring immediate questions. What will I wear? How should I pose? What do I do with my hands? What if I’m not photogenic? At Richardson Studio, clients don’t have to figure those details out alone.

The studio’s portrait experiences focus on preparation and hands-on direction. Clients receive personalized photoshoot planning and wardrobe guidance before stepping in front of the camera. Professional hair and makeup create a polished look while still letting each woman feel like herself.

During the photoshoot, Richardson directs posing, expressions, body language, and movement while using the studio’s signature professional lighting to create a variety of finished portraits. The approach removes the pressure of knowing how to perform for a camera and gives each woman the freedom to enjoy being photographed.

Richardson Studio has refined this process through more than 20 years of portrait photography and 6,466 completed sessions with people of different personalities, comfort levels, ages, and reasons for wanting to be photographed.

The First 40 Over 40 Volume Is Now Underway

The launch marks the beginning of Richardson Studio’s inaugural 40 Over 40 volume, and the studio is now welcoming women who want to be part of the first collection.

Each participant brings her own personality, experiences, accomplishments, and story to the project. Together, their portraits will create a collection celebrating what it looks like to be a woman at 40, 50, 60, 70, and beyond.

For some participants, the experience may mark a personal or professional milestone. For others, there may be no major occasion at all. That is part of the point.

Women do not need to wait for a wedding, anniversary, graduation, business launch, or another traditional milestone to create a portrait of themselves. Reaching a point in life where they want to celebrate who they are can be reason enough.

More Than 20 Years Behind the Camera

The 40 Over 40 project builds on more than two decades of portrait photography at Richardson Studio. The Bloomington-based studio has completed more than 6,466 portrait sessions, earned more than 300 five-star reviews, and comes from three generations of professional photographers.

For Michelle Richardson, that experience goes beyond technical skill. Her ability to connect with the person in front of her camera and bring out her personality has become central to Richardson Studio’s approach to portraiture.

That experience now comes together in 40 Over 40, a project designed to celebrate each woman as an individual and create portraits that reflect who she is today.

Celebrating the Women Behind the Portraits

The first 40 Over 40 Portrait Experience will culminate in an exhibition gala celebrating the women who participated in the project.

The event will bring the portraits together in one exhibition, giving participants the opportunity to see their photographs displayed alongside the other women featured in the inaugural collection. More importantly, the evening will celebrate the stories behind the portraits and the experiences, accomplishments, and journeys that have shaped each woman.

For Michelle Richardson, the exhibition is an important part of the 40 Over 40 vision. The project is not only about what happens in front of the camera. It creates an opportunity for women to celebrate themselves, share their stories, and be recognized alongside a community of women doing the same.

The gala will mark the completion of Richardson Studio’s inaugural 40 Over 40 volume, bringing the women, their portraits, and their stories together for an evening dedicated to celebrating everyone who helped bring the first collection to life.

Women 40 and over who would like to be part of Richardson Studio’s inaugural 40 Over 40 Portrait Experience are invited to learn more and apply to participate by visiting the website.

Christina J. Donato Opened Her Home to Her First Foster Dog, Expecting a Companionable Experience: She Got Freddy Instead

Kivo Daily Staff on September 12, 2026

By: Kristine Kennedy

There is a particular kind of story that begins with someone doing the right thing and immediately discovering that doing the right thing is far more complicated than they anticipated. Christina J. Donato’s Foster Freddy Wants a Family is that kind of story. She opened her home to her first foster dog expecting something manageable. What arrived was a beagle-basset mix with a dislocated knee, Cushing’s disease, recurrent mast cell tumors, territorial growling, a talent for indoor marking, a fondness for garbage raids, and lopsided looks that Christina, in a moment of honesty that takes genuine courage to put in print, admits disappointed her at first glance.

What followed was nearly three years of fostering, multiple hands of care, professional behaviorist interventions, and one of the most unexpectedly moving animal stories to come out of the rescue world in recent memory.

The Honesty That Makes the Book Work

Christina’s decision to include her initial disappointment in Freddy’s appearance is one of the most important choices in the book, and she is clear about why she made it. If Freddy hadn’t won her heart, she says, she wouldn’t have included it. She probably wouldn’t have written the book at all. But because he did win her heart, because first impressions proved so dramatically and completely wrong, the honesty serves a purpose. It shows that what we see at first glance tells us almost nothing about what we are actually encountering, whether that encounter is with a four-legged creature or a two-legged one.

The book is full of that kind of candor. Christina doesn’t present herself as a naturally gifted foster parent. She admits she was too soft with Freddy, that things went too far before she tried to gain control, and that she felt she had failed him when he was moved to experienced foster trainers Mandy and Donna. Learning later that Mandy said she had done better than she thought was what finally abated her guilt. She was a lifetime dog mom who was overconfident in her abilities, who discovered that fostering a dog with an unknown background requires being ready for things that love and experience alone cannot prepare you for.

The Moment She Knew She Loved Him

There is a scene in the book that crystallizes the shift that happens between a foster parent and their animal when they stop pretending. Christina chases Freddy and breathlessly confesses out loud that she loves him. She felt the change in that moment. She couldn’t deny that Freddy was a fully nuanced, warm-blooded living being. He wasn’t just a project. Not saying it out loud hadn’t meant she didn’t feel it. She still would have cried on transport day even if she had never spoken those words.

That transport day, the moment when Freddy faces forward without looking back while Christina weeps, is described by reviewers as one of the most quietly devastating scenes in the book. And yet she frames fostering around exactly that moment as the point. If you go in understanding that your purpose is to get to know the dog so they can be matched with the best forever home, then passing them along becomes a bittersweet but joyful moment the foster parent can take genuine pride in.

What Walter’s Words Meant

The book begins to take its final shape when Christina learns that Freddy has passed and reaches out to his forever dad, Walter. A beagle-savvy adopter who already knew a great deal about Freddy before taking him in, Walter saw past every medical bill and behavioral scar and called Freddy his favorite among eight beloved beagles. Those final words taught Christina something she needed to know: her time with Freddy had not been wasted. Everything she had put into him, the exhaustion, the stress, the guilt, the love, had contributed to a dog who was capable of being someone’s absolute favorite.

That is the happy ending she wanted to share. Not a perfect story, but a true one about hope even in what seems hopeless.

If you’ve ever wondered whether the hardest foster experience is worth it, Foster Freddy Wants a Family by Christina J. Donato is available now on Amazon.

Lorraine D’Alessio Discusses Immigration Strategy for Business Leaders

Kivo Daily Staff on September 12, 2026

By: George Mac Allister

The immigration conversation in the United States has become one of the most politically charged topics in recent memory. Every policy change generates immediate and intense reaction. Every enforcement action becomes a news cycle. Every shift in administration brings a new set of rules that organizations have to understand and adapt to. And many corporate leaders, understandably, are reluctant to engage with any of it publicly for fear of alienating stakeholders on either side of an issue that seems to have no neutral ground.

Lorraine D’Alessio has a clear and specific message for those leaders. A company doesn’t have to take a political position to take immigration seriously. In fact, treating immigration as a political issue is precisely the framing that prevents organizations from treating it as what it actually is: a business capability with significant consequences for talent, retention, competitiveness, and organizational resilience.

The Distinction That Changes Everything

There is a meaningful difference between engaging in political debate about immigration policy and making sure an organization understands the laws and policies that directly affect its workforce. Those are not the same activity, and conflating them leads companies to avoid the second because they don’t want to be seen as doing the first.

If a company relies on international talent, immigration is already a business issue whether leadership chooses to discuss it publicly or not. The responsible approach is to communicate accurately with employees about their status and options, to make decisions based on the organization’s actual workforce needs, and to build the institutional knowledge required to navigate a frequently changing landscape with confidence. All of that can be done without making a political statement. All of it should be done regardless of which political conversation is happening in the background.

Writing in a Volatile Policy Environment

Lorraine published The Global Advantage in August 2026, against one of the most volatile US immigration policy environments in recent history. She approached that challenge with a specific editorial philosophy: focus on principles that remain useful even when individual policies change, and build a framework that allows organizations to respond intelligently to change rather than a guide to current rules that would require constant revision.

Specific visa requirements change. Processing times fluctuate. Eligibility criteria get rewritten when administrations change. What doesn’t change is the need to evaluate talent carefully, understand the options that are available, plan for the long term, and build decision-making processes that can accommodate uncertainty rather than being paralyzed by it. The book is designed around those durable principles rather than around the specific rules that were in effect at any particular moment.

What Staying Informed Actually Requires

One of the practical messages Lorraine wants executives to take from the book is that staying informed about immigration is not the same as taking a position on it. Organizations that build an ongoing relationship with immigration expertise, that treat policy monitoring as a standard part of their workforce planning, and that have clear processes for assessing how changes affect their specific employee population are better equipped to respond to volatility than those that only engage with immigration when a deadline creates urgency.

That level of organizational capability is what separates companies that navigate the current policy environment with confidence from those that are consistently scrambling to understand what changed and what it means for their people. The political conversation will continue to be noisy. The business requirement to understand immigration and manage it strategically will not change with it. The organizations that internalize that distinction are the ones that retain competitive advantage in international talent markets regardless of which way the policy environment moves next.

You don’t have to enter the political debate to get immigration strategy right. The Global Advantage by Lorraine D’Alessio is available now on Amazon.

Rising Star Begins Dani Truehart’s Journey Through Fame and Identity

Kivo Daily Staff on September 12, 2026

By: Austin McLean

A series opener succeeds when it leaves the reader genuinely invested in what happens next, not simply curious about the plot mechanics but emotionally committed to the protagonist’s ongoing story in a way that makes the wait for the next book feel like a real imposition on the reader’s need to know how things turn out. Rising Star succeeds on exactly those terms. By the time Michele Kwasniewski reaches the end of this first book in The Rise and Fall of Dani Truehart series, she has given you a protagonist you genuinely care about, placed her in a situation whose complications you genuinely want to see developed and resolved, and left enough threads unresolved to make the continuation of the story feel genuinely necessary rather than simply desirable.

The series title itself tells you something important that shapes how you read the first book. This is not a story about a rise to stardom that ends with the stardom intact and the protagonist triumphant in the way that aspirational entertainment fiction tends to end. It is a story about what it costs to become famous and what it costs to stop being famous and what remains of a person who has been through both. Rising Star is the beginning of that arc, the moment when the costs are still being assessed and the future is still genuinely open, and Kwasniewski handles that openness with the skill of a writer who knows where she is going and has the patience to let the reader arrive there at the right pace rather than rushing toward dramatic developments that the story has not yet earned.

Her more than fifteen years in film and television production give the novel’s industry foundation a credibility that makes everything built on top of it feel solid and real rather than borrowed or approximated. The professional dynamics she depicts are accurate in ways that matter for the story she is telling. The relationships are complex in ways that reflect real industry figures rather than fictional archetypes. The costs and the rewards of Dani’s career are rendered with the specificity of someone who has watched similar processes play out in real contexts, and that specificity is what allows the novel to avoid both the cautionary tale and the aspirational fantasy in favor of something more honest and more useful for its YA audience.

The protagonist at the center of all of this is Dani Truehart, who is fifteen and talented and navigating the gap between the career she has been trained for and the self she is still in the process of discovering, and who is rendered with a first-person authenticity and a psychological specificity that makes her feel genuinely real rather than narratively convenient. She is the reason the series opener succeeds as a series opener, because she is someone the reader wants to follow through whatever comes next.

If you want to begin a YA series that promises to trace a young woman’s full story through the complications of fame and identity and the space between other people’s dreams and her own, Rising Star by Michele Kwasniewski is exactly where to start. Grab your copy on Amazon today and prepare to need the next book immediately.

How J-TEK Construction Is Transforming Commercial Spaces Across Southern New Hampshire

Kivo Daily Staff on September 12, 2026

A business can outgrow its space long before it outgrows its address. Sometimes that means transforming an outdated office into an environment that better supports employees and clients. Other times, it means renovating a healthcare facility while carefully protecting the surrounding space, rebuilding an aging commercial deck, or modernizing a community property without losing the character that made it recognizable in the first place.

Across Manchester and Southern New Hampshire, J-TEK Construction is helping businesses and organizations take on exactly those kinds of projects.

Led by owner Jimmy Lehoux, who brings more than 30 years of construction experience to the company, J-TEK has completed more than 300 residential and commercial projects. Today, the Manchester-based general contractor continues to expand its commercial work, bringing decades of hands-on construction experience to offices, healthcare facilities, community spaces, and other commercial properties throughout the region.

More Than 30 Years of Construction Experience

Long before commercial renovation became a growing focus for J-TEK Construction, owner Jimmy Lehoux was building his experience from the ground up.

His career has included working as a crane operator and rigger at American Crane Company, operating heavy equipment on commercial job sites, and serving as a subcontractor ambassador at PROCON. There, he worked closely with contractors, estimators, and project teams, gaining experience not only in the physical work happening on a job site, but also in the coordination and planning required to keep commercial construction moving.

That combination of field experience and project oversight became part of the foundation for J-TEK Construction. Over more than three decades in the industry, Lehoux has seen firsthand how existing conditions, changing project needs, and the realities of an active job site can affect a construction project.

Today, he brings that experience to every J-TEK project, with an approach centered on detailed planning, clear communication, quality craftsmanship, and structured execution from start to finish.

Every Commercial Space Comes With a Different Challenge

There is no single formula for renovating a commercial property. A healthcare facility may require careful separation between construction activity and surrounding areas. An office renovation needs to consider workflow, employees, clients, and the professional environment the business wants to create. An established community property may need significant improvements without losing the architectural details that give the building its character.

For J-TEK, understanding those differences is an important part of the construction process. The company’s growing commercial portfolio demonstrates just how varied those projects can be.

At Bedford Ambulatory Surgical Center in Bedford, J-TEK completed a renovation within an existing healthcare facility. The project involved extensive protection and containment of the construction area, opening sections of the suspended ceiling, removing existing materials, working within the corridor, and restoring the area with finished ceilings, lighting, walls, flooring, and interior finishes.

It was a dramatically different project from J-TEK’s commercial office renovation for Affinity Investment Group in Exeter. There, the focus was on modernizing an existing professional workspace while maintaining much of its established layout. New flooring and interior finishes helped create a more cohesive environment across private offices, hallways, and shared spaces.

In Manchester, J-TEK’s work at the Palace Theatre showcased another side of the company’s capabilities. The extensive exterior deck renovation went beyond replacing the visible decking. Portions of the existing structure were opened to address the underlying deck construction before the project moved into new decking, stairs, railings, lattice, and exterior finish work. The finished renovation updated the property while complementing its distinctive architectural character.

J-TEK has also completed renovation work at St. Peter Church in Manchester, including improvements to the sanctuary and choir loft, further demonstrating the company’s ability to work within established properties serving the local community.

Why Renovation Makes Sense for Established Businesses

For many businesses, growth does not necessarily mean moving into a new building. The location may already work. Customers know where to find them. Employees are established there. The property may have history, visibility, or characteristics that would be difficult to replicate somewhere else.

What no longer works may simply be the space itself.

An outdated office can stop reflecting the caliber of the company operating inside it. A growing practice may need its existing facility to function differently. Aging exterior structures eventually require more substantial attention. And organizations occupying older properties often need to modernize without erasing the character that makes those buildings distinctive.

That is why renovation can be such a valuable investment. Instead of starting over, businesses can improve what they already have, addressing aging conditions while creating spaces better suited to how the organization operates today and where it is headed next.

Why Businesses Choose J-TEK

Renovating an existing commercial property can be considerably different from building in an empty space. Contractors have to work with what is already there, uncover existing conditions, solve problems as they emerge, and understand that the business on the other side of the construction zone still has people to serve.

That is where Jimmy Lehoux’s background becomes particularly relevant. His experience did not develop exclusively from managing projects from an office. He has operated heavy equipment on commercial job sites, worked as a crane operator and rigger, collaborated with contractors and estimating teams, and spent decades seeing construction from both the field and project side.

Today, J-TEK combines that experience with a hands-on approach to commercial construction. Clients work with a contractor that understands what is happening behind the finished surfaces as well as the larger objective behind the renovation.

And J-TEK’s portfolio demonstrates that adaptability. A surgical center, financial office, historic performing arts venue, and church present very different construction environments. Yet each requires the same underlying ability to understand an existing property, determine what the project demands, coordinate the work, and deliver a finished space that serves the organization using it.

Building What’s Next for Southern New Hampshire Businesses

As more businesses and organizations throughout Manchester and Southern New Hampshire reinvest in their existing properties, J-TEK is expanding the commercial side of the company around the work it has spent decades learning how to do.

From interior renovations and office build-outs to healthcare facilities, exterior improvements, and commercial deck construction, the projects may look very different when they are finished. What connects them is the reason behind the work.

Businesses are building for what comes next. And J-TEK Construction is helping them do it. Additional information about J-TEK Construction and its commercial services is available on the company website.

Burt Pinnock’s Community-Centered Design Philosophy and the Growing Role of Public Participation in Architecture

Kivo Daily Staff on September 12, 2026

Public involvement has grown in prominence over time in both urban planning and architecture. Instead of confining the decision-making process only to architects and authorities, many planning processes today involve community members, non-profits, academics, historians, and other advocates in the early stages. This is because the most effective public spaces are usually a product of collaborative efforts, not solely technical skills. In Richmond, Virginia, this philosophy has been evident in planning efforts. It has even led to the establishment of groups aiming to make design services more available to underserved communities.

Burt Pinnock has continued to practice this model of collaboration throughout his professional life. In addition to his architecture practice, Burt Pinnock has also involved himself in civic planning, non-profit organizations, public engagement, and design education. His works typically entail collaborations with municipalities, universities, cultural agencies, historians, descendant communities, and neighborhood groups before any architectural concepts are developed. This demonstrates his view that architecture is more than building, and that good public spaces should be informed by engagement with the very people who will eventually use them.

Perhaps the clearest example of his efforts to integrate architectural expertise into urban planning processes is Pinnock’s work with Storefront for Community Design in Richmond. Co-founding the non-profit organization in 2011, Pinnock intended to increase access to professional planning and design while encouraging more public involvement in developing their neighborhoods. As the organization states on its website, its mission is to inspire equitable, community-driven design through affordable planning, design education, and workshops. Since then, Storefront has implemented over 370 low-cost design and planning projects, run more than 20 design workshop series, and provided over a million dollars worth of donations to professional services.

Unlike traditional architectural firms, Storefront works directly with neighborhoods, non-profits, schools, churches, and private individuals who need professional assistance with planning and design. Architectural professionals provide their skills for free as volunteers, conducting visioning sessions, consultations, and educating community members about planning issues. The organization is guided by their motto, which states that architecture should be done “with, not for” communities. According to Richmond Magazine, the conversations between planners, architects, educators, and civic leaders inspired the formation of the organization to increase access to professional design resources among the general population.

Richmond 300, the comprehensive long-term plan embraced by the city in 2020, also illustrates the principles of civic planning espoused by Pinnock. In his role as the Vice Chair of the Richmond 300 Advisory Council, Pinnock played a prominent role in civic planning that emphasized citizen participation in Richmond. The plan proposed a vision for 20 years, dealing with topics such as housing, transportation, land use, economic development, parks, and sustainability.

Many projects initiated and conducted by Pinnock himself show the same principles of collaboration and dialogue. Such projects as the Shockoe Project, the University of Richmond Burying Ground Memorial, and Hearth: Memorial to the Enslaved at William & Mary were based on collaborations between the descendants of slaves, historians, archaeologists, educators, preservationists, public officials, and non-profits. All these initiatives involved research, public consultation, and community workshops before the actual decision-making regarding designs was made. Rather than delivering architecture to the public as a product, the planning process itself became the goal.

In addition to his professional roles on various projects, Pinnock has also been involved in many public boards and commissions relating to planning and preservation. The boards and commissions include the Art and Architectural Review Board for the Commonwealth of Virginia, the Board of Zoning Appeals for Richmond, Historic Richmond Foundation, Venture Richmond, the Richmond Slave Trail Commission, the Legal Aid Justice Center, and others. It shows how Pinnock’s work has often had a public policy aspect and how he has been involved not only in architecture but also in debates about the future of communities and public spaces.

Pinnock has frequently touched upon these topics through lectures, interviews, and professional circles. In his interviews on Storefront for Community Design, he has defined the entity as a design resource meant to help Richmond with proper and accessible planning instead of providing one-size-fits-all solutions. The same principles can be found in his published essay A Modern Imperative, in which he has stated that it is up to architects, planners, governments, finance, and communities to build an equitable environment to live in.

The broader implications of this approach can be seen in the ongoing work in Richmond, where there is a continued focus on community-based planning and preservation. Groups like Storefront for Community Design continue to expand their educational programs while working on neighborhood planning projects and engaging young people. Simultaneously, more public works dealing with historic preservation and memorial architecture are including consultations with residents, academics, and descendants of those involved before construction. In this larger context, the work of Burt Pinnock shows how community involvement has become closely tied to the practices of architecture.

How Amberton University’s Applied AI Degree Prepares Graduates for What the Workforce Actually Needs Right Now

Kivo Daily Staff on September 10, 2026

By: Mary Brown

Companies are not struggling to find AI tools. They are struggling to find people who know what to do with them.

Amberton University built a graduate degree around that gap. The Garland, Texas institution offers a Master of Science in Applied Artificial Intelligence, a 30-credit-hour program delivered fully online. The degree targets working professionals who want to lead AI adoption inside their organizations rather than watch it happen around them.

Dr. J. Alexander Sinclair serves as Professor of Business, Research, and AI at Amberton University and coordinates the AI program. He also developed the university’s first Applied Artificial Intelligence for Business course.

“Companies out there are hungry, not just for AI, but more for people who know how to use AI and can help leverage that in their businesses,” Dr. Sinclair said.

He speaks regularly with area business groups, including the East Dallas Chamber of Commerce. Those conversations shape what happens in Amberton University’s virtual classrooms.

A Portfolio Instead of a Promise

Most graduate programs end with a transcript. Amberton University’s AI degree ends with proof of work.

Students build an AI portfolio throughout the program. They develop, deploy, and refine projects inside Amberton’s AI Testing Environment, an interactive platform woven into the coursework. Each graduate leaves with a documented body of work to show employers.

Sinclair considers this the clearest answer to a crowded market of online AI courses. “You can sit back, and you can learn about things,” he said. “But here, we actually are allowing students the opportunity to develop a really solid portfolio that they can bring with them into the workforce that they could potentially apply right away.”

He described how that plays out in a job interview. A hiring manager asks about AI experience. Instead of a vague claim, the graduate has a demonstration ready. “As a matter of fact, I created my own agent bot that can make certain macros on Excel spreadsheets. Would you like me to demonstrate that for you?” Dr. Sinclair said, sketching the exchange.

Built to Outlast the Hype Cycle

AI moves fast enough to make any curriculum nervous. Dr. Sinclair does not deny it. “The capabilities of AI have increased a lot over the last four months,” he said, pointing to rapid gains in video and voice generation.

Amberton designed the program with that churn in mind. The university treats AI as a workplace tool, not a research subject. “We’ve never really looked at AI as anything more than a tool that can help our students be more successful in the workforce,” Dr. Sinclair said.

That framing keeps the program anchored to skills rather than any single platform. Faculty revise courses continuously as the technology shifts. The instructors bring more than academic credentials to that task. “Not only are our faculty here academics, but we’re also practitioners in the field,” Dr. Sinclair said.

AI in Every Classroom, Not Just One Degree

The master’s program sits inside a larger institutional commitment. Under President Dr. Carol A. Palmer, Amberton University embedded AI into its entire curriculum. “Every single class, 100% of our classes, has an AI component or competency now,” Dr. Palmer states.

Economics students use AI to predict market equilibrium. Communications students analyze AI-generated messaging. Business students explore AI-driven financial tools. The Applied AI degree extends that baseline into full professional training.

The curriculum emphasizes strategic decision-making, ethical leadership, and advanced analytics. Core courses include Applied AI for Business, Artificial Intelligence Essentials, AI-Driven Innovation and Strategy, and Applied Predictive Analytics. Students also complete coursework in leadership communication, research methods, and ethics.

Graduates prepare for roles such as AI strategist, analytics manager, AI project lead, and ethical AI advisor. Students can add stackable graduate certificates along the way, with options in data analytics, cybersecurity management, and project management.

The price stays modest by graduate school standards. Tuition runs $325 per credit hour, and courses fit into 10-week sessions built for working adults. The university has also announced a tuition freeze for the 2026-2027 academic year.

The Interview Question Is Changing

Dr. Sinclair believes hiring itself will soon look different in the future. Many businesses still cannot articulate what AI can do for them. As that changes, he expects interview questions to move past surface familiarity.

“It’s not just, ‘Are you experienced with this particular platform?” he said. “The real interview questions will eventually be like, well, tell me about how you would use that platform to work on this project, to team up with AI, and how would you present that to your supervisor.”

He sees communication as the real test. Anyone can paste AI output into an email. Employers will want people who can direct the technology, judge its work, and present the results with credibility.

Education Over Fear

Dr. Sinclair spends part of his time addressing a quieter obstacle: anxiety. Plenty of professionals still avoid AI or assume it will replace them.

“The best thing that people can do is educate themselves as much as possible with it so they can have these types of discussions without being fear-based, but being more education-based,” he said.

His ambition for Amberton University reaches past its enrollment numbers. He hopes the university can stand as a flagship school, at least in the local area, and maybe across the country as that workforce-applied artificial intelligence and technology school.

Amberton has educated working adults since 1971. Its applied AI degree makes a plain wager: the professionals who learn to work with AI now will lead everyone else through it.

About Amberton University

Founded in 1971, Amberton University specializes in affordable, flexible degree programs for working adults. Programs are offered online and on campus, taught by practitioner-faculty, and anchored in career relevance and service excellence.

Comparing Factor Rates and Estimated APR in Business Financing

Kivo Daily Staff on September 10, 2026

Business financing is priced differently than almost any other kind of borrowing, using a convention called a factor rate that looks deceptively simple but frequently leaves business owners with a badly distorted sense of what an offer actually costs. Understanding this gap can mean the difference between recognizing a genuinely fair offer and one that costs considerably more than it first appears to.

Why a Factor Rate Isn’t an Interest Rate

A factor rate is a multiplier, not a percentage that accrues over time. A 1.30 factor on $100,000 means a business repays $130,000 total, and that $30,000 cost is fixed on day one, regardless of how quickly the balance is repaid. This differs fundamentally from a traditional interest rate, which accrues specifically on whatever balance remains outstanding, meaning the true cost naturally declines as the balance falls throughout repayment.

A factor rate instead charges the full cost upfront, then collects that already-fixed amount in daily or weekly installments while the balance is already declining. Run through an actual payment schedule, a 1.30 factor repaid daily over twelve months works out to an estimated annual percentage rate closer to 55%, not the 30% figure a business owner might reasonably assume just from glancing at the factor rate itself.

Seeing the Real Number Before You Commit

Fundivi, a direct lender and hybrid funding platform, built a free tool specifically to close this gap. The cost calculator takes the exact terms of any real offer, product type, funding amount, factor rate, term length, and payment frequency, and calculates an estimated APR, total repayment, and total cost of capital, all worked out directly from the actual payment schedule rather than the factor rate alone.

Fundivi’s own published example makes the gap concrete: a $100,000 revenue-based financing offer at a 1.30 factor rate, repaid daily over twelve months, works out to an estimated 54.8% APR, a total repayment of $130,000, and daily payments of $515.87 across 252 business days. For comparison, a conventional term loan on the same amount and term at an estimated 12.99% APR would cost roughly $6,661 in interest, meaning the factor rate structure costs $23,339 more on an identical amount and timeline.

Why Term Length Is the Lever Most People Miss

One of the most counterintuitive details the calculator reveals is how dramatically term length affects the annualized cost, even though the actual dollar cost never changes. That same 1.30 factor still costs exactly $30,000 on $100,000 whether the term is six months or eighteen. What shifts considerably is the annualized rate: roughly 109% APR over six months, 55% over twelve months, and 37% over eighteen months on a daily schedule.

A shorter term is not, contrary to what many business owners assume, a cheaper deal. It’s a considerably more expensive one on an annualized basis, and it demands a larger share of weekly cash flow to service the same fixed dollar cost over a shorter window.

What the Calculator Doesn’t Include

Fundivi is clear that the estimate excludes origination fees, servicing fees, and any other charges a specific funder might add, all of which would push the real APR even higher. Every figure is an estimate built from the numbers entered, and actual terms ultimately depend on what a specific funder offers.

Why Factor Rate Pricing Confuses So Many Business Owners

Most business owners come to their first financing search with a mental model of borrowing shaped by mortgages, auto loans, and credit cards, all of which are priced using a traditional interest rate that accrues on a declining balance. Factor rate pricing breaks that mental model entirely, and lenders quoting a factor rate rarely go out of their way to explain the difference, since a 1.30 factor genuinely sounds, at first glance, like a considerably smaller number than a 55% annualized rate would.

This mismatch between how business financing is actually priced and how most borrowers instinctively think about cost has real consequences. A business owner comparing a factor rate offer against a traditional bank loan quoted in APR terms, without converting both to the same basis, is essentially comparing two entirely different units of measurement and drawing conclusions that may be badly wrong as a result.

The Same Deal, Three Different Numbers

Placed side by side, a single underlying deal can look genuinely different depending on how it’s described. Quoted simply as a factor rate, an offer might show as 1.30, with $30,000 in cost of capital. Annualized on the actual payment schedule, that same deal becomes roughly 54.8% APR, with the identical $30,000 cost of capital, just expressed against the calendar year rather than as a flat multiplier. A conventional term loan on the same amount and term, by contrast, might carry an estimated APR closer to 13%, costing considerably less in absolute dollars despite being repaid over the identical timeframe.

None of these three descriptions is technically inaccurate. They’re simply different lenses on the same underlying cost, and a business owner who only ever sees the first one, the raw factor rate, is missing the two comparisons that actually matter most when deciding whether a specific offer represents genuinely fair value.

How Payment Frequency Changes the Math Further

Beyond term length, payment frequency itself meaningfully affects how a factor rate translates into an annualized figure. A daily repayment schedule collects the same total cost in smaller, more frequent installments than a weekly or monthly schedule would, and because daily schedules are typically annualized against actual business days rather than calendar days, the resulting APR calculation reflects a genuinely different payment cadence than a business owner might initially assume from the factor rate and term length alone.

Understanding this interaction between term length and payment frequency, rather than focusing on the factor rate in isolation, is precisely what separates a genuinely informed comparison from one based on an incomplete picture, and it’s exactly the kind of nuance a simple factor rate quoted on its own can never fully communicate.

Frequently Asked Questions

Why Can’t I Just Compare Factor Rates Directly Between Two Offers?

Because term length and payment frequency both affect the true annualized cost dramatically, even when two offers show identical factor rates. A lower factor rate with a shorter term can genuinely cost more than a higher factor rate with a longer term once both are properly annualized.

Does The Calculator Work For Offers From Lenders Other Than Fundivi?

Yes. The tool is built to calculate the true cost of any factor rate offer, regardless of which lender issued it, using only the terms you enter.

Is The APR Shown By The Calculator The Exact Rate I’ll Pay?

It’s a close estimate based on the payment schedule you enter, but it excludes fees like origination or servicing charges that a specific funder might add, which would push the real cost slightly higher.

Why Does The Calculator Use 252 Days Instead Of 365 For Daily Schedules?

Because daily repayment schedules typically only debit on actual business days, and 252 reflects that real payment cadence more accurately than a calculation based on calendar days would.

Should I Use This Calculator Before Or After Receiving An Offer?

Both have value. Before receiving an offer, it helps you understand generally how factor rate pricing works. After receiving one, it converts that specific offer into a number you can genuinely compare against other financing options.

Getting Started

Business owners with an existing offer can enter its exact terms into the cost calculator directly. Those still exploring options can first check what they might qualify for using Fundivi’s self-underwriting tool, then see which specific product fits their need through the product matching calculator before ever comparing a real offer’s true cost. For a deeper look at how factor rate pricing works across different products, Fundivi’s resource library covers the details in plain language.

Disclaimer: This article is for general informational purposes only and does not constitute financial, legal, or lending advice. Calculations and examples are estimates and may not include origination fees, servicing fees, or other charges. Actual rates, repayment terms, and eligibility vary by provider and applicant. Review all financing documents carefully and consult a qualified professional before making a financial decision.

Robert Ross Lets Romantic Sincerity Lead the Way on “For You Girl”

Kivo Daily Staff on September 9, 2026

By: Natalie Prescott

There’s a particular kind of vulnerability required to make a straightforward love song work. The more uncomplicated the declaration, the fewer places a performer has to hide. Wit can provide distance. Heartbreak brings its own dramatic tension. Irony can function as emotional armor. But when a singer simply announces that another person has upended his world, conviction has to carry nearly everything.

On “For You Girl,” Robert Ross seems entirely comfortable accepting that assignment.

The Canadian-born country singer-songwriter approaches infatuation not as something to analyze but as a force to surrender to. Co-written by Ross and producer Gil Grand, the song embraces the extravagant language of romantic devotion: impossible distances, consuming desire and a willingness to abandon good sense in pursuit of another person. Rather than moderating those feelings for contemporary tastes, Ross leans into them.

That decision says something about the kind of country artist he has become.

Ross has taken an unusually circuitous path to Nashville. Raised in New Brunswick, Canada, he absorbed country music through his mother, Betty, and the community dances and gatherings that surrounded his childhood. He later spent 11 and a half years in the Canadian Army, including three and a half years overseas, before eventually relocating to Australia. Only after accumulating all of that life experience did his recording career begin gaining serious international momentum.

It gives his performance of “For You Girl” a useful tension. The lyric is almost boyishly smitten, but the voice delivering it plainly belongs to someone with considerably more mileage behind him.

The opening establishes the transformation quickly: “My whole life got turned around” after the narrator spots the woman who will occupy the remainder of the song. Ross doesn’t burden the moment with psychological explanation. Attraction arrives, and the old order of things disappears.

By the chorus, he’s “running a race” he knows he can’t win and imagining a journey “to the ends of the earth and back again.” The contradiction is telling. He’s pursuing something while simultaneously acknowledging that it can’t really be conquered. Love becomes less a destination than a state of motion.

That’s where Ross’s delivery matters.

He doesn’t treat the lyric as an opportunity for vocal spectacle. His singing is sturdy and conversational, with a weathered quality that keeps the song’s larger romantic gestures grounded. When he describes crawling an impossible distance merely to see someone’s smile, the performance doesn’t wink at the exaggeration. He commits to it.

Country music has always made room for that kind of emotional plainspokenness. What’s changed is the cultural environment around it. Contemporary masculinity in popular music can often involve elaborate negotiations over vulnerability, how much to reveal, how quickly to retreat, how carefully to preserve some appearance of detachment.

Ross isn’t particularly interested in those negotiations.

He just sounds lovestruck.

Gil Grand’s production reinforces that clarity. Recorded at Station West Nashville, “For You Girl” brings together musicians whose résumés could easily become the story themselves: Troy Lancaster on lead guitar, Joe Spivey on acoustic guitar, Matt King on drums, Dan Dugmore on pedal steel, and Mike Rojas on piano.

Instead, they behave like an ensemble.

Dugmore’s steel supplies the emotional shading that country music listeners instinctively understand. It introduces a little ache around the edges of a song otherwise filled with romantic exhilaration. Rojas’ piano softens the arrangement, while Lancaster’s guitar gives it definition and forward movement. Nothing sounds unnecessarily crowded.

The production also demonstrates how Ross occupies an interesting position between traditional and contemporary country. There are enough familiar Nashville textures to connect the recording to older forms, but the mix has the brightness and immediacy expected of current radio.

That balance has been paying dividends. “For You Girl” has gained traction on the MusicRow CountryBreakout Radio Chart, adding another Nashville milestone to a career that already includes international independent-chart success and awards.

His catalog has also demonstrated greater range than this single alone might suggest. Ross’s “Drink ‘Em Down,” for instance, found a considerably rougher gear and ultimately landed a television placement in Tulsa King. Where that song could trade on grit, “For You Girl” asks Ross to expose tenderness.

Perhaps the record’s most effective image is also its least sophisticated: the sensation of “spinning around just like a tilt-a-world.”

It’s a county-fair metaphor for emotional disorientation, and that’s precisely why it fits. The best country writing has often taken enormous feelings and located them inside ordinary, tactile experiences. You don’t need an abstract explanation of infatuation when you can remember what it felt like to step off a carnival ride and wait for the ground to become trustworthy again.

Ross’s song understands that love can produce much the same sensation.

“For You Girl” isn’t trying to complicate romance or discover some previously unexplored corner of the human heart. Its appeal comes from something more elemental. Ross is willing to inhabit devotion without qualification, embarrassment or escape hatch.

For an artist whose life has involved military service, migration across continents, career reinvention and the long grind of independent music, something is appealing about hearing him arrive at such an uncomplicated conclusion.

Sometimes somebody walks into your world.

Everything moves.

And you write the song.

Dante Nero Says Confidence Isn’t Something You Perform, It’s Something You Build

Kivo Daily Staff on September 5, 2026

By: Julian Ashford

The Man School 202 creator went from a fearful kid in Brooklyn to comedy stages, martial arts, nightlife, and decades of relationship conversations. Now he wants men to understand the difference between looking confident and actually becoming confident.

Dante Nero does not describe himself as a naturally confident kid.

Quite the opposite.

Growing up in Brooklyn, Nero remembers being small in stature and “scared of everything.”

That admission sounds almost strange coming from the man he eventually became: martial artist, competitive fencer, fighter, male dancer, stand-up comedian, actor, and the outspoken host of Man School 202.

But Nero believes that transformation is precisely the point.

Confidence, in his view, is not a personality trait some men receive at birth while everyone else learns to fake it.

It is built.

Sometimes painfully.

And usually through experiences that force a person to discover what remains when fear, embarrassment, or someone else’s judgment enters the room.

Nero had strong examples around him early. He remembers his father as a commanding male presence who devoted decades to community youth work. Outside the home, Dante gravitated toward Bruce Lee, Muhammad Ali, and Malcolm X, three men he associated with discipline, conviction, and the ability to stand firmly inside their identities.

He started searching for those qualities in his own life.

Martial arts became one route.

Fencing became another.

Education took him to SUNY New Paltz, where he studied biology and psychology and once imagined a career in genetic engineering.

Then his life veered somewhere completely different.

For roughly a decade, Nero worked as a male exotic dancer.

It was an unlikely job for someone who remembered being frightened and undersized as a child. It also forced him to become comfortable being watched, judged, and evaluated in an environment built around attraction.

Years later, Dante would see those experiences differently.

They were teaching him how much human behavior changes when approval is involved.

The Difference Between Attention and Confidence

Nero spent years in environments where appearing confident had immediate rewards.

Nightlife rewarded it.

Performing rewarded it.

Comedy certainly rewarded it.

But eventually, he began distinguishing between getting attention and actually knowing who you are.

That difference sits at the center of much of his present-day work.

“Character is the most important thing about your value,” Nero says.

It is a deceptively challenging idea in a culture where confidence is frequently marketed through external signals.

Money.

Physical appearance.

Followers.

Cars.

Romantic attention.

Status.

Nero does not pretend those things are meaningless. He simply does not believe they can create an identity underneath someone who has never developed one.

A person can look powerful while remaining terrified of rejection.

He can command attention and still require constant approval.

He can win an argument because he speaks louder and still have no conviction about who he actually is.

That, to Nero, is performance.

Comedy Exposed the Contradictions

Stand-up comedy became another stage of Dante’s education.

For more than two decades, Nero has worked in comedy, where insecurity and confidence often coexist in the same performer.

Comedy taught him to look for contradictions, the distance between the person people present and the person revealed by their behavior.

That instinct became especially important during his years working with his close friend Patrice O’Neal on The Black Phillip Show.

The Sirius XM program became known for blunt conversations about attraction, sex, dating, and male-female dynamics.

Years before relationship podcasts became an online industry, Nero and O’Neal were already asking why people repeatedly behaved in ways that undermined the relationships they claimed to want.

After O’Neal’s death, Nero continued those conversations through The Beige Phillip Show and eventually Man School 202.

But as Dante grew older, his definition of the problem changed.

Teaching a man how to interact with women was not enough.

What mattered was the man doing the interacting.

Authenticity, Credibility, and Empathy

Nero eventually developed a three-part philosophy he calls ACE:

Authenticity. Credibility. Empathy.

Authenticity means a man cannot build confidence while pretending to be someone else.

Credibility means his behavior has to support what he says he believes.

Empathy means strength should not eliminate his ability to understand another person.

Together, those principles form what Nero increasingly wants Man School 202 to provide: a framework for men navigating manhood, relationships and life.

That is much broader than dating advice.

A confident man, in Nero’s view, should be able to hear “no” without collapsing.

He should be able to encounter a strong personality without demanding that person become weaker.

He should be capable of disagreement without interpreting every challenge as disrespect.

And he should have principles that remain intact even when nobody is rewarding him for them.

The goal is not becoming fearless.

Dante’s own story began with fear.

The goal is developing enough character that fear no longer gets the deciding vote.

The Man the Kid Became

There is something fitting about Nero now spending so much time talking to younger men.

His father devoted much of his life to working with youth.

Dante took a much stranger route to a similar destination.

He lived the lessons through martial arts, nightlife, comedy, relationships, success, failure, and decades of watching people wrestle with themselves.

Now he wants to make some of that education transferable.

Not because every young man should live the life Dante Nero lived.

Most probably shouldn’t.

But because the frightened kid he remembers becoming eventually discovered something worth passing along:

Confidence is not proving to the world that nothing scares you.

It is knowing who you are when something does.

And when Nero is asked what he wants all those years and experiences to amount to, his answer remains remarkably simple.

“That I made people better.”

For someone who spent a lifetime learning how confidence is built, helping someone else build theirs may be the natural next chapter.

Connect With Dante Nero

Website: DanteNero.com
Instagram: @TheDanteNero
YouTube: Man School 202
Patreon: Man School 202

Follow us on:

Celebrating Women at 40 and Beyond

Inside Richardson Studio’s 40 Over 40 Portrait Experience

The First 40 Over 40 Volume Is Now Underway

More Than 20 Years Behind the Camera

Celebrating the Women Behind the Portraits

The Honesty That Makes the Book Work

The Moment She Knew She Loved Him

What Walter’s Words Meant

The Distinction That Changes Everything

Writing in a Volatile Policy Environment

What Staying Informed Actually Requires

More Than 30 Years of Construction Experience

Every Commercial Space Comes With a Different Challenge

Why Renovation Makes Sense for Established Businesses

Why Businesses Choose J-TEK

Building What’s Next for Southern New Hampshire Businesses

A Portfolio Instead of a Promise

Built to Outlast the Hype Cycle

AI in Every Classroom, Not Just One Degree

The Interview Question Is Changing

Education Over Fear

About Amberton University

Why a Factor Rate Isn’t an Interest Rate

Seeing the Real Number Before You Commit

Why Term Length Is the Lever Most People Miss

What the Calculator Doesn’t Include

Why Factor Rate Pricing Confuses So Many Business Owners

The Same Deal, Three Different Numbers

How Payment Frequency Changes the Math Further

Frequently Asked Questions

Why Can’t I Just Compare Factor Rates Directly Between Two Offers?

Does The Calculator Work For Offers From Lenders Other Than Fundivi?

Is The APR Shown By The Calculator The Exact Rate I’ll Pay?

Why Does The Calculator Use 252 Days Instead Of 365 For Daily Schedules?

Should I Use This Calculator Before Or After Receiving An Offer?

Getting Started

The Difference Between Attention and Confidence

Comedy Exposed the Contradictions

Authenticity, Credibility, and Empathy

The Man the Kid Became

Connect With Dante Nero

Copyright ©2026 Matrix Global, LLC. All Rights Reserved.

Follow us

Copyright ©2026 Matrix Global, LLC. All Rights Reserved.