The Chicago Journal

How Matt West Applied Mindful Journaling to Develop His App ‘Boom.’

When people sink into depression, they often feel themselves in an out-of-body state, as if they were floating. Therapists offer different techniques and remedies to counter that feeling. One such method is mindful journaling, a tool that psychologist Matt West has been implementing into his own life and sharing with others.

Matt West was born and raised in Palmdale, California, and was first introduced to psychology during his junior year in high school. His Psychology teacher, Mr. Prince, would end up sparking Matt’s interest in the subject and set up the path he would later walk in life.

On his journey to becoming a psychologist, Matt was a high achiever and often excelled in sports while at school. One night before his soccer tryouts, he felt a pain in his knee but waved it aside. He pushed through the problem, only increasing frustrations that ultimately led him to visit the doctor. Matt would get diagnosed with Osgood-Schlatter diseases (or OSD) and be forced to sit out the remainder of the season. However, every cloud has its silver lining, resulting in Matt finding a new passion, mindfulness.

He would later explore mindfulness as he obtained two masters in Psychology from Pepperdine University and Cal State Northridge. Years later, Matt would find himself married with a child and earning six-figures. However, he discovered that he wasn’t entirely satisfied with his life. 

After a series of unfortunate events, including a failed company, Matt decided that it was time to take care of his emotional, physical, and mental well-being. He created a routine that improved his eating and sleeping habits, along with a fitness routine. Two months into his routine, he was exhausted.

Matt always heard an underlying voice telling him that he should be doing something better, but he would become distracted by the illusion of social media and forget about it. Eventually, Matt found himself back to mindfulness. It was through mindfulness journaling that he noticed shifts in his thoughts and slowly rediscovered himself. 

With a new sense of self-awareness, Matt developed Boom, a digital wellness company that provides its users with mindful journaling training. It is an app that supports millennials with maintaining emotional fitness and helps them conquer stress from burnout. Boom tracks mood, energy, and attention.

Matt’s brand is geared toward novice mindful-journaling millennials and people new to the concept of mindfulness. It empowers them to become more productive and joyful. The app helps people boost their positive energy and attitude and train them to practice healthy thinking patterns. 

The app uses an AI that can personalize specific activities that are just right for the user’s needs to increase their productivity, focus on what matters most, and maintain their emotional well-being.

Matt’s interest in mental wellness and the brain’s management, combined with his interest in technology’s power, has helped him bring his passion for emotional and mental fitness to fruition. He is hopeful that Boost will see a worldwide release to help people build the emotional strength to combat burnout and better understand themselves.

To find out more about Matt West, you may visit his website.

Beau Gevonne Strawder: From Living with His Mother to Hollywood in a Matter of Moments

Success never comes easy. One has to work hard for it, and one has to seek it in order to earn it. Living with his mother for most of his entire life, Beau Gevonne Strawder didn’t realize he had a lot of potential for success that was just waiting to be discovered. Born and raised in Detroit, Michigan, Beau lived in Michigan for the entirety of his grade school up until adult life. He lived with his mother the entire time, even as a full-grown man.

One day, he decided to do something about his situation and started to venture out into the world. He went on to the Bigo Live app and found his true potential within it. Bigo Live is an app where people go live to showcase their talents. Beau took a chance and because he did, he made his first $10,000 on the Bigo Live app alone. 

Beau earned his money during the shutdown when the COVID-19 pandemic struck. What happened next took him to an unprecedented journey, one that he would never have expected in a million years. He contracted the COVID-19 virus and showed severe symptoms like shortness of breath, chills, body aches, and a loss of appetite. 

His mother couldn’t even go to the hospital with him, and he was left alone to battle the virus for weeks. The challenge might have been tough, but in the end, Beau triumphed over his sickness and eventually went back to his grind. 

With the lockdown still in effect, most people were staying at home in the United States. This opportunity came as a lucky strike for most performers on the Bigo Live app, and Beau was no exception. He then flew all the way to Hollywood, California, in order to establish his own agency that helps people learn the ins and outs of the Bigo Live app. He called the agency VII.XXI Agency.

Most of Beau’s clients are hosts and broadcasters who have earned a lot of money through his guidance. The best part about it is, they never had to leave the comfort of their own homes to earn their money. At the start of VII.XXI Agency, Beau began signing and teaching people how to navigate the app that totally changed his life. 

The Bigo Live app became a huge success due to Beau’s amazing talent and ambition. Not to mention his infectious personality that manages to captivate audiences with a single smile. Beau is a natural performer, and if it weren’t for him taking a chance on Bigo Live, he would still be stuck living with his mother with his untapped potential.

Beau would often receive digital gifts during his live shows. These gifts would then be monetized into monthly paychecks. With the opportunities that have been given to him, Beau has managed to make the Bigo Live app into his full-time job. Nowadays, he is living his best life in Hollywood. He never would’ve expected all of this success, but he is very thankful for all of the blessings that he has had.

In the near future, he hopes to scale VII.XXI Agency into a bigger agency that will be able to help more people. Beau is gearing up toward becoming a household name, and there’s no stopping him from getting more and more success as the days go by. It’s exciting to see where he’ll be in the future, but one thing’s for sure—there is nowhere to go but up from here on out.Find out more about Beau by checking out his official website and following him on Instagram.

Kisha Barrett Is Keeping Women Safe through Her Nonprofit, FLOW

Love shouldn’t hurt, love shouldn’t destroy lives, and love certainly should not cause death. Losing her sister to death by a man who claimed to love her was the wakeup call that Kisha Barrett needed to say enough was enough. She decided to launch a nonprofit organization with a specific focus on domestic violence awareness and prevention. Her nonprofit, The FLOW (For Lives of Women) Foundation Inc., is a 501(c)(3) organization that helps women suffering from emotional, physical, sexual, and economic abuse. The organization empowers, educates, and assists women by providing emotional support, transitional shelter, and other services that focus on keeping women safe, empowered, and self-sufficient.

Kisha has dedicated her time and resources to run her foundation by partnering with communities to raise awareness for domestic violence. So many women have lost their lives from this epidemic, and to reduce the occurrence and the effects, people need to know about the problem first. The FLOW Foundation is not only going to serve as a resource center that provides emergency housing assistance, support, counseling, and legal assistance, the organization will take a holistic and spiritual approach with all domestic violence cases.

Therefore, women who find succor from The FLOW Foundation will find a serene, peaceful, and comfortable atmosphere to heal and strengthen them. The goal is to help the victims through their healing process and help them heal from within by attending classes and workshops. Yoga and meditation classes, confidence building workshops, business and entrepreneur classes, self-esteem classes, and self-defense lessons will be some of the few things that women under the umbrella of the foundation will benefit. Kisha Barrett believes that any woman suffering from domestic violence has to be mentally and physically strong to make the decision to leave such an abusive situation.

The FLOW Foundation Inc. is focused on women or their loved ones who are going through any kind of domestic violence, be it physical, emotional, financial, mental, or sexual abuse. While Kisha is doing her best to cover more grounds, she does not see herself or any other foundation as a competition to the other. She is not gunning to have the best foundation; she just wants to help women across the world. 

Domestic violence is a global menace, and it affects every woman regardless of race, status, sexual orientation, economic status, or nationality. Anybody can be a victim, which is why Kisha Barrett is dedicated to the cause of advancing The FLOW Foundation’s ideals to a significant point.

In five years’ time, Ms. Barrett expects The FLOW Foundation to have multiple locations in Illinois and other parts of the United States. Participants at the foundation do not have to pay for any of the services and programs that FLOW offers. And that is why the organization is focused on creating awareness and raising funds through grants, contributions, and donations to help as many women as possible. The goal is to reach every corner of the world as no woman deserves to endure abuse of any form.

Learn more about the foundation on the website.

United Group Development: Michael Dobrov Offers “Real Estate Solutions for An Evolving Global Market”

The United Group Development (UGD), led by Michael Dobrov, offers real estate solutions for the global market. As business firms search for high-quality investment properties and individuals look for perfect places they can call their homes, the UGD leads the way to make these endeavors possible. 

Growing up, Michael always knew the importance of real estate because his family dominated the industry since the 1970s. In fact, instead of going to college, Michael joined the family business shortly after high school. Some may have questioned this decision of his, but it surely was one of the best decisions he made in his life considering the success of his business is today.

Since officially entering the family’s real estate business, he has developed and customized more than 25 residential homes, and today, he manages over 2,500 units all over Chicago, Northwest Indiana, and Wisconsin. 

He has taken on notable projects in the area. Some of these projects include building 2,000,000 square feet of industrial space. Another remarkable project also entailed him to establish a 100,000 square feet of storage area for rent. According to the law firm KSN, Michaelis also behind one of the largest condo deconversion projects in Illinois, which was a million-dollar deal that took almost a year to finish.

In 2009, he founded The United Group Development, a Chicago-based investment and commercial development company. It is one of the leading commercial development and investment companies, as well as advisory firms in the industry. It is a leading company within the single-tenant and multi-tenant triple net-leased retail properties and has completed over $1 billion in volume since 2014. As an advisory firm, its approach is through collaborations within a vertically integrated environment to ensure smooth transactions.

The UGD is a trailblazer when it comes to acquiring, managing, and developing real estate. The company deals with people who are looking to sell their apartment buildings and commercial real estate properties. The group also takes pride in the fact that it is home to a wide range of clients, including large investment firms, developers, partnerships, family trusts, and individuals with high net worth. 

But amid dealing with large companies and big-time clients, Michael is still a very hands-on businessman who personally attends to his projects. By his side is his conservative wife, who is also his bookkeeper. Together with their 11-year-old daughter, the family makes sure to have time to pursue their personal advocacies. As animal lovers, they donate funds to PAWS Chicago as well as to local dog shelters.

Today, the UGD is eyeing to expand its operations all over Chicago and other states. The company is currently involved in developing storage facilities and is looking to expand in self-storage businesses. Michael is also looking into multi-family apartment complexes. Ultimately, the company seeks to provide more people a chance to live in a pleasant environment and own beautiful homes without having to break the bank.

To know more about Michael Dobrov and the United Group Development, feel free to get in touch with them through their site.