“Be the change you want to see in the world” a quote by Mahatma Gandhi stands as a focal point on one of the walls at the iMentor.org office in new york city, a non-profit organization that matches students from underprivileged communities with successful adults to guide and support them through the difficulties and challenges of high school life, both on a personal level as well as academically.

Two years ago I applied to iMentor and was matched with Jordan, a freshmen at the High School for Careers in Sports in the Bronx. I decided to join the program for four years in order to help him throughout his high school career. It wasn’t a choice I made to be altruistic, I simply heard about the program through a friend and thought it would be a great opportunity and learning experience. I have to admit at first I was hesitant, considering my demanding career as a creative consultant at Roundarch and my own personal life, it seemed impossible to help someone else when I was struggling to help myself and my own family.

Growing up in an “underprivileged” community in NYC in the early 90′s where drugs and crime was the everyday normalcy and going to school felt like walking into prison, it was expected to assume that the “good life” was simply for the privileged and those with more fortunate socioeconomic conditions. My mom was always there for me and supported me in every way, but being a single parent struggling to keep food on the table and a roof over our heads, there was only so much she could offer. I had very few people I looked up to growing up, but fortunately there was one, my old music teacher Mr. Larios. He kept us out of trouble by teaching us the art of Latin Jazz everyday after school and performing on the weekends for the community, but most importantly he was a great mentor. He gave me one of the best recommendations for college, gave me my first summer job helping design the district’s annual calendar and was never shy to scream at me when I did something wrong, all with good intentions of course . He helped me realize that life is simply a byproduct of the choices we make (the good and the bad) and that we must learn from those experiences in order to grow as individuals and within our communities.

An old boss told me “the secret to happiness is making others happy” and I truly believe that there is nothing more rewarding than inspiring others to find their own voice, even if it simply means showing up once a month or writing one e-mail a week. No matter how small the effort, a single pebble dropped in water can ripple a thousand-fold, spreading as it flows out to sea.

We’re in desperate times, we’re all feeling the effects of the economy and the environment and we must make every effort possible to set the foundation for future generations too look after our planet, all life and its beauty and continue the legacy of the human condition. Being a mentor has helped me realize that life isn’t just about material wealth, but helping a fellow human being less fortunate than myself realize they are beacons of light in a world clouded by darkness.

Today we are happy to announce the release of Music Mine, a free iPad media discovery application designed by the team at Roundarch for KCRW, arguably one of the most forward-thinking and well-respected radio stations (if not music brands) in the country.

For those that aren’t familiar, KCRW is a Los Angeles-based radio station and product of Santa Monica College. The station is generally known as Southern California’s leading National Public Radio affiliate, featuring an eclectic mix of music, news, information and cultural programming. The station boasts one of the nation’s largest arrays of locally-produced, nationally-distributed talk program content, with internationally recognized programming and DJs that have become household names in the music and recording industry.

I had the opportunity to oversee the project for Roundarch while we worked in collaboration with PRX (Public Radio Exchange) and The Echo Nest to assist KCRW in the strategy, design and development of a next-generation music / media discovery application. The concept, albeit technically complex, is quite simple: create a playful, engaging way for people to discover new music, learn more about artists, and get closer to the original content that KCRW produces every day.

Music mine features top songs played on KCRW each week, as well as direct links in to each of the KCRW shows, offering a completely different way to explore music and KCRW programming: by artist, track or show on which the song has aired.  Once a user dives into the experience, they are presented with a mosaic of KCRW shows, artists and popular songs, and exclusive videos of live performances recorded inside the KCRW studios. The user interface consists of tiles that can be explored by the user, and the tiles are laid out on the screen with the most recent songs appearing towards the center, and the less recent content spread out towards the edges of the mosaic.

Drilling into an artist / song provides a bunch of additional content related to the user’s selection, with a quick and easy way to view photo galleries, biographies, and links to YouTube videos and blogs related to each artist.  One of the things we especially wanted to accomplish with the application was an ability to not only explore, but also to share new music with others through Facebook, Twitter and email integration.  Of course, if users really love the newly-discovered music, the songs can be purchased directly from the iTunes store by clicking a link from within the Music Mine application.

The process of designing this application was done collaboratively by working with PRX and the team at KCRW led by Anil Dewan, KCRW’s director of New Media. In addition, our team worked with music fans for input during the design process and to ensure that the experience that came through in the software was representative of our design strategy.   When we began the project, we came up with the concept that the application should provide a good way to visualize the week’s popular tracks, but also provide the feeling of digging through a great collection of curated music to find the gems you’d want to share with your friends.

I can speak for the entire Roundarch team when I express how proud we are to have been able to play such an influential role in the strategy and design of this experience for KCRW. Our focus on user experience really worked well in this collaboration.  As a company with many serious music fans, we were able to design something that we wanted to use each and every day to get our fix for both the latest and greatest unreleased music as well as classics that we’ve heard time and again.

You can download the free KCRW application for the iPad in the Apple iTunes Store.

Learn more about the app here.

Enjoy and Happy Toonage!