TAVIFA: “My Life Is Only Beginning”

NY Weekly Staff on September 18, 2026

By: Alva Ree

TAVIFA is a Dream Ambassador and mentor. As a Dream Ambassador, her mission is to remind people of the ability to dream that everyone is born with the ability to see what does not yet exist and bring it into reality. Her own life has unfolded like a film filled with different roles: businesswoman, hotel owner, speaker, mentor, and creator of her own emotional hygiene practice (a body-based dynamic meditation designed to help release emotions held in the body). Today, she continues to reinvent herself, embracing new possibilities with curiosity and joy. Following her recent appearance at the Venice Film Festival, TAVIFA spoke with New York Weekly about the magic of Italy, the meaning of success, the freedom to begin again at any age, and why our next chapter is always waiting to be written.

You have just attended the Venice Film Festival. How did this experience stay with you, as a social occasion, an emotional experience, or something deeply personal?

What a beautiful question; it practically contains the answer already. The Venice Film Festival truly became all three for me: a social, emotional, and deeply personal experience.

I loved everything about it: the organization, the events, the atmosphere, and the people. I was especially happy to find myself in an environment where I naturally feel very comfortable, light, beautiful, and full of smiles. People met one another, talked, and took photographs together without any unnecessary sense of importance. When they noticed my Georgina, my talisman handbag, they smiled even more and wanted to take pictures with her too.

But the most personal moment happened before the red carpet.

I have a little game. I choose smooth, flat stones and write my dreams on them. I brought one such stone from my home in Puglia, where I live. Before going to the red carpet, I wrote my dreams on it and threw it into the sea at the Lido, where the festival events were taking place.

Then a magical evening followed: the red carpet, new acquaintances, and a beautiful gala dinner. Everything coincided wonderfully with my inner state: harmony, beauty, art, and the enjoyment of life itself. It was as though the entire evening continued the little game that had begun with the stone I threw into the sea.

For me, as a Dream Ambassador, this matters most: a dream doesn’t have to become a serious task. Sometimes you can simply write it on a stone, throw it into the sea, let it go, and go on living your life.

Photo Courtesy: New York Weekly / Get PR

What did you feel in the atmosphere of Venice, surrounded by cinema, beauty, and that special Italian magic?

I felt completely at home there. I simply felt wonderful. I was surrounded by cinema, beauty, art, beautiful people, conversations, and the incredible atmosphere of Venice.

This is exactly the kind of environment in which I enjoy being. It gives birth to new ideas, begins new conversations, and creates unexpected connections. Everything around you seems to encourage you to create, imagine, and live.

For me, this is precisely the magic of Italy: beauty is not a decoration here. It is simply something people live in.

You live in Italy. Did the Venice Film Festival feel like part of the life that is already yours, or does it still feel like a beautiful dream?

Italy itself is incredibly cinematic. I constantly notice little scenes from everyday life here: interestingly dressed people, their gestures and conversations, the way they sit in cafés and walk down the street. All around them are historic buildings, squares, and narrow streets. Quite often, the same thought comes to me: just set up a camera and start filming; the movie is already there.

That is why the Venice Film Festival did not feel separate from my Italian life or like some distant, beautiful dream. It felt like a natural continuation of it.

All of Italy is a ready-made film. And the Venice Film Festival is cinema within cinema.

In your opinion, does Italy have its own special language of beauty, femininity, and success?

I would say that Italy has not so much its own language as a unique atmosphere in which a person feels both beautiful and successful.

For me, success here is not necessarily connected with fame, money, or status. One of the scenes I see most often is people painting walls or sweeping the streets while singing. If music starts playing on the beach, they begin to dance. They even dance in the supermarket. I really love this natural spontaneity.

There is a street cleaner in our town whom I regularly see in the mornings. Dressed in his work uniform, he collects rubbish, sings songs, and calmly and happily does his job.

One day, our town was celebrating its main annual festival. Among the crowd, I noticed an incredibly distinguished man, and for a long time I tried to remember where I knew his face from. Then I suddenly realized that it was our street cleaner. He was dressed so elegantly and carried himself with such dignity that he could have been a famous actor or an important public figure. It was impossible to take your eyes off him.

I love this Italian quality: in the morning, a person can clean the street in work clothes while singing, and in the evening, he can put on a beautiful suit and look as though the entire town belongs to him. One does not contradict the other at all.

Perhaps success is not about who other people think you are. Perhaps success is feeling good about being yourself, both with a broom in your hands and in a beautiful suit at a celebration.

At events like this, you can especially feel the energy of the people and the space around you. What did you perceive most strongly that evening?

At the Venice Film Festival, I was especially aware of the energy of the people. I had the feeling that the actors, directors, and other members of the film industry had come not only to present themselves or their films. They also wanted to communicate simply as human beings, informally, over a cup of coffee or a glass of wine.

I enjoyed seeing how easily people approached one another, introduced themselves, and started conversations. Perhaps the question I heard most often during those days was, “What country are you from?” That one simple question reflected the global scale of the festival: during those days in Venice, the whole world truly came together.

It was also amusing to see that people could talk for quite a long time without even knowing who was standing in front of them: a great actor, a director, or a photographer from a small publication. First, you meet the person, and only later do the professional and sometimes very significant details emerge. I think that is wonderful.

At one point, I thought about how much it resembled childhood. Children do not ask one another about status. They simply walk up and ask, “What is your name? Where are you from?”

Perhaps this was the energy I felt most deeply in Venice: behind all the names, professions, status, and beautiful outfits, people became simply human again. Almost like children who were curious to meet one another.

Your journey has been described as almost cinematic. Looking back, was there ever a moment when you could not believe that one day you would arrive at this point in your life?

My movie is not over yet. So I simply continue playing.

I have had many roles in my life. I was a businesswoman, and I played that role beautifully. I was a hotel owner, and I played that role with particular pleasure. I loved everything connected with it. Then, at some point, I realized that I had finished playing. It was no longer interesting to me, so I closed that business.

There was also the role of a very serious professional woman, always at her computer, always busy, and always working. At that time, I was much heavier, looked different, lived at a different pace, and took both myself and life much more seriously. I have also played the roles of a speaker and the creator of my own emotional hygiene practice, a body-based dynamic meditation.

We hear so much about the importance of being in the right state. But very few people explain how to get there. My answer is: through the body, through emotional hygiene.

I want to remind people that every human being is born with the ability to dream. We are born with this extraordinary talent to dream, create, and bring into the material world something that once existed only in the invisible world.

At the same time, I am interested in continuing to play. Right now, I am fascinated by the roles I would love to play next: superstar DJ, top model, bestselling author, and actress. What roles will appear afterward? We will see. That is the most interesting part.

I love every episode of my movie, even those that felt more like a thriller or a tragedy while I was living through them. Today, I understand that without those episodes, the story would have been completely different.

My movie is definitely not boring. And that is the truth.

In the Western world, people increasingly speak about a woman’s right to reinvent herself at any age. Does that idea resonate with you?

I would say that this right belongs not only to women but to every human being. And this idea does not simply resonate with me; it is how I live.

I love watching people who allow themselves to try an entirely new role at any age. For example, the great Anthony Hopkins released his first musical album, Life Is a Dream, at the age of 88. A man known throughout the world as one of the greatest actors stepped forward at 88 in another role, as a composer. Even the title of the album, “Life Is a Dream,” feels especially close to me.

At the age of 75, my mother studied the art of decorating gingerbread with masters in the Czech Republic and began creating extraordinary things, houses, carriages, and baskets. Today, my mother is 86, and I have another dream for her: I would love for her to try being a fashion model. Why not?

I love the possibility of living many different lives within a single lifetime. When one role ends, it does not mean that the story is over. You can choose the next role and begin playing again.

I have noticed that the more curiosity a person has, the stronger the desire to try something new and play another role, the more life there is within them.

You often say, “My life is only beginning.” When did age stop feeling like a limitation and become a form of freedom?

Age is largely a kind of programming, a collection of ideas about what a person is or is not supposed to do after reaching a particular number.

I became especially aware of this after living in different countries and seeing how differently cultures can relate to age. In some places, people are expected to make life gradually quieter as they grow older. In Italy, I often see something very different: people in their eighties and nineties continue to dress beautifully, meet friends, travel, remain in love with life, and make plans for the future.

That is why I can sincerely say: my life is only beginning. For me, age is not a reason to stop imagining new roles. It is another opportunity to choose what I would like to experience next.

A Former Microsoft Executive Explores How Competitive Advantages Erode and What Leaders Can Learn

NY Weekly Staff on September 18, 2026

There is a sentence near the beginning of Future-Proof Your Business that stops you cold and then stays with you for the rest of the reading: every advantage you have right now is already expiring. That sentence is not a provocation or a marketing device. It is the organizing insight of a career spent at the intersection of enterprise technology and competitive strategy, and Arunansu Pattanayak has spent more than twenty years accumulating the evidence for it, first as a Microsoft Data and AI executive watching billion-dollar advantages erode from the inside at one of the world’s largest technology companies, then as a Fractional CTO helping small and mid-sized businesses build the discipline to avoid the same fate.

What makes that insight genuinely useful rather than simply alarming is what Pattanayak builds from it. The Durable Advantage Cycle, the framework at the heart of Future-Proof Your Business, is not a defensive strategy designed to protect what you already have. It is an offensive discipline designed to renew your competitive advantage before it runs out, to build the organizational habits and the structural foundations that allow a business to generate new sources of advantage systematically rather than hoping that the ones they currently have will last longer than the market allows. That distinction, between defending an advantage and building the discipline to renew one, is the most important strategic reframing the book offers, and Pattanayak earns it through the accumulated pattern recognition of someone who has watched both approaches play out at the highest levels of corporate competition.

His background spans not just Microsoft but EY, Merrill Lynch, and Citibank, organizations that represent some of the most demanding and most competitive environments in global business. That breadth of experience gives the framework a range of applicability that more narrowly sourced business guides consistently lack. The principles Pattanayak has identified as the foundation of durable advantage are not principles that work only in technology or only in financial services or only at enterprise scale. They are principles he has tested across genuinely different organizational contexts and found to hold, and he brings that evidence to every chapter of the book with the confidence of someone who is sharing what he actually knows rather than what he has theorized.

The practical guidance Future-Proof Your Business offers, from identifying defensible niches and distinguishing strategic advantage from luck to building a robust core that funds future growth to scaling and diversifying without becoming fragile, reflects the same quality of frontline intelligence. Pattanayak writes about building teams that act like owners and innovating proactively to survive disruption with the specificity of someone who has led those efforts inside real organizations under real competitive pressure, and the result is guidance that feels immediately applicable rather than theoretically compelling.

The book’s most distinctive contribution is the explicit democratization of the strategic thinking that large technology companies apply to their own competitive positioning, made available to leaders of startups and growing service firms and established companies who have the same fundamental competitive challenge but none of the institutional infrastructure that has allowed those large companies to address it systematically. Pattanayak’s stated mission, helping businesses of any scale think like major technology firms and renew their advantage, is delivered with the clarity and the practical specificity that makes it genuinely achievable rather than aspirationally appealing.

If your business has been coasting on advantages that feel solid right now and you are ready to build the discipline that ensures they are renewed before they run out, Future-Proof Your Business by Arunansu Pattanayak is the framework you need. Grab your copy on Amazon today and start building the kind of competitive advantage that lasts not because nothing changes, but because you change before you have to.

Disclaimer: This article is for informational purposes only. The views expressed are those of the subject or author, and readers should conduct their own research before making business decisions.

NYC Park Avenue Redesign Expands Midtown Walking and Bike Space

NY Weekly Staff 2 on September 18, 2026

NYC Park Avenue redesign plans could reshape 11 Midtown blocks between East 46th and East 57th streets, shifting a proposed two-way bike lane into dedicated roadway space while creating room for a wider center median. City materials describe additional walking areas, seating and landscaping as part of a project being coordinated with infrastructure work beneath Park Avenue.

Key Takeaways

  • The current proposal covers 11 blocks from East 46th to East 57th streets
  • A southbound vehicle lane could become a two-way protected bike lane beside the median
  • The plan would also reduce travel lanes to create additional pedestrian and landscaped space
  • Surface construction is expected to be coordinated with work on the Grand Central Terminal train shed
  • A complete construction schedule for all 11 blocks has not been announced

New York City has updated its plans for a section of Park Avenue in Midtown, with the latest configuration separating the proposed bicycle route from the pedestrian-focused median.

Under the current design, the protected two-way bike lane would run in roadway space alongside the center median rather than through it. The proposal would also reallocate existing traffic lanes to provide additional space for pedestrians and landscaping.

City materials indicate that the median could include seating, planted areas, walking paths and new crosswalk connections. Some elements, including programming and final landscaping details, could change as engineering and construction planning continue.

The update follows earlier concepts that explored different ways to divide the avenue among vehicles, cyclists and pedestrians. Public engagement has included surveys, workshops, stakeholder meetings and community board discussions.

NYC Park Avenue Redesign Shifts Bike Lane Into Roadway

Earlier concepts considered placing bicycle infrastructure within the expanded median. The latest NYC Park Avenue redesign instead proposes a dedicated bike route beside the median, creating separate areas for cycling and pedestrian activity.

The project area currently carries several traffic lanes in each direction. Under the proposed configuration, roadway space would be reassigned to expand the median and accommodate the bicycle lane.

The design team includes Starr Whitehouse, Thornton Tomasetti and TYLin, according to city project information. Their work is being coordinated with transportation and infrastructure planning for the corridor.

Park Avenue has also been part of the city’s Summer Streets expansion, which temporarily opens stretches of roadway to pedestrians and cyclists during scheduled summer events. That program is separate from the permanent redesign, but it has placed additional attention on how Park Avenue can accommodate different transportation uses.

The proposed permanent layout would take a more defined approach. Cycling space would be placed beside the median, while the center section would primarily accommodate walking, seating and landscaping.

Because the project remains tied to engineering and infrastructure work, individual design details could be refined before construction reaches each section.

Wider Median Could Add Pedestrian Space in Midtown

Expanding the median is another central part of the current plan. Existing sections of Park Avenue contain landscaped medians that largely divide opposing traffic.

The redesign would use some roadway space to widen that central area. City renderings and planning documents show potential walking paths, planting areas and seating, although exact dimensions and features could vary by block.

New crosswalk connections are also proposed at intersections. These crossings would make sections of the median more accessible rather than treating the center primarily as a landscaped traffic divider.

The concept also reflects Park Avenue’s changing physical layout over time. City historical materials indicate that the avenue’s medians were narrowed in the early 20th century as roadway capacity became a greater priority. The current proposal would return additional space to the center while incorporating modern pedestrian and cycling facilities.

The project sits within a dense commercial district where street design must account for commuters, visitors, deliveries, transit connections and existing buildings. Changes to the street would therefore be introduced within an area that continues to experience broader shifts in its Midtown office landscape.

Those conditions add complexity to the redesign. The surface configuration must be coordinated not only with everyday street operations but also with major infrastructure directly beneath Park Avenue.

Grand Central Train Shed Work Shapes the Project Timeline

Much of the construction planning is connected to the Grand Central Terminal train shed beneath the avenue.

Metropolitan Transportation Authority materials describe the underground structure as extending beneath parts of Park Avenue north of Grand Central Terminal. Sections of the structure have required rehabilitation involving concrete, steel and waterproofing components.

Because portions of the train shed roof support streets and sidewalks above, work underground can affect when surface reconstruction takes place. That relationship is one reason the Park Avenue redesign is expected to advance in phases rather than through a single corridor-wide construction period.

NYC DOT has indicated that design coordination with the MTA includes blocks between East 46th and East 53rd streets. Additional portions of the 11-block project would be addressed as planning and infrastructure work progresses.

City materials also identify the East Midtown Public Realm Improvement Fund as part of the framework supporting improvements in the district.

The September 2026 design update established a clearer proposed layout for the surface of Park Avenue, particularly the separation between the bicycle lane and pedestrian median. It did not establish a single completion date for the entire 11-block corridor.

As a result, the NYC Park Avenue redesign remains a defined proposal whose construction sequence and some physical details could continue to evolve alongside the work beneath the street.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is included in the NYC Park Avenue redesign?

The NYC Park Avenue redesign currently covers 11 blocks between East 46th and East 57th streets. Plans include a wider pedestrian-focused median, landscaping, seating, crosswalk connections and a proposed two-way protected bike lane beside the median.

Where would the protected bike lane be located?

The latest proposal places the two-way protected bike lane in roadway space next to the center median. Earlier concepts considered routing bicycle infrastructure through the median.

Would the redesign reduce vehicle lanes?

The current configuration would reallocate existing roadway space, including travel lanes, to accommodate the wider median and bicycle facility. The exact street layout could still be refined through engineering and construction planning.

Why is the Grand Central train shed connected to the project?

Parts of Park Avenue sit above the Grand Central Terminal train shed. Rehabilitation of that underground structure requires coordination with street-level reconstruction, influencing how and when sections of the redesign could be built.

When could the Park Avenue redesign be completed?

A single completion date for the entire 11-block project has not been announced. The work is expected to proceed in coordination with phased infrastructure construction beneath the avenue.

How Collaborative Teams Help Move Medical Technology Toward Real-World Patient Solutions

NY Weekly Staff on September 18, 2026

A medical device can look deceptively simple once it reaches the people it was designed to help. Getting it there, however, can take years of engineering, software development, clinical research, regulatory work, and manufacturing.

That process is playing out at Solius, where teams have developed an FDA-cleared, over-the-counter UVB light therapy device designed to stimulate vitamin D production in adults aged 22 and older.

A typical session takes about five minutes once a week. Before the device delivers UVB light, a built-in sensor measures the user’s skin, and the app uses that information to calculate a personalized dose.

For the user, it’s a straightforward experience, but behind the scenes, teams must work together to make sure the technology is safe, practical and reliable to use.

As medical technology moves from development into real-world use, new challenges emerge. A promising concept has to become a workable design, then a tested product, then something that can be manufactured and used by patients.

That kind of collaboration is familiar to Christopher Kiple, CEO of Solius Labs, who previously worked with teams at Ventec Life Systems to develop and commercialize medical technology.

The technologies may be different, but the underlying principle is the same: successful medical innovation depends on people with different areas of expertise working together toward a common goal.

Solving a Patient Problem From Six Different Angles

At Ventec Life Systems, Chris Kiple was part of the team that developed VOCSN, a first-of-its-kind multifunction ventilator that combined six medical devices in one portable system.

Bringing six functions into one portable device required the team to consider the technology itself while also addressing the real-world challenges patients faced.

“There was nothing more energizing than listening to patients’ challenges and working with our team to develop real-world solutions to improve lives,” Kiple said.

Engineers, clinicians and specialists all had a different job, but they were working toward the same outcome: a device that worked for the people who needed it most.

As Ventec moved toward commercialization, the team worked on producing the device at scale and getting it to market. Then, COVID-19 changed the problem completely. Ventec already had the ventilator technology. Now, the question was how to produce far more of it, much faster.

Combining Medical Expertise With Manufacturing Muscle

During the pandemic, Ventec partnered with General Motors to rapidly increase production of its critical-care ventilators. The companies brought unique strengths to the problem. Ventec understood medical devices and ventilator technology, while General Motors knew how to manufacture complex products in very large quantities.

Together, they increased ventilator production 80-fold in less than six months.

Ventec’s challenge was not to create a new ventilator, but to take an existing product and manufacture it at a scale far beyond what its operations had previously been able to handle.

The partnership brought together the strengths of both organizations, combining Ventec’s medical device expertise with General Motors’ experience in mass production. Rather than trying to master each other’s fields, the two companies combined their expertise to solve a problem much faster than either could have alone.

Collaboration, in this way, does not always mean everyone working on the same task. Sometimes it means recognizing the strengths and experience that others bring to a problem and giving them the opportunity to put those skills to use.

That also requires being willing to learn from people outside your own area of expertise rather than assuming the best answer has to come from inside the organization.

“I learned an incredible amount from the GM team and was inspired by how people can come together to do the impossible,” Chris Kiple said.

Designing for the Five Minutes That Matter

Solius presents a different kind of challenge than VOCSN. Rather than a ventilator used in critical care, Solius is an FDA-cleared, over-the-counter UVB light panel designed to help people 22 and older produce vitamin D.

This changes what the team needs to think about. Someone may use Solius without a doctor or nurse in the room, so the instructions, treatment settings, and safety features have to be built into the product itself.

The app guides the user through the treatment, while other features monitor the user’s distance from the panel, confirm that protective eyewear is being used, and prevent another session from starting within 24 hours.

These features show the responsibility that comes with designing a medical device for independent use.

In a hospital or doctor’s office, a clinician can step in if a patient is standing in the wrong place or does not understand an instruction. With a self-guided device, safeguards such as positioning sensors, protective eyewear detection, and app guidance are much more important. A confusing instruction or missed step can have far greater consequences than a frustrating user experience.

Different members of the development team ask different questions. A software developer may ask whether the user knows what to do next, while a clinical researcher asks whether the treatment is backed by scientific evidence. Engineers are often concerned with whether the device is working correctly.

Testing helps answer those questions.

In FDA-reviewed usability testing conducted by Eurofins Clinical Research Laboratories, 27 users with Fitzpatrick skin types I through VI tested Solius. No adverse skin reactions or other adverse events were observed.

Researchers have also studied whether Solius produces the intended increase in vitamin D, with findings published in a randomized, placebo-controlled trial in the peer-reviewed journal Anticancer Research.

Research into UVB also extends beyond vitamin D, with studies examining possible effects on immune activity, the gut microbiome, cardiovascular processes and metabolism. Still, those findings do not change what Solius is FDA-cleared to do. The device is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure or prevent diseases outside the uses described in its user manual.

The team also has to understand what the evidence shows and where its limits are. Solius works with an independent Scientific and Medical Advisory Board that advises on clinical research, safety, effectiveness and appropriate use.

Building the device is only the beginning. Teams also have to ensure it works as intended, is easy to use, and is supported by the right evidence.

Moving From Development Into Everyday Use

Once a medical device has been built and tested, the next challenge is making sure people can use it safely and correctly outside of a research setting.

Solius is designed for use in medical and longevity clinics, fitness and performance facilities, spas, hospitality settings, healthy-aging organizations, and employee health programs.

Because each setting works differently, the team has to consider where the device will be placed, how it will work alongside existing services, and how people will complete sessions on their own.

Those questions often bring together people from commercial, software, medical, and regulatory teams. One person may be thinking about how Solius fits into a business, while another is focused on whether the app is easy to use or whether the company’s claims are supported by the available evidence.

Having those different perspectives can also help the team catch problems earlier. An engineer might see a technical issue, while a clinician may notice something that could affect patient care. A software developer may spot a confusing instruction, and a regulatory specialist might flag an unsupported claim.

Chris Kiple has seen the value of that collaboration at both Ventec and Solius. No one person needs to understand every part of the process. Instead, each specialist needs to know their area well and understand how their work affects the larger problem the team is trying to solve.

That is what helps turn medical technology from something that works in development into something people can actually use and benefit from.

Disclaimer: This article is for informational purposes only and does not constitute medical advice. Readers should consult a qualified healthcare professional before making health-related decisions. Individual results may vary.

Why Furniture Should Be Planned By Shape And Not Room

NY Weekly Staff on September 18, 2026

Room labels are good to have when you start unpacking, but they tell you surprisingly little about how to move the furniture. Living rooms may have a dining table, a modular sofa and a tall bookcase, but each has a separate handling, packaging and loading-on-a-truck challenge. Planning by shape makes those disparities obvious before the first item gets to the entryway.

The most efficient inventory is more than just quantity. It finds the long pieces, the unstable items, products with glass, furniture that comes apart into modules and anything too large for the obvious exit. That information is useful in converting a vague list of rooms into a useful sequence of movement.

Odd Dimension Measure

An experienced furniture removalists melbourne is aware of the dimension that is more likely to cause trouble, not the size of an item. The depth of a sofa, the diagonal height of a cabinet and the breadth of a table with its legs taken off, may decide whether it will fit through a hall, stair turn or lift door.

Take measurements of the furnishings and the most cramped locations along the path. Usable clearance can be affected by door handles, handrails and ceiling lighting. In many cases, a quick drawing indicating the corners and steps is more helpful than a single room measurement, especially for terraces, apartments, and older homes with expansions.

Separate What Can Be Safely Separated

Disassembly has benefits including weight reduction and stress prevention to joints, but only if it’s done purposefully. Take a photo of the item before dismantling it, put screws and fittings in marked bags and save them with the corresponding component. Flat-pack furniture can be quite good, however assembly and re-assembly can weaken some materials so be careful about that.

Drawers, shelves and cushions should not become lost pieces. Match up the components of the bundles and mark when this is important, which side is outwards. This saves time at the destination and prevents a tiny fitment from delaying the usage of an otherwise undamaged item.

Surface Match Protection

Polished timber, painted finishes, leather, fabric and glass don’t like wrapping the same way. Clean blankets can protect many hard surfaces . You can secure doors and drawers when you use stretch wrap, but don ’t trap damp against fragile fabrics . Corners and projecting feet need special attention, as they receive concentrated energy when turning.

Load for Stability and Reassembly

The placement of the truck should account weight, shape and order of delivery. Large sturdy pieces can provide a solid foundation, but fragile or irregularly shaped pieces require an area where they won’t be under pressure. If you need a bed or desk right now, its parts should be accessible rather than buried in the boxes of a complete family.

In this way, shape-thinking is a softer sort of efficiency. Less objects get caught, less surfaces touch sharp corners and re-assembly starts with the proper pieces at hand. Furniture still belongs to spaces, but it is a safer voyage if the strategy first respects its physical shape.

Entry-Level Tech Job Postings in New York City Fell 49% in Three Years as AI Reshapes the Hiring Ladder

NY Weekly Staff 2 on September 18, 2026

Entry-level job postings for computer and mathematical occupations in New York City fell 49% between 2022 and 2025, the steepest drop of any occupational field tracked by the nonprofit Center for an Urban Future. The findings, published in a September 2026 policy report titled “Strengthening NYC’s Entry-Level Tech Pathways in the Age of AI,” paint a detailed picture of a labor market where overall tech employment has remained relatively stable — but the first rung of the career ladder is buckling under the weight of automation, post-pandemic hiring corrections, and a generative AI wave that has rewritten what companies expect from junior hires.

Key Takeaways

  • Entry-level tech job postings in New York City dropped 49% from 2022 to 2025 — the largest decline of any occupational field.
  • Office and administrative support entry-level postings fell 36%; business and financial operations saw similar declines.
  • Arts, design, entertainment, sports, and media entry-level roles declined 34% over the same period.
  • Overall tech employment in the city held steady, suggesting companies are automating junior-level tasks rather than eliminating entire departments.
  • A New York Federal Reserve Bank survey found 60% of NYC service firms now use AI, up from 40% a year ago.
  • NYC Comptroller Mark Levine warned AI could cost the city 300,000 jobs and $14 billion in tax revenue under a worst-case scenario.

The Numbers Behind the Decline in Entry-Level Tech Hiring

The Center for an Urban Future — a New York City-based think tank that has tracked the local tech economy for over a decade — compiled its analysis using job-posting data across multiple occupational categories. The headline figure, 49%, covers “computer and mathematical” roles, a classification that includes software developers, data analysts, IT support positions, and related functions that once served as reliable entry points for recent graduates and career changers.

Jonathan Bowles, executive director of the Center for an Urban Future, framed the contraction in stark terms. Entry-level postings, Bowles said, had “fallen off a cliff.” The roles that previously drew young workers into the tech sector — positions that often came with salaries averaging around $89,000 — are now substantially harder to find, with intense competition among applicants for those that remain.

The decline was not confined to tech. Entry-level postings in office and administrative support roles fell 36%, and business and financial operations saw a parallel drop. Arts, design, entertainment, sports, and media — a sector that encompasses a large share of New York City’s creative workforce — lost 34% of its entry-level listings. The pattern points to something broader than a single-industry correction: the occupations most exposed to generative AI tools are the same ones pulling back hardest on junior hiring.

AI Adoption Is Accelerating Across New York City’s Business Landscape

The timeline of the job-posting decline aligns with a dramatic expansion of AI adoption among New York City employers. A Federal Reserve Bank of New York survey released earlier in September found that 60% of service firms in the region now use AI, up from 40% one year ago. Among manufacturers, the adoption rate doubled to 50%.

The Federal Reserve’s data introduces a nuance that the job-posting numbers alone do not capture. Only about 5% of surveyed firms said they had reduced headcount because of AI. Ten percent reported hiring more workers, particularly those with AI-specific skills. The most common outcome was not layoffs but retraining — a recalibration of existing roles rather than wholesale elimination. The New York Fed titled its findings “Businesses Are Using AI to Transform Work, Not Cut Jobs,” a framing that holds at the aggregate level but does not account for the workers who never got through the door in the first place.

For entry-level candidates, the distinction between “we didn’t fire anyone” and “we stopped hiring juniors” has real economic consequences. The Center for an Urban Future found that companies with the highest generative AI exposure saw the sharpest reductions in entry-level postings. At the same time, entry-level postings for positions requiring AI skills grew 20% since 2022, spread across professional services, finance, healthcare, and education. The demand has not disappeared — it has shifted toward a narrower, more specialized skill set that many recent graduates do not yet have.

Training Programs and Universities Are Feeling the Pressure

The Marcy Lab School, a New York City-based tech training organization that runs fellowship programs in software engineering and data analytics, reported a 35% decline in its employment rate since 2023. Per Scholas, a free tech training program operating across the city, has seen similar headwinds. Both organizations have invested in retooling their curricula to reflect what employers are now looking for, but the hiring slowdown has outpaced those adjustments.

At the university level, CUNY’s University Dean for Technology and Computer & Information Sciences announced a partnership in January 2026 with the Last Mile Education Fund to provide financial support for students transitioning into tech careers. Cornell Tech, by contrast, has seen its graduates move into AI-focused startups and finance roles, producing 130 startups — a 40% increase in two years. The divergence underscores a widening gap: institutions connected to the AI pipeline are thriving, while programs focused on traditional entry-level pathways are struggling to place graduates.

New York State has begun to respond. Governor Kathy Hochul launched FutureWorks Commission listening sessions in August 2026, specifically targeting workers — particularly women — whose roles have been reshaped or replaced by AI. Women make up 84% of employment in administrative back-office positions in New York, a category facing some of the steepest entry-level declines. The state has also imposed a statewide moratorium on new hyperscale data center construction while regulators develop environmental and energy standards — a signal that Albany is weighing the infrastructure demands of AI alongside its workforce consequences.

City Comptroller Raises Long-Term Economic Alarm

NYC Comptroller Mark Levine has emerged as one of the most vocal public officials sounding the alarm about AI’s trajectory in the city. In a May 2026 report using Moody’s Analytics data, Levine’s office estimated that AI could cost New York City 300,000 jobs and $14 billion in tax revenue under the most disruptive scenario. A more moderate projection showed AI generating 52,000 new private-sector jobs per year, but even that outlook assumed significant displacement across middle-skill occupations.

Levine amplified the Center for an Urban Future findings on social media in September, writing that the city is “sleepwalking into the age of AI.” The Comptroller pointed to the disconnect between stable overall tech employment figures and the steep drop in entry-level hiring, warning that the pattern is “showing up in other AI-exposed professions as well.” The concern is not only about job losses today, but about the erosion of the pathways that allow younger and lower-income New Yorkers to build careers in one of the city’s highest-paying sectors.

The Career Ladder Question Facing New York City

The tech sector still employs roughly 172,000 people in New York City, and the city now has more tech workers than the San Francisco Bay Area for the first time, according to CBRE’s 2026 Scoring Tech Talent report. New York is home to more than 25,000 homegrown tech startups. None of those numbers are in retreat.

What is shrinking is the bottom of the pipeline. The Center for an Urban Future’s report argued that when the first jobs to disappear sit at the bottom of the ladder, workers lose more than openings — they lose the route toward the experience that employers demand later. For a city that has positioned its tech sector as a vehicle for economic mobility, particularly through CUNY programs and nonprofit training organizations, the entry-level contraction threatens to undermine a decade of workforce development investments.

The City Council is preparing to hold a rare Committee of the Whole hearing on AI on October 5, at which all 51 members will be invited to participate. Council Speaker Julie Menin has summoned the CEOs of both OpenAI and Anthropic to testify. That hearing, paired with New York State’s RAISE Act set to take effect January 1, 2027, suggests that the regulatory conversation around AI in New York is accelerating — driven not by hypothetical risk, but by data showing the ladder is already shorter than it was three years ago.

FAQs

How Much Have Entry-Level Tech Job Postings Declined in New York City?

Entry-level job postings for computer and mathematical occupations in New York City fell 49% between 2022 and 2025, according to the Center for an Urban Future. This represents the steepest decline of any occupational field tracked in the organization’s analysis.

Is Overall Tech Employment in New York City Also Declining?

Overall tech employment in New York City has remained relatively stable despite the sharp reduction in entry-level postings. The data suggests companies are automating junior-level tasks and shifting hiring toward candidates with AI-specific skills rather than cutting positions across entire departments.

What Other Industries Are Seeing Entry-Level Job Declines in NYC?

Office and administrative support roles saw a 36% decline in entry-level postings, and business and financial operations experienced a similar drop. Arts, design, entertainment, sports, and media — a significant sector for New York City’s creative economy — lost 34% of its entry-level listings during the same period.

What Is New York City Doing to Address AI’s Impact on the Workforce?

The NYC City Council is convening a rare full-body hearing on AI on October 5, 2026, with all 51 members invited. At the state level, Governor Hochul has launched FutureWorks Commission listening sessions targeting displaced workers, and New York’s RAISE Act — which establishes safety and reporting requirements for AI developers — is set to take effect on January 1, 2027.

Ken Raymie Discusses Relationship Banking in the Age of AI

NY Weekly Staff on September 18, 2026

By: Ethan Rogers

A financial executive who possesses more than 25 years of leadership experience, Ken Raymie has a background in the banking and credit union industry. From 2019 to 2024, Ken Raymie served as the president and CEO of Generations Federal Credit Union, following earlier executive roles with the organization. He has a deep interest in the future of relationship banking in the era of AI.

Artificial intelligence is helping lenders review borrower information faster, identify relevant patterns, and bring important details to the surface more quickly. By reducing the time spent on routine analysis, it allows lending professionals to focus on understanding each borrower’s unique circumstances.

That distinction matters because relationship banking has always been about more than just friendly service. In small business lending, it is built on knowledge gained through ongoing relationships, local presence, and informed professional judgment. The FDIC’s recent small business lending research found that many banks still rely on people to underwrite and approve loans, even as technology becomes more common in the lending process.

AI is most valuable when it helps bankers prepare for customer conversations. It can organize prior interactions, flag missing documents, and summarize account activity before a meeting. By handling routine administrative work, AI gives bankers more time to ask thoughtful questions, provide informed guidance, and focus on customers.

Consider a small business seeking a larger operating line after a seasonal sales shift. An automated tool might assemble deposit history, prior loan requests, and recent account activity into one view. The banker still has to interpret whether the change reflects a temporary timing gap or a deeper shift in the business. That judgment relies on context that may not be obvious from a dashboard.

For community banks and credit unions, the promise of AI lies in making relationship banking even stronger. Automation can organize information, streamline routine processes, and improve efficiency, giving bankers more time to provide thoughtful guidance and build lasting customer relationships. The FDIC has reported that many banks use or are exploring financial technology while continuing to emphasize high-touch service for small business customers. That approach reflects the greatest value of artificial intelligence: enhancing human expertise to deliver faster, more personalized service.

AI can resolve many routine inquiries, freeing banking professionals to focus on more complex situations that require deeper discussion, judgment, and personalized guidance. Together, technology and people can create a more responsive customer experience.

Risk management is also an important part of a successful AI strategy. As banks adopt AI, they remain responsible for compliance, cybersecurity, data governance, and third-party oversight. Sound governance helps ensure that new technology supports both regulatory expectations and customer trust.

In addition, there is an opportunity to redesign workflows around the strengths of both AI and employees. AI can help relationship bankers by organizing information, surfacing relevant insights, and reducing the need to navigate multiple systems. Clear guidelines for transitioning complex interactions to a banking professional help ensure customers receive timely, personalized support. Success is measured not only by efficiency, but also by how effectively customer needs are met.

AI has the potential to strengthen relationship banking by reinforcing what has always made it valuable. The most successful financial institutions will use technology to gather insights, streamline routine work, and prepare employees for meaningful customer conversations. By combining AI with human expertise, banks can deliver faster, more personalized service while preserving the trusted relationships at the heart of community banking.

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