May the joys of the season shed light,
hope and fill our hearts with peace (+love).
hope and fill our hearts with peace (+love).
HAPPY HOLIDAYS to you and yours. Enjoy, be safe and back with you in the new year!
Men are losing jobs at far greater rates than women as the industries they dominate, such as manufacturing, construction, and investment services, are hardest hit by the downturn.
Power girls, better known as women who have escaped corporate America to become entrepreneurs (like Oprah), have incredible instincts and go with their gut when making big decisions for their company. It goes like this: Find it. Trust it. Use it.Like many of the great moguls of our time, today's new modern women entrepreneurs follow their gut when it comes to their companies. I've heard stories of instincts driving everything from major business decisions to where or when to travel, hunches that turned out to be great ideas, and examples where "just having a feeling" turned out to be a key factor in shaping someone's work or life. It's something I can definitely attest to. Many of my biggest achievements started from a feeling that if I took a leap, I'd be right.Got a hunch or a great feeling? Then go for it. Don't let anything get in your way to make EXTRAORDINARY things happen in your life.
Considering the tumultuous times were in, we need this new initiative from Babson College more than ever right now. Social entrepreneurship will be all the rage in 2009, if it isn't already, because people are on a mission to change our world (yes we can!) and solve global problems.
Erica Douglass quit her job and started a business with $20,000 ($5,000 of her own money and $15,000 from her parents). Read about her tips for success and find out how you can start a business too without a lot of money here.
Rarely do I weigh in with my own two cents on what's happening in our global economy let alone provide ways in which to deal with it as a woman business owner. But there's always an exception to the rule and I thought you might like the article, 16 Ways To Dodge An Economic Crisis, I wrote for OPEN Forum by American Express.
We are honored to be featured on All Diva Media's 20 Women Bloggers to Watch in 2009. Our thanks to DJ Nelson who's the force behind All Diva Media.
Judith Dobrzynski, who I am a big fan of, writes a clever piece, "Maybe the Meltdown's a Guy Thing," for The New York Times which was published November 15th. Catch it here. Hope you enjoy it as much as I did.

According to a survey by Catalyst, a New York research group, women hold 15.4% of Fortune 500 corporate-officer jobs -- positions of vice president or higher that require board approval. That number has inched down from 16.4% in 2005. Women running Fortune 500 companies amount to just 2.4%, the survey showed, and 74 of those companies have no female corporate officers at all.Pictured: Sheryl Sandberg of Facebook is among the 50.
Young Women Social Entrepreneurs (YWSE) is a national organization with chapters in San Francisco, Portland, Los Angeles, and New York City. I hope to help them start a Chicago chapter.
Women business owners have more support from networking groups and organizations devoted to peer mentoring (e.g., Women Presidents' Organization), and there is improved access to capital for female business owners than in the past. At least we like to think so. More women are increasingly leading companies in a wide range of sectors traditionally dominated by men, such as construction, manufacturing and information technology.
American Express OPEN announced the launch of OPEN Forum’s Economy section, a new platform for small business owners to connect virtually to discuss the current state of the economy and how it affects their businesses. The Economy section is a component of the newly refreshed OPENForum.com, an education and networking resource designed to provide small business owners with practical, actionable information from business experts, celebrity business owners and best-in-class bloggers and news outlets.
The number of minority women-owned businesses grew twice as fast as the number of businesses created by male minority entrepreneurs and non-minority men and women, according to a new study released by the Minority Business Development Agency.
What do -- the former Colombian presidential candidate and hostage, Ingrid Betancourt; designer Diane von Furstenberg; the sailor Ellen MacArthur; the exiled Bangladeshi author Taslima Nasreen; the venture capitalist Molly Ashby, the founder of Solera Capital; and the French ministers Fadela Amara, who is in charge of coordinating plans for the racially mixed and poor suburbs, and the foreign trade minister, Anne-Marie Idrac -- all have in common?
I want to make sure you are all familiar with this fantastic resource. It's called News On Women and published by Alice Krause. She reports on women moving up in the world and is looking for news! Check it out here.
At Chicago-based MAB Advertising, there are some great tips you can apply to running your business during turbulent times. See for yourself here.If I wasn't already running my own business, today is the day I'd start one. ~ Seth Godin (9/26/08)
In every difficult situation is potential value. Believe this, then begin looking for it. ~ Norman Vincent PealeCaveat: I know Mary Bahr, President and Creative Director of MAB Advertising through my work with the Women Presidents' Organization.
Did you know Americans aged 55-64 start small businesses at a higher rate than any other age group?
The social revolution that liberated women has also presented us with even more demands. Most are still trying to map the line between freedom (escapism) and responsibility.
Meet Ellen J. Kullman, the new chief executive and President of Dupont, making her one of the few women to rise to the top of the chemical industry and putting her among the handful of women running the nation's largest companies.