As part of the launch of Forbes‘ “50 Over 50” list, Vice President Kamala Harris sits down for an exclusive interview with MSNBC’s Mika Brzezinski to discuss not evaluating herself based on age, eating ‘No’ for breakfast, working with women-owned small businesses and encouraging women and girls to know their strength. Click here to watch.
Essence recently published a piece with nine resources for black women entrepreneurs. They include grant opportunities, pitch competitions, and crownfunding platforms. Check out this article to learn more.
Click this link to see Liz Ngonzi’s (who is also course facilitator in our Women’s Entrepreneurship certificate program) presentation: “Telling Your Story for Professional Success: How to Align Your Purpose and Your Paycheck“.
This is the second in a two-part series which builds on her 2020 webinar entitled: “Your Personal Brand: Leveraging Your Unique Knowledge and Experience” (To view a recording of this webinar, click here.)
In this segment, Liz provides guidance on how to dig into the question “What is my purpose?” Clarity about your purpose can lead to the creation of a personal “work” story that will enable you to inspire, engage, and activate employers, clients, partners, and investors, thereby increasing the alignment of your purpose with your paycheck!
The US Mint is creating some new designs – featuring women – for the “tails” sides of quarters that will start circulating in January 2022 and run through 2025. The first two honorees have already been chosen: poet Maya Angelou and astronaut Sally Ride.
The other female honorees will be decided by Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen – with input from the American public. To read more about the initiative, check out this article from CNN. Want to submit a suggestion for a nominee? Fill out this brief form provided by the National Women’s History Museum.
The US Chamber of Commerce has a helpful website that provides links to financial assistance programs, resources, and advice to help small business owners – which is particularly important as we continue to navigate the COVID pandemic. From national to state and local resources, the page is a great one to scroll through if you are a small business owner.
There have long been claims that women’s and men’s brains were different. leading to differences in personalities and abilities. While men’s brains overall brain size is a little over 10% larger than women’s, no specific brain areas are disproportionately larger between the sexes. In fact, brains are proportional to body size and when properly controlled, no individual brain region varies by more than about 1% between men and women.
Why does this matter? Have you ever heard,”women aren’t as good at math”? Or, “women are natural caregivers”. Or, “men are better with tools”? Turns out that there are no data to support those statements. In fact, according to this article from The Conversation, each brain is a “mosaic of circuits that control the many dimensions of masculinity and femininity, such as emotional expressiveness, interpersonal style, verbal and analytic reasoning, sexuality and gender identity itself.”
There is certainly more work to be done – but untangling some of these long-held beliefs is a great place to begin.
This article from Fast Company shares an example of how many women feel they stand out like Big Bird (a 8’2″ bright yellow bird featured on the children’s program, Sesame Street) in the workplace. Whether they are presenting in a boardroom, returning from maternity leave or simply navigating the day-to-day, many women feel disproportionately affected by impostor syndrome.
In this piece, Mark McClain (CEO of SailPoint) shares three tips for how leaders can help their employees overcome impostor syndrome. Specifically, he mentions making space for people to share their authentic selves, encouraging balance and practicing small acts of kindness.
This interview in Medium is one of a series entitled “Second Chapters: How I Reinvented Myself in the Second Chapter of My Life.” In this piece, Michelle Tunno Buelow shares stories from her journey to found and launch Bella Tunno. Bella Tunno is a baby accessory brand on a mission to end childhood hunger. For every product sold, Bella Tunno donates at least one meal to a hungry child. To date, Bella Tunno has donated more than 5.5 million meals.
In the interview, Michelle Tunno Buelow shares the importance of finding and embracing your purpose in life. She also outlines some key attributes that have enabled her to succeed as an entrepreneurs: her resilience, ability to be comfortable with the uncomfortable and overall scrappiness. She discusses her battles with imposter syndrome as well as the importance of being able to “fail forward”. Wonderful lessons and insights from an inspirational entrepreneur!
Your communication skills have a direct impact on your ability to raise funds and motivate your team. In today’s socially distanced environment, it’s more important than ever that your message shines through, even when you’re not able to address your audience in person.
This skill-building webinar session led by professional speaker and coach Casey Carpenter will help you discover how to pitch with confidence and authenticity in a virtual setting. You’ll walk away with tools to craft a persuasive message and techniques to deliver that message in a way that engages your audience. Click here to access the recording of the 4/8/21 talk.
More information about Casey Carpenter’s company as well as links to resources mentioned in her talk can be found here.
This piece from NPR’s All Things Considered shares research being done at a bonobo sanctuary in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Both bonobos and chimpanzees are the closest living relatives of humans – but the social dynamics in bonobo and chimp social structures are noticeably different.
While chimps tend to be more male-dominated and aggressive, bonobos place a higher social status on females. According to the NPR piece, “Chimps tend to rely on cunning and competition. Bonobos emphasize cooperation and sharing.” In addition, research has shown that “bonobo brains include special circuits for social interaction that are not found in chimpanzees. The result is an animal predisposed to sharing, tolerance, negotiation and cooperation.”
Sounds like Bonobo matriarchies are the way to go!