03.24.08
Honoring Hen: Louisa May Alcott
Louisa May Alcott, known best as the author of Little Women, was a popular female
author of the late 1800s. Long before her literary career, Alcott was an army nurse in the Civil War where she broke the ban on admitting single women. After the war and a trip to Europe, Alcott returned to America to find her family once again in debt. She resolved to change that with the publication of Little Women. This book has never been out of print and has been published in some 50 different languages. Some say that Alcott felt she sacrificed her artistic and personal wishes for her family’s monetary needs with Little Women. Whether or not that is true, she continued to try to make change in the world by petitioning for women’s suffrage, funded a home for orphaned boys, and visited the State Reformatory to tell stories to the prisoners.
So not only did she give us great literature like Little Women, Jo’s Boys, Eight Cousins, and many others, but she contributed to making her world a little better.
03.20.08
Honoring Hen: Maggie L. Walker
Maggie L. Walker was the first woman in United States history to charter and serve as president of a bank. In 1903, she chartered the St. Luke Penny Savings Bank in Richmond, Virginia. Her goal in organizing the bank was to enable community members to help each other by pooling their money together. When the Depression hit, Maggie orchestrated the merger of several banks and again took the reins to restore the bank to success.
In addition to her historic role as bank president, she also worked tirelessly as an activist for education and racial equality. Even after her health began to deteriorate, Maggie pressed on, serving on numerous boards and committees devoted to her causes.
“Have hope, have faith, have courage, and carry on.” — Maggie L. Walker
03.19.08
Making A Big City Feel Like A Small Town
Living in Los Angeles, it’s easy to get lost in the sea of 16 million people that live in the metro area. While I’m thrilled with the opportunities a big city like LA has to offer, it’s also nice to cultivate the feelings of comfort and security found in a smaller town. Here are some ways to make the 16 million seem like only, you know, 6 million:
Bypass The Big Chains For The Locally Owned – Every Saturday morning my roommates and I walk down to the corner coffee shop for our weekly java. We know the owner and her family by name and are starting to recognize the other regulars that frequent the shop. Not only is it nice to see a friendly face who notices when you miss a week, but the relationship has paid off in other ways. When my roommate went to buy a new car, the owner of the coffeeshop hooked her up with a friend at a dealership, and as a result, my roommate got a much better deal than offers from other dealerships where she didn’t know anyone.
Attend Town Festivals And Events – Nothing will make you feel more like a part of the community than, you know, actually being in the community. Art festivals, holiday parades, summer celebrations, concerts - they’re all fun, usually free, and you’ll see a different side of your community. You might even meet some new people or at least begin to recognize fellow citizens. Come for the delicious fair food, stay for the community.
Join A Group – Whether it’s the local softball team, the church choir, a YMCA membership, or a service club, join some sort of community club or council. You’ll be an active member in the community and meet people you never would have otherwise.
Hit The Books – Your local library branch is probably the best place to find out what’s going on in the community. Most community organizations and services use the library as a posting place for announcements, informative flyers, and brochures. While you’re there, check out some books or DVDs – for free!
The more you feel like part of your community, the more you’ll like where you live, making a big city feel like home sweet home.
03.18.08
Organizing your networking
Whether it’s an old-fashioned Rolodex, a nifty binder of business cards, an extensive
Outlook address book, or a self-made spreadsheet, keeping a running list of contacts is essential for any career-oriented person, especially Millenials who are just starting out and will change jobs frequently. Networking, in my opinion, is the best and most successful way to find a job. Most employers would rather hire someone who comes with a recommendation from one of their contacts than someone they don’t know. That means, every business card or person you meet should be entered into some sort of database.
Right now my personal contact database is in a variety of locations. I have a personal address book, an old-fashioned Rolodex, and my Outlook address book for work. I’m looking to stream-line my office space and am undecided as to the best way to organize all the contact information I’ve gathered. I am leaning toward keeping my Rolodex as a place to store the business cards I collect and creating a spreadsheet where I can easily search for information. It should include how I met each contact, their field of work, and the date at which I last spoke or met with them.
Do you have a set system for keeping track of all your contacts?
03.14.08
Honoring Hen: Miriam Leslie
Miriam Leslie played a significant and somewhat unorthodox part in the fight for women’s suffrage. After her husband, Frank Leslie, passed away leaving her a publishing business several hundred thousand dollars in debt, Miriam legally changed her name to Frank Leslie and used her business skills to put the company back on track.
By the time Miriam passed away, she had amassed a fortune of two million dollars, which she willed to Carrie Chapman Catt for the purpose of advancing the fight for women’s right to vote. That money became instrumental in employing 200 workers to organize and orchestrate for suffrage, giving means and a new energy to the movement.
Miriam Leslie defied convention and lived her life her way, by her own rules and standards. For that, the women of America are eternally grateful.
03.13.08
Honring Hen: Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg
I had the priviledge of hearing Justice Ginsburg speak at a Jewish Americans event a few months ago. I did not attend the event with hopes of an interesting conversation between Ginsburg and the moderator. I assumed it would be educational & scholarly – lecture-style – given her position, but I was pleasantly surprised by a witty & intimate conversation.
Ginsburg grew up in Brooklyn among working class immigrants with a mother adamant about independence and education. Ginsburg made her mother proud by attending Cornell University for her undergraduate degree and continuing on to Harvard Law School (though she graduated from Columbia Law School) at a time where the dean would ask the women what it felt like to occupy places that could have gone to deserving men.
Ginsburg went on to a law career as an advocate for specific causes — National Organization for Women & American Civil Liberties Union — until she was appointed a Judge of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit by President Carter in 1980 and then appointed an Associate Justice of the Supreme Court by President Clinton in 1993.
One statement Justice Ginsburg made that left an impression on me about how far she has come and how she is representative of so many people was this: “The difference between a bookkeeper and a Supreme Court Justice? One generation. “
Bring Your Son Or Daughter To Work Day – Not Just For Kids
As a kid, I looked forward to Bring Your Daughter To Work Day – a day when I got to skip school to hang out with Mom and Dad at their workplaces. Dad’s office included a huge collection of art supplies and Mom had a co-worker with a seemingly bottomless drawer full of candy bars. Candy and coloring aside, the day was designed to introduce young girls to the world of work and careers – presenting future opportunities while fostering ambition and interest in work.
Lately I’ve reinstated the tradition, spending a day with my mom at her work whenever I travel home for a visit. I’ve found that it’s much more interesting and beneficial now that I’ve studied business and can understand what she does and how the company operates. It’s sort of like a one day internship. For example, last time I spent a day with her, she introduced me to a co-worker who was trained in the practices of Six Sigma. I had only studied the program in the context of manufacturing, so I asked about its application to a service-providing corporation. She explained its uses and presto! – I had learned a real-world business lesson.
Spending a day with a parent (or uncle, or godmother, etc.) as an adult can be a very valuable experience and a chance to apply concepts learned in college outside of the classroom. Of course, it’s helpful if your parent works in a field somewhat related to your chosen career path, but even if they don’t, I’m sure there are plenty of lessons to be learned. It’s also an opportunity to see another aspect of your parent’s life. So next time you’re home, see if there’s time to squeeze in a day with dad or mom at work. You never know what benefits it might bring you. If you’re lucky, you’ll pick up some new knowledge and find a co-worker with a candy drawer.
03.10.08
Who to advise?
One of Marci Alboher’s recent guest-bloggers on Shifting Careers was Michael Melcher, a career coach, who wrote about the idea of creating and maintaining a personal board of directors. All organizations or programs that are looking to grow and advance have a board of directors with various backgrounds and areas of expertise to evaluate and lead the group successfully forward. As young professionals looking to advance our careers and grow both personally and professionally, a board of directors would be a great asset.
The article is well presented with tips for finding the right group of people for your board and keeping in touch with everyone. My only question regarding a personal board of directors is — Is it more suited to people with a few more years of experience in work and life?
Let me explain…right now I rely heavily on my family and a small, select group of friends for advice on my career and life. My career is still young enough that I have not yet made many strong professional contacts and the majority of the friends I make or already have are as young and inexperienced in major life/career decisions as I am. In addition, a handful of them have taken the graduate school route and have yet to experience the real world. Who do I have outside of my biased family and friends to ask for unbiased, challenging advice?
If the whole idea of a board of directors is to have a diverse group of people, am I at the stage to be able to assemble one that will truly be beneficial? Who is the target demographic for something like this?
03.06.08
Honoring Hen: Mary Pickford
In 1907, at fifteen years old, Mary Pickford left her home and family in Toronto and moved to New York City to pursue her dream of acting on the stage. In less than ten years, Mary became the most famous woman in the world.
Known for her golden curls and youthful, girl-next-door air, Mary starred in such films as Poor Little Rich Girl, A Little Princess, and Coquette, for which she earned the Oscar for Best Actress, but Mary’s achievements were not limited to the screen.
In 1916, she formed the Pickford Film Company and negotiated a deal with Paramount Pictures to release all her films under her own production company. In an age where the studio system allowed the studios to dictate each and every assignment for all actors, Mary was choosing which projects to take, hand-selecting the cast and crew, and even going behind the camera to direct. Just three years later, Mary, along with director D.W. Griffith and actors Charlie Chaplin and Douglas Fairbanks, created the independent distribution company United Artists. Filmmakers were given the unprecedented chance to be free from creative control of the major studios.
The end of the silent film era also meant an end for Mary’s career as an actress, but she continued in her roles as producer and partner in United Artists. Along with others, Mary founded the Motion Picture Relief Fund and the affiliated Country House and Hospital which provided emergency assistance and care for those in the motion picture industry.
“If you have made mistakes, there is always another chance for you. You may have a fresh start at any moment you choose, for this thing we call ‘failure’ is not the falling down, but the staying down.” –Mary Pickford
The more I learn about the so-called “studio system” the more I am amazed by Mary’s achievements. Under this constrictive system, Mary fought for creative control and independence. She wasn’t content to just be the pretty face in front of the camera. Her passion for cinema drove her to work hard towards her vision of quality film production. Today she is remembered as “America’s Sweetheart” of the silent film age, but I’ll remember her as a skilled businesswoman who fought the odds to become a pioneer of the motion picture industry.
