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Jumpstarting Your Personal Brand After Mommy-hood
Written by Karen Taylor Bass on March 18, 2010

R&B Singer Monica shares her tips that keep her ‘Standing’ strong as she re-invents her career

Mommy-hood is no easy feat; regardless of age your mind, body, spirit and career will never be the same. The moment you meet your healthy and beautiful bundle of joy, your priorities will shift and you will change. But after the maternity leave has ended, how do you re-invent your personal brand to incorporate your new status when its time to go back to work?

At 43, with two kids (including a toddler), and in the midst of a re-invention, I have recently upgraded from sweatpants to fitted jeans, and the process to become the “brand” new mommy has not been easy. I had a thought: do all mommies—including celebrities—struggle to re-define their personal brand? The answer is a resounding yes.

Recently I spoke with Grammy Award winning artist Monica, about re-defining her brand after a brief hiatus from the music industry. Sure, she has “fame,” a TV show, and a new album coming out, but at the end of the day, she shares the same concerns as I do about re-invention and re-entering the workforce after becoming a parent.

“The best sage wisdom someone told me about re-invention is to focus on the positive, what makes you special and different, and realize that just because you put yourself first, doesn’t mean your kids are not your first concern,” said the single mother of two pre-schoolers. Re-invention is not about the superficial but the qualities that make you feel centered as a person, says Monica.

After taking time off to have her children, Monica is back with a vengeance. She has a reality show on BET that chronicles her re-invention as she finds balance being a single parent, dealing with high blood pressure, recording a new album, building a business, and struggling to carve out moments to be still. Her fifth album, “Still Standing,” is scheduled for release on March 23. She chose the name as a testament of strength to all of us finding our way back home to self.

“Re-invention happened for me organically and I learned that it can’t be contrived,” she says. “My oldest son, Ramone, almost 5, loves to hear me sing and perform; he was the one that encouraged me to get back out there. I started this journey at 14 and built over 15 years of relationship. Re-invention is not about working hard, it’s about being smarter, utilizing and preserving relationships, and having a dynamite support system [mom, aunt, and cousins]. Pay attention to your elders and shape shift your mommy-hood to work for you.”

Listening to her, I realized that Monica is wise beyond her 29 years.

The same way it is important to refresh our brand and skills to take advantage of a job or opportunity during this recession, it is as important, if not crucial to renew and redefine the personal brand upon giving birth. It is imperative that we do not lose our magic once we have children.

“When you re-invent allow your brand to speak for itself, take your time and feel pretty—pray, light candles, walk, and remember you are the most important person. Re-invention is about weathering the storm, claiming victory, being comfortable in one’s skin and making no apologies. That’s what re-invention and mommy-hood are all about,” says Monica.

I learned that regardless of age, socioeconomic status, and career choice, there is no quick fix for re-invention when it comes to mommies.

Monica’s Re-Invention Tips for Women:

1. Be Faithful. Spirituality is key and will play a major role in life. Don’t fight it; just accept the fact that you are not in control.

2. Prioritize. Your kids and family comes first.

3. De-clutter. Negativity becomes a hindrance. Clear out things that no longer work—be they relationships, jobs, or items from your past.

4. Respect Yourself. Don’t sell yourself short for anyone or any opportunity.

5. Ownership is Key. You are your own boss, act and do what you want to do, when you want to do it.

6. Assemble an A-Team: Your support system and relationships are key ingredients for re-invention. Conjure up the female power. Join a support group like Mocha Moms.

I would love to hear from you about re-invention post babies. What did you do to get your personal brand back in gear?

Karen Taylor Bass, The PR Expert, provides entrepreneurs, corporations, and mompreneurs with essential branding, marketing, and public relations coaching; http://www.karentaylorbass.com and http://www.taylormademediapr.com. Follow Karen’s tips and Caviar & Chitlins moments at Twitter, twitter.com/prexpert.

Oh to be agile, and not just in the sense of physical agility, although that would be nice too. The sense of agility that I’m referring to is, the ability to change focus, change the direction of your life, quickly and with as little impact on your life as a whole.

Being able to quickly change direction, refocus, and get back on track are key qualities to establishing agility in your life. By being agile you’re better able to act on ideas, opportunities, and you can quickly start taking these ideas forward. But this is easier said than done, right? How can we become more agile? What if what it takes to become agile isn’t immediately obvious to us?

I have a few ideas that can help you get started on your path to being more agile in your life.

1.Non-attachment

Imagine you have an idea you’re working toward or a goal that you’re striving to complete. You put the blinders on and become so focused on that one thing, you hang all your hopes and dreams on attaining it that you miss all the other opportunities that have come your way. This usually translates into you not being willing (or able) to change directions or look at other opportunities as having potential because you’re so focused on getting to that one ideal you’re so attached to.

Strict attachment to ideas and things, not only leads you to unhappiness, it also prohibits you from changing directions and simply going with the flow. As a result you’ll likely miss out on a lot of great opportunities along the way.

2.Be open minded

This is an extension of non-attachment. Once we let go of this one perfect idea we have for our life, we’re more open to accepting other ideas and other directions that may get us somewhere even more fulfilling, better or safer. To be open minded you need to be willing to listen to people and hear out ideas that may initially make you shudder, chuckle or roll your eyes. If you’re open-minded enough you will be able to take in the information, mull it over in your own head, research it and evaluate it and only then make a decision on it. By dismissing things too quickly simply because they make you uncomfortable or maybe you just don’t know enough about it, you just might be missing out on some great opportunities.

3.Make many little changes and put them out there

The thing many of us (myself included) get hung up on is perfection. We keep things hidden behind closed doors, because we’re not ready to put it out into the world. We’re not ready to let others see it and judge us based on what we’ve put out into the world. Well the sooner you realize that nothing is ever perfect the better off you’ll be. I would strongly urge you to try working towards “good enough” as opposed to “perfect”.

Work on little functional changes at a time and release them as quickly as you can. You will have more agility if you are able to change direction quickly based on immediate feedback from your customers, family members, or co-workers. Waiting until you have everything “just so” is okay but what if it’s not what everyone else wanted? What if the desires of everyone else have changed? What if one little thing sparked another train of thought that results in you having to throw out half of what you’ve already completed and start over to get to where everyone wants to get to now? Release little changes as quickly as possible and seek feedback and suggestions along the way.

4.Embrace change

Change can be very scary for some people. Some people enjoy feeling comfortable and secure and really count on the predictability of each day. If you are one of these people, that’s fine but to be more agile in life or at work, you need to be willing to step outside of your comfort zone and embrace change. This won’t happen over night, it definitely takes time but it can be done.

Start small and jump at every opportunity for change that you encounter. Like anything else the more you do it the more it will become a habit and the more successful you’ll be at embracing change. By not fighting change and instead embracing it processes are more likely to be improved and productivity and efficiency improves. Start today and take initiative to make deliberate changes to your life, your family and your situation as a whole.

Being agile is a great thing and it can result in a much richer and more interesting life. You will be better able to cope with (and circumvent) road blocks or obstacles that inevitably find their way onto your path. Being agile can help you keep a competitive edge and allow you to make decisions quickly and respond in a timely manner in any circumstance.

Are you an agile person? What other ideas can you think of that could move people to becoming more agile in their life?

Written on 12/16/2010 by Sherri Kruger. Sherri writes at Zen Family Habits, a blog celebrating all things family. Sherri also writes on personal development at Serene Journey, a blog dedicated to sharing simple tips to enjoy life.

Women own more than a third of Chicago businesses

Number of women-owned firms sets Illinois, Cook ahead of nation

By: Paul Merrion December 07, 2010

(Crain’s) — Women own more than a third of Chicago businesses, and Illinois generally is a female-friendly state for entrepreneurs, the Census Bureau reported.

Cook County had 165,272 firms owned by women in 2007, second only to Los Angeles County, according to a survey of business owners conducted every five years. In Chicago, 36% of the 255,611 firms in the city — which includes sole entrepreneurs — were owned by women.

Statewide, the Census Bureau counted 343,117 woman-owned firms in Illinois, fourth-highest behind California, Texas and New York. The percentage of firms owned by women in Illinois was 30.5% vs. the 28.7% national average.

The numbers do not include 805,533 publicly held companies nationwide and other firms whose owners’ gender could not be determined, which accounted for 3% of all businesses and 63.6% of all receipts.

Nationally, about 88.3% of women-owned businesses had no paid employees, and only 0.8% had at least 100 employees.

Nationwide, another 17% of firms are equally male-and-female-owned.

Read more: http://www.chicagobusiness.com/article/20101207/NEWS02/101209898/number-of-women-owned-firms-sets-illinois-cook-ahead-of-nation#ixzz18OHZPhBn

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Lil Wayne’s Good Deed

For Disabled Fan’s Mother
Provided by

Lil Wayne did a good deed for a fan. During his 8 month sentence, Lil Wayne received tons of fan mail and at least one letter touched him about a New York family caring for their disabled mother. Ronda Austin told sources that she would write Lil Wayne frequently to encourage him and send him bible scriptures while he was in prison. Explaining her own troubles to the rapper about her mother, for whom they couldn’t afford a wheelchair, Lil Wayne stepped in to help. One day Ronda received a phone call from Lil Wayne who told her not to worry about the wheelchair and that he would take care of it. Lil Wayne arranged for Core Care Technologies to deliver The Quantum 6000 to the Austin family. Since the arrival of the wheelchair, Ronda describes her mother as a “get-up-and-go” person, and though she doesn’t know who Lil Wayne is, she will forever remember his great deed and never forget the rapper. Prior to the wheelchair, Ronda’s mother had been confined to her house for nearly two years, with her daughter and husband doing all they can to make her comfortable, but now she is more mobile. Lastly she prays for God to bless Lil Wayne.

You or your parents might qualify for a Hope tax credit or Lifetime Learning tax credit. For more information on these credits, visit

You should also check with your tax professional or the Internal Revenue Service (IRS). IRS Publication 970, Tax Benefits for Higher Education, explains these credits and other tax benefits. You can order the publication free from the IRS at 1-800-tax-form (1-800-829-3676). Or you can download the publication from the website http://www.irs.ustreas.gov.

What about lower-cost schools?
If you plan on working toward a bachelor’s degree, you might want to consider starting out at a two-year community college and then transferring to a four-year school. Community colleges are partially funded by local and state taxes and are therefore usually less expensive than four-year schools. Some four-year schools are also partially funded by local and state taxes and can be less expensive than those that are not funded by taxes.

You can also save money by living at home and commuting to your local community college. You’ll want to make sure that the courses you take during your first two years will transfer to the four-year school you want to attend and that they will count toward your bachelor’s degree.

What about working or volunteering?
Whether you choose a college or a career school, you can work part time to pay for some of your costs. If you do this, you should make sure that you save enough time for studying and that your work and school schedules do not conflict.

AmeriCorps is a program that allows participants to earn education awards in return for national service. For more information, contact the Corporation for National Service:

Corporation for National Service
1201 New York Avenue, NW
Washington, DC 20525
1-800-94-ACORPS (1-800-942-2677)
http://www.cns.gov

The U.S. Armed Forces also offer the following educational programs and ways to pay for school or to reduce your school costs:

You can attend one of the military academies. These are four-year colleges that are tuition free and offer bachelor’s degrees and a commission in the military after graduation.
You can attend a college or career school and enroll in the Reserve Officer Training Corps (ROTC) Program, which will pay your tuition, fees, and books and provide you with a monthly allowance.
You can join the Armed Forces before you go to a college or career school and take advantage of the Montgomery GI Bill, which provides financial support to those who attend school after serving in the military.
If you enlist in the US Army, you may be eligible to receive repayment assistance from its Loan Repayment Program. For a four-year enlistment in a selected skill in the active Army, up to $65,000 in repayment assistance may be available. For an enlistment in the Army Reserve, up to $20,000 may be available.
You can also earn college credit for some military training, possibly reducing the number of classes you’ll have to take.
As an active member of the military, you can take courses at a college or career school during your off-duty hours.

Contact your local military recruiter for more information on these programs.

Communications strategist Valeisha M. Butterfield always had dreams of creating an organization centered on women’s empowerment.  After Don Imus’ incendiary comments about the Rutgers women’s basketball team back in 2007 sparked fiery conversations and debates surrounding the perception of black females in the media, the entertainment industry aficionada shot back in her own way. Butterfield, alongside Lauren Lake and Kristi Henderson, founded the Women in Entertainment Empowerment Network (WEEN), a non-profit organization offering financial literacy, career development,  health education and personal advancement programming for women, that same year.  Just three years later, WEEN has 43,000 members worldwide and has awarded 10 young female entrepreneurs with scholarships.

Blackenterprise.com talked with the 32-year-old chairwoman about turning her dream into a reality, the importance of mentorship and financial proficiency and what WEEN has in store.
Blackenterprise.com: What is a day in the life of Valeisha like?
Butterfield: It varies day-to-day. It always changes from the moment I get into the office; but normally it’s up by 6 and I work until usually 2 or 3 in the morning. My WEEN work is my moonlighting work and my work with ITA [the International Trade Administration] is my 9-to-5. I’m rewarded by both.
Last year, you were appointed Deputy Director of Public Affairs for the International Trade Administration (ITA). How did you land that job?
I did a lot of work with the Hip-Hop Summit Action Network and getting surrogates involved in the campaign. From that experience, the Obama administration brought me on-board as a volunteer. When he was finally elected, I got a phone call one day.  I was asked if I would be interested in working in his administration and, of course, I said it would be an honor.
What prompted you to start WEEN?
Women’s empowerment was something I always believed in. When I worked for Russell Simmons back in 2007, Don Imus made very controversial statements directed towards women of color, and that was followed by a television program on Oprah with Russell, Dr. Ben Chavis, Kevin Liles and many others from the entertainment industry being seriously questioned about the entertainment industry’s role in the negative portrayal of women.  I went to Russell one day, soon after that Oprah show, and I said, ‘Russell, you know, I have this idea for an organization. I really want your support and your blessing to get more involved and do my part because I’ve worked in the industry and I felt like it was my responsibility to work from the inside out.’   Russell said, ‘Of course, whatever you need, I’ll support you.’  From there, that idea became a reality.
What do you offer women within the financial literacy and career development spectrum?
When we first started WEEN, we wanted to focus on issues that mattered to women, especially between the ages of 14-28. All of our programs have a financial literacy component, as well as a career component, and that includes everything–from the basics of how to save your money, how to open a checking account, how to budget your money and how to prepare for your future all the way to the more advanced ladies that have now saved, now have a career and are now looking into investment options.
What’s the best piece of financial advice you’ve received?
Always reserve money for the unexpected in a budget, and that goes for your work life and your personal life.
How important would you say mentorship is when moving forward either in education or one’s career?
I can absolutely say that I would not have the job that I have within the administration, nor would I have even founded WEEN had it not been through the support of mentors.
A mentor for me is Kevin Liles.  Kevin has been a true friend and mentor in my career, ever since I was an intern working for free and getting coffee.  He really helped guide my career and a lot of my decisions.
What can we expect to see from WEEN in the future?
Summer 2011, we are having our first WEEN summer academy. We are having a 6-week crash course in the entertainment business for our members.  Sixty women will be admitted into the program; it’s in New York City. Also, we are really pushing hard our WEEN media platform and the goal is to tell the honest story of real women. We are working and in production for WEEN Films and WEEN TV to share those stories and documentaries with the world.

Good Morning Young Ladies Rising 2 Power,

I don’t want to take up to much of your time this morning. My message today is about education. College education is always the aim for many parents when raising kids. It really seems to be the most logical move after high school, but many parents fail to save for this expensive opportunity. I’m not blaming the parents, because as a parent I understand the demands of the moment. College isn’t the only way to success.

College provides many opportunities that shape the personality and direction of a young adults life. You meet great teachers, professionals in your chosen field, ambitious friends, new cultures, events, the whole atmosphere is a learning experience. If you decide to go, It’s very important to take in all that college life has to offer.

There is another type of education that is as equally important as college. We have been pursuing this education from birth, Our parents have invested many hours, minutes and thoughts into how to perfect this form of education. It’s called self education. It’s how we learned how to talk, walk, give, take, love, cry and play. Self Education is the process of educating yourself. Learning never stops, many great thinkers of the world acquired knowledge before college and continued to pursue knowledge after college.

To believe that college is the only place to gain knowledge is ridiculous. The public library is a great place to start training yourself for whatever occupation you desire. You don’t have to be in medical school to read a medical book. You don’t have to be in law school to know amendments. All the knowledge you need to pour into yourself is at your disposal.

Today, I urge you no matter what age you are 5 to 105 to seek knowledge like your life depends on it. Because truth is it really does. Knowledge isn’t power, but what you do with that knowledge can give you power.

Thanks for reading!!

“Seek Knowledge, just as you seek LOVE.” – Chanel Ambitious Ballard

Black Girl Rise2Power

bg.rise2power@gmail.com

QUICK FACTS:

*Renaissance means: rebirth of music, arts, poetry, and creativity.
*Harlem Renaissance was an African American Cultural Movement that took place in Harlem New York.
*Was primarily a literacy movement, but had a tremendous effect on poetry, and music.
*The Harlem Renaissance didn’t only appeal to African Americans, but Whites also.
*”Jazz” music was made from the Harlem Renaissance.
*The “Blues” was made to express the hard times blacks went through and love.
*The Harlem Renaissance was often called the “Roaring Twenties.”
*Blacks moved to Harlem to get jobs since they were unemployed due to the Civil War.
*All races were now determined equal.
*Jazz and Blues music were now performed in Harlem bars and cabarets by African Americans.
*Blacks were given their chance to rule over whites in the music industry.
*The piano was a major instrument in all types of music
*Blacks took this chance to be different from the Europeans
*The Apollo Theatre was an important place during the Harlem Renaissance, as well as the Cotton Club
[each gave African Americans a place to perform and express themselves]
*Apollo Theatre helps blacks start musical careers and gives them opportunities.
*Blacks had the right to express their feelings through their plays, art, poetry, and music.
*More music was made for listening instead of only dancing like earlier in the era

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