Women's Business Briefs

Fourera Soumana, A Woman on the Move

2010-01-08T09:16:00.000-08:00

With the temperature hovering around 100 degrees, Fourera Soumana travels to the market in western Niger with her donkey cart piled high with hand-woven mats. Although hundreds come from all over to sell their wares at this loud, noisy market, Soumana is one of the best known–a 50-year-old widow who runs her own business and is enjoying prosperity for the first time in her life. Soumana is an unusual woman with an amazing success story. To read the complete article, please click here.

Business Week names Ursula Burns CEO of Xerox as one of the top 20 most Inspirational Leaders of today.

2010-01-08T08:55:00.000-08:00

Kellye Walker made General Counsel at American Water Works

2010-01-08T08:52:00.000-08:00

American Water Works Company, Inc. (NYSE: AWK), appointed Kellye L. Walker Senior Vice President and General Counsel. Kellye had been Senior Vice President and General Counsel at Diageo North America, Inc. Read more in the Business Wire press release.

How Minority-Owned Businesses Can Catch a Break

2010-01-08T08:50:00.000-08:00

By Amy S. Choi, Business Week

Minority- and women-owned businesses may not be using all the resources—such as professional associations and municipalities—that can help them. To read the complete article, please click here.

WBB Quote of the Week

2010-01-08T08:48:00.000-08:00

Road to happiness
"We have overstretched our personal boundaries and forgotten that true happiness comes from living an authentic life fueled with a sense of purpose and balance."
—Kathleen Hall

What Companies Need to Develop Women Leaders

2010-01-08T08:46:00.000-08:00

By Anna Marie Valerio, Business Week

Women are in the majority of those now earning college and graduate degrees. Here's what business can do to train them for leadership roles. Retaining talented women in corporations is more critical than ever. Successful organizations know that developing individuals who can truly lead in the global economy gives them a competitive advantage. My interviews with high achievers of both genders in Fortune 500 companies and universities have revealed much about leadership today. For the first time in history, the attraction, retention, and development of talented women has become an important issue for many American corporations. To read the complete article, please click here

WBB Snapshot

2010-01-08T08:45:00.000-08:00

The New York Observer

Study: Women outnumber men on most social media sites

Step aside, gentlemen. When it comes to social media, it's a woman's world. According to data taken from Google's U.S. Ad Planner, a site that tracks popular Web sites' traffic, 84 percent (16 out of 19) of social media Web sites are frequented more by women than by men. The Web site Pingdom, which collected the data from Ad Planner, found that 59 percent of Twitter users and 57 percent of Facebook users are female. About 52 percent of LinkedIn users are female. The most female-dominated site is Bebo, which is 66 percent female, followed by MySpace and Classmates.com, each 64 percent female. Bookmarking sites like Slashdot, Digg and Reddit are more popular among men. “If we hadn’t included the three [bookmarking] sites, all of the sites would have had more females than males,” according to Pingdom.

Women’s History

2010-01-08T08:44:00.000-08:00

1848: Seneca Falls Convention, first to discuss women's rights, July 19-20

In 1920, women received the right to vote in the United States with the passage of the 19th Amendment"

1993: Supreme Court rules that sexual harassment in the workplace is illegal

Self & Spirit

2010-01-08T08:42:00.000-08:00

Just imagine: Imagination is the living power and prime agent of all human perception.

-Samuel Taylor Coleride

Yours, mine, or ours? Should couples commingle their bank accounts?

2009-10-25T15:33:00.000-07:00

By Eileen AJ Connelly, Associated Press | October 20, 2009

If you need a legitimate reason to pay attention to the tribulations of Jon and Kate Gosselin, follow the money. A court ordered Jon Gosselin to return $180,000, out of $230,000 his estranged wife accused him of looting from their joint account.
This part of their bitter divorce fight reflects a big concern for couples from all walks of life: Is it better to mingle money or to keep finances separated? For some couples, joining finances is as much a symbol of their commitment as combining households. For others, keeping separate accounts is a way to avoid conflict and maintain a measure of independence. To read the complete article, please click here.

The Mismeasure of Woman

2009-10-24T16:58:00.000-07:00

By JOANNE LIPMAN

FINALLY! I hear we’re all living in a women’s world now.
For the first time, women make up half the work force. The Shriver Report, out just last week, found that mothers are the major breadwinners in 40 percent of families. We have a female speaker of the House and a female secretary of state. Thirty-two women have served as governors. Thirty-eight have served as senators. Four out of eight Ivy League presidents are women.
Great news, right? Well, not exactly. In fact, it couldn’t be more spectacularly misleading. To read the complete article,please click here

How Women Leaders Find Success and Happiness

2009-10-24T07:34:00.000-07:00

Research shows there are five practices that can lead to satisfaction on the job and at home, and they can be mastered by anyone. By Joanna Barsh

What makes women happy? Looking at scads of data, some pundits say: "nothing." On a personal journey since turning the fated 50 and helped by a talented team at McKinsey, I also pursued the answer. Five years later our research has helped us begin to understand the secret sauce: why most successful women are not only great at work, but also great in life. To read the complete article, please click here

Working to level the playing field for women-owned businesses (Sen. Olympia Snowe) By Sen. Olympia Snowe (R-Maine) - 10/23/09

2009-10-24T07:16:00.000-07:00

As Ranking Member and former Chair of the Senate Committee on Small Business and Entrepreneurship, one of my top priorities has always been to champion and promote the interests of our nation’s female entrepreneurs. In fact, women-owned small businesses are the fastest growing segment of our economy, and these firms – now more than ever – will play a critical role in strengthening our economy. As such, it is vital that the Federal government – one of the largest buyers of products and services in the world, purchasing over $500 billion annually – maximizes the participation of small businesses, including women-owned small businesses, in the Federal contracting process. To read the complete article, please click here

NBC Plans Special Week of Coverage on Women

2009-10-22T09:45:00.000-07:00

Women now make up virtually half the U.S. work force. “The Shriver Report: A Woman’s Nation Changes Everything” examines how our culture has responded to this, one of the greatest social transformations of our time. Read more

Self & Spirit

2009-10-22T09:43:00.001-07:00

Life can only be understood backwards, but it must be lived forwards.
-Soren Kiekegaaed

WBB Quote of the Week

2009-10-22T09:41:00.000-07:00

Never give up, for that is just the place and time that the tide will turn.
-Harriet Beecher Stowe

WBB Snapshot

2009-10-22T09:40:00.000-07:00

The crying game: Hold back on blubbering

If you’ve ever felt like crying in the office, it’s probably better not to, says Stephanie Shields, Penn State professor of psychology and women’s studies. Men and women are both probably better off tearing up instead of engaging in full-fledged crying. Why? Moist eyes signal that a person experiencing strong emotion has it under control, Shields explains. But if you cry and you’re a woman, the consequences can be more severe. You’ll likely be judged more negatively than a man, and possibly labeled emotionally unstable. Men, says Shields, are more often given the benefit of the doubt and are more likely to be seen as caring or sensitive when they cry.

Entrepreneur Georgette Blau , President of On Location Tours, Inc.

2009-10-18T11:52:00.001-07:00

Escape reality with On Location Tours, New York City's only TV and movie tour company!
Take a tour past the doorsteps of your favorite television and movie characters and real-life celebrities. Straddle fiction and reality while you shop, eat, drink, and dance at the sites you've seen on both the big and small screens.
Tour New York TV and Movie sites. Tour Sex and the City hotspots. Tour Sopranos sites. And tour Central Park movie sites!Read more

Entrepreneur: Chanell Scott, Guffly.com

2009-10-18T11:14:00.000-07:00

For entrepreneurs Chanell Scott and L. Jordan Contreras, the grass has always looked greener on the other side.

But the "green" scene in Detroit got a little bit sunnier with the August launch of guffly.com, their product-per-day online store born from an environment-oriented blog of the same name.

Every day, the spotlight shines on a new item; it could be an article of clothing, a home or office accessory, lifestyle product, even a pet accessory. Any product is eligible to be featured, as long as it meets two criteria: It has to be eco-friendly, and it must meet the style standards of its fashion-forward founders.
Read More

Why Aren't There More Female Leaders in Technology?

2009-10-17T18:54:00.000-07:00

Mentoring Young Women in Computer Science
At the AlwaysOn Summit at Stanford University, an innovation panel discusses ways to encourage women to join the computer industry. Video

Work Party Etiquette |Leila's House of Corrections

2009-10-17T14:04:00.000-07:00

Everyone cuts loose around the holidays, right? Not if you're a manager. Learn 3 tips that will show both your direct reports and the company.Video

NBC Plans Special Week of Coverage on Women

2009-10-15T13:01:00.000-07:00

NBC News will devote a significant amount of time and attention next month to the changing roles of contemporary women, much of it based on a study initiated by Maria Shriver, the one-time NBC correspondent who is married to Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger of California.

NBC is describing the project as an effort to “educate the public on the current state of women in America.” The news division is planning to include coverage related to the study over a full week of its evening newscast and three mornings on the “Today” show.

Ms. Shriver will be a guest on “Meet the Press” Oct. 18 to begin the reports. NBC News is calling Ms. Shriver a guest editor for the coverage. Read more

WBB Quote of the Week

2009-10-06T10:11:00.002-07:00

As you become more clear about who you really are, you'll be better able to decide what is best for you - the first time around. -Oprah Winfrey

Self & Spirit

2009-10-06T10:11:00.001-07:00

Cautious Approach

Do not bite at the bait of pleasure, till you know there is no hook beneath it. -Thomas Jefferson

WBB Snapshot

2009-10-06T10:02:00.000-07:00

Exercise your worth – no matter what the situation

In the current economy, women more than ever doubt themselves when it comes to asking for money and getting paid what they deserve.

Commonplace are statements such as: “I can’t ask my boss for a raise because people are losing their jobs,” to “I didn’t counteroffer because the recruiter told me there were 75 other candidates,” to “I can’t raise my consultant fees because I would lose all my clients.”

The funny thing is, these excuses are very similar to what women were saying prior to the economic downtown. Read more in the Boston Herald Womens Business News