Posts in Inspirational Role Models
Driving Naturalicious: CEO on Confidence, Building Natural Haircare Brand

As the global digital communications director for Ford Motor Company, Gwen Jimmere had a company car that was a baby blue Mustang convertible, passes to the Super Bowl and paid travel around the world. But it was not what she wanted ultimately wanted to do.  

Read More
It’s 2020: New decade, old secrets from the trail of life.

Issue 118— January 20, 2020

It was a gorgeous Arizona Sunday, not yet two weeks into the new year and the new decade. The 2020s. I love that nice round number. I was lighthearted, with the sense of optimism I get at such a time, when it seems like the slate is clean and the future open to our intentions.

Read More
Press Pause: Co-CEO Offers 3 Life Lessons For The New Year and Forever

At 34, Tania Luna has already held 30 jobs. Now co-CEO at LifeLabs Learning, the author, who also co-founded Surprise Enterprises, attributes her resilience to a complicated life viewed with gratitude and surprise. Luna thought the Brooklyn homeless shelter she and her family lived in during the early 90s was a hotel. They had arrived in New York when she was five years old from Ukraine seeking asylum after the devastating Chernobyl accident in 1986.

Read More
Who You Calling That? Is It Time To Retire The Badass Women Title?

The Merriam Webster dictionary defines badass as “informal + sometimes offensive : ready to cause or get into trouble” as a noun. As an adjective, informal + sometimes offensive as in “of formidable strength or skill such a badass guitar player.”

Read More
Be Bold: 1619 Creator Nikole Hannah-Jones on Reframing History

“This shows what happens when you tell the most difficult stories without fear,” says Nikole Hannah-Jones, accepting The Ripple Effect Award at the 25th annual Studs Terkel Community Media Awards from Public Narrative in Chicago. The New York Times columnist who created the 1619 Project of “print, audio podcasts, school curriculum, essays, stories, poetry and historic reframing” defining the context of 400 years of slavery in America, has received accolades and awards across the country for the effort.

Read More
Find Your “Zone Of Genius:” Teen Vogue Former Editor’s Tips on Leading, Confidence and Work

“Appoint yourself,” Elaine Welteroth, author, journalist, “Project Runway” judge and former editor in chief of Teen Vogue, told a crowd of close to 2,000 at the 34th annual Chicago Foundation for Women luncheon. “We have a responsibility to make a difference right where we are.”

Read More
A Cup Of Soup For A Better Future: CEO Offers Lessons on Leading For Change

Thirty years ago this year The Women’s Bean Project started with $500 and a cup of bean soup. The idea that founder Josey Eyre had in 1989 was to transform the lives of homeless women in Colorado Springs to employed workers living independently with their families. So Eyre bought $500 in supplies to make bean soup mix and quickly sold $6,000 in mixes on the initial investment.

Read More
Dress As If: cabi Co-Founder Tips on Style, Entrepreneurship and What's Next

As a child, Sydney Ryan says she only played with dolls because she wanted to design clothes for them. So it’s not much of a surprise that Ryan later became a co-founder and chief culture officer of Cabi, “a company for women by women” that is personalized direct sales shopping with home pop-up shops with company contract stylists.

Read More
Power Of Service and Vision: Center of Public Integrity CEO Leads With Purpose

“I am not CEO Susan; it sounds like a new version of Barbie,” says Susan Smith Richardson, CEO of the Center for Public Integrity. As keynote speaker at the recent Journalism & Women Symposium annual Conference and Mentoring Project in Williamsburg, Va. recently, Richardson, the award-winning former editorial director of Newsroom Practice Change at Solutions Journalism Network and former editor and publisher of The Chicago Reporter, spoke of the value of using your power in service to fulfill a vision.

Read More
Women Leading Green: Climate Change Leadership Affects Workplaces

This is about more than plastic water bottles and individual coffee pods in the office kitchen. And more than putting plants around the office and calling your organization “green.” Sustainability, environmental protections and systemic changes to protect the planet are issues challenging leaders, and particularly women leaders.

Read More
Women Do News: Campaign Now To Raise Visibility of Women Journalists Globally

You have to be seen and heard. To that end, Angilee Shah, Jareen Imam, Katherine Rowlands and Emily Gertz have a mission on behalf of women journalists. These four accomplished journalists, as part of Take The Lead’s inaugural 50 Women Can Change The World in Journalism cohort, have a plan to specifically increase the visibility, recognition and credibility of women journalists around the world.

Read More
Balancing Act: Serial E-Commerce Entrepreneur Offers 4 Lessons on Thriving

For someone who planned on being a doctor from a young age, Sabina King has taken a very different route—starting several businesses and earning many stamps on many pages of her passport in the process. A founder and creator of multiple e-commerce business startups, including most recently as co-founder and CEO of HempureCBD, King speaks to a life lived intentionally and without restriction by geography.

Read More