Posted on Sun, Jun 03, 2012 @ 01:54 PM
Wednesday, June 6, 2012
5:30 pm to 8:30 pm
Deloitte, 555 Mission Street, San Francisco
The Friends of the San Francisco Commission on the Status of Women in cooperation with the UC Davis Graduate School of Management invite you to participate in an engaging conversation to highlight the current positive trends and identify proactive initiatives for the future.
“The world that you want to live in and that you need to live in needs you to create it; needs you to create it. It needs your input. The world needs to hear what you have to say. The last word has not been spoken...The last word has not been spoken." - Beah Richards
The landscape for women in corporate leadership is evolving. While the “numbers” according to studies done on a national level by Catalyst and UC Davis for California, have shown that the representation of women in senior leadership positions has stalled in recent years, the national and global conversation is heating up.
With women graduating with advanced degrees in record numbers, there is a drive on the part of the younger generations of women to seek more expansive opportunities. We are also seeing the growing economic contribution and clout of women as both earners and consumers.
These trends are significant for global and local economies and with both positive and stagnant trends it is important to stay focused on the positive steps that still need to be and can be taken to move the agenda along at a more rapid pace.
The evening’s panel of both female and male experts will address the following questions:
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What is really happening in the numbers?
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What does this mean for our economies and why is it important?
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What are some companies and agencies currently doing to promote gender equity?
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How can we, as individual women and men, corporations and leaders, encourage the continued advancement of women and offer support to our current and our future women leaders?
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The goal of the event is to inform, inspire and empower people - women and men - across industries and across generations to more purposefully and successfully advance women to increase the voices of women at the leadership tables in the public and private sectors.
The conversation will not stop with the panel as we will ask all event participants to engage and interact in developing solutions. This is an inclusive conversation that invites active collaboration.
After the panel presents, each table will engage in a facilitated conversation about concrete next steps that can be taken and visionary ideas for the future. The results of these conversations will be compiled into a “Call To Action” paper that will be available to all the participants via the Friends website to be used as the foundation for further conversations, events and research.
To answer the "call" on June 6th, please register through the following link.
Posted on Sun, Feb 12, 2012 @ 02:29 PM
Harnessing the power of business, technology and innovation, TechWomen brings emerging women leaders in technology sectors from the Middle East and North Africa together with their American counterparts to take part in a professional mentorship at leading technology and innovation companies in Silicon Valley and the San Francisco Bay Area, and to experience American society and culture firsthand.
The Department of State is partnering with the Institute of International Education (IIE) and the Anita Borg Institute for Women and Technology (ABI) to implement this initiative and are in need of women mentors in the following areas: technology fields including ICT, renewable energy, engineering and others to serve as professional Mentors as well as those working in other professional fields to serve as Cultural Mentors to women coming from the Middle East and North Africa. This is an incredible opportunity you won't want to miss!
Two informational meetings are being held in the Bay Area on February 13th in San Francisco and Mountain View where you can learn more about the program and how to get involved as a Technical or Cultural Mentor. The Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Professional and Cultural Exchanges will speak at the events to share the Department of State’s vision and objectives for its TechWomen initiative. The events will focus on providing current and prospective TechWomen partner companies and Mentors with an overview of the TechWomen 2012 program. They will have a panel of TechWomen 2011 Mentors at each event. This will also be a great networking opportunity!
San Francisco Event
When: 8 a.m. – Breakfast reception
8:30 – 10: 30 a.m. – Program
Where: Commonwealth Club, 595 Market Street, 2nd Floor
San Francisco, CA 94105
Silicon Valley Event
When: 4 p.m. – Reception
4:30 – 6: 30 p.m. – Program
Where: Microsoft Conference Center, 1065 La Avenida St.
Mountain View, CA, 94043
Please RSVP as soon as possible at: http://techwomenmentorevent.eventbrite.com/
Space is limited, so please register as soon as possible. Registration will close once capacity is reached.
About TechWomen:
TechWomen is a very high profile initiative launched by Secretary Clinton in 2011. Last year many of the most innovative companies in Silicon Valley and the Bay Area participated. You can learn more about the program here: http://www.techwomen.org/
About the author: Celeste Paradise is a multi award-winning Silicon Valley Professional with 10+ years IT experience in media, advertising, operations management/optimization, social media & marketing from start-up to non-profit to Fortune 500. She holds a graduate degree in Information Systems Security, certifications in SCRUM & Product Management, and graduate certificates in business strategy, program management, and information system security.
Posted on Wed, Feb 01, 2012 @ 07:22 PM
It’s the eternal debate you have with yourself every Friday afternoon, whether or not should attend your companies’ happy hour. I am sure you can come up with professional and personal reasons you may think you shouldn’t. But this day in age it’s all about who you know and a little about what you know. You can still attend company happy hours and maintain your professional and personal standards. Here are some reasons you should hit happy hour next week:
Free Drinks
First and foremost, this is probably the most financially responsible reason. Free adult beverages and yummy food. And good news, you don’t have to run to the grocery store that night, who could pass that up?
Meet New People and Network
Company Happy Hours are very popular, most likely there will be several other companies at the same restaurant/bar location. This is a perfect time to network and meet new people in a social setting. No office walls to pressure your evening. Plus you never know when you could possibly find new business or a new client or know someone who knows someone. So don’t be shy, broaden your horizons and bring lots of business cards.
Build and Maintain Relationships
Your career depends on your quality of productivity and your productivity most likely comes from a co-workers help. With that said, if you can’t get along with your team members you may not be able to produce. This is a good environment for your co-workers to see you in a different light. If they can trust you outside of work and they can for sure trust inside at work.
Fun Stress Relief
It is perfectly acceptable to have a cocktail or two with co-workers and (even bosses) and have fun. You spend your whole week trying to meet a deadline and it’s enjoyable to celebrate with co-workers. You work hard and it’s ok to play hard. It’s good to socialize and it’s a bonding experience for the company to know that you all can work and play nice together.
Now it’s time to get out there and start mingling. Just keep a few good tips in mind to make sure it is a true ‘Happy’ hour. Be sure to eat, empty stomach does not mix well with alcohol. Don’t overdo it; set yourself a drink limit to prevent possible negative occurrences. And remember what your mother told you,’ If you have nothing nice to say, then don’t say anything at all.’ Be safe and happy socializing!
Author Bio
Melanie Slaugh is enthusiastic about the growing prospects and opportunities of various industries and writing articles on various consumer goods and services as a freelance writer. She writes extensively for internet service providers and also topics related to internet service providers for presenting consumers with the information they need to choose the right Internet package for them. She can be reached at slaugh.slaugh907 @ gmail.com.
Posted on Fri, Dec 30, 2011 @ 06:17 PM
Oh yes…it is that time of year again when people begin to reflect on the previous year (maybe years), and what they would like to accomplish moving forward. We laughingly joke about the ‘resolutions’ we absolutely will accomplish this year....knowing that majority of them will slide into the following year to be restated over and over and over again. So what does it take to make resolutions that stick?
Play To Your Strengths
I recently attended an offsite focused on Strengths and Strengths Based Leadership that is, what I consider, my launching pad for achieving my resolutions this year. If you have not taken the Clifton Strengths Finder 2.0 assessment I highly recommend it. To follow along with this blog post please be sure to purchase the book ‘Strengths Based Leadership’ and the accompanying survey access code as it will provide you with more information than the ‘Strengths Finder 2.0’ book.
The StrengthsFinder assessment is the culmination of more than 50 years of Dr. Clifton’s (and a team of scientists) work surrounding Strengths-Based Psychology. After a semi-brief survey it provides you with a report on your top five strengths out of a possible thirty, along with suggestions on how you can apply your stengths. Understanding your unique personal strengths, and reflecting on how you apply these in your life TODAY to accomplish your goals is critical to understanding how you can accomplish your goals for the future.
There are several fundamental concepts regarding your Strengths:
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You are a unique combination of strengths and even when someone has the same Top 5 strengths they will have different meaning and application. Yes, we are all truly unique.
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A strength is something you are both good at and passionate about.
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A strength is not something you are good at but hate doing.
Applying Your Strengths
Once you have completed the survey you will be provided with a report outlining your top 5 strengths as well as what themes these strengths fit within (again, please be sure to use the survey access code from the ‘Strengths Based Leadership’ book). Your strengths will fall within four themes:
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Executing
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Influencing
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Relationship Building
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Strategic Thinking
The next step is to create a table with your resolutions and applicable themes. Your resolutions should follow the SMART method (Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Realistic, Timely). A reasonable goal is not to become a World Class athlete in 2 months! More information about this method of setting goals can be found at ‘Creating S.M.A.R.T. Goals’.
The following is an example resolutions table:
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Resolutions
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Strengths Themes
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Executing
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Relationship Building
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Strategic Thinking
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Influencing
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Resolution 1 – Walk 30 minutes every day
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[Achiever] – Track using a FitBit and achieve a goal of 8,000 steps per day by March
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[Learner] – Research the best walking programs to achieve maximum fitness by end of January
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Resolution 2 – Expand professional network by 50 people outside of my current company
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[Achiever] – Decide on 2 certificates I would like to achieve this year (& when) and professionally connect to class participants on LinkedIn
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[Individualization] – Join a mentoring program where I can act as a Mentor for people at other companies
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[Strategic] – Join Advisory boards for organizations & issues I care deeply about
[Learner] – attend FWL events each month and professionally connect to participants on LinkedIn
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Resolution 3
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Resolution 4
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For each resolution reflect on how you can use the Strengths and Strengths Themes to accomplish your goal. Your individual report from the StrengthsFinder Assessment and the book can help you with ideas on how to apply your particular strengths. Write in examples of how you will use your natural strength to accomplish your resolution. It is o.k to combine strength types, as well as strength themes to get the job done. The more you apply your natural strengths…the far more likely you are to achieve your resolution.
Wishing You Success in Your Resolutions & A Happy New Year!
About the author: Celeste Paradise is an award-winning Silicon Valley Professional with 10+ years IT experience in media, advertising, operations management/optimization, social media & marketing. You can connect with her via: 
Posted on Fri, Oct 21, 2011 @ 07:24 PM
Women make extremely effective leaders. The traits that we have are a natural fit for a leadership model that promotes empathy and consensus building. But moving through the mid-level ranks and into corporate boardrooms is still going to present a greater challenge to us. Figuring out how to maneuver smoothly and successfully toward leadership positions requires a strategy.
Education
Women have been graduating high school and receiving undergraduate degrees in greater percentages than men, and that trend looks like it's growing. But we need to encourage more of us toward MBA's and JD's to capitalize on our educational advantage and sharpen our competitive edge. We also need to encourage more business-track Ph.D.'s in areas that aren't strictly academic. Any gains in education among women are an intrinsically positive step for advancing in the workforce. But exploiting our educational advantage will require more advanced degrees in business, marketing and law.
Networking
Finding advancement opportunities is always the unspoken but hoped for outcome of networking. That doesn't mean you're shamelessly opportunistic. It's just common sense pragmatism. Given that the best-case scenario in networking is leveraging a contact into a better job, it makes sense to pursue a strategy of increasing your current contacts to include individuals that exercise power. It's not always possible to have frequent lunches with the CEO—though you might be surprised at how often that could happen if you pursued it—but a lot of networking opportunities go unrealized just because people never think to ask. Going out for lunch or drinks after work can be an extremely effective way to get to know people in your organization whom you rarely socialize with in the workplace. This can be a far more effective tactic than you might think. It just requires the willingness to step out of your immediate comfort zone.
Mentoring
It's hard to overstate the importance of mentoring in the work place, and it's especially important for women. In many corporate environments, the good old boy environment of informal mentoring among men has existed since time immemorial. But women in leadership need to make a special effort to reach out and mentor younger women. If formal mentoring programs exist in your organization, use them to groom younger women with leadership potential. And if you don't have formal mentoring programs, make the extra effort to introduce informal mentoring.
Reach Out
If you're in a leadership position, take the time to interact with younger women in a sort of inverted power dynamic networking fashion. Rather than reaching upward as one tends to do with traditional networking, approaching informal mentoring in the opposite fashion means that you reach down through the ranks and give women the tools they need to move up into leadership ranks. Nobody is going to step aside and just give us a seat at the table in the corporate boardroom. We have to make sure that we make a conscious effort to use all the tools at our disposal to make it happen.
Jesse Langley lives near Chicago. She divides her time among work, blogging and family life. She advocates for online mba programs and has a keen interest in women's leadership roles in contemporary society. She also writes for www.professionalintern.com.
Posted on Sat, Sep 24, 2011 @ 02:17 PM
Future Women Leaders is delighted to announce that Katie Fox, Founder and President of Vino Tabi Winery, will be hosting us for a late afternoon wine tasting session at Vino Tabi in Santa Cruz on Sunday, October 16 at 4:30PM.
Come and learn about Katie's personal path to winemaking and custom winemaking at a Santa Cruz boutique winery.
Vino Tabi makes custom wine - 1 barrel at a time for their customers.
"Tabi" means journey in Japanese, and we take you on your personal journey of winemaking. You can experience all aspects of harvest and winemaking and also create your own private label.
Born and raised in Japan, Katie's background includes global busienss and high tech marketing for over 25 years for Fortune 100 and 500 firms and international wine marketing experience with Fox Wine Marketing Consultancy. Her education includes 2 years of College in Japan (ICC) followed by a BA from UC Santa Cruz and an MBA from the University of Texas at Dallas as well as international wine marketing and business certificates from the University of Bordeaux and UC Davis, along with 10 years of experience in winemaking.
Experience for yourself and learn about delicious, ultra-premium wines!
Click on the following link to register for the event.
The Vino Tabi Experience (one wine flight + one glass of red or white)
Members: $20.00
Non-members: $25.00
Designated Driver Rate (no alcohol included):
Members: $10.00
Non-members: $15.00
*Hors d'oeuvres and non-alcoholic refreshments will be served as well.
**Registration/Reservations are limited. FWL Members will receive preferred pricing. For more information about becoming an FWL Member (click here).
Last day to reserve (or until full) is October 14th.
More Information:
Contact Siejen Yin-Stevenson at events@futurewomenleaders.net with any questions about this event. Hope to see you on October 16th!
Posted on Fri, Aug 19, 2011 @ 03:45 PM
Women have the gift of balancing myriad roles…taking on responsibilities in our families, work places, and communities. Priding ourselves on the ability to ‘do it all,’ we often neglect to give ourselves uninterrupted time to step away from our day-to-day to rejuvenate our spirits, reflect on who we are and who we want to become, dream about what we want to create in our lives, and design how we will bring our dreams to fruition.
If your personal and professional aspirations need refueling, we invite you to join Barbara Fittipaldi, acclaimed facilitator and life coach, for an extraordinary and transformational women’s retreat on the Big Island of Hawaii. Over the course of five days, connect with your source of innovation to design a future that inspires you, and brings to life your unique potential and gifts. Shed 'straight-jackets' and overcome obstacles that have limited your dreams, future and life.
A peaceful island retreat center with organic meals, yoga, Hawaiian traditions and an island excursion support you in renewing your spirit, vitality and focus, as you learn proven methods to transform what you hope for into reality. Depart ready to live a fulfilling, inspired and joy-filled life, with strategies and clearly mapped pathways to make things happen.
FWL Members receive a special discount of $200 off. Details can be found via our FWL Promotions page.
Who Should Attend this Retreat?
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Women at a point of transition in their personal/professional life, and desiring to explore what they want to create and how to bring it to fruition.
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Women who know what they want to create in their personal/professional life, and who are ready to create a personal roadmap with practical tools and the support network to get there.
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Women who are already on track pursuing their personal/professional vision, and ready to achieve breakthrough results.
FWL Members receive a special discount of $200 off. Details can be found via our FWL Promotions page.
For more information and to sign up, visit: http://www.worldbeyondtours.com/Hawaii-Womens-Retreat.html
Note: A small number of partial scholarships are available on a first-come, first-serve basis to support women who need financial assistance to attend.
Posted on Wed, Jul 06, 2011 @ 10:07 PM
Recently scientists have been studying the benefits of improvisation and how it can contribute to your effectiveness in an organization as it’s linked to such things as: interpreting your environment, crafting strategy, cultivating leadership, fostering teamwork and many more. Checkout this abstract for some food for thought about improv --http://www.jstor.org/pss/2640301.
Join us on Thursday, July 28th for FWL’s first ever Improv Workshop. This session will be lead by Rebecca Stockley, one of the co-founders of BATS School of Improv – the largest and longest-running Improv Theatre and School in Northern California.
REGISTER TODAY!
Participants will engage in interactive exercises learning the fundamentals of improv: spontaneity, collaboration, body language, and story. Rebecca will be focusing the workshop on our presence as women and how this comes across when we are presenting, sharing ideas and growing ourselves as leaders. Receive insight into how you are showing up and learn about how you can continue to build your leadership presence.
You’ll walk away from this talk with practical tips to improve your presence and make these skills your own so you look and feel more confident.
About Rebecca Stockley:
A co-founder of BATS Improv, Rebecca was the Dean of the BATS School of Improv from 1992 to 2003. Rebecca has been designing and teaching improvisation workshops since 1985.
She has created and implemented improvisation theatre workshops and programs for several theatre training programs including: the American Conservatory Theatre Advanced Training Program; the Oregon Shakespeare Festival; and Stanford University. Rebecca currently performs and coaches with BATS Improv and is the Improv and Acting coach at Electronic Arts, Pixar Animation Studios and Lucasfilm.