Dear Mr. Zuckerberg,

Congratulations are definitely in order. That S-1 filing for Facebook’s IPO was filled with impressive numbers: $3.7 billion in revenue last year, $1 billion in earnings, and $3.9 billion in the bank account. There was one number that really caught my eye though:

Zero.

Zero is the number of women listed on Facebook’s Board of Directors.

What I want to know is why?

Many studies show that companies with high percentages of women on the Board perform far better than companies without women on the Board. In fact, the Fortune 500 companies with the highest percentage of female directors have a 62% higher return on invested capital than companies with the lowest percentages of female directors, according to one article outlining the business case for women on Boards.

Surely you know the value of women in leadership positions though since Sheryl Sandberg has helped elevate Facebook to unprecedented success. Have you asked her what she thinks about women being shut out of the Boardroom at Facebook? I’d also like to remind you that women make up 58% of your users.

In your letter submitted with the IPO filing, you said your goal is ” to give everyone a voice and to help transform society for the future.” I challenge you to walk the walk and amplify the voices of women and other minorities by fighting to elect them to Facebook’s Board of Directors. We can’t transform society and leave women behind.

Sincerely,

Natalie MacNeil, SheTakesOnTheWorld.com

Dear Mr. Zuckerberg: Where Are the Women? is a post from She Takes on the World

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In high school, my classmates voted me “Most Likely to Succeed,” an honor that, seven years later, still provides a confidence boost I am grateful for. A subsequent conversation with a college classmate, however, left me wondering what my high school peers – or anyone, for that matter – meant when they predicted that I would “succeed.”

Said classmate – let’s call her Mary – declared that she would likely forgo having children in order to focus on being “successful.” Her posture did not resonate with me because I want kids someday. Our conversation prompted me to ponder my personal definition of success and, ever since, I have been attentive to how others define this amorphous term.

According to Dictionary.com, success can mean: 1) the favorable or prosperous termination of attempts or endeavors or 2) the attainment of wealth, position, honors, or the like.

You may notice that the definitions above are vague and leave room for interpretation. Consider, then, these scenarios:

• Would six figure earnings make you successful if you are uninterested in your work?
• Are you successful if you have a profitable business but no time for yourself?
• Is a company’s most productive member successful if she is not held in high esteem by her colleagues?

 
It is important for everyone, but especially for women (who often are forced to make more difficult life choices than men), to have a clear, nuanced, highly personal definition of success. Most of us act based on such a definition, but may not be fully aware of it, which is akin to aiming for the bull’s-eye on a moving target. If you are wondering where to begin to create this definition, here are some ways to get started:

Broaden Your Concept of Success

A useful definition of success is one that comprises all areas of your life, not just your career. Our personal and professional lives do not exist in vacuums; decisions in one realm have implications for the other. Consider these implications when creating your definition.

Measuring Success

Should success be measured in dollars? In accolades? Both? There is no right answer. The “yardsticks” you use to measure success are integral to your definition, however, therefore you need to be conscious of what they are. Make sure they are yours and not someone else’s.

A Journey, Not a Destination

You have probably heard the adage, “success is a journey, not a destination.” With this in mind, make it a point to distinguish between your short-term and long-term definitions of success. You can be successful right now even if you have not yet achieved your ultimate goals. Once you have created an overarching definition of success, break it down into milestones to pinpoint what you need to accomplish to consider yourself successful in the present moment.

What Does it Mean to Succeed? is a post from She Takes on the World

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It’s 2011 and women are still fighting for their voices to be heard in the workforce.

The New Zealand Herald recently reported that Avivah Wittenbert-Cox, an international expert on gender balance and best-selling author is fighting the good and all too familiar fight for female equality in the workplace. This goal is to start hiring more women and stop sending the few already there to training courses designed to teach them how to work like a man.

With more and more women graduating with college degrees in their field, there is an expectation that these numbers cannot be ignored and organizations will begin to adapt to them and to their needs and working styles. But many companies still use the glass ceiling metaphor in how far women may advance on the management train. Should you get sidetracked by family or personal reasons that women and men alike cannot help, Wittenbert-Cox says that this is the case where, “the career train passes only once and if you miss it, you can’t get back on -ever.”

What is happening here?

Granted this is an international publication I’m quoting from, but that should not make this sort of practice acceptable. I should not have to state that women are making progressive strides in business because it should be a given. There are Renaissance women all around us, wearing and working with different hats all day long. Not one of those women should have to change their working style if it has been proven to be successful because it isn’t like a man’s. In order to survive in the future, companies throughout the world had better listen to the sound because women today aren’t going anywhere but to the top- we’re Renaissance women you know!

Be Your Own Renaissance Woman is a post from She Takes on the World

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Everyone has long suspected that the purse strings are held by women. How many times have we heard that its women that make 85% of the buying decisions in their households?

But the thing we are seeing emerge now is that women are not just the chief purchasing officers, they are also the earners – a reality that has enormous consequences across global economies.

The emergence of a global “She-conomy” will have a major impact on everything from education to marketing and branding to fertility levels. While it’s true that most women still earn less than men, are far less likely to be in the highest-salaried executive positions, there are numerous positive indicators on the horizon in the U.S.:

There are already many more women than men enrolled in and graduating from universities:

• Women account for more than half of college students and half the work force, which has delayed motherhood and marriage.
• For the first time, a majority of mothers, 54 percent, have a college education, up from 41 percent in 1990.

Women increasingly serve as household breadwinners and white-collar executives:

• Women are widely considered the most powerful and growing demographic with respect to global consumer power. In fact, about a third of women out-earn their husbands.
• Many women have suffered less than men in this recession. They were more likely to be in health care and other sectors/jobs that were not hit as hard as construction and manufacturing. They are also increasingly likely to have the education required. One in five men 25 to 54 is not working, and the jobs that many of these men once had will not return.
• Many indicators point toward women comprising a greater percentage of white-collar professional positions going forward, while men who have been displaced will need to find alternatives – perhaps through vocational training or entering trade professions.

What about the global economy?

• 1 billion additional middle class women are expected to enter it over the next decade. If China and India each represent 1 billion emerging participants in the global marketplace, then this “third billion” will be made up of women, in both developing and industrialized nations, whose economic lives have previously been stunted, under-leveraged, or suppressed.
• Globally, women total $13 trillion in yearly earnings and could reach $18 trillion in the next five years, representing a growth market twice as big as China and India combined.

What will this mean in the workplace?

• In the “she-conomies” that are emerging, communication and leadership styles that resonate with, inspire and include women will also be in greater demand. As will financial planning products and services.
• But it also means, we are on the precipice of a massive economic power shift!

Women in Charge: The Emerging Global “She-conomy” is a post from She Takes on the World

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Remember when you were ten and it was so easy to ask for an extra dollar in your allowance if you pulled a few extra weeds or washed a couple more dishes? Being a young lady at the ripe age of ten, if you worked hard you’d earn the right to play hard.  That sweet, sweet vision so vivid in your imagination of playing with the latest Barbie became a little closer to reality upon asking your parents for a temporary raise with sugar on top.

30 or 40 years later, asking for more money doesn’t seem to be such an easy task—you’re no longer able to bat your eye lashes and take on some of your brother’s chores in order to attain more money.

When I was a manager at Intuit (prior to becoming MyCorporation) I saw first-hand how woman beat around the bush when it came to asking for a raise.

Based off various studies, it’s a known fact that women have a more difficult time asking for raises in the work-place than men. Why is that?
 

Women find the good in things.

Even if a woman isn’t getting paid the salary she thinks she should or is getting paid less than a co-worker, she will take into account other benefits of her job to balance out the lack of salary.  Things like benefits (i.e. health and dental), flexibility, and vacation time all seem super great when what you’re getting paid isn’t at the top of the list.  A person could think, “Well I’m not getting paid what Sheila is, but I get to take time off to go to my kid’s soccer games so it evens out.”
 

Women don’t want a bad rep.

If a woman marched into her boss’ office and confidently laid out why she should be receiving more money she would come off as hostile and bitchy.  Whereas, if a man did the same thing, he would be complemented on his strong, no-nonsense behavior.  Women want to please people and most shudder at the thought of negative gossip frolicking around the office concerning what an arrogant piece of work they are.
 

Women don’t want to cross others.

Most women would rather not take a raise if it meant having to step over other people to receive the money. If conflict can be avoided- it will be avoided.  Minimizing conflict makes for a peaceful, productive work environment—who wouldn’t want that?

However, I fully believe all things no longer apply when asking for a raise if a) the woman thoroughly believes she honestly deserves a raise to be paired with the amount of work she puts in and b) there is a financial need at home.  If a mother has kids to feed you better believe she’ll be asking for a raise despite any gossip uttered about her.
 

Here’s what you should do when asking for a raise:

Be prepared with reasons as to why you deserve a raise.

 
Coming into your boss’ office being ready to explain why you ‘need the money’ is not affective nor is it appropriate.  Actually lay down what you’ve done and how the company has benefited from you as well as plans for the future. Once you’ve done that, all you can do is prove your hard work.  Don’t over ask—once is plenty, the seed is planted.

That being said, I do feel if a person is putting in the hard work on her own, good things will come without having to ask because it will just be so painfully evident how well she’s doing.  When I worked under Intuit I definitely had the ‘mommy label’ slapped across my forehead—which was paired with the thought that because my attention was split between being at work and being a mother I was less of an employee.  Well, I worked my butt off and because of that maintained and excelled at being a manager and now the CEO of the new company, all while being a mother.

I leave you with the words of Thomas Jefferson: “I’m a great believer in luck and I find the harder I work, the more I have of it. “

I Need a Raise: With Sugar on Top is a post from She Takes on the World

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Getting Things Done

You have visualized what you want, determined your goals, and figured out how to make the time to put toward your business, project, or career. Fantastic! Let’s kick things up a notch.
 

Deadlines & Benchmarks

Deadlines are great for keeping your projects on track.

• Decide what steps you need to take to accomplish one of your larger goals. A benchmark for redesigning your website would be to do research. If you are writing a book, each chapter can be a step. If you are trying to advance your career, you might want to try one new networking event per month.
• Look at a calendar and determine what would be a reasonable deadline for accomplishing each task. Factor in a cushion for time when you know you will be less productive: family vacations, school holidays, seasonal crunch-time at work.
• As with your goals, write these deadlines down. Put them in your calendar, as well as in a place you look at frequently.

Rules & Rewards

Set up your own personal system of rules and rewards.

• What do you like to do? Are you a yogi, an entertainment fan or a foodie?
• What do you need to accomplish? An hour of work, a written document, a business makeover?
• What will encourage you to get your work done? A walk on the beach, a movie, dinner out?

Examples

Make a list of each task and the reward you will receive after you complete it.

• One hour’s worth of work allows you 15 minutes of social media time.
• After you accomplish your weekly goal, enjoy a movie or a yoga class.
• Once you accomplish a monthly goal, treat yourself to dinner out.

Celebrate every victory … big and small. And, remember, living your dreams is the greatest reward!

Goal Setting: Making it Happen with Rules and Rewards is a post from She Takes on the World

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Step #6: Invest

When you reach this step, you’ll have no payments—except the house—and a fully-funded emergency fund. Now it’s time to get serious about building wealth!

One of my favorite financial advisors, Dave Ramsey, suggests “investing 15% of your household income into Roth IRAs and pre-tax retirement plans.” He cautions that you shouldn’t invest more than that because the extra money will help to complete the next two steps: college savings and paying off your home early.

There are many ways you can split up your fifteen percent. Take advantage of your company-sponsored Roth 401 (k) and any matching first. For example, if my employer matched $1.00 for the first 3%, I’d contribute 3%, which actually equates to 6% due to the match. Then I may put the remaining 9% in to a personal Roth IRA or traditional 401(k), or invest in my ESPP (Employee Stock Purchase Program) for diversification. (One thing I did to complete this step was to get some free advice from my banking institution.) Troll around on LinkedIn, too, to see if there are any financial planners in your area who wouldn’t mind answering a few of your money questions.

If you need to save for college, be sure to have a goal in mind. Determine how much per month you should be saving at 12% interest in order to have enough for college. Why 12%? Because if you save at 12% and inflation is at 4%, then you are moving ahead of inflation at a net of 8% per year.

Remember: Never save for college using:

• Insurance
• Savings bonds (only 5-6% growth)
• Zero-coupon bonds. (only 6-8% growth)
• Pre-paid college tuition (only 7% inflation rate)
The best way to save for college is with Education Savings Accounts (ESAs) and 529 plans—which I opened for my 10-year-old son. Hard to believe, but college is possible without loans!

TODAY’S BITE-SIZED TO-DO:

Take stock of your retirement savings options at work. If you have a limited array, look into opening up a Roth IRA on your own. Then connect with a financial advisor to walk you through next steps based on your long-term financial goals. If you need to save for college, calculate how much money you’ll need for your local state university. Then inquire at your local bank about opening up an ESA or 529 plan for your child/children. Re-evaluate your budget, because now your disposable income will be reduced by about 15-18% as you save for retirement and college.

Next time we’ll talk about tackling your last big debt: paying off your home early! Yes . . . it can be done. ☺

Feel free to review the first five posts in the series

Step 1: How I paid off $93,000 in less than 3 years

Step 2: Budgeting

Step 3: Save $1000

Step 4: Debt Snowball

Step 5: Emergency Fund
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My Journey Out of Debt Step #6: Invest for Retirement and Save for Kids’ College is a post from She Takes on the World

Photo by kHyal: Wet Suit Jacket made of reclaimed scuba suit (Mistaken for Christian Lacroix apparel by sales associate in SoNo fashion boutique in 2008)

Vintage fashion sings to me. It began when I was a child, starting with hand-me-downs from a grammar school neighbor — to buying 1940s sweaters for a quarter each from a local thrift shop while in middle school. I didn’t realize at the time that I was recycling, as sustainability wasn’t in my vocabulary or in the minds of many Americans.

Later, in college, I studied fashion — in the post-hippie but pre official eco-friendly era. My retro taste led me to commerce by hunting and gathering fine vintage apparel out of piles of used clothing at the Dollar-A-Pound in Cambridge. I shopped primarily for myself, but would pick specific high-end pieces to sell to Newbury Street shops in downtown Boston at a nice student-supporting profit.

Somewhere in the 2000s — I officially launched kHyal Kouture — one-of-a-kind upcycled apparel and accessories created from vintage and reclaimed textiles and other materials. I also designed and wrote a branded monthly feature in a lifestyle magazine called kHyal Kouture — featuring tips for tricking out your wardrobe using reclaimed pieces. This tied into my life-long series of fashion related photographic self-portraits and accessories.

In 2011, I was delighted to find that my personal passion and hybrid conceptual projects based on the whims of my aesthetic taste is now a pilot program at FIT called the Sustainable Design Entrepreneur Certificate. I enrolled myself last spring and it’s introduced me to a rich community of like — but different — others. A place to refine one’s thinking on how to carve out a personal and professional stylish and sustainable future. Isn’t that what we all want?

kHyal Kouture Fashion and Style column (Design, photography, story ideas, writing)

kHyal Kouture Fashion and Style column (Design, photography, story ideas, writing)

"Axe Me Later" (Sculpture made with reclaimed axe and vintage rhinestones)

Described by FIT
The Sustainable Design Entrepreneurs Certificate Program provides designers with the knowledge, tools and resources to operate sustainable businesses. A core curriculum with a choice of three tracks — Fashion Design, Graphic Design and Interior Design — will empower you to assist clients in meeting sustainability goals and supply chain requirements.

For more information — visit FIT.

kHyal™ is an award-winning designer and the principal of fiZz, a boutique digital marketing strategy and communication design firm based in Bridgeport and Brooklyn. She also creates one-of-a-kind garments under the name kHyal Kouture using reclaimed and vintage textiles, as well as fashion-based fine art. kHyal is the co-founder of PUSH Workshops, DesignerGrill, and PUSH Design Camp— and the creator of The Weather sKwirl™.

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Style Saturday: One Woman’s Story About Following Her Passion for Sustainable Fashion Design is a post from She Takes on the World

Take a look at the photos above. Can you spot the difference?!

Hillary Clinton disappeared from one of the most historic scenes in recent American history and most people would not know it happened. (Perhaps more sadly, many might not care.) Please consider:

Editors of the Hasidic weekly Der Tzitung photoshopped the US Secretary of State and another woman out of the scene in which Mrs. Clinton, seated near President Obama, was watching the progress of the assassination of Osama Bin Laden.

This was quickly noticed and reported — the vanishment of the U.S. Secretary of State, even virtually, being something to note. Der Tzitung’s editors issued an apology and explanation. They meant no disrespect to Mrs. Clinton or the President, they said, but images of women in their publication are expressly forbidden — to “protect their modesty.”

Well now, White House policy expressly forbids the alteration of any official news photo, so the “modesty defense” would appear to fall short here. The editors did not need to run the photo at all — that would have defended Mrs. Clinton’s modesty, if indeed it was threatened.

But to alter the photo and thereby to change the face of history is not fairly an issue of modesty. It is a not-so-subtle repression of women, in another garb. It also has that Orwellian 1984 feel of Newspeak, in which the photos of the news really aren’t.

We can all look back to when women were not permitted to vote. Or to garner a fair share of property or wealth gained during marriage. Or to serve in combat military units. Laws have been passed, legal actions brought. Still women fight for equal rights and equal pay for equal work. Arguably they are further ahead in the United States than in much of the rest of the world.

One might argue that this is a tempest in a teapot and we have better things to do than to worry about the photographic exclusion of women — even as important as Hillary Clinton — in sectarian weeklies that few see and perhaps more could care less about.

I would contend, however, that this is gender discrimination dressed up as something else. Keeping images of women in the news out of the news implies that women don’t make or matter to the news. And that is simply wrong. And I would add that if you address the little things, the big things may begin to take care of themselves. (This was the apparent lesson of subway cleanup efforts in New York City, well described in Malcolm Gladwell’s “The Tipping Point,” wherein the battle against graffiti and turnstile-jumping began a trend toward a much cleaner and safer underground.)

Maybe the White House feels it has enough on its hands these days not to react to an item like this. Maybe Hillary doesn’t mind, and maybe the orthodox Jewish vote matters more. I would hope the White House enforcement arm for accuracy in media (do they have one?) would react to this in some official way, to say hey, you;re not allowed to do that, and we would like a retraction in the form of the accurate photograph published in the same place of prominence as the doctored one.

Oh, and by the way — there are better ways to respect and protect women’s modesty than by distorting their accurate role in history.

About the Contributor

Eric Best, author of Into My Father’s Wake, is a speaker and strategy consultant to individuals and corporations. Educated at Hamilton College, Harvard and Stanford Universities, his background as a journalist (Lowell Sun, USA Today, San Francisco Examiner), futurist (Global Business Network, Morgan Stanley), and solo ocean sailor (SF-Hawaii and back, ’89 and ’93) inform his insights. The father of three, he lives and maintains offices in Brooklyn, NY, where he currently consults for a global financial firm and is working on two new books. For more information please visit http://ericbestonline.com.

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton Has the Right To Be Seen is a post from She Takes on the World

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Goals are an essential tool in any successful life. Having healthy living goals are also important for staying on the right track. Here are some health topics you may want to consider when setting health goals for yourself.

Goal 1 – Treat Nutrition as a VIP!

Keep it clean, green, organic, natural, fresh and lean.

Exercise is clearly a key tool when practicing healthy living but even more important is what you eat and drink.
If you consume more calories than you burn each day then you will most certainly maintain your weight or on the down side keep putting it on! So, stay well away from anything that’s in a box or packet, soda’s, any ingredients you cannot pronounce and be wary of ‘diet’ foods too as they contain hidden sugars.

Goal 2 – Improve Your Posture

So suck and tuck girl, shoulders back and hold that head up high.

Make one of your goals to sit up straight and stand tall. Poor posture not only makes you look older, plumper and more sluggish but it can also do damage to your health. You may think that your exercise routine is causing your bad back or shoulder/hip trouble when really it’s your poor posture!
You can lose inches off your waist when you pull your stomach in and keep your abs tight.

Goal 3 – Learn How to Reduce Stress

Stress hormones become depleted and feel good hormones become abundant when you exercise and follow a healthy diet!

It’s kind of a given that women entrepreneurs will sometimes get stressed but you need to know that stress can wreak havoc on your whole mental and physical wellbeing; so it is extremely important to keep your stress levels low.

The best ways to handle stress is to regularly listen to relaxing music, practice deep breathing, stretch, meditate, distract yourself, take a walk, enjoy regular exercise, ask for help or pamper yourself. If you take regular exercise you will be able to handle stressful situations and your reactions with ease.

Goal 4 – Take Your Physical Fitness up a Gear

Switch up your workouts every four weeks and whatever you do, just keep moving!

‘Fitness’ is the state or condition of being physically sound and healthy, especially as the result of exercise and proper nutrition.

Regular exercise not only helps you feel physically better but also helps you to feel psychologically empowered. Here’s what you need in your workout repertoire…Interval Training, Metabolic Circuit Training, Bodyweight Workouts and any form of activity that you find fun like swimming, cycling, trekking, basketball.

It’s easy to think that you’ve failed a goal if not yet accomplished it, but all you have to do is press re-set on the stop watch of life and start again on your path to healthy living success.

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Take on the World with Healthy Living Goals is a post from She Takes on the World