Women in Business Make Life Better Tomorrow and Today

Five days ago as the news broke about Syracuse native Kathyrn Smith hired as the first special teams quality coach in the NFL, I couldn’t stop myself from immediately expressing my joy in a blog post that was picked up quickly on social media. Then yesterday before a crowd of 40 women at my company’s kick-off event of 2016, I proudly announced I only see the world through pink glasses which means women’s issues are always foremost in my eye and heart and I encouraged them to see the same way.

What I have come to realize after 50 years of living and 20 years as a woman entrepreneur is that joy and passion become an essential part of your everyday life when you have a cause you believe in and fight for. Sometimes the intense feelings we have can be transformed into non-for-profit organizations, missions that fuel a new company, or flames that ignite a writing or speaking career.

Last year my path crossed with more female icons than ever before – Kathrine Switzer, first woman to run in the Boston Marathon, Elizabeth Cady Stanton’s impersonator who I met at the Women’s Rights Park and invited as the keynote speaker of my annual Retreat, and Jill Tietjen, a long time business associate who was leading the National Women’s Hall of Fame for a short time. Serendipity placed these women in my path in 2016 and fueled my ongoing desire to inspire and remind women to keep female causes first and foremost in their minds.

The Women TIES Mission for 2016, which I announced at yesterday’s special event, is “See Pink, Live Pink, Buy Pink.” By living this motto, I encourage women affiliated with me to see the world from a female perspective in all respects – business, sports, and politics; to support women and girl initiatives and to commit to buying from women entrepreneurs and saleswomen to help with pay inequality. It is a simple mission but one fueled by the extraordinary women I meet every day of my life – especially my business life. Next week Women TIES will have a major announcement about a major sponsorship of an event to back our feminist passion.

Today I suggest you write down the number one cause that fuels your life or business; then ask yourself am I doing enough to make a difference to help this cause in the way I live, operate and act? If you aren’t, what additional actions can you take to step up your contributions to your cause? Do you need to speak or write about it more? Do you need to get more involved with a local or national organization to further the movement? Do you need to collaborate with like minded people to make more of a difference? I challenge you to step up your activity in an area where your unique voice and actions can really help a cause.