Inspiration and wisdom from the Women’s March on Washington for women entrepreneurs
“She believed she could, so she did,” is the saying on the bracelet on my left arm given to me by my friend Susan Bertrand of Maureen’s Hope Foundation, worn all the way the Women’s March on DC and back. Not only did I believe but so did the 110 women who traveled with me via bus with an friendly bus driver who performed a light show for us as we sang Donna Summer songs when the trip got long.
After landing in Fredrick Maryland for the night before the March, I threw a dinner reception for all these women who did not know each other. Some were in their 70s, a few in the 20s, some African American and some white, a few were Jewish and others Catholic but we instantly bonded over one cause, one heart beat and in unity. A dance party broke out which most women took part in until the hotel manager made me shut it down. Only women would dance together in song so joyously.
The father of two girls and wife who were in the next room, told me they were marching for women’s rights and asked if their family could join us. Next thing I knew I was dancing with 12 and 9 year old sisters smack dab in the middle of our big dance circle. “Y.M.C.A.” played and the two girls happily danced in the center of the circle of grown up women. At the end, I gave them both shirts and told them to continue to fight for what they believe in from this age forward. They hugged me three times and hopped off to bed because they were getting up at 4 a.m. to go to the march. You would have thought Santa Claus was coming to town.
The next morning after boarding a train to DC at the end of the Shady Grove Metro line, I struck up a conversation with two twenty year old college students from Maryland traveling in to stand up for “human rights”. We shared our hopes and dreams during the 30 minute train ride. They became new sisters in solidarity.
Then we stood, marched, held up signs, spoke to old women, young women, young girls and men all with different reasons for attending. We witnessed a group holding a 6’ long pink yarn uterus for a woman’s right to choose. We shouted up to a Canadian women in the tree with her daughter telling us we could move to Canada if things didn’t work out in the USA. We broke into chants, songs, hymns, and hugs with people we did not know.
In front of the Capitol Building, I ran into my ESPNW contact and was interviewed about the importance of supporting female athletes and why equal pay for women counts. Later that night the video was aired. In it you’ll see the enthusiasm that jumped into the interview with me – other women. I embraced it. It was about sisterhood – energetic, happy, sisterhood.
On the train ride home, I sat with a young transgender youth who proudly told me she had changed her gender. He was 15. Next to him was a young girl in the arts. They both told me about why they marched on Washington and their dreams. They shared photos with me. We hugged as we departed and I told them to keep up their own dreams and fights. They thanked me and went on their way. My heart was changed forever in that moment. People are good. Children are good. Our future will be good because of them.
I returned home with a much larger pink heart than I ever had before – and that is saying something after 22 years of serving, promoting and inspiring women in New York State – and a new urgency to create a larger company that has four distinct divisions – one for business, one for sports, one for equality and one for life – all for women. I will hire women to help me so we can spread our message stronger from this day forward. I know I can do it because, “I believe and I will.”
Bridges in Business and Life
Business and Life Advice for Women Entrepreneurs and Female Business Owners
As I sat across from my son going back to his last semester at Syracuse University, I listened to him describe a crossroad he had arrived at in school. I empathized with him. As a senior in college, I remember struggling when I knew I needed to make important decisions or change directions.
I explained to him that throughout life we come upon crossroads or intersections wondering which way to go. The options are to continue straight ahead on the path we started on or to turn right or left at the intersection towards another direction. The one place we really can’t go is backward. We arrive at the crossroad with knowledge to move forward.
Later that day, when I crossed over one of my favorite bridges and traversed over flowing water, I realized I could not get from one side of the river to the other if it wasn’t for the bridge. In business as in life, we are faced with intersections and bridges throughout our expeditions. The road is not always flat and straight. It curves, dips, raises and veers. It is up to us to travel it making adjustments along the way.
A wise woman once said to me, “You start a business anticipating the road will stay straight but along the way, the road naturally curves and it is up to us to figure out if we want to follow the curve or keeping going straight.”
Today’s Wednesday Wisdom is to remind you that nothing about business or life is consistent, familiar or without struggle. It is the opposite. To manage the tough roads ahead, to make the right decision at the intersections, and to cross the bridges successfully from one side to the other, takes keen awareness of where you
have been, where you stand now and where you hope to go in the future.
If you need to change direction in your business today, do so with thought, understanding and anticipation that a better horizon awaits you ahead. You can’t go back – only forward towards a different but bright future.
Event Planning Illumination for 2017
Business advice and inspiration for women entrepreneurs, female business owners and small businesses
A soft pink light illuminates the horizon out my window as I observe my partner of 30 years walk to our mailbox. You might not be surprised to know I met him at my own dorm party organized to money for my college bills. Event planning has been in my life in every aspect and at every turn. Even when I was planning parties in college I knew I couldn’t produce a great one and make a profit without three ingredients to success – sales, people and partners.
If you have ever planned a corporate, non-profit or personal event you understand you begin with a vision of its purpose followed by establishing themes, menus, music and activities. Next comes the “sales” process of inviting people to attend. Sometimes you need to make phone calls to check with them when the RSVP date expires and your list is low. Bottom line, an event isn’t successful unless you have people at it. The amount of people in attendance might not matter but you have to have an audience.
Attracting people to an event, in a world with a multitude of programs, also takes collaborative partners and sponsors. A collaborative partner might be a next door neighbor if your event is a social neighborhood gathering. A mutual partner could be another woman entrepreneur sharing the costs, marketing and profit. A joint partner might also be someone with a keen interest to be in the crowd talking up a product, service, program or offering. Sponsorship partners usually have some skin in the game and help offset expenses by investing financially to be with your crowd. They get air time while you get cash all with the intention of both partners gaining something vital.
Since event planning has been in my life since I was 7 years old and in my professional life since I was 21, I have learned the key aspects to a successful shindig and collaborative partnerships and so have other marketing and event professionals. In fact, events get richer when you have other compatible and purpose driven people to work with. Embarking on new event or marketing partnerships can be an valuable revenue stream for any woman entrepreneur.
Today’s Wednesday Wisdom is to inspire you this 11th day of 2017 to consider creating collaborative event, marketing and business partnerships to elevate your exposure, increase your profits and develop a wider audience. Women are great at gathering together at functions but this year consider producing more purposeful and successful functions by creating a list of similar women or businesses to collaborate with.
If you are excited but don’t know where to begin, it all starts with creative thinking and experimenting. If you need more direction attend Women TIES first event of 2017, a marketing program giving 10 tips and advice on sponsorship and collaborative partnerships, and see how it works instantaneously when my friend Katie MacIntrye and I present together. I bet you leave with a pink light of event planning illumination to light up your business horizon.
This is not my typical blog post but I think the topic is important for any women going to the Women’s March on Washington to read or contemplate if they aren’t signed up yet. I know I have a diverse reader base and I try to keep this blog very much focused on non-political related issues but sometimes there is a larger movement and need to use a marketing platform to share information to inspire and educate others. This blog post is aimed at that today because of the three phone calls I received in the last 48 hours from women interested in our bus trip.
This post is also aimed at shining a light on this fact – if you think every woman is going to protest the President-Elect, you are wrong. Some are going for that reason but the majority are going to stand up for women’s rights which are also human rights. Read the 3 diverse reasons 3 women told me they want to join the march (most of these women are in their 60’s) and my never disclosed reason too:
* One woman wished she marched in the 1980’s during the AIDS crisis because her son’s partner died from AIDS. Walking at this march will make her feel like she did something finally to support that cause she was afraid to support years ago.
* One woman has fought sexual harassment in her corporate workplace in a major city. She is in the STEM field. She has fought to protect herself and other women in her company. She is marching because she wants sexual harassment to stop and more attention to be brought to this topic.
* One woman is coming to try to film a marriage between two women at the march because they want to show that anyone should have a choice to marry who they want. This woman is gay herself and works for a film company who supports gay rights. If you have an answer for her, please reach out to me.
If you think the world is equal for all, you might not be a female or you might somehow have missed inequality in your life. Here’s another story I haven’t shared publicly until today in this post.
In 1986 when I was working at my first job out of college at a Philadelphia Investment Banking firm as a Sales Assistant to the Corporate Vice President (a male), my boss’s largest client – another male in his 60’s – relentlessly invited me to Spain (even though he was married), called me “Sweet Hips” every time he saw me, put his arm around me and brought me gifts. I was a 21 year old spunky, independent, young woman so I thwarted his advances. One day my boss noticed and called me into his office and said, “Tracy, you WILL BE NICE to that man who is my highest paying client.” I said I would but I would not accept any further advances or inappropriate behavior ever. I resigned from that company a month later even though they wanted to put me in their investment banking training program because I was smart. But today as I write this post in real time, I realize I left because I didn’t want to face the constant sexual harassment issue. Maybe all along this first sexist job experience was the true catalyst for my feminist spirit rising up and getting stronger all these years later.
Back to the stories above – please keep in mind how diverse the reasons are for the 3 women above who want to march. What are the stories behind the other thousands coming? Every woman has a story. Every woman has something her presence represents. Mine is for pay inequality for women since it has been my passion for two decades but now it is for all the reasons stated above too and for every woman I meet in Washington.
Don’t regret not going to march with us on January 20th-21st. Currently there are 300,000 signed up. I bet my life there is 1 million in two weeks no matter what the weather brings.Together we are strong. We have 20 more seats on our bus leaving from Syracuse, New York if you are a female age 18 or older. Go to http://vagabondtourandtravel.com/cny-march-on-washington to make reservations.
Finally, the national march is looking for female artists to setup and also perform and young girls willing to be ambassadors. I can send you on to who is looking if you are interested.
In the end it is about “women supporting women” and their freedoms, choices and rights to be seen and equal in all counts. Tell me – Why do you want to support the march? Tell me and I’ll support you and your reason too because it is about “women supporting women” on January 21, 2017 and beyond. In the words of my favorite Dave Matthews Band song, “Everyday.”
Entrepreneurs – You Need to Make it Happen
Inspiration and wisdom for entrepreneurs, women business owners, female entrepreneurs
The winds are hallowing today rushing around air that doesn’t have a choice where or how fast it goes. Thank God we are women entrepreneurs who can’t be pushed around as easily as the air. It’s a brand new business year and we have steadfast choices to root us in place before the rush of another entrepreneurial year picks our preferences for us.
January ushers in fresh, innovative, creative new ideas and resolutions ready to be jump started on day one! Here we are on January 4th and we already have diverse lists with business goals, personal change goals, health resolutions and people to meet. What happened to easing our way into a new fresh year? Well like the wind sometimes we can’t control the velocity of the action so we better buckle ourselves in for the ride.
Changes happen to us personally and entrepreneurial whether the calendar says January 1st or not. Every day can surprise us with challenges, choices and opportunities. The only way to know which ones to choose is to get grounded before they appear. Changes also occur since we are women with children, empty nesters, or approaching our golden years with life opening our hearts in different ways. It makes sense that every new year we have to access where we stand, who stands with us and what direction we want to travel in.
As I begin my 23rd year supporting, advocating and uniting women entrepreneurs, I have made changes based on who I am today, the needs of the market, the challenges in this world for women and what my trusted members need. 2017 is going to be a big year of change in America due to election results. It has already shaken up many personal and business relationships, motivated more people to activism, and cast a sense of worry for many. When times get tricky, there is one thing I always count on – the strong, solid, dedicated women in my life. The sisterhood of sharing, supporting and standing together through thick and thin; this is what Women TIES will continue to be for the women who want a business and personal sisterhood with us. We are woman entrepreneurs but we are woman first – we need each other now more than ever before.
Today’s #WednesdayWisdom is for you to take an inventory of what is most important to you this year from a financial perspective, personal agenda and community impact and make a steadfast commitment to do them. Get involved. Speak out. Challenge yourself. Find like-minded people. Live your new “you” with confidence knowing the winds can’t push you around.
I also hope you share with me what I can personally do to support you. I am here for any woman who needs my support, words, or actions. I want my circle to keep getting larger with more fascinating women ready to make one severe impact in what they do and who they are. 2017 is about change. Be that change you want to see in yourself and this world. Make it happen.
2017: Be The Captain and Compass of Your Business Dreams
The theory bad things happen in sets of three from deaths in a family to environmental disturbances to significant life events is an idea embedded into our psyches. Having just gone through the loss of three close friends, I started wondering if this bad “luck” would follow me in 2017. Upon Googling this occurrence, nearly every source claimed the theory of bad things happening in three is simply in one’s head.
As the first business day of 2017 officially begins today after the holidays in America, I wanted to remind my readers that although bad things in business can happen repetitively, there are thousands of experienced business owners who will tell you bad times pass, trusted relationships will change and be replaced and a few certainties exist like:
*The first plan you have for your business will be altered naturally by the market, consumers and demand. Be flexible. Be astute. Be aware.
*Most of your friends and family will not understand what running a business entails so find like-minded individuals to talk with and make sure to keep developing your list of confidantes because they will depart at some point in time.
* You will make less money than you hoped to make in the first three years. Stay the course. Keep marketing. Develop and make strong business connections.
*There are things outside your control that can affect you, your team and your clients. Expect the unexpected when you plan. Leave room for error and revisions.
All I know after 23 years as a woman entrepreneur is that nothing stays the same in both good ways and bad. The market changes and customers can be fickle. People come in and out of your life.
All you can do is remain as committed as possible to your own dream and be the Captain and compass your entrepreneurial dream needs. Everyone and everything can be replaced. Your personal vision cannot.
2017: One Woman at a Time
The powder blue sky is just appearing at dawn, light silver clouds dot the sky and the air is quiet. It is a welcomed still morning in an ever churning world in America right now. As I sit typing before I head out to an event for New York State for women entrepreneurs, I am grateful for the peace of this moment. I know soon I will be in a fully energized room of women making a difference in the world.
I am also grateful for the lack of TV media blaring from my electronic devices. I turn on an Oprah and Deepak Chopra meditation instead. Roses grace my desk along with my statues of Mother Mary and St. Teresa the Flower Child of Jesus. Next to them is a family photo of myself, husband and two sons at a Dave Matthews Band Concert joyfully sipping drinks out of orange solo cups. This is the way to start a good day – silence, beauty and love with anticipation of friends, learning and positive conversations.
I take time to listen, write and think before I venture out because I want to be my best self to the women I serve and the controversial conversations that might arise in the energy of the post election. I’m ready to fight for my girls and females everywhere if I have to. Beneath the calm, yoga essence of me is the fight of tiger just like in Katy’s Perry song. Tenacity has always been my strong suit and I will need it to keep fighting for female causes especially those important to women entrepreneurs.
So today I suggest before you head out the door to fight the good fight – whatever that fight is for you today – take a moment to take a breath, get centered, collect your thoughts, balance your energy, pray, listen to music, eat healthy food, read inspirational pieces that fuel you to lead with all you are. Women are blessed with both quiet strength and the force of the universe. Let’s use both to change the world today, one woman at a time especially on January 21st in Washington DC at the Women’s March on Washington. Join our efforts if 2017 represents “Women Supporting Women” in business, sports, equality and life to you.
Theme for 2017: Big. Bold. Brazen
Inspiration for women, women entrepreneurs and small businesses in 2017
As I walked along the white sandy beach of Sanibel Island looking at the lapping light green sea water stepping on thousands of muted pink and orange shells in an 80 degree warm wind, I started reminiscing about 2016 letting the memories roll in like the waves. Images of women who attended our Retreat, ran with me in the 5K Right to Run Race and had coffee to ask advice about their businesses popped in my mind. The good thoughts were as numerous as the white gulls landing on the ocean.
As I write the last Wednesday Wisdom of 2016 with such fond thoughts of those of you who read this every week, the faces of the women I see year long and the hundreds who support Women TIES mission of buying from and supporting other women, I feel abundant wealth at this time in my life. Wealth is not always measured in the amount of money in my bank account but by the women I surround myself with and work hard to help year round.
Just like it is impossible to count the number of seagulls flying, seashells on the sand, number of laps of the warm water, I can’t possibly count the number of meaningful conversations, words, support and warmth I have received for 22 years in this position representing women entrepreneurs. The joy and benefits are as numerous as the pieces of sand that make up my beloved island.
Many news sources say 2016 was the hardest year because of the negativity of the election. I agree to some degree but I also think the elections cemented in many women’s minds and hearts the needs to be stronger, wiser and more assertive when it comes to standing up for our rights, protecting what we cherish and working harder for what we enjoy in our lives. 2017 will certainly be an interesting year and it will take women in collective mindsets and circles to work through potential challenges.
Today’s Wednesday Wisdom is to inspire you to look back and write down at least ten wonderful things that happened to you this year. Relish them. Soak them up. Then, write down five new big, bold goals you have for 2017. I want them to be big like attending the Women’s March on Washington with us or an attempt to run in the Boston Marathon in April. Big. Bold. Brazen. If you do not envision something new, search for a larger ladder to climb or soak up enough of the good life you have, you won’t be as thankful at the end of 2017. It takes movement, decisiveness, and a relentless pursuit to accomplish what you haven’t done before; and of course great women by your side.
2017 here we come.
A Message for Women Moving into 2017
Inspiration, wisdom and advice for women, females and women entrepreneurs
There is one word I will carry with me from 2016 into 2017. The word is action.
I became more action-focused this year because of the election and my strong belief in supporting a female candidate. Supporting women has been my business brand for 22 years, my life brand since I’m the oldest of 8 with the first 6 being girls and following in the footsteps of my aunt and mother who were both strong female focused women in the 1960s. How else are you supposed to live really, really well if you don’t stick with your life brand?
Since November 9th, the morning finding out my candidate didn’t win the presidential election and rallying with other women in my two decade business who reached out to me, I have become more active stepping out into a national realm of supporters willing to make a new difference for women – a bigger, louder difference. Every day in my Facebook feed is messages from organizations I’ve belonged to in the past like NOW and new ones like Pantsuit Nation. What’s different for me now is that action feels like the only way to be heard, seen and make positive change.
The word action won’t only carry through the streets of Washington DC in January but when the next set of elections occur, when new career options open up, when women decide they haven’t taken enough action in the past. Women will rise up together just like the last line in the great movie, “The Suffragette” exclaims. We will rise. We will rise. We will!
Empowerment in any area of one’s life has a way of bleeding into another one. The stronger my efforts become in feminism, the deeper my belief in doing more to advance women entrepreneurs making more money and the more I want to put more woman in the seats at women’s sporting events. One bold, big action simply leads to another one….and then another one.
So rise up today. Rise up in your own areas of your life, business, community or personal mission areas. Do more. Strive for more. Make more happen. Collaborate. Be all you are meant to be in whatever moves you most. You were born to do so. All it takes is action. Thank you to Andra Day for her beautiful song we all need on our desktop. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ApSX-adHnB0
Creating a Stronger Women’s Business Community in 2017
Inspiration, wisdom and insight for women entrepreneurs and small business owners
Bells were ringing. Snowflakes were floating above. People were dressed in colorful holiday outfits. Smiles, laughter and enthusiasm warmed the twenty seven degree air. Four thousand people of all ages gathered on a green bridge in Seneca Falls, New York, one of my favorite places since it is the birthplace of the Women’s Rights Movement, and also believed to be the “Bedford Falls” in the beloved holiday classic “It’s a Wonderful Life.”
In the gathering where 3 of my #261Fearless Boston Marathon running mates, my husband of 27 years and 5 Women TIES women entrepreneurs. As the drone flew over the bridge just before the race started at 4:40 p.m. on December 10th, everyone looked up smiled and waved. For once in the harshness of the post-election period, love, hope, community came together to electrify the darkening skies. It was community at its best.
My goal has always been to create a Women TIES community with the same sense of warmth and positive energy through events, gatherings and online communication. YOU have been an important part of this special grouping of women and you might not realize it. Every single woman who belongs to our group, attends our events or participates with us online contributes in a positive way to our entrepreneurial, pink spirit, joy and enthusiasm for sisterhood in business. I’d like to believe Women TIES has also become part of your wonderful life.
In 2017, I want to create a better community of closeness between women living from Albany to Rochester, Watertown to Binghamton, the Finger Lakes to the Mohawk Valley and Central New York. For this to happen, I need input, feedback and ideas. I also need women to attend more of our events regionally and participate with other women by introducing yourself to them, buying from them, creating deeper conversations and calling me to connect you more to other women in our group.
As I head off to the Women’s March on Washington on January 20-21, 2017 with 100 women to stand shoulder together in another positive group atmosphere to show our sisterhood and spirit for our equality; and as I prepare for my Boston Marathon “once in a life time” dream to run with thousands of people with your financial and mental support, I know community is the most important part of making any group a worthwhile one.
Today’s Wednesday Wisdom is to encourage you to expect more from me this year in building stronger bridges, relationships and opportunities for the women I serve, love and respect. We will need to be more united in 2017 as never before as women to support each other and our businesses. Women TIES will be the conduit. Please know you are by far one of the reasons, “I live a wonderful life.”
Women TIES 