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Showing posts from January 8, 2012

Reality TV: to see or not to see… that is the question…

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As the infamous popularity of reality television shows increase each season… One can only begin to speculate: how many people do I know, are truly as busy as they allege?  How often are we too busy to stick to the diet we’ve insisted on working this year, or learning to speak the language that has always intrigued us, or finishing the summer novel we purchased fourth of July weekend, only to look at the calendar and see it’s January… The answer might perplex you.  But when considering time [or lack there of] I beg to differ, everyone is NOT as busy as they claim.  Mathematically it’s impossible, given that millions of people tune into these programs each night. Many people define the 60 minutes lost from their lives, as simply, a guilty pleasure.  It is important to note, when adding the time, in hours, that are lost each week on this activity, it is potential time lost to enrich ones self. Although the masterminds behind many of these programs highlight aggression towards fellow

Sneak Peak Into The 2012 Plans For The BOSS Network

For Immediate Release The BOSS Network Launches Re-Branding Campaign in an Effort to Reach Women Who Need Professional Development and Community Most Sneak Peak into the 2012 Plans for the #1 Online Network for Professional Women of Color Chicago, IL (January 9, 2012) –  Kick starting 2012 with their “New Year New You” pledge, The BOSS Network has ignited members with an encouraging message of forward movement in professional growth and opportunities. While leading by example, The BOSS Network is taking this opportunity to develop a new look and feel of BOSS for the New Year.  Launching in March of 2012, the BOSS Network will present an exciting new interactive and content based website allowing them to reinforce their efforts on reaching the needs of members in the areas of professional development and community involvement [www.thebossnetwork.org]. The BOSS Network’s strategic re-branding campaign is setting the stage to reach an additional 100,000 more professional women of colo

But I Did Everything Right by BOSS Aundrea Wilcox

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Over the holiday break, I took the opportunity to catch up on some long overdue reading.   Although there were at least a couple of news stories related to business closures that I read which left an enduring mark, for the purposes of this blog post, I will discuss the article called “ 5 Businesses That Failed to Survive Trials of 2011 ,” which appeared in the nationally-recognized New York Times. From my perspective, there were six very important takeaways and common themes that are applicable to the novice as well as experienced business owner: 1)       Nothing is off the record when you are speaking to the media , so THINK before you speak.   If you’re not careful, your harsh words may haunt you well beyond your years in business.   Resist the urge to tell the reporter that you did everything right.   Don’t get caught up in playing the victim, as you may feel like you have all the power when you are talking and the reporter is hastily scribbling down every word that tumbles out

Make Your Business More Productive In 2012

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This has been an AMAZING yet CHALLENGING year for everyone.  It doesn’t matter if you are a media mogul, nonprofit president, entrepreneur, corporate VP or a small business owner.  This was definitely a year of ups and downs. Whether the number of your employees went down, your stocks went up, you opened a second location or simply gained 1,000 Facebook friends. This was a year we ALL had to do some extra work to figure out what we are good at, when we needed to update our files, who we needed to hire or fire and which clients were truly our target market. One thing that I have found more entrepreneurs and women struggle with is separating their personal and professional lives.  Since I am BOTH, it clearly has been an issue for me. I made a decision a LONG time ago to merge them because separating them is a LOT harder to do and SO MUCH of my life is connected to what I do and also to who I am. I’ve decided for 2012 to make this my practice—because it is when I am most productive. Most

A Day In Her Life: Shante Bacon, Founder/CEO of 135th Street Agency

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Her Journey… Take a good look at Shante Bacon because she is a prime example of what can happen when you dream big, and then relentlessly go after it.  Raised in the drug-riddled neighborhood of Jamaica, Queens, there was very little around her indicative of what her successful future would behold, except a strong affinity for the then emergent hip-hop culture. “There was a lot of talent out of my neighborhood, so it never seemed farfetched to me that I could do this for a living,” says Bacon, who grew up in the same neighborhood as future hip-hop legends LL Cool J, Run DMC, and Salt-N-Pepa. “What made it a reality for me was when I was a kid, my brother was pursuing a career as a rapper and he would go to Def Jam Christmas parties and that had me all starry eyed about it.” After reading an article in her brother’s Billboard magazine as a child, her goal was officially set: she wanted to work for Russell Simmons as part of the Def Jam empire. “There was a little itsy, bitsy, tee