It’s like a muscle, if you practice and flex it, it can turn into a way to live.
A tenant of success in business is relationship nurturing, building, tending and sustaining. Yet in today’s wired world, it’s easy to spend too much time with surface level interactions. One of the many skills that we must maintain is the skills of active listening, authentic conversations and integrity. Easier said than done in today’s world, yet must be a core competency we focus on.
One of my secret ingredients that I share with community managers in my coaching sessions it that of an earnest commitment in your businesses, communities or lives to ensure that people are the base ingredient for your success.
In our practice of daily mantras, meditation or simply during our to do list review, I suggest you ask yourself the following questions:
Who will you motivate today?
Who will you recognize?
How many direct customer, partner and employee conversations can you spark?
How can you inspire your colleagues, team or company in a new way?
How can you make the mundane more ‘fun’?
Can you listen in the moment with your customers, partners, employees or prospects today?
Lauren is an open leadership, social business strategist, consultant, and coach. She is experienced in designing engaging communities, mentoring community managers and leaders, leadership coaching, external speaking, presenting and facilitating. A strong professional foundation with over 20 years of business experience with Fortune 500 and international corporations. You can contact her at [email protected] or follow her on Twitter: @thelaurenklein
Grab your pearls and sequins! Tickets are still available for our quarterly League of Ladies networking shindig!
Debbie Sessions
Debbie Sessions with Reno-based VintageDancer.com assembled three looks to get you ready to party like it’s 1922. VintageDancer.com curates and links to vintage-inspired clothing, accessories and shoes across the ‘net. Items are organized by decade and cater to any budget.
Debbie proves that making a living, having fun and following one’s passion can be a successful blend — and that’s why Girlmade hosts League of Ladies. Gatsby-inspired attire is highly encouraged, but like we’ve said before, the best accessory is a great attitude toward meeting local entrepreneurs, politicians, students, industry leaders and more.
Whether teens contemplate college or embrace the workforce after graduation, they need ways to explore their options. That’s why the Girlmade team has spent this sweltering summer preparing for Girl Empire, a one-day conference about college prep and entrepreneurship for high school girls.
Girl Empire will be from 9 a.m.-5 p.m. Aug. 9 at the brand new Whitney Peak Hotel in downtown Reno. Tickets start at $99 if you bring a friend, but you could go FOR FREE! All you have to do is visit the “Win a Scholarship” page on the Girl Empire website and answer the short-answer questions. Tickets include lunch and access to Whitney Peak Hotel’s climbing wall.
Noting the disparities between male- and female-led companies, two filmmakers seek to champion entrepreneurship and inspire girls to explore tech careers.
In She Started It, directors Nora Poggi and Insiyah Saeed follow four female founders for one year as they advance their tech startups. The four entrepreneurs are Thuy Truong of GreenGar, Brienne Ghafourifar of Entefy, Stacey Ferreira of MySocialCloud and Agathe Molinar of Lemon Curve. The documentary also features executives such as Debbie Sterling, who created the GoldieBlox engineering toys.
From 72-foot sculptures to wireless microcontrollers, Reno residents have triumphed in crowdfunding campaigns.
Industries of all kinds have flocked to Kickstarter and Indiegogo for financial support. Locally, crowdfunding created jobs at tech startup Pinoccio and advanced a massive wooden masterpiece for Burning Man. On a national level, a push to bring back children’s TV classic Reading Rainbow as a web show raised $1 million in one day.
Maria Balinska
Maria Balinska of Cambridge, Massachusetts, exceeded her $44,250 Kickstarter goal for The Local Global Mashup Show in February 2013. The weekly podcast was another way for Latitude News — a media startup Balinska founded in 2011 — to explore links between U.S. and international topics. Latitude News is currently on hiatus while Balinska explores partnership options for maximum news distribution.
“Any American community actually has a lot more links to the rest of the world than initially might meet the eye or that people expect,” said Balinska, who worked for the BBC for 18 years. “The question of parallels is one where there’s a whole discussion around journalism that looks not at problem-pointing but problem-solving.”
“The question of parallels is one where there’s a whole discussion around journalism that looks not at problem-pointing but problem-solving.”
With that in mind, Latitude News covered Massachusetts’ emerging gaming industry and followed up with how other countries, such as Hungary and Norway, fared with legalized gambling. The Local Global Mashup Show added an audio element to Latitude News. For an example, check out this text version of the podcast report on orphans in the U.S. and Russia.
Although not all crowdfunding campaigns have LeVar Burton’s star power behind it (he cried when the Reading Rainbow project reached its goal!), Balinska points out five reasons why Kickstarter can help startups.
When I think of women who inspire me, Jennifer Lawrence instantly comes to mind. She’s been on my radar since her appearance in the indie flick Winter’s Bone, but she has mainstream success as Katniss in The Hunger Games movie series. If you haven’t seen either of those movies, you’ve probably seen her rocking blue body paint for the latest X-Men installment.
She notched an Oscar for Best Actress by the age of 23, and if I didn’t like her already, she endearingly tripped and fell in style as she approached the stage to accept the award. But you don’t need a golden statue on your mantle to let the world know you mean business. Here’s five ladies under 25 in Nevada and beyond who will inspire you.
Tickets available for Girl Empire You make the rules — Reno businesses partner with Girl Scouts of the Sierra Nevada to host inaugural event for forward-thinking high school students
RENO, Nev. – Tickets are on sale for Girl Empire, a one-day conference for female high school students interested in entrepreneurship and college/career planning.
Students will have an opportunity to hear from entrepreneurial leaders, gain confidence in the startup scene and receive guidance in post-secondary educational planning by hearing about colleges that support entrepreneurship. College alternatives, like bridge year programs, will also be discussed.
The Aug. 9 conference will be held from 9 a.m.-5 p.m. at Whitney Peak Hotel in downtown Reno. Students will be able to attend sessions related to college preparation and entrepreneurial thinking. Confirmed sessions and speakers include:
Telling Your Story: Using the secrets of screenwriting to write your personal statement for college
Taught by Ethan Sawyer, Los Angeles-based screenwriter and Girl Empire keynote speaker
Cool Schools: Uncovering the hidden gems in higher education that are doing awesome things
Taught by Alex Ellison of Dunce, a Reno-based college planning service
Biz Speak: Gaining confidence in the startup culture and new business practices
Taught by Ashley Jennings of Girlmade, a company that helps women start their businesses
The Branding of You: Creating a positive online image and making your ideas known
Taught by Krystal Tingle, Lover-in-Chief at The Love Jump and Director of PR at The Abbi Agency
“It’s time young people take ownership of their education, formal and informal. We want every girl to leave Girl Empire with the tools, confidence and connections to take charge and make her own rules,” Ellison said.
“The job market is changing all the time. It’s time that we prepare our girls to succeed in any field, instead of setting them up to fail in a field that might not exist in five years,” Jennings said.
Event sponsors include Dunce, Girlmade and Girl Scouts of the Sierra Nevada.
For more information, visit www.facebook.com/girlempirecon.
We consider ourselves to be young-at-heart here at Girlmade. When we needed photos to promote Girl Empire, we thought, “How can we reach out to teenage girls? What do they like?”
We consulted Kayla and Sophee, our high school interns. Our dive into teenage culture revealed they like impromptu photo shoots, being with friends and making a statement with their personal style.
And they don’t like compromising that style when dressing for internships.
Armed with iPhones, props and — of course — cookies, we roamed downtown/Midtown Reno to prove affordable style doesn’t have to be sacrificed for a sweet job opportunity. A tremendous thank you to Plato’s Closet for letting us raid your store for some of these colorful, work-ready threads.
Holding hands like this in public is totally natural.
Intern Kayla rocks the most comfortable-looking pants.
Interns Christine and Sophee know the importance of a
trusty bag, whether it’s a large clutch or a roomy backpack.
Ashley, Christine and Kayla lean in for a selfie.
BONUS: Here’s a Great Gatsby-inspired top that is perfect for our upcoming League of Ladies event. It’s in July, but it’s never too late to start planning. (As far as we know, this sequined top is still available for purchase at Plato’s Closet here in Reno.)
Alex knows: When in doubt, wear sequins.
Want more pictures from the shoot? Of course you do. Click here.
Photos: Ashley Jennings and Sophee Hillyard
Christine Seiber is a grad student at the University of Nevada, Reno. She can be reached at [email protected] and on Twitter @seibersays.
