Eunice Rho · Legal Issues Expert

In this continuing series on attorneys who have transitioned to other careers, I recently spoke with Bathabile Mthombeni, the associate ombuds officer at Columbia University. A graduate of Princeton University and Columbia Law School, Bathabile practiced at a corporate law firm before moving to her current position. Recently, she started her own conflict coaching and mediation practice, aptly named, Untangled Resolutions. While her practice is geared toward dealing with conflict in general, she plans to specialize in providing conflict coaching, mediation an…

Leena Gurevich, the NYC Showroom Director of the Carlisle Collection, joined her colleague last September for her first 85 Broads Power Breakfast. The featured speaker was Ann Tisch, founder and president of the Young Women’s Leadership Network, a non-profit organization that sponsors four all-girls’ public high schools in New York City and Philadelphia. After hearing Ann speak passionately about her decision to dedicate the same type of resources that affluent students receive to an underserved population and possibly change the course of their lives, Leena found herself doing something …

In her passionate speech to 85 Broads members at a September 2009 power breakfast, Young Women’s Leadership Network founder and President Ann Tisch described the impetus behind creating an all-girls’ public school in the inner city: “Maybe if we offer [inner city] girls a completely different path in life, the same path that the affluent and the rich girls have, maybe we can break the cycles of teenage poverty and teenage pregnancy.” With this idea, she approached New York’s Board of Education and asked for the same facilities and personnel that any public school would receive—but for an a…

Sheila Murphy is the Associate General Counsel at MetLife, Inc., where she leads the Financial Products & Insurance Litigation Practice Group. Prior to joining MetLife, Sheila was a litigation associate at Thacher Profitt & Wood, a corporate law firm. She is an active member of CARE Women’s Initiative of New York, the National Association of Women Lawyers, and, of course, 85 Broads. She kindly sat down with me to discuss her legal career, seeking that elusive balance as a working mother and the importance of cultivating meaningful relationships in your professional life.

1. Can …

In 2004, Jackie Wicks was living in New York City, working at a venture capital firm. She had just given birth and, to her surprise, gained 60 lbs in the process. Everyone told her, “Oh, the weight will just melt off!” Although Jackie had always been in good shape and was fairly well-informed about diet and nutrition, she plateaued with 40 lbs to go.

Realizing that she needed outside support, Jackie and her friend began to exchange food diaries over email. This group quickly mushroomed into 20 members and emails with diet tips and stories began to fly back and forth. Her husband, t…

Are you on the path from good to great? If not, how do you get there?

Author and entrepreneur Rick Smith began his hour-long talk by inviting his audience to invoke a time when they envisioned themselves as leaders who would achieve their greatest potential. “Go back to when you were a child, when you believed you can accomplish anything in the world and believed that you control the outcome of your life.”

“But along life,” he continued, “we begin to settle below our ultimate potential, and begin rationalizing.” He offered his own example of rationalizing, at age eight, when he score…

You started a new job.

You lost your job.

You realized your credit card debt is insurmountable.

You just got engaged.

Do you know what to do next? Aside from celebrating or lamenting with friends, panicking or living in denial, what practical steps should women take with their finances when dealing with both life-altering and quotidian events?

Upon graduating from college, 85 Broads member Alexa von Tobel faced this very dilemma when she realized that nobody had taught her the basics of managing her personal finances. The issues were myriad: renting an apartment, opening a retir…