Jam Sessions

In a Jam Session from the Field, Global Grassroots Founder, Gretchen Wallace, explored how impoverished women survivors of war in Africa are becoming leading grassroots change agents rebuilding after genocide. Gretchen Wallace shared her journey through the townships of South Africa where she learned that women’s rights are at the crux of the HIV/AIDS crisis, through the Darfur refugee camps of Eastern Chad where she discovered social entrepreneurs creating change with their bare hands, and to Rwanda where women change agents with no formal education are advancing sustainable development. Learn why those most disadvantaged in the world – those most deeply impacted by violence, poverty and disease, may be those best poised to combat these same issues from the grassroots level up.

Gretchen Steidle Wallace is the Founder and President of Global Grassroots, an international organization working at the intersection of personal and societal transformation to catalyze the ideas of grassroots change agents working for women’s rights and well-being post-conflict. In 2005, she launched Global Grassroots’ work in the Darfur refugee camps of eastern Chad, and in 2006 expanded to Rwanda. Gretchen is a producer of the documentary film, The Devil Came on Horseback, which was nominated for three Emmy Awards in 2009. She is also co-author of the memoir, “The Devil Came on Horseback: Bearing Witness to the Genocide in Darfur”, published by PublicAffairs, about her brother, Marine Capt Brian Steidle’s experience as a military observer in Darfur. She holds an MBA from the Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth College and a BA in Foreign Affairs from the University of Virginia. Gretchen believes that cultivating inner awareness and contributing to the common good are both necessary to advance the greatest level of positive social change. She is also an apprentice practitioner of the alternative healing modality of breathwork, which she has used in Rwanda and Haiti to help women heal their post-traumatic stress from war and disaster. In 2007, Gretchen was honored by World Business Magazine and Shell as one of the top International 35 Women Under 35. In 2010 she was chosen with her husband as CNN Heroes working in Haiti after the earthquake. She was recently awarded the inaugural Susan J. Herman Award for Leadership in Holocaust and Genocide Awareness by the Cohen Center for Holocaust and Genocide Studies at Keene State College.

To learn more about Global Grassroots visit [globalgrassroots.org]

Connect with Gretchen on LinkedIn: [linkedin.com]

Follow Gretchen on Twitter: [twitter.com]

Depending on which financial pundit you follow, or which newspaper you read, the economic crisis of the last several years is either, continuing unabated, showing signs of ending, or nearly over. But, no matter what the recovery timeline, one thing is clear: in the not-for-profit world, communication, fundraising and operating strategies have changed irrevocably. The business-as-usual model of pre-crisis days is gone for good and in the past several years, new rules for success have been written.

With diminished federal and corporate funding dollars, and increased charitable giving to victims of the unprecedented number of recent natural disasters, NPOs are facing a crisis that’s worsening. The unfortunate truth is many will succumb. It’s become critical for non-profit organizations to understand the new rules for success and incorporate them.

However, not all the news is grim. Those organizations that reshape their strategies to meet the new challenges will be stronger and more effective than before. While it’s not possible to predict which organizations will survive this difficult time, there is characteristic that all survivors will have: a willingness to embrace change.

This Jam Session explored:
• Understanding the array of challenges that non profits face today.
• Why “brand” and “business” have to be part of your vocabulary.
• It’s 2010 – do you know where your audience is? (Hint, they’ve got a new neighborhood
and it’s virtual)
• How to ensure that the changes your organization makes are successful.
Linda Ziskind has over 20 years experience in helping organizations communicate with clarity, impact, and effectiveness. Since 2003 she has been Principal of Z2 Consulting, working closely with a cohort of talented web and print designers, programmers, and writers, who collectively deliver a full spectrum of social media solutions, marketing communications, and creative and technology services. For the past several years, Linda’s work has focused on developing marketing and social media strategies for not-for-profit organizations.

Prior to starting Z2 Consulting, Linda was a Global Director of Marketing Communications and Brand at Dimension Data, an IT services company. Before joining Dimension Data, Linda served as a Creative Director/Executive Producer at America Online. She has also held vice president positions at BBDO, Grey Advertising, and Grey Interactive. Linda has had a long history of board service for non-profit arts organizations and currently does pro-bono marketing work for The Spencertown Academy for the Arts in Spencertown, N.Y.

Reshma Saujani graduated from Yale Law School (where she was a legal scholar) and the Harvard Kennedy School of Government, and is now running against long-time incumbent Carolyn Maloney in the NYC congressional primary in September.

Reshma’s family (they are of Indian origin) barely escaped from Uganda during the terror regime of Idi Amin. Thanks to America’s amnesty program, Reshma’s family was able to settle in Chicago and create a new life of hope and promise.

Reshma is passionate about education reform, financial market reform, and immigration reform. As the former Deputy General Counsel of the Liquid Markets business at Fortress Investment Group, she understands the complexities of Wall Street and the financial industry which is a critical skills set that every congressperson in this day and age MUST possess.

To learn more about Reshma and her campaign visit: [reshma2010.com]

85 Broads member and entrepreneur Patricia Brett tells us how she has successfully leveraged her network, utilized skills from her former career and channeled her passion to create Veronica Brett, the much-talked-about luxury collection of swimwear for breast cancer survivors and women who have had risk-reducing mastectomies.

Patricia describes how she took her passion for an idea, created a product, and built a brand to help breast cancer survivors feel confident and sexy all over again. She successfully launched Veronica Brett with an event hosted by Elie Tahari at its East Hampton boutique on May 29, 2010.

Join us as Patricia describes her journey, tells how 85 Broads played a major role in her success and shares her “Top Ten Tips for Turning a Passion into a Product.”

Bio:
Entrepreneur, mom and former architect, Patricia Brett turned a personal risk of breast cancer and a family’s breast cancer legacy into a luxury fashion brand created to empower women who have undergone mastectomies.

Patricia received her BS in Architecture from The Ohio State University and her Master of Architecture from Yale University in 1990. After practicing architecture for almost 20 years, and with inspiration from her sister, a twelve-year survivor, Patricia left the world of architecture and put her design skills to a different use.

With the philosophy, “Life Never Looked Sexier”, Patricia created Veronica Brett to help women feel confident and sexy all over again.

Veronica Brett is available at [veronicabrett.com] and in select boutiques.

DATE: WEDNESDAY, JUNE 16, 2010 TIME: 12:00 p.m. EST

Wonder what your “corporate” strategy should be for blogging, online engagement and social media? Then join us on June 16 for a “corporate case study” Jam Session with Dell’s Chief Blogger, Lionel Menchaca. Lionel, one of the best corporate bloggers (and one of the nicest guys in social media) will be discussing corporate blogging as well as Dell’s strategy to connect with its customers through community initiatives.

Lionel Menchaca (@LionelatDell) is a nearly 16-year Dell veteran and chief blogger at Direct2Dell, Dell’s main corporate blog. Since launching the blog in July 2006, Lionel helped expand it into Chinese, Spanish Norwegian and Japanese and continues to work to further extend Dell’s global presence.

Before launching Dell’s blog, Lionel was one of the main architects behind Dell’s blog monitoring process begun in April 2006. He works with a team within the company to coordinate activities and content across all of Dell’s social media initiatives including the Dell Community Forum and IdeaStorm. These initiatives have one thing in common: to open direct lines of communication between Dell employees and their customers to improve the products and services Dell offers. Lionel also serves as a technologist to help Dell define new software to monitor and engage in conversations in the blogosphere, and to facilitate collaboration among the Dell teams that respond to customer feedback. He’s also been one of the principal leads in Dell’s efforts to build communities using Web 2.0 tools like Flickr, YouTube, Twitter, Delicious and more to augment Dell sites like DigitalNomads.com.

An avid fan of computer hardware, gadgets and Web 2.0 technology, his early career included a stint at quality assurance and tech support for game developer Origin Systems and hardware and advanced operating systems technical support at Dell. Lionel earned a degree in archaeological studies from University of Texas. He lives in Round Rock, Texas, with his wife, Aileen, and two children, Louis and Mia.

DATE: THURSDAY, JUNE 17, 2010 — TIME: 12:00 p.m. EST

Social media, viral marketing and client engagement all sound fine and dandy, but they don’t mean much if you can’t apply them specifically to your own business. AND – sales, marketing and customer service has changed incredibly over the past few years and engagement is king (or queen). It’s not “if” you’re customers are talking online, it’s “how often” and “where”. Promise – you’ll leave this jam session with Scott Stratten with social media insights, marketing smarts and a few laughs.

Scott Stratten is the President of Un-Marketing.com. He is an expert in Viral, Social, and Authentic Marketing which he calls Un-Marketing. It’s all about positioning yourself as a trusted expert in front of target market, so when they have the need, they choose you, That’s UN-Marketing. Over 54,000 people follow his daily rantings on Twitter (@unmarketing) and was voted one of the top influencers on the site with over 90 million users . His recent Tweet-a-thon raised over $16,000 for child hunger, in less than 12 hours. His book ‘UnMarketing: Stop Marketing, Start Engaging’ is due to hit the shelves in the Fall of 2010 from Wiley & Sons [amzn.com]. His clients’ viral marketing videos have been viewed over 60 million times and has generated massive profits and lists. One of the movies was chosen by the Chicago Bears as their biggest motivator towards their Super Bowl run a few years ago, while another made their client over $5 million in 7 days. He has appeared in the Wall Street Journal, Mashable.com, USA Today, CNN.com and Fast Company.

You – whether you are an individual, a partnership, or a company – need to look at global brands and globally recognized stars if you want to have a better understanding and definition of your online identity. Want to know how to involve people in your different online initiatives and numerous conversations? Looking to be part of a bigger community and to have people support your vision / mission as a company instead of ignoring you? Henriette tells us how – how to build trust and how to benchmark yourself, not with your competitors or with the industry, but with companies, people, and brands that ROCK the world.

In this Jam Session, 85 Broads member Betsy Massar, CEO of Master Admissions, offered aspiring MBA applicants tips for getting into their top-choice business schools. In the one-hour webinar, Betsy drew upon her experience coaching and mentoring a diverse range of candidates who have applied and been accepted to the world’s best business schools.

Betsy presented a step-by-step program for students to lay out their business school campaign, work through the hurdles and opportunities, identify their personal excellence, and position the total application to make it stand out.

This Jam Session will not only help you get focused on the entire b-school admissions adventure, but will help you to think creatively about your life history, where you have shown signs of outstanding personal leadership and your authentic personal excellence.

Have you ever wondered how Matt Damon, Ben Affleck, Billy Bob Thornton, Owen and Luke Wilson, Sylvester Stallone and Nia Vardalos (BIG FAT GREEK WEDDING) got their start? They did it themselves!

All of these people had acting careers before their hit movies, which they created, “put them on the map.” They were working actors, not stars, before they took control of their careers and created their own projects…and with a little luck and lots of perseverance the projects they created made them household names today.

Now 85 Broads member Sybil Temtchine has done the same, with the help of powerful and well-known women all around the world. Sybil has just wrapped shooting AUDREY, which she produced, co-wrote, and in which she stars. AUDREY is a wonderful and powerful, female driven comedy about facing all insecurities we secretly and not so secretly have as women.

Sybil is proud to have powerful women in the entertainment industry as a part of AUDREY such as Ruth Vitale (Former President of Paramount Classics and Fine Line Features) and Effie Brown (Producer of REAL WOMEN HAVE CURVES), who are both Executive Producers of AUDREY. Sybil has starred in films opposite Oscar Winners Helen Mirren and Adrien Brody and starred in several television series opposite Ving Rhames, Skeet Ulrich and many others.

During the Jam Session, Sybil shared how she got into the film industry, came up with the idea and cast for “Audrey,” raised funding, and used women’s networks such as 85 Broads to succeed.

Neither Rachel Braun Scherl nor her business partner, Mary Wallace Jaensch, could have anticipated that they would become “female sexual health entrepreneurs.” Rachel and Mary, 85 Broads members and business partners for 13 years, joined forces to build Semprae Laboratories, Inc. in 2008 with Quaker BioVentures, in order to acquire Zestra®, the foundation for developing and commercializing female sexual health products. In the span of 2 months (now 2 years ago), they became DIP lenders to buy assets out of bankruptcy, raised venture capital, started talking to media…and had to explain to their children what their new jobs are.

Since launching Semprae and Zestra, the business has been featured in Forbes, Cosmopolitan, The New York Times, and has been the subject of a Stanford Graduate School of Business Case Study published in the Harvard Business Review. In the Jam Session, they discussed the product and company story, opportunity for investors, and how female sexual satisfaction is dealt with by the media today.

Once you start the recording, click on the video icon in the upper right corner of your screen during the recording to watch a video.

The third in our series of Jam Sessions with Rick Smith, author, innovator, serial entrepreneur and a Guy Who Rocks! As Rick launches another venture, he’ll discuss how to launch a business with limited resources.

A lively discussion and Q&A between Janet Hanson, CEO & Founder of 85 Broads, and Kelly Hoey, President of 85 Broads.

Ever wonder what the men you work with are REALLY thinking – including about you? Best-selling author Shaunti Feldhahn takes us through her eye-opening findings on how men privately think in the workplace, and how to use this new information to transform your career. It’s amazing what men will tell you when guaranteed anonymity, and Shaunti has published those findings in her new book The Male Factor: The Unwritten Rules, Misperceptions and Secret Beliefs of Men in the Workplace.

Based on high-level interviews and surveys of 3,000 men, Shaunti uncovers the surprising words and actions that make men think of someone (man or woman) as high potential, competent and business-savvy – or not. The problem is… by definition, men already know it! They instinctively know how to position themselves for the best possible perception in a male-led corporation. Once armed with this knowledge, though, women too can make informed decisions about the best approach to male bosses, colleagues, subordinates and customers in any workplace situation, and have the greatest possible effectiveness and influence.

Once you start the recording, click on the video icon in the upper right corner of your screen during the recording to watch a video of Shaunti speaking.

The workplace is constantly evolving, and even now there are new opportunities opening up to women. But to fully take advantage of these possibilities, it’s essential to know the latest “rules” for succeeding in the corporate world. This isn’t the workplace of 10 or 20 years ago!

85 Broads member and Tuck School of Business Professor Dr. Ella L. J. Edmondson Bell, Ph.D., is a respected expert on issues relating to race, gender, career development, and organizational behavior. She has worked with women across a variety of fields and in diverse corporate environments from Fortune 500s to start-ups, and founded ASCENT, the first management and leadership program committed to the professional development and career advancement of women of multicultural backgrounds. In this Jam Session, she will offer guidelines on how women can forge their own pathways to professional growth, providing tips such as how to upgrade your skills, network in a strategic way, and much more.

Drawing from her work as a consultant to some of the country’s most prestigious companies, Dr. Bell will advise participants on how to succeed at every level in a dynamic corporate marketplace. She will share about her latest book, Career GPS, while combines Dr. Bell’s academic knowledge and expertise with candid first-person stories from smart women of all cultures, ages, and levels of experience who rose through the ranks – and provides critical insights into how they did it.

This Jam Session is for all women, regardless of career status, who have questions about how to advance their careers and balance them with the many other important dimensions of their lives.

What social media industry groups are your colleagues and competitors a part of?

Are you aware of the Meetup groups, conferences and industry events taking place in your field?

When you speak at an industry event, are you remembering to update your LinkedIn, Twitter & Facebook statuses? Are you sharing this information with others?

Do you recognize the need to establish a “personal brand” for your business in the virtual world of social media, yet have no idea how to do so?

Branding is no longer only for business owners and corporations. Due to the rise of social media and the new world of PR, personal and corporate branding have become increasingly accessible and critical for individuals and companies looking to promote their brand. Branding tools allow you to inherently “celebritize” yourself and get your name out without involving the high cost of traditional public relations. They are also critical for securing upcoming speaking engagements and establishing yourself as a thought leader and opinion leader in your industry.

Personal branding and social media marketing involve a lifestyle change, as they put you in the habit of sharing information publicly as opposed to privately, which may seem overwhelming for many at first. Digital press kits have typically been created for companies, but with the advent of personal branding, you can create your own “press kits” to showcase your strengths and industry expertise. Join us for a Jam Session with Kristen Ruby, a personal branding expert, on how to ease your transition into a social way of life and establish yourself as an opinion leader in your field.

Click on the video icon in the upper right corner of your screen during the recording to watch a video of Kris speaking.

In this Jam Session, Shannon Duff, founder of Collegiate Compass LLC ([collegiatecompass.com]), a college advising firm, will help parents to understand the realities of today’s college admissions landscape, and to learn how they can support their teenagers during this all-important process.

As she shares critical elements of her advising methodology, Shannon reminds students and parents that applying to college should be exciting, and emphasizes the importance of several key steps in ensuring that your student’s college admissions plan is long on strategy, and short on stress. Her positive approach produces results: in the past five years, over 80% of Collegiate Compass clients have been accepted to their first choice college, and over 95% have been accepted to one of their top three college choices.

Shannon holds a BA and an MBA from Yale, and gained firsthand perspective on the admissions process while working as a reader for Yale’s Office of Undergraduate Admissions.

Click on the video icon in the upper right corner of your screen during the recording to watch a video of Shannon speaking.

Here’s something you may not know about today’s Internet. Simply by designing your product the right way, you can build a flourishing business from scratch.

Many of the most successful Web 2.0 companies, including MySpace, You Tube, eBay, and rising stars like Twitter and Flickr, are prime examples of what journalist and NYU professor Adam L. Penenberg calls a “viral loop”—to use it, you have to spread it!

All sorts of businesses—from the smallest start-ups to nonprofit organizations to the biggest multinational corporations—can deploy the paradigm-busting power of viral loops. Never before has it been possible for entrepreneurs to create this much wealth, this fast, and starting with so little.

This Jam Session is a must for any entrepreneur or business interested in unleashing the power of viral loops to benefit their bottom line! Adam will explore strategies for creating a Viral Loop for your business, drawing on some of the greatest examples in history.

85 Broads Member Ida Liu, Managing Director and Senior Private Banker at Citi Private Bank, shares her experience transitioning from M&A to working for Vivienne Tam to now working in Citi’s Private Bank. She now focuses on providing strategic advice and tailored solutions to ultra high net worth individuals.

To view the video of Ida Liu speaking during this session, click on the video icon in the upper right corner of your screen once the playback starts.

Have you ever asked yourself the question, “Is This It?” Maybe you feel trapped in a role that you are afraid to leave. Or maybe you already have a good job—one that gives you room to grow and exercise your talents—but you don’t really feel like you’re doing your best work. You just don’t know how to make the leap.

Most of us live with significant levels of untapped potential, and it is ultimately up to us to take control of the direction and outcome of our lives.

In the first Session Rick spoke about his powerful three-step approach which highlights how you can achieve breakthrough performance, tapping unprecedented personal growth and productivity.

For this session Rick is interested in “What’s holding you back?”. This is an interactive discussion that will include Kelly Hoey and Laura Garnett from 85 Broads in NYC.

In 2005, when Gayle first set out to report about women-owned start-ups in Afghanistan, she was not sure what she would find: most people she talked to were skeptical that she would find any female entrepreneurs to write about. How likely was it, they asked, that women who had been banned from work and school would now be leading their own businesses only four years later? So it was with some trepidation that she made her first trip to Kabul to interview women entrepreneurs for the Financial Times and Harvard Business School.

What Gayle found was an extraordinary new generation of Afghan businesswomen, some of whom got their start under the Taliban. From everything from roads building to business consulting and furniture making, a small but growing network of female entrepreneurs has started to support their families and create jobs in their communities. Every day, they confront a blizzard of obstacles intimidating enough to make most CEOs shrink: rising insecurity, limited electricity, broken infrastructure, a lack of capital and almost no access to markets. Yet these businesswomen continue to push forward in the face of these problems and are now fighting to keep their ventures afloat, even as their foreign customers pack up and the increasingly emboldened insurgency thrives.

Join Gayle as she talks about Afghanistan, the role of women after war and the power of business to change women’s lives.