A Message From The Creator

If you can’t figure out your purpose, figure out your passion. For your passion will lead you right into your purpose. – T.D. Jakes

Inspirational Woman Of The Day

Diane von Furstenberg

Fashion Designer Diane von Furstenberg was born in Brussels, Belgium. She studied Economics at the University of Geneva, Switzerland, where she met Austro-Italian Prince Egon von Furstenberg. They married and moved to New York, where son Alexandre and daughter Tatiana were bom. Today, the children are grown, and von Furstenberg runs the New York-based design and marketing studio bearing her name. Splitting her time between homes in Connecticut, New York, Paris, and the Bahamas, von Furstenberg is always on the go, gathering inspiration for ventures as eclectic as she is.

1972 DVF responds to void in American fashion by designing easy knit dresses

1975 Creates the light, romantic fragrance Tatiana, named for her young daughter; Licenses her name for full range of DVF products, from eyewear to luggage

1976 Sells 5 million wrap dresses, to land covers of Newsweek & The Wall Street Journal; Opens Madison Avenue cosmetics shop and publishes DVF’s Book of Beauty

1977 Introduces the Style for Living collection of home furnishings

1979 Licenses dress business and focuses on building in-house cosmetics business

1983 Sells cosmetics business to British pharmaceutical giant Beecham Group Ltd. 1984-89 Ranks in top 10 in Savvy magazine’s annual survey of “Top U.S. Businesses Run by Women” 

1985 DVF moves to Paris and founds Salvy, a French-language publishing house Honored with New York Mayor’s Liberty Medal for citizens of the world who have achieved the American dream 

1989 Licensed DVF products sell over $1 billion dollars in the 1980’s

1990 DVF returns to U.S.

1991 Publishes Beds, first coffee table book on the home, followed by The Bath (’93) & The Table (’96)

1992 Pioneers TV-shopping with creation & live on-air selling of Silk Assets collection

1993 DVF becomes a contributing editor to Vanity Fair magazine

1997 Moves to new headquarters in 19th century carriage house in West Greenwich Village; Returns to retail with launch of Diane von Furstenberg line of signature dresses at select Saks Fifth Avenue stores; Collection soon expands to Bloomingdale’s, Barney’s, Scoop, Fred Segal, & fine international specialty stores including Colette, Joseph & Joyce Boutiques; Daughter-in-law Alexandra becomes creative director at Studio & bridge to new generation 

1998 Publishes her personal & business memoir DIANE: A Signature Life (Simon & Schuster); currently in second printing; 

1999 DVF elected to the board of the Council of Fashion Designers of America (CFDA) and named to the board of USA Networks Inc. Responding to growing appeal from a younger, more sophisticated customer, DVF focuses retail strategy on specialty stores and expands signature collection to include soft separates and accessories.

Women In The News

Marisa Moore

Registered Dietitian, Nutrition Consultant, Spokesperson

7 Simple Tips for Heart Health

While breast cancer gets a lot of attention in the media and is certainly a concern, heart disease is the leading cause of death for women in the United States and a leading cause of disability among women.

Heart disease risk varies with age. If you are in your 20s and 30s, consider this your prime prevention phase. Develop and maintain heart healthy behaviors to stave off heart disease and manage your weight for as long as possible.

As you get older, your risk for heart disease increases dramatically. Changing hormone levels associated with menopause lead to increased fat around the midsection (belly fat) which appears to increase the risk for heart disease compared to fat distributed in other parts of the body.

Here are seven simple changes you can make to begin nurturing your heart at any stage of your life.

1. Eat plenty of fruits and vegetables daily. You’ve heard this one since grade school – it needs no explanation. But know that there’s strong evidence in the power of fruits and vegetables to improve health and reduce your risk for heart disease. Aim for at least 2 cups of fruit and 2½ cups of vegetables daily.

2. Incorporate healthy fats. Snack on a handful of nuts instead of potato chips or pretzels. Swap a slice of avocado for cheese on a sandwich. These healthy fats have been shown to help reduce bad cholesterol levels.

3. Eat seafood a couple times a week. Get 8 ounces a week. Focus on omega 3 rich, fatty fish like salmon, sardines or lake trout which are typically lower in mercury than some others. People tend to shy away from fish thinking it’s too hard to make. But, cooking fish doesn’t have to be a big production. Bake it in parchment paper with vegetables or try smoked salmon with your favorite salad greens for a simple lunch.

4. Add flavor not just salt. It’s no secret that high sodium intake is not recommended. In fact, African-Americans, people 50 and over and those who already have high blood pressure, should limit sodium intake to less than 1500 milligrams a day. Instead of seasoned salt, onion salt and well… salt, experiment with other ways to season your food. Add amazing flavor to chicken with a marinade of lemon juice, olive oil and rosemary. Finish the dish with a pinch of salt to bring it all together but don’t let it be the star of the dish.

5. Focus on fiber. Soluble fiber found in oats, barley, beans, flaxseed and some fruits and vegetables can help lower your cholesterol levels. Start your day with a bowl of oatmeal and berries, enjoy a bean burrito or veggie burger for lunch and a white bean and arugula salad for dinner to get a healthy dose of soluble fiber.

6. Cut back on added sugar. Excess sugar intake contributes excess calories which can lead to weight gain and a host of other health issues. Try sweet berries, cooked apples or pears or sautéed bananas for dessert. Learn to love tea without sugar by adding vanilla or try a teaspoon of cinnamon or unsweetened cocoa in your coffee to add flavor without excess sugar.

7. Be active. Engage in some form of physical activity every week – at least 150 minutes a week of moderate to vigorous exercise is recommended. You can break this down to 30 minutes 5 days a week or even smaller increments of 10 minutes or more. Just get moving.

Now, I get it. Life gets in the way of your best intentions. We give our hearts to loved ones, work and other interests but how much do we give to ourselves? I challenge you to implement just one suggestion from this list for the next seven weeks. Your heart will thank you.

Get more information on women’s heart health and even more on heart health at Go Red for Women.

Inspiration Of Motherhood

By Nadine Shubailat

May 19, 2012 7:00am

 

Amanda Peet on Being a Mom, Vaccinations

My office phone rang at 3 p.m. and a soft voice said, “Hi, it’s me Amanda!” That would be Amanda Peet, once named one of People magazine’s 50 Most Beautiful Women in the World.  Peet called from Atlanta where she is filming “Identity Theft,” with Jason Bateman and Melissa McCarthy.  She took a break from her schedule to speak to me about her biggest role – being a mother of two.

Here are five things you might not know about Amanda Peet, the mom.

1. While some Hollywood stars (see Mayim Bialik) promote the philosophy of “attachment parenting,” Peet believes you can still be a hands-on parent without adhering to the tenets of the philosophy. She doesn’t believe in any one particular parenting technique. “If it’s that easy to bring up children who are functional, thoughtful, civic-minded and kind, we’d all be doing it!”
2. She believes dads count, big time, especially the father of her children, husband and “Game of Thrones” showrunner David Benioff. “That is 80 percent of the picture.  You have a great husband who is a good father, then you’re half way there,” she said.
3. She adores her mother-in-law. Really. She celebrated Mother’s Day with both with Benioff’s mom and her own.
4. She freaked out over her first child’s first illnesses just like many other new moms. Peet harassed her brother-in-law, an infectious diseases fellow at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, with phone calls and texts every time her daughter Frankie, now 5, coughed or sniffled.
5. With her brother-in-law’s support, she became an outspoken advocate for vaccination after her younger daughter Molly, now 2, contracted whooping cough in 2010.  Molly, who was too young at the time to receive the full regiment of whooping cough (pertussis) vaccinations, was very sick for six weeks.

6. Peet said that after she came out as a vaccination advocate, she received “enough hate mail to last a lifetime.”  (She said she didn’t read it.) Peet stoked the fire in 2008, when she labeled parents who do not vaccinate their children as “parasites” and later apologized for the comment, saying it was “mean and divisive.”  However, she maintained her stance on the importance of vaccinations for children, warning that any reductions would lead to a resurgence of deadly viruses.

   Peet recently debuted a new public service announcement with the United Nations Foundation’s “Shot@Life campaign,” which highlights how Americans can help save the lives of children in developing countries by donating money for vaccinations.