A Message From The Creator
Women In The News: Women entrepreneurs spur emerging countries’ growth
A Message From The Creator
Our Deepest Fear
By Marianne Williamson
Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate.
Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure.
It is our light, not our darkness that most frightens us.
Your playing small does not serve the world.
There is nothing enlightened about shrinking
So that other people won’t feel insecure around you.
We were all meant to shine, as children do.
It’s not just in some of us; it’s in everyone.
And as we let our own light shine,
We unconsciously give other people permission to do the same
As we are liberated from our own fear,
Our presence automatically liberates others.
Inspirational Woman Of The Day: Angelina Jolie donates $100,000 to assist Syrian refugees
By Sarah Anne Hughes
Angelina Jolie has donated $100,000 to the United Nations to assist Syrian refugees.
The actress made the donation to the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) Wednesday, a date designated World Refugee Day by the international organization. Jolie also released astatement through the UN calling for “durable solutions for … refugees.”
“UNHCR believes even one person forced to flee is too many. And it’s true,” Jolie said in the statement. “Every individual refugee matters. Each has their own story. Each has suffered and survived more than I could ever bear. And yet, they rise up to live another day.”
She continued, “The international community should rededicate itself to preventing conflict, addressing it when it erupts, and solving it more quickly, for that is the only way to create durable solutions for the refugees whose strength inspires us on this World Refugee Day.”
As McClatchy Newspapers’s David Enders reported, it’s difficult to say how many Syrians have fled their homes since since a revolt against President Bashar al-Assad began in early 2011. According to Enders, the UN placed the number at 500,000 at the end of May.
The Associated Press reported that more than 13,000 people have been killed during the uprising.
Jolie, now a Special Envoy to the UNHCR, visited Syria last June as a goodwill ambassador. She was greeted at a refugee camp near the Turkish border with a banner that read “Goodness Angel of the World, Welcome.”
Women’s Health: How Your Menstrual Cycle Affects Your Mouth
Chances are you’ve blamed your period for a bloated belly, a chocolate-fudge brownie craving, or an outburst of emotion after watching a smartphone commercial. But have you ever thought to hold your raging hormones responsible for puffy, sensitive gums?
Probably not. Yet research shows that hormonal highs and lows can impact your oral health, big time. In fact, a brand-new study by researchers at Case Western Reserve University reports that although women tend to maintain better dental health practices than guys do, we’re at greater risk for pie-hole problems because of our hormones. And these issues can put us at risk for more serious health issues such as heart disease, miscarriage, bone loss, and more.
“The gingival tissues have lots of estrogen receptors that respond to hormonal fluctuations,” says Susan Karabin, D.D.S., past president of the American Academy of Periodontology. “As a result, you may see symptoms appear in your mouth in accordance with your menstrual cycle.”
With this in mind, here’s how you can best care for your yapper while minimizing pain, inflammation, and bleeding at every point in your cycle.
The best time to: Schedule a cleaning?
The week after your period.
“There’s no bad time to go for a cleaning,” Karabin says. “But high estrogen levels a few days before your period can cause gingival swelling and inflammation.” This can throw off the results when your dentist measures your pocket depth—the space around each tooth. (A depth greater than 3 mm may indicate gum disease.) Plus, puffy gums tend to be extra sensitive. As a result, the cleaning could feel more painful than if you visit your dentist shortly after your period ends when estrogen levels dip back down.
The best time to: Be extra vigilant about brushing and flossing?
The week before your period.
“Hormonal changes don’t cause gum disease, but they can worsen some underlying issues such as inflammation,” Karabin says. Symptoms tend to be worse two days before your period starts, a condition called menstruation gingivitis. “Although it’s always important to maintain healthy oral habits, try to be even more diligent about brushing twice a day and flossing daily right before your period to keep your gums as clean as possible,” Karabin adds.
The best time to: Undergo oral surgery procedures?
The days right after your period.
Whether you need a cavity filled or a tooth yanked, aim for the time when you’re supposed to stop bleeding. That’s when hormone levels are lower and your gums are the least sensitive, Karabin says. There’s another hormonal surge that occurs before ovulation (between day 11 through 21 in a 28-day cycle—day one is the first day of your period). This can also cause inflammation and make procedures even less comfortable, so try to schedule your root canal shortly after your period ends.
Inspiration Of Motherhood: One Mom’s Wish For Her Dying Son
By Pamela Sitt
Moms and dads all over the world are serving banana splits for dinner in the sweetest of tributes to a dying child and the mother who’s determined to find the joy in his last days.
Two weeks ago, doctors told Erik and Diane Roberts that nothing more could be done to save their 21-month-old son, Ryan, who was born with Down syndrome and a heart defect. Ryan had the first of four surgeries at four days old, and has since suffered a series of setbacks that made him a frequent patient at Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh.
His hospital room “looks like a damn toy store,” Diane says. “We have a Jeep in here!”
The gifts, balloons and well wishes have been pouring in. But after Diane posted an update to her Facebook page sharing that she and her husband made the decision to issue a DNR — Do Not Resuscitate — order for their son, everyone wanted to know what else they could do.
No gifts. No cards. No more stuffed animals.
Instead, “Go out and create a memory with your kid. Throw a banana split on the table for dinner,” Diane says. “Wouldn’t you remember having banana splits for dinner one night when you were a kid?”
The next day, a friend created a page for Ryan’s Banana Split party on Facebook and invited all 200 of her friends. Her friends invited their friends. More than 27,000 people have since RSVP’d to the party, which takes place “in the comfort of your own home.”
And the photos and comments are rolling in.
“Root beer floats with my daughters last night,” Suzanne Probasco wrote from Indianapolis. (Hey, if you don’t have bananas, improvise!) “Your story has touched my heart and makes me that much more thankful for my two little girls and the time we’ve had together. Each moment is a precious one for all of us. Sending our best wishes.”
Ryan’s inspiration has spread even further, as Dylan Dragon Collier, a Canadian man living in Italy, wrote on the Facebook wall: “It took me forty minutes to explain a banana split to an Italian but finally got them to make me one. Here’s to you Ryan and his parents, thank you for reminding us that every day is a reason to smile.”
Diane says she’s been amazed to see all the pictures and stories. “To see all those smiles and to see those kids diving into banana splits cracks me up.”
Smiles have been easier to come by than one might expect for Ryan’s family. On his 21-month-birthday last week, he shared a beer with his dad. (A root beer, that is.) He got his first Steelers tattoo (press-on) on his left arm. He borrowed a bicycle from a kid down the hall to take his first spin (with dad helping to hold him on the seat). And when Pittsburgh police officers visited one day to make him an honorary officer, they issued him his first speeding ticket — for driving that toy Jeep, of course. It’s all part of the “bucket list” of experiences his parents made for him.
“He is usually pretty happy. He has the best smile,” Diane says.
Some days are better than others. One day this week, he was feeling “icky,” but recovered enough to reach for his mom’s cell phone and give her a high-five. She calls him “Superman” and “rock star,” and some other names, too: “We have a lot of nicknames for him, it depends on the day. ‘Cause he can be a pain, too. I’m just being honest!”
Doctors can’t say how long Ryan will live; on June 6 they gave an estimate of “weeks.” His dad’s response: “OK, 752 [weeks]!”
Their best guess, Diane says, is a couple of months. Until then, she’ll keep sleeping on the hideous fold-out couch in Ryan’s hospital room and saving her tears for the hallway. Erik will keep driving the two hours from their home in South Fork, Penn., every weekend. Their 4-year-old daughter, Rhylea, will keep asking why her brother’s heart is sick.
And strangers as far away as Norway, Canada, Italy and Paraguay will keep eating banana splits.
“You take for granted that your kids are going to be there a lot longer than they are,” Diane says. “You can’t take tomorrow for granted.”
Pamela Sitt is a Seattle writer who is serving bananas and ice cream for dinner tonight. Read her blog at www.clarasmom.com.
Women In The News: Women entrepreneurs spur emerging countries’ growth
When you picture the drivers of the fastest growing economies in the world, countries like China, Brazil, and India, the first thing that pops into your head probably isn’t a female entrepreneur.
Yet, women entrepreneurs and small-business owners are the propellers behind much of that growth.
Some of the leading women entrepreneurs in the world gathered in New Delhi this past week for the third annualDell Women’s Entrepreneur Network conference. Previous conferences were in Shanghai, China, and Rio De Janeiro, Brazil.
The Dell conference is an invitation-only event, sponsored by Dell and Intel. Attendees from the United States this year included such notables as Kay Koplovitz, founder of USA Network, and Carley Roney, founder ofThe Knot and other online properties.
India was a natural choice because it’s one of the world’s fastest growing economies.
The Global Entrepreneurship Monitor reported that 187 million women worldwide launched and ran businesses by the end of 2010.
“If you think about the impact of entrepreneurs on the global economy, they need support, especially in the areas of access to capital and networks,” said Steve Felice, Dell’s president and chief commercial officer.
“With DWEN, Dell is trying to do something about that,” he said of the women’s entrepreneur network. “Dell has a huge presence in India. We know the country well. We also know small businesses are going global and want access to new markets to create new revenue streams.”
Three women I met at at the conference exemplify the kinds of women entrepreneurs who are building companies in India today and the type of opportunities there, whether you’re Indian or not.
Sairee Chahal launched her company, Fleximoms, a little more than a year ago in New Delhi. Chahal seized an opportunity that the burgeoning Indian middle class presented.
As corporations get larger and more multinational corporations arrive, Fleximoms is providing consulting services on flex time and work-life balance. It’s now also India’s biggest job board and community for working moms, and the consulting service has more than 300 clients.
“Being an entrepreneur allows a woman to be economically independent, gives her flexibility, more so when there are highly opportune markets to be tapped,” Chahal said.
Lakshmi Pratury represents the “brain gain” benefiting India today: Indians who had left the country who now are returning. Pratury went to the U.S. for college, stayed, worked at Intel, and eventually became a venture capitalist, helping start other American companies.
“India is a green field of amazing opportunities,” said Pratury, founder of the Ink Conference, an innovators gathering modeled on the highly successful TED (Technology, Entertainment, Design) conferences in the United States but tailored for the needs of emerging economies.
“In India there’s a whole lot of unrecorded entrepreneurs,” Pratury said. “The unorganized sector — household help, people who sell vegetables by the side of the road — are almost all women. There’s as much money made by Walmart in the U.S. as all the nail salons combined. That’s what’s going to work in India: many, many small-business owners.”
Shoba Purushothaman is perhaps the most surprising of the new Indian entrepreneurs: She’s never lived in India. Although her ancestors were Indian, she grew up in Malaysia and most recently lived in Manhattan.
She moved to India two years ago to launch a skills training and assessment company, aimed at large multinationals with mid-level managers who need to improve their skill sets.
Why India? “Not only is there a rapidly growing market, but it’s much less expensive to build a company,” she said. “I was able to be cash flow positive much faster than I could have been in the U.S.”
Was the fact that she was not an Indian a drawback?
“Quite the contrary. It’s my un-Indian-ness that’s attractive,” Purushothaman said. “Indians recognize that this is a time for them to ascend in the global economy, and they are eager to absorb knowledge and skills from abroad.
“For young Americans, this is such a fantastic time to go to emerging markets,” she said. “Go get experience, an internship. For seasoned entrepreneurs, there’s a window of opportunity right now in these markets.”
Women, these entrepreneurs among them, will be noticed.
“It’s a business imperative,” said Karen Quintos, Dell’s chief marketing officer. “Women are making up more of the decision makers and buyers throughout the world.
“But frankly, it’s also a moral imperative,” she said. “Those corporations that embrace diversity, whether age, gender, geography, experiences, succeed.”
Rhonda Abrams is president of The Planning Shop and publisher of books for entrepreneurs. Her most recent book is The Successful Business Plan: Secrets and Strategies. Register for Rhonda’s free newsletter at PlanningShop.com See an index of Abrams’ columns here. Twitter: @RhondaAbrams. Facebook:facebook.com/RhondaAbramsSmallBusiness.
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