Woman of the Week – Caroline Haskett

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Each week, we feature a fantastic new woman we think you should know. Some of these women are clients, some are friends, some are women we’ve only just met. But they all have this in common: they are dynamic, interesting gals who have agreed to share with us their insights and secrets to success.

Caroline Haskett

My Current Job/Company: Marketing Manager/The Wellington School

My Birthday: 09.22.71

My Work: Each workday, I step inside the doors and walk the halls of The Wellington School. I visit classrooms, absorb the energy of amazing students and teachers, and then help tell inspiring stories to the Central Ohio community. I buy ads. I craft messaging. I market online.

My Passion: My family, hands down.

My Family: Jeff (kind husband), Sophie (creative daughter), Rosemary (lively daughter), Parker (playful son)

My Heroes: My children. They keep me on my toes and remind me to live in the moment.

My Escape: Amelia Island, Florida. Where we were married and continue to vacation. Lots of memories.

My Pet Peeve: Chaos.

My Indulgence: Sleeping late on rare occasions.

My Roots: All things southern.

My Future: Never dull.

My Love: Food. Learning to cook healthful menus that nourish our family.

My Show: Little House on the Prairie.

My Quote on Life: “Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication.”

My Accessory: Bright, cheerful colors.

My Advice to Young Women: Living your dream doesn’t happen overnight. Work for it. It’s worth the wait.

How I Balance it All: I don’t, really. I’m usually one extreme or the other at any given time. All work or all play. But I try to let go of the guilt, which isn’t helpful to anyone.

Woman of the Week- Mary Stucke

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Each week, we feature a fantastic new woman we think you should know. Some of these women are clients, some are friends, some are women we’ve only just met. But they all have this in common: they are dynamic, interesting gals who have agreed to share with us their insights and secrets to success.

Mary Stucke

My Current Job/Company: Assurance Manager, GBQ Partner, LLC

My Birthday: 10.20.81

My Work: My experience with GBQ includes the performance of and management of audits, reviews and various other business consulting projects. I add value to my clients by presenting new ideas to help them improve their businesses.

My Passion: Helping others succeed in any way I can.

My Family: Eric (Husband)

My Hero: My dad. He has taught me the importance of education, respect and honesty by being an example in his own life.

My Escape: Dinner out with my sister and girlfriends!

My Pet Peeve: People who tell you what they think you want to hear instead of the honest truth.

My Indulgence:Chocolate and any kind of sweets

My Roots: Close family raised in a small town.

My Future: Uncertain but full of hope.

My Love: My family and friends. I am very fortunate to have so many wonderful people in my life.

My Movie: Love Actually, love is all around!

My Quote on Life: “Always bear in mind that your own resolution to succeed is more important than any other.” -Abraham Lincoln

My Accessory: My pearl necklace. I don’t leave home without it!

My Advice to Young Women: You can achieve anything through hard work and dedication. Set your goals and do not waiver.

How I Balance it All: I am still learning this balancing act. One thing I have come to realize, it is not always going to be 50/50, but prioritizing the important things whether that is life or work and making sure not to miss the big moments.

Woman of the Week – Lena L. West

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Each week, we feature a fantastic new woman we think you should know. Some of these women are clients, some are friends, some are women we’ve only just met. But they all have this in common: they are dynamic, interesting gals who have agreed to share with us their insights and secrets to success.

Lena L. West

My Current Job/Company: InfluenceExpansion.com

My Birthday: My Social Media birthday is January 1st.

My Work: I’m the Founder of the Influence Expansion Academy, the only social media mastermind program created EXCLUSIVELY for women entrepreneurs.

My Passion: Making sure that women entrepreneurs NEVER get left behind when it comes to LEVERAGING the latest digital marketing opportunities and strategies.

My Family: They’re a crazy, incredibly supportive lot of individual personalities.

My Heroes: My Mom, My Dad, My Aunt Agnes and Judge Judy

My Escape: Miami, of course.

My Pet Peeves: Disloyalty and lying. Can’t STAND either.

My Indulgence: Reality TV – Mob Wives and Chicagolicious are just addictive and 70’s TV like Good Times and The Jeffersons

My Roots: First Nation, Latina, Creole

My Future: Is so bright, I gotta wear shades (I’ve ALWAYS wanted to say that!)

My Love(s): travel, personal development, spiritual advancement (not in that order)

My Movie: GI Jane and the whole Bourne Supremacy series

My Quote on Life: “When people show you who they are, believe them the first time.” – Maya Angelou

My Accessory: Swagger. Nothing beats confidence and it’s free.

My Advice to Young Women: Get your passport early and use it often. (Thanks Aunt Agnes!)

How I Balance it All: I don’t. I don’t believe in balance. It’s a trick. I DO believe in a series of calculated, informed trade-offs.

Woman of the Week – Marchelle E. Moore

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Each week, we feature a fantastic new woman we think you should know. Some of these women are clients, some are friends, some are women we’ve only just met. But they all have this in common: they are dynamic, interesting gals who have agreed to share with us their insights and secrets to success.

Marchelle E. Moore

My Current Job/Company: VP of Legal Affairs & General Counsel/Central Ohio Transit Authority

My Birthday: 3/4/73

My Work: I serve as the chief legal officer for COTA and am responsible for providing, directing and controlling the delivery of legal services to the organization.

My Passion: My faith, my family and my community.

My Family: Payton (8 year old daughter) + John David (5 year old son) = My pride and joy!

My Heroes: My parents for loving me and making infinite sacrifices so that I can live the incredibly blessed life that I do; and William J. Lhota (former COTA President/CEO) for believing in me and providing opportunities for me to grow professionally.

My Escape: My home – it is filled with love, peace and joy!

My Pet Peeve: Half-truths or even worse – lies! I can deal with any truth, no matter how bad; but I have zero tolerance for lies.

My Indulgence: Peach cobbler!

My Roots: Humble but happy.

My Future: Not certain – but I’m sure I’ll enjoy the ride.

My Love: My children.

My Movie: Shawshank Redemption.

My Quote on Life: “Life’s too short to be miserable.”

My Accessory: Joy!

My Advice to Young Women: The only sustainable success is earned success. There is no substitute for hard work.

How I Balance it All: With God’s grace.

Being a Mom May Make Marissa Mayer More Effective

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By Chasity Kuttrus

Yahoo's new CEO, Marissa Mayer

Yahoo's new CEO, Marissa Mayer

There was interesting news in the corporate world this week. Yahoo! announced that it has hired Marissa Mayer, a former Google executive, as their new CEO. She’s tasked with leading the technology company into new territories. Well, that’s incredible news…..a new female CEO taking the reins!

But wait one minute… here’s the real news; she’s pregnant! What does all this say about Yahoo? Well, in Marissa’s own words: “They showed their evolved thinking.”

Yes, they did. And I’m guessing when push came to shove, someone recognized and pointed out what I believe to be true: many working mothers possess a certain extra motivation and drive that can make them extremely effective in high level executive roles.

Really?

Yes. Any working professional will tell you that if you surround yourself with the right people and the right tools, your job becomes much easier. The successful working moms that I know seem to have some sort of “work-life integration.” They have surrounded themselves with good people who support them at work. And they’ve done the same thing for their home life. They have support and help with their children, their homes, their grocery shopping, their housecleaning, and so on. They know when they get home they don’t want to spend time doing the laundry; they want quality time with their kids. True, not every working person has this luxury but I’m sure that Marissa does.

While Marissa has stated that she’ll be working through her maternity leave, no doubt she’ll have plenty of help on all fronts.

What good can come of this?

If she is successful and Yahoo! is successful, she will be the new “case study,” demonstrating how women can manage it all…with some good quality support. And, I believe that many women, when they are their busiest, with the most demanding schedules and the most important decisions to be made, thrive.

Why?

In a nutshell, because they have no time for nonsense. Sometimes leaders can wait too long for answers…and to make decisions. For Marissa and for all working moms, every second, every minute matters. I doubt she will allow a whole lot of politics, hot air or pettiness in her ranks, because she simply doesn’t have the time.

This built-in, mandatory hyper focus that many working moms employ may well be Marissa’s secret to success.

What’s your reaction to the news? Are you like Yahoo and “evolved” in your thinking? Are you Marissa’s greatest supporter? Or are you her greatest critic? Personally, I want nothing more than Marissa to be wildly successful. She has a lot of women cheering her on. Taking on the Chief Executive position is a bold, courageous step in anyone’s career. She’s doing it at a time in her life when she has some serious competing demands. While there are very few examples out there, I want my own daughter to know that she can be a CEO AND A MOM. One does not exclude the other.

Woman of the Week – Dr. Patricia Stafford

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Each week, we feature a fantastic new woman we think you should know. Some of these women are clients, some are friends, some are women we’ve only just met. But they all have this in common: they are dynamic, interesting gals who have agreed to share with us their insights and secrets to success.

Dr. Patricia Stafford

My Current Job/Company: Physician/Owner of Wellness ReSolutions

My Birthday: December 5, 1960

My Work: As an Integrative Health Specialist, I provide guidance for people to achieve optimal health through natural means such as nutrition, fitness, hormone balancing, acupuncture, and positive lifestyle changes.

My Passions: My family. My work as a life mission.

My Family: Dave (Husband of 28 years, Co-worker). My three sons – Ian (23), Grant (21), and Adam (19) – who fill me with pride every day!

My Heroes: People who lift others up through their generosity of spirit.

My Escape: My (almost) daily morning runs, especially the long ones. Books – well-done historical fiction can’t be beat!

My Pet Peeve: Excuses, excuses! We all have far more ability and power over our lives and future than we give ourselves credit for.

My Indulgence: Smarties (don’t tell!), dark beer.

My Roots: Adopted as an infant into a loving proudly Irish family (only to find out a few years ago that I’m half Polish – my adoptive parents never knew!).

My Future: Bursting with opportunity as I approach my career in medicine from a completely new direction. I’m excited to learn and try new things each and every day.

My Love: Watching my boys grow into wonderful young men. Reading – I’m never without a book in my hands (or Kindle, Nook, iPad . . ). Favorite book? The Art of Happiness: A Handbook for Living.

My Movie: The Blues Brothers, June 1980, first date with Dave.

My Quote on Life: “Put the uncommon effort into the common task . . . make it large by doing it in a great way.” Orison Swett Marden

My Accessory: Garmin Forerunner 305 (GPS watch for running).

My Advice to Young Women: Respect your bodies, respect yourselves. Attend to your body, your mind, your spirit – you deserve it and there’s nothing selfish about it. You can’t be your best self without it.

How I Balance it All: It’s a challenge! I try to cultivate a strong foundation of health – healthy food, fitness, good sleep habits. It’s too easy to get thrown off track physically and mentally otherwise. Discipline and order make my work and home life run so much more smoothly. As a business owner, it can be nearly impossible at times to step away and focus on my family and friends – but I think it is important to compartmentalize and try to be fully present in whatever I’m engaged in.

Woman of the Week – Yvonne DiVita

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Each week, we feature a fantastic new woman we think you should know. Some of these women are clients, some are friends, some are women we’ve only just met. But they all have this in common: they are dynamic, interesting gals who have agreed to share with us their insights and secrets to success.

Yvonne DiVita

My Current Job/Company: Co-founder, BlogPaws, LLC

My Birthday: August 4, 1951

My Work: Social Media professional

My Passion: Writing, pets, women’s issues, reading

My Family: Tom Collins, husband. Chloe, Maggie, Donnie: adult children. Miah: teenaged granddaughter. Frankie: toddler granddaughter

My Heroes: Katharine Hepburn, Audrey Hepburn, Edgar Allan Poe, old movie stars that had class.

My Escape: Napping…I’ve napped since I was a child. In naps, I rejuvenate and dream of life as it should be. Sometimes, I dream of life as it was. When I awaken, I feel good about today and I look forward to tomorrow.

My Pet Peeves: People who think they are better than other people. People who believe rumors. People who think everyone needs to be like them.

My Indulgence: TV – yes, I watch a lot of TV. Mostly CNN or HGTV or The Mentalist. I do love old movies with Judy Garland or Cary Grant.

My Roots: They tell me I’m German, Dutch, English and something else. I think the something else is mouthy – I tend to speak my mind.

My Future: Is based in this moment.Tomorrow will always be better if I don’t cling to today. I love change – I love dreaming of what can be and not dwelling in what was (or wasn’t).

My Love(s): Books! Animals! My kids and Tom and great family get-togethers where all of us play “Remember when”….Memories are often the best fictional stories ever. (No one ever remembers something the same way twice, and two people remember it totally different; what fun to hear how someone else remembers something you always thought was…the way you remember it!)

My Movie: “Breakfast at Tiffany’s”

My Quote on Life: “Women are the real architects of society.” – Harriet Beecher Stowe

My Accessory: Lipstick.

My Advice to Young Women: Don’t worry so much about the shoes, the handbags or the hair on your head. Remember that today is only a fraction of your life – that you will be “old” according to society for much longer than you are “young.” Therefore, vow to never age – grow up but never grow older. When you are older, and it will happen, be proud, be strong, and appreciate the life you’ve been given. It may not be perfect, but it’s yours. And yes, YOU are in charge. YOU can be whatever you like. Everything you do involves: Thinking, Being, Doing – in that order.

How I Balance it All: I don’t balance it all. I let it slip and slide and when it gets too treacherous, I take a nap. Funny how it all levels out when I’ve woken up.

Woman of the Week – Maya A. Bordeaux

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Each week, we feature a fantastic new woman we think you should know. Some of these women are clients, some are friends, some are women we’ve only just met. But they all have this in common: they are dynamic, interesting gals who have agreed to share with us their insights and secrets to success.

Maya A. Bordeaux

My Current Job/Company: Vice President, Human Resources, NorthShore University HealthSystem

My Birthday: January 25th

My Work: I am responsible for the human resources functions across four hospitals and home health services, as well as corporate-wide leadership for nurse recruitment and retention. I provide leadership oversight of HR services to an employee population of 10,000. I am also a lawyer and oversee legal affairs and mitigate employment law matters prior to litigation. I am most proud of designing and leading the implementation of the corporation’s first diversity and inclusion strategy and serving as executive sponsor. I also provide corporate-wide leadership for several other critical customer loyalty business initiatives.

My Passion: People. I love all people! I am particularly driven by helping others become better versions of themselves.

My Family: My pride and joy. I have been happily married for 18 years to my best friend, and have two beautiful daughters, ages 11 and 8, who keep me on my toes! I am very close with my extended family as well, and fortunate for all of them to live nearby.

My Heroes: My mother and Oprah.

My Escape: The Caribbean. Also, I experience a great sense of pride and joy from party planning for special events of family and friends. I even do weddings!

My Pet Peeves: Dishonest people. Also mean people really annoy me.

My Indulgence: Chocolate and wine.

My Roots: Very family oriented Chicago native with West Indian roots from my maternal ancestors who are from Guyana.

My Future: Limitless.

My Love(s): Life. Love. Laughter.

My Movie: Do I have to pick just one? Top favorites are “The Notebook” and “Titanic.” I’m a romantic comedy junkie as well.

My Quote on Life: “Live with a heart full of dreams, love from the depth of your soul, and embrace every moment of laughter.”

My Accessory: Sassy shoes. The higher the heel the better.

My Advice to Young Women: Be yourself and be comfortable in your own skin. It’s important that we fit where we need to fit, but to do so without losing one’s self. Trust your incredible gift of “woman’s intuition” and you’ll do the right thing every time.

How I Balance it All: Like Nike, “Just do it.” No excuses. No complaints. I just make it happen and believe firmly that you can’t wait for life to happen to you, you have to make it happen. Anything worth having will require hard work, dedication, and patience. But what you get out of life is directly relative to what you put in to it. So, every single day, I give it my all. Life is our greatest gift, so I demonstrate my gratitude each day by being the very best I can be. I also make sure that I have a lot of fun in the process. Work hard and play hard…that’s truly my balance.

Woman of the Week – Traci Dunn

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Each week, we feature a fantastic new woman we think you should know. Some of these women are clients, some are friends, some are women we’ve only just met. But they all have this in common: they are dynamic, interesting gals who have agreed to share with us their insights and secrets to success.

Traci Dunn

My Current Job/Company:
SVP-Inclusion, Talent & Organizational Effectiveness Director/Huntington National Bank

My Birthday:
02.27.73

My Work:
I enable high performance by creating an inclusive culture that welcomes diversity of thought so more and better ideas come faster. Additionally, I support the development of high performers through talent management, capability and leadership development as well as organizational effectiveness interventions.

My Passion:
Helping others help themselves.

My Family:
Single, no children but proud Aunt to 2 nephews and 5 nieces.

My Heroes:
My parents. They were married 54 years when my father passed in 2008. Such amazing role models!!!

My Escape:
Water and Sun

My Pet Peeve:
Negativity

My Indulgence:
Shoes

My Roots:
Southern, Family Oriented, Servant Leadership

My Future:
Exciting

My Love:
Traveling the world.

My Movie:
Sparkle – Can’t wait for the remake in a few months.

My Quote on Life:
Actually my favorite scripture on life: “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.” – Philippians 4:13

My Accessory:
Chunky rings

My Advice to Young Women:
I’m going to give you a “mama-ism” (wise words from my Mama)….You are characterized by the company you keep. Surround yourself with like-minded people and people in place you aspire to be.

How I Balance it All:
By realizing there is no such thing as balance, it’s all about integration. Balance to me is half and half. If I only gave 50% to my job – I’d get fired. If I only gave 50% to myself, family and friends I’d fail. I just try to find ways to integrate the two. That might mean checking emails on my ipad while lounging on my deck or adding a weekend to a business trip to attend my nephew’s track meet.

8 Things a Dad Can Give His Daughter

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8 Things a Dad Can Give His Daughter
by Chasity Kuttrus

It’s Father’s Day and what a great opportunity to celebrate all the wonderful men in our world!

While my role is to elevate, develop and promote women in the workforce, let’s face it ladies – we won’t get ahead without the support of amazing men!

Ernst & Young recently put together a compelling article about how women who have a male “sponsor” significantly increase their likelihood of getting ahead in the work force.

With all the social media, technology and communication outlets that create self-image issues with our young girls, they need all the support we can give them.

My personal belief is that it starts at home. Young girls need a lot of positive support and reinforcement and it begins with Mom and Dad. I want nothing more than our Katie to have an incredibly confident, happy life and this is on my mind all the time!

Today and every day, I’d like to celebrate the guy who taught me some fundamental things that have stayed with me forever. Here’s to my incredible dad! And here’s to all the dads out there including Katie’s dad….my husband, Jack.

Fathers, teach your daughter these 8 things and she will love you forever!

1. She is a part of something bigger…she is Family!
Let her know you will always lover her and love her mother. Having a strong family unit creates the daily confidence she needs. Model the loving marriage you want her to have someday. Have fun!

2. She is Unique….and she is Amazing!
Tell her this regularly. Affirm it. Believe it. Let her know that her natural beauty is all the attractiveness she’ll ever need. Remind her that you love her exactly the way she is. Tell her over and over and over: it’s not okay to be like “someone else.”

3. She is Interesting!
Teach her to be intrigued by other places, people and things. When she is excited about something new, you must show interest and excitement. My dad loves the world and traveling and guess what? So do I! Live life fully!

4. She is Thoughtful…she is Respectful!
Yes, you need to help your daughter be confident and independent, but let her be respectful of others and of those who are not like her. She needs to learn to treat everyone with dignity – the military, teachers, neighbors, her parents! This gift of reinforcement has helped me a great deal in life. Experience everything.

5. She is Beautiful!
Show her examples of beautiful. Being attractive is being authentic. Young women that wear clothes that are revealing are crying out for attention. Teach your daughter that there are boundaries to what is acceptable and what is not.

6. She is Smart…she is Financially Independent!
Let your daughter figure out how to live on her own. What a wonderful sense of self confidence that will give her. This is liberating. My dad taught me early on how to live on a budget. He shared with me that debt is dangerous. He showed me the basics of how to manage my money and ways to save. I still give myself an allowance every week and when it’s gone….it’s gone!

7. She is Content!
Teach her to be content. Don’t let her fall victim to hyper-consumerism. It is a path she won’t like. Recognize “enough.” Give generously. This understanding comes from home. Be giving.

8. She is Your Love….Forever!
Guys come and go but your daddy will always love you. Above all else, show that your love is unconditional. You may not always like your little girls’ behavior, decisions and outcomes, but you will always love her! Make sure above all else, she knows this.

Thanks, Daddy. I know you love me forever!