Intentionally Build A Career You Love!

Fran Hauser is a start up advisor, investor and advocate for women’s empowerment and equality. She is also the author of Embrace the Work, Love Your Career. We hosted a talk with Fran about how to change your mindset through mindfulness and intention setting to find the joy in your career. These days, when work and life can seem overwhelming and, let’s face it, a drag…. it’s a super optimistic approach to reflecting, resetting and designing a career you love. You can watch the entire webinar here and make sure to buy the book– it’s filled with worksheets and action plans and even meditative coloring pages for adults!

 

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Talking about a revolution

 

It’s been nearly two years since the Black Lives Matter protests sparked a national conversation about race and inequality in the workplace and beyond. In that time, many organizations have made great strides focusing their attention on creating a more diverse, equal and inclusive environment and hiring practices. However, even though 65% of companies say DEI is a strong strategic priority, only 33% say they are good at it, which is unfortunate because the data shows more diverse and inclusive workplaces perform better, retain their talent and have happier workers.

 

 

We hosted a webinar with DEI expert and workplace futurist Daisy Auger-Dominguez who is the author of Inclusion Revolution: The Essential Guide to Dismantling Racial Inequity in the Workplace. 

 

Daisy offers a roadmap of what’s work and what hasn’t worked in the past two years of racial reckoning and a step-by-step guide to make your workplace a more inclusive, optimistic and equitable environment.

You can watch the entire webinar here. 

If this is something you are thinking about or struggling with—let us help you. We have a strong network of DEI and HR expert consultants who are available for short or long term engagements to guide your business with sound advice and deep experience.

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Featured Member: Michelle Diamond

 

Hi Michelle! Please tell us your work story: Who are you and what do you do?

 

I am the female CEO and Founder of Diamond Executive Resumes , an executive and Board resume and bio consulting firm and Elevate Diamond Strategy, a growth strategy development and execution independent advisory, consulting, and interim executive firm (in business for over 17 years, that I started when I was 29 years old)

I am also the author of the book, 10-Step Guide To Creating Your Own Growth Strategy For Your Company: The Secret To Unlocking The Mystery Of Achieving And Sustaining Profitable Growth, specifically designed for current or aspiring entrepreneurs and small business owners.

 

What advice do you have for other women looking to make a career change but are afraid or lack confidence? 

Do it…Now!!!! We all only have one life to live. If you stay unhappy by not taking a chance, will that kind of life be worth it?

 

What continues to draw you to your chosen field and what do you hope to accomplish in the years ahead?

I love taking people and companies to the next level. I hope to greatly expand Diamond Executive Resumes and Elevate Diamond Strategy, as well as have millions of entrepreneurs and aspiring entrepreneurs read my book, 10-Step Guide to Creating Your Own Growth Strategy For Your Company, so they can learn how what growth strategy is and how they can develop one for their companies.

 

What is the best piece of professional advice you’ve ever received?

Be prepared. My favorite motto is “It’s better to be prepared and have no opportunity, than to have an opportunity and not be prepared.”

 

How do you negotiate the balance between life and work when you are the one setting the boundaries?

I think it is easy to work all of the time, so I have to make sure that I give myself non-negotiables in terms of time to stop work for the day, exercise, fun, relaxation, etc.

 

If you could tell your younger self one thing about what this professional journey would be like, what would you tell her?

Be confident and always choose the best option. There will be ups and downs, but as long as you continue, you will completely break through and achieve success.

 

How do you make work work for you? 

I make sure that I am doing work that I enjoy, that I build a foundation that can be replicable, and that I consistently plant seeds for long term business relationships and financial success.

 

Michelle generously offered her services at a discount to The Second Shift’s community. You can email her directly at info@diamondexecutiveresumes.com  and mention The Second Shift in the subject to get the Affiliate Pricing discount. 

 

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Ambitious Like A Mother

 

 

Why prioritizing your career is good for your kids! Watch the entire chat with with attorney, professor and author Lara Bazelon. Topics discussed include: generational feminisim, assumptions, role modeling, guilt, perfectionism, the work life balance lie, why ambition gets such a bad rap. Check out the whole talk here!

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NFT and Women Masterclass with Michelle Reeves

If you are interested in learning about NFTs and web3 and what it means, this webinar with Second Shift member and Mavion founder, Michelle Reeves, is a must. She breaks it all down and explains this new world with step-by-step instructions on how and why you should get involved– whether you are a skeptic, an entrepreneur, artist,  or a speculator. Regardless of your goals, it  was a fascinating conversation about this new space, the technology behind it, the downfalls, and the ways they can work together to give women greater power and financial independence.

 

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Incremental Moonshot!

 

Last week Jenny spoke with entrepreneur and venture capitalist, Kut Akdogan, of Gaussian,  about the traditional vc model of fundraising and how it is, more often than not, a losing strategy for small start-ups. Venture capital, according to Kut, is risking your entire business on a moonshot– going all in and going big– with the promise of major success. However, most venture back start-ups fail, the business model is set up that way, and most women founders don’t even get to the first round of funding.

 

Kut wrote about an interesting article  about this topic and you can watch the entire conversation with Jenny here.

 

Instead, Kut says,  the more pragmatic approach to funding and growth is something he calls the “incremental moonshot,” whereby you don’t suppress your vision, but you take small steps to prove a valid business model and move the goalpost realistically. You don’t have to lower your ambitions, but outside of the vc model you can adjust the expectation of rapid scale and allow yourself the time and space to test things, grow organically and learn along the way.

 

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Member Event: Reshma Saujani’s Pay Up is a Guide to Breaking a Broken System to Benefit Women

 

Thank you so much Reshma Saujani for joining Jenny and The Second Shift community to talk about gender inequity, unpaid labor, and how feminism failed working women. Her new book Pay Up lays out a vision for a workforce where the structure is even for men and women, whether or not they have children.

Reshma,  best selling author, founder of Girls Who Code and The Marshall Plan for Moms gives voice to all the tired, overworked women who were told if they played by the rules and worked hard enough they could “have it all.” Instead, the pandemic exposed all the ways the system is stacked against working women and families– at home and at work. Reshma agrees with The Second Shift that there has never been a better time or opportunity than right now to change the very structure of work. To learn how you can watch the entire conversation here.

 

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Member Event: Reshma Suajani

In honor of Women’s Month, Join Jenny Galluzzo and Reshma Saujani for a conversation about women, work and how to fix a broken system. Reshma is the founder of Girls Who Code and the Marshall Plan for Moms. She is an activist for women’s equality and closing the gender pay gap. Reshma’s new book, Pay Up, lays out a bold vision to fix the burnout and inequity harming America’s working women today.
And let’s show our appreciate for all the amazing non-for-profit work Reshma does for all girls and women by pre-ordering her new book Pay Up! 
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Member Event: Eve Rodsky and Finding Your Unicorn Space

 

 

 

Unicorn Space: the active and open pursuit of self-expression in any form, built on value-based curiosity and purposeful sharing of this pursuit with the world,

 

What is your Unicorn Space and if you don’t have one, how do you find your inner creativity? That’s the heart of Jenny’s conversation with author Eve Rodsky last month. Eve is the bestselling author of Fair Play and her second book is all about carving out time for yourself to bring joy into your life.

Here is a tip– has nothing to do with children, work, partnership or day-to-day responsibilities.

It starts with curiosity: this could be a recipe you want to try, a game you want to learn or some larger goal oriented pursuit.

The next step is connection: you need to invite people to join you in this endeavor. This could mean to come and eat the meal with you, learn the game together or participate  along your way to achieving your goal.

Finally, completion: Unicorn Space has an ending– you sit and share the meal you cooked, you play the game you learned together or you finally go out and do the larger goal you have been working towards with those who helped you.

This can seem daunting to women where time seems precious and mental load is already heavy– but finding Unicorn Space is a funk buster, an energizer, a mood lifter– and that is vital to your ability to do everything else in your life successfully.

Want to learn more? Watch the entire conversation here. 

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