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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Negotiate Everything!

 

The concept that women are bad at negotiating is a pervasive idea that has been proven to be a total myth. Women are just as persuasive… we just need to use different tactics that align with our authenticity and innate skills. We hosted a webinar with Kathryn Valentine and Sarah Lacy of ChairmanMe to learn how to “Negotiate Like a Girl.” You can watch the full webinar here, but here are some of the highlights.

First, let’s do some arm-chair psychology.  Obviously, this is a far more nuanced conversation but the basics are: girls are raised to take care of people’s feelings, lead with empathy and be people-pleasers. As working professionals, this shows up as internalized fear of being unlikeable and fear of failure, lack of confidence and insecurity about potential negative backlash. The outcome is that women with the same skills and experience are paid less than their male counterparts because  they don’t negotiate for salary and benefit packages at the same rate, leaving them behind at each stage of their career. Overall that can mean they work 8 more years to make up the loss of salary and they could leave up more than $1 million on the table upon retirement.

What’s the solution? Women need to learn how to negotiate for themselves  not using the current model which only works for men. Turns out negotiating like a girl is more successful– for both men and women! There are two ways to do this: Communally and Collaboratively.

Collaborative Negotiation: 

Instead of setting up a scenario where it is you vs. them, come to the negotiation from the point of view of US vs. the problem. It is highly effective and strengthens the relationship by pitting you on the same side. Your success is not taking away anything, it is a win for everyone.

Communal Negotiation Structure:

Take your past accomplishments + your vision of the future for yourself and the company = your ask.

There is a lot more detail on the webinar and Kathryn Valentine gave The Second Shift access to her proprietary negotiation calculator. This handy tool will help you figure out what you should be asking for based on age and salary. Don’t forget, you can use these tips to negotiate more than salary– for a list of 50 things you can negotiate click here. 

ChairmanMe  is generously offering a 20% discount to Second Shift community for their Negotiation course.

The course takes place over 6 weeks with online classes and cohort sessions to level up your self-worth and accountability and set yourself up for success!

If you are interested Click Here and use the code SECONDSHIFT

 

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Mom’s Hierarchy of Needs

 

The Second Shift hosted a discussion with Leslie Forde, founder of Mom’s Hierarchy of Needs, about how to prioritize self-care and personal relationships while parenting and working. It’s an area many of us struggle with and could use help reprioritizing in our lives!

Leslie is a veteran researcher who uses her skills to help companies learn about what parents, and especially women, want and need. Through her expertise she realized that mom’s have a different set of priorities and need help to define and organize themselves for optimal life, family and work success.

Watch the entire discussion here! 

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Paid Leave

 

The United States is one of eight countries without national paid maternity leave. The Democrats are currently negotiating the Build Back Better bill that includes paid leave, but the benefit is not guaranteed. This bill is vitally important because we’ve seen the cracks that happen when workers need to become caregivers overnight. And this bill is not just for moms– it includes all  child care givers, elder care givers, and all parental leave etc…

We hosted a webinar on this historic moment and how we, as advocates of working families, can help get the bill passed. Our friends at PL +US spoke to us about where the bill is currently and what we can do individually to make noise and make sure lawmakers know how important this is for working women and families. You can watch the entire talk here.

If you would like to know what you can do to spread the word:

  • Call your Senators and Congresspeople.
  • Make noise on twitter using the #savepaidleave and tag Senators Manchin, Schumer and President Biden.
  • Take to IG Live and tell your own story and paid leave journey. 
  • Use your platforms and networks to spread the word far and wide.

Thank you for your help on behalf of the 3million women who left the workforce over the past 18 months,

 

 

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The Lost Art of Connecting

 

Social impact communications and marketing strategist Susan McPherson is proud super-connector. She says it took her a long time to realize it was her superpower and figure out how to harness that for her own benefit and to help others as well. She’s written a book, The Lost Art of Connecting, to teach all of us how to intentionally make meaningful connections online and in person and strategically being useful and helpful to others.  In the end, she says, it’s all about helping others and the help will come back to us. Here are some of Susan’s tips from her Gather, Ask, Do method. For the more info you can watch our entire interview and buy her book!

Gather:

  • Connecting with yourself.
  • Audit your goals– who do you want to connect or re-connect with to help you reach those goals.
  • What is your superpower– How can you be of service.
  • Widen your networks to meet people outside of your comfort zone.

Ask:

  • Ask meaningful questions of others to find out how you can be helpful to them.
  • Learn to listen carefully

Do:

  • Take all of those details and start to find ways to help others and ultimately yourself.
  • Be strategic about it and focus on achieving the goals you set for yourself.

 

 

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Paid Leave is Important– Make Some Noise!

 

 

 

Nearly 3 million women dropped out of the workforce in the past year and a half as families were hit the hardest in COVID.  A jobs report that came out last week surprised many who thought back to school would alleviate the child-care burden on mothers and families–but we knew the truth– school is one pillar keeping women in the workforce and without easy access to affordable childcare, universal pre-k and paid leave the balance tips and it falls, primarily and historically, on women.

Our friends at PL +US are pushing for paid leave to be part of the Biden Build Back Better bill and they need our help. The Second Shift community is made up of working women and families who understand first hand the critical need for government policies to help women regain the momentum we’ve lost in the fight toward gender equity in the workforce.  The private sector can’t do it alone, families can’t do it alone– we are the ONLY industrialized nation without paid leave and it’s up to the federal government to show up for women. We need to make some noise so our voices can’t be ignored!

 

Here’s what to do:

  • Post Post Post!
    •  From IG stories to Twitter to TikTok, every bit helps.
  • Tweet at Members of Congress and TAG them.
    • Especially if you live or know people in key states like Arizona, West Virginia,  New York, Washington, & Oregon.
  • Share your own story and experience with Paid Leave.
  • Be sure to tag @paidleaveus
  • Contact us if you want to do an IG Live or collaborate on content!
  • If you have a podcast or a blog talk about paid leave and encourage your followers to make noise! 

 

We are doing an event with PL+ US on Oct 26th to walk through what the bill means and why it is so important to speak up, now!

Join us on Zoom: https://bit.ly/pfml-briefing

 

 

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Webinar: Susan McPherson on the power of networking in person– remember how?

 

Susan McPherson is a communications strategist and author of the book The Lost Art of Connecting: The Gather, Ask, Do method for Building Meaningful Business Relationships.  She joins us on Oct 22nd to talk about how important it is to create and re-connect with your network OFF-LINE. That’s right ladies, it’s time for a refresher course in how to get out there and re-engage with our professional networks! And yes, we see the irony in doing this talk on Zoom…

October 22nd at 1pm EST.

Register HERE! 

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Holistic Nutrition to Prevent and Fight Women’s Cancers

 

 

Amy Cohen Epstein started the Lynne Cohen Foundation for Ovarian Cancer Research more than 20 years ago with a specific focus on preventative care. She is also the founder of The SEAM podcast about all things women and wellness. Amy introduced us to holistic nutritionist Elissa Goodman who believes what you put in your body can fight and prevent women’s cancers.

 

Our summer webinar is available to watch here. There is tons of information about everything from how hydration is key to cellular regeneration to what supplements to take and how you can drink and eat carbs and still live a healthy lifestyle. Bring a pen and paper and enjoy!

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Eating vs. Women’s Cancer with The SEAM!

 

Join us for our summer webinar brought to you by The SEAM all about using nutrition to prevent and fight off women’s cancers. Amy Epstein, of The Lynne Cohen Foundation for Ovarian Cancer Research and founder of The SEAM podcast, and holistic nutritionist Elissa Goodman will talk about the role food and nutrition plays in boosting our immune system and how that works for women’s unique ecosystems. Timely and important information for every member, at any age!

Monday, July 26th at 2pm EST

Register here!

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