Announcements and Opportunities

Verizon Business Competition. Submit a video describing the challenges you face as a small business getting your whole team on the same page – and you could win big. Grand Prize is a two-hour exclusive business consultation with entrepreneur Guy Kawasaki plus a $2,000 reward card. Deadline is May 31, 2010. Click here for all the details: http://business.verizon.net/betterway/

Want to promote your business? A square display ad (120x120 pixels) in one issue of NAFE News & Notes is just $75.00. Larger skyscraper ads (600x120 pix) are a bargain at $175. Contact newsletter editor Paula Damiano to place your ad.

Member News

Lisa Marie Platske of Upside Thinking, Inc. has been named Women In Business Champion of the Year by the SBA. As part of National Small Business Week, the U.S. Small Business Administration recognizes the special impact made by outstanding entrepreneurs and small business owners. Congratulations, Lisa Marie!

Network News

Chicago’s local NAFE network CAAFE2 (Chicago Area Association for Female Executives and Entrepreneurs) recently held a fundraiser for Haiti. The event featured special guest Carol Evans, President of Working Mother Media (the parent organization of NAFE) and was held at Nicole’s Gallery. In the photo: Network executive director Pamela Johnson, along with the lavish spread provided to attendees. For more information on this group, go to http://www.nafe.com/web?
service =vpage/373.

5 Tips for Waking Up the Natural Leader in You

Ardice Farrow is a former Executive Producer and Creative Consultant. She worked for major companies such as Apple, LucasArts, Disney and McGraw-Hill. Ardice is the Founder and Co-Creator of Wake Up Women, a new book series “for women by women” and a keynote speaker and trainer. For more information, go here: www.wakeupwomen.com,
www.ardicefarrow.com.

All of us want to lead inspired and effective lives and make a difference. We dream of being powerful leaders, but we often get trapped into thinking that we are either “born a leader” or we need an MBA or extensive training to learn the skills of leadership as defined by corporate America.

Consider the possibility that you are already a leader. And when you connect to your innate skills and talents you naturally step into your own unique role of power and influence. Here are a few reminders:

1. Community – Women naturally think of themselves as part of something bigger and are at their best when they know they are not only impacting the bottom line but impacting culture, community and the future. As women, when we succeed we automatically want to share what we have learned so others can succeed and grow.
2. Collaboration – Women thrive in high energy environments where they can connect with likeminded people and where their ideas and visions can expand and grow through their interaction with others. We love to bounce ideas off each other, come up with brand new ways of doing things and generate win-win-win environments where everyone flourishes.
3. Creativity – Women are instinctively creative whether it is finding a new recipe for leftovers, designing an outrageous Halloween costume or coming up with international marketing and business strategies. We naturally know how to create and hold a vision, to incubate a new idea and bring that idea to fruition in the real world.
4. Compassion – As women we feel connected to others and to future generations. We have all weathered our own storms, reached out to friends and triumphed against all odds. We naturally have compassion for others, for the world, for the environment and even for ourselves. Compassion keeps us tethered to the heart of being a woman.
5. Celebration – Although, in our busy hectic lives, we often forget to celebrate. The truth is we are masters at acknowledgement, appreciation, celebration and valuing our own contribution and the contribution of others. In the act of celebrating we complete a creative cycle and in the moment of celebration we relax, smile and look for “what next”.

Consider businesses based on feminine values such as compassion, creativity, community and cooperation can create visionary and sustainable futures. The world is hungry (even desperate) for innovative solutions and new paradigms for commerce and politics. The time for women to step into their roles as powerful feminine leaders is now.

New profile posted! Learn all about your fellow business women on nafe.com under Member Profiles. WalMart’s Dottie Mattison is currently featured, as well as Vikki Pryor, Robbie Motter and Teriilee Harrison. Click here

Know another outstanding NAFE member you’d like to see profiled on nafe.com? Send details to NAFE News & Notes editor Paula Damiano at pauladamiano@hotmail.com.

• Go to nafe.com to view our ever-expanding Calendar of Events for opportunities around the country. The new Search function makes the Calendar even more useful and accessible.
• Use the Event Submission Form online to let us know about events in your area. Events submitted for the website will also be considered for the NAFE News & Notes– twice the exposure for one listing!

Check the NAFE Calendar of Events for network meetings, workshops and other happenings around the country.