Women, Let's Mentor

Last Friday I attended an EWomen Network luncheon and the speaker was Cindy Erickson of Innolect, Inc. She talked to us about women in the workforce and compared it to the play Wicked.

If you have seen the play then you know that the message is that things are not always what they seem. We have to look behind the curtain and find the truth. The truth is that women are still not equal in the workforce.

We have decades of fighting our way to the top and yet we still aren't there. Did you know that there are still only eight female CEOs in Fortune 500 companies? Megan Dowd writes for Fox news, "...statistics show that although women have made some strides over time in the corporate arena, too many have simply been running in place. The majority of women employed at Fortune 500 companies have been getting stuck at the bottom of the leadership totem pole over the last decade, according to a census study released in 2006 by Catalyst, an organization that tracks women in business."

So, what is it that makes us different than men? What makes us incapable of rising to the top of the corporate ladder? In her presentation on Friday, Erickson said that women have not adopted the mentor mentality that men have. Of course, there are other contributing factors to why men rise to the top faster, but this is a point that cannot and should not be ignored.

What is the underlying reason that we don't mentor and take that new girl under our wings? Maybe it is that newer models for the female gender seem better some how. Where men are seen as wiser and more capable at an older age, women are not necessarily in the same boat. Many women have taken time away from their careers to raise families. They may have a break in their rise to the top. So, what can we do?

We must....and I mean must, begin to build bonds across the generations. Women who have been in the workforce and figured a few things out must take a younger woman under her wing. We must begin to create strong networks that help us launch each other into a new level.

What does this have to do with beauty and style? Everything!! We cannot be women of grace, style, poise and beauty if we are ugly inside. When we join hands and work together we are undefeatable. We are strong and beautiful and can do anything.

In the coming months we will be issuing a challenge to be or find a mentor. We hope that you will take up the gauntlet and join us in our quest to be better women (to each other) in the workplace. Keep checking our site for details.

Beauty is More Than Skin Deep

When you think of beauty, what comes to mind? Is it the features of a person...their accessories...the way they dress? It could be a combination of things that makes them beautiful. We do tend to look at beauty as a surface thing. If we want to look more beautiful we will get a new outfit or try something different with our hair. I had an experience today that proved to me that beauty is much deeper than our skin.

I was recently introduced to a massage therapist who does vibration massage. I have all kinds of trouble with my back, shoulders, neck, etc. I am willing to go to anyone to try and get relief from the pain. So, of course, I go in looking for a therapeutic massage that will temporarily relieve the stress in my back.

Nancy, the therapist, started out by doing some muscle testing to see where the problems were with my body. I didn't tell her anything about what was going on, but she told me exactly what the issue was and she was right! Next she played a quartz crystal singing bowl. This is a deep vibration that sends energy through your body. Then, we got to the massage.

I have never been on a massage table that vibrated, but this one did. There were several different vibrations going on. There was the table and then there were two smaller machines that she could position over trouble areas. In addition to the work that the table was doing, Nancy was working my muscles. She kept hitting spots that she called hurkles. This is for tickles, but hurts. She would work on them until they no longer hurt and tickled.

The beauty part comes at the end. After I got dressed she had me stand in front of the mirror. I was standing taller than I have in years. My posture was fabulous and I didn't have any pain! I am astounded at how feeling so good translating into looking so terrific today.

What am I saying? Go get a fantastic, therapeutic massage before you buy a new outfit. You might find that what you owns fits better when you have great posture.

The Secrets of Mastering Personal Style

Donna and I will be announcing soon the release of our new program, "The Secrets of Mastering Personal Style". We have found that there are definite things that women (who have fantastic personal style) do, think, feel and wear. We have seen patterns emerge over the years as we have worked with women one on one. We are finally in a position to bring that information to you.

I am so excited about this program. It is a program full of information, but the best part is that it will have tangible tasks to perform to get yourself into the position to execute your own fabulous personal style. And, to keep your personal style a constant in your life.

The chapters (as they are outlined today) are:

Know Thyself
Clean Canvas
Color by the Numbers
Getting Ready to Get Stylish
Wardrobe Genie
Its All in the Plan
Topping off your Wardrobe with Great Hair
Accessorize Yourself
The Shoe Fairy
Comfortable in your Skin
Style Comes in All Shapes and Sizes
Shop, but don't Drop
Style for a Lifetime

The program will have a workbook that gives you all of the tools you need to get through the tasks outlines in the program and keep your information together. After going through the program you will be able to achieve chic, easy, unique style.

Our members are going to get installments from "The Secrets of Mastering Personal Style" directly on their member site. The benefit to our members is that we are making the program available to them long before it is actually publishes. Once the program is published, the entire program will be available to members at a lower member price.

We can't wait to get this program in the hands of women everywhere. "The Secrets of Mastering Personal Style" is designed to help you get your style down to a science and get on with living your life.

Cashmere Mafia

I know...it is crazy to spend time watching something as mindless as Cashmere Mafia. But, I watch these shows with you, the women who follow our blog, in mind. I want to see what Hollywood thinks fabulous, stylish women (in the real world) wear. So, last night I sat down and watched the ABC pilot of Cashmere Mafia about 4 executive women in New York.

I found it interesting that the women depicted in the show didn't really adhere to latest fashions. They all have different body types and jobs in different industries and the clothes that they wore seemed to mimic their needs vs. follow the latest trends. Of course, one could argue that it is shows like this that make trends happen.

The trend that I would like to see happen most is the dressing for your style and shape. I mean, let's face it....while these characters may start new trends we will still be facing the issue of whether the trends are good for us as individuals or not. It reminds me on the Manolo Blahnik craze that happened with Sex and The City. Suddenly women all over the country were willing to pay over $600 for shoes!!

Wouldn't it be nice if we could take a page from these women and say, "I'm going to wear a jacket with a peplum because it shows off my tiny waist and accentuates the curve of my hips"? Next time you go shopping look at yourself in the dressing room mirror and ask whether the outfit you are wearing is a fashion wow or a wow for you personally. If the answer is a personal wow, then break out the card and buy it...otherwise, save yourself some closet space and return it to the rack.

Season for Sales

My mailbox is overflowing with sale fliers right now!! January is when the stores are getting rid of all the winter merchandise so that they can bring in the Spring lines. It seems that the retail industry has gotten more and more anxious about getting merchandise for the next season out. So, if you are looking for something to wear right now (while it is still cold outside), then you will probably end up rifling through the sale racks.

Here are a couple of tips for sale searching:

1. Remember that most of these items are on the rack for a reason. Whether it is poor fit, uncomfortable fabric or over pricing.....they usually ended up on the rack because the general feeling was that they weren't worth buying. There are, of course, some exceptions to this rule and those are the items that you are looking for.



2. Just because it is a good price doesn't mean that it is a good buy. If you haven't read the article on price per wearing, look in our article archives (http://www.anatomyofstyle.com/, members only). This article got the greatest response from our members. Bottom line is that $20.00 worn once equals $100 worn 5 times!!



3. Don't settle for something that you would not have purchased at full price. If you would never have considered a piece when it was priced at the full retail price, why would you consider it now. The only exception to this rule is that you would have purchased the piece, but you did not have the money. Now that it is on sale you can afford to buy it. Otherwise, let it stay on the rack!



4. Finally, don't buy just to buy. Make sure that you are making purchases that make sense in your wardrobe. Have a plan or you will create chaos that has an effect on various parts of your life. A good deal that doesn't serve you is actually a very pricey mistake.

With all of this said, hit the sales and find the treasures that you might not have been able to add to your wardrobe before. Just remember, buy with purpose!!

Happy Shopping!

Managing that Magazine Mountain

I get a couple dozen magazines every month. I
have great intentions when I stack them next to my chair. I think that I will sit down and relax in the evenings and pour through all those glossy pages. However, things get crazy and I've only read a few pages when something comes up. If I manage to get through an entire issue and find things that I want to go back to, I add the magazine back to the stack. The stack grows and grows and before you know it, I have a mountain.

In addition to the magazines that I get at my home and office, I buy a few every time I get on an airplane. With this last trip over the holidays, I purchased 4 fabulously glossy magazines in the airport before boarding. Although they may all fit in my Louis Vuitton Never Full bag, it makes it awfully heavy. I decided on the airplane to try something new.

As I read through the magazine, I tore out pages that had something of interest that I wanted to return to. I made four piles: things I want to try, things I want to explore as topics for anatomyofstyle.com, websites I want to visit, and clothes that I love.

I managed to complete this process for two magazines before the plane landed in Denver. When the flight attendant came around for trash, I gladly let go of the two magazines I had read from cover to cover. It made my Never Full bag significantly lighter and I was able to retain the information that I found of value.

Interestingly, I only came out with about 10 pages per magazine that were relevant!! That mountain that has managed to take over a corner in my office and a spot in my living room represent about 200 pages that are of interest to me....less than one complete magazine. I've considered cancelling some of my subscriptions in an effort to manage the mountain, but I think that I have finally hit upon the answer.

So, now I have a bunch of loose pages in piles. What to do...what to do. I got back to the office, after a wonderful holiday, and put the pages in a binder with dividers. I spent about an hour visiting the websites that I wanted to see and ordering the products that I wanted to try. In our next editorial meeting I will share the information that I think we may want to expand on and report on our site.

After I visited sites and bookmarked them or ordered a product, I tossed those pages. I am feeling fabulously light and getting the most value ever out of my glossies. How's that for tackling a New Year's resolution (be more organized) right out of the gate?

We want to know what you think

We spend a lot of time sharing information with you about personal style and trends....really anything that we think would interest and benefit you. Over the last few months we have asked various people what they would like to see on our website. We have tried to respond to the requests that we have gotten by developing a plan for the next 6 months.

Each month we will have a specific topic that we focus on. We focused on coats in December. I know, the retailers had coats out long before that, but let's face it...who really wants to buy a coat when it is still over 50 degrees outside! Our goal is to keep the information relevant for today. So, our themes for the next few months are as follows:

Inner Beauty: its not all about the outside
Lingerie: what, how and when
Swimwear: YIKES!
Hair
Eye wear

If there is anything specific around these topics you would like for us to address, let us know. If you have a topic that we haven't mentioned....even better. It is important to us that we are delivering to you information that is relevant and of interest to you. Keep sending us your comments...we love it!