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By Dia Satori

Often on rainy days when I was a child, I could be found curled up on the floor of my parent's tiny closet reading comic books. I'm not talking about the walk-in closet that Big built for Carrie in Sex in the City. This one could not have been more than 4 feet square and was stuffed with hanging clothes and piled up shoe boxes.

It was in that closet that I fell in love with my dad's colorful, wide, wide ties hanging from a rack on the wall. It was in that closet that I imagined how beautiful those ties would be as dresses for my Barbie doll. And, in that closet, I cut those ties in half and slid the narrow end of the tie past her hips, tiny waist and over her bosom. Suddenly, Barbie was strutting down a shoe box-size runway in strapless gowns with long triangle-shaped trains and bowing to the applause of an audience marveling at her creativity. And that is why children should not be allowed to play with scissors, according to my dad.

But back to comic books.

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By Sarah Sladek, CEO-XYZ University

I'm fascinated by the topic of workforce and leadership development, partly because I'm a parent and partly because I work with organizations grappling with generational issues. I know all too well that everyone has an opinion on "today's" generation and "tomorrow's" generation and how these differences challenge organizations. But one topic that remains to be explored is workforce readiness.

The Conference Board recently released a report which argues: "High school and college graduates are showing deficiencies in both basic and applied skills and a real lack of preparedness for today's world of work."

Unemployment among teens and young adults has been at an unprecedented rate for several years. Even before the economy took a nosedive, employers preferred to hire senior citizens or immigrant workers over Generation Y.

So, would you hire your own kid?

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Chicago, PRNewswire. Top-ranking professional black women in the U.S. and abroad will convene to broaden their perspectives on global leadership and business strategies and harnessing their collective power and influence at the League of Black Women's 8th Global Strategic Leadership Conference, "Black Women 2011: New World Power," May 17-20 at the Innisbrook Resort and Golf Club in Tampa, FL.

"The paradigm is shifting from our strength to our power, which is why the conference is called 'New World Power.' Strong black women are growing into powerful black women who operate on a different fuel," said Sandra Finley, LBW President. "Participants will gain a better understanding about how high-ranking black women can generate this new world power to achieve their global ambitions."

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May marks the first anniversary of Savvy.mn Magazine and they are celebrating by creating, Savvy in the City, a professional women's leadership, shopping and fun networking event. They're bringing together some of the remarkable women they've met along the way with all of the features of a Savvy Soiree they know women will love: valuable door prizes, gift bags, shopping and a great opportunity to spend time with your friends and treat yourself to inspiring messages with a wide array of professional business women.

Savvy in the City will be held Friday, May 6 at the Minneapolis Marriott Southwest in Minnetonka. Presented by St. Francis Regional Medical Center and Savvy.mn Magazine, this 21+ event is an upscale, yet affordable, ladies night out.

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Republished with permission from MS Magazine Blog. Four years ago I showed up on Gloria Steinem's doorstep in New York to take care of her animals while she was away for the summer. When she returned, she let me live with her while I got my financial and social footing in the big city. Yup, it was a very cool experience to live with Gloria Steinem, but not one I'm ready to explain in full because I can't possibly analyze and translate all the lessons I've learned from this "feminist icon" just yet.

It bothers me though, that on days like her birthday there will be blogs posts and articles that memorialize Gloria as if she's already gone or as if she's a one-dimensional gray photograph in a history book with a list of accomplishments in the sidebar. Few of these will represent the very human, ever-evolving woman who is constantly teaching, by words and deeds, how to live a life dedicated to making the world better for all people. So today, on her 77th birthday, here are a few of the things I've picked up that daily influence my organizing, my worldview, my life.

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ARA. Cyberbullying, the bullying of a person through the use of an electronic device such as a computer or cell phone, is becoming a growing national problem. Anyone can be a victim of cyberbullying, but students are frequent targets. From fake Facebook pages, to the posting of embarrassing videos and photos, to Kick a Ginger Day (harassing red-headed people based on a 2005 episode of South Park), more than 20 percent of today's U.S. students, ages 10 to 18, report being a victim of cyberbullying (26 percent for girls versus 16 percent for boys).

Because of a number of highly publicized cases of cyberbullying - including most recently, the suicide of a Rutgers University freshman whose roommate posted a video of the student having sex in his dorm room - colleges, school districts, law enforcement and state legislatures are taking action to address cyberbullying.

More than two dozen states have specifically enacted legislation or updated statutes to address the growing problem of cyberbullying, according to FindLaw.com, the leading online resource for legal information. Most new laws mandate that school districts enact policies involving cyberbullying, and take steps to suspend or expel students who engage in it.

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Each year, the Business Journal honors 25 Women to Watch - leaders to keep an eye on for continued success - as well as 25 Industry Leaders who are at the forefront of their industries. The Business Journal also honors one female executive with a Career Achievement Award. This year's award goes to Lynn Casey, CEO and Chair of public-relations firm Padilla Speer Beardsley Inc.

The honorees will be featured in a special publication on May 13 and recognized at a luncheon on May 12.

The winners of this year's awards are:

Career Achievement

Lynn Casey, CEO and Chair Padilla Speer Beardsley Inc. (Pictured)

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Increasing the number of women in corporate leadership is good governance.

The third annual Minnesota Census of Women in Corporate Leadership reveals that women have made little progress in joining the top leadership ranks of Minnesota's largest 100 publicly held companies over the past year.

Women hold 14.3 percent of the available board seats in Minnesota's 100 largest publicly held companies; that's 116 of the 814 board seats available in 2010. The number of seats held by women declined between 2009 and 2010 by three seats.

Twenty-eight of the top 100 public companies in Minnesota have no women board members.

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Looking for a new twist on networking? Want an informal way to meet other interesting working and professional women? Then sign up for Strictly Social presented by The Woman's Club of Minneapolis and St. Catherine University. Strictly Social is a fun, low-key social networking event for women of all ages and stages of life.

Enjoy a Leadership Insight presentation by authors Kathleen Laing and Elizabeth Butterfield, followed by the company of 200 plus other fascinating women. This event is open to everyone; advance registration is required. Come alone or come with a crowd, there's no better way to spend an evening than at Strictly Social.

Authors of Girlfriends' Getaway Kathleen Laing and Elizabeth Butterfield believe that to truly live full, healthy and balanced lives, we need to spend significant time with women who understand, support and encourage us. No one does this better than our girlfriends. Too often, in this fast-paced world we forget to invest in ourselves and the women we care about through genuine, face-to-face quality time together. That's why we need to set aside time to get away and nurture our friendships and our souls.

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Sheila C. Johnson is a movie buff. In partnership with other investors, her first film Kicking It, premiered at the 2008 Sundance Film Festival in Park City, UT. She was executive producer for A Powerful Noise, which premiered at the 2008 Tribeca Film Festival in New York and her third film was She is the Matador. Her latest film, The Other City, about the HIV/AIDS crisis in Washington, DC premiered at the Tribeca Film Festival in April 2010.

Johnson was one of the founding partners of Black Entertainment Network (BET) and the first African American woman to have a stake in three professional sports teams: WNBA - Washington Mystics; NBA - Washington Wizards; and NHL - Washington Capitals. She is the owner of Salamander Hospitality in Middleburg, Virginia.

Johnson said, "I adore butterscotch and this recipe was created personally for me by my wonderful pastry chef, Jason Reaves and is showcased at Market Salamander in Middleburg, VA.

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By Lynne Olson, Contributing Writer

Leap and the net will appear. A close friend shared this proverb with Margaret Anderson Kelliher last August after Anderson Kelliher placed second in a tough DFL primary battle for Minnesota’s governorship. Perhaps some leaping was in order since Anderson Kelliher knew she would not be returning to the state capitol as the new governor or as the state representative she had been for 12 years. “Just the act of leaping will create energy around you,” she said.

Now, Minnesota’s former Speaker of the House has landed and is settling into a new leadership role. Exactly two months from the August 10 primary, she was named as the new president of the Minnesota High Tech Association (MHTA).  In its 30^th year, MHTA is a membership-based trade association that supports the growth, sustainability and global competiveness of Minnesota’s technology sector through advocacy, collaboration and education.

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By Tiffany Dufu, President of the White House Project

Women’s History Month begs reflection about what women can do to impact what we can safely call “interesting times.” The United States is poised at the brink of a new era. Civil society is eroding. The gap continues to widen between the people in power and the lives of everyday Americans, and it’s particularly palpable among young people who - through tubes, texts and tweets - have more access to information about their leaders than ever before.

The White House Project wants to bridge this gap. By continuing to ?ll the leadership pipeline with diverse individuals who work for progressive change and inspire us to believe, we can create that change and dramatically alter the course of history.

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By Erin Parrish, Contributing Writer

One hundred years ago on March 19, a million women and men gathered at rallies around the world to campaign for women’s suffrage, women’s right to work and hold public office and to end sex discrimination. This day marked the first celebration of International Women’s Day which, as a result of their passionate activism, is now an annual event celebrated globally on March 8.

This celebration is a day honoring the economic, political and social achievements. Each year thousands of events are held throughout the world. In fact, it is a national holiday in China, Armenia, Russia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Bulgaria, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Macedonia, Moldova, Mongolia, Tajikistan, Ukraine, Uzbekistan and Vietnam.

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Theresa McDevitt, Contributing Writer

Source: Ms. Magazine Blog. From the field and slave cabin to the Confederate White House, black women took an active role in assisting the Union military in winning the Civil War. Contemporaries recognized their service, and on the occasion of the upcoming 150th anniversary of the start of the war (April 12) and the recent close of Black History Month, it’s a good time for us to recall and recognize it as well.

A story appeared in the Northern journal Harper’s Weekly in 1864 describing how Southern blacks were assisting Union soldiers who escaped from prison camps. An illustration which accompanied the story featured a black woman hiding ragged, injured Union soldiers. Such Northern assertions were joined by those of Confederate General Robert E. Lee who declared that southern blacks were the “the chief source of information to the enemy.”

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Dallas, TX. PRNewswire-USNewswire. Despite a long-standing requirement for medical device makers to include women in studies they submit to the Food and Drug Administration for device approval, only a few include enough women or analyze how the devices work specifically in women, according to research reported in Circulation: Cardiovascular Quality and Outcomes.

“Women and men differ in their size, bleeding tendencies and other factors that are directly relevant to how the devices will work,” said Rita F. Redberg, M.D., M.Sc., senior author of the study and professor of medicine and director of Women’s Cardiovascular Services at the University of California, San Francisco. “It is likely that the benefits and risks of devices are different in women. Despite the directive to find out, it isn’t happening.”

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Contributed by YWCA

The YWCA Racial Justice department has a committed and valuable team of over 200 facilitators that are vital to the success of its dialogues and annual” It’s Time to Talk” event. The facilitators spend hours training to become facilitators, as well as commit to ongoing skills trainings. They generously volunteer their time to facilitate important discussions in the Twin Cities.  

Q: What brought you to the work of racial justice?

Susie Gad: When I was in college, I started wearing a Muslim headscarf, which gave me the unique experience of going from being white to a person of color overnight. I was shocked by the drastic difference in how I began to be treated. The changes ranged from the relatively benign, such as professors and employers assuming I was unintelligent and incompetent, to outright hostile, such as people yelling racial slurs at me in the street. I immediately realized how oblivious I had been to the racial struggles that were going on all around me and how much work was left to be done in the racial justice movement.

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By Lori Yang, CEO – Mamaste Mama Blog

What? You mean the old adage “attitude is everything” applies to my attitude, not yours? Oh. So it’s not just a nice, passive-aggressive way to suggest to others they need to lighten up. But if spiritual or personal growth philosophies and practices are more effective when applied to oneself, doesn’t that really take all the fun out of dropping smug self-improvement quips into polite conversation?

I recently met a Yoga instructor obsessed with karma*–specifically, other people’s karma. She uses karma’s approach of personal responsibility for one’s own destiny to measure other people with her karmic yardstick. And then she slaps ‘em with it. A favorite phrase of hers is, “Well that’s not karmaclly cool,” usually followed by “jerk-face,” or “idiot.”

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Dia Satori got the idea for a cookbook when her daughter asked for recipes. She recruited other local women executives for help. Dia Satori already has held high-ranking positions at medical device companies like Boston Scientific Corp., started a community newspaper and is currently the chief strategist at Minneapolis-based Strategic Dreaming Inc., a media and publishing platform for women in business.Read More

Ahhh, dessert! A sweet finale or, if you are a bit of a rebel, the prelude to broccoli. Perhaps, eating dessert first is truly excellent advice. . . especially if it is as tasty and delicious as the ones in C Sweets, Desserts from the Executive Suite.

C Sweets is no ordinary cookbook. Yes, it has scrumptious dessert recipes and lovely pictures. It also has extra zest – stories from the women leaders who contributed the recipes. Rather than a collection of recipes from a single kitchen, C Sweets gathered ones from the kitchens of 50 women leaders who shared not only their dessert recipes, but a glimpse into their lives and traditions.

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Fifty women executives contributed recipes and stories to C Sweets. To find out more about these women, please click on link below.Read More