Melanie Notkin is America’s premier Savvy Auntie, empowering the nearly 50% of American women who are not moms to celebrate all they do for the children in their lives, while living their own lives to the fullest. She launched SavvyAuntie.com, the first online community for aunts and godmothers, in the summer of 2008 to wide-acclaim. The website includes expert content designed specifically for aunts, activities, community and trendy gift ideas.



Melanie identified this influential segment of women, which she has dubbed PANKs (Professional Aunts No Kids), when she herself became an aunt. In February 2009, she guest posted for Lisa Belkin’s parenting blog in The New York Times to explain the value of aunts and godmothers in family life. The term has also appeared in More Magazine, TrendCentral.com, Washington Post, The Record, The Star Ledger, Dallas Morning News among others. On July 26, 2009, she launched Savvy Auntie’s Day, the first national holiday to honor aunts and aunt-hood.



As child lifestyle expert and tastemaker, Auntie Melanie has been featured numerous times on NBC, CBS, ABC, CW, FOX News and Better TV showcasing the coolest kid trends of the season. She was also contributing editor at Toy Wishes Magazine and serves on the Toy Industry Association Toy of the Year Nomination Committee. read more

An internationally acclaimed expert on women's leadership, Sally Helgesen was the first writer to focus on what women have to contribute to organizations rather than how they need to change and adapt to succeed. Her book, The Female Advantage, became a bestseller in 1990 and today remains the classic work on women's leadership styles. In her latest book, The Female Vision: Women's Real Power at Work, she continues in this tradition by describing the strategic insights that women bring to the workplace.

In great demand as a speaker and consultant, Helgesen has developed and delivered customized leadership programs for some of the world's top corporations, partnership firms, universities, and nonprofits. She has also taught at the Harvard Graduate School of Education and Smith College, been a visiting scholar at Northwestern University and Australia's Lauriston Intitute, and worked with the United Nations in Africa and Asia. Helgesen is a contributing editor to Strategy+Business magazine and a member of the New York Women's Forum.

Jeffery Tobias Halter is the author of the top-selling book, Selling to Men, Selling to Women. He brings to the conference more than 25 years of experience in leadership development, diversity education, and sales training for large corporations including Procter & Gamble, Alberto Culver and The Coca Cola Company. Jeffery sits on the business advisory boards of Simmons College, the Women's Food Service Forum (executive programming), and the Network of Executive Women (multicultural competencies). He recently appeared as a panelist at the World Diversity Leadership Summit at Harvard University. A contributing writer for Tom Peters Times and Women2Women Link websites, he is a passionate and committed advocate for women. Jeffery's work focuses on leveraging the unique competencies that women possess to lead organizations in the 21st century. His interesting background as a sales trainer and a diversity champion in the corporate world makes him uniquely qualified to discuss gender and leadership – a compelling and challenging topic.

We are delighted to have as our guest, The Brains Behind No Brainer Beauty, Ms. Laura Geller!


From an early age, Laura knew her future would be in makeup. "I used to ask if I could work at the makeup counters for free just so I could be near the products," she explains. Her path to becoming one of the industry’s top makeup artists swiftly followed as she went from beauty school to Broadway – making up the theater industries rising stars. Soon after, Geller's handy work was gracing the small screen including on-air talent at CBS, NBC, AMC, and HBO. Today, Laura is most often seen in front of the camera through her many QVC appearances in the US, the UK and Germany. Her exceptional ability in connecting with her viewers with her authentic persona has been a key to her success and led to a cult following for her brand.



Inviting. Innovative. Informative. Ingenious.
When it comes to today’s beauty, Laura Geller has an uncanny knack for knowing what works and what wows. She’s masterminded an ingenious collection of multi-tasking color cosmetics that feature the most innovative new products, the most informative, no-nonsense how-to’s and the most inviting, wonderfully wearable colors that give every woman a fresh and fabulous look.


Read more about Laura on her website at www.laurageller.com

Catrice M. Jackson, International Empowerment Speaker, America’s Delicious Life Expert and Author is serving up sweet, sassy and savvy life empowerment recipes for creating and living a delicious life you love; a free, fierce, fabulous and fearless life.


Catrice is no stranger to living in fear. She's been on a life-long journey of self-discovery and fearless living and knows from personal experience that "fear" will block your blessings, make you miserable, steal your joy and smother your dreams unless you choose to take intentional steps wake up, embrace and activate your fearless genius within. Through her own story of triumph, Catrice inspires others to believe they too can fearlessly create and live a delicious life they love.


Listen as Catrice tells us how life looks as a delicious woman and what it means to live fearlessly delicious. She will provide 3 tips that will help you live fearless and acknowledge signs of living in fear that aren't so obvious.


Catrice has dedicated her life to helping women BE and LIVE fearlessly delicious. In her newest book, Delicious! The Savvy Woman’s Guide for Living a Sweet, Sassy and Satisfied Life, Catrice provides savvy, sassy and practical life empowerment recipes for women to live the sweet life on their own terms. Catrice will be releasing her third book on living fearless in late Spring 2011. It will be available at her website - www.catriceology.com


To stay connected to Catrice, follow her at:

FaceBook - Catrice Empowerment Speaker Jackson

Twitter - catriceology

Site - www.catriceology.com

Spring cleaning kicks off early with Goodwill® and Hanes partnering to launch the country’s first national Clean Out Your Drawers month in March. Together, Goodwill and Hanes will encourage the public to clean out their drawers and then make a donation to Goodwill. The program was developed in response to the common problem of cluttered, messy drawers and offers fun and easy ways to get organized.

Certified Professional Organizer® Lorie Marrero is the author of The Clutter Diet: The Skinny on organizing Your Home and Taking Control of Your Life. She is also the creator of ClutterDiet.com, an innovative program allowing anyone to get expert help at an affordable price. Her organizing books and products are sold online and in stores nationwide. Lorie is the spokesperson for Goodwill Industries International, and she is a sought-after expert for national media. She recently partnered with Rubbermaid for the newest version of her online organizing program, Rubbermaid Personalized Organizing, and is the organizing expert for a new blog venture with Good Housekeeping.

The Clutter Diet is broken down into four main sections, Getting Motivated, Clutter Prevention, Clutter Reduction, and Maintenance. The final section in The Clutter Diet breaks it down to suggestions on a room by room basis.

To stay connected to Lorie Marrero:
FaceBook - clutterdiet
Twitter - clutterdiet
Site - www.clutterdiet.com

To follow "Clean Out Your Drawers" initiative:
FaceBook - Hanes
Twitter - @GoodwillIntl; @HanesComfort
Site - www.cleanoutyourdrawers.com; http://donate.goodwill.org

Join us for a discussion with the Executive Director of The Career Wardrobe, Sheri Cole. The Career Wardrobe is based in Philadelphia, PA and is the nation’s largest independent nonprofit organization serving women transitioning to work with professional clothing and career skills. Celebrating their Sweet 16 Anniversary this year, The Career Wardrobe has helped over 70,000 women on their path to employment.


Under Sheri's leadership, The Career Wardrobe’s has grown from being an agency with minimal staff and a budget under $150,000 to one that employs 8 women and has a budget of over $750,000. Among The Career Wardrobe’s expanded programming are the “Professional Women’s Network,” a networking group for former participants to keep them motivated and moving forward in their careers and a “Client Help Desk” to assist with resume review and interviewing skills. She has also provided the leadership necessary to open The Wardrobe Boutique, an upscale resale clothing store to benefit The Career Wardrobe.


Sheri has served as Board President of The Women’s Alliance, a national nonprofit The Career Wardrobe co-founded in 1997 to provide best practices advice to community based organizations that assist women transitioning from poverty to independence by providing clothing and educational programs.

Our mission is to empower women in transition by providing programs which inspire the confidence necessary to achieve self-sufficiency and pursue a productive career. We do this by providing professional work attire, educational programs and networking tools and opportunities.


To stay connected to Sheri and The Career Wardrobe, visit them at:

FaceBook - careerwardrobe; wardrobeboutique

Twitter - 1822Boutique;careerwardrobe

Sites - careerwardrobe.org; wardrobeboutique.org;thewomensalliance.org

Join Janet Powers, Diva Toolbox, as we go one-on-one with Jennifer Jones of International Crisis Aid as she shares from personal experiences of being in red light districts, rescuing girls, and following them through their rehabilitation process. Jennifer will also share about sex trafficking in the United States of American Girls.

Jennifer Jones works for International Crisis Aid as the Executive Assistant to the President implementing feeding programs, medical care, orphan care, and safe homes for victims of sex trafficking. One project Jennifer has been developing since October 2008 is Safe Homes for American victims of sex trafficking. Jennifer has been married for 2 years to her husband—her greatest supporter—and they are expecting their first child.

International Crisis Aid's mission is to assist in sustaining life, bring encouragement to those suffering and collaborate with other relief organizations to bring necessary foods, materials and medicines to people in times of crisis, particularly where life and death situations exist.

To follow Internation Crisis Aid:
www.crisisaid.org
www.facebook.com/jgarrettjones
www.twitter.com/crisisaid

Join Janet Powers, Diva Toolbox, as we go one-on-one with Jennifer Jones of International Crisis Aid as she shares from personal experiences of being in red light districts, rescuing girls, and following them through their rehabilitation process. Jennifer will also share about sex trafficking in the United States of American Girls.


Jennifer Jones works for International Crisis Aid as the Executive Assistant to the President implementing feeding programs, medical care, orphan care, and safe homes for victims of sex trafficking. One project Jennifer has been developing since October 2008 is Safe Homes for American victims of sex trafficking. Jennifer has been married for 2 years to her husband—her greatest supporter—and they are expecting their first child.


International Crisis Aid's mission is to assist in sustaining life, bring encouragement to those suffering and collaborate with other relief organizations to bring necessary foods, materials and medicines to people in times of crisis, particularly where life and death situations exist.


To follow Internation Crisis Aid:

www.crisisaid.org

www.facebook.com/jgarrettjones

www.twitter.com/crisisaid

Join Janet Powers, Diva Toolbox, and
Daniel Nachtigal, Through the Kitchen Door, talk about "Preventing Obesity by Eating."



Through the Kitchen Door was "Selected by the Catalogue for Philanthrophy as: One of the Best Small Charities in the Washington, DC area."



What is Through the Kitchen Door? In 1991, Daniel Nachtigal and his wife, Liesel Flashenberg, decided to change their lives. Leaving successful careers in Washington, D.C. — Daniel as a partner in a large law firm and Liesel as a consultant in telecommunications policy and production and public relations — they moved to Costa Rica with their three young children. Having worked in community economic development and issues of women's rights for years, they were committed to conscious and responsible operation of a sustainable business enterprise. They first started a gourmet food services business providing catering, consulting and specialty prepared foods, and later added a small cooking school - teaching them how to prepare healthier and flavorful meals, how to organize and manage the kitchen, how to select the highest quality ingredients, and how to economize. Through the school, Liesel stated "I thought I was teaching women how to cook, but it turns out that the cooking course is really a lesson in empowerment."



After Dan's wife's death in August 2010, Dan continues to run Through the Kitchen Door - still making a difference.


To stay connected, visit Through The Kitchen Door at:

www.kitchendoor.org

Twitter - @kichendoor

Facebook - danielnachtigal or throughthekitchendoor

Videos available at - throughthekitchendoor.vidcaster.com