The Women's Current

With her passion for helping entrepreneurs and small business owners for over 30 years, Liz Sara shines in her new position as President of the SCORE Foundation. SCORE is a national free network of mentors for entrepreneurs and small business owners. The Foundation is the philanthropic arm of SCORE. And Liz is the right person supporting its mission of mentoring and educating America’s small business owners.

When Liza Sara was a guest last year, she was just appointed by the President as the Chairperson of the National Women's Business Council. The council is a non-partisan federal advisory committee that makes recommendations to Congress and The US SBA.

Mary Barneby finds herself among very notable women, Juliette, and Clara. The Girl Scouts and the American Red Cross share some history.  Both are over 100 years old, and both were started by women. Clara Barton was 60 when she founded the American Red Cross in 1881. Juliette Gordon Low was 52 when she founded the Girl Scouts of the United States of America in 1912. And back then, that was considered quite old. Did I mention…Mary is the Regional CEO of the American Red Cross, a journey she started in the mist of the pandemic, September 2020. For eight years prior to joining the Red Cross, Mary had been CEO for the Girl Scouts of Connecticut.

Our conversation covers so many areas  - from disasters to mental health and healing, to helping find those who are missing. During the pandemic, it helped many stay up-to-date in their career by volunteering in a variety of different areas.

Nearly four years ago, Eugenia was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s. Eugenia made the choice to be positive. A choice few can make.

Upon hearing the diagnosis, Eugenia returned home, stared at the wall, and started writing. The result, a book of poetry Like Falling Through a Cloud.  It follows her journey through her gradual cognitive impairment and memory loss.  Writing has helped Eugenia process the emotions that she has been dealing with since the beginning of her diagnosis.

Thinking, thinking, thinking…we can't stop thinking. When we talk about selfcare it usually contains words like diet and exercise. But what about our emotional care?

Nancy Colier is an author, psychotherapist, and mindfulness teacher. Her books include Can't Stop Thinking and The Power of Off: The Mindful Way to Stay Sane in a Virtual World. Her newest book, The Emotionally Exhausted Woman: Why You’re Feeling Depleted and How to get What You Need will be released this fall. Nancy has been featured on Good Morning America, The New York Times and countless other media. She is also a regular writer, blogger for Psychology Today and Huffington Post.

Ruta Sepetys hadn’t known the depths of 1989 Romania, the maniacal dynasty of dictator Nicolae Ceaușescu and the brave young Romanians who fought for their freedom. Being the daughter of a victim of communism, Ruta thought she knew about post-war communist systems and their history. On tour in Romania with her publisher promoting her first novel Between Shades of Gray Ruta had a rude awakening. Their translator was searching for listening devices.  She was checking the ashtray on the outside table they were sitting at in case the ‘blue-eyed boys’ were listening. That’s when Ruta learned about the more than 20 million Romanians who had suffered during Ceaușescu’s evil regime.

Women’s rights, we sometimes forget the long journey that it has taken to get here. What we are presently faced with is a chipping away of what we consider our fundamental rights. Why is this happening and what can we do? For some answers I turned to Lauren Leader. Lauren is passionate and obsessed with ensuring that women get the voice they deserve.

Lauren is an activist, thought leader and co-founder and CEO of the nonprofit All In Together (AIT). AIT is one of the only national, nonpartisan organizations empowering and mobilizing women across the political spectrum to become advocates and leaders at work and in their communities.

Art and problem solving, I can’t imagine what one has to do with the other. I never thought that looking at art could help solve a problem. That is, until I had a conversation with Amy Herman, a recovering attorney, author, and art historian, amongst other things.

Remember when ‘Where’s Waldo’ was a thing? Or looking for where caricaturist Al Hirschfield hid the name of his daughter, Nina in his drawings?  We were looking to solve a problem in a way. Maybe we were waging a bet to see who could find Waldo and Nina. There were times when I knew I couldn’t find either. But what if we took a step back and instead of knowing what we were looking for, we needed to find figure out what we didn’t see?

Today we're celebrating International Women's Day, March 8, 2022. With a number of themes running through today, I thought I would pick a few and spotlight some of the extraordinary women I have had the privilege to have on this podcast. A clip of conversation is included.

Ahri Golden asked me how I came upon her and why I wanted to have a conversation with her. My answer was simple…I had read one of her posts about motherhood and being a woman. Then I learned about her, and Birth and Born and Delve and Shades of Gray and Stillpoint and I listened to the beautiful melody and words of Smitten.

Lean into change, lean into life – it’s a powerful act. Realizing we’re not alone. Interweaving of conversation leads to a conversation that is so needed. And there’s not one right way.

‘Misinformation goes viral much quicker than the good old-fashioned truth.’

The first thing that jumped out at me as needing clarification had to do with birth control. It was the weirdest thing that was going viral – the idea that melatonin (quote-unquote) ‘cancels out your birth control.’

And so, Dr. Jennifer Lincoln went viral – viral with facts. Jennifer is a board-certified OB GYN who uses social media to educate and bust myths. She’s the sex education educator who should be in every school. No shame, no judgment, Dr. Lincoln demystifies sex ed and breaks down stigmas. Her passion is helping girls, women and those assigned female at birth to understand their bodies and feel empowered to advocate for themselves.