My name is Kovie Biakolo and I am the Events Coordinator for Ms Career Girl Meda. It has taken me a while to post an entry because I wanted to gain some experience writing (on my own blog) and because I have been following a couple of amazing bloggers like Nicole and thought it would be best to learn by observation as well as experience.

Event Coordination is something I have a passion for. Event Coordination for benevolent causes is a potential long-term career path. So what better way to begin my first guest blogging experience, than to talk about a fabulous event that is taking place in Chicago called “Dance Out Loud”; I couldn’t think of any, so here it goes:

DanceOutLoud is the brain child of an amazing lady, Stacy Bennett. Stacy’s story begins with her mother, who was diagnosed with Stage 4 Ovarian cancer seven years ago and  passed away five years ago.  Although she was not able to have surgery, given the stage of the cancer, chemotherapy was an option and gave Stacy and the family, two more years with their mother.  Whilst alive, and after her diagnosis, Stacy’s mom learned that she had the BRCA 1 mutation (http://www.cancer.gov/cancertopics/factsheet/Risk/BRCA)  and  shared this information with all the women in the family.  Stacy learned that she too has the gene and since then has undergone a preventive surgery and will undergo another one to fight cancer and specifically Ovarian and Breast cancer. The story is much longer than this and much more complicated than one can put in a paragraph but ultimately it is a story about turning a challenging and trying period in one’s life, into something positive. That’s where “Dance Out Loud” comes into the picture.

On 11/11/11/, Dance Out Loud will be held at the Brownstone Tavern from 7PM-1OPM. If you’re like me and wondered why on earth “Dance Out Loud” and why 11/11/11 (other than it being a cool date), there is in fact a method to the madness. Ovarian cancer is known as the “silent killer” so it is easy to understand how dancing out loud would be countering that. As for 11/11/11, that’s Stacy’s birthday, and if you’ve ever seen an ad for “more birthdays,” it makes perfect sense and is quite frankly, pure genius.

So, why should you go to and/or support this event? Here are my 3 reasons:

1. All the proceeds go to Bright Pink’s ovarian cancer awareness.
2. You get to dance to music  from the 80s, 90s and 00s AND dress up as your favorite decade! (Plus prizes will be given fr the best ones).
3. If you’re reading this, you either are a woman or know a woman who is a mother, a wife, a sister, a cousin, a friend, and you never know whose life you could be changing.

Two weeks ago I asked you what your 10 year vision looked like. Last week I asked you to consider some awkward scenarios that apply to women at work. And you already know that I don’t believe in the traditional job search or the traditional career path method.

As I do research for my book project, I’ve realized that the lovely ladies of Generation Y are changing the workplace and the definition of success more than I realized.  Here are some facts to chew on:

• 85% of Gen Y women plan on remaining in the workforce after having children.
• Gen Y women love seeing other women at the top of their fields and would love to see a female president, but they don’t necessarily want to be the one leading it themselves.  Why? 69% of Gen Y women would sacrifice getting to the top of their field for work life balance.
• The average Gen Y’er changes jobs 29 times in their lifetime and the average time in one job is 1.1 years.
• Surveys show that women value reaching personal goals (63%) versus professional goals (23%).
• In the Lifetime Television Women’s Pulse Poll, individuality, flexibility and, therefore, entrepreneurship was a common “ultimate career goal.”

Although I didn’t do extensive research on the career goals of Boomers or Gen X women, I imagine their career goals were much different.  Perhaps they were even much simpler in that the majority felt they had to pick between climbing the corporate ladder or being a family woman.

Gen Y women have the perspective that they can have it all: a great career, a family and personal satisfaction.  We believe that we can create our own version of the “American Dream” and we seek to mix passion into our work.  Goodbye Miss American Pie cookie cutter American Dream.

The few statistics I’ve presented here (along with the many others I’ve been reading about) make my mind run wild with questions and excitement about how women are changing the game.  We are re-creating the idyllic “successful career woman.”  Although she may wear power suits, the new “Ms. Career Girl” isn’t afraid to show her femininity while doing it.  She isn’t afraid to leave work early to attend to her child’s school play, and she most likely has an entrepreneurial venture in her pocket, even if she’s working full-time for someone else. A generation who has lived through Enron, September 11, a terrible real estate market and the tanking economy, isn’t about to leave their fate in the hands of someone else.

Although each Gen Y woman’s picture for success looks differently, statistics show that many of us seek to move to the top of our field while still being able to raise our kids and love what we do every day.  Yes, Mom and Grandma- work really can be fun! And yes- I really can be a good Mom AND hold a job.

It’s a tall order, but when I look around at my peers who are just starting to get a foothold on their careers, I know that the amazing women of my generation will “have it all.”

How Does The New “Ms. Career Girl” Change things?

• How will companies adjust their policies to keep top performing family women at the top of their firm rather than starting their own businesses?
• When you consider working for a company, do you think about how the company would respond to you having children?
• Will there be less of a stigma for women who want to pursue the “partner track” and the “Mommy track”?
• How can marketers best reach busy, educated and career driven mothers? How is this different than generations past?
• Are you open about “wanting it all” or do you still shy away from admitting it to others?
• As the do-it-all Mom becomes more common, how will this change the Dad’s role in the family?  How does it change dating and relationships?
• How will male co-workers respond to working Moms having a flexible schedule?

I’d love to hear your thoughts on this topic.  We really are changing the game ladies, how exciting!

You may have noticed that Matt Cheuvront of lifewithoutpants.com and I hang out a lot online.  It all started over a meeting about this very website.  Since then, our friendship has grown and so has our list of co-projects.

Today we are announcing our first official project- Social Media 101.  We will be hosting social media workshops in the Chicagoland area to educate small businesses, entrepreneurs and non-profits how to get more out of their marketing while spending less money.  Since we love the online space and have experienced serious growth because of it, we thought we should let others experience the same thing.

The workshop will be held on Saturday April 10 from 9am-1pm in Elgin, IL. We are offering the workshop for FREE because in this economy, small businesses need to stretch their dollar as much as they can.

Social Media can change a small business. Yet small business owners are usually the ones wearing so many hats that they don’t have time to think about learning social media basics too.  After leaving our workshop, attendees will be equipped with the confidence and knowledge to have the voice of a large company with the marketing budget of a small company.  We will provide new ideas that are crucial to today’s small business marketing strategy.

Don’t believe it? We know it sounds far fetched for those who are new to the space.  Therefore, Mari Luangrath of Foiled Cupcakes will be sharing how social media has played an instrumental role in her business.  It’s no accident that Foiled Cupcakes are Chicago’s most coveted cupcakes.  Not only are they delicious, but Mari has relied on social media and online marketing to create the buzz.  She’ll be sharing her story and answering all of your questions.

Also, Matt and I will are co-authoring a “Social Media 101″ e-book which will be 100% FREE for all attendees.   The e-book includes some of our best practices and case studies from small business owners. We’re not reinventing the wheel here, but are instead focusing on providing a tangible resource to all workshop attendees and anyone else interested in learning more about Social Media.

I’m pretty excited to give back to my hometown community by doing something I’m passionate about.  Plus, working with Matt Cheuvront is an honor.  Our meetings are just as fun as they are productive (and trust me they are really fun!).  I imagine the workshop will be the same way.  Matt knows his stuff, he has a knack for design, and he knows from experience what works and what doesn’t work when it comes to small business marketing.

For those of you who are in the Chicagoland area, please pass this info on to anyone you know who may benefit from our free workshop! You can register using the form below or here.

Many of us have a new guilty pleasure. And it’s kind of embarrassing.

We can’t stop watching Jersey Shore.

MTV’s latest disaster, Jersey Shore, is a reality show based on 7 (ridiculously exaggerated) “New Jersey Guidos” who live together in a house on the Jersey Shore together for a summer. The males on the show have amazing bodies, tattoos of crosses, funny hair styles and dance moves, and they have only one goal: hooking up with as many girls as possible. The girls on the show love their hair extensions, “poofs”, and wearing as few clothes as possible. Drinking, hooking up in the hot tub, clubbing, and doing cartwheels in a thong on the dance floor entail some of the “highlights” of this show.

Are you shamefully hooked on this show like I am?  If so, WHY can’t we stop watching this garbage?! 

These reality stars are all about 21. An age when many of us had a limited scope about our futures, careers or the long-term consequences of our actions. And what is America indirectly telling America’s newest MTV generation? That if you make a complete fool of yourself and do outrageous things to get attention, you can make it big too- no hard work required.

A few comments by David Claude on my recent post about Penelope Trunk got me thinking about the topic of self-publishing, reality television, and selling your dignity to build a personal brand.

Shows like Jersey Shore prove that America is a junk consuming nation. Whether we admit it or not, we love junk. We consume junk in droves whether it is in the form of reality television or food. We will swipe our credit cards and accumulate debt in order to pay for junk, we will google for junky quick-read/low-information articles. And the scariest part is that young people are being told that if you can create junk, you can make it big.

I sit there and watch Jersey Shore and think to myself, How do these Jersey Shore kids feel about their grandparents watching them talk and act like complete fools? Have they ever thought about what happens after the show’s popularity dies down? Was selling their soul to MTV really worth a lifetime of embarrassing videos to follow them? Are they convinced that doing the show is the start to a promising new career? How much more narcissistic can you be!?

And this cycle of producing and consuming junk comes back to my fears about Gen Y’ers in the workforce today. We’ve been raised on MTV: a place where you can make a career by hooking up and airing all of your dirty laundry on MTV.

We’ve been raised to think we can do whatever we want, whenever we want. We don’t know how to wait for things. Why would we? We can google, email, communicate and look up anything we need in a matter of seconds.

The media demonstrates that if we can capitalize off our story and personality, we can make more money than we ever would by putting in long hours and hard work.

How do you think shows like Jersey Shore affect the next generation’s perception of reality and hard work? 

What predictions do you have for the future careers of Ronnie, Sam, Snookie and, of course, Mike “The Situation”?

By, Ashley Crimaldi

Last week, I had the opportunity to see an amazing film called American Casino.  The movie details the financial crisis of 2008, subprime lending, and its impact on the housing market.  Director Leslie Cockburn investigates the relationship between Wall street and Main Street and in particular, how minority communities were targeted for subprime lending, causing many  to lose their homes. The film illustrates the aftermath of the crisis on communities such as Baltimore, where foreclosed properties become the norm. Former inhabitants became homeless, causing many to “squat” in boarded up buildings resulting in serious health and safety risks for the community.

The film does an excellent job not only explaining the effects of subprime lending on the American economy, but humanizes the issue so every viewer can relate. If you work in the banking industry, this film could be particularly eye opening as it shows how the every day decisions bankers make really impact the American people. As someone who doesn’t know much about Wall Street, I found the film incredibly moving and informative. The film is currently only playing in limited theaters nationwide. Check out their website to see if the film is playing in a city near you.

Hey Girls,

Featured “Career Girl” and amazing freelance writer Jessica Girdwain is looking to talk to people who have been burned because of something they posted on a social networking site like Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn or even a blog. She needs to talk to people for an article she is working on for a national women’s magazine.

-Did you miss out on being hired because of something you posted?
-Did you have to have a meeting with your manager becasue of it?
-Did your health insurance agent notice your partying habits?
-Did you miss out on a promotion or get fired because of your social networking activity?
-Are you afraid to accept your bosses friend request because your social networking profiles reveal your entrepreneurial ventures which you’d prefer to keep quiet?

I’ve actually been through something like this at my job. I’d rather not discuss it here, but it really shook me up.

My mentor just told me about one of his younger consultants who was fired recently because she was facebooking and blogging confidential information about the client they were working on. She was canned immediately.

Be careful and share your stories here and email jlgirdwain@gmail.com. Thanks!

Here’s a brief breakdown of how the new stimulus plan could help you!

• First-time homebuyers who purchase their homes before December 1, 2009 would be eligible for an $8,000 tax credit, and people who buy new cars before the end of the year can write off the sales taxes.

• College students-or their parents- are eligible for tax credits of up to $2,500 to help pay tuition and related expenses in 2009 and 2010.
• We can expect to see about $13 extra in our weekly paychecks, starting around June, thanks to the new $400 tax credit to be given through the rest of the year. Couples would get up to $800.
• Those receiving un-employmet benefits this year wouldn’t pay any federal income taxes on the first $2,400 they receive.
• For those who have lost their health insurance as a result of losing their job, the government will now pick up up the tab for 65% of the cost of continuing insurance through the COBRA plan for the first nine months while you look for a new job. COBRA is typically very expensive, often over $1,000 per month so this is a huge cost savings for job seekers.
• Homeowners who add energy-efficient windows, furnaces and air conditioners can get a tax credit to cover 30% of the costs, up to a total of $1,500.

Information from the Associated Press.

One of my favorite looks of the night was Carrie Underwood’s gorgeous nude colored gown. I absolutely love her makeup and simple hair style. Her highlights and white teeth are so bright that she seems to glow. Carrie did an awesome job performing live too!

Katy Perry. Hmm…not sure what to say here. Love her lip color, and would like to know how to get my hair to have those cool 40′s waves. The dress…well, I think it would be a better look if it was not that 80′s pink color. An off white, black or red would be better suited for such a busy ensemble. I do like the slight mermaid bottom but overall I think there is just wayy too much going on here.

I will say this odd look is better than her performance costume which consisted of green flats and a short Las Vegas show looking get-up with sequences and glimmering fruit all over it. Katy seemed to struggle with moving around the stage and singing at the same time. After seeing her fashion and live performance, I would put her into the one hit wonder category.

I have mixed feelings about performing live at the Grammy’s on your due date, but either way, go M.I.A.! There’s no doubt that MIA’s first born is one lucky baby to have such a hip Mom who had the “guts” to get up there and show the world how proud she was to be a mother. It was nice to see someone with a little meat on her bones too, by the way!

I’m totally in love with Jordin Sparks but am breaking up with this dress. Not a good look for anyone, let alone someone who is as tall as Jordin. It looks a bit like a huge tablecloth to me. I especially don’t like the cut-out piece that comes up beyond the neckline, nor do I like that it is a full length gown. I do have to say I’m sad that “No Air” didn’t win Best Pop Collaboration. Jordin is totally deserving and talented.

Kim Kardashian. If dating football players and being bootylicious is enough to get you to the grammy’s then you might as well do it up. Although I have NO clue why Kim was at there, I think her Grammy’s look deserves an honorable mention. She pulls off a classy, elegant, classic movie star look. I love her glamour earrings, her pulled back Audrey Hepburn hair style, eyelashes and the gown she’s wearing.

Taylor Swift and Miley Cyrus did an awesome job on their live duet performance AND with their classic black Hollywood gowns. Miley Cyrus has been criticized for not dressing her age, but I thought her Grammy gown was perfect for her. I loved Miley’s hairstyle as it showed her fun personality and youth. I found myself checking out her hair color and highlights, and think they are a great fit for her skin. They seem to have a warm honey tone and the little bit of blonde highlights add dimension. As for Taylor, I’m getting a bit bored of her small spiral curls look but I suppose it does fit her style and “first love” type of songs. I think this dress definitely gave her a bit more credibility as someone who is here to stay. I really liked the way her eyeliner was done too. It almost changed the shape of her eye. I’m a huge fan of the “cat eyes” with simple eye shadow and understated lips. She looked more like a woman- good job girls!

Jennifer Hudson. My favorite girl of the night, and of the last two years really, Jennifer did an unbelievable job on her live performance. She also won best R&B Artist. Her acceptance speech was short, to the point and so real. She was teary, nervous and seemed to prepare her words on the fly. I enjoyed how authentic it was. I hate saying anything even slightly negative about J-Hud, but I must say I didn’t totally understand her dress choice. I know these types of dresses are super trendy right now, but the top looked a little too napkin-esque for me. I think the dress would be ok at any event except for the Grammys. Great job Jennifer. You are an inspiration to the world and evidence that the American Dream really can come true!

So most of us are to the point where we can’t handle hearing one more negative news story on the recession, failing banks or the bail out.  Personally, I think we had it coming to us. 

I think back to my first job after college where I was selling sub-prime mortgages for one of the largest and most reputable financial institutions in the world.  My experience there is the perfect example of why I feel this way. 

For those of you who aren’t familiar, sub-prime lending is when financial institutions give loans to customers with less than ideal credit scores.  These customers are considered high risk and get loans at a higher rate than someone with good credit. 

At my job, we were trained to believe that we were doing something great for our customers!  That 12% interest rates plus 3 points (3 points = an upfront cost of 3% of the mortgage amount added to the loan balance) on mortgage refinances was totally normal.  I found this interesting considering the mortgage rate at that time was about 7% with no points. 

I was told that giving a hardworking customer a loan for more than their house was worth was GREAT because we were paying off their $70,000 in credit card debt and reducing their monthly payments.  One time, I did a mortgage refinance which used the equity in the customer’s home to pay off their brand new Cadillac Escalade, because the $800 monthly car payments were “really killing them”…(Um hello, do you REALLY need an Escalade?!?)

Of course we mainly closed Adjustable Rate Mortgages (aka ARM’s) that I knew the customers wouldn’t be able to afford once the rate adjusted upwards.  We took ALL the equity out of their homes which they had worked their whole lives to pay for which means they’d have no nest egg for the future. 

I could go on, but I think you understand why my time at this company lasted only a short time.  Although not all the mortgages I closed were as extreme as the examples above, I couldn’t sleep at night knowing what I was doing to make a living.  Even as a ripe newbie, something just didn’t feel right.

Turning on the news almost 3 years later shows that my gut feelings were right.  Americans and their big corporations had this coming.  Credit was way too easy to get, it seems like almost anyone could walk off the street and get a loan- even if they couldn’t pay for it.  The people giving out these loans had no stake in whether or not they were paid back because, in many cases, mortgages were bundled together and sold off like commodities to other huge financial monsters. 

How did I end up at a job like this?!  Well, I had no clue what I was getting into from the interviews.  NO clue.  But that’s another story.  I will say that I was also told that I would “definitely” make $70,000 my first year and that this was the hot new career path for sales-oriented finance majors. 

So maybe it’s not just the big companies who are responsible for the economic downturn:  people like me and my sub-prime customers are responsible for the economic downturn too. 

I went into this job solely for the opportunity to make a lot of money at age 22: greedy and unnecessary? Maybe.  Were my customers being responsible by allowing themselves to buy Escalades they couldn’t pay for and racking up sometimes over $100,000 in credit card debt and hoping someone could fix their mistakes?  Maybe.

No one forced me to take that job, nor my customers to make their excessive purchases.  For some reason we, as Americans, felt the need to prove something to keep up with the “Jones’“.  Yes, technically financial institutions let us take it too far but in the end, we were the ones making those decisions.

And now the bubble has burst and everyone wonders what happened.  The good news is that even the wealthy can feel the effects of being greedy this time.  The recession is affecting everyone and I think it has caused all social classes to take a step back and re-evaluate their basic needs and values.  I hope America learns a lesson from this rather than allowing the cycle to repeat in the future.