According to the Jesus Christ, Warren Buffet, Bill and Melinda Gates, Oprah and Bill Clinton one of the major components of happiness is giving.
People just can’t help being happy when giving something to someone else. Christmas is supposed to be about giving, but we all know there can be a lot of emotional baggage that comes with giving within families or the office.
At least once in the season we try to show our kids how to step out of that and illustrate giving on a more fundamental level.
We’ve traditionally had a very limited budget, but there is always someone who has less. We, …read more

One of my pet causes is Mentoring. I think it’s one of the most effective and efficient ways to change the world. Perhaps not everyone is motivated to change the world. But, I am. That’s one of my motivating forces. I want no less.
But, it’s a big goal so I have to choose smaller, more tangible things with more instant gratification - little wins – to keep me motivated. Mentoring is one of those things. Something achievable.
By investing one hour a week in a my assigned kid I can influence her world. That makes me feel powerful and effective.
For example, last year my protege …read more

In Women & Money, Suze Orman says women walk around as if they are “on sale.” Not for sale, because everyone gets paid to do something or has a monetary value applied to what they do, but on sale.
 As in Clearance: 50% off!
 This is wrong, Orman says, because if we don’t value what we do enough to charge full price then no one else will and that’s why we’re behind the game when it comes to money.
Clearance Prices
1. You accept the 3% cost of living raise your boss offers every January. Women could earn $1 million a year by telling their boss …read more

I heard today, on Oprah, that millions of kids have parents that spend only about 12 minutes face-time with them.
It sounds shockingly low, especially since I am a work-from-home mom and I treasure 12 minutes away from kids in my face (I’m exaggerating, my children are wonderful people and I choose this life). But, if you’re a single-parent with a full-time job and the kids go to bed by 7:30 p.m. it’s not hard to imagine that kids might only score 12 minutes of face-to-face talking a day.
One of my pet-peeves is complaining with no action. Not that I never do …read more

Tonight is our big mentoring banquet. I’m a mentor to one 14-year-old girl, but we meet as a group of four girls and four adults. At the end of the year we get dressed up, well as dressed up as the girls want to get, and going to a three-course meal with entertainment. It’s pretty exciting and we’ve been looking forward to it all year. Teachers at the school do a fundraiser to donate $50 to buy the girls a special outfit for the event.
This year, me and my mentee will be sitting at our group’s table alone. By some weird twist of fate …read more

I worry about the girls growing up today. Don’t you? I see celebrities getting thinner and thinner and the girls on the stripper pole in videos on BET and I worry about the teens and pre-teens who are forming their ideas of femininity with these images.
I worry about girls getting STDs from experimenting with love and sex. I worry about girls becoming prey to fast talking older men who are really just sexual predators. I worry about eating disorders, low self esteem and poor body image.
I sometimes get a sick hopeless feeling in my stomach when I read things …read more