by Anna T. Collins, Esq. (Portland, Maine)

Beth George is an accomplished attorney. Early on in her career she interned for the late Hugh H. Bownes, First Circuit Court of Appeals and served as Judicial Clerk for the Chief Justice of the New Hampshire Supreme Court. She has practiced solo for ten years, focusing primarily on juveniles in crisis, eventually shifting her focus to products liability defense.

But, outside of her high-powered legal career, Beth has another passion – a passion for a super grain called spelt. This passion, motivated by a desire to empower families and inspired by an intuition to create an original recipe to help others, has led to the creation of Spelt Right Baking in Yarmouth, Maine. When discussing spelt, Beth inevitably highlights three pillars of her passion: empowerment, intuition, and a desire to help others. Read more

By Sedef Onder

Some of my friends would be surprised to learn that I harbor a special affection for No Limit Texas Hold ‘Em poker. Truth is, I find a lot of parallels between the game and my life as a businesswoman.

The game, like any form of gambling, is inherently based on risk. In the case of no limit poker, you have to know when to take strategically-considered risks. Whether it be based on the strength of your hand; the personality, previous play and behavior, and motivations of your opponents; or maybe your position relative to the dealer button. Or sometimes simply based on a gut instinct. In short, it demands insight on your competitive landscape and market conditions.

Read more

By Heather Chapman (New York City)

Working full-time for an investment bank—a time-consuming position—can leave one with little free time to pursue outside interest, despite how much one might want to. But there are others who make it their goal to follow their passions; my friend Renee, a die-hard rugby enthusiast, is one of them.

By day an AVP on a change-management team working with derivatives, Renee spends her nights and weekends on the rugby pitch, and has for the past eleven years. Prior to her freshman in college, she had preferred to spend her time playing soccer and tennis; it wasn’t until her father mentioned that she try the sport that she became interested in rugby. That decision changed her life. “I wouldn’t be in New York right now if I hadn’t become involved with rugby. Without that network sustaining me, I’m not sure I would have made it here. I got my interview with for my current position through a fellow rugby player, as well as many past leads and interviews, and I certainly wouldn’t have had some of the opportunities I’ve experienced if I hadn’t decided to play rugby. Having rugby in my life also means that wherever I go, I have friends: when I moved to NYC, the first thing I did was find a rugby club and when I moved to England the first people I met were my new rugby team.”

Read more

by Samantha Anderson

As is true of many relationships, you don’t know someone—or someplace—until you live with it. It’s a little like finding a great house, then discovering that every time it rains, the place sinks two inches.

I loved living in Japan. Working in Japan was a different story. Just as most of the streets have no names, rendering it nearly impossible to find your way around without a map, I found myself with a second full time job navigating around the potholes and pitfalls of Japanese business culture.
Read more

Contributed by Saadiah Freeman

I can’t recall exactly what triggered this disturbing addiction. Was it the frenzy of excited barks, howls and yelps that greeted me as I walked into the snowy dog yard, every dog seemingly begging to be harnessed up for a joyous romp through the freshly-fallen powder? The hushed exhilaration of gliding through the winter stillness in the sled basket, the silence broken only by the swish of the sled runners and the dogs’ soft footfalls on the hard-packed trail? Or, perhaps, the elation of driving the sled for the first time as the trained leaders swung expertly to the left in response to my call of “Haw! Haw!”? These ancient and unfamiliar commands, used by dog drivers (or “mushers”) all over the world, seemed to flow up from a place deep in my belly and emerge from my mouth fully formed, as though they had been sleeping there all along, waiting for this moment to leap into life. I knew I had to find a way to make this last. I had to do it again, and soon. No doubt about it – I was hooked.

Read more