by Elizabeth Harrin (London)
“Four Bottomless Closet clients are now homeowners in the New York City area,” Tami Peter says proudly. For those of us who are homeowners, that doesn’t sound like much. But when you understand what Bottomless Closet does – and what Tami has invested to get those four women there – you realize that she has every right to be proud of what they have collectively achieved. Bottomless Closet is a non-profit organization that provides professional clothing, job readiness and post-employment training and coaching services to women on assistance and working-poor women across New York City. The organization supports women in transition by providing career skills and image coaching, empowering them to interview with confidence, gain employment and achieve economic self-sufficiency.
Tami spends up to 20 hours a month volunteering for Bottomless Closet. “It’s important to give back,” she says, “though balancing this with my day job is sometimes a challenge, given that I travel approximately two weeks per month. But I do work it out; one can always make time for what’s important.” Tami’s day job is as a Director, Structured Finance Product Specialist at Moody’s Analytics. It’s a role that keeps her busy. “My day job includes me selling analytical software, data, and valuation services to a variety of Canadian and US institutional clients in 20 states that invest in structured finance bonds,” she explains.
Since 2001 she has balanced this responsible role around her work with Bottomless Closet. “I saw a magazine ad recruiting volunteers for Bottomless Closet,” she says. “It piqued my interest so I called and spoke with the executive director. I wanted to use my financial services and personal finance experience to help other women.”
Tami taught one seminar on budgeting that year and was deeply touched by the Bottomless Closet clients. “It amazed me how a small effort on my part could positively impact these women in a significant way,” she adds. Tami started off teaching one seminar on personal finance in 2001. The response to this was so positive that she went on to develop a year long course comprising of 17 sessions on personal financial management. She became more and more involved and now personally mentors over 20 women. She joined the Board in 2006 and is now its Treasurer.
“All course participants have set personal financial goals,” Tami says. “Scores of women are now budgeting; dozens of women have become completely debt-free – many had been ignoring their debt for years – and more than 40 women have started saving for retirement.” Tami is justifiably proud of the achievements of these women. “I relish the countless stories I receive of both small and major, yet all significant, personal financial triumphs.”
One particular success that Tami was responsible for was the creation of the Debt-Free Bootcamp. “Over the years, I discovered that the number one goal of Bottomless Closet clients was to become debt-free,” she explains. “My approach to the Bootcamp can be described as ‘tough love with a hug’. For those severely in debt, we get on the phone with their creditors, collection agencies, attorneys, etc, and they take responsibility for how they got into this situation. They own up to what they owe and we make a repayment plan.” Sometimes the idea of being debt-free has never occurred to the women that Tami works with. “I help the women help themselves and create a new and improved vision for their lives,” she says.
The Bootcamp spurred another initiative – and this one meant Tami putting her own money on the line. “I personally funded a 1% interest Financial Independence Loan for those women who have demonstrated progress in becoming debt-free and could achieve that goal within 12 months, if they weren’t mired in high interest rate debt,” she explains. For these women, compound interest keeps them stuck in a hole. The Bottomless Closet Board then matched her grant. Three women have now paid back their loans early, including the interest. “I envision that the Financial Independence Loan will continue to expand by obtaining outside sponsors to underwrite this concept,” Tami explains.
All of this has a significant impact on women’s lives. “First and foremost the clients have enhanced self-esteem,” Tami says. “They feel empowered by taking responsibility for their financial decisions having control over their money. They start having larger dreams for themselves and their children. They realize they can envision and achieve a plan for financial security and self-reliance. For those women who have stayed in unhealthy relationships due to finances, this knowledge is their liberation.”
It’s also had an impact on Tami’s life. “My volunteering has definitely influenced the work that I do in my day job and other aspects of my life,” she says. “One of the reasons I chose to work for Moody’s is because it’s a firm that has a culture of philanthropy.”
A few of Tami’s colleagues know about the work she does with Bottomless Closet and she was able to convince the firm’s foundation to generously donate, and to allow other staff time off to volunteer at Bottomless Closet. “My volunteering work at Bottomless Closet has enhanced my professional life,” Tami adds. “Several companies have hired me to lead personal finance seminars for their employees on topics such as budgeting, debt reduction and investing for retirement.”
On top of that, Tami’s friends and family regularly ask her for her presentation handouts to assist them with their finances. “Unfortunately,” she says, “we do not learn enough in the educational system about financial literacy and, unless they learned good habits from their parents, the subject intimidates most people.”
Tami’s work has certainly led to demystifying personal finance for many women, as well as removing the intimidation factor that comes with numbers and mounting debt. “For me, it’s empowering women to help themselves financially and to believe in themselves,” she says. “Each time I volunteer, I walk away with a sense that I received more out of the experience than the recipients did. It is such an amazing feeling to know that you have made a difference in someone’s life. When someone tells you, ‘you’ve changed my life’, how could you not continue to give of yourself?”
Just Add Women: Ensuring Executive Women Have a Place at the Negotiating Table
Featured, Industry Leaders, Leadership“One of the things I’m worried about is the impact of the economy on women’s initiatives,” says Carol Frohlinger, Esq. Frohlinger is the cofounder of Negotiating Women Inc. and co-author of “Her Place at the Table: A Woman’s Guide to Negotiating Five Key Challenges to Leadership Success.” Negotiating Women provides negotiation and leadership training for women at every stage of their career.
As budgets are slashed at law firms nationwide, the fate of many employee programs, including women’s resource groups and initiatives, are uncertain. “Law firms, in particular, are fragile,” says Frohlinger. That’s because most women’s initiatives have only recently been started at legal firms. To help firms maintain the momentum of nascent initiatives, Negotiating Women, Inc. is launching the “Just Add Women® Meeting Toolkit Series”. This prepackaged program offers a solution for law firms and affinity groups that are committed to implementing professional development programs for women lawyers but can’t afford the time and money to create their own in this economy.
The Just Add Women® Toolkit comes with ready-made meeting agendas, facilitator’s guides, PowerPoint presentations, meeting checklist s and even sample email invitation describing the sessions. Topics include building a strategic network, positioning yourself for high visibility assignments, building client relationships and getting the resources you need. Negotiating Women, Inc. offers complimentary facilitator training for staff and organization members as part of the Just Add Women® Meeting Toolkit Series too. “I think people need to understand that support for this is critical,” says Frohlinger. “Women are crying out for substantive content.”
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Mover and Shaker: Dale Meikle, Regional Human Capital Communications Manager at PricewaterhouseCoopers
Movers and Shakers“As a temporary secretary without the first clue about how business worked, I would never have seen myself ten years down the road as a senior manager working outside of the U.S.,” says Dale Meikle, Regional Human Capital Communications Manager at PricewaterhouseCoopers. Dale says it was “total chance” that she ended up in consulting. “I had just graduated from university and was temping at PwC in Washington, D.C. as a partner’s secretary,” she explains. “I was saving up to attend a master’s programme in Shakespeare. Working for what I perceived as an accounting firm was pretty much the diametric opposite of my career vision at that time.”
Dale ended up getting on well with the partner she was working for: he saw the talent in her and recognised that she would be an asset to the firm. “He let me sit in on conference calls with clients, he brought me with him to meetings on Capitol Hill and with firm leaders – always making sure I had an active rather than passive role,” she says. “He trusted me with sensitive tasks and was transparent in all of our communications. He always asked me, ‘what do you think about this?’ This early and intense trust and exposure to high level client and PwC executives developed me at a quick pace and primed me for future roles.”
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In Case You Missed It: News Round-up
NewsMergers and Acquisitions
India’s biggest mobile operator Bharti Airtel is talking to South African rival MTN about a cross shareholding deal that could lead to a full merger. Under the proposal MTN would acquire 25% of Bharti with a cash payment of $2.9bn as well as some new shares. Bharti would buy 36% of MTN’s existing shares for R86 plus 0.5 a Bharti share per share.
A deal to rescue the European arm of General Motors is nearing a conclusion. Canadian company Magna International looks the likely winner with a deal that also involves Russia’s Sberbank. Magna and Sberbank have offered €700m for 55% and also will provide €300m of emergency funding. Confirmation of the deal will unlock a €1.5bn bridging loan from the German government. General Motors is expected to file for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in the US on Monday.
City of London headhunter Whitehead Mann has held talks with US recruiter Korn/Ferry aimed at selling a majority stake in the business.
Social networking site Facebook has accepted a $200m investment from Digital Sky Technologies, a private Russian internet investment group, that values Facebook at around $10bn. Goldman Sachs facilitated the deal by introducing the two parties.
The London Metals Exchange (LME) has joined the consortium that already includes 11 banks and Icap, in the €830m bid for European clearer LCH.Clearnet. The banks are Deutsche Bank, JPMorgan, Royal Bank of Scotland, UBS, Barclays Capital, Morgan Stanley, Credit Suisse, Citigroup, Goldman Sachs, HSBC and Nomura.
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Surfrider
Women and PhilanthropyIt’s uncommon for a C-Suite executive to hope for the demise of her company. Many of them are just praying they stay afloat. But when you are working to preserve the stunning waters and beaches that surround the world, coming to a time where your work is no longer needed — well, that would be heaven. That’s at least why Michelle Kremer, the Surfrider Foundation’s Chief Operating Officer, is keeping her fingers crossed. Because, for her, losing her job means she has accomplished exactly what she set out to do.
“Preserving and enjoying the beauty of our coasts is something that is very important to me,” Kremer said of her position at Surfrider. Created in 1984 in Malibu, CA, the Surfrider Foundation was established as a non-profit organization dedicated to protecting the world’s oceans, waves and beaches. Since then, the foundation has gained more than 50,000 members and implemented 80 chapters across the world, including locations in Australia, Japan France and Brazil, in addition to its 60 spread throughout the United States.
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Volunteering with Bottomless Closet: Director at Moody’s Uses Financial Service Skills to Helps Working-Poor Women
Women and Philanthropy“Four Bottomless Closet clients are now homeowners in the New York City area,” Tami Peter says proudly. For those of us who are homeowners, that doesn’t sound like much. But when you understand what Bottomless Closet does – and what Tami has invested to get those four women there – you realize that she has every right to be proud of what they have collectively achieved. Bottomless Closet is a non-profit organization that provides professional clothing, job readiness and post-employment training and coaching services to women on assistance and working-poor women across New York City. The organization supports women in transition by providing career skills and image coaching, empowering them to interview with confidence, gain employment and achieve economic self-sufficiency.
Tami spends up to 20 hours a month volunteering for Bottomless Closet. “It’s important to give back,” she says, “though balancing this with my day job is sometimes a challenge, given that I travel approximately two weeks per month. But I do work it out; one can always make time for what’s important.” Tami’s day job is as a Director, Structured Finance Product Specialist at Moody’s Analytics. It’s a role that keeps her busy. “My day job includes me selling analytical software, data, and valuation services to a variety of Canadian and US institutional clients in 20 states that invest in structured finance bonds,” she explains.
Since 2001 she has balanced this responsible role around her work with Bottomless Closet. “I saw a magazine ad recruiting volunteers for Bottomless Closet,” she says. “It piqued my interest so I called and spoke with the executive director. I wanted to use my financial services and personal finance experience to help other women.”
Tami taught one seminar on budgeting that year and was deeply touched by the Bottomless Closet clients. “It amazed me how a small effort on my part could positively impact these women in a significant way,” she adds. Tami started off teaching one seminar on personal finance in 2001. The response to this was so positive that she went on to develop a year long course comprising of 17 sessions on personal financial management. She became more and more involved and now personally mentors over 20 women. She joined the Board in 2006 and is now its Treasurer.
“All course participants have set personal financial goals,” Tami says. “Scores of women are now budgeting; dozens of women have become completely debt-free – many had been ignoring their debt for years – and more than 40 women have started saving for retirement.” Tami is justifiably proud of the achievements of these women. “I relish the countless stories I receive of both small and major, yet all significant, personal financial triumphs.”
One particular success that Tami was responsible for was the creation of the Debt-Free Bootcamp. “Over the years, I discovered that the number one goal of Bottomless Closet clients was to become debt-free,” she explains. “My approach to the Bootcamp can be described as ‘tough love with a hug’. For those severely in debt, we get on the phone with their creditors, collection agencies, attorneys, etc, and they take responsibility for how they got into this situation. They own up to what they owe and we make a repayment plan.” Sometimes the idea of being debt-free has never occurred to the women that Tami works with. “I help the women help themselves and create a new and improved vision for their lives,” she says.
The Bootcamp spurred another initiative – and this one meant Tami putting her own money on the line. “I personally funded a 1% interest Financial Independence Loan for those women who have demonstrated progress in becoming debt-free and could achieve that goal within 12 months, if they weren’t mired in high interest rate debt,” she explains. For these women, compound interest keeps them stuck in a hole. The Bottomless Closet Board then matched her grant. Three women have now paid back their loans early, including the interest. “I envision that the Financial Independence Loan will continue to expand by obtaining outside sponsors to underwrite this concept,” Tami explains.
All of this has a significant impact on women’s lives. “First and foremost the clients have enhanced self-esteem,” Tami says. “They feel empowered by taking responsibility for their financial decisions having control over their money. They start having larger dreams for themselves and their children. They realize they can envision and achieve a plan for financial security and self-reliance. For those women who have stayed in unhealthy relationships due to finances, this knowledge is their liberation.”
It’s also had an impact on Tami’s life. “My volunteering has definitely influenced the work that I do in my day job and other aspects of my life,” she says. “One of the reasons I chose to work for Moody’s is because it’s a firm that has a culture of philanthropy.”
A few of Tami’s colleagues know about the work she does with Bottomless Closet and she was able to convince the firm’s foundation to generously donate, and to allow other staff time off to volunteer at Bottomless Closet. “My volunteering work at Bottomless Closet has enhanced my professional life,” Tami adds. “Several companies have hired me to lead personal finance seminars for their employees on topics such as budgeting, debt reduction and investing for retirement.”
On top of that, Tami’s friends and family regularly ask her for her presentation handouts to assist them with their finances. “Unfortunately,” she says, “we do not learn enough in the educational system about financial literacy and, unless they learned good habits from their parents, the subject intimidates most people.”
Tami’s work has certainly led to demystifying personal finance for many women, as well as removing the intimidation factor that comes with numbers and mounting debt. “For me, it’s empowering women to help themselves financially and to believe in themselves,” she says. “Each time I volunteer, I walk away with a sense that I received more out of the experience than the recipients did. It is such an amazing feeling to know that you have made a difference in someone’s life. When someone tells you, ‘you’ve changed my life’, how could you not continue to give of yourself?”
Simmons Survey: Businesswomen Take Risks Too
Office PoliticsContributed by Michelle Fabio
A recent survey of more than 650 managerial women by the Simmons School of Management in Boston has concluded that women business leaders are indeed risk takers, contrary to the common misconception that they are risk-averse; as a glaring example, according to the report, the current financial crisis is often characterized by the media in gendered terms and phrases such as “credit default swap cowboys” with “too much testosterone” in Wall Street’s “Wild West” atmosphere.
Although most mainstream research regarding risk-taking often focuses on hypothetical allocation of financial resources, when the definition of “risk” is expanded to include professional and business opportunities as it was in the Simmons’ survey, the results show that between 56% and 80% of women business leaders are risk takers, especially involving pursuing major changes, new programs, new jobs, and major business development opportunities.
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Woman to Woman: Xerox names new female CEO
NewsOn Thursday, May 21st, Xerox Corporation announced Ursula Burns, the current president of the company, will take over as CEO effective July 1 replacing current chief Anne Mulcahy. Mulcahy, who is retiring, will remain as chairman of the board. While Burns’ appointment may be business as usual inside Xerox, it is much bigger news outside of the technology company. This marks the first woman-to-woman CEO transition and Burns will be the first black woman CEO in the Fortune 500.
Inside Xerox, employees recognize Burns as a key member of the company’s leadership team. She has been with the organization for just under thirty years, starting as a mechanical engineering summer intern. During her tenure she has worked in a variety of roles from product development to planning. She led several business teams including the office color and fax business and office network printing business. In 2000, she was named senior vice president, Corporate Strategic Services, and in April 2007, she was named president. Her areas of concern include IT, corporate strategy, human resources, corporate marketing and global accounts.
Xerox employees might also be un-phased by the company passing the CEO torch from one woman to another woman. After all, Xerox is often recognized for its diversity. This year the Human Rights Campaign recognized the document management company as one of its 2009 Best Places to Work, based on “fair-minded and equal” workplace policies. Xerox was also ranked number 35 on The 2009 DiversityInc Top 50 Companies for Diversity® list and number one on The DiversityInc Top 10 Companies for Supplier Diversity. And, Xerox employees a full-time, executive diversity officer in Philip Harlow.
But outside of Xerox, Burns’ appointment is hardly status quo. It is historic. Currently, there are only four black CEOs at Fortune 500 companies. Burns will become number five, but again, she will be the first woman in that group. As far as women CEOS, currently, there are just 14 female CEOs in the Fortune 500. With the loss of Mulcahy and her replacement by Burns, that small percentage will remain the same. While the number of women at the helm is still very small, successions like the one from Mulcahy to Burns, two women who worked well together and supported each other, and firsts like Carol Bartz moving from one CEO position (Autodesk) to another (Yahoo) mark the progress women in business are making. Read more
Team Building: Lessons from the Mountain
Expert AnswersWhat do mountain climbing and team building have in common? Plenty, according to Alison Levine. Levine is the founder and president of Daredevil Strategies™, a consulting firm specializing in leadership development, organizational effectiveness, and team dynamics. Her company is appropriately named. That’s because Levine is also a world-class mountaineer who has climbed Mount Everest, Mount McKinley, and the Rwenzori Mountains, as well as skied across the Arctic Circle and the South Pole.
Mountains aren’t Levine’s only specialty. She has also climbed the corporate ladder at Goldman Sachs. In fact, while training for and organizing the first American Women’s Everest Expedition, Levine was working full time in investment banking. It was after her experience serving as team captain for the women’s Everest Expedition that Levine realized many of the strategies used in the business world are the same as the strategies used climbing mountains.
At the recent Simmons School of Management Leadership Conference Levine shared hard- learned lessons for succeeding and building a team.
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The Trouble with Working Women
Featured, Office PoliticsBased on the BBC2 documentary “The Trouble with Working Women,” which ran last week in the UK, it appears that the trouble with working women is, well, men.
“Think manager, think male,” says Professor Ryan from Exeter University, as she stands in front of a board covers in statistics showing that women get a raw deal in the workplace. Only 19.3% of MPs are women. Women earn an average of 17% less than men. Thirty thousand women each year lose their jobs because they are pregnant.
Newsreader Sophie Raworth, who herself has three children under the age of five, visits a boxing club where the trainers tell her that a woman’s place is in the home. She smiles politely while looking like she wants to clock the guy. Later, a roving video both gives members of the public the chance to spill their private thoughts about women at work and I’m surprised at how easy it was for the BBC to find people willing to confess that men should be the breadwinners and women should stick to the kitchen.
Thirty years ago the feminist movement had it cracked – by now we were all supposed to be equal. Another statistic comes through the voiceover: at the rate we’re going it will take another 50 to 60 years to get near equal. The BBC is nothing if not fair, so the presenters visit a woman who runs her own small business and won’t recruit women of child-bearing age. “It’s not illegal,” she says. She doesn’t want to risk everything she’s put into the business by having to bail a woman out during maternity leave.
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Voice of Experience: Marlene Mitchell Gordon, Vice President and Assistant General Counsel, Burger King Corporation
Voices of ExperienceLike many successful women, Marlene Mitchell Gordon, Vice President and Assistant General Counsel of Burger King Corporation has, struggled to find a proper work-life fit. “A few years ago, I was a total workaholic, and never made any time for myself. I began to feel the negative physical effects, which made me take a step back and make some changes in my lifestyle. I realized that life is not all about work.”
“I wish I had understood early on the importance of balancing your personal life and your career,” she added, “I always thought marriage and family would come later in life, but I got married right out of college and had my first child when I was in law school.” She credits a friend and mentor from law school for with helping open her eyes to the difficulties that lay ahead. “[My friend, a pioneer in her field] took me under her wing and helped me understand what life is like as a lawyer in a big firm. When I was pregnant and had an ‘I can do it all’ attitude, she told me that I didn’t understand what motherhood was yet and helped put it into perspective for me.”
She recognizes that this sort of challenge is women face regardless of industry or profession. “I believe that one of the barriers for women in the workplace is that we are the primary caretakers, but yet we still strive to progress our careers. It’s an obstacle and a challenge we need to overcome.”
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