The Fearless Blogger

One of the most vital lessons I’ve learned this past year is the importance of reaching out for help.

The Speak for Success Women’s Leadership Institute is accepting nominations for its “Women Changing the World” Award.

As I’ve expressed in my most recent blog posts, the Women’s Leadership Institute was a life-changing experience for me. Over the past decade or so I’ve participated in my share of leadership trainings, goal-setting workshops and motivational seminars at some world-class organizations. Hands down, I gained more during my 10 weeks with Speak for Success than I have from all of my other experiences combined.

What does this have to do with asking for help?
(Be patient, grasshopper, I am getting there!)

I’ve yet to figure out how to succinctly articulate the impact the Women’s Leadership Institute has already made in my life – as well as in the lives of my classmates. (The words that come to mind just sound cliche and don’t embody the spirit of the organization quite well enough to do it justice.) Equally difficult has been finding a way to adequately express my gratitude to Dana and the other women who gave me this opportunity.

One way I am able to demonstrate my gratitude is to lend my voice – and my community – to  spread the information about Speak for Success and its events to as many people as I can reach.

Will you help me? By giving just two minutes of your time, you can help give countless women back their lives.

To make it simple, below are 10 ways help Speak for Success change other women’s lives as it changed mine (most of these can be completed in 2 minutes or less):

1. Tweet a link to this post
2. Share this post on Facebook
3. Share this post on LinkedIn
4. Email a link to this post to your friends
5. Link to this post on your blog
6. Write about the “Women Changing the World” Award nominations on your blog. (copy & paste this to make it easy)
7. Nominate a woman who is changing the world (details below)
8. Are you a woman changing the world? If so, encourage others to nominate you!
9. Consider sponsoring (or asking your employer/company to sponsor) the event
10. Have another idea to help get the word out? Please share it in the comments below!
11. (bonus!) Connect with Speak for Success on Facebook
12. (another bonus!) Follow @Speak4Success on Twitter

Thank you for helping me!

Note: Although the awards event is in San Diego, I’ve confirmed that nominations are open to any women – regardless of location – as long as they can be in San Diego to attend the awards ceremony

Nominations for the 2010 “Women Changing the World” Award are now open. Entering its second year, this program recognizes San Diego area women leaders who have made significant contributions encouraging, supporting, and empowering women and families in their organizations and communities.

The “Women Changing the World” Award is sponsored by the Speak for Success Women’s Leadership Institute, an extraordinary program that provides an enriching empowerment and leadership program to women overcoming serious adversities including domestic violence, homelessness, addiction, and mental illness. Graduates of the Women’s Leadership Institute go on to become inspirational leaders in the community, helping others as they help themselves succeed.

This year’s winners will represent some of the finest examples of leadership, inspiration and community service. The Call for Nominations plays an integral role in that process. We encourage your participation, and invite you to join us in celebrating the contributions made by these extraordinary women who are your colleagues, peers, mentors, friends and family. Nominations across the diverse sectors and industries of San Diego are welcome. Examples include but are not limited to community, government, business, nonprofit services, science, medicine, law, arts, media, academia, philanthropy, family, and so on.

Previous recipients including Karny Stefan, CEO, Walden Family Services; Mary Marcdante, author and motivational speaker; Dr. Carolle Jean Murat, physician and medical director of the Wellness and Retreat Center, San Diego; Helice Bridges, Founder & President of Difference Makers International; and Gael Strack, JD, Co-Founder and CEO, National Family Justice Center Alliance.

DEADLINE FOR ENTRY IS Friday, August 27. Nominations may be submitted as an attachment via email or completed online. No exceptions to the deadline, please.

The Selection Committee is looking for nominees who meet the following criteria:

• Is available to attend the September 25, 2010 awards event from 6:00 – 9:30 p.m. in person to receive her recognition.
• Has achieved personal and career goals.
• Has overcome adversity in her life.
• Is an inspiring role model.
• Is a leader in the community and/or her organization.
• Empowers other women to reach their full potential.
• Gives back to the community in a significant way.

Please click here for the 2010 Nomination Form. Complete your form online, or email a copy of your completed nomination to womenleaders@speakforsuccess.com

For 2010 Women Changing the World Sponsor Information, click here or email dana@speakforsuccess.com

For additional information regarding nominations call Debbie Lousberg: 760-941-5166 or email: womenleaders@speakforsuccess.com

Visit: www.SpeakForSuccessWomenLeaders.org

Chris Blake is an example of why I love sites like Twitter. 
I’m not sure how our tweets crossed paths, but I am glad they did.

95.5 KLOS-FM Battle of the Fans finalist Chris Blake writes passionate alternative pop/rock songs about relationships, the environment and life. His music and videos have been featured on VH1′s Best Week Ever, BoingBoing, Chris Brogan, Mothering, Huffington Post, GigaOm, Cosmopolitan, ShinyShiny and hundreds of other sites around the world.

Chris is a talented musician.  I love his music, but music reviews are not what I do best.  Instead, to give you an idea of why I <3 Chris, I’m “borrowing” from another TV institution.  Today’s installment of Inside the Bloggers Studio will be prefaced by my own “Top 10 List”. read more

I’ll be honest with you.  I’d planned to write a riveting mini-bio on today’s featured guest, Mitch Wagner.

See, Mitch is an incredibly interesting guy.  It’s only fair to write something incredibly interesting about him then, right?

But Mitch had to go ahead and – *gasp!* – upstage the blogger.

That’s right.  You heard me. Upstaged. Me.   I can’t compete with Mitch’s answers .  Anything I could write would pale in comparison.

Which really is to be expected.  After all, Mitch not only is Executive editor at InformationWeek.com, he writes two other blogs, so he has lots of practice.   Even his tweets are witty.  Mitch makes me almost curious enough to explore Second Life – even though I secretly fear that once I go there, there’ll be no coming back (I tend to sometimes – um-”fixate” on things, especially when they involve a computer.  “Fixate” sounds so much nicer than “obsess”, doesn’t it?).   ‘Nuff said?

All of which is why I heart Mitch!

Rather than detain you much longer from reading his answers, I’ll quickly step aside and let him take the stage.  But before I do, I would feel I let you down if I didn’t share some ways to get an additional Mitch fix outside the Bloggers Studio read more

I’ve previously shared my crush on a blog.

Now it’s my turn to share my crush on a company:

MOO.

I swoon over their MOO cards. All of them.  Greeting cards, postcards, business cards . . . the MiniCards make my heart skip a beat or two!   Show me the MiniCard holders and I can’t make any promises to maintain a lady-like demeanor.  My passion for MOO is hard to contain.

My beau patiently puts up with this.  He knows before him, there was MOO. Love me, love my love of MOO. (Plus my sweetie knows I save all my – ahem – sMOOches just for him.)

What kind of hussy would give her affection so freely when she has a wonderful man in her life, you ask? Relax, MOO is a company, not a person.  So your point is MOOt. (I’m on a roll here!) read more

TheBusyBrain Wisdom: If you do stupid stuff, stupid stuff happens!

“TheBusyBrain” is Mike Johnson, self-described “Proud Father, Husband, and Family guy.”   A US Postal Service Letter Carrier by day, blogger and web entrepreneur by night, TheBusyBrain provides his readers with an an eclectic mix of “web, tech, & gadget related content”.

“Veritable Smorgasbord” aptly describes the variety of topics covered.  Travel, web design, money savers, video gaming and technology news are just a few of the categories Mike writes about.  My personal fave is the “Did You Know?” category, filled with a smattering of useful suggestions and tips representing a cross-section of the aforementioned topics.