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Heart & Soul Awards Honors Remarkable Women

admin — Thu, 02 Jun 2011 21:29:28 +0000

Boris Kodjoe will host the Heart and Soul Awards

Heart & Soul Awards Honors Remarkable Women is a post from: Heart & Soul

Taking It To the Bridge: A Chat With Patrice Gaines

Dandrea V. James — Sat, 13 Feb 2010 17:35:44 +0000

Bridge: A structure allowing passage over or around an obstacle; something that provides a link, connection, or means of coming together; a transitional section in a musical work; a means of communication or understanding between people. Encarta Dictionary: English (North America)

Patrice Gaines wears many hats. She is a mother, Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist, author, activist and mentor. But perhaps one of her proudest accomplishments is founding the Brown Angel Foundation, through which she offers services and products aimed at healing and empowering teenage girls and women, especially women who have been incarcerated. As a lecturer and motivational speaker she is a woman who knows from whence she speaks. Gaines having been incarcerated, is a brown angel.

A peaceful and loving soul sister, Gaines has learned to act on her heart’s desire. In fact, listening to her heart led her to her home on a plantation in South Carolina – a place she loves so much that she says she “aint never leaving.”

Gaines and I recently took it to the bridge, where we chatted about some of her favorite songs from the message-oriented music of the 1960s and 1970s. Here is what she shared with me.

DJ: What are three of your favorite songs from the message-oriented music of the 1960s and 1970s ?

PG: That was such a great period in music — meaning it was a period wherein you could depend on a song to help lift your spirits or to make you feel that you weren’t alone in the struggle — so it was hard for me to narrow it down to three favorite songs. But I did and my first choice as a favorite song from that period is James Browns’ “I Don’t Want Nobody To Give Me Nothin’ (Open Up The Door I’ll Get It Myself.)” It was just a little simple song with a little simple line and hook, but it was so powerful.

DJ: It was indeed and James Brown did that song in early 1969, during the period when he was still known as “The Hardest Working Man in Show Business.”

PG: That’s right, that was the follow up to his title as “Mr. Dynamite.”

I chose that one because when I first heard that song it made me feel so empowered. And I felt that Black people needed to feel empowered. The Civil Rights Movement was still going on, and that song came out after the riots that broke out in different parts of the country when Dr. King was assassinated.

We had gone through a lot as a people that could have left us despondent. There were days when the mood was sad, and so to hear that song – ”"I Don’t Want Nobody To Give Me Nothin’ (Open Up the Door I’ll get It Myself) — you just couldn’t resist the urge to straighten up and walk tall.

DJ - In what way do you relate the message in that song to the Civil Rights Movement?

PG - The Civil Rights movement was the push and pull for justice, equality, and opportunity. Brown voiced what many of us felt which was hey, that’s all we want is an opportunity, open up the door we’ll get it ourselves. So again, I’ll say it was just a little simple song but it was so powerful.

DJ – What’s one of your other favorite message oriented songs from that period?

PG – One of my other favorites from that period is Marvin Gaye’s “What‘s Going On?” When I think back on it, I felt like what Marvin was going through – his artistry, his life, the meaning of life, war and poverty, trying to make some sense out of the world in such chaos — I think everybody who ran and bought that album felt like he was talking to them. I also felt like it was very personal — like he knew what was on every body’s mind.

I have “What’s Going On” on my iPod, and play it all the time. In fact I play that whole album actually. JB [James Brown] I play once in a while. I don’t think anyone could come through that era — the 60s and 70s – without playing his music.

DJ - What is your third favorite song from that era?

PG – Now, when choosing my third favorite song from that era, this is where I struggled. It actually had me thinking — oh my goodness I could only pick one more. What will it be? I’m torn but I think I’m going with John Lennon’s “Imagine.”

DJ – Why was it a struggle for you to choose “Imagine” as your third favorite song?

PG – The only reason I struggled with whether to make that my third favorite song from that era is because in a way “Imagine” reminded me of Marvin’s “What‘s going On?”

DJ – How so?

PG - It has that same timelessness. But I also choose “Imagine” because I am an optimistic person. Those lyrics, to me, inspire hope. They invite us to consider what the world can be in terms of living in harmony and unity. I think that when you’re in a quandary about this world you can play “What’s Going On?“ or you can play “Imagine” because the words and music are soothing.

DJ - Patrice you said that from the moment you heard Browns’ “I Don’t Want Nobody To Give Me Nothin’…)” it made you feel good. How did you feel when you first heard “Imagine?”

PG - “Imagine” is another one that made me feel good from the first time I heard it. I felt — it’s just so me. But it also makes me feel a certain kind of melancholy. Sometimes when I listen to “Imagine” I think of when John Lennon was killed. I cried because I thought he was such an absolutely astounding poet … just with that song. It’s one of those songs that has a very positive and symbolic impact on me. As a matter of fact, at the front of my house near the door on the wall I have a sign that says “Imagine.”

DJ - Well that’s three of your favorite songs from the message oriented music from the 1960s to 1970s. But I’m curious what other songs would you choose?

PG- Like I said, I struggled trying to choose only three favorite songs from that era. I thought about Nina Simone. There are songs she did that I love.

DJ: Absolutely. As a matter of fact “I Wish I Knew (How It Would Feel To Be Free)” is one of the songs that inspired this project.

PG: Yes, that’s one of the songs she did that I love. And also “Mississippi Goddam” and “Why (The King Of Love Is Dead).” And then I thought about “Wake Up Everybody” sung by Harold Melvin and the Blue Notes with the lead vocals of the late Teddy Pendergrass. From beginning to end the music and lyrics of that song would just shake you and make you feel you need to wake up in mind, body and spirit.

The music is lulling while the message is intense: “Wake up everybody no more sleeping in bed. No more backwards thinking time for thinking ahead. The world has changed so very much from what it used to be. There is so much hatred, war and poverty. The world won’t get no better if we just let it be. We’ve got to change the world yeah, you and me.” I’ve always liked that one.

DJ - I think that we could probably go on and on, but have you any others?

PG – One of my all time favorites is Pharaoh Sanders’ and Leon Thomas’ “The Creator Has a Master Plan.” It puts me in a peaceful place. The music and lyrics sends me into a space where I begin to think about my place in the world and what is it? What’s going on in the world and how can I help?

I know young people could point to some positive songs in the contemporary pool of music created today. But they seem to face a barrage of negative music too. Back then there wasn’t the barrage of negativity from music that went against the positive. We were so fortunate to have had such an abundance of songs with positive messages of hope, and unity. Also back then, you could depend on the music to not just have a funky beat, but motivate you, put you in a place where you felt like you could go on.

I’ll be interested in hearing what three message-oriented songs people choose as their favorites from that era because like I said we had a lot to choose from in terms of positive music. It was just a glorious thing to have had those choices. Again its all about the lyrics and the kind of tone that is set in the message of these songs. So it’s good to keep this music in our minds and on our iPods, if you can.

Note: The photo is of the author’s mother Gladys D. James, in 1971 at a rally in Washington, D.C.

Taking It To the Bridge: A Chat With Patrice Gaines is a post from: Heart & Soul

Top 15 Companies for Working Moms

admin — Wed, 29 Jul 2009 02:26:47 +0000

Today the majority of moms return to the workforce within six months of giving birth, compared to 14 percent in the early 1960s. Fortunately, some employers are lightening the load of working motherhood with benefits and services from onsite child care and dry cleaning to lactation counseling and parenting courses. Here’s to 15 companies that make it easier for mothers to put in a good day’s work.

Arnold Worldwide

The New York advertising age ncy offers flextime, telecommuting, child care and parental leave, and several onsite convenience and wellness programs to keep the creativity flowing to its ad campaigns.

UBS

UBS, a global financial services firm, backs up its commitment to diversity with accommodating work arrangements, flexible and domestic partner benefits, work-life assistance programs, health and fitness initiatives, child care and even concierge services. Moreover, its women’s networks promote women’s advancement through networking, mentorship and leadership opportunities.

Boston Consulting Group

Boston Consulting Group’s strong minority outreach, top-notch health insurance (including $5 co-pays and 100 percent fertility treatment coverage) set it apart. Not to mention job-sharing programs, compressed workweeks, telecommuting and a nondiscrimination policy. It was among the first consulting firms to hire a woman consultant, elect a female partner and tap a woman to lead a large office.

Wegmans Food Markets

The family-owned Rochester, New York, grocery store chain charms its mostly female workers with 10 percent off gift cards, free yoga classes, job sharing programs, compressed workweeks and telecommuting. A third of employees take part in the annual Eat Well Live Well Challenge that promotes health and fitness education—and action. The store also earns top marks for its ethical business practices, including it s ban on cigarette sales.

Arnold & Porter

At the Washington, D.C.-based law firm, $5,000 toward adoption costs, six-week paid leave for family health crises and a $30,000 lifetime benefit for fertility treatments are the laws of the land. Attorneys get 18 weeks of paid maternity leave. After giving birth, many moms can reduce working hours, adopt flex schedules and telecommute without detouring off the partnership track or losing benefits. Plus there’s onsite child care at the headquarters and priority access at offsite daycare facilities near its branches.

Zappos

The No. 1 online footwear retailer pays 100 percent of health and dental benefits and serves free food daily in the cafeteria and vending machines. And to maintain a tight-knit, supportive employee base, it offers trainees $2,000 to quit if they aren’t enamored with the company culture. Most choose a Zappos diploma over the cash. The shoe fits, and they wear it.

Aflac

Women make up roughly 70 percent of the insurer’s workforce, and one in four employees takes advantage of its flextime program. The Columbus, Georgia-based company also has the state’s largest onsite child care facility, serving more than 600 children. It offers onsite personal development and life skills classes and lunch and learn sessions on topics like how to raise a strong-willed child.

Alston & Bird

The Atlanta firm became one of the first law firms to offer an onsite, full-service child care center when it opened The Children’s Campus. It joined a consortium center to serve staff in other locations and offers at-home child care options through another third party. The number of women attorneys jumped 45 percent from 215 in 2004 to 312 this year. The number of female partners rose even more, leaping 46 percent from 50 in 2004 to 73 in 2009. A fifth of the firm’s partners are now women.

Dreamworks Animation

It’s only fitting that a family entertainment company would promote its silver screen values in the workplace. With a game room, Wii competitions, movie wrap parties and summer carnivals, moms can work and play in the office and invite their families on campus. Flexible scheduling, job sharing and telecommuting options keep everyone from animators to accountants inspired.

Deloitte

This powerhouse professional services firm is forging beyond flexibility, child care, time-off and leaves to embrace “mass career customization,” where employees work with supervisors to navigate “an undulating journey of climbs, lateral moves and planned descents,” chief talent officer Cathy Benko says. So much for climbing the corporate ladder.

IBM

More than 20 years ago, IBM created the first national corporate child care initi- ative. To da te it’s committed more than $263 million to support a complete range of dependent care services to aid IBMers. Along the way, it’s advocated some unconventional wisdom, including mantras: “flexibility is a business imperative” and “presence does not equal performance.”

Eli Lilly

From a no-stress dress code to onsite dry cleaning, the Indianapolis pharmaceutical company makes workers’ lives easier. Mothers can take off the month before their baby’s due date, get paid six weeks after delivering, use the company’s hospital-grade electric breast pump in private nursing stations and place children in part- or full-time child development centers through kindergarten. Flextime, flexweek, part-time, job sharing and telecommuting options abound.

Kraft Foods

Outside the company, Kraft is known for brands ranging from A1 to Triscuit. Among the moms on staff, though, its benefit programs and resources win rave reviews. It reimburses employees up to $5,000 for each child they adopt and offers backup child care. Other perks include discounts on home computers, dependent daycare flexible spending accounts, paid time off, and concierge and referral services.

Abbott

This global health care company goes the extra mile to support women. It provides free 24/7 lactation consulting, as well as confidential consultation on parenting, caregiving, education and more. Th ose who choose to adopt can get up to $10,000 of expenses reimbursed, along with up to two weeks paid time off for adoption-related legal, travel or bonding needs.

McGraw-Hill

The international publisher of BusinessWeek, Standard & Poor’s and textbooks saw the writing on the wall and amped up its work-life programs and policies to serve working moms’ dynamic needs. The company offers a range of services from back-up child and elder care and paid leaves for new parents to adoption assistance and child care referral services and discounts.

–Maya Payne Smart

Top 15 Companies for Working Moms is a post from: Heart & Soul

Ambi

admin — Wed, 24 Jun 2009 05:59:18 +0000

Ambi is a post from: Heart & Soul

Get Unstuck

admin — Mon, 08 Jun 2009 18:55:41 +0000

If you’ve ever gotten your car entrenched in a patch of mud or
stranded on a mound o
f snow, you can relate–at least physically–to the frustration and
helplessness of being in a rut. Spin tires forward and you go nowhere.
Thrust gears into reverse and you get the same result. Until a tow
truck plays cavalry to your damsel in distress, there’s plenty of time
to reflect on how you wound up in the present predicament. In our much
more complex and much less metaphoric lives, however, getting out of a
stuck place isn’t as swift. Life, unlike a broken down car, won’t
always give us obvious indicators that it’s in need of repair. You just
stall.

Identifying that we’re in a rut takes self-reflection time that
may not be built into the tight schedules we balance. So the routine of
just getting by can quickly and quietly become second nature. “Most
women fall into ruts because we embrace more than we probably should be
taking on,” says Nashawn Turner, founder of Uniquely Designed Coaching
LLC, a Virginia-based life coaching business. “So when we get
overwhelmed, we find ourselves trying to do whatever’s easiest and move
in the direction that causes us to develop bad habits.” The robotic
motions of commuting to work, coming home, cooking dinner, helping with
homework and going to bed just to do it all over again the next day may
seem harmless albeit humdrum. In actuality, it traps sisters into
joyless existences with lack of purpose and passion.

Standing in neutral is one thing; shifting gears to move out of a perpetually
stuck place is another. Turner suggests implementing these six steps
for rocking out of a rut and re-engaging in life.

Ask yourself:

1. Is this what you thought your life would be like? Visualize
living free from your regular routine. Understand that it’s your life
and you can choose how you want to experience it.

2. Contemplate what caused you to get in the rut in the first
place and then find out what’s causing you to stay stuck. “There’s a
familiar saying: What you resist will persist,” Turner says. Deal with
issues that have kept you in a stale, unsatisfying and predictable
life, and affirm that you will no longer miss out on enjoying it. “I
tell all of my clients change begins with a decision,” Turner says.
“Only you can say when enough is enough of the same old-same old.”
Write a list of things you want to add or subtract from your life.
Establish little changes to get immediate results so you can feel and
see you’re moving forward.

3. Gather resources to nurture change and help you maintain focus.
Books and workshops may assist you. Rally family and friends–or make
new acquaintances–to help fuel your change.

4. Be conscious and move through life awake. “Pay attention to
your thoughts, words and20actions because these are what establish your
behaviors and routine,” Turner says. “We get into ruts based on how we
think about things. We keep speaking and thinking those things, and our
actions are manifested in that way.” When you find yourself falling
into old habits, ask why you’re doing it. That thoughtful moment will
enable you to make an alternative choice.

5. Create a list of things you always wanted to do or draft a
vision board that reflects your new way of life with empowering
pictures and phrases, and then post it where you can see it every day.
Before bed, Turner says, “write down what you did differently and ask
yourself how close you actually got to living out your change.”

Initiating a new routine is rarely easy. But after a while,
operating from a stuck place isn’t so effortless, either. It can take a
while to dig into a rut, so expecting an overnight turnaround is surely
a setup for disappointment. Being active in the process of change and
recognizing that a new day is another opportunity to make it happen is
better than beating yourself up for not accomplishing the goals you set
the day before. Sometimes just starting the car and putting your foot
on the accelerator is all the catalyst you need.

--Janelle Harris

Get Unstuck is a post from: Heart & Soul

giveaway

admin — Tue, 03 Mar 2009 12:38:14 +0000

giveaway is a post from: Heart & Soul

button

admin — Tue, 03 Mar 2009 12:17:32 +0000

button is a post from: Heart & Soul

2008 Cover Model Contest Winner Sonya Lowery

admin — Fri, 05 Dec 2008 21:30:43 +0000

2008 Cover Model Contest Winner Sonya Lowery is a post from: Heart & Soul