Ohio Secretary of State commends SWWAN in sweltering heat

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It was an honor for SWWAN to receive an official commendation from Ohio’s Secretary of State. The heat and humidity were intense at our Cleveland celebration of the first annual Single Working Women’s Week. After tornado-force winds and torrential rains beat the city into a flooded mess, Jennifer Brunner came to tell brave attendees why she supports SWWAN (more in previous post).

The commendation says in part: “…as a small token of gratitude and admiration for the exemplary work of SWWAN…[leaders of which] have invested their time and resources in providing leadership, motivation and genuine support…[to enhance] the lives of countless single women in the workforce.”

We are humbled and grateful for this gracious gesture. The members of SWWAN thank you, Jennifer, and thank you, Ohio. It was a beautiful occasion, despite the building’s power failure. The food from Davis Bakery was outstanding and a good, if somewhat sweaty, time was had by all.

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Barbara Payne, August 7th 2007 | Posted in Davis Bakery, leadership, Single Working Women's Week, sweltering heat, SWWAN

Fun at Single Working Women's Week in Cleveland

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Smiling faces at Famicos Notre Dame Apts–just before Ohio Secretary of State Jennifer Brunner shared her straight-from-life story about helping a loved one through a very difficult time of single motherhood. Secretary Brunner spoke, too, about her commitment to making Ohio a better place to live for more of its citizens–she will start by measuring the social health index of the state. More later about the Secretary’s four goals.

Thank you to all who joined us to make the first annual Cleveland celebration of our official holiday a memorable occasion! Special thanks to Chris King of Creative Keys and Tina Hamrick, NAWBO Cleveland president-elect and partner in SJKBeringer Group…and especially to Secretary Brunner. Your commitment to our event and the wonderful citation you presented to SWWAN will help fuel our efforts over the year to come.

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Barbara Payne, August 3rd 2007 | Posted in Chris King, Creative Keys, Jennifer Brunner, NAWBO Cleveland, Ohio Secretary of State, S.J.K.Beringer Group, single working women's affiliate network, Single Working Women's Week, SWWAN

Single women: reach out and give without asking back

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Give with your whole heart. Don’t ask for a return. Connect with each other–for business, for all the things we need in life.

That’s what celebrants at last night’s opening event heard from keynote speaker Sharan Tash, owner of The ProNetworker, Inc., NAWBO Chicago director, NSA speaker, and creator of the “pay-it-forward, boomerang networking” concept. Sharan told of how giving from the heart without thought of return always comes back to you tenfold.

As a shining example of practice-what-you-preach, Sharan, SWWAN thanks you for inspiring attendees at this celebration of the first annual Single Working Women’s Week holiday.

Hostess Monica Davis praised single women and single mothers for all they contribute. Thanks to all those who shared in this delightful evening, including sponsors Lynfred Winery and National City Bank. Special thanks to Rebecca Gutermuth, designer of the beautiful SWWAN jewelry line, who hosted the party at her lovely store, Radiance Fine Jewelry.

And special thanks to columnist and authoress Jacquee Thomas whose contributions made the event extra special. Passionate speaking, wine, food, violins, and sharing. It was a beautiful event. For a copy of the event’s program, click here. Photos will be posted as soon as we can get them up!

If you live in Cleveland, please join us for our Cleveland SWWAN party TOMORROW!

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Barbara Payne, August 1st 2007 | Posted in Monica Davis, networking for women, Radiance Fine Jewelry, Sharan Tash, single mothers, single women in business, single working women, Single Working Women's Week

DWC invites you to celebrate Single Working Women's Week

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One of our favorite partners, the Downtown Women’s Club, DWC, and with chapters in a whole bunch of U.S. cities, has given a nod on its Chicago chapter site to our special holiday, Single Working Women’s Week.

Diane Danielson, founder of DWC, was one of the first guests on our Swwan Dive radio show. Check out her cool interview here “How to Network while You Sleep” for busy successful women.

Thanks, DWC. We celebrate all you do for successful career women–single and otherwise!

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Barbara Payne, July 10th 2007 | Posted in Downtown Womens Club, DWC, networking for women, Single Working Women's Week

Starting a business in Ohio? Consider the franchise…

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If you’ve thought about starting a business but shake in your boots when it comes to things like legal hassles, inventory, marketing and so on, franchising can be a savvy approach. Well, there’s a guy in Cleveland who can help you figure it all out–believe it or not, at no charge to you. He’s Joel Libava and he operates a website full of information and resources about franchising–psst! he even has a section “franchising for Women Only!“–and writes a very friendly blog called The Franchise King, which just happens to have a very nice reference to SWWAN. Here’s the company’s online bio:

Since 1990, the Libavas have been helping folks with their dreams of business ownership. If you want to lower your risk, and learn how to choose some great franchises for our area, we are the ones to speak with! Call 216-831-2610 We specialize in the franchise business segment, helping those who wish to explore and learn about which franchises they may be a great fit for. We also work with young franchise companies wishing to market online, with our state targeted website, Statefranchisecenters.com

I know Joel professionally, and I can tell you he’ll probably be glad to share his knowledge even if you live somewhere else.

Thanks for the shout out, Joel!

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Barbara Payne, July 10th 2007 | Posted in franchise business, Franchise King, single working women in business, SWWAN, women in franchising

Ziff Davis's Darryl Taft tells it like it is for women

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How often do you hear a man talking about how tough it can be for women in the working world? Well, this Ziff Davis reporter, who happens to be African American, is really cutting through the fluff with this article. He truly listened to some of the 500 women in IT that he sat with at this conference, where one of the agenda items was to go through the responses to a survey of 700+women. Here’s a quote from a woman who’d been a merchant seaman:

“It was a really hard life. I was the only girl on the ship. I had to work twice as hard as the men… Does this sound familiar to any of you?”

Of course it did, as the applause and murmuring in the room proved.

“I need to demo something 1,000 times before I’m taken seriously.”

And here’s Darryl’s take on why he stood out:

“As a black man I’m used to being in the minority at tech events, sometimes being the only one in a room. But I’ve never really noticed. At Women in Technology, I definitely noticed, not because I felt out of place, but because there was such a strong sense of camaraderie amongst the women in the room. It was palpable…”

Hey, that’s what SWWAN is all about–facilitating camaraderie among single women for all those times when being single makes a difference.

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Barbara Payne, July 3rd 2007 | Posted in black man among white men, hidden prejudice against women, state of being single, women in technology, women work twice as hard

US Supreme Court to rule on medical-device liability

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The US position on state sovereignty can create strange situations. Recent government administrations have taken oppposite sides of this thorny one (Clinton’s for, Bush’s against)–does federal approval of medical devices shield manufacturers from product liability lawsuits in state courts. So far, most federal appeals courts have said, yes, indeed, if your FDA-approved device fails during my operation, I can sue you anyway in state court.

Well, the Supreme Court is made up of individuals with political leanings. It’ll be interesting to see where it lands.

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Barbara Payne, July 1st 2007 | Posted in medical device liability, medical device regulation, state sovereignty

Botswana invites women to join forces in business

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Hey, I like this idea! In Botswana they’re having a conference to talk about a “cluster model” as a way to help women/sole proprietors combine forces (and resources) to be able to more effectively conquer their unique business challenges:

  • lack of entrepreneurial skills

  • lack of working capital

  • lack of capacity to deliver large orders

  • lack of promotional strategies, and

  • lack of specialized machinery

all of which can result in

  • poor quality products

  • uncompetitive pricing

  • poor customer service

True for so many women struggling alone to start a business. A representative of the Botswana government talks about the benefits of the cluster approach… “Women entrepreneurs are grouping nowadays but the way they do it is not systematic. The model will assist them to work as business entities as it advocates for separation of functions according to design and marketing as well as production entities.” The structure and discipline of the model will include economies of scale through specialization and improved systems.

Wow. Many single working women entrepreneur-wannabes could use some of that over in the U.S., too. The key over there is that the government is providing the model and the access and the assistance with locating the businesses. Some places in the U.S. have education for women fledgling business owners (Chicago’s Women’s Business Development Center is very good at this). Ladies Who Launch is a private group that works towards the online/community/incubator model.

All I can say is, “More!”

Note: The Republic of Botswana’s tagline is inspiring: Democracy, Development, Self-reliance and Unity. Cool.

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Barbara Payne, June 28th 2007 | Posted in Botswana, cluster model of business, single working women, women entrepreneurs

Single working women and single working men – a play about a story

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Went to a wonderful play reading today at Chicago Her-Rah, a festival put on by The International Centre for Women Playwrights–3 days of readings held in this wild little venue on North Avenue in Chicago called Around the Coyote.

Heard about this through a new acquaintance whose friend’s was one of the plays being read–a sparkling depiction of the New-York-intellectual-neurotic malfunctioning male/female dynamic that captured the essence of what’s going on between so many men and women today. Depressing kind of, full of angst but also tenderness and lots of humor… Read with only a commentator, no scenery, lights or anything, it was “Manhattan Cassanova” and it was mesmerizing. Remember the playwright’s name: Jenny Lyn Bader.

The festival is a once-a-year event that honors female playwrights everywhere. Wish I’d had time to see a few more. Next year it’s in Roumania. Read more on their website www.internationalwomenplaywrights.org.

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Barbara Payne, June 25th 2007 | Posted in neurosis, playwrights, single working men, single working women

The state of singleness–stats and the Christian viewpoint

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Looking around for another way to get the word out about our upcoming holiday – Single Working Women’s Week. Checking out Google adwords, I thought well, single women would not be looking for the term “single women” on the Internet (probably even if they were gay!). So I was trying to think of another term. Typed in “single men” just for the helluvit and found this interesting website that claims to have statistics (from 2002 census data) on the rate of single men to single women by county all across the U.S.

Not that women are typing in that term either, though–except for dating and matchmaking sites. Seems the Internet has replaced the local church as the place for singles to meet. Which brings me to the long Christian tract I found about how single people must accept their condition as God’s will. A particularly telling quote from a male missionary about how it’s not necessarily tough to be single everywhere:

“Our North American society is structured definitely for couples. Not so the tribe of Ayangan Ifugaos among whom I work. Although 99 percent of the men are married, they don’t look at the one percent as weird. The social cost only hits me when I return home–in the churches, among Christians, who, of all people, should know better.”

Yes, they do a lot of talking about why it’s okay to be single, all the while pointing out the Jesus himself was single–and celibate. In the Christian world if you’re single you can never express your sexuality physically.

Wouldn’t the world be a different place if everyone observed that dictum…

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Barbara Payne, June 17th 2007 | Posted in African single women/mothers, celibacy, Christian singles, sexuality, single men, state of being single
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