Welcome to our weekly career, entrepreneurship, lifestyle and fashion news roundup! Think of it as your online watercooler/work gossip station/coffee break spot for now…Want to add anything to our list? Email us at corporate@thecorporatesister.com!
Have you met our Woman of Impact this week? Check out my interview with Audrey Mann Cronin, co-founder of SayItMedia Inc and creator of the LikeSo app;
In great news this week, the Daily Beast reports that in honor of the Formation album, Beyonce launched 4 scholarships for female students;
Are you a new mom returning to work after baby? Ellevate Network shares some tips on how to survive the back-to-work postpartum blues;
If you’re a naturalista (and even if you’re not), you may have heard about the Shea moisture drama this past week. Black Enterprise tells you more about it and the important lesson we should get from it;
I had the pleasure of virtually meeting Audrey Mann Cronin a few months ago, and was instantly taken by her story. Audrey is the co-founder, President and Chief Marketing Officer of SayItMedia Inc., which is at the origin of the LikeSo app, aka your personal speech coach.
Now if you’ve ever had a problem speaking up in public, this app is for you! It uses voice recognition technology to analyze your “speech fitness”, and help you increase the performance of your speeches, presentations, interview or auditions! As an introvert who’s struggled with speaking up at work, I wish this app had been available a while ago. SayLikeSo has been featured on some major news outlets, including CNN, CNBC, AOL and USA Today.
But without further ado, here’s Audrey, who graciously accepted to answer a few questions for TCS:
Tell us a bit about you and what you do!
Hi Corporate Sisters! I am a passionate women’s advocate, writer, speaker and longtime communications consultant, so the way people speak is always on my radar. We all want to speak to impress, but lax verbal habits can undermine our skills and impact our success. I am on a mission to help us all be better, more confident speakers, and without all of those “likes” and “sos.” I have worked for 25 years in the technology industry and I thought, there should be an app for that! In December of 2015, I started a new venture, Say It Media, Inc. and in March of 2016, I launched LikeSo: Your Personal Speech Coach.
What led you to create LikeSo, and what would you say are the greatest benefits?
I was inspired to create LikeSo after a confluence of conversations took place during one defining week in May of 2014. First, my poised and well-spoken teenage daughter started injecting her sentences with “like,” “ya know,” and “totally!” Later that week, a colleague told me that he had two brilliant co-workers, but that he cringed when he heard them speak on the phone and in meetings because of their use of fillers, uptalk and other verbal habits. And then – the crowning blow… My doctor, a top surgeon in her field, said that she had experienced these uninspiring verbal habits, even in the operating room. We all should speak confidently, powerfully and persuasively – in a way that compels others to listen. Something had to be done, and LikeSo was born.
Describe what a typical workday looks like for you.
I start out the day taking 15-30 minutes to check in on my email and social media channels. Along with LikeSoApp on Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn and Instagram, I also run the community, Our Digital Daughters, which is a deep dive into raising our girls in this new digital culture. I then re-visit my “to do” list to prioritize the day. If it is like most days, something has happened while I was sleeping that forces me to adjust my schedule! Typically I have a bunch of calls and/or meetings with colleagues, potential new partners, professors, speech professionals, women’s advocates, etc. I also may be writing a post for my blogs. In my life as mom, I have two energetic and inspiring teenagers and a lovely golden retriever, so interruptions are often, and almost always, welcome!
What do you love most about your work?
I learn every day and meet so many inspiring and talented people. The entrepreneurial life is exhilarating, topsy-turvy, a bit scary, and a fantastic ride – like the best roller coaster!
How do the goals of your business and product affect your day-to-day job, as well as your career and life goals in general?
I want to make a difference and Say It Media has given me a platform and a mission. I am a passionate advocate for girls and women and get deep satisfaction helping women take on the obstacles of our male-centric world and find their own authentic voice. I also have a background in theatre and music, and love working with acting coaches and casting directors to integrate LikeSo into the entertainment field. For my own family, I hope I am setting an example for my children that if you work hard and stay positive, you can achieve success. When I look back, I do think that my life and work experiences and aspirations all led me to this current career…or maybe it was destiny?:-)
What’s the most challenging part of your work and how do you not let yourself get burnt out?
Yes, heading up a startup is challenging and exhausting. There is a lot of juggling, a lot of strategic thinking (and rethinking), a lot of networking and a lot of listening and learning. You truly have to believe in your mission. Sometimes I do feel that my work is getting the better of me, but then I get a good night’s sleep and wake up ready to go!
What advice would you give other women who may want to follow in your footsteps?
If you are passionate about something that gives you deep satisfaction, first gather some relevant experience, and then jump on!
You can find more information about SayItMedia and the LikeSoApp at the below links:
In this episode of the Working Girls Club podcast, we’re talking introverts! And we’re raising the dark curtain on what it takes to thrive as introverts at work, in business and in our lives too! As an introvert myself, it’s a topic that’s close to my heart…
What you’ll learn/listen to/enjoy in this episode:
Why introverts get a bad rap
How introverts can leverage their power of observation, discernment and close bonding
How to build a strong career/business around being an introvert
Thanks so much for tuning in and listening to this week’s episode! If you enjoyed this week’s episode, please share it by using the social media at the bottom of this post!
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Thanks so much for your support!
This post is part of a Working Mom series run by The Corporate Sister in honor of Mother’ Day.
So you thought this entrepreneur thing would be all glitz and glam? That you’d finally get a full 8 hours of sleep while running your empire and keeping up with your weekly facials? The life of a successful, thriving mompreneur sporting slick hair, an impeccable manicure and the latest Louboutins…
Fast-forward into the (real) entrepreneurial world, and here you are, broken nails, hanging over the dinner casserole as you’re about to drop your cell phone in the pan while yelling at your nightmarish customer… Did you just get that mental picture? Yes, it’s that of a successful mompreneur juggling kids, dinnertime, broken nails, and a hopefully growing empire…
Truth is, I no longer want to hear about entrepreneurship as this safe haven for all our childhood dreams…Especially as a tired mom who can’t seem to convince my youngest to abide to daily showering for cleanliness’s sake, or get my primer to actually keep the doggone makeup on for more than a couple hours…
The reality is that for most mompreneurs out there, glitz and glam are as elusive as shaving every week (especially in the winter). Unless you’ve reached mogul status, in which case you still have to bribe your kids not to pull your fancy earrings or drop tapioca pudding in your Victoria’s Secret fine bra, you’re struggling…
You’re struggling to get everybody in and out of the shower with clean teeth and semi-clean bodies (trust me, there is no foolproof way of checking every one of the little body crevices). You’re struggling to type the next blog post while dear daughter is painting your toe nails with kiddie nail polish. And you’re struggling to finish that client project when everyone else in the house is snoring, and your eyes are arguing with you to shut down once and for all (and you know the suckers will win)…
Nothing against “dad-preneurs”, or “male-preneurs” everywhere, but there’s something about putting together two life missions like motherhood and entrepreneurship/following your calling/heeding the call that makes it a unique and oh so demanding combination…It’s not like you can clock out at 5pm, shut off that”work” compartment and go have “family time”…
If you’re an entrepreneur, you’re breathing entrepreneurship. And if you’re a mom, you’re breathing motherhood…If you’re both, you’re constantly catching your breath as you’re running from one demand to the other…No bathroom breaks here…
What I’ve learnt about being an air-deprived mompreneur with toes painted with kiddie nail polish can be summarized in three easy bullet points (because there’s no time for more, really):
Glamour, what glamour?
Let’s start with a quick reality check…There’s something about entrepreneurship that has this “never finished” quality. Which means the whole glamorous side of it, including sitting at a well-organized desk, surrounded by positive affirmations and healthy lemon water? Not so much. It’s the stuff of well-lit Instagram posts that aim to convince you that being a mompreneur is so seductive…
Instead, what you really may deal with may range from not having time to shower, and taking client calls while holding the baby in one arm and stirring the dinner pot with the other. Because entrepreneurship is not just a job, it’s a lifestyle, unlike traditional 9-to-5 that can be left behind after hours. And for moms, it happens to add onto an already packed schedule.
It gets easier!
After the glum first reality check, let’s add that it does get easier. The biggest hurdle as to being a mompreneur is setting a more or less flexible schedule to adhere to on a daily basis. And that requires time to fine-tune all your obligations, appointments and to-do’s into a somewhat harmonized day, all the while managing to get decent sleep and comb your hair every now and again…
The part when it gets easier is when you get better at planning your days, making room for the unexpected, and making peace with not hitting all your goals all the time. Oh, and rewarding yourself too for all those times you make it to the finish line with the same shoes on each foot…
You get better all around!
Did I mention being a mompreneur is a lifestyle all in itself? Which also means it requires you to integrate all the different parts of your life into a coherent whole, while making sure everyone’s fed, bathed, dressed and not left behind…
The great thing about going through the hardships of being a mompreneur is that these teach you invaluable tools to manage chaos. This means you get mentally tougher, you execute better, and you learn to discern the priorities from the not-so-important stuff.
Does it all come at once? Certainly not. It’s going to be a long-term trial-and-error type of thing. But in the end, or as you joyfully spring somewhere towards the light at the end of the tunnel, it all becomes clearer. What matters, what does not, and what really needs to go…And that’s the gift!
Wear to Work: Crop Suit Jacket – Photo credit: Shopstyle.com
Our Wear to Work feature showcases workwear pieces in various styles and price ranges. Please note this post contains affiliates links.
Fresh white suiting is back in season! Hence this fitted Classiques Entier crepe jacket from Nordstrom, adorned with cool and feminine bell sleeves. I love the original style of this fitted jacket modernized with bound seams. It’s $329 at Nordstrom.
In the same style, I also like this knit tweed bell sleeve jacket from Loft, as well as this Thalia Sodu bell-sleeve number from Macy’s.
Seen any piece you’d like us to feature? Email corporate@thecorporatesister.com!
