by Solange Lopes | Mar 9, 2017 | Career
Seriously, if there’s anything more annoying than skipping dessert to fit into your fave jeans, it’s got to be navigating through the awkward seasonal changes between winter and spring. As excited as I’m to welcome warmer days and the prospect of shaving again, I have to admit that adjusting my work wardrobe can be a bit of a pain-in-the-you-know-where…
After years of paying my work fashion dues, courtesy of weather-inappropriate outfits (albeit cute), and freezing my extremities in unwarranted (albeit stylish) open-toed stilettos in the middle of April’s last snows, here are some of my most precious tips to deal with the Winter to Spring transition work fashion-wise:
Tencel sweater – Photo credit: shopstyle.com
Shop Your Closet!
You may be tempted to go out and shop for a brand new wardrobe, because: spring! Or you can shop your closet and recycle your wardrobe instead. Start digging out your lighter textures, and some warm-weather pieces from your wardrobe like this fun striped boatneck tee from Target, or an easy cotton sweater like this Sonia by Sonia Rykiel frills number from Zappos Luxury.
Work the layers!
Jersey knit blazer – Photo credit: shopstyle.com
Planning your outfits can be tricky, especially when the temperatures rise and fall unexpectedly. On days when it’s chilly in the morning but warm mid-day, your best bet is to start layering up! It can be as easy as replacing your winter coat with an elegant yet versatile blazer, like this Joie Meira chambray blazer from Neiman Marcus. Or this easy breezy single-button jersey-knit blazer from Old Navy.
Trench it Up!
Burberry Kensington Trench coat – Photo credit: shopstyle.com
Nothing says Spring quite like an elegant, tailored trench coat. It’s the perfect piece to transition from Winter to Spring, while still being practical. I love this classic Burberry Kensington piece from Neiman Marcus. I also like this less pricey London Fog alternative from Macy’s.
Brighten Up, Will Ya?
Maddie pants – J Crew – Photo credit: shopstyle.com
Segue into color to celebrate Spring with your work wardrobe! While you don’t have to ditch all your blacks and greys all at once, you can start by adding bright accessories or trying bright bottoms at first. Bright necklaces are a great way to start infusing your Spring wardrobe with color. I like this Sugarfix by Baublebar collar necklace from Target, as well as this statement Moon and Lola statement piece from Neiman Marcus.
Speaking of bright bottoms, these teal-colored Worhington modern fit trousers from JC Penney are a great way to start brightening your work wardrobe. I also like these oh so cute onion orchid Maddie pants in bi-stretch cotton from J. Crew.
Feet First!
Sam Edelman D’Orsay pumps – Photo credit: shopstyle.com
Last but really first in my fashionable heart, shoes can really change your look from season to season! Add some colorful shoes to your outfits, like these light rose MK Flex pumps from Zappos, or these Sam Edelman “Telsa” d’Orsay pointy toe pumps. While you may want to save the peep toes for late Spring, ankle straps or slingbacks may be a nice alternative to start the season.
How will you take your wardrobe from winter to spring?
PS: Note that this post contains affiliate links.
To Your Success,
The Corporate Sis.
by Solange Lopes | Mar 8, 2017 | Career
Many companies organize offsite meetings during the first few months of the year. It’s a great way, as well as a great time, for departments to review their strategy and set goals. While these can be done in meetings at the office, many choose to hold these sessions at offsite locations to provide team members with an opportunity to step back mentally and physically from their daily obligations.
I wasn’t sure what to expect from my very first offsite meeting. The prospect of being gathered outside of the office with team and department members actually intimidated me more than anything else. Being taken out of our comfort zone requires us to adapt to a different set of circumstances, while still leveraging the experience for our careers.
Since then, I’ve become a fan of offsite meetings, mostly because of the perspective it brings as a team member, as well as a team as a whole. However, as I’ve learnt over time, there are a few simple principles to go by to make the most out of them:
Be clear about your goals
You may think that an offsite meeting is yet another meeting to attend, except it’s outside of the office. Not quite…Every offsite meeting is a wonderful opportunity to expand your career potential. However, to be best prepared to take advantage of it, you must set some goals for yourself and your team ahead of time.
Define what your goals are before attending the offsite meeting. What are you hoping to get out of this event? Whether it’s getting closer to your team, or acquiring new skills from the training sessions, or meet other members of the department at large, set some clear goals for yourself! This will set your mind up to get those very benefits you’re looking for in the event, and be more focused towards them.
Change your perspective
The point of a meeting outside of the office is to just that…to be outside of the office. Change of scenery, change of perspective! The goal is for you to renew or change your perspective of your work, department/team, and colleagues by taking you into a setting different from the one you’re accustomed to.
Be open to learning as much as you can from this change of scenery and environment. I remember being struck at how easier it was to interact with my colleagues, and how much the training sessions offered a different, more attractive perspective of my work.
This change of perspective is one of the most important benefits of offsite meetings, and allows you to recharge, re-energize and go back to work with a new, fresher and more productive perspective.
Use it as a networking opportunity!
Offsite meetings are incredible opportunities to network with your team and/or department on a more personal level. This is all the more important as being in the office every day, doesn’t necessarily allow for close bonds to develop between colleagues.
Being taken outside of the office context, and often being involved in teamwork exercises reinforces the sense of mission and belonging within the team/department. It also makes you see your teammates, colleagues and management in a more human, personal lens.
Take advantage of this change of scenery and perspective to network in a more intimate way with others. Go beyond the facade of day-to-day tasks to understand who the people you work with are, what drives them, as well as what the larger purpose and mission of your company is.
Want to learn more about getting the most out of your offsite meeting?
How have you gotten the most out of offsite meetings?
To Your Success,
The Corporate Sis.
by Solange Lopes | Mar 7, 2017 | Find Your Purpose
March is here, and it’s officially #WomensHistoryMonth! Which also means I’m personally stocking up on all my inspirational, power-to-women quotes for the remainder of the year…
Women’s rights still have quite some way to go, but we’ve also made some major headway over time, and that’s worth celebrating. From pay equality to shattering the glass ceiling, not to mention legal rights, there’s still much work to do…Yet, in honor of how far we’ve come and how far we’re still going, here are 16 of my absolute favorite quote for Women’s History Month:
“It is a fact that when you change a girl’s life, you effect her vision of herself and her immediate world and the world that she will have an impact on.” Oprah Winfrey
“Women and girls can do anything. And all of us, everywhere, should have the chance to prove that.” – Melinda Gates
“The thing women have yet to learn is nobody gives you power. You just take it.” — Roseanne Barr
“It’s not my responsibility to be beautiful. I’m not alive for that purpose. My existence is not about how desirable you find me.” — Warsan Shire
“So the work continues. And for all the young women in this room, all the young men, we can never be complacent. Because we have seen in recent times how quickly things can be taken away if we aren’t vigilant, if we don’t know our history, if we don’t continue the work.” Michelle Obama
“If you are a man who believes your daughter should have the same opportunities and rights as your son, then you’re a feminist.” Beyonce
“It’s important for young women to have a constant reminder that there are amazing female role models, and that they can do anything. Anything at all.” – Ellen DeGeneres
“I’m done compromising; even more so, I’m done with being compromised.” – Mila Kunis
“Stay in for yourself and stay in for the women who are going to follow you. Stay in it for my 8-year old daughter.”– Sheryl Sandberg
“Our bodies are instruments, not ornaments. We should celebrate our different shapes and sizes, our caesarean scars and all the other beautiful imperfections that make us who we are.“—Gloria Steinem
“Human rights are women’s rights, and women’s rights are human rights.” — Hillary Clinton
“People always say that I didn’t give up my seat because I was tired, but that isn’t true. I was not tired physically. … No, the only tired I was was tired of giving in.” —Rosa Parks
“Drama is very important in life: You have to come on with a bang. You never want to go out with a whimper. Everything can have drama if it’s done right. Even a pancake.” —Julia Child
“If nobody can learn from the past, then there’s no point in raking it up.” —Billie Holiday
“People always say that I didn’t give up my seat because I was tired, but that isn’t true. I was not tired physically. … No, the only tired I was was tired of giving in.” —Rosa Parks
“Don’t spend time beating on a wall, hoping to transform it into a door.” —Coco Chanel
What other inspirational quotes would you like to share for Women’s History Month?
To Your Success,
The Corporate Sis.
by Solange Lopes | Mar 5, 2017 | Working Mom & Woman Tips
So I went on a road trip with the kids during their last February vacation. Yes, me…the adventure/risk-adverse, long-distance-driving-adverse, patience-impaired, non-sneaker/practical-shoes-wearing, coffee-fueled mom took on the mission to drive my kids two states away to visit the BFF. Because I had dared myself, all atop my six-inch heels, to kick the fear and try something new…You know, those things you say after reading positive quotes in chain on Instagram and vowing to change your life…before you actually realize what kind of hot mess you’ve just volunteered for…
And when said hot mess involves two kids with (stubborn) minds of their own, the open highway, and unpredictable bladders, you know it’s a wrap…So for all the moms like myself who are not experts at packing ahead of time, not forgetting the toothbrushes, or taking enough underwear, here’s my own, no-shame-in-my-game version of the non-adventurous mom’s guide to survive road trips with kids. Because: no mom is perfect, that’s why they invented coffee and waterproof concealer…
Behold the packing list!
Who else is a pro at packing everything but the toothpaste and everyone’s underwear? Stop frontin’, you know you did…Let’s keep it real, unless you’ve got your life together (which who does really?), or you’re from my mother’s direct (and chronically late) lineage, you may be packing about an hour before leaving…
So to ward off the crazy prospects of looking for strawberry-flavored toothpaste somewhere between interstate highways, make a packing list. So no matter when you actually get around to packing throwing clothing and useful general hygiene objects into traveling bags, you don’t have to discriminate against your brain for premature ageism…
Just grab some fun list pads like these, write it all down, stick it on the fridge where you can find it, and give that mommy brain of yours a well-deserved break…Just sayin’…
Respect your bladders!
When you have to stop in the middle of the Connecticut suburbs and hide your kids squatting behind the car because they’re about to pee themselves, you start respecting the Queen Bladder. There are many things in nature you can remedy, but if you’ve got to go, you’ve got to go…
So don’t do like I did and try skipping in service areas so “we can get there faster”, only to have a general family peeing session by the roadside, with cars driving by…Instead, have a pee stop before leaving the house, and pretty much every time you see a rest area. Oh, and don’t trust those little humans to tell you they have to go ahead of time. The only signal you’ll get is something resembling a loud cry before the peeing waterfalls open for service…You get the drift…
And if you’re in the middle of potty training, drop everything and get yourself some Luvs. I’m telling you, it ain’t worth it…
Got Cleaning Supplies?
Speaking of bodily fluids and other food messes, unless you want to drive in a giant mobile trash, please pack along some cleaning supplies. After my initial road trip disasters, I always like to take some easy plastic bags (these scented ones are my faves), and some baby wipes like these generic Parent’s Choice ones. And because there are serious chances you will drop your coffee on top of the ill-packed snacks, some disinfecting wipes like these Clorox ones might help…
Snack smart!
Road trip snacking 101: if you want to stop at every service area for a general peeing session, pack loads of juices! And if you’ve not experienced the whole road trip pee situation yet, go back a few paragraphs up…
Prepare a cooler where you can toss a few types of food. Fruit, cheese sticks, bolachas (Cape-Verdean cookies), sandwiches, etc…Warning: anything with a sucky top, including yogurt tube, WILL explode all over your kid and the car, all over, every time…
Technology’s a savior!
I know what’s said about not allowing kids to have too much access to technology. Yet when it comes to road trips with kids, the right tech can save everyone’s sanity. So invest in quality kids’ earphones, like these Puro Headphones, awarded one of the best headphones for kids.
Oh, and don’t forget the tablets/DVD/iPad chargers. Not that I’d ever do that…
Make it a (fun) teaching experience!
No matter how many snacks you bring, or how many times the kids are allowed to watch “Frozen” on repeat, nothing beats enjoying the experience live! Get the kids to actually enjoy what’s going on outside their windows, by teaching them the various states you drive through and having fun quizzes around it…
Or have a sing-along competition, until they fall asleep from the dreadful voices…
Have a tantrum plan!
Tantrums/mood swings will happen, period! So you need a plan. And no, it doesn’t include turning up the music any louder, or threats to never ever give them chocolate ever again…
Whatever works best for you to calm the tension, whether it’s to recite mantras and call forth your inner peace, or use AM static (I’ve heard it’s quite effective), come up with your tantrum plan.
BONUS: CLICK ON THE IMAGE BELOW FOR YOUR “NON-ADVENTUROUS MOM’S GUIDE TO ROAD TRIPS WITH KIDS”
Now to you…what are your best tips to survive road trips with kids?
To Your Success,
The Corporate Sis.
