by Solange Lopes | Aug 29, 2014 | Career
Women on TV – Photo credit: stage buddy.com
Happy Friday, and TGIF!
I can’t wait for this Fall to indulge in one of my guilty pleasures: watching TV. Except this time I have a good excuse: women, strong, career women, are roaring this Fall on TV! From Viola Davis in “How to get away with murder” (ABC, September 25) to Cristela Alonzon in the self-titled “Cristela” sitcom (ABC, September 10), not to mention the return on my favorite Gladiator Olivia Pope in Scandal, women on TV are stepping up, big time!
And as I look forward to relishing every single minute of this televised women’s revolution, here is a quick and dirty snapshot of what strong women on TV have taught us about our careers:
1. Career and marriage don’t jive (better yet, get another woman’s husband)! Case in point: Miss Olivia Pope and Mr. President! As steamy as the sex scenes may be, the fact remains, it’s another powerful woman messing with a married man! I still love you Olivia!
2. You are as fabulous as your designer wardrobe! Now can we talk about the clothes, I mean…From the perfectly tailored suits to the impeccable sheath dresses, these successful career women are clearly sending the message that career success and designer wardrobes go hand in label! And we ain’t mad at them (hello Roberto Cavalli)!
3. Big (career) girls don’t cry (and when they do, their Chanel mascara doesn’t smear!) Could you picture Gina Torres’ character in Suits (as Pearson Hardman’s managing partner Jessica Pearson) in a full crying fit, threatening to mess up her perfectly pressed hair? Nah han…Big girls don’t cry, and on TV at least, career women are as strong as they come…
4. Forget diplomacy, politics rule! Olivia Pope does not play when it comes to the political game. And in the cold world of the Pearson and Hardman’s law office, Jessica Pearson is a political strategist, playing people and situations like a game of chess. No stress, politics rule!
5. Want career, must have nanny (or mother-in-law willing to keep the kids). Yes, some career women on TV, like Julianna Margolies in The Good Wife, happen to have kids (and a publicly failing marriage as well). They also spend most of their lives at work, and could not do it without the sacrificial mother-in-law or Miranda’s cute Ukrainian nanny in Sex and the City.
6. Oh and you need a cook and a cleaning lady too! Ever caught a scene in Suits where Gina Torres’ character cooks or cleans? Yeah, my point exactly…
7. The sex is not hot, it’s scalding! Career women on TV are also goddesses in bed. Despite demanding careers and gladiator missions, they wear the sexiest lingerie and can make your TV screen melt…So much for falling asleep in your oversize shirt after a long day at work…
8. Diversity is not dead! Minority women like Gina Torres and Olivia Pope are ruling the small screen, and it’s giving us hope that even buried in award-winning scripts, diversity is still alive and well…
9. Power is sexy! These career women in their tailored suits and impeccable hair embody power. And for once in a long time, power is no longer muscular, deep voiced or masculine. It’s actually rather feminine and sexy…
10. Work like a girl! And last but not least, working like a girl rules! Women are law firm partners, political gladiators, business women and professional goddesses. It feels good to be a woman these days…
The Corporate Sis
by Solange Lopes | Aug 28, 2014 | Career |
Peep toe booties – $59.96 – nordstrom.com
Fall is arriving fast, and every year as I roam through store shelves lined with the latest and greatest collections of alluring booties, I keep wondering “Would this one be appropriate for work?”, or “Does this one look too edgy, biker chic or like I’ve regressed to high school time?”.
Having worked in conservative Public Accounting, where some of my clients requested suits everyday and no open toe shoes whatsoever (I’ve always wondered what is so offensive in a toe, but I digress), sporting booties to work, and peep toe booties at that always felt like I was violating some federal law. Yet the corporate fashionista in me is always on the hunt for a bootie that is the right mix of conservative and edginess to pass through most professional environments without too many disapproving glances…
Hence today’s coffee break, this Halogen Katrina bootie from Norsdstrom. I like the reasonable heel and modest height of the shoe, that is cut like a pump but still has the “bootie” look. The dark leather makes it more work appropriate, while the front opening brings the style factor up a notch. The peep toe opening is also reasonable enough for most professional environments (please know your office!)…
This peep toe bootie is on sale for $59.96 at Nordstrom!
Pssttt…Nordstrom is currently having its clearance sale until September 7!
The Corporate Sis.
by Solange Lopes | Aug 28, 2014 | Career
Short sleeve sheath dress – Photo credit: www.cusp.com
It’s back to black and white, and I kinda like it! Nothing says elegance and sophistication than a play on these two opposite colors. As in this Black Halo Dayton short sleeve sheath dress from The Cusp by Neiman Marcus.
The contrast basket weave on this dress is flawless, and brings a slimming focus on its impeccable architecture. Loving the side split, which it gives it a little “je ne said quoi”, while the empire waist is flattering on most body types.
This short sleeve sheath dress is $224 at The Cusp by Neiman Marcus.
The Corporate Sis
by Solange Lopes | Aug 28, 2014 | Career, Find Your Purpose |
A good marriage is not great – Photo credit: womenonthefence.com
Happy Thursday!
Marriage is not easy. Actually, if anything requires work, it would be putting two people together with different sets of toothbrushes and brains together, and then proceed to ask them to spend the rest of their lives sharing bedsheets and possibly one toilet seat…Marriage is messy, complicated, obnoxiously loud (yes, even silence turns deafening when you put a ring on it). And apparently, the entire institution seems to be bent on legalizing raised toilet seats and dirty socks.
Yet marriage is beautiful, in a way a weird, color-laden, contradiction-filled painting from some famous artist would be considered beautiful because beauty is easier (and safer) to explain than ugliness. Marriage is your career’s beautiful, free spirited, love-filled big sister. It’s also a license to work hard at something you’re committed to mastering and perfecting over time, yet with no guarantee that you’ll make it past your first raised toilet seat offense. And like marriage, a good, roll-with-the-punches, no-wave career is a good life partner, except you secretly want to pour laxative in his morning coffee just to convince yourself you actually have a pulse (and they actually have responsive bowels, but I digress…).
Gone are the days when an average, good career, or marriage for that matter, was good enough. In the days of the I-phone brain, we need to be fulfilled like we need our next tweet. We need meaning, context, and instant bliss in a bottle. We don’t want jobs, we want careers that help us save the world. Because even if we’re late on our student loan payments and just overdrew our checking account yet again, we are committed not to leave this world in the desolate state we found it in.
So for the rest of us millenials, semi-millenials and somewhat post-millenials, our parents’ picket-fence and safe retirement plan options are worse than dial up internet connection. For us, a good marriage is just not great, and we’ve categorically refused to sign up for good enough. We want passion and self-fulfillment. We have dreams, goals, objectives, and we’d rather bike to work and rent the latest Luis Vuitton purse than one day having to tell our kids to learn a marketable trade, get a safe job or a clean shave…
And maybe that’s why 30% of us will be unmarried by age 40, while 71% among us actually dream of our first startup without being all that ready for the grueling, hard work of entrepreneurship…Because after all, it’s so much easier to fantasize on the perfect wedding dress and ideal family than to actually have to remind yourself why the jerk you married is unable to put the doggone toilet seat down, ever….
The Corporate Sis.
by Solange Lopes | Aug 27, 2014 | Career |
Should you share your personal problems at work? – Photo credit: www.tribuneindia.com
It’s coffee break time, and also time for water cooler convos of all kinds at work…And considering how much time we spend at work, it may be difficult at times to avoid oversharing, and spilling our personal problems on professional grounds…Or sometimes we just feel like we owe our co-workers and managers some personal information to back up some work-related decisions, like temporary absences, time off or leave…
Yet is it always (or even sometimes) recommended? Does your personal life, and especially your problems, fit in with your professional life? Or should you keep the two far away from each other?
My $0.05: After blabbing about personal issues I was having to a then friendly co-worker (who didn’t turn out to be so friendly after all), I’ve unfortunately had to pick up my face off the floor when my private stuff became public talk. So I prefer to remain discreet when it comes to my personal life, only sharing mundane things.
Do you think it’s OK to share your personal problems at work?
The Corporate Sis.
