by Solange Lopes | Jul 25, 2014 | Career |
Women shouldn’t have it all – the root.com
The first thing most people who come to my house notice is the set of our black-and-white wedding pictures on the wall. Granted, they are gorgeous, (well, really, the bride in it with the skinny waist and impeccable make-up is) if I may say so myself. Yet, that’s not the only reason they stare. They stare because they are crooked. And then they start slowly noticing all the wall pictures are…crooked too! And they tell me to get it together and fix it so it can look like it’s supposed to be…perfect! One more thing I have to get together…like the fact that I can’t walk straight without bumping into people constantly…
Pepsico CEO Indra Nooyi recently admitted at the Aspen Ideas Festival the surprising revelation that women can’t have it all. Really? Remember the 2012 cover story from the Atlantic “Why Women Still Can’t Have it All”? There was an un-surprising revelation as well.
In her epic (and much controversial) address to Dartmouth students, Scandal’s mama and screenwriter extraordinaire Shonda Rhimes tells students (and indirectly, women) to “keep it real”. As few women will admit, and as Ms. Rhimes so honestly put it out there, there is a price to success, and dreams sure ain’t free. For every major career milestone, something on the personal front is missed. And every story time could be spent at the office putting a last touch on that report or sending another pesky email. It’s called the opportunity cost of life, and unless you can be in two places at the same time or have your own hologram, there’s no escaping it…
Can women have it all? Well, could I straighten my wedding pictures? Or practice walking straight? Maybe, although I don’t like dwelling on absolute theories. Yet even more than racking my brain asking myself the hard questions, I’d rather get busy figuring out what makes me happy. And running around like a mad woman trying to have it all, or adjusting my wedding pictures so they can perfectly align, or even missing out on bumping into some pretty awesome people just to straighten my crooked walk, will get me closer to perfection. Except perfection is not what makes me (or most people) happy…
Truth is, I like my pictures and my walk slightly crooked, or the fact that one side of my hair curls better than the other. I like that I don’t have it all, because it keeps my crooked feet solidly grounded. Because it gives me something to work on, something to improve on.
If I had it all, if my life were just perfect, my wedding pictures straight, and if by some miracle I stopped bumping into people and started walking straight, I’d be happy for a hot minute and…what the hell would I have to do with the rest of my life?
Just sayin’…
The Corporate Sis.
by Solange Lopes | Jul 24, 2014 | Career |
Perfect career – dreams time.com
I’m a perfectionist, always have been, probably always will be at this point. And as a perfectionist, I’m always looking for…ummm, perfection. The perfect job, perfect commute, perfect work-life balance, just the perfect career!
Not surprisingly, I’m a proud Gen-Yer. And unlike the dedicated, company-loyal, house-with-a-white-picket-fence prior generations of career women (and men), we are NOT looking for jobs. We are looking for meaningful, life-changing, make-a-difference careers. And ideally, we’d like to get paid for being so darn awesome. Yet compared to prior generations, 70% of us are having a hard time finding a job (as compared to 30% for baby boomers). And even though we are unjustly labeled as “selfie posting, social media crazed underachievers”, we are still considered as largely unemployable.
As outlined by Mashable, we are inspired by the likes of Steve Jobs and Michelle Obama. Although salary is our top priority (how else would we be able to afford the latest iPhone), passion and corporate culture are more important to us than benefits or job culture.
Like Jennifer Benz, the poster child of the new millennial model, we want to learn, earn, and give back at work, while we’re changing the world! Oh, and we want gender equality too, and we’re on a mission to reach the glass ceiling, break it in a million (recyclable) pieces, and use these to build LEGOS with female superheroes.Except, practically speaking, most of us have not exactly found the perfect career (or a job), and running the risk of having our smartphones disconnected is not exactly an option…
So how do we stop searching for THE perfect career without settling:
1. Repeat after me: “There is no perfect career”! Even if Oprah, Forbes or the Huffington Post called today to offer me to write for them (getting spine tingles writing this), it still wouldn’t be the perfect job (although it’d still be pretty darn close). Because there is no perfect job, career or shoe for that matter. You will still have annoying tasks, bad days and challenging moments. That’s what work does, hence the reason for after-hours libations, but I digress…The sooner you realize there is no such a thing as a perfect job or career, the lesser the left part of your skull will hurt…
2. Take out your toolbox! Not that one, your skillset toolbox. That rusty box of the sum of your know-how, education, experience and expertise. In other words, all that stuff you know. At the end of the day, it’s about your skills, what you’ve got! Instead of racking your brain trying to find the perfect job or career, take out that toolbox, consider the skills you’ve got and assess whether you’re still getting the skills you need. Or if that rusty toolbox of yours is getting rustier by the minute, in which case it may be time for an upgrade…
3. It’s about the journey! I know, it’s a corny catch phrase, but I’m in my self-motivational phase of the month, so excuse the hormones…Too often, we’re too worried about making it to the top of the mountain before even putting the right shoes on. And when we fall or get blisters, it’s the stupid mountain’s fault. You get the point. As you acquire the skills and experience you need along the way, you’re not just charting a path, you’re building your career. Aspiring to be a writer?Well, improve on your writing at work! Whatever your dream job, you’re building it now, so please check your grammar on that report (or run spellcheck, do something…)
Oh and log off Facebook too….
The Corporate Sis.
by Solange Lopes | Jul 24, 2014 | Career |
Layla Headphones – $99 – nordstrom.com
So I was never into the earbud-type headphones. Not sure if it’s the size of my ears, some ear wax issues, personality incompatibility, but I just can’t get them to stay put through an entire Beyonce jam (also take into account frequent more or less violent head bursts immediately following any women empowerment lyrics)! So I was relieved to see traditional headphones come back in fashion…except if I’m gonna publicly jam to Beyonce’s “Diva” track, it’s gotta have to be in style.
Hence today’s coffee break pick, the Layla handphones. Loving the gold and white leather-wrapped headphones, not to mention the opulent, yet not over the top bling. These fit most iPhone, iPod and iPad products, and the sound is simply outstanding! Plus it’s probably going to match most of your closet (this fact alone is the justification of any purchase, really…I’m digressing again).
It’s on sale for $99 at Nordstrom, as part of their Anniversary Sale!
The Corporate Sis.
by Solange Lopes | Jul 24, 2014 | Career |
Two-piece suit – $237 – neimanmarcus.com
It’s the Last Call sale at Neiman Marcus, with discounts up to 70% off! I love this fashionable Albert Nipon crepe two-piece suit in ivory, with its original V-neck jacket. Other than for interviews and uber-formal work settings, I’m not much of a suit girl; so when I do suit up, I favor more fashion-forward, edgy but elegant pieces like this one.
The ivory color makes this suit even more striking, with its flattering tie waist and slightly wide-leg pants. The suit is on sale at Neiman Marcus for $237 (down from $395)!
Work it, girl!
The Corporate Sis.
by Solange Lopes | Jul 23, 2014 | Career
Any.Do app – intrepid-llc.com
What’s the one thing you wish you had more of? Ok, ok, there is more than one thing…Well, for me, it’s a bit more organization, a lot less chaos, and some time to read, sleep or hear my own raging thoughts uninterrupted. I digress…I really wanted to talk about better organization, and here my first paragraph is all disorganized…hence today’s coffee break pick: crowd favorite, organization app extraordinaire Any.Do.
What’s Any.do anyways? It’s a list-making and task management app, available on the iPhone and Android, encouraging the habit of reviewing your to-do lists on the daily. So what makes it so different from your crumbled, old notepad from Walmart? It has a date and time reminder, successfully integrates Geolocation, and prompts you to review your to-do’s and update them (no checkmarks or crossing through pages here). Plus it suggests other apps you may want to use to complete your to-do’s, and can synchronize your tasks between your phone and computer. The wildly popular app, which added this year alone another 4 million users, just brought its app model to the web back in May. So now, you can keep organized even without your cell phone nearby (don’t panic, your smartphone can still remain surgically attached to your hand).
Even better, it now has its own integrated Cal Calendar, so you never forget your crabby mother-in-law’s birthday again…
Have you tried the Any.Do app?
The Corporate Sis.
