Speaker Articles

Stand Out in the Crowd: Experts from QVC and Zulily Share Insights on How to Differentiate Your Brand

Rachel Ungaro, QVC

Featuring Rachel Ungaro, Vice President of Apparel Buying, Design and Global Sourcing, QVC, and Lori Twomey, Chief Merchant, zulily

QVC’s Rachel Ungaro and zulily’s Lori Twomey know a thing or two about discovering new products and brands. On their watch, QVC has launched and fostered the growth of some of today’s most successful brands, many of which were founded by women, including bareMinerals, Spanx, IT Cosmetics and Lori Greiner, while zulily, QVC’s sister company, has worked with 15,000+ beloved and boutique brands. Read More →

Posted in Speaker Articles, Marketing Yourself & Your Small Business Tagged , , |

Shonda Rhimes on Grit, Success and Her Latest Project

With three TV series returning this season (“Grey’s Anatomy,” “Scandal” and “How to Get Away with Murder”) and two debuting (“For the People” and a to-be-named “Grey’s” spinoff about firefighters), Shonda Rhimes is a busy woman. Summer was no exception, since the shows resumed production in July. Still, Shondaland’s chief storyteller (that’s her official title at the production company) added a new project to her plate: Shondaland.com, the website.

“It’s been a whole other outlet, which has been great,” says Rhimes, who interviewed straight-talking Rep. Maxine Waters, among others, for the site. The prolific TV hit-maker plans on contributing frequently: “I’m going to write about what’s going on, things I’m interested in, what I’m thinking about.” Though she wants it to be clear that she won’t be the only writer. “We’re going to have a lot of different voices and stories,” she says. “As we’ve been telling people, the site is about life, not lifestyle—covering politics, culture, news and other issues important to women as well as telling women’s stories.” Read More →

Posted in Speaker Articles, Success & Leadership Tagged , |

Sheryl Sandberg on Handling Disappointment at Work

Sheryl SandbergIf you’ve read only one book about professional development, chances are it’s Sheryl Sandberg’s New York Times bestseller Lean In. It got a lot of working women talking, and it turned Sandberg, Facebook’s COO, into one of America’s favorite executive role models—male or female. Last year, with the sudden death of her husband, Dave Goldberg, and her Facebook post about her grief, Sandberg grabbed our attention again and started a new national conversation about adversity.

Now she has a new book out about the topic, which she co-authored with Wharton professor Adam Grant, Option B: Facing Adversity, Building Resilience, and Finding Joy. She says it started with her asking Grant, a friend, what, if anything, she could do to help her children and herself get through their loss. The research findings he shared with her “were incredibly valuable insights for me at the hardest time in my life,” she says. “Whether you’re facing adversity or someone you love is—or if you just want to build resilience in your everyday life—there are things you can do right now that can help.” Read More →

Posted in Speaker Articles, Communication Skills, Transitions, Health & Wellness, Goals & Priorities Tagged , |

Taking a Seat at the Table: How I Learned to Use My Voice to Champion Diversity and Inclusion Programs

Samantha SantiagoBy Samantha Santiago, Claims Strategy Director, Liberty Mutual Insurance

A proven asset to all companies, diversity of thought is the idea that our thinking is shaped by our culture, background, experiences and personalities. It is also about different work styles and approaches. In short, each of our unique perspectives is our currency—we all have what it takes.

Yet as a young female executive, I did not bring my authentic self to work. For almost 15 years, I did not contribute my full self, and as a result, I experienced tremendous self-doubt, missed out on sponsorship, lost opportunities for promotions and endured a whole host of uncomfortable conversations. What I held back: the fact that I am gay. I did it out of fear of being pigeon-holed, which led to a fear of being outed, which, in turn, made me hold back even more, refusing to join any employee resource groups. Read More →

Posted in Speaker Articles, Success & Leadership, Job Advancement Tagged , |

How to Network Effectively in Our Hyper-Connected World

J. Kelly HoeyIf you’re like most people trying to use social media to network, you probably think the number of followers or connections you have matters. But instead of obsessing over breaking 200, 500, 1,000, “you should be paying attention to what’s going on in your network and how you’re connecting with posts, content, likes, retweets and mentions,” says J. Kelly Hoey, a networking expert and author of Build Your Dream Network. “Online or offline, your focus should be adding value to your network.”

In other words, you should “be the person you want to network with and build a vibrant, engaged community from that vantage point,” Hoey adds. That means helping connections in tangible ways such as making referrals and introductions on behalf of people who need them. It also means being open and loud about your situation. “We need to confidently share what it is we’re working on and seeking to get done and provide ways for our network to jump in to help us,” Hoey says.

Here, she recommends five more steps to better networking on social media: Read More →

Posted in Speaker Articles, Networking Tagged |