Speaker Articles

Reese Witherspoon Empowers Women to Be the Hero of Their Own Story

Reese Witherspoon doesn’t dislike the word likable. The actress who started making movies when she was 14 and won an Oscar when she was 29 just considers herself to have closed the door on roles where she is mostly sunny and likable.

“I felt very lucky to be in the room and to be in control to a certain degree of the characters I was playing,” Reese, now 42, told the audience of 7,500 at the Texas Conference for Women in November. “But as I got older, I had enough of staying in my lane, in a place that felt comfortable for everybody and was someone else’s definition of what makes a woman likable. Women are complicated. They’re complex. They’re dynamic. Those are the women I want to see on the screen.” Read More →

Posted in Speaker Articles, Goals & Priorities Tagged , , |

Beauty Truth-Teller Paula Begoun on Being an Entrepreneur, Hiring and Handling Stress

By Bryan Barron, for Paula’s Choice Skincare  

Work for Paula Begoun, founder of Paula’s Choice Skincare and Beautypedia.com, and you will laugh a lot. You’ll also become used to her straight-shooting ways. “I’m blatantly honest to a fault,” she says. 

Indeed, her truth-telling is her commodity and specialty. Combined with a passion for beauty products, it has resulted in 21 bestselling books on beauty and regular appearances on CNN, “The Today Show,” “The Dr. Oz Show” and “The View”, to name a few places—as well as her product review site Beautypedia.com and her global skincare company PaulasChoice.com.

It all began 35 years ago, when Paula was struggling with acne and eczema. She resolved to find a solution and began studying product labels, formulations and skin physiology. She discovered why everything she had been using on her skin either made it worse or didn’t help at all—and felt that her information could help so many other people, too.

Now Paula travels the globe speaking to women about truths and myths in beauty. “I love my job,” she says. Here, she shares more about entrepreneurship, work regrets, stress —and yes, her favorite products. Read More →

Posted in Speaker Articles, Life Balance, Small Business, Success & Leadership Tagged , , |

5 Tips to Feel More Comfortable at Networking Events

This is one thing Alice Rutkowski, an executive communication and presence coach who has worked with more than 8,000 executives over the past 20-some years, wishes everyone knew:

Body language reflects what you believe about yourself and others.

“Consciously and unconsciously, we are reading others and they are reading us all the time,” says Rutkowski, vice president of executive development at Sagin. “For example, whether you’re sitting or standing, crossing your legs can convey nervousness. It puts your body out of alignment, and being unbalanced isn’t conducive to feeling confident—and people can see that.” Read More →

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

Never Limit Yourself Out of Fear

By Jennifer Adams, CEO and Founder, Jennifer Adams Brands

What’s the most important life lesson I’ve learned? As the grateful owner of a flourishing home textile and furnishings business today, I’d say that the road to success is not always a straight path. My journey has been full of twists and turns—and what I call “moments of serendipity.” Read More →

Posted in Speaker Articles, Embrace the Unknown, Job Advancement Tagged , |

Brené Brown on Courage, Grounded Confidence and How Her New Book Has Changed Her Approach to Leading and Work

Even for Brené Brown, renowned author, researcher and expert on being brave, leading doesn’t come easy. “Being a founder and CEO is one of the most challenging roles in my life when it comes to showing up as my best self, leaning into tough conversations and making hard calls—all in the service of others,” says Brown, who heads Brené Brown Education and Research Group as well as holds an endowed chair at the University of Houston. “Seriously, it’s up there with parenting and partnering.”

With her new book that’s out this month, Dare to Lead: Brave Work. Tough Conversations. Whole Hearts, Brown provides actionable strategies for the workplace, based on seven years of studying top leaders and teams around the world. She’ll be speaking at the TX Conference for Women (next month!) In the meantime, she took time out of her busy schedule to answer our questions. Read More →

Posted in Speaker Articles, Embrace the Unknown, Communication Skills, Success & Leadership Tagged , |