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Go Get'Em, Ladies!

We’re sending this issue off to the printer in mid-June, just as school is letting out and schedules are filling up with graduations and parties to kick off the summer. The “school’s out!” feeling is a bit dampened by the cool, gray weather, but the excitement about the arrival of summer vacation (if not summer weather) is palpable, especially at Seattle Woman, where we are giving ourselves a holiday by combining our July and August issues.

We’re very excited about this combined issue, not only because it will give us a break from the grind of monthly deadlines, but because it’s so full of useful information. Granted, the career theme might seem to go against the lighthearted summer themes you’ll find in a lot of other media, but what better time to take stock of your career and think about whether or not it’s time to go back to school? I figure the best time to contemplate life is when you have some downtime. Nothing like a hike up a mountaintop to help you put things in perspective.

This issue is also exciting because it launches our new logo. No more overlooking the magazine when you’re in a coffee shop. You’ll know it’s about women from 20 feet away. And then there is the center section highlighting local women entrepreneurs. We call it the “WE section” for short. While it’s simply an acronym, it reminds me of the strong kinship I feel with other women business owners, especially the ones represented in this issue. Like Karen Reed-Matthee and I, they are working passionately to build businesses that really do serve other women. As we’ve learned in just about four years of running Seattle Woman, it takes a good idea to launch a business, but a hell of a lot of hard work and determination to make it successful. These ladies know how true that is!

I recently heard Nell Merlino, one of the women behind Take Your Daughter to Work Day, talk to a gathering of hundreds of women business owners. Nell is the founder and CEO of Count Me In, a national nonprofit dedicated to increasing the number of women-owned businesses with annual revenues above a million dollars, and she now holds “Make Mine A Million $ Business” events around the country. In her talk, she recalled a flight school owner who told her that the biggest challenge for her female students was bringing their confidence level up to match their competence level (as opposed to many of her male students who had the opposite challenge).

Nell stressed that confidence is hugely important in running a business, and that it comes not from how we dress or look (although that helps) but from our abilities and strengths. Her parting words earned her the biggest laugh. She said that when she is running out the door to an important meeting, her husband stops her and whispers in her ear, “Knockers up, Baby!” I have to say, it’s good advice to all of us as we take on the world.

Have a great summer,

Marianne Scholl
Publisher and Co-founder

©July 2008 Caliope Publishing Company