The Beatles created history with their hit “All You Need is Love” in 1967 and social entrepreneur, Alyson Schacherer thinks the message is still relevant today. This multi-talented artist earns her living in a variety of ways. She works as a business manager for an off-Broadway theatre company, a speech and art appreciation teacher, a yoga instructor, and a professional emcee. But her I Love You Project is gaining national attention with a timeless sentiment. [Read more...]
Career Coach • Author • Speaker
You Can Invent Your Future
September 5, 2011 By Leave a Comment
This October 6-7, 2011 I will have the great honor and pleasure of presenting at the Midwest Invent Your Future Women’s Conference in Indianapolis. The theme is Innovation & Leadership: Breakthrough Strategies for Uncertain Times. This is a premier event for professional women, entrepreneurs, and all those looking to accelerate their careers.
Featured speakers include:
- Congresswoman Jackie Spier and Deborah Collins Stephens, co-authors: This is Not the Life I Ordered
- Sylvia Nasar, John S. and James L. Knight Professor of Business Journalism at Columbia University; Economist; Journalist; Author, A Beautiful Mind and Grand Pursuit: The Story of Economic Genius
- Betsy Myers, Presidential Advisor and Author, Take the Lead: Motive, Inspire and Bring out the Best in Yourself and Everyone Around You
- Mary LoVerde, best-selling author, I Used to Have a Handle on Life But it Broke
- Billie Dragoo, CEO, Repucare; National Board pf Directors NAWBO
- Caroline Dowd-Higgins, Director of Career and Professional Development and Adjunct Faculty, Indiana University Maurer School of Law; author, This is Not The Career I Ordered
Women deserve professional development opportunities and this event promises to deliver! Produced by Invent Your Future Enterprises, a social enterprise specializing in the retention, development, and acceleration of women leaders.
I hope you will consider joining us in Indy this Fall so you can use this educational opportunity to link your career plan and goals. Engage with experts and nationally recognized speakers while networking with your peers and expand your professional community with senior managers and executives from top companies in the Midwest.
You should always take advantage of an opportunity to shape your career destiny and Invent Your Future is a great place to start!
Registration information available at: www.inventyourfuture.com
Grace Chon, Modern Pet Photography
August 14, 2011 By Leave a Comment
A self proclaimed crazy dog lady, Grace Chon grew up wanting to be a Veterinarian. She majored in Biology as an undergraduate and volunteered in animal hospitals to really test drive the profession before committing to vet school. Her Korean immigrant parents were auguring for medical school so Grace could be a physician for humans instead of animals but in the end Grace surprised everybody and opted for art school and earned a Masters of Fine Arts. [Read more...]
Ginger, Hodge – Author, Motivational Speaker
August 6, 2011 By Leave a Comment
Born the youngest of five children in the small town of Sumter, South Carolina, Ginger Hodge was a bit shy as a child. With the love and support of her 3rd Grade teacher, Ginger found the confidence to embrace her imagination and create unique ways to entertain herself and those around her. Those who know her best love that she always seems to have a new song, game, joke or story to share.
Ginger landed her first job performing singing-balloon-a-grams while attending the College of Charleston. After graduation, she struggled to find her own way by dabbling with a few restaurant, real estate, and ad agency jobs. When she finally found her niche, in the movie industry, she was able to use her unique passion for entertaining others to market family-friendly films. But Ginger’s true passion for living wasn’t fully ignited until she published her first children’s book: When Donkeys Fly. [Read more...]
Pam Beattie, Venetian Décor
July 30, 2011 By 1 Comment
When Pam Beattie, a stay at home Mom, married for 20 years had a yearning for something more, she focused on her passion for French furniture to launch a new business. Venetian Décor is her boutique upholstery and design house that specializes in creating down duvets, custom filled seat cushions and reproduction French furniture, to name just a few of her offerings. Pam is the ultimate recycler using vintage fur coats to bring a new life to these heirlooms and re-purpose them for something new and unique. [Read more...]
Danielle Bobish, Curtain Up Events
July 24, 2011 By Leave a Comment
A Broadway actress, Danielle was tired of being a struggling artist and knew she wanted more out of life and her career. But what – and how? Dissecting her career on the stage helped Danielle quickly realize that her professional theater background was the perfect training for planning large events. “With any big event like a wedding, you’ll find the same key elements: costumes, lighting, set decoration, production and timing, and lots of details to coordinate. I thought – why not bring that same excitement and theatrical sensibility to non-Broadway events?” She is now the Owner and Creative Director of Curtain Up Events (CUE) and an excellent example of a woman who combined her passions, skills, and experiences and used them to transition into a new career. [Read more...]
Ellen Covner, Custom Gardens, LLC
June 18, 2011 By Leave a Comment
Early on in her career Ellen Covner, like many other professional women, noticed that working with men could be a very mixed experience. She also learned that group and workplace dynamics often had a style and language all their own that did not promote cooperation, creativity and “drive.” She came to realize that as important as it was to be self-supporting and have a good income, money was not a sufficient motivator to stay in a “good job.” After 20+ years practicing health law in major hospitals and law firms, she was ready for new challenges. She wanted a change that would renew her creativity and joy in her work. The call of the outdoors beckoned and enticed her to focus on promoting environments that nourish people and their properties. [Read more...]
Debbie Waitkus, Golf For Cause, LLC
June 12, 2011 By Leave a Comment
Always an athlete, Debbie Waitkus played on the soccer team at the University of Arizona and after graduate school she went on to establish a thriving corporate career as president of a 37 year old, $130 million private mortgage banking firm. She always attributed golf as one of her keys to success since she would take her clients on golf outings to establish and steward professional relationships and business deals. When the CEO of her firm implemented a new strategy that didn’t follow suit with her professional values, Debbie knew it was time for a change and what better way to plan her reinvention than to leverage the game of golf in a new business.
Joni McGary, Playwright
April 24, 2011 By 1 Comment
Pegged early on as a math and science kid, Joni McGary distinguished herself in her upstate New York high school with National Science Foundation accolades and planned to attend medical school after college. A mentor introduced her to Food Science, an academic discipline that would provide all the prerequisite classes and distinguish Joni amongst the sea of applicants vying for competitive spots in prestigious medical school programs.
After earning an undergraduate degree from Cornell with a major in Food Science, the career path lured Joni out into the world-of-work and the thought of medical school soon faded. A renaissance woman, Joni has always blended her aptitude for math and science with a love for the arts and a passion for theatre. Who knew the seeds of her artistic passion would later lead to a career change and the beginning of a new chapter in her professional life. [Read more...]
Stacy Breuers, Sales Representative Martin Scott Wines
April 17, 2011 By Leave a Comment
Stacy Breuers spent 18 years in the banking & finance industry in a high powered career that met her values at the time. She held a myriad of positions from consulting on Mergers & Acquisitions to a working for an Executive Search firm managing operations and marketing, and later worked in secondary markets on the lending side of the financial coin.
As you would expect, these kinds of positions required long hours and constant travel. Eventually Stacy decided that she did not want to spend all of her time on the road. Six years ago she enrolled in a wine immersion course at the Culinary Institute of America (CIS) while on a vacation in California, which whet her appetite (and her thirst!) to learn more about the wine industry. [Read more...]
