Christmas Charisma

Your local Christmas curmudgeon got her veneer cracked the other day. Donna Chaney invited me to a Women's City Club luncheon, and I don't like to miss a chance to spend time with a good friend like Donna. Nor do I like to miss a chance to visit the historic Blinn House, the Club's home at the edge of the Fuller Theological Seminary campus.

So I expect and receive a nice meal, a cup of coffee and the company of smart, entrepreneurial women. We're munching away and having a proper chat when in come these adorable kids in their charming costumes and I think, "Ah, well, there goes the conversation."

Pitch pipe gives a quiet note and BAM! These junior musical geniuses sing out Christmas carols old and new in such glorious, four-part harmonies that I actually put down my fork and shut up to listen.

I agreed with the woman next to me that they had to be college kids because they were too good to be any younger. Wrong. They're the Crescenta Valley High School Charismatics Chamber Choir, and they are super.

Of course even talented high school kids are not going to sing with that kind of precision without a lot (a lot!) of rehearsal. Wrangling that is their conductor, Mr. Shannon W. Mack. If you want to talk to him about having these charismatic cherubs serenade your Christmas soiree, contact him at smack@gusd.net.

A Likely Pairing

Journey House is one of those grand, old Pasadena homes with gorgeous woodwork and Craftsman touches. It's a comfortable giant, with old growth trees and a big yard. But those things aren't what make it special.

What's special is its mission "...to assist emancipated foster youth over eighteen years of age to meet their initial independent living needs, to access adequate and appropriate housing, education, and employment, and to build their self-esteem through personalized attention and positive outreach services."

When kids in the foster system reach age 18, they're no longer eligible for care. Once they're emancipated (which is supposed to mean "freed from bondage," a poor choice of words for an 18-year-old who's expected to suddenly be a grown-up), nearly 25% of them will "experience homelessness" within 6 months. Journey House walks with them through the steps to higher education, jobs, adulthood--helps them learn to be on their own instead of tossing them out and hoping for the best.

On the Journey House website you can read about these young adults and the phenomenal hurdles they've had to overcome. You'll be moved and inspired. 

The Women's City Club will hold an Evening of Food and Wine to benefit Journey House this Friday, October 14th, with a special appearance and book signing by one of our previous guest authors, Cherie Twohy!

For tickets or to make a donation, call Donna Chaney at 626-768-0080 or Kathryn Fitzgerald at 626-449-8433. Or you can email wccpas@sbcglobal.net.

The Women's City Club often aids worthy Pasadena organizations. Journey House is a fine choice on which for them to lavish their attentions.

*****

Boy, that sentence sounds wrong. I'm sincere, I mean it and it may even be correct. But it seems like I have too many prepositions or they're in the wrong order or something. Unfortunately, the Women's City Club doesn't offer grammar classes and I'm not eligible for Journey House assistance. But that's okay. The important thing is for attention (and donations) to be lavished upon Journey House, thereof which upon receipt good use will be made therein.

Re:Launch

Once upon a time you learned a profession, you got a job, you worked hard at that career and you retired with a pension at the age of 65.

THE END.

And I do mean, "the end." It's the end of that kind of career. The internet and the recession have radically changed the workplace and we have to change with it. We will have several careers in our lives. Many people who've been laid off or downsized (same, insidious thing) have turned to entrepreneurship or small business ownership. Many of us come from a background of working for companies that had departments for accounting, planning, marketing, IT, acquisitions. Now we run all the departments. At least I do.

Did our 20th century educations prepare us for the 21st century work force?

You may remember last year I participated in a Business Builders' Boot Camp. I loved it and promised to let you know if there was another. Now the same people who ran Boot Camp are holding a two-day strategic planning retreat March 4th and 5th at the Historic Blinn House, home of the Women's City Club of Pasadena (pictured above). Men are most welcome, by the way.

The retreat is called Re:Launch, as in relaunch your business. Donna Chaney, of Chaney Financial Services (my one and only advertiser!) and Lilli Cloud, marketing and personal branding expert at bluefeet, are the warmest, most engaging business aces you will ever have the pleasure of learning from. And for their Friday lunch speaker they've got Karen E. Klein, the Smart Answers Columnist from Bloomberg  BusinessWeek, Q&A Columnist of the LA Times Business section and all-around business brainiac.

You can waste time and money figuring this stuff out as you go, or you can learn it all at Re:Launch. For more information, click the links. Or contact Lilli Cloud at 323-466-3518 or lcloud (at) yourbluefeet.com

I think I'm in the wrong career. I should be writing ad copy.

Tomorrow: I'm excited to host Pasadena Daily Photo's first ever guest post! Stop by and meet Altadena author Des Zamorano.

Honoring the Best in Business

Last Friday I attended the 11th Annual Women in Business Legislative Update and Awards Luncheon--not my normal milieu, as I work in the arts. But if you've been following Pasadena Daily Photo you may remember I attended a Business Boot Camp at the Women's City Club of Pasadena. An artist has to be a business person after all.

Business Boot Camp was created by CPA and Financial Planner Donna Chaney, pictured at left. At Boot Camp, women participated in bi-weekly workshops led by a variety of business leaders from bankers to entrepreneurs to marketers, and even ourselves when we had skills to share. We got so much out of it a few of us decided to nominate Donna for this year's Empowerment Award, and she got it!

Donna's unique idea, and her dedication to making the experience available, empowered many local women to start a new business, enhance an existing business or bring more viable practices to our work. Donna deserves her award and many of her Boot Campers were there to cheer when she received it.

With Donna is Tamika Farr, Executive Director of the YWCA Pasadena-Foothill Valley, who was honored as an Outstanding Non-Profit Executive Director. Under Ms. Farr's direction, the YWCA has expanded and increased by 20% the number of community members it serves, increased community partnerships by 50% and procured new program funding resources. I haven't actually met Tamika. She and Donna were talking, I took the photo then she disappeared. I think she likes me.

The luncheon was presented by State Senate District 21, State Assembly District 43 and State Assembly District 44 and hosted by Senator Carol Liu and Assemblymember Anthony Portantino, both of whom welcomed the huge crowd with brief speeches. I think they knew the main attraction was the awards.

25 outstanding businesswomen were honored, and it was inspiring to cheer them on and witness their triumph. One woman can do many things--build a business, build a family and/or build a skyscraper--and when a woman achieves the heights in her field it makes us all look good.

Busy, Work

Forgive me if I'm short on copy for the next couple of days or if my photos bear scant relation to my words. I'm busy busy busy sprucing up my presentation for this Thursday, April 1st, and setting a bad example for myself.

If I haven't already bugged--uh, mentioned it to you, I'm leading a salon at the Pasadena Women's City Club called "Blogging for Your Business: Ten Tips for Putting Your Best Cyberfoot Forward." I hope you'll be there.

If you plan to come, be sure and make a reservation so the Club knows which room to put us in and the kitchen knows to prepare enough appetizers. I want to be damn sure we have enough appetizers.

I think this truck bed makes for an interesting photo but I'm not sure a blog is what this guy needs.

Reservations: (626) 796-0560 or wccpas@sbcglobal.net.
The Women's City Club is at the edge of the Fuller Theological Seminary campus, 160 N. Oakland Avenue, Pasadena, CA 91101. There's free parking in the rear. Enter the second driveway south of Walnut on Madison on the west side of the street. Dress is business casual. Men are welcome. $6 charge includes those appetizers. Come as early as 6pm for cash bar and networking. Salon begins at 7pm.

Blogging for Your Business

One of the perks of having a blog is that when I have something to promote I get free advertising!

I'll be giving a salon-type talk (comfy/cozy) on Blogging for Your Business: Ten Tips for Putting Your Best Cyberfoot Forward, Thursday, April 1st at the Pasadena Women's City Club. If you've been thinking about starting a blog, or if you've already been blogging but nobody's reading, come join us. We'll discuss:

how to use a blog as PR;
can your blog make a living on its own?
blogging as online networking;
blogging etiquette
and more.

Please come! I'd love to see you. The cost is $6.00 and it includes the talk and tasty appetizers. You can't beat that! There's also a cash bar (this is part of the comfy/cozy). You can come as early as 6:00pm for networking, but be sure and drift in no later than 7:00 when the talk begins. We should be finished by about 8:00.

This is also a good time to check out the Women's City Club if you've been thinking about joining. It's a great place for business women to network, bring clients, and create and participate in programs. They're having a membership drive the first part of this year with discounts and perks (click on the red shoe to learn more).

Reserve now for my talk on April 1st: (626) 796-0560 or wccpas@sbcglobal.net. The Women's City Club is at the edge of the Fuller Theological Seminary campus, 160 N. Oakland Avenue, Pasadena, CA 91101. There's free parking in the rear. Enter the second driveway south of Walnut on Madison on the west side of the street. Dress is business casual (no jeans).

Any questions? Oh yeah--it may be a women's club but men are more than welcome. It is my talk, after all.

Women's City Club Business Boot Camp

Standing: Lori Webster, Jennifer Hamilton, Diana Manchester, Jane Neff Rollins, Author Nada Jones, Susan Kitchens, Anne Louise Bannon. Sitting: Donna Chaney, Elke, Margit Holakoui, Randi Burton. The women model scarves hand-made by Burton.

I've been going to Business Boot Camp where the barracks are swell, the mess hall ain't half bad and I never have to say "Sir, yes sir!"

When the Pasadena Women's City Club "Women in Business" Committee was looking for something more active than a speaker lunch, member Donna Chaney of Chaney Financial Services was considering a business planning workshop. She came across a book called Sixteen Weeks to your Dream Business: A Weekly Planner for Entrepreneurial Women by Nada Jones and Michelle Briody. Donna says, "My interest met [the committee's] and bootcamp was born."

Donna couldn't have known what a huge project she was getting herself into. But she did know she'd need a partner and she asked Lilli Cloud of Blue Feet to help. Both business-savvy women lead a large group of women at varying levels of savvy as we've devoured the book, embellishing with input from experts within the group and without. We're learning about budgeting, web design, branding, marketing, business plans, you name it. And at last week's meeting Nada Jones, one of the book's authors, surprised us with a visit. (She's even in the photo, which I took long after the meeting when most people were already gone. My apologies to those who missed posing. We'll do it again.)

Among the many things we've learned is the difference between PR and advertising. For example, if I post about a business, that's PR and I get to say what I want to say. If someone buys an ad on the blog, that's--well, that's an ad. I've made a proposal to the group: if a member chooses, I'll post about her business here on PDP. Once I've had my say, if she's still brave enough to advertise on PDP, maybe she will. See how I'm grokking this? (Hey, I'm blogging with integrity here.)

A new session of Business Builders Boot Camp will start in April, 2010, with further information coming out in February. But if you're interested, you don't have to wait. Contact Donna Chaney at 626-768-0080 or donna (at) chaneyfinancialservicesinc.com. You don't have to be a member of the Women's City Club to join.