Category Archives: Personal Empowerment

By Bill Baker

Baker is co-founder of the Roanoke Laughter Lab, which meets monthly at the South County Library.

Against the assault of laughter nothing can stand.

Mark Twain

Laughter has a long history in human culture. Ancient Greek physicians prescribed their patients visits to the hall of comedians and the theater as part of the healing process. Early Native Americans had clowns who worked in conjunction with witch doctors. The 14th century surgeon Henri de Mondeville told jokes to his patients in the recovery room. In the 16th century, Martin Luther used humor therapy as part of pastoral counseling of depressed people. President Abraham Lincoln was adept at using humor to ease his pain and stress.

Through the ages, laughter has been recognized for delivering joy as therapy. It speeds recovery from surgery. As therapy and counseling of the depressed it also relieves one of excess stress and tension. It is a vital factor in the treatment of the sick and dying. Laughter helps regain ones emotional equilibrium after trauma and crises.

The most significant recording of the benefits of laughter come from Norman Cousins in his book Anatomy of an Illness. In 1964, Cousins, Senior Editor of the Saturday Review, was diagnosed with a crippling and extremely painful inflammation of his body, Ankylosing Spondylitis. Doctors gave him little hope of survival. He refused to accept the diagnosis as a death sentence, checked himself out of the hospital, hired a full-time nurse and moved into a hotel suite. Along with mega doses of vitamin C, he watched Candid Camera, the Marx Brothers, Laurel and Hardy, Charlie Chaplin and laughed constantly. Soon observing, I made the joyous discovery that 10 minutes of belly laughter had an anesthetic effect and would give me at least two hours of pain-free sleep.

Digging deeper, Cousins discovered a surprising number of recorded incidents in which patients have laughed themselves back to health, or at least used laughter as a positive response to their illness. His anecdotal account of his self-styled healing became the bestselling book. He was hired by the University of California medical school where he taught and researched for twenty years the merits of laughter in healing.

In a study of mid-life wellness factors by Harvards eminent physician, George Valliant, laughter was singled out as a major stress-coping mechanism among healthy men. Laughter diffuses anxiety and anger, while acting as a blocking agent against the ravages of panic.

There is anesthetic effect of laughter lessening pain with the release of endorphins and easing anxiety and depression for those in chronic pain. Laughter charges our energy, provides relief from our problems and even helps us find solutions to them. Laughter radiates through us, helps us feel happy and provides us with a joyful illumination as we deal with the disharmonies of life.

World Laughter Day, this year, May 7, originated in 1998 with Madan Kataria, a physician in India, who founded the worldwide Laughter Yoga Movement now operating in 105 countries through over 6000 Laughter Clubs. The celebration of World Laughter Day is a positive manifestation for world peace and intended to build up a global consciousness of brother/sister hood and friendship through laughter.

How can you use the power you have been born with laughter to increase your quality of life? The first thing to do is get a laughter buddy. Typically, someone you already joke with and who also wants to have a better lifestyle incorporating the power of laughter. Then simply commit to meeting regularly to laugh.

Your first meeting could be in Roanokes Laughter Lab, held the first Monday of each month at 6:30 p.m. inside the South County Library on Merriman Road. Bring your laughter buddy for an evening of experimenting with laughter under the direction of two certified Laughter Yoga leaders who will give you tips on how make laughter a vital part of your lifestyle.

Read this article:

Baker: Laughter, healing and personal empowerment - Martinsville Bulletin

May 9, 2017 | By Stephanie Weaver

Loyola University Maryland has received more than $800,000 from Daniel Rizzo and his wife, Kelly, to supplement their endowed Empowering Baltimore Youth Scholarship Fund. The gift comes in the form of equity in Inovalon, a cloud-based analytics and data-driven platforms company that Rizzo helped to found.

The scholarship preference is given to those who would contribute to the racial and ethnic diversity of the student body, who demonstrate financial need, and who have graduated from a high school in the greater Baltimore metropolitan area. The scholarship aligns with the Rizzo familys philanthropic missionto provide support to organizations that help in the education and growth of underprivileged or disadvantaged students.

Education is the vehicle to personal empowerment, Rizzo said. We want to support organizations that help students to grow and succeed, and in return, those students will give back to Baltimore.

In addition to his gift for the endowed scholarship, Rizzo has also given $75,000 to establish the Business Impact Fellow within the Sellinger School of Business and Management. The Business Impact Fellow will be held by a distinguished professor for three years to conduct research within their field. The funds will support fellows from the 2017-18 academic year through to the 2022-23 academic year.

Rizzo, 99, earned his degree in business with a concentration in finance and firmly believed he would go to Wall Street for a career in finance. Instead, he started Inovalon, a software startup, in Bowie, Md. He credits Loyola for preparing him to be flexible and nimble in his career plans, allowing him to pivot toward opportunities with growth and potential.

My Loyola education helped me grow as a learner and a member of the community. The liberal arts broadened my views of the world, which has helped me in my career, Rizzo said.

The experiences outside the classroom also stayed with Rizzo throughout his years post-graduation. He enjoys rolling up his sleeves and digging into problems, he said.

Dan and Kelly are a tremendous example of Loyola graduates who are living out the ideals they learned as students, said Terrence M. Sawyer, J.D., vice president for advancement. With their humility and thoughtfulness, they are choosing to give back so others can benefit from the Jesuit liberal arts education they receivedand go on to achieve personal and professional success.

Rizzo and his wife, Kelly Bryan Rizzo, 98, were married in Loyolas Alumni Memorial Chapel in 2000. Rizzo, his wife, and their 11-year-old son, live in Anne Arundel County. In addition to his consulting work, Rizzo is a trustee at Cristo Rey Jesuit School and serves on the Sellinger Board of Sponsors. Rizzo will be honored at Loyolas Commencement on May 20, where he will receive the Carroll Medal for his continuous support of the University.

If you are a member of the media and have questions about this story, please contact Nick Alexopulos at nalexopulos@loyola.edu or Stephanie Weaver at sweaver@loyola.edu.

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Loyola receives gifts from the Rizzo family - Loyola News

The Vallejo Alumnae Chapter of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc. is seeking women seeking professional growth, development and personal enrichment.

Women from all walks of life are invited to take time away from their busy schedules to pamper themselves, learn valuable, potentially life-saving, lessons and network with other women who share similar life experiences and aspirations, event organizers said.

The sorority group hosts this motivational day from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Saturday, May 20, at the Norman C. King South Vallejo Community Center, 545 Magazine Street, officials said. The Vallejo Alumnae chapter has sponsored this annual womens conference for more than 25 years, they said.

A diverse panel of local business community women will provide insights on their career paths and offer advice for how to balance work and family life along the road to success, organizers said.

Featured speakers and workshops include:

Alice Wilson Fried local author and motivational speaker, shares secrets to her successful literary journey and life lessons from her New Orleans heritage.

Tara Sanders partnership liaison with Los Medanos College and CEO/President of Sanders Image Consultants, addresses the hefty weight women carry and how to shift the load to succeed.

Phyllis Gordon Contra Costa County Womens Commission, brings her passion for womens causes to a discussion of the value of establishing a womans commission to address common issues and concerns.

Lisa Oivares Mary Kay director, provides a pampering, make-over session and offers a unique business perspective on how women can break the corporate glass ceiling.

Zena Johnson Kaiser Permanente health educator, focuses on womens health and prevention tips to help ward off disease and stay healthy. .

Chef Liilani demonstrates easy-to-make, healthy meals the entire family will enjoy.

Lindsay Elam financial adviser, presents strategies every woman should know.

Meredith Webb Solano County Mental Health, will provide an update on the serious impact and consequences of human trafficking and domestic violence in our community.

Theres a little something for everybody, Empowerment Conference chairwoman Valerie Roberts Gray said. The ladies tend to leave uplifted and refreshed and we want to encourage everyone to come out and spend the day with us.

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Additionally, the Vallejo Alumnae Chapter of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc. will present its annual scholarship awards to deserving Vallejo high school students. Since the chapter was established in 1974, it has provided more than $200,000 in scholarships to high school seniors pursuing higher education.

A reception will follow.

Space is limited. Register at Eventbite.com. The $18 online and $20 at the door includes continental breakfast, lunch and conference materials. Some community stipends and group discounts are available. For tickets and more information, contact Valerie Roberts Gray, at (707) 334-1986.

Contact Rachel Raskin-Zrihen at (707) 553-6824.

Original post:

Tickets on sale for women's empowerment conference in Vallejo - Vallejo Times Herald

Article date: May 10 2017

A Grand Junction tutoring and academic coaching service has scheduled a camp to help middle school girls handle peer pressure, develop a positive self-image and create a personal vision board.

Essentials in Learning has scheduled the girls empowerment camp for Aug. 1 to 3. Admission is $229. For more information, call 210-9271 or visit http://www.essentialsinlearning.com.

Anna Goetz, co-owner of EIL, and Patty Shephard, a Mesa County School District 51 counselor, will lead the camp. They will help young girls develop a strong and positive identity to help them counteract many of the social and emotional pressures theyll likely experience as they enter adolescence.

Operating out of the Business Incubator Center, Essentials in Learning helps students in first grade through college whore struggling in school or want to strengthen their academic skills. The business offers assistance with not only the core areas of math, reading and writing, but also goal setting, organization and time management.

EIL staff holds certifications in elementary education, middle and high school education, Colorado Writing Project, administration, reading recovery and executive skills training. Staff members have participated in multiple national workshops, including the learning differences conference at the Harvard University Graduate School of Education.

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Girls empowerment camp planned - Business Times of Western Colorado

VANCOUVER, May 11, 2017 /CNW/ -Upon learning that 60 per cent of students leave high school without basic financial education, students from the University of Windsor created Youthrive, an intensive 10-week one-on-one consulting and financial literacy education program focused on accelerating young entrepreneurs.

Enactus University of Windsor has been named the 2017 Scotiabank Youth Empowerment Challenge National Champion by this country's largest student leadership development organization, Enactus Canada, and program supporter Scotiabank. The national competition took place at the 2017 Enactus Canada National Exposition in Vancouver.

Through Youthrive, 265 youth have been empowered and over 4,500 lives have been improved.

"Young people are our future leaders; it is inspiring to see what kind of leaders they will become by looking at the engaging, compassionate and creative work done by the participants of the Scotiabank Youth Empowerment Challenge," said Terri Williams, Vice President of Corporate Social Responsibility at Scotiabank. "Congratulations to the winners and to everyone who took part in projects to address the needs and opportunities facing youth. The Enactus teams are truly making a difference in the lives of young people in communities across Canada."

The Scotiabank Youth Empowerment Challenge is a national competition that encourages post-secondary students to develop and deliver projects that address the needs and opportunities facing youth. Focused on education, learning skills and supporting the life-long success of youth aged 25 and under, this challenge has engaged 5,085 students since 2016, who have impacted more than 26,505 youth through 302 community empowerment projects.

"By focusing on youth, Enactus University of Windsor is making a real impact on the long-term sustainability of their communities," says Nicole Almond, Enactus Canada president.

The 2017 Enactus Canada National Exposition welcomed 1,500 delegates including the country's brightest university and college students, academic professionals and top Canadian CEOs to enable progress by supporting entrepreneurial action through competition, recognition and education.

For competition results during the event, please follow @Enactus_Canada on Twitter. All event results will also be published on enactus.ca/events/national-exposition.

ABOUT ENACTUS CANADA: Enactus Canada, the country's largest post-secondary experiential learning platform, is shaping entrepreneurial leaders who are passionate about advancing the economic, social and environmental health of Canada. Guided by academic advisors and business experts, more than 2,734 entrepreneurial post-secondary students led 280 community empowerment projects and business ventures last year in communities coast to coast. As a global network of 36 countries, Enactus uses the power of entrepreneurial action to transform lives and shape a better, more sustainable world. For more information, visit enactus.ca.

ABOUT SCOTIABANK: At Scotiabank, we aim to support organizations that are committed to helping young people reach their full potential. Young people are our future leaders and Scotiabank's goal is to help ensure that they have the necessary skills and resources they need to support their success. Together with our employees, the Bank supports causes at a grassroots level. Recognized as a leader for our charitable donations and philanthropic activities, in 2016, Scotiabank contributed more than$70 millionto help our communities around the world.

Scotiabank is Canada's international bank and a leading financial services provider in North America, Latin America, the Caribbean and Central America, and Asia-Pacific. We are dedicated to helping our 23 million customers become better off through a broad range of advice, products and services, including personal and commercial banking, wealth management and private banking, corporate and investment banking, and capital markets. With a team of more than 88,000 employees and assets of $887 billion (as at January 31, 2017), Scotiabank trades on the Toronto (TSX: BNS) and New York Exchanges (NYSE: BNS). For more information, please visit http://www.scotiabank.com and follow us on Twitter @ScotiabankViews.

SOURCE Scotiabank

For further information: For media enquiries only: Jen Falzon, Enactus Canada, jen@enactus.ca, (416) 315-2099; Diana Hart, Public and Corporate Affairs, Scotiabank, diana.hart@scotiabank.com, (416) 866-7238

See the article here:

University of Windsor Students Named National Champions of Youth Empowerment - Canada NewsWire (press release)

BUCKHANNON This years West Virginia Strawberry Festival parade marshal is none other than the caped crusader himself. But this Batman and his Batmobile will be going down Strawberry Lane on Saturday, May 20 with a special message. John Buckland founded Heroes-4-Higher in 2012 and seeks to inspire children to be the hero in their own world. His four principles are to never give up, always do the right thing, help other people and never be a bully. These lessons are taught in all of Bucklands programs. He has been featured on The Today Show, Good Morning America and news channels including CNN, ABC and CBS. After returning to the United States from his job as a firefighter with the Department of Defense in Iraq, Buckland realized how much drugs, bullying, abuse and broken homes were affecting the youth in the country. These issues are very personal to me, as I was a victim of many of these issues myself growing up, he said. It was because of these struggles that the hero characters, especially Batman, along with extensive therapy and support, gave me the inspiration I needed to overcome and then reach out to help others through their pain. I learned through Batman to turn my pain into personal empowerment and use that to help others overcome their own pain. So, I figure Im going to bring Batman to life for the kids in the community with a positive message. Ive literally been a full-time Batman for almost five years now. Buckland has a team at Heroes 4 Higher but says he keeps his squad small and limited to people like him who have risen above their circumstances and can use their own stories to help others. When you are teaching the kids in the community and delivering the message, you want it to come from a genuine place, he said. You dont want to be a costumed character going through the motions. And just like Buckland wants Batman to be more than a costumed character in Heroes 4 Higher, the Batmobile is not just Batmans means of travel for Buckland. It presents another way for Buckland to spread his message. The Batmobile is actually a rolling memorial, he said. Its not just a cool car. Ive made the car a rolling memorial for kids we have been honored to be pall-bearers for that have passed away from cancer. When the hood is lifted, it reveals special plaques with the names and ages of their children, something Buckland wanted to do to carry their memory wherever the Batmobile travels. What good is it to have a car that attracts that much attention, if its all only about the car? Buckland asked. In my opinion, you failed. What I want to do is bring people to see the car, open up the hood and it redirects the attention to who really needs the attention the kids who fought the big battle. Heroes 4 Higher regularly goes into schools as far north as Gettysburg, Pa. and throughout West Virginia. More than 300,000 have heard Bucklands Be the Hero Message and Heroes 4 Higher has visited over 300 schools for its Be the Hero Against Drugs and Bullying Tour since September 2013. Heroes 4 Higher even received a State of West Virginia Legislative Citation for its mission in 2014. Buckland has been at other festivals, including regular appearances at the Pumpkin Festival, but this will be his first time at an event in Buckhannon and his first Strawberry Festival. I have done things up and around that area, he said. We supported a few kids from the area. Buckland is looking forward to visiting Buckhannon. What Im trying to establish is a relationship with the community to where it will hopefully become an annual event like we are with the Pumpkin Festival, he said. The community looks forward to the message that we are blasting out and they look forward to our anti-drug and anti-bullying efforts. Thats what it is all about. If I come out there and all Im remembered for is a cool costume and a cool car, it really hasnt met the need. There is a huge drug epidemic and bullying problem. Kids and families need motivation through that, thats the whole reason of why we do that.

Read more:

Batman to defend Buckhannon as festival's parade marshal - Record Delta

Baker is co-founder of the Roanoke Laughter Lab, which meets monthly at the South County Library.

Against the assault of laughter nothing can stand.

Laughter has a long history in human culture. Ancient Greek physicians prescribed their patients visits to the hall of comedians and the theater as part of the healing process. Early Native Americans had clowns who worked in conjunction with witch doctors. The 14th century surgeon Henri de Mondeville told jokes to his patients in the recovery room. In the 16th century, Martin Luther used humor therapy as part of pastoral counseling of depressed people. President Abraham Lincoln was adept at using humor to ease his pain and stress.

Through the ages, laughter has been recognized for delivering joy as therapy. It speeds recovery from surgery. As therapy and counseling of the depressed it also relieves one of excess stress and tension. It is a vital factor in the treatment of the sick and dying. Laughter helps regain ones emotional equilibrium after trauma and crises.

The most significant recording of the benefits of laughter come from Norman Cousins in his book Anatomy of an Illness. In 1964, Cousins, Senior Editor of the Saturday Review, was diagnosed with a crippling and extremely painful inflammation of his body, Ankylosing Spondylitis. Doctors gave him little hope of survival. He refused to accept the diagnosis as a death sentence, checked himself out of the hospital, hired a full-time nurse and moved into a hotel suite. Along with mega doses of vitamin C, he watched Candid Camera, the Marx Brothers, Laurel and Hardy, Charlie Chaplin and laughed constantly. Soon observing, I made the joyous discovery that 10 minutes of belly laughter had an anesthetic effect and would give me at least two hours of pain-free sleep.

Digging deeper, Cousins discovered a surprising number of recorded incidents in which patients have laughed themselves back to health, or at least used laughter as a positive response to their illness. His anecdotal account of his self-styled healing became the bestselling book. He was hired by the University of California medical school where he taught and researched for twenty years the merits of laughter in healing.

In a study of mid-life wellness factors by Harvards eminent physician, George Valliant, laughter was singled out as a major stress-coping mechanism among healthy men. Laughter diffuses anxiety and anger, while acting as a blocking agent against the ravages of panic.

There is anesthetic effect of laughter lessening pain with the release of endorphins and easing anxiety and depression for those in chronic pain. Laughter charges our energy, provides relief from our problems and even helps us find solutions to them. Laughter radiates through us, helps us feel happy and provides us with a joyful illumination as we deal with the disharmonies of life.

World Laughter Day, this year, May 7, originated in 1998 with Madan Kataria, a physician in India, who founded the worldwide Laughter Yoga Movement now operating in 105 countries through over 6000 Laughter Clubs. The celebration of World Laughter Day is a positive manifestation for world peace and intended to build up a global consciousness of brother/sister hood and friendship through laughter.

How can you use the power you have been born with laughter to increase your quality of life? The first thing to do is get a laughter buddy. Typically, someone you already joke with and who also wants to have a better lifestyle incorporating the power of laughter. Then simply commit to meeting regularly to laugh.

Your first meeting could be in Roanokes Laughter Lab, held the first Monday of each month at 6:30 p.m. inside the South County Library on Merriman Road. Bring your laughter buddy for an evening of experimenting with laughter under the direction of two certified Laughter Yoga leaders who will give you tips on how make laughter a vital part of your lifestyle.

Link:

Baker: Laughter, healing and personal empowerment - Roanoke Times

TORONTO Shoppers Drug Mart has teamed up with The Running Room, local police departments and high schools across Canada to educate female students about mental health and the benefits of physical activity through the Run for It program.

"Studies show exercise that raises your heart rate for at least 25 minutes can have the same effect on your brain as anti-depressant drugs," stated Valerie Taylor, psychiatrist-in-chief at Women's College Hospital in Toronto. "The goal of the program is to empower young girls with the knowledge and training needed to take their mental wellness into their own hands."

Run for It is a six week program available at select local high schools in fifteen cities across Canada. It is a mental health education program that provides female high school students aged 12 to 19 with information and strategies for managing mental health while also incorporating training for a 5 km race.

"Shoppers Drug Mart has always been a proud champion of putting Women's Health first," commented Lisa Gibbs, director community investment, Shoppers Drug Mart. "Our goal through this program is to boost confidence and help young women across Canada gain coping strategies to improve their mental wellness."

At the end of the six weeks, the youth are ready to participate to participate in the SHOPPERS LOVE. YOU. Run for Women in their city. The SHOPPERS LOVE. YOU. Run for Women is Canada's first and only women's and girls' running race series. Proceeds from each run benefit local women's mental health initiatives.

"The solution to the growing concern on mental health requires total community collaboration and action," noted John Stanton, founder Running Room. "Exercise, combined with clinical care, are both powerful and proven antidotes to assist a vast variety of mental health issues, most importantly the personal empowerment and support of the individual."

The program was introduced in 2015 with the endorsement of the York Regional Police in Ontario. In its first year (2015) the program involved three schools and 150 students. In 2016, it grew to 44 schools and 561 students across Unionville, Ottawa and Winnipeg.

This year marks the national launch of the program in fifteen cities to coincide with the SHOPPERS LOVE. YOU. Run For Women, including: Unionville, Moncton, Ottawa, Vancouver, Winnipeg, Kitchener Waterloo, Edmonton, Oakville, Quebec City, Regina, Montreal, London, Toronto, Calgary, St. John's.

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Shoppers Drug Mart teams with The Running Room on women's health event - Drug Store News

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Ivanka Trump wants you to live your best life. She wants to empower and inspire you through empowering, inspiring inspiration. She has written a whole book with these meaningless platitudes and more. It's 217 pages long and about a millimeter deep.

Much of what's wrong with this book, Women Who Work: Rewriting the Rules for Success, has been detailed elsewhere: It's ostensibly about "women who work," but most women who work won't recognize themselves in a book aimed almost entirely at white-collar employees gunning for the C-suite. It rips off ideas and arguments made better elsewhere, as well as the usual clichs found in any popular "how to succeed in business" books. She laments her ability to make time for a massage while on the campaign trail and quotes Nelson Mandela to make a point about asking for workplace flexibility.

But what this book is really about is selling the Ivanka Trump brand not just her clothes and jewelry (although those too) but the gold-plated Trump name, and her own fame. Ivanka Trump isnt just a woman or the label on a sweater, but a lifestyle. While Trump spends ample time in the book encouraging readers to find their passion, it's obvious that hers is, like her father's, little more than name recognition. Her passion for her "brand," and the importance of having your own personal brand, comes up again and again throughout the book building your personal brand really means defining what youre passionate about, she writes in chapter one; what shes passionate about, she says in the same chapter, is providing empowerment through IvankaTrump.com and Women Who Work. The goal of Ivanka feminism is less gender equality and more a cosmetic feel-good feminism of women all happily cheering each other on in surprisingly comfortable pumps.

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Much of the book is meaningless corporate speak, a series of evocative words (Empowerment! Authenticity!) thrown together into nonsensical arrangements. "Cultivating authenticity is essential to creating strong bonds with coworkers," she writes without irony, missing the point that "authenticity" is, by definition, not something that can be "cultivated" or designed. The book is an extended ad for her fashion brand and her #WomenWhoWork campaign, and yet, by the end of the book, it's still not clear what #WomenWhoWork actually does. "My mission is to empower and inspire women and this was a scalable way to do that," she writes about IvankaTrump.com. How women are "empowered" by a website and a hashtag is not explained, nor is what scalable empowerment looks like.

What it clearly doesnt look like is anything resembling political feminism or social justice. Ivanka feminism is about supporting women, yes, but not about any sort of deep-dive into structural inequality; its enough to simply quote women about freedom and empowerment, not to put them in context or talk about the ugliness and real difficulties of so many American womens lives, and the ways in which race and class shape our realities. This is perhaps most obvious in Trump's chapter on working smarter not harder, which is flanked by a quote from Beloved, Toni Morrison's masterful novel about a freed slave. "Bit by bit ... she had claimed herself. Freeing yourself was one thing; claiming ownership of that freed self was another." It's clueless (bordering on offensive) enough to use that line to make a point about women seeking freedom from the strictures of the traditional white-dominated white-collar workplace. But then a page later, Trump crosses over into jaw-dropping absurdity when she asks her readers, "Are you a slave to your time or the master of it?"

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So who, according to Trump, is a woman who works? She seems to be pretty much just Ivanka Trump, the book simply a vehicle to sell the idea that Trump is a figurehead for college-educated young women who work office jobs (and buy books aimed at college-educated young women who work office jobs). But she misses the mark even there, assuming that we arent able to spot an obvious lie or blatant attempt to manipulate us. One of Trump's passions, she writes, is "disrupting" the fashion and fine jewelry industries. "There was an enormous disconnect," Trump writes, between how women live "and the apparel and accessories that were available to us." To solve this clearly pressing issue, she put out a line of middle-market workwear. She's proud, she writes, "that my collections captured a femininity and a sense of fashion that working women haven't been able to express just a decade before" one wonders where she was in the heyday of J.Crew, The Limited, and Ann Taylor, and concludes that shes probably not ignorant of their existence, but more interested in the alternative set of facts that make her brand necessary rather than the reality that made it unimportant. And because feminism is cool again, and feminism now a part of the Ivanka brand, even hawking necklaces is reframed as a feminist act. What women want, Trump asserts, are clothes and accessories that emphasize their femininity and make them both professional and "alluring."

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Trump, it's been observed before, seems like a likable, poised young woman, and that comes across in the book. Criticizing her feels mean, because she seems very nice she writes about her sweet relationship with her family, and goes out of her way to not pass judgment on other women for their choices in work and life. But that doesnt make her book useful, or even benign. In many ways, Women Who Work reads like what Sheryl Sandberg critics who hadn't actually read Lean In assumed it was corporate self-help jargon that puts the onus of success on individual women and ignores not just structural inequality, but the way most women live. That wasn't actually what Lean In was; it is what this book is.

I don't doubt that Trump does care about helping other women to succeed. But she doesn't seem to really understand what that means, beyond platitudes about empowerment, inspiration, and applauding every woman for choosing her own choice. Feminism, in Trump land, isn't an inherently political movement focused on the equality of women; it's a cultural zeitgeist that can be leveraged to build one's "brand," a set of feel-good lady-centric slogans that tells women they too can feel empowered and inspired if they buy this chic but still practical business-casual pencil skirt that can go from day at the office to date night by swapping out a blazer for a cute blouse.

Trump does laudably pay lip service to necessary policy changes, including paid parental leave, writing that these policies are important steps to forging more equal workplaces. But she doesnt address the fact that its the Republican Party, now led by her father, that has blocked these very policies from becoming reality. And here she is, in a position to advocate for the same policies she deems crucial to the success of women who work, and there's been no movement at all on this supposed marquee issue. Women who work, it seems, are valued in the Trump universe primarily insofar as they can buy Trump's book.

Jill Filipovic is the author of The H-Spot: The Feminist Pursuit of Happiness.

Follow Jill on Twitter.

Originally posted here:

Ivanka Trump Wrote a Whole Book of Meaningless Platitudes - Cosmopolitan.com

TSR Kids First Friday Youth Empowerment Event

WFMY 8:39 AM. EDT May 04, 2017

Current indoor 55m dash champion 14-year-old Zariyah Black will enspire kids at the First Friday Empowerment Event

GREENSBORO, N.C. -- If your kids need a little push or inspiration, here's your answer.

TSR Kids First Friday Youth Empowerment events start up this week featuring an awesome line up of guest speakers.

14-year-old Zariyah Black kicks off the summer series, Friday, May 5, 2017. Black, better known as "Flash" is the 2016 16u USATF Hershey's Indoor National Champion in the 55m, winning with a personal record of 7.19 seconds.

Black is also the 2017 16u USATF Hershey's Indoor National Runner Up in the 200m with an indoor personal record of 24.92 seconds.

The Greensboro native is ready to inspire your kids to follow their dreams. Black will talk to kids about staying focused and safe over the summer. A lot of her speech will focus on being successful.

"I want every person I talk with to leave inspired, that they can do anything they put their mind to with hard work and dedication," said Black.

The TSR Kids First Friday Youth Empowerment Event is designed to inspire youth through positive entertainment, music and inspiring stories from today's youth. The event is designed for kids ages 4 to 18 years old.

There's also a scholarship opportunity tied to theTSR Kids First Friday Youth Empowerment.

"We are giving away our first scholarship to a child who shows interest in music

2017 WFMY-TV

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Free First Friday Youth Empowerment Event - WFMY News 2