Dodging Our Global Economic Crisis

Rarely do I weigh in with my own two cents on what's happening in our global economy let alone provide ways in which to deal with it as a woman business owner. But there's always an exception to the rule and I thought you might like the article, 16 Ways To Dodge An Economic Crisis, I wrote for OPEN Forum by American Express.

Check it out and let me know if any of the ways I reference apply to you and your business. And definitely share with us any NEW ways in which to dodge our current global economic crisis.

Women Bloggers of Influence 2009

We are honored to be featured on All Diva Media's 20 Women Bloggers to Watch in 2009. Our thanks to DJ Nelson who's the force behind All Diva Media.

Women Clean Up Male Mess

Judith Dobrzynski, who I am a big fan of, writes a clever piece, "Maybe the Meltdown's a Guy Thing," for The New York Times which was published November 15th. Catch it here. Hope you enjoy it as much as I did.

Women Who Did Not Escape Corporate America

Women who did not escape corporate America and seem to be doing just fine. Catch all the exceptions to the rule here.

And a quick fact noted in the article:

According to a survey by Catalyst, a New York research group, women hold 15.4% of Fortune 500 corporate-officer jobs -- positions of vice president or higher that require board approval. That number has inched down from 16.4% in 2005. Women running Fortune 500 companies amount to just 2.4%, the survey showed, and 74 of those companies have no female corporate officers at all.

Pictured: Sheryl Sandberg of Facebook is among the 50.

Are You a Young Woman Social Entrepreneur?

Young Women Social Entrepreneurs (YWSE) is a national organization with chapters in San Francisco, Portland, Los Angeles, and New York City. I hope to help them start a Chicago chapter.

Are you a young social entrepreneur (pictured is YWSE member Julie Kay) or aspire to become one soon? Then explore what YWSE has to offer: Young women social entrepreneurs’ visions and goals are affirmed, supported, promoted, and propelled. In addition, they:

• Bring women to the highest positions of leadership in business, government, and social and environmental work.

• Promote young women social entrepreneurs by providing training and development, access to resources, networking opportunities, and general support for their members.

Women Are Role Models For All Entrepreneurs

Women business owners have more support from networking groups and organizations devoted to peer mentoring (e.g., Women Presidents' Organization), and there is improved access to capital for female business owners than in the past. At least we like to think so. More women are increasingly leading companies in a wide range of sectors traditionally dominated by men, such as construction, manufacturing and information technology.

Take a look at what some of these women business owners are achieving in Canada.

And here's the entire W100: Canada's top women entrepreneur list. Very inspiring.

Bottom line: Women are role models for all entrepreneurs.

Economy Center for Small Business

American Express OPEN announced the launch of OPEN Forum’s Economy section, a new platform for small business owners to connect virtually to discuss the current state of the economy and how it affects their businesses. The Economy section is a component of the newly refreshed OPENForum.com, an education and networking resource designed to provide small business owners with practical, actionable information from business experts, celebrity business owners and best-in-class bloggers and news outlets.

The Economy center features blog and news commentary, expert tips and advice for surviving the downturn, personal experiences from business owners across the country, and polls about what the state of the economy means for small businesses.

American Express OPEN sure has it right! Pay a visit when time permits.

Full disclosure: I blog about global small business for the OPEN Forum by American Express. I absolutely love what they are doing and am very proud to be a part of it.