Top Tweets from TEDxWomen 2011

My guest post on PRNewser from the recent TEDxWomen!

It Only Takes a Girl (by ItOnlyTakesaGirl)

Did you catch that shocking statistic? “Women are half the world’s population, yet they do two-thirds of the world’s work, earn one-tenth of the world’s income, and own less than one per cent of the world’s property.” (Source: World Bank) Let’s change that!

Found on MoveOn

100 Women Bloggers You Should Be Reading

Honored to be included in this list of 100 women bloggers you should be reading. Many of these women are good friends, many of them I admire from afar and many others are new names and faces to me. Hope you enjoy - let me know who your favorites are!

WIE: Women Inspiration & Enterprise Quotes

“It’s the we not the me that makes a difference in the world.” - Donna Karan #WIE2011

“Don’t worry about falling on your face, at least it’s a forward movement.” - Pat Mitchell of @paleycenter #WIE2011

“We need to mentor women in all stages of our careers. I take a meeting with any young woman who asks for that 15 min.” - @hilaryr#wie2011

“The world is in chaos & we have to create the calm within the chaos.” - Donna Karan @Urban_Zen #WIE2011

“It’s not enough that I have my health, my children’s health. I want every woman to have choices & options.” - @CTurlington #wie2011

“Women aren’t dying because we can’t treat them but because society hasn’t yet made a decision they’re worth saving.” - M. Fatullah #WIE2011

“You must know your power and the difference you can make.” -@NancyPelosi #WIE2011

WIE: Women Inspiration & Enterprise

“If we can fix things for mothers - and we can - we can fix so many other things that are wrong in the world. Women are at the heart of every family, every nation. It’s mostly mothers who make sure children are loved, fed, vaccinated, educated. You just can’t build healthy, peaceful, prosperous societies without making life better for girls and women.” - Sarah Brown, Global Patron, White Ribbon Alliance. From White Ribbon Alliance Atlast of Birth.

Taken from WIE Symposium - follow along at #WIE2011

If we have no peace, it is because we have forgotten that we belong to each other.
An unforgettable quote from an unforgettable woman, Mother Teresa
OpenIDEO is a place where people design better, together for social good. It’s an online platform for creative thinkers: the veteran designer and the new guy who just signed on, the critic and the MBA, the active participant and the curious lurker. Together, this makes up the creative guts of OpenIDEO. Recently, they ran a challenge for, “How might we improve maternal health with mobile technologies for low-income countries?” My friend, Erika, was one of the winners with the entry (congrats Erika!). Her idea: mBaby: Making Information Actionable To date, neonatal mHealth SMS programs have taken two forms: reminders sent to expectant mothers, and reporting done by certified health workers. mBaby asks the question - what if we combined the two, making the reminders actionable? Real-time reminders and concrete calls-to-action will help health workers get a clearer picture of their patients’ well-being and habits. In addition, these actionable reminders will ensure mothers get quality information and concrete steps to keep themselves - and their babies - healthy. Full challenge brief here. Full list of winners here. What’s YOUR big idea?

OpenIDEO is a place where people design better, together for social good. It’s an online platform for creative thinkers: the veteran designer and the new guy who just signed on, the critic and the MBA, the active participant and the curious lurker. Together, this makes up the creative guts of OpenIDEO.

Recently, they ran a challenge for, “How might we improve maternal health with mobile technologies for low-income countries?” My friend, Erika, was one of the winners with the entry (congrats Erika!). Her idea:

mBaby: Making Information Actionable

To date, neonatal mHealth SMS programs have taken two forms: reminders sent to expectant mothers, and reporting done by certified health workers. mBaby asks the question - what if we combined the two, making the reminders actionable? Real-time reminders and concrete calls-to-action will help health workers get a clearer picture of their patients’ well-being and habits. In addition, these actionable reminders will ensure mothers get quality information and concrete steps to keep themselves - and their babies - healthy.

Full challenge brief here.

Full list of winners here.

What’s YOUR big idea?

The International Guide to Designing Sport Programmes for Girls is a collaboratively authored tool designed to inform organizations as they develop effective, sustainable, sport programmes that serve girls and women. Sustainable programmes must be led by people who understand and address the key challenges facing girls and their families. Challenges girls face are different from challenges affecting boys. Girls face gender-specific and institutionalized barriers to participation in sport and have unique motivations and expectations for their sporting experience. For example, a girl living in a poor household is often expected to care for younger siblings. A programme built to serve her needs, and the needs of her community, will have to accommodate her duties at home, or provide childcare while she participates in a sport programme. Ethically and practically, Women Win believes that the programmes that serve girls most effectively are those that emphasize girls’ wellness over winning. Sport is inherently a competitive space. Girls can benefit greatly from learning how to compete, how to win and how to lose. However, as you will see in this guide, Women Win also believes that a successful sport programme should strengthen girls on and off of the field; growth and development of a young woman is always more important than winning or losing. Download the guide here.

The International Guide to Designing Sport Programmes for Girls is a collaboratively authored tool designed to inform organizations as they develop effective, sustainable, sport programmes that serve girls and women.

Sustainable programmes must be led by people who understand and address the key challenges facing girls and their families. Challenges girls face are different from challenges affecting boys. Girls face gender-specific and institutionalized barriers to participation in sport and have unique motivations and expectations for their sporting experience. For example, a girl living in a poor household is often expected to care for younger siblings. A programme built to serve her needs, and the needs of her community, will have to accommodate her duties at home, or provide childcare while she participates in a sport programme. Ethically and practically, Women Win believes that the programmes that serve girls most effectively are those that emphasize girls’ wellness over winning. Sport is inherently a competitive space. Girls can benefit greatly from learning how to compete, how to win and how to lose. However, as you will see in this guide, Women Win also believes that a successful sport programme should strengthen girls on and off of the field; growth and development of a young woman is always more important than winning or losing.

Download the guide here.

Melanne Verveer, Ambassador-at-Large for Global Women’s Issues at the U.S. State Department, wrote this post called Women as Environmental Change Agents on The Huffington Post for Earth Day. But there is no expiration date on her insights on the power of women to impact change when it comes to their environment. My favorite pull quote, “We must find opportunities to make change happen — we must not tire, we must not give up, we must persist.” Read the excerpt below or the full article here. Today as we celebrate Earth Day, we would be wise to focus on the role of women as environmental leaders. All over the world, women are advancing the green revolution — from transforming farming in rural Africa, to creating businesses around clean technology in India, to investing in renewable energy. Whether in promoting conservation, combating climate change, protecting biodiversity and vital ecosystems, securing water access, or reducing indoor air pollution, women are developing and effecting innovative solutions to critical environmental problems. This should come as no surprise. Studies show it is women who are often most affected by the increased frequency of extreme weather events wrought by climate change. It is women who frequently spend half their days trekking long distances to collect water and fuelwood, which in conflict settings, increases their vulnerability to sexual and gender-based violence, and, in all settings, reduces the amount of time for education, employment, childcare, and other more economically productive activities. It is women who represent the majority of the world’s small-holder farmers and who face the disproportionate burden of food insecurity. Women clearly have a stake in the future of the environment and are taking action.

Melanne Verveer, Ambassador-at-Large for Global Women’s Issues at the U.S. State Department, wrote this post called Women as Environmental Change Agents on The Huffington Post for Earth Day. But there is no expiration date on her insights on the power of women to impact change when it comes to their environment.

My favorite pull quote, “We must find opportunities to make change happen — we must not tire, we must not give up, we must persist.” Read the excerpt below or the full article here.


Today as we celebrate Earth Day, we would be wise to focus on the role of women as environmental leaders. All over the world, women are advancing the green revolution — from transforming farming in rural Africa, to creating businesses around clean technology in India, to investing in renewable energy.

Whether in promoting conservation, combating climate change, protecting biodiversity and vital ecosystems, securing water access, or reducing indoor air pollution, women are developing and effecting innovative solutions to critical environmental problems.

This should come as no surprise.

Studies show it is women who are often most affected by the increased frequency of extreme weather events wrought by climate change. It is women who frequently spend half their days trekking long distances to collect water and fuelwood, which in conflict settings, increases their vulnerability to sexual and gender-based violence, and, in all settings, reduces the amount of time for education, employment, childcare, and other more economically productive activities. It is women who represent the majority of the world’s small-holder farmers and who face the disproportionate burden of food insecurity.

Women clearly have a stake in the future of the environment and are taking action.

Big thank you to Scott Bryant for including me in his list of the “70 Legendary Women in Social Media” - it was an honor to be included amongst so many incredible women who I personally admire, look up to, emulate, and aspire to be like. What an incredible dinner party it would be to bring us all together!

Big thank you to Scott Bryant for including me in his list of the “70 Legendary Women in Social Media” - it was an honor to be included amongst so many incredible women who I personally admire, look up to, emulate, and aspire to be like. What an incredible dinner party it would be to bring us all together!