At the age of 11 Li Cunxin was plucked from his remote village in China to be groomed for the Beijing Dance Academy. As the 7th son in a family with minimal education and no worldly exposure, Li had no aspirations to study ballet. But after enduring grueling...
How shocking to receive the news of a dear friend's death on the screen of one's BlackBerry, but that's what happened this afternoon as I was retrieving messages after a haircut. I knew Pauline had been ill and had recently spoken to her sister Lucie. But I thought...
Ronnie Ann Ryan, aka The Dating Coach, came to my Remarkable Women's Network event last Tuesday night well prepared. (Ronnie is in the light turquoise on the right end of row 2.) She has put together a 5-day virtual expo called Dating for Keeps which she...
My daughter Lindsey had two reasons to celebrate on Sunday, September 5. First, it was her birthday, an event we've always taken very seriously. As a young child it meant being allowed to pick a favorite brand of cereal (i.e. Cap'n Crunch vs. Cheerios) on that...
Since meeting Kathy Ball-Toncic through CTI's Leadership program a few years ago, I've been in awe of her courage and mobility. During that program we did high ropes work (Kathy was far more elegant and courageous than I) among other challenging activities. She'd...
In response to my blog post on Monday, the brilliant and creative Denise DiGrigoli, owner of Troy Fine Art Services, Inc., came rushing into my Remarkable Women's Network event Tuesday evening exclaiming, "I've got something to show you!" Denise had written me a...
A lot of people talk about wanting to move to Hawaii, but for most of them, it's simply a fantasy. When Kathryn Ryan first expressed that desire, I have to say, I thought she might be just another New Englander seeking to escape the cold and icy winters of our...
Liz Alpert Fay hired me several years ago to make her create. I say that somewhat facetiously, although there's an element of truth in it. It's the same reason I pay my coaches and service providers money--to hold me accountable to that which I have previously...
I received this email from a client yesterday morning. I hear this sentiment a lot and knew it was worth quoting directly: "I am on my way to Charlotte to the WITHIT conference. Women in the Home Furnishings Industry. I feel a bit guilty going so much this month,...
I had the immense pleasure and privilege of sitting at the table with Missy Germain and her mother Gail at the opening breakfast session at BlogHer 2010. I was with Sarah Youngblood, my client and friend from Georgia, when we randomly sat down and then pinched...
Dr. Debbie Danowski, a professor at Sacred Heart University, is a friend of mine and also a former client. We were in a writers group for several years and have stayed connected since. Over a year ago Debbie wanted to work with me on her vision for her dream house....
That's the title atop page 68 in The War of Art, a volume I recently listened to on CD and also own in paperback. The author, Steven Pressfield, likens being an artist to being in the Marine Corps. "The Marine Corps teaches you how to be miserable. This is...
Back-to-back coaching calls with similar themes give me ideas for my blog. Yesterday two of my creative clients reported in with extraordinary success stories. A designer client began apologetically, saying she hadn't completed her fieldwork assignments, but that...
It works every time. What's the first piece of mail you open, should you receive any, in your snail mail box? If there's something there that is thick and bulky with a first class stamp and a valued name on the return address, my money says that's what gets ripped...
In May I attended my first Savor the Success event in NYC--an all-day program called Rock the World, which I thoroughly enjoyed (and blogged about). Last night I went to the organization's monthly meeting hosted by founder Angela Jia Kim. The setting, 75 Wall...
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