Forty Over 40

Forty Women to Watch Over 40

Christina Vuleta

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40 Over 40 Asks: 12Qs with Kahshanna Evans, Founder, Kissing Lions PR

Welcome to the Forty Over 40 blog. Every week we spotlight one of our honorees and their thoughts on reinvention, mentorship and momentum…plus a peek into what makes them tick. This week’s Q & A is with Kahshanna Evans, Founder, Kissing Lions Public Relations

 

1. What was a pivotal momentum of reinvention for you?
A pivotal moment of reinvention for me was transforming my anger into my first screenplay, Amani which is based on real life experiences. Stories don’t matter unless we make them matter by telling and sharing them.

2. Who has been a valuable mentor or sponsor?
Activist, mentor and woman extraordinaire…Marcia Dyson is an invaluable role model to me. She stands for beliefs that celebrate and champion women to be all they can be and advocates for the upliftment of women including equal pay. She is consistently being the measure, which is a value that absolutely drives my success and humanity.

3. What is your biggest goal right now?
My biggest goal right now is to support philanthropic and social good initiatives a mission-based client is shaping for women, performers and the arts community.

4. How did you get your first job? How did you jump to your second job?
My first job in my current line of work was working for Yvonne Maisonette. She encouraged me to give her the help that she needed running her family business and pushed me to take myself seriously. As 2008 hit everyone pretty hard financially, I shifted from bi-coastal living to rooting myself, once again, in NYC. The second job, which was really a springboard, was for two male-centric clients in tech. They dissolved the business, refusing to pay their employees for monies outstanding. Talk about motivation to return to my own brand and stick to it.

5. What time do you typically wake up? What do you do every morning?
On a good day when my schedule is reasonable, I like to head to morning yoga.  More often than not, however, I wake up, nibble and get to work organizing, writing and shaping proposals and programs for projects I’m working on for my clients.

6. What’s the best networking contact you’ve made? How did you make it?
The best networking contact I made is Robert McEwen of Consumer Reports (formerly of McEwen McMahon), or Bob, as I’ve been invited to call him.  Bob has followed my milestones and even taken an interest in grabbing a quick coffee to follow the progress of Kissing Lions Public Relations.  His advice as a thirty year veteran in the publicity industry has been sound.

7. What challenge / achievement are you most proud of?
I am most proud of being an associate-producer for While Lies, Black Sheep, a feature length indie film which received accolades. It was an incredible challenge working on “no-budget”, which meant I worked on four hours sleep per night in exchange for my best contributions on-set and behind the scenes in a male-centric setting. Ultimately, the biggest challenge was being appropriately credited which took me years to resolve as the boys club left little room for fairness or equality due to male politics.

8. What cause do you most want to advance?
It’s really hard to choose one. Arts programs for kids and transformational mentorship for women are at the top of my list, however, if I stumbled upon unlimited wealth I would love to create a Made in Harlem sewing start-up so women can make a living with the skills they learn.

9. What is the best piece of advice you ever received?
Somewhat of a bird with broken wings, I found myself in Robbi Reed’s office years ago.  It’s not that she gave me advice to pray, it’s that she was a woman enough, and a leader enough to take my hands and pray for me. I cried.  It was generous and I was beyond words. Prayer is a universal statement referencing the power of intention, goals and the relationship we make with that which is greater than ourselves in getting where we are going in life.

10.What is your “keep me going” quote?
At the tail end of my intention, one wonderful Spiritual mentor, Anne Angelheart, taught me to tack on, ‘for my highest and best good’.  This has carried me through the years.

11. What is your secret indulgence?
I absolutely adore stationery and print making.

12. Who on the list of prior Honorees would you like to meet?
Diane Hessan of Startup Institute.

Checkout Kahshanna’s full #40over40 profile here:

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What #FortyOver40 Means To Me: Ruth Ann Harnisch

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As we are in the midst of the call for nominations for the 3rd Annual List of 40 Women to Watch Over 40 we took time to check in with some current honorees to find out what #40over40 meant to them. Today’s post is with is with Ruth Ann Harnisch, President of The Harnisch Foundation; Co-founder of SupporTED and former Emmy-nominated “recovering journalist”. Read and get inspired to nominate a woman who making in impact —  disrupting, innovation and forging new paths for women of all ages.

What did it mean to you to receive this honor? When I was named to the FortyOver40 list, it underscored my decision to step out more boldly with my philanthropic and social change work at the Harnisch Foundation. I’d like to think I fulfilled your hopes for me, as theHF just launched a new website and a new mission to focus on advancing women and girls. (http://thehf.org)

What role models / mentors helped you reach this point? In the past year, my professional involvement has been inspired and guided by a woman less than half my age. Lindsey Taylor Wood, a strategic consultant, led the Harnisch Foundation’s organizational restructuring. Along with the FortyOver40 honor, she forcefully underscored the notion that a woman old enough to choose her Medicare Part B plan can continue to achieve new professional heights.

How can more women become involved in disrupting? Our ability to be disruptive is enhanced by knowing other disruptors, and that’s where FortyOver40 makes a contribution. When we know about others, we can form alliances and support each other. We can reach out to recruit, encourage, and affirm the next disruptors. There is strength in numbers and we must continue to build our collective momentum through networking and concerted action.

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What 40 Over 40 Means to Me: Tracey Welson-Rossman

Screen Shot 2015-03-23 at 9.55.54 AMAs we are in the midst of the call for nominations for the 3rd Annual List of 40 Women to Watch Over 40 we took time to check in with some current honorees to find out what #40over40 meant to them. Today’s post is from Tracey Welson-Rossman, a 2013 honoree, Founder of TechGirlz.org and CMO, Chariot Solutions. Read and get inspired to nominate a woman who making in impact —  disrupting, innovation and forging new paths for women of all ages.

What did it mean to you to receive this honor? The award was a validation of the work I had been doing. It is not that I needed the validation, I was going to keep on the path I was and am on, but this award allowed me to take stock of what I had done up to this point and it was great to know others felt that what I have done had meaning.

What role models / mentors helped you reach this point? It sounds trite and worn, but my Mom and Dad. Specifically, my dad knew that I was going to be out in the working world even when I was little. He purposely brought home for dinner one night a woman who he worked with so I could see a woman in the working world. Remember this was at a time when it was still unusual to see a woman who was not a teacher, nurse or secretary. My mother has been incredibly supportive of everything I have done in my career. My own cheering section.

How can more women become involved in disrupting? Disrupting, or instigating, as I like to call it, starts by acting on your idea and not sitting on it until you feel there is a perfect time because there is never the perfect time.

You can find Tracey on twitter at @TWelsonRossman

y: TraceyWellsonRossman

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What #40over40 Means To Me: Diane Danielson, COO Sperry Van Ness

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We are thrilled to announce call for nominations for the 3rd Annual List of 40 Women to Watch Over 40! As we are looking forward to learning about more amazing women who are disrupting, innovation and forging new paths for women in front and behind them, we took time to check in with some current honorees to find out what #40over40 meant to them. The first in this series of posts is with Diane Danielson, a 2013 honoree and Chief Operating Officer for Sperry Van Ness Int’l Corp.

What did it mean to you to receive this honor?

While I personally was honored and enjoyed the fact that you were celebrating women in the prime of their years, the reaction from my company surprised me. I work in a male dominate industry (which of course I’m trying to disrupt with both technology and gender), but they were really impressed with this honor. Awards do matter. As more women move into leadership roles it’s a great differentiator to be rewarded at a key time in our careers, not just at the beginning and the end.

 What role models / mentors helped you reach this point?

My mentors and role models are my business girlfriends and peers. There are too many to list, but if they are reading this, they know who they are! They are women just like the others in the 40 over 40 list. This doesn’t mean that I don’t appreciate the women who went before us. I am thankful to them every day I go into the office and take my place at the table. But, they had a different battle. My peers are the next wave. The sexism is more subtle, but still there, and the challenges are a little different. It’s our mission to not just be the token woman, but to even the playing field.

How can more women become involved in disrupting?

Disrupting is simply problem solving. Women are fabulous at that. Just ask a working mom! What helps is having awards like this to shift the public perception so that they too see women as disrupters and innovators.

Who inspires you? Nominate them here

Tweet: Help us celebrate #innovation at every age. 2015 nominations are open for Forty Women To Watch Over 40! http://fragile-line.flywheelsites.com/nominate/ #40over40

DianeDanielsonDiane Danielson is the Chief Operating Officer for Sperry Van Ness Int’l Corp., tweeting about , leadership, social media, and sometimes soccer. Follow her on twitter @DianeDanielson

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40 Over 40 Asks: 12Qs with Ruth Ann Harnisch

ruthannharnischWelcome to the Forty Over 40 blog. Every week we spotlight one of our honorees and their thoughts on reinvention, mentorship and momentum…plus a peek into what makes them tick.

This week’s Q&A is with Ruth Ann Harnisch, President of The Harnisch Foundation; Co-founder of SupporTED and former Emmy-nominated “recovering journalist”. The Harnisch Foundation, which has been dedicated to creative, progressive philanthropy since 1998, recently relaunched to shift their focus on advancing women and girls. TheHF is celebrating International Women’s Day with a week-long campaign called #NotJustAStat . Read more here: http://thehf.org/international-womens-day/

1) What was a pivotal momentum of reinvention for you?

I’ve had many pivotal moments. The most recent? We’ve reinvented the Harnisch Foundation, focusing on advancing women and girls. I became convinced that this is the most effective way to invest our philanthropic capital, working to create a world where all people are treated with dignity and everyone’s potential can be realized.

Other pivotal moments? Choosing to divorce when that felt like the ultimate failure…college dropout collecting a second honorary doctorate… taking a full year sabbatical to completely clear my professional palate. The pivotal moment that brought me to my career as a philanthropist was the closing of the Nashville Banner. I was stunned to find myself without a job for the first time in a quarter of a century. On the day I became unemployed, I kept my commitment to go to an at-home Small Dinner, one of the signature events of the International Women’s Forum’s first chapter, the Women’s Forum of New York.

When it was my turn to speak, I tried not to lose my composure as I told of my most unwelcome disemployment. One of the women I’d long looked up to, Ruth Cowan, then board chair of Pro Mujer, said matter-of-factly, “Of course you must now become a fulltime philanthropist.” And I heard myself saying, “Yes, of course I must now become a fulltime philanthropist,” as if it were the most logical thing in the world, which of course it was, and I did. That was 17 years ago. The pivotal moment not only changed the course of my life, it changed countless others because of the impact of the philanthropy that resulted.

2) Who has been a valuable mentor or sponsor?

I have so many to thank, starting with Buffalo NY Public School 72 Assistant Principal Dorothy Wolf who included me in the group of children who received the accent elimination coaching and declamation lessons that equipped me for my career in broadcasting. In my later years, the most important voice of wisdom has been my longtime coach Renee Freedman. For over eight years, our twice-weekly sessions equipped me for personal growth beyond what I could have imagined when we began. We ended the coaching relationship when we agreed to become partners in the founding and management of SupporTED, the coaching and mentoring program for TED Fellows.

3) What is your biggest goal right now?

To make the most of every moment of my aliveness – that will always be my biggest goal.

4) How did you get your first job?

I got my first job because I had connections. Under 40 readers may not recall a time when paper boys pulled wagons down residential streets to deliver the morning and afternoon newspapers. It was the first step to entrepreneurship and self-sufficiency for many a lad, but No Girls Allowed.

My Uncle Sibby, son of Sicilian immigrants and my mother’s scrappy younger brother, “knew a guy” at the Buffalo Courier Express. At age 16, I became the youngest of the crew of “girls” (adult women, most with grey hair) who did the accounting for the paper boys.

How did you jump to your second job? – I jumped on the NFT (Niagara Frontier Transit, aka the bus) and went to the Statler Hilton Hotel, where upon exiting the elevator on the top floor, I became Karin Kelly, Teen DJ on WYSL-FM, 103.3

5) What time do you typically wake up? 

I do not have a typical wakeup time. Throughout my broadcast career I worked every shift on the clock, including one challenging schedule where I did the sign-off news on the CBS-TV affiliate in Nashville around 1am, napped fitfully on the cot in the ladies’ room until 4, then rose to write and anchor the sign-on news in the morning.

My first thought each time I awaken is, “Where am I?” because the answer could be different every time depending on my travel schedule.

6) How do you unplug? 

I unplug by choosing to still my mind and remove myself from all distracting thoughts. How often? As often as necessary throughout the day and night.

6) What challenge / achievement are you most proud of? 

Stepping up to a leadership role as head of the Harnisch Foundation. Right now, I’m proud to be an Executive Producer of The Hunting Ground, the documentary on campus sexual assault that’s in theaters now. (Please go and buy a ticket to show how important this issue is!) I’m proud that the HF is the presenting sponsor of BinderCon, bringing hundreds of women writers together to amplify women’s voices and perspectives.

7) What was the last business book you read?

It’s not the last one, but it’s the one I insist that my clients read –  The Tools: Transform Your Problems Into Courage, Confidence, and Creativity by Phil Stutz and Barry Michels. These are the lessons in self-leadership that allow you to stop whining and start taking charge of your circumstances.

8) What cause do you most want to advance? 

I am working to help create a world in which diversity is a source of societal strength, all people have control over their destinies, all are treated with dignity, and everyone’s contributions are valued.

9) What song can’t you get out of your head?

I would NEVER do that to you! However…everyone who has ever been to the closing campfire of Spark Camp knows what song is stuck in my head. I now deeply apologize to all Campers for this, ain’t nothin’ but a mistake.

10) What is the best piece of advice you ever received? 

All you have is RIGHT NOW. Make the most of it.

11) What is your “keep me going” quote?

I WAS BORN FOR THIS MOMENT!

12) Who on the list of 2013 Honorees would you like to meet? 

Everybody says “all” as do I. But if pressed for one I’ll say Sallie Krawcheck.

Check out Ruth Ann’s full 40 Over 40 profile here!