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Amy Scott: Friendly Mentor

Amy Scott appreciates the value of women helping women and she exudes a unique blend of friendship and mentoring in the workplace every single day. As a managing partner at New York Life—one of the youngest people to be promoted to this top title—she supervises three partners and more than 70 agents while juggling her own family of three young children. Her colleagues say she’s a role model who inspires women to recognize that it is indeed possible to lead a balanced life and to be successful as well as compassionate.

Above and beyond her core responsibilities, Scott actively participates as a speaker at events to promote the growth and development of other women. She knows firsthand that a career in insurance and financial services can be a great fit for women because it combines the ability to do good for others and to do well for themselves. Add to that the opportunity to carve out ample time for family, and you have what Scott believes is a winning world of work.

Her leadership and service extend outside of the office, too. Scott was the team captain for the 2006 Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Awareness walk and she is on the board of the Children’s Hospital in Columbus, Ohio. She also lends her time to Coats for Kids and Heart of Georgia Big Brothers Big Sisters.

Scott says watching agents who she recruited and trained excel is incredibly satisfying, and she calls their success one of the most gratifying aspects of her career. “I believe and strive to communicate that your career should enrich your life and those around you.”

JJ Ramberg: Searching For Charitable Success

In 2005, journalist JJ Ramberg, who reports on business for MSNBC, partnered with her brother Ken, a dot com entrepreneur, to launch GoodSearch.com, a Yahoo-powered search engine that donates half of its revenue to the charities and schools its users designate.

The Rambergs wanted to create a way for people to effortlessly support and feel connected to their favorite charities. They knew everyone cares about a cause—whether it’s finding a cure for AIDS, rescuing stray animals, cleaning up the environment, or improving education—but not everyone has the time or money to devote. They identified a way to take something that most of us do every day—search the Internet—and turn it into doing good simultaneously. Ramberg says search engines earned more than six billion dollars in advertising revenue last year and with GoodSearch.com she’s hoping to redirect some of that money to organizations trying to make the world a better place.

Ramberg, who graduated cum laude from Duke University and holds an MBA from Stanford Business School, is no stranger to philanthropy. She has volunteered overseas in India and Uganda for microfinance organizations. After watching her mother lose her battle to cancer, Ramberg knows how great the need is to raise funds to care for those suffering from the disease. Her nephew is fatally allergic to peanuts so her family works to raise money for an organization searching for a cure. And one of her best friends started the TEAK Fellowship program, which fundraises to support its effort to help economically disadvantaged children get into good schools.

While our favorite non-profit is the Women For Hire Foundation, which was established in 2005 to assist displaced, low income women with career development, GoodSearch.com users can choose to support any cause they wish. Each time you conduct a search, just as you would on any other search engine, a penny goes to your favorite charity, which is generated from Goodsearch.com’s advertising revenue. One hundred people searching just four times a day will raise more than $1,400 a year for a cause.

More than 21,000 organizations are listed on GoodSearch, ranging from giants like the United Way to an Elephant Sanctuary in Tennessee, and the first round of checks were mailed in December 2006. Ramberg says it was incredibly rewarding to see how her enterprise is working to fund so many great causes. Her efforts are certainly good news for all of them.

Making Museums Cool: Edwina Meyers and Gail Velez

Edwina Meyers and Gail Velez share a mutual passion for education and the arts, which they believe should be accessible to all children and adults, regardless of economic status or means.

Together Meyers, the director of External Affairs for the New York City Administration for Children’s Services, and Velez, the founder of Family Publications, a print and online resource for parents and teachers, discovered the disturbing fact that lowincome families, hindered by financial barriers, often missed out on the rich educational rewards offered by museums and other cultural institutions. Focus groups also revealed that such parents believed that those institutions held no meaning for them.

That newfound knowledge led the women to start Cool Culture, a non-profit program that connects low-income families from diverse backgrounds with more than forty museums, zoos, and botanical gardens in New York by educating them on why it’s hip, fun, and smart to take advantage of all that the city has to offer. “The idea had been brewing for three years, and we knew the only thing that could happen was we’d succeed or we’d fail,” says Meyers. Velez echoes her partner’s sentiments, “I don’t know how we did it, but we did.”

Their brainchild provides 24,000 qualified families with free entry passes and quarterly pamphlets detailing program listings, events, transportation information, and affordable lunch options, which help to eliminate any barriers to planning a visit. Cool Culture also offers practical tips and advice to parents and caregivers on how to make the most of each trip, thereby enabling them to interact and learn with their young children, which is an invaluable development tool. Visits help foster verbal literacy, vocabulary development, and critical thinking skills.

Early backers of Cool Culture, which started a year-round program in 1999, included the American Museum of Natural History, the Sony Wonder Technology Lab, and Edward Jay Goldberg, a senior vice president of government and consumer affairs at Macy’s, which provided a $10,000 grant.

While most cultural institutions are eager to welcome this underrepresented population, many lack the resources and community presence to market to their facilities and programs effectively. Cool Culture has been a welcome asset for these groups, which also recognize that by making their venues more accessible, they’re building loyalty among future generations of museum visitors.

“There’s a fulfillment in being able to put something together that works and that benefits everybody,’’ Meyers says. “It’s a win-win situation.’’

Volunteer With Style: Nancy Lubin and Dress For Success

Nancy Lubin exemplifies how vision and talent can be used to transform the lives of others. In 1996, she founded Dress for Success, using $5,000 that was left to her by her great-grandfather, Poppy Max, who had come to the United States from Eastern Europe to forge a new life. Armed with her experience as a law student, Lubin established the organization “to help low-income women take charge of their lives.”

After receiving calls from around the country asking how the endeavors of Dress for Success could be implemented in other locations, the name was trademarked and licensed to affiliates. Within two years, about 20 programs were up and running, and Dress for Success Worldwide was born. The goal is to advance the ability of women to become self-supporting by entering the workforce and enabling them to achieve their goals. Specifically, each woman who goes through the program is supplied with a suit for employment interviews, and then given a second suit when she lands a job.

Donated clothes must be new or in top-notch condition. Blouses, skirts, blazers, pant suits, and shoes are all on the wish list. Clothing in larger sizes is especially in demand. While tax-deductible contributions are always appreciated, offering your time and efforts gives you the chance to enrich your life by extending a helping hand and drawing upon your unique talents and strengths. Have you always been the one who advised friends on what they should be wearing and how to put it together? Then being a Dress for Success “personal shopper” could be for you. Are you involved in the careers of law, accounting, or event marketing? An expert in office skills? Dress for Success needs hands-on assistance from women accomplished in these areas. “We can’t do what we do without the help of volunteers,” says Joi Gordon, the Chief Executive Officer of Dress for Success.

While there is now a Dress for Success presence in 73 cities, you can start an affiliate in your area if none currently exists. Other ways to extend a hand include becoming a mentor to a woman in the Professional Women’s Group, a support network developed to promote employment retention (contact [email protected]); organizing a suit drive; or patronizing partnering companies that will give Dress for Success a percentage of the sale. Visit dressforsuccess.org for detailed information on opportunities to become involved.

Break Bread, Strengthen Bonds: Sarah Moulton

Who wouldn’t be seduced by the aroma of a roasted turkey or the gift of warm homemade cookies? With the holidays quickly approaching, the fall months are the perfect time to indulge in the joys of cooking, especially since kicking loose in the kitchen can be fun and gratifying.

Feeding those you love can be a singular way of communicating. How better to keep tradition alive and celebrate our unique identities than by passing Grandma’s “secret” recipe for angel cake or lasagna on to the next generation? Not only can cooking be an easy way to unwind, it’s also a savory link between friends, family and neighbors.

Chef Sara Moulton remembers the delicious smells coming from her mother’s baking and how it would lift her spirits after a difficult day at school. The emotional connection between food and nurturing is a concept she understands and talks about with enthusiasm. “Cooking is very therapeutic,” says Moulton, who encourages women to see cooking as a pleasure, not a chore. As a mother of two, she of all people understands the multiple demands of a busy schedule: Moulton is executive chef at Gourmet magazine, host of Sara’s Secret’s on the Food Network seven days a week, a frequent guest on ABC’s Good Morning America, and the author of several cookbooks, the newest of which, Sara’s Secrets for Weeknight Meals, debuted in October.

When Moulton became a mom, she wanted comfort foods to create a warm and soothing atmosphere. She sees preparing meals as a distinct form of caring. “We all must eat, so how better to love our families and make them healthy?”

It doesn’t have to be difficult. Moulton says to keep it uncomplicated, always have a well-stocked pantry; offer enough choices to keep everybody engaged; and focus on doable, realistic recipes. Incorporating leftovers into another night’s meal is another simple solution. The goal with each meal is to make every person in your family part of a community. For Moulton, that extends from cooking to eating. Set the table nicely and enjoy both the food and the conversation, she says.

Moulton first learned about the connection between cuisine and kinship with a circle of female chefs when she was working in Boston with the late Julia Childs. They created a networking system because “women need to help other women,” which led her to co-found the New York Women’s Culinary Alliance in 1982. The organization helps create opportunities for women in the culinary field, which is often difficult for women to penetrate.

Even outside of her chosen profession, Moulton knows that breaking bread has been a way to strengthen the bonds between family members, as well as extending the circle of social relationships. If it isn’t already a part of your regular routine, commit to incorporating some cooking and baking into your holidays this year—for yourself, your family, and your friends.

Opening the World’s Eyes: Katherine Chon

While scanning an article detailing the plight of a group of South Korean girls who had been forced into prostitution at a massage parlor near her hometown, Katherine Chon couldn’t help but be struck by a sobering realization.

She could have been one of those girls.

Born in South Korea, Chon knew that had circumstances been different, she may have well been part of the third largest criminal industry in the world: the selling of people into human slavery. Determined to do something about a nefarious practice that ranks in size behind only arms and drug dealing among criminal practices worldwide, Chon formed the non-profit Polaris Project during her senior year at Brown University in 2002.

The organization provides emergency shelter and comprehensive case management to victims of trafficking, which is when people are forcibly coerced into performing labor or commercial sexual activity. The Polaris Project has helped over 60 clients in the past two years and operates a 24-hour hotline in English, Spanish, Korean and Thai that has processed over 1,500 calls.

Chon, 25, and fellow student and co-founder Derek Ellerman, who are based in Washington, D.C., began with a start-up budget of $50,000, raised from family and friends. The projected budget for 2006 is $600,000, due in large part to grants from such outlets as the U.S. Department of State, the Fund for Nonviolence, and private donors.

Polaris is the northern star that guided the slaves to freedom during the time of the American Underground Railroad, and the Polaris Project, which fights a form of modern slavery, has since become a beacon in several cities, with volunteers populating chapters in Los Angeles, Seattle, Boston, and Denver, as well as an office in Japan. The group provides training and technical assistance about combating trafficking to over 75 federal and local law enforcement agencies across the country. Its office in Tokyo operates the first 24-hour toll-free hotline in Japan where citizens can report instances of trafficking.

“How we do what we do is so important,” says Chon, noting that it starts by pushing the envelope, and not being afraid to adapt and revise. “Very often people have difficulty letting go of things that don’t work. Yet we see ourselves as a social change laboratory, where we can scrap something and start again.”

The Polaris Project recently served as a consulting organization to Lifetime Television’s mini-series Human Trafficking, and works diligently with Congress on anti-trafficking legislation.

“I was very compelled to raise awareness first and foremost because I was passionate,” says Chon. Her efforts have not gone unnoticed. Among other honors, she was awarded the prestigious BRICK Award for social entrepreneurship by former President Bill Clinton.

“I believe that individuals can make a difference,” says Chon. “Follow whatever you are passionate about, embrace it, and don’t be afraid to accept the challenge. You can be scared of it, but do it anyway.”

Learn more and contribute at polarisproject.org.