JAD Women of The Year

By: Yvonne F. Brown, Founder, JADCI

In a year filled with apprentices who did not understand that "you failed, you failed, you failed," and a nation more focussed on celebrity and bling than women of substance, we found some women who are making a difference.

Mary Fetcher and Carol Ashley are JAD Women of the Year because in the past three years they have outmaneuvered the president and vice persident of the United stats, the national security advisor, the speaker of the house and chairmen of the congressional committees.

Self appointed representatives of the Sept. 11 victims relatives formed a steering committee and used their moral authority hard earned from their losses (invoked freely in vigils, at news conferences and in the lobbies of Congress) to shame the government into action. These two women had no political or public speaking background before coming to Washington in 2002 to speak at a rally in support of forming a Sept. 11 commission.

Ashley used the life insurance payout for her daughter, who was killed in the terrorist attacks, to cover her travel expenses. Fetchet says "I question myself every day: How did I end up in this role?" She has been notified four times that some of her son's remains had been discovered. The last was two months ago. Rep. Carolyn B. Maloney (D-N.Y.) let them use her office as their headquarters. "I really do not believe we'd have the bill without them," she said. The bill is S.2845.

Wangari Maathai is our JAD Woman of The Year not just because she is the first African Woman to win the Nobel Peace Prize but because of all she has overcome to reach this achievement. To learn more visit our JAD Sept/Oct 2004 newsletter.

Wangari founded the Green Belt movement in Kenya in 1977, which has planted more than 10 million trees to prevent soil erosion and provide firewood for cooking fires. A 1989 United Nations report noted that only 9 trees were being replanted in Africa for every 100 that were cut down, causing serious problems with deforestation: soil runoff, water pollution, difficulty finding firewood, lack of animal nutrition, etc. The program has been carried out primarily by women in the villages of Kenya, who through protecting their environment and through the paid employment for planting the trees are able to better care for their children and their children's future.

Born in 1940 in Nyeri, Wangari Maathai was able to pursue higher education, a rarity for girls in rural areas of Kenya. She earned her biology degree from Mount St. Scholastica College in Kansas and a master's degree at the University of Pittsburgh. When she returned to Kenya, Wangari Maathai worked in veterinary medicine research at the University of Nairobi, and eventually, despite the skepticism and even opposition of the male students and faculty, was able to earn a Ph.D. there. She worked her way up through the academic ranks, becoming head of the veterinary medicine faculty, a first for a woman at any department at that university.

Condoleezza "Condi" Rice is our JAD Woman of the Year because she represents the ability to accomplish despite the odds. She is the first African American woman Secretary of States for the United States of America

Born in 1954, Miss Rice wasn't even 10 years old when her town became the epicenter of the Civil Rights movement in 1963. In that tough and violent year there were many days that she couldn't even attend school. Despite this, Condi started college at the University of Denver at age 15. She has been the first black woman in just about any job she has taken on: from director of Soviet and Eastern European affairs on President Bush's National Security Council when she was only 34, to Stanford's provost, managing a nearly $2 billion budget.

In addition to these accomplishments, Condi is a consummate performer on the piano and returned to playing the piano seriously four years ago. This role model for young African American women was the National Security Advisor for President George W. Bush in his first term, and was appointed Secretary of State in November of 2004. Condoleezza Rice grew up with racial segregation in Birmingham, AL, but she didn't let that prevent her from pursuing her career goals. Forbes Magazine recently named her the most powerful woman in the world.

"The secretary of state is America's face to the world and in Dr. Rice the world will see the strength, grace and decency of our country," Bush said in a brief ceremony at the White House. All of these accomplishments came from a woman who said "I lived in a place where you couldn't go to have a hamburger at a restaurant, but my parents were telling me that I could be president of the United States."

These four women, Mary Fetchet, Carol Ashley, Wangari Maathai and Condoleeza Rice are JAD women of the year because they represent what can be accomplished through the power of One. Never let it be said that one person cannot make a difference. Perhaps 2005 is the year that you will make your mark by making this the year your dream becomes your accomplishment.

To comment on this article send an email to jad@jadcommunications.com. If you find this article interesting, please forward the newsletter link to your friends, colleagues, and relatives and encourage them to sign up for their copy of the newsletter.

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Everyday Ingenious Inventions by Women

Flat Bottomed Paper Bags - Next time you watch the grocery clerk flatten the bottom of the bag before putting your items in, remember to thank Margaret E. Knight

You use them all the time. In fact they're used every minute of every hour of every day everywhere in millions of stores across the United States and countries of the world. Prior to Margaret E. Knight's invention bags were shaped like envelopes. Shoppers had to stack their meats, milk and cheeses into heavy wooden crates and it was a struggle to stuff jam and bread into bags.

Margaret's job at the Columbia Paper Bag Company required her to gather, stack and tie the company's bags into neat bundles. After barely a week at the plant, the idea came to her "I had plenty of leisure time for making observations, and such time was employed watching the movement of the machines and manufacture of square bottomed bags by hand."

Though she had no engineering degree, she started by making drawings of her idea. Then she experimented on one of the machines in the shop. Once sure the machines could fold and paste the square bottoms she went to work. In July of 1868 she completed the first working model and hired a machinist to build an iron version. Unfortunately for Margaret, a man names Charles Annan saw her machine in the shop while it was being made of cast iron and tried to copy and patent it as his own.

Determined to set the record straight, Margaret went to Washington, DC with her documentation and her lawyer to fight Annan's claims before the commissioner of patents. After sixteen days of testimony she won and was awarded a patent for the machine in 1870. Eventually she amassed twenty-seven patents, prompting the media to dub her "Lady Edison."

Note: Although Margaret's invention has stood the test of time, she didn't get rich. She turned down $50,000 for her machine (the equavalent of more than half a million dollars today). At her death her estate was worth a mere $275. Despite that, it is noteworthy that in today's high tech environment, her simple paper bag remains a staple of everyday life. So think of Margaret and thank her, the next time you toss something into your flat bottomed bag.

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Join us in the Discussion Forum - It's FREE
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JAD Discussion Topic of the Month

Managing your Career - What's up with those Demoralizing Snubs from your colleagues?

Is it just ignorance, inflexibility and narrow mindedness?

A recent article in the Wall Street Journal by Joann S. Lublin discusses the steps you can take to stop the snubs that demoralize you and your colleagues. in the article, she begins by saying "Sweat the small slights" and I noted that these snubs happen regardless of the type of organization you work for.

It's a well known fact that if you receive too many demoralizing snubs your productivity suffers, and the company takes a hit as a result. The article notes that "if you send too many negative messages your team's performance lags, and these cumulative little acts of exclusion can make an organization unsuccessful."

Some examples cited in the article include when a boss or someone else takes credit for your work. Another example is when someone leaves your name off the distribution list or when you get to a meeting and it seems that there was a pre-meeting that you were not privy to. Has this ever happened to you? What do you think when that happens to you?

Join the discussion in the Leadership Forum and let us know how you dealt with the snub and what your recommendations are for those who have this type of experience. It's FREE to join the discussion forum and we welcome your comments.

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Empowering Affirmations

This month's Empowering Question

"What wishes, desires, hopes, dreams, opinions, likes and dislikes, at their very deepest level, revolve around my purpose?"

This month's Empowering Affirmation

"I'm uncovering my larger purpose now. My purpose is bigger than myself. I'm giving incredible meaning to my life. Purpose and I are one. My purpose puts all things in perspective."

Book of The Month

How to Travel on Other People's Money

Want to travel internationally and go to Italy, France, London, Germany, Austria or Asia and have someone else pay your way and all your expenses?! This week's recommended reading will teach you how to do just that.

For only $17 you can learn how to travel internationally on other people's money. One woman who used these strategies put it this way "I became really frustrated at my previous position and realized that staying where I was, simply wasn’t enough for me. I needed to do something about it. So I started investigating how I can go live abroad, how I can try all these things I’ve have been dreaming about for the past 10-15 years of my life but didn’t do anything about. I started to realize there’s a way to experience the world and have someone else pay for it. So that's what I did."

This book will teach you how to travel using other people's money. It's quick, it's easy, and we will share those secrets with you. Get your copy today!

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