Valerie Ryder

Certified Coach & Professional Organizer

Celebrare la Festa della Donna… adeguatamente

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Ultimando i preparativi per il corso sulla leadership femminile che comincerà l’8 Marzo, mi sono chiesta : Quale è il modo migliore per celebrare questa giornata? Una ponderata dissertazione sui progressi fatti in questi anni? Una protesta simbolica verso le ingiustizie che le donne, ovunque nel mondo, devono ancora subire? Un piccolo e insignificante bouquet di mimose che viene commercialmente distribuito ad ogni angolo di strada da Tizio, Caio o Sempronio?

No grazie, non fa per me.

Concentriamoci su quello che è veramente significativo per la maggior parte delle donne che conosco : champagne e cioccolato. Ok, se poi dobbiamo aggiungere anche un po’ di succo d’arancia alle bollicine per creare delle (vere) mimose può andar bene lo stesso. A questo punto, per avere un pasto a tutti gli effetti, non ci resta che aggiungere del bacon. Pronte per il brunch?

Celebrating Women’s Day… Fittingly

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As I finalize preparations for the women’s leadership course starting March 8, I think: What’s the most suitable way to celebrate the day? A thoughtful essay on how far we’ve come over the years? A symbolic protest against the many injustices women still experience around the world? A flimsy little bouquet of mimosas, as distributed by every Tom, Dick and Harry – or should I say Tizio, Caio and Sempronio – quite commercially, in all the shops across Italy?

No thanks, I’ll pass.

I say, bring on what’s truly meaningful to the vast majority of women I know: champagne and chocolate. OK, if we have to add a bit of orange juice to the bubbly so it constitutes (real) mimosas, that’s fine too. Now, all we need to do to have a full-fledged meal is to add in some bacon. Brunch, anyone?

Why?

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Throughout this excruciating process of creating a new web site focusing on women’s career development and leadership, I have been asked repeatedly: Why? Don’t you like working with men?

Well, I do. That’s not it at all. It’s just that after facing the challenges firsthand that so many women meet as we try to lead fulfilling professional lives and at the same time have decent private lives, I realize that this experience can be especially helpful to other women. Whether it’s the external challenges, such as working long hours and foregoing friends and family or not understanding the importance of networking and company politics until it’s almost too late, or the internal conflicts, including being uncomfortable with self-promotion or battling to overcome those insidious inner voices on subjects such as inadequacy, rejection, and guilt, I have faced my share and then some. It’s this understanding and empathy that has led me to focus on women and diversity issues.

I have also been asked on numerous other occasions: When? When are you finally going to publish your new site? And, considering that I could have had another child in the time it took me to finish this project (hence the word “excruciating” above), I’ll leave that question for another time.