Texas Conference for Women

By Samantha White

This year’s Texas Conference for Women will be hosted right here in Austin. To give you an idea of what’s on tap at this month’s event, we took a look at the four keynote speakers.

Charlotte Beers is not just an advertising woman – she is THE woman of the advertising world. According to both Fortune and Business Week magazines, Beers is among the most powerful women in America. She was the first female Senior Vice President in J. Walter Thompson’s history as a firm, and later became the Chairman/CEO of Ogilvy & Mather Worldwide. She was inducted into the Advertising Hall of Fame in 2009.

Cathie Black is also a media mogul. She served for 15 years as President of Hearst Magazines, a division of Hearst Corporation which publishes 20 titles in the U.S. and over 300 international editions. Black has been on Fortune Magazine’s “50 Most Powerful Women in Business” list since its inception in 1998. She has also been a member on the Board of Directors at IBM as well as The Coca-Cola Company, and is currently a member of the Council on Foreign Relations.

Dr. Brené Brown, a renowned speaker and professor, gave the closing talk at this year’s TED conference. For the last twelve years she has studied vulnerability, courage, worthiness, and shame. Her fourth book Daring Greatly talks about having courage to be vulnerable and was released this month. She is a Licensed Master Social Worker and currently is a research professor at the University of Houston Graduate College of Social Work.

Gretchen Rubin, an author and blogger, actually began her career in law working for Justice Sandra Day O’Connor. She quickly realized she’d rather be writing and began to do so. Rubin has now authored seven books including this month’s release Happier at Home, in which she takes an entire school year (September-May) to explore ways to make the home a happier place. Her previous book, The Happiness Project, was a #1 New York Times bestseller and shares a name with her current blog in which Rubin chronicles her daily pursuit of happiness.

Since the four keynote speakers have such differing backgrounds, the conference is sure to offer something for everyone. Tickets are now available for the October 24th event.

Women and Social Media

By Samantha White

Social media has no doubt become one of the most used forms of communication, but how do women use it differently than men? We did some research and here’s what we came up with.

http://www.wikinomics.com/blog/index.php/2009/06/05/social-media-gender-stereotypes/

As mentioned in our previous blog, Pinterest is a newer social media outlet that is predominately used by women.  According to The Huffington Post, Pinterest’s users were 72% female as of June, and that’s not the only site females are dominating. They also say that Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram have more women users at 62%, 58%, and 53%, respectively. They list Reddit, Spotify, and Google+ as the sites dominated by men, at 74%, 66%, and 64% male users.

Another article on the gender differences in social media says that 56% of users across all social media sites are women, approximately 81 million ladies, that is. They say that women account for 99 million MORE visits per month (again, among all social sites) than men.

It’s obvious that men and women act differently on social media just like in reality. Multiple sources have come to the conclusion that women use social media as a means to keep up with the lives of those around them – to build and maintain relationships. For men it is more about obtaining information and/or entertainment (hence the high usage among males on sites like Reddit and Spotify), or in a more professional manner to share relevant articles with peers.

Personally, I’m a Twitter and Pinterest kind of girl. How do you use social media and which sites do you visit most often?

The World’s 100 Most Powerful Women (According to Forbes)

By Samantha White

Forbes unveiled their annual list of the world’s most powerful women last month including seven categories of females: billionaires, business, lifestyle (both entertainment and fashion), media, nonprofits, politics, and technology.

Staying at the number one slot from last year is Germany’s Chancellor Angela Merkel, 58, of Berlin. She stays with the current technological times by uploading videos to her own Youtube site answering questions German citizens ask.

Also for the second year in a row, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton ranks second on the list. The former First Lady and Presidential candidate was recently photographed watching her husband’s speech at the Democratic National Convention from across the world.

(Nick Merrill/State Department)

Other repeat women from lists past include Michelle Obama (7th), Oprah Winfrey (11th),  and Ellen DeGeneres (47th). The oldest on the list is 73-year-old President of Liberia, Ellen Johnson Sirleaf (82nd), who was awarded a Nobel Peace Prize in 2011. The youngest woman to make the list is 24-year-old Lady Gaga (14th)  for her music and philanthropy. Other young up-and-comers making the list include Yahoo CEO Marissa Mayer (21st), philanthropist and supermodel Gisele Bundchen (83rd), and entertainment mogul Beyonce Knowles (32nd).