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"For me, it's about constantly finding new things to be excited about and not giving up my curiosity. I've given up thinking that balance is ever going to happen, and I'm actually OK with that!" Beth Comstock, president of Digital Media and Market Development |
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About Forté Foundation    |
ONLINE EXCLUSIVE In the February.March 2007 issue of PINK, we team up with the Forté Foundation to name 15 remarkable women who symbolize the new generation of power brokers from Wall Street to Hollywood. These women don't follow – they lead and make their own rules, often inventing a whole new game. Here, find out even more about these elite women profiled in the article.
READING LIST: "A lot of Malcolm Gladwell – Blink: The Power of Thinking Without Thinking and The Tipping Point: How Little Things Can Make a Big Difference – and I'm about to crack open Personal History by the late Katharine Graham. I just finished Applebee's America: How Successful Political, Business, and Religious Leaders Connect with the New American Community, a story about how at times of unsettling change people often crave a sense of community, which is the key to success for political, business and religious leaders." WHY SHE LOVES HER JOB: "For its societal impact: We're beautifying and enriching so many women's lives."
THE ADVOCATE, Deborah Brooks FAVORITE WEBSITE: "Google. I start every search with it."
THE FUTURIST, Beth Comstock READING LIST: "I'm a total bibliophile. I'm reading The Private Life of Chairman Mao, which has some 800 pages, by Li Zhi-Sui, and The First Sex: The Natural Talents of Women and How They Are Changing the World, which is about women and leadership, by anthropologist Helen Fisher." FAVORITE WEBSITES: "I have my own personalized Yahoo homepage/portal. I also love coolhunting.com, a hip and very product-driven site that I just recently added to my repertoire. I also love Gawker.com, a really gossipy media blog – because I love gossip," reveals Comstock, who boasts browsing her own NBC and iVillage sites. WHAT SUCCESS MEANS TO HER: "For me, it's about constantly finding new things to be excited about and not giving up my curiosity. I've given up thinking that balance is ever going to happen, and I'm actually OK with that, because I really think I thrive in a hectic, crazy environment – and I think that's me!"
THE HIT MAKER, Lisa Ellis READING LIST: "Dancing in the Dark by Caryl Phillips; The Lovely Bones by Alice Sebold; Islamic Imperialism, a historical perspective on Islam; and 1,000 Places to See Before You Die: A Traveler's Life List by Patricia Schultz – my plan is to travel and check them all off one at a time! My next book is The Red Tent by Anita Diamant, a book that I bought in a bookstore at The American Colony Hotel in Jerusalem." PET PEEVES: "I don't like to hear, 'Well, we can't;' and I hate the phrase, 'But we've never done it that way;' and I really hate the word no," she says, noting that, ever the optimist, "I'm actually driven by no, because I always believe that no can turn into yes."
THE CORPORATE CONSCIENCE, Karen Flanders READING LIST: "The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini, which follows a boy turning into a man in Afghanistan and understanding the true meaning of friendship; Does Anything Eat Wasps? – it's a great way to introduce kids to science; Thinking Clockwise: A Field Guide for the Innovative Leader by Dennis Stauffer, which is teaching me how to listen to my gut instincts when making business decisions; and the very energizing and inspiring The Creative Habit by Twyla Tharp." FAVORITE WEBSITES: "Economist.com – it's my bible for international news. I keep it as my default on my browser. Flickr.com – a fabulous site for photo-sharing. Memorystone.com – allows you to self-publish your own books for special occasions. I made one each for my twin daughters on their second birthday; one to celebrate our son, Max; and one for my husband's 40th birthday. Google.com/Maps – Google is pure genius anyway, but their satellite maps are a step beyond. Digg.com – helps me cope with the avalanche of information out there since users rank sites by voting. And, of course, pinkmagazine.com." HOW SHE KEEPS IT REAL: "Authenticity for me comes in the form of being myself in all situations at work and at home, in not taking myself too seriously, laughing a lot, nurturing ideas, being there for others and building lasting relationships."
THE CHIEF CREATIVE OFFICER, Aerin Lauder FAVORITE WEBSITES: "Style.com is great because it really helps me to see all of the runway shows in Europe without ever getting on a plane. I do a lot of shopping online for the kids at LandsEnd.com, and I always turn to CNN.com for the latest news." THE REALITY: "I'm a very busy mom; I'm trying to balance the children, my husband, my job – and we have a puppy! There are so many elements to my day, so I understand when a woman doesn't have time to make a mistake with the wrong foundation color or when she wants a wonderful handpicked gift."
THE ENGINEER, Duy-Loan Le READING LIST: "I'll rotate among three or four books until I'm finished with all of them at the same time. The books that I'm reading right now: The World is Flat by Thomas Friedman (it's a book about how technology is driving the changes in globalization), Ten Minutes From Normal by Karen Hughes, and the last book is really a touching, meaningful book called The Ultimate Gift by Jim Stovall." FAVORITE WEBSITES: "When it comes to the Web and the Internet, I'm a pretty old-fashioned person. I still prefer having a Wall Street Journal in my hands rather than reading it on the Web. If I have to choose one website that I read very often, it would be Yahoo Financial, simply because I can read a summary of what's happening and find some tips on personal finance." WHY SHE LOVES HER JOB: "My job has enabled me to achieve all that I can while living a balanced life and all three aspects of that: family and friends; career and profession; and community service and civic leadership. I'm counting my blessings."
THE MEGA RETAILER, Pernille Spiers Lopez READING LIST: "I'm reading The Art of Possibility by Rosamund Stone Zander and Benjamin Zander, and there's also a Canadian author who I've read who I absolutely loved. Her name is Oriah Mountain Dreamer, and she's written one I always look at and use called The Dance. What's inspiring about that book is that she talks about dancing to the rhythm of your self. We often ask ourselves, why am I not the person I want to be? And seldom do we ask, why am I not happy being the person I am? She writes a poem and then she writes her own story about what it means to her in her life." HOW SHE KEEPS IT REAL: "You have to give yourself the OK not to be perfect. Once you accept that you're not always going to look great and that you're not always going to get in the exercise that you need, and that you're not going to have it all together at all times, it's a huge relief. When you're honest with who you are, it just empowers you, and you pass along that positive energy to others."
READING LIST: "On Becoming Fearless by Arianna Huffington and The Mighty and the Almighty by Madeleine Albright." FAVORITE WEBSITES: "Expedia.com because I love to travel and for its great design; Google News – it's the best way to see a lot of news all at once; and YouTube.com and Google Video because these are great places to find fun things to watch." INSPIRATION: "I love technology, innovation, creativity, things that people build and the ingenuity in solutions," Mayer says. Some examples: "The Shanghai skyline, TiVo's home networking option, the Schick Intuition Plus razor for its ingenious integrated soap design, and an amazing 8-foot by 45-foot art display made of lace and scotch tape at the Museum of Modern Art in San Francisco."
THE KICK-STARTER, Tamara Rosenthal READING LIST: "I just finished reading The Secret History by Donna Tartt, which apparently everybody read 10 years ago. It was fantastic. I just also read I Am Charlotte Simmons by Tom Wolfe. Also, Middlesex by Jeffrey Eugenides, and Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close and Everything Is Illuminated – the two books by Jonathan Safran Foer. FAVORITE WEBSITES: I love Style.com – it's very good for keeping up with trends in fashion and with celebrities, especially from a work perspective. I also love Epicurious for fun recipes, and Google. I feel like I use it for everything. WHY SHE LOVES HER JOB: "I just love the psychological aspect of marketing – what makes consumers tick and how we're going to get them to buy more – and I love that in my job I'm really a generalist, and I've got my hands in so many different things." THE CREDIT CARD LINCHPIN, Susan Sobbott READING LIST: What I Know Now: Letters to My Younger Self by Ellyn Spragins. WHY SHE LOVES HER JOB: "I walk away awed and inspired every time I talk to a customer because win or lose, they absolutely love what they do," Sobbott says. "Their businesses are expressions of themselves, so it's very personal. And at OPEN, we get to be a part of it. It doesn't get any better than that!"
THE HOTELIER, Lindsey Ueberroth READING LIST: "The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini, a book that everyone else seems to have read some time ago, and Honeymoon With My Brother: A Memoir by Franz Wisner, which has a great travel spin on it." FAVORITE WEBSITES: "I'm on the road all the time, so TripAdvisor.com; LuxuryLink.com. And thank God for Google." WHAT MAKES HER TICK: "People and travel, which is so inspirational when you get to meet people from different cultures because everyone has a different story to share," says Ueberroth, on the phone from Cape Town, South Africa, where she was on a scouting trip for new properties. She jokes that she's been traveling since she was in the belly of her flight attendant mother.
THE HOSPITALITY BOSS, Robin Uler READING LIST: Blink: The Power of Thinking Without Thinking by Malcolm Gladwell and Blue Like Jazz: Nonreligious Thoughts on Christian Spirituality by Donald Miller. FAVORITE WEBSITES: "Travel blogs and mrandmrssmith.com for boutique lodging info; dominomag.com; DailyCandy.com; WilliamsSonomaHome.com; Target.com and the website for the Colette retail stores in Paris – for style and trend ideas." WHAT SHE'S MOST PROUD OF: "Our team has completely changed the way the company looks at our presentations and our tone of voice graphically. And our website has pushed the envelope to create the idea of lifestyle to our employees. We've convinced our company that the sensory part of the business is so important to our customers that what you eat, what you buy in retail and what's in your mini-bar is part of the experience." At this time, PINK does not have further information for two game changers: CBS President Nina Tassler and DreamWorks Co-Chairman Stacy Snider. |
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