5

Lean In

Post #3

Book by Sheryl Sandburg.

As this book unfolds many topics are becoming themes. Sndburg is a bit critical, or at least very observant of, women who know they are worthy of good careers, but choose not to pursue because they plan on having children and do not want to have to choose between work and motherhood. I wonder if it will be appropriate for me to speak to our PromoBox Donor about this, as she is of the age where many women start having children. What does she plan to do? How has sexism effected her work as an entrepreneur thus far? How has she overcome it to be successful in her field?  I think often about this because I am interested in becoming a Foreign Service Worker. My main concern is that my job will have a negative effect on my future kids, will living abroad without having to assimilate to the local culture make them entitled? Will they be socially awkward if they have to move often? Will the environment be one that leaves them without friends, a nation identity, or spoiled? I just became interested in this career, I am 18 years old but already I am concerned less about the careers impact on myself, but more on the impact it might have on people who don't even exist yet. I think that this is a female thought, I don't think that men think as deeply about the way their actions will affect their fire children as they think about how much their actions will affect their future selves. It is so fascinating to see how this topic that Sandburg blames for so much lack of female success in the workforce, manifested in myself exactly as she describes it. The thing is, I can acknowledge it, but I am still not sure if I (or other young women allowing their career goals to be affected by familial prospects) should listen to Sandburg. My children will be a big part of my life in the future, they will make a huge different in my life trajectory and I think that peoples families always should. Is it possible that men should allow their own career goals to be swayed by family? Should our culture families as a place to be as successful as the workplace? Or maybe womens roles have been internalized so much so that hte only way to reverse them is to be “selfish,” and state that just like men they will cross the bridge of a work life balance when they come to it.

5

This past week has been extremely focused on the storefront reject. I have been in charge of contacting others to get the most accurate numbers so we can write all financial statements (such as the P+L) most accurately. This job has been a bit difficult as most people don't have their electric bills in front of them when I call, or remember what they pay monthly for deep conditioners. While we are trying to move foreword on the project, I have also had to be patient because these salons have no incentive to help us so if they take a few days to get back and call in the middle of my math class, I have to accommodate them while making sure my group know that I am trying to get work done quickly and efficiently.

We also received our wristbands in the mail late this week! We are excited to begin promoting ad selling them as soon as possible. Our donation came from PromoBox, and our donor told us that she would be happy to help us advertise our product. We are excited to learn from her and see her ideas about promoting these wristbands. We are selling to YOG '15 and YOG '18 because we thin these groups are more likely to have the most school spirit. We have a great flier that will go all around the school as well as announcements on the loud speaker, and we will sell them at lunches. Hopefully people will be attracted to them but if not we will need to find ways to advertise and hopefully our donor can help. I am most worried because in my experience with baking, high school students aren’t a very dependable market. They tend to commit to purchasing, but last minute will flake out on you. I am curious to find out how our relationship with promobox will help, and how we can leverage our contacts in our own parts of the BHS community to get people to buy these and turn a profit with the project by the end of the second quarter.

post #4

Our original idea for the $200 project was holding holiday events for elementary school children. We would show movies in the gym, sell foods, and include donation boxes for Toys for Tots and other holiday charities. There would also be personal shoppers who could handle the responsibilities of others for a cost. We would only be paying for food preparation and maybe decorations. The issue with this is, what movies do we show? Brookline has many non-Christian families, and maybe they won't pay for their children to attend these events. The other problem was timing, we would need to have everything done before the holidays because no one will come and watch a Christmas movie in late January. The final issue was getting a space. I met several times with Ms. Keavney, but at BHS there are so many events, that actually getting a space is often times quite difficult. We would have liked to use the Shluntz gym, but it is constantly booked. All of these challenges seemed insurmountable in the short time we had, and thus we chose to go in a different direction.

We are selling BHS Class of 20** wristbands for Seniors and Freshmen. Hopefully, we are correct in saying that these groups have the host school spirit. Our wristbands are being shipped and we will begin selling them soon, but not until after Winter Break. I've notice a surge of school spirit related items being sold recently and am curious to find out where will we fit into this. Warrior stickers, water bottles, and other warrior paraphanelia are now being sold around school. Does this mean that people are more invested in paying for school spirit items, or are there a bunch of projects happening and the market will be split between the few students interested in buying these items. Does the new Spartan Warrior effect school spirit? I think that these questions can only be answered with time, and will use creative ways to make sure our product is sold out and we make a profit.

post #3

In my group we are working on a project for a salon that would also be a part of the school and include some community building aspects. I think that this salon is a great idea, and I have always said that BHS doesn't serve all of its students well in technical skills especially the girls as the autoshop is mostly attractive to male students. I really wish this actually existed! At the same time, I am curious, a a little worried about whether or not this salon would be successful. Most people in Brookline are willing to spend money for haircuts and spa treatments, thus I am worried that we will not have a large clientele as we will have a less elegant salon with owed prices, and more work will be being done by high school students. Up until, student run businesses (like restaurant 108) have been serving other students, not the general public. I would be interested to see who is attracted to this salon if it where to open, sometimes businesses are surprised by where they find clients.

One of my jobs right now is to figure out how to engage a diverse clientele. We are located in a most diverse part of Brookline, with many minorities living in areas such as Walnut St, 22 High St, and High St.  Vets. Despite this added diversity we will need to depend on wealthier Caucasian people as well if we want a successful business. Thus, I will need to find ways to engage people from different backgrounds, and with different hair textures. Barber shops and hair salons have always been a somewhat segregated environment, both by neighborhood, race, and gender. I am a little concerned that  some People of Color, will not always be particularly interested in offering their business to a salon where they will either be in the minority or will not be run by members of their own community. Luckily I have a good relationship with Oneka, a hairstylist who works at E FX, in Fields Corner, Dorchester. Her salon serves an exclusively black female clientele, in a Vietnamese sections of the neighborhood. I am curious to find out what challenges she faces, and how she serves her clientele in a place that my not be near their house.

#2

Sandburg shares an anecdote where she is in an important business meeting and a group of female executives come into the meeting. They sit farther away from the male executives even though they are at the same level on the totem pole. Even when asked by Sandburg to move up, they politely decline. After the meeting Sandburg pulls them aside to ask why they chose to sit in a different place. They eventually all agreed that these women should have asserted themselves.

Sandburg talks about going up to a group of women who did not sit at the same part of the table in a business meeting and pointing out that they were invited but chose not to join anyways. She simply pulls them aside and asks why they didn't assert themselves physically. The women reflect and eventually agree with Sheryl saying that they should have been more confident in sitting with the other men. This anecdote puzzles me a bit. What about all four of these women did not feel comfortable sitting with the rest of the business people if they themselves were businesswomen? Why did Sheryl Sandburg feel justified to approach them, pull them aside, and call them out for their behavior? Most other women would notice and feel frustrated, but what made Sandburg feel it would be appropriate to put the other women on the spot? I wonder if Sandburg is a likable person, this story almost makes her seem a little intrusive or nosey. At the same time, I might feel differently if she had been a man pulling the women aside to ask why they didn't feel comfortable sitting with the men. Maybe this is my own internalized sexism, and I now have the opportunity to address it within myself.

Also, in my academic life, most of the girls will be the ones to sit in the front of the classroom, raise their hands, etc. It’s the boys who are quiet or sit off to the side. Is this going to change when I enter a career, or is the nation changing?

#1

I am interested by this book by Sheryl Sandburg, and I'm glad to read something that is currently receiving so much media attention so that I can be part of the conversation. I was more interested by the statistics about a woman's achievement, and reasons she credits for her success being different from a mans. Most women don't  accredit their internal qualities but claim "luck" go them to where they were. This now makes me curious to whether or not I have internalized some of these feelings of "feeling like a fraud" and I wonder how they show up in my own life without me even noticing. I am hoping to be more conscious of my own thoughts or actions, especially as an entrepreneur, so that I can help discourage these behaviors that Sandburg has labeled. I look forward to reading and reflecting on this book.

Sandburg notes that it is important for women who plan on having children later in life not to forget about their careers. It will be important for them to make work their main commitment, until its time for them to have kids. Then, they can leave their careers behind, either temporarily or for good, and care for their children. Of course this isn't an option for many women, who will need to work either way to support their families, so Sandbug is addressing upper middle class women. I am sometimes a little concerned about how this will play out in my own life, as I am looking at a career as a foreign service worker, but also want to have children. It might not be fair to move my children around every couple of years to a new country. I wonder if men have these thoughts when thinking about future careers. If not, this might be another way in which women internalize sexism because they put families (that don't even exist yet) into their plans, and because of this might not seek the high paying career as a foreign service worker for fear that it will not be good for their future kids.