New Year, New You – Starting the Year Successfully

Posted on January 11, 2014 by MarleneMB

“New Year, New You,” exclaimed Maria as we both walked through the parking lot to our cars. I had shared with her that we needed to come up with a theme for the Toastmasters Leadership Institute. Every six months, Toastmasters International mandates that at least four of the seven club officers in each club (over 14,000 clubs world wide) in the organization should receive leadership training. This training is called Toastmasters Leadership Institute (TLI). It is not an easy task to pull together a training session for the amount of people that required training. We wanted a theme that would attract folks to sign up for the event.

As the Division Governor of Division A, one of my duties is to ensure that the officers receive this training. Currently, there are over twenty clubs in the division and this equate to a minimum of eighty officers. I enlisted Maria’s assistant in coaching our newly appointed TLI chair, Carmen, with organizing the event. Maria had previously done this and I thought it would be great to have her share her knowledge with Carmen. It was a way to help Carmen develop her leadership skills while helping Maria develop her coaching skills. I am happy to say, “Mission accomplished. “

These two women collaborated with each other on the theme; they came up with great ideas for memorbilia for the attendees to purchase, special raffles, and much more. They visited the venue to ensure that the facility will accommodate all the workshops, the space for the sponsors and for the food. They enlisted the aide of many people to cover registration, hospitality, facilitators, etc. During the planning stages, they conducted conference calls with the major coordinators and kept me updated with their progress. When they needed my assistance, they pulled me in to help guide them when necessary.

I learned a lot during this process as well:

Learn to delegate and not take everything on myself
Assign the tasks to someone that you know has the potential to grow
Provide this person with a partner that can coach him/her through the assignments
Give him/her the power to be creative
Encourage him/her along the way
Recognize him/her for a job well done and allow him/her to shine

The event was a great success! We had over 200 attendees. The presenters, facilitators, club officers and guests gave rave reviews of the event. My mentor, Norman, who has been a Toastmasters for twenty-seven years, came up to me and said it was one of the best TLI he has ever attended. I was beaming like a proud mom for Carmen and Maria. As I read through the evaluations of the workshops and the event, I realized that the theme was perfect. Many of the respondents stated that the presenters, the keynote speaker and the event impacted them in a positive way. They learned new things and left with great ideas for themselves and their club members. What can you do to become a New You in the New Year?

Live a Diamond Life! Live a Life of Purpose!

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No Wallflower at the University of Miami Diversity Networking Night

Posted on September 24, 2013 by MarleneMB

Recently, Alicia Rodriguez, Director of Employer Relations at the University of Miami, invited me to be the keynote speaker at the university’s Diversity Networking Night event. The goal of the event was to engage a diverse group of students and alumni of various backgrounds with potential employers. My task was to provide them with tips for successful networking and job interviewing skills.I was honored to be the keynote speaker at this event. I love being able to share information with the students at my Alma Mater and to give back some of the wonderful folks at the University of Miami.

I worked with Maria Tomaino, Associate Director Events & Marketing within the Toppel Career Center, to ensure that the material I was sharing met the goals of the center. She was very professional and so energetic and I was impressed by her diligence in getting everything organized in order to produce a high quality experience for the participants. At the event, Maria was on hand to welcome me and provided me with the information and the equipment I needed to present to the attendees. She was such a great support to me.

The presentation went well. There were over 150 people in attendance. The students and alumni had fun performing the networking exercises as well as the demo job interview session. Many of them approached me after the event to thank me for giving them new ideas about successful networking and how to conduct themselves in a job interview. I was very impressed by the entire occasion, Maria and her team as well as the enthusiasm of the students/alums. I walked away feeling more blessed by them and their positive attitude for the future. Kudos to the Toppel Center team for hosting another wonderful career affair.

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Mentoring Sarah Noel – Refreshing and Renewing

Posted on April 14, 2013 by MarleneMB

Throughout the years, I have had the benefit of having great mentors in my life. This made it easy for me to decide that I want to become a mentor to others. One of the organizations of which I am a member and act as a mentor, is the ITWomen organization. This group raises scholarship funds for young women pursuing careers in the STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) arena; provide networking opportunity for women in technology; and also mentors young women (and some men) in these areas.

At one of the schools that I visited to share the ins and outs of college life with the students, I met Sarah Noel. The first time I saw her, she had a copy of Les Miserable in her hand. I asked her if she had to read it for a class. She replied “No. I wanted to read it for myself. I like to read.” I immediately told her that I know she will be a great leader one day…great leaders like to read as well. That was over two years ago. Sarah and I have kept in contact with each other due to our kindred spirits in seeking to help others.

This past week she shared the picture of her in her cap and gown as she prepares to graduate from high school and continue her education at undergraduate level. The joy that I feel in seeing her picture gives me such hope for her future success. The amazing thing about my interaction with Sarah is that as I encouraged, mentored and shared with her my experiences; Sarah was opening my eyes to the wonders of believing and pursuing one’s dreams.

As adults sometimes the busyness of life causes us to push aside our dreams and aspirations. Mentoring Sarah and others like her helps me to keep my focus on my dreams. Thank you Sarah for giving me the opportunity to serve you and in the process develop myself as well. I know you are focused on living a Diamond Life, a Life of Purpose!

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Social Media – Attraction or Distraction

Posted on February 12, 2013 by MarleneMB

I joined social media to promote my businesses and to build my brand awareness. I started out on LinkedIn in 2007 because it is a viewed as “the” professional social media site. Since then, I have joined Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, Google+, etc. In its Nov. 2012 Internet report, Pew Research states that over 69% of adults in this country are on one form of social media. (63% are men and 74% are women…no surprise there!) We women are social creatures.

I have found that managing these many social media sites is a full time job; if one is not careful. At first I was happy to post information about the products and services we offer and updating my professional information. I grew my market base and met new business partners via social media sites and social media events generated from these sites. Life was great.

Then I got hooked into Facebook with my family and friends updating every life’s events: vacation trips, trips to the movies, trips to the mall, etc. OMG (Oh My God), WHT (What the Heck) as I have learned to type from social media. These sites were eating up my time. I developed a love-hate relationship with them. If someone followed me on Twitter, I felt obligated to follow him or her. If they mentioned me in a tweet and retweet (RT), I had to thank them and mentioned (MT) them if I want to grow my followers.

I was drowning! One day, I had a revolt and decided that I was mad as heck and I wasn’t going to take it anymore. I decided I’m not going on for the rest of the week. That lasted about ½ day! Can we say addict? Anyway, I found out that I was not alone, about 54% of the women and 42% of men that are on social media get on every day. (Pew Report 2012)

Many people said that social media is a distraction. In a recent Mashable, an online technology news site, article, reporter Jennifer Shore writes that social media distraction may be costing the U.S. economy $650 Billion or $4,452 per company! We spend over 12 billion hours on social media, annually. Wow! Think how many pairs of shoes or power tool one can buy! (Hahaha).

Don’t hit the panic button yet. We still have some control. As with any self-indulgent activity, we have to power to moderate how much we do or use something. I have resorted to use tools such as Hootsuite or Tweetdeck to manage most of my social media sites. These tools allow me to view the sites simultaneously and to post information across all. I also have allotted specific times when I will jump on these social sites. According to Pew about 61% of people state that they generally take breaks from Facebook. This is due to boredom, too much gossip or simple as a way to fast for Lent.

Personally, I take breaks to focus on getting my projects done and to stay focus on being creative and connected offline. When I feel like I have sometime important, or inspirational, I jump online and share it. I have learned to use social media as an attraction and not a distraction. See you on LinkedIn or Facebook or Twitter or YouTube or whatever!!!!

Live a Diamond Life! Live a Life of Purpose!

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Surround Yourself with Greatness

Posted on January 8, 2013 by MarleneMB

When I workout, I like to listen to music and motivational/inspirational speakers. One of these speakers, I have reciting his words of wisdom in my ears, is Tony Robbins. On this particular recorded chat, Tony retells his conversation with a U.S. General about people maintain a certain standard in their lives. The general asked why did some people allow their standards to drop. Tony told him “most people’s lives are a direct reflection of the expectation of their peer group.”

Isn’t that the truth! Most of us are influenced by the people that surround us. There a quite a few researches that have shown the link between the impact the folks, you have around, and your daily behavior/habit. You can read the article written by Louise Wasylkiwand Molly E. Williamson about the way young women view their bodies depends on the views of their friends. No big surprise to most of us. Yet, some of us don’t apply this knowledge to our lives. We allow people with negative habits or attitudes into our lives and the result is not always good for us.

There is a popular saying that is spoken in most sales office: “If you want to fly like an eagle, you don’t fly with pigeons.” A young man asked me how he could get a job in a particular industry. I asked him to name the folks and groups he hung out with outside his family and his work. None of them included folks in the industry in which he wants to work. I instructed him to ensure he has the skills required for the particular job he wants, and to attend networking events as well as find a mentor in that industry. I told him to surround himself with the folks who are doing what he wants to do.

It’s a New Year. It’s a new day. My friends, start surrounding yourselves with greatness, the greatness that you admire and want to be. Surround yourself with people that will make you a better Diamond.

Live a Diamond Life! Live a Life of Purpose!

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Please visit our websites: www.marlenembryan.com and www.higherroadconsulting.com