A very wise person I know said those words. Fear does kill everything. I know fear killed my spirit for many years. It wasn’t until I made a conscious effort to face fear that was I able to find ways to move past it and begin creating a life for myself. Not an easy task and one that I work on every day.

In “The Business of Me” we begin by addressing the fears women harbor about money and give them tools to deal with their fears.

If we don’t recognize our fears we may not be able t...

I have been re-reading David Levinson’s study, Family Violence - A Cross-Cultural Perspective. He cites evidence indicating that if women have economic power they are less likely to be battered.

I can speak from my personal experience. Although I was the major wage earner, every payday I turned my check over to my husband – he controlled the finances.  Because he controlled our money he had the ability to control my life.

While there were other forms of abuse he inflicted on me econom...

The numbers of teens who have experienced dating abuse is enormous. Here are some statistics:

1.       Each year approximately one in four adolescents reports verbal, physical, emotional or sexual abuse.

2.       Approximately one in five adolescents reports being a victim of emotional abuse.

3.       Approximately one in five high school girls has been physically or sexually abused by a dating partner.

4.       Dating violence among their peers is reported by 54% of high school studen...

Women need the support of women in their lives. And if you don’t believe that here is a statement from Yale University anthropologist David Levinson based on a study he did on family violence. Mr. Levinson cites the following based on his research “women’s economic power and solidarity with other women is a powerful predictor of the absence of wife beating.”

Women who have endured domestic violence have not only been isolated from family but also not allowed to have friends. The abus...

Matthew Kemeny of The Patriot-News wrote an article about a report that indicates domestic violence fatalities have increased statewide in Pennsylvania.

According to the article a preliminary statewide report shows domestic violence fatalities at its highest mark in three years. There were 179 deaths due to domestic violence in 2009 compared with 121 in 2007, according to the Pennsylvania Coalition Against Domestic Violence (http://www.pcadv.org/Resources/2008_DV_Fatality_Report.pdf ). 

Th...

Lynn Rosenthal the White House Advisor on Violence Against Women has written a blog post that talks about the benefits of the new health care bill for women.

 “A greater percentage of women are more likely than men to be uninsured or underinsured and to struggle to make ends meet”, she says. “In addition, those women who manage to get coverage are more likely to pay higher premiums than men. Women who suffer from preexisting conditions are often denied coverage altogether. “

S...

Governor Chet Culver of Iowa signed into law today a bill that protects families by taking guns out of the hands of abusers.  The law prohibits a person who has been convicted of a domestic abuse crime, or is subject to a permanent civil protective order, from possessing firearms or other offensive weapons.

Congratulations to Governor Culver.  Read the entire story http://www.iowapolitics.com/index.iml?Article=189993.

The other day I talked about shipping conference materials in my blog post at Nancy’s Story www.nancysstory.com,  today I am going to talk more about conferences. Specifically every conference has a theme. The theme sets the tone for the conference and it was my responsibility and one of my co-workers to determine the theme.

Time was passing and we had not come up with at theme. Since all conference materials have the theme printed on them unless you have a theme you have no materials. No ...