Blogs

This image of 2 of the over 1,100 victims of the Bangladesh Garment Factory collapse, shown in a final...

Spring is upon us and with it comes the desire to refresh our look.  Accessories are often an easy way to give last year's outfit a new look. When you shop at Shoptimize, your accessorizing has an added purpose: moving women led-businesses forward at a critical time in their development and helping women's nonprofits. A fine example can be found in the amazing bags designed by emerging entrepreneur Sobia Shaikh.

Sobia...

So, Sheryl Sandberg wants us to lean in in order to succeed in our quest for leadership. Personally, I think telling women to lean in, while in individual cases is sometimes good advice, is really a distraction from what women and men need to do to make this world more equitable for women and their families.  Let's fix the system not just the underrepresented women in it. Better yet, let's create new systems...

Of the many recent articles surrounding Sheryl Sandberg’s new book, the one that I think resonates with me the most is the article that appeared in The Wall Street Journal by Jody Greenstone Miller, The Real Women’s Issue: Time. While I know from personal experience that a woman-led firm, particularly a start up, requires more hours at work and more “leaning in” as Sheryl Sandberg has...

If you've read my bio on www.shoptimize.org, you learned that the roots of my deep passion for advancing women stems from when my own mother was in high school. After being married at 16 in Iran, she had to sneak behind her grandfather's back to 

attend high school.  Her father did not see the need for a married woman to continue her education and said she could attend...

This year, as we brought down our artificial christmas tree, I was momentarily wistful for a real tree until I remembered tree-getting adventures of Christmas past. My family never had a tree, we only celebrated the material aspects of the holiday tradition, so it was with great excitement that I helped pick and saw and transport our very own tree ever since the children, whom I fondly refer to as Thing...

As you start to make your lists for year-end gift giving, I hope you will consider the power you have each time you make a purchase.  US women have over 80% of the purchasing power in this country.  What if we began to mindfully direct many of our purchases to advance women?  

Sanaa Hyder's international upbringing has exposed her to a variety of cultures whose best designs are boldly reflected in her new line of luggage.  Inspired by the colorful mosaics of her travels, the gothic elements of cities in which she has lived or visited, she has created pieces that are not only thoughtfully functional, but moreover, like works of art. 

Like many Americans, I came away frustrated by the first presidential debate. It seemed more about each candidate’s sound bites and their dominance over the moderator, Jim Lehrer, than about a true debate over differences in policy.  I recently ran across a great TED talk by Harvard Business School professor and researcher Amy Cuddy who studies the amazing affects of power poses.  One of the poses was a “Wonder Woman” pose where...

October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month. Shoptimize will donate 2% of its October 2013 profits to the Dr. Susan Love Research Foundation.  Like Dr. Susan Love, I believe the focus should be on preventing breast cancer altogether. 

It has been almost five years now since cancer joined our family.  My sister Debbie at the young age of 45...