Exhale Lifestyle Magazine Winter 2012

Exhale Lifestyle Magazine Winter 2012

Lifestyle Magazine For Women

Winter 2012

Lisa Pierpont

A BOLDFACER IN SEARCH OF UNTOLD STORIES Women startups find support with

Published by Banner Publications Inc. All rights reserved. Copyright 2012.

MassChallenge 100 years strong Girl Scouts celebrate past, present and future leaders

ARTS

with Joyce Kulhawik

Robin Chase

Transportation Innovator Founder, Zipcar and GoLoco

Carmen Wong Ulrich Financial Journalist

Meg Whitman Business Innovator CEO,HP

Jane McGonigal

Billie Jean King

Game Innovator Director, Institute for the Future

Sports Innovator Tennis Legend

Michele Norris Host of NPR’s All Things Considered

An enthusiastic, inspiring, and practical day to focus on yourself, your career, and your direction in life. –2011 Conference Attendee

Thursday, April 5, 2012 Seaport World Trade Center, Boston, Massachusetts

simmons.edu/leadership

Scan with your phone to go to the homepage.

Innovation

& Impact SIMMONS LEADERSHIP CONFERENCE

Thursday, April 5, 2012

Seaport World Trade Center Boston, Massachusetts

TuESDAy,simmons.edu/leadership APRIL 26, 2011

As attendees who return year after year attest, the Simmons Leadership Conference is the premier professional event for women.

The 2012 program builds on this exemplary tradition with yet another roster of distinguished speakers from the worlds of business, science, entrepreneurship and more. This year’s lineup includes some of the nation’s visionary change-makers who recognized and seized opportunities to alter the course of their industry or profession. The knowledge and inspiration that you will gain from these extraordinary speakers — and from the collective energy of more than 2,500 business and professional women that join in this unique event — will provide powerful motivation to become a change-maker in your own life.

All proceeds support scholarships to students in graduate programs at Simmons College.

Keynote Speakers • • • •

Meg Whitman, President & CEO, Hewlett-Packard Company Robin Chase, Founder, Zipcar and GoLoco Michele Norris, Host of NPR’s All Things Considered Billie Jean King, Tennis Legend

Signature Speakers • Jane McGonigal, Director, Institute for the Future • Rhonda Kallman, Co-Founder, Boston Beer Works

Exhale • Winter 2012

Session Speakers • • • • •

Vernice Armour, Internationally acclaimed author and speaker, and America’s first African American female combat pilot Mary Ellen Iskenderian, President and CEO, Women’s World Banking Jane Edison Stevenson, Vice Chairman, Board and CEO Services, Korn/Ferry International Carmen Wong Ulrich, Internationally acclaimed author, personal finance expert, popular television and print journalist Haiyan Wang, Managing Partner, China India Institute

Plan to take advantage of our special Pre-Conference offerings on Wednesday, April 4 for registered conference attendees only!

• Global Mindset: Breaking the Glass Border: A three-hour seminar with Simmons SOM Professor Lynda Moore.

• The Art of Coaching: Enhancing Your Skills as a Leader: Learn to expand your coaching skills with Wendy Capland, CEO, Vision Quest Consulting.

• Professional Leadership Coaching: 1:1 coaching sessions targeted for those with a minimum of three years managerial experience. Take advantage of this opportunity offered at a remarkable discount.

The Day at a Glance 6:45-8:00 8:00-8:30 8:35-9:25

9:35-10:55

REGISTRATION AND CONTINENTAL BREAKFAST WELCOMING REMARKS

OPENING PLENARY SESSION — Meg Whitman

CONCURRENT MORNING SESSIONS

1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

10:55-11:25

Personal Finance: New Rules of Money - Carmen Wong Ulrich Teambuilding: Permission to Engage - Vernice Armour Signature Dialogue: Game On - Jane McGonigle with Jill Avery Leadership and Innovation - Jane Edison Stevenson Global Consciousness: Building Women’s Businesses - Mary Ellen Iskendarian with Teresa Nelson

Meet the Speakers Book-Signing Break

11:25-12:15

MORNING PLENARY SESSION - Robin Chase

1:30-2:20

AFTERNOON PLENARY SESSION - Michele Norris

12:15-1:30 2:30-3:50

LUNCHEON

CONCURRENT AFTERNOON SESSIONS

6. Personal Finance: New Rules of Money - Carmen Wong Ulrich (Repeat of morning session) 7. Global Strategy: Getting China and India Right - Haiyan Wang 8. Signature Dialogue: Brewing up a Revolution - Rhonda Kallman with Michele Norris 9. Business Panel: The Culture of Innovation - Panelists: TBA - Moderator: Jane Edison Stevenson 10. Teambuilding: Permission to Engage - Vernice Armour (Repeat of morning session)

3:50-4:20

Meet the Speakers Book-Signing Break

5:20-6:00

CONNECTION RECEPTION

4:20-5:20

CLOSING PLENARY SESSION — Billie Jean King

Closing Keynote Billie Jean King

Tennis legend and closing keynote speaker Billie Jean King literally changed the playing field for women. Early in a stellar career that includes a record 20 Wimbledon titles, she successfully fought for equal prize money for men and women tennis players and helped to open opportunities for all professional female athletes. Her battle for gender equality was vividly played out in an epic match with Bobby Riggs, a win that forever altered the way parents viewed their daughters and how daughters viewed themselves. On the long list of King’s groundbreaking achievements are the founding of the Women’s Tennis Association, the Women’s Sports Foundation and Women’s Sports Magazine, along with the co-founding of World TeamTennis. Her recent book, “Pressure Is a Privilege: Lessons I’ve Learned from Life and the Battle of the Sexes,” provides inspiring stories about the experiences shaping her success as a world-class athlete, activist, businesswoman and mentor.

exhalelifestyle.com

Winter 2012

Author’s Corner

Health Matters

All that glitters is gold

16

The cold truth about winter skin

19

A new approach to the New Year’s resolution

32

A guide for health and wellness in the New Year Mindless eating We Are Not Martha

Makeup artist launches line that defines a woman’s natural beauty

59

Advancing Women Careers A Special Advertorial Section

62

Business Calendar

70 74 76 80

Q&A with The Commonwealth Institute

82

Cultural Calendar

100 years strong

24

Career Coach

Party Pictures

changing young lives through dance

Science Club for Girls grows up

Infertility

Reviews with Joyce Kulhawik

22

28

Girl Scouts celebrate a sisterhood of past, present and future leaders

36 38 40 43 58

Transformations

20

OrigiNation

14

Winter 2012

Kelly’s journey

30

Even when faced with breast cancer, she never lost hope

Chef brings traditional Texas-style barbeque to Boston

44

52

On our front cover

Lisa Pierpont

A boldface media star spotlights the untold stories in Boston Photograph by Ian Justice: ianjustice.com Hair and makeup by Mariolga: Team Artist Representative Styling by Erica Corsano

46

Divas Uncorked talk wine, women and friendship

Women entrepreneurs find support with MassChallenge

48

Ballet Hispanico’s

69

Eduardo Vilaro talks dance and Latino culture

Sandra Casagrand Publisher Howard Manly Executive Editor

UNIQUE FASHION ACCESSORIES. THE PERFECT SPECIAL GIFT . . .

116 NEWBURY STREET BOSTON, MA 02116 617-262-4660 facebook.com/elishadanielsforjpandco

DESIGN: MARIO AVILA DESIGN.COM ILLUSTRATION: HANA PEGRIMKOVA

Christine McCall Managing Editor Tim Stansky Sales Director Walter Waller Executive Creative Director Joshua Falkenburg Graphic Design Assistant Contributing Writers Cheryl Fenton Allison Knott Sandra Larson Astrid Lium Brian Wright O’Connor Jacquinn Williams Photographer Ian Justice Copy Editor Rachel Edwards Exhale Lifestyle Magazine is a quarterly magazine distributed throughout the Greater Boston region.

For detailed information visit our website www.exhalelifestyle.com.

To subscribe

Annual subscription cost is $16. Mail check to: Banner Publications, Inc. 23 Drydock Avenue Boston, MA 02210 If paying by credit card please contact Rachel Edwards at (617) 261-4600 ext. 119.

For advertising opportunities

Please contact Tim Stansky at (617) 261-4600 ext. 123 or tim@exhalelifestyle.com.

Visit our website to download the media kit — www.exhalelifestyle.com.

Send letters to the publisher to sandra@exhalelifestyle.com.

Exhale is published by Banner Publications, Inc. All rights reserved — Copyright 2012 Volume 4 • Number 1 • Winter 2012

some of our

Contributors

Winter 2012 Skin Care

Jeffrey S. Dover, M.D., FRCPC

Dr. Jeffrey S. Dover graduated as the silver medalist, magna cum laude from the University of Ottawa. He received dermatology training at the University of Toronto followed by research fellowships at St. John’s Hospital for Diseases of the Skin at the University of London in London, England, and a two-year photomedicine fellowship at Harvard Medical School. Dover is a former associate professor of dermatology at Harvard Medical School, was chief of dermatology at the New England Deaconess Hospital for more than 10 years and also associate chairman of dermatology at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center. He is an associate clinical professor of dermatology at Yale University School of Medicine and adjunct professor of medicine (dermatology) at Dartmouth Medical School. Dover is a director of SkinCare Physicians in Chestnut Hill, Massachusetts.

Skin Care Dr. Nazanin Saedi

Dr. Nazanin Saedi graduated cum laude with a bachelor’s degree from Princeton University. She completed her medical education at the George Washington University School of Medicine where she graduated with distinction and with Alpha Omega Alpha (AOA) honors. In medical school, she received the Walter Rosenberg Award for scholastic excellence and she was recognized by the Gold Foundation for her humanitarian work. She was trained in dermatology at the University of California, Irvine where she served as chief resident. Saedi is completing advanced fellowship training in laser and cosmetic surgery at SkinCare Physicians in Chestnut Hill, Massachusetts.

Fertility Martha Diamond, Ph.D.

Martha Diamond received her undergraduate degree from Stanford University, following two years at Radcliffe College, and her doctorate in clinical psychology from the University of Michigan. She is co-founder and co-director of the Center for Reproductive Psychology in San Diego, California. Diamond is coauthor of “Unsung Lullabies: Understanding and Coping with Infertility” and “Reproductive Trauma: Psychotherapy with Infertility and Pregnancy Loss Clients.” In addition to her clinical practice, Diamond has lectured nationally and internationally on reproductive issues, including the psychological trauma of infertility, miscarriage and premature or complicated births.

Dietitian Allison Knott

Allison Knott became a registered dietitian in 2008 and is currently pursuing a master’s in nutrition communication at Tufts University Friedman School of Nutrition Science and Policy. She completed her dietetic internship at Vanderbilt University Medical Center in Nashville, Tennessee and worked as a clinical dietitian in Northern Georgia before coming to the Friedman School. Knott is passionate about communicating accurate nutrition information to the public.

Health Contributor Dr. Joanne M. Foody, M.D., FACC, FAHA

Dr. Joanne M. Foody is the medical director of the Cardiovascular Wellness Center and Pollin Cardiovascular Wellness Program at Brigham and Women’s Hospital. Foody has active and international roles in cardiac disease prevention and rehabilitation with a particular focus on women and heart disease.

Photography Ian Justice

A native of picturesque Melton Mowbury in England, Ian Justice has wrought his sense of style and impeccable work ethics into a photography career that approaches the two-decade mark. Justice not only makes beautiful images for print and web-based advertising, but realizes worlds in which products tell a story. His skill with the camera and profound knowledge of the equipment and its possibilities make each project sparkle with creative freedom and originality.

Stylist Erica Corsano

Career Coach Dr. Sally Ourieff

A native of Los Angeles, Dr. Sally Ourieff graduated from Stanford University. She attended Harvard Medical School. Upon receiving her medical degree, she completed her training at Children’s Hospital, Boston and McLean Hospital, specializing in child and adult psychiatry. During her career as a psychiatrist and coach, Ourieff focused on helping individuals build positive, strong relationships and personal and professional lives that allow them to flourish. She later became interested in coaching within organizations. This led her to found her own business, Translational Consulting, an executive consulting and coaching firm.

Arts and Entertainment Joyce Kulhawik

Joyce Kulhawik is best known as the Emmy Award-winning arts and entertainment critic for CBS-Boston (WBZ-TV 1981-2008).

She is currently lending her expertise as an arts advocate and cancer crusader to nonprofits all over town and appears on TV as a judge on New England’s premiere musical talent showcase “Community Auditions.” Kulhawik has covered local and national events from Boston and Broadway to Hollywood.

Exhale Lifestyle Magazine is printed by Cummings Printing 4 Peter Brook Drive, P.O. Box 16495 • Hooksett, N.H. 03106-6495 • 603-625-6901 • cummingsprinting.com

Erica Corsano works for Gilt City Boston, a subsidiary of Gilt Groupe, Inc. Corsano’s deep roots in the lifestyle realm reach back over a decade, beginning with roles as a fashion publicist in New York City for some of the world’s most recognized luxury brands.

She moved over to journalism, regularly contributing to publications like Daily Candy Boston, The Boston Globe, and later held editorial positions at Lucky Magazine, Boston Common Magazine, and most recently served as the editorial director of STUFF Magazine.

The Fashion Doctors Dr. Marianna Toroyan

Dr. Marianna Toroyan has been involved in many arenas of the fashion industry for more than 10 years. While she was earning her doctorate degree, she developed a curriculum to improve self-esteem and realized that fashion was a factor in increasing self-image. She also earned a degree from Parsons New School for Design.

Publisher’s Note

Winter 2012

Women in Conversation One of my thoughts in establishing Exhale was to have it jumpstart meaningful conversations among women to address the pressing issues of the day. On many occasions, I have seen women meet in social settings and start brainstorming over ways to help a charitable organization, a social cause or create a new business opportunity.

Exhale serves as a facilitator for such connections and networking. In fact, we are pleased to be launching the first of our quarterly “Women in Conversation” series on February 16 (see details on page 83).

Our first Conversation highlights this issue’s story on MassChallenge and women startups (page 48). The story provides an opportunity for our readers to meet some of the women behind the companies in person. We continue the conversations on our website www.exhalelifestyle.

com, Facebook and Twitter pages.

Technology has afforded us a variety of ways of connecting to one another. Though we happily embrace all of the technological advances, we still believe there’s nothing that quite replaces connecting people face-to-face.

Sandra Casagrand Publisher

BEHIND THE SCENES

A few weeks after the photo shoot for the cover, I asked Lisa:

Q

With all of your years of experience in journalism and seeking out interesting people and stories — the tables have been turned on you! You are the story and in the spotlight now.

What was the experience like to be on the other side of the camera for our cover shoot and to be interviewed by Brian Wright O’Connor?

The tables were definitely turned on me!

The experience was weirdly deep within my comfort zone and miles away from it at the same time. I’ve been around on-air talent during my entire career, and often am standing just inches behind the camera that is connecting these big personalities to masses of people. But this time the camera

12

Exhale • Winter 2012

was aiming at me — and it wasn’t just to check the lighting. In the beginning of the shoot, it was a little hard to shake it up and feel natural, but I think because the process was so familiar to me (and the crew was so fun!), I relaxed pretty quickly. It was a blast!

As far as the interview with Brian goes, the thing that struck me was my disconnect between me and my “angle.” I mean, I have a pretty solid antenna for extracting the most compelling points of someone’s story, but when it came to my own, I didn’t have a clue what Brian would find interesting. He’d ask particulars about my background or business philosophy, and I’d be thinking, “Dude, how are you not napping from my answers?”

But when I distanced myself, I saw that my path, with all its contradictions, has a value that I hope will inspire everyone from my daughters to your readers to devote their lives doing something they love, and care enough to do it well — to be their own Boldfacer.

Author’s corner

THE WELL-SPOKEN WOMAN Your Guide To Looking And Sounding Your Best – Christine K. Jahnke Christine K. Jahnke is one of the nation’s premier speech coaches. She has advised First Lady Michelle Obama for her international Olympic Committee speech, provided speaker training to Hillary Clinton’s presidential campaign, and coached corporate CEOs and more female elected officials than any other trainer. She details the techniques and practices of successful women to help every woman improve her presentation and on-camera skills. Her book serves as a guide to help you stop second-guessing, undervaluing or falling short with your speaking abilities so you can gain the skills to earn a standing ovation.

“It’s been said that this is a man’s world. Wellspoken women show us otherwise. Now is the time for more women to find and raise their voices.This book guides the way.”

– Christine K. Jahnke (Prometheus Books, September 2011)

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Exhale • Winter 2012

We have created this special section to promote female authors. Take a moment out of your busy schedule – Exhale – and enjoy these books.

TAKE THE LEAD

Motivate, Inspire, And Bring Out the Best In Yourself And Everyone Around You – Betsy Myers A “leader” is not just the CEO who sits in the corner office, the general on the battlefield or the person in the Oval Office.

Every single person is a leader, whether he or she knows it or not.

Based on her vast experience as former executive director of the center for Public Leadership at Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government, one of the founders and former director of White House Office for Women during the Clinton Administration, and COO of Barack Obama’s presidential campaign, Betsy Myers unveils the keys to effective leadership in this book.

“An enjoyable and insightful read for anyone interested in increasing their personal and professional effectiveness.”

-Kirkus Reviews (Published by Atria Books, September 2011)

A BLACK WOMaN’S GUIDE TO NETWORKING Advance Your Career.

Grow Your Business - Juliette C. Mayers There are numerous books about success strategies. This book is unique in that it provides inspirational stories as well as practical tools to those who must deal effectively with visible diversity, such as race and gender, in order to achieve career and business success. The guide goes beyond traditional networking and offers powerful insights from diverse power players in a cross-section of industries.

(This book is self-published and available on Amazon.com, but can also be purchased on www.juliettemayers.com.)

FASHION DESIGN, REFERENCED

A Visual Guide To The History, Language, And Practice Of Fashion - Alicia Kennedy and Emily Banis Stoehrer with Jay Calderin The 416-page volume examines the many interwoven elements that form the tapestry of fashion. With more than 1,000 images, it will be an invaluable sourcebook for designers, design students and fashionistas alike — as well as a great coffee table book!

(Rockport Publishers, Spring 2012. For information, contact fdr@kennedyeditorial.com.)

CARRY A PAINTBRUSH

How To Be The Artistic Director Of Your Own Career - Susanne Goldstein What if your career life was yours to paint? What if, by simply carrying an imaginary bucket of paint and a

paintbrush, you could paint yourself into any situation?

The paintbrush, according to respected “Career” Artist Susanne Goldstein, is the only tool you’ll need to paint doorways into the career and job you’ve always wanted.

Even in the most challenging and impenetrable job markets, Goldstein’s paintbrush methodology works, because it takes the focus off of going after jobs, and places it on harnessing good luck, developing relationships with “in” people, and knowing how to convert luck into reality.

Goldstein uses stories (including how she broke into Hollywood in six weeks), frameworks, techniques and exercises that urge readers to upend the way they think about their working lives.

(The book can be purchased on Amazon.com or www. susannegoldstein.com. Goldstein can be followed on Twitter @ FollowSusanne.)

DISCOVER YOUR CEO BRAND

Secerets To Embracing And Maximizing Your Unique Values As A Leader - Suzanne Bates All CEOs bring their own experiences and leadership styles to the companies they work for … and the best CEOs bring a brand! Think of Steve Jobs or Richard Branson, Donald Trump or Walt Disney — instantly recognizable CEOs whose personalities have enhanced and elevated their company’s images.

Developing a brand-name reputation in your company and industry is a necessary, powerful asset. Reputation and influence help you drive tangible value into your business.

We’re not all the legendary Steve Jobs. But in “Discover Your CEO Brand,” Suzanne Bates helps you embrace the idea that you, too, can have your own personal brand. You’ll gain the insight, knowledge and tools you need to discover your own personal leadership brand, and develop it into a powerful executive presence that extends beyond your typical spheres of influence.

This book isn’t about corporate branding, although your leadership brand is part of that. It’s not about crafting a leadership style out of thin air in order to influence people and “get ahead.” It’s about discovering your own personal leadership style.

It’s about connecting with others authentically. It’s about instituting change that benefits the company and the people in it.

(McGraw-Hill, available at Amazon.com or any bookseller.)

exhalelifestyle.com

15

winter Accessories

All that glitters is gold

All accessories provided by Elisha Daniels for Jean-Pierre & Co. 116 Newbury Street Boston, MA 02116 617-262-4660 elisha@elishadaniels.com

16

Exhale • Winter 2012

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The cold truth about

winter skin

By Jeffrey Dover, M.D. FRCPC and Nazanin Saedi, M.D.

Cold weather can take a serious toll on the skin, causing irritation and dryness. The cold temperatures, wind, low humidity, hot showers and dry indoor heat all contribute to water evaporating from the skin and leaving it dry. A few simple modifications to your skin care regimen will ensure the flakes you see this winter will be outside your window, not on your skin.

Myth: Washing your face multiple times a day will help keep a glow for the winter months.

Truth: Overwashing your face in the winter months

is bad for your skin, and it will dry you out! Cleanse your face just once a day, at night, to remove dirt, impurities and makeup, and do a simple rinse in the morning. Also, try to avoid facial products that contain alcohol, such as toners and astringents. Products containing retinoids or retinol can also be drying and slightly irritating in the wintertime, so you can reduce their use to every other night. You can add a thick nighttime facial cream to keep your skin moisturized.

Myth: Taking long, hot showers or baths in the winter is good for soothing your skin.

Truth: Avoid long hot showers or baths because they

will dry out your skin even more. Take relatively short, warm baths or showers. Less than five minutes is ideal as Kremena Ivanova photo

hard as that may be for you. Avoid harsh bar soaps (Ivory, Dial) because they can be both irritating and drying. Try moisturizing bath and shower liquid cleansers (Dove, Oil of Olay) — these help to moisten the skin while cleaning it.

Myth: You should wait until you are

completely dry before applying moisturizer.

Truth: Don’t wait! The best time for moisturizing is immediately after a shower or bath. Applying a moisturizer immediately afterwards will help seal in the moisture.

Thick, rich creams and lotions are best for moisturizing and maintaining the skin’s protective barrier. Good ingredients to look for include lactic acid, glycerin, petrolatum and hyaluronic acid. For persistent dry areas, try applying petroleum jelly (Vaseline), even though it’s a bit messy!

Another way to keep your skin moist is to add a humidifier to help moisturize the air in your bedroom. After all, it’s the room you spend the most time in! exhalelifestyle.com

19

profile

define:beauty

Makeup artist launches line that defines a woman’s natural beauty

By Cheryl Fenton

B

eauty. Although Webster’s is the endall for the word’s meaning on paper, we all have our own interpretation. One woman might define it by the size of her child’s smile. Another finds it hidden in the last size 8 of coveted Prada peep toes.

It could even be synonymous with a “job well done” from a seemingly never-pleased boss.

How do you define beauty? One Boston makeup artist has an answer. Or at least the answer on finding your own definition.

“Beauty celebrates us as women and empowers us,” explains Mariolga Pantazopoulos, a staple on the local and global beauty scene. “Beauty is about giving birth. It’s the radiance of college, of breaking out [into the world], of crying with your boyfriend. When we talk about defining beauty, we’re talking about the art of defining yourself.”

For the last decade, Pantazopoulos has been beautifying some of the Hollywood’s most recognizable faces — Maria Menounos, Jennifer Garner and Daryl Hannah, to name a few. Now she’s poised to help women everywhere find beauty with define:beauty, her aptly named new cosmetic line scheduled to launch in early 2012. Two years in the making, it boasts seamless formulas and rich colors and contours that let your own magic shine through.

“Everyone possesses beauty,” she says. “It doesn’t matter when you start applying makeup, whether you’re 13 years old or in your 60s, we’re always trying to figure out what works for us. We’re all trying to define our own beauty. Beauty is empowerment. When we feel good about ourselves, we project ourselves differently.”

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Exhale • Winter 2012

Mariolga Pantazopoulos at home in her studio.

(Quentin Didonna Photos)

Pantazopoulos’ story is one of following her passion despite personal health battles with eating disorders and tragic family loss in her native Puerto Rico. It’s this struggle that has created her desire to help others face the world with strength.

“We forget that it’s not wrong to feel good about ourselves. Be proud and walk tall. It’s about finding your own path,” she says.

With a fashion designer father and beauty maven mother who always left home wearing lipstick, Pantazopoulos’ path brought her to Pratt Institute in Brooklyn for study in art. So began her fascination with coloring the world.

And attention to detail. With high shine blacks and whites mixing with sleek glass, the define:beauty containers are impressive. Within those containers runs the gamut of must-have makeup and tools — eyebrow gels, shadows, foundations, cream blushes, lipsticks, brushes and eyelash curlers.

Dig deeper for the line’s true meaning and the intrigue continues.

“All the product names are birth years of powerful and inspiring woman,” says Allie Cuozzo, who Pantazopoulos calls her “luster” within the define:beauty team. “The concept is that that was their year. Now this is yours ... define it.”

There’s a clever sense of purpose in those annual tributes. The brow tints are named after significant years of Frida Kahlo’s life (her birth, her solo art show in Paris, her death). The foundation colors are birth years of Coco Chanel, Susan B. Anthony, Babe Didrikson and even Pantazopoulos.

“We want our users to feel proud of a product they use and when there is a force or an accomplishment behind it all, it heightens their sense of empowerment,” continues Cuozzo.

Pantazopoulos put aside the trend and instead named her lip-

sticks after her own inspirations — a red for daughter Sofia, an orange to celebrate daughter Marina’s favorite color, and a nude for her late best friend Kim Kennedy and his love of this shade’s understated elegance.

The products are named in honor of strong feminine figures, but the actual colors denote a sense of calm. The hues define beauty for most — dark Amazon wood, a warm split peach, a brilliant desert tan, a milky latte, a lovely setting sun.

“If you’re looking for a line that has crazy colors, I’m not that person,” says Pantazopoulos. “I worked with many makeup lines and used to have two big trunks to carry to shoots and shows. I always wondered if I ever did a line, what would I take with me. I call them core colors that I can do any skin color, at any age.”

Pantazopoulos’ line remains simple, creating a complete look in five products or less.

“Lines have gone broad in colors and products, I wanted to keep it real,” she explains. “I want something women can relate to. I don’t want them to go home with 10 products and just sit in front of them.”

Part of this ease is multi-tasking. Eye creams that layer for a thin veil or dramatic depth. Cream blushes that color lips. “I wanted to have products that can travel through your face,” she explains. “Then a woman can say, ‘I can play with this’ and feel good about it.”

Her signature “skin on skin” look is created with three define:beauty products — two different foundations for eyeshadow and a cream blush on both cheeks and lips. This look was recently Tagged by Tonya on NECN for must-have simple fall

”We’re all trying to define our own beauty. Beauty is empowerment. When we feel good about ourselves, we project ourselves differently.” beauty. “I like things you can see the texture of your skin coming through a little. It’s like seeing the real you,” says Pantazopoulos.

Today, it’s not unusual to see a very real Pantazopoulos working an L.A. photoshoot, then hopping a plane home for Sofia’s soccer game or to play with her son Marco. “I’m a mother of three,” she says proudly. “That comes first.”

But clearly beauty is on her mind. “Everyone defines their own beauty,” she continues. “Architects do it through their design. Designers through their clothes. Makeup is my tool to empower. I don’t want people to say ‘your makeup looks beautiful.’ I want them to say ‘you look gorgeous.’ ” define:beauty is available at The Loft Salon + Day Spa (253 Newbury Street, Boston) and online at definebeautycosmet ics.com.= exhalelifestyle.com

21

profile

T

here’s something big happening at OrigiNation dance studio in Roxbury. Originally a nomadic dance program launched with just five students and no building to call its own, OrigiNation has morphed from a tiny outfit that taught dance, to a cultural center that’s changing lives. It’s nearly 5 p.m. on a Saturday afternoon and the last class is finishing up. Children’s laughter reverberates down the hallways and parents mill about waiting for their kids to come out of class. The mood is light and everyone seems comfortable lingering here.

“There’s a particular way we run this place,” says OrigiNation’s co-founder and Managing Director Musau Dibinga. “It’s all about respect. We treat everyone here like family.”

Hailing from the Congo, the eight Dibinga children were taught from an early age that they were born to be of service. “My father told us that it was our responsibility to change the world,” says Muadi Dibinga, motivational speaker and development director for OrigiNation.

Shaumba-Yandje Dibinga wanted to create a space where kids could dance, learn about themselves and have a good time. In 1994 she co-founded OrigiNation and got busy building her business with the help of her family.

“My goal was 25 students. The first week, there were five kids. I was crying and wondering, where are they?” says Shaumba-Yandje.

They’ve come a long way from their humble beginnings and now have approximately 300 students. The studio offers modern, jazz, African and hip hop classes for dancers of every level. There are four dance troupes in the professional dance division: NIA, IMANI Jr., Girlz of Imani and Aleye, a male dance troupe.

OrigiNation, whose name is a not-sosubtle nod to Africa being the original nation is active in the community. The staff and students visit local schools, professional and community organizations for mini-concerts and workshops.

The Dibinga sisters’ love of dance started when Musau was in the 8th grade. She saw a friend’s recital and loved it. She and Muadi started taking dance lessons and later, Shaumba-Yandje joined in.

Growing up in Boston, the tight-knit Dibinga kids were teased for being different.

22

Exhale • Winter 2012

OrigiNation

changing young lives through dance

By Jacquinn Williams

Prestige Image Photography

“We were called names, rocks were thrown at us, it was a tough time,” shares Musau.

The taunting they received from neighborhood kids taught them to be stronger and fight harder for their dreams. Now, they’re teaching their students those same valuable lessons in the classroom.

“We don’t just teach dance for dance’s sake. Dance is the vehicle that allows what is already in them to emerge,” says Muadi.

In addition to learning choreography, the classes contain a healthy dose of history where kids learn about the similarities between African dance and hip hop dance.

T

hough Musau, Muadi and Shaumba-Yandje have never stopped dancing, they have all had successful careers outside of the studio.

Musau owns Misenga Management, an artist management firm and has been working in finance for more than 20 years. She has a bachelor’s degree in international relations and economics from University of Pennsylvania and an MBA in finance and nonprofit management from Boston University.

She has performed with the University of Pennsylvania’s Arts House Dance Company and CapeDance Co. and has trained with Adrienne Hawkins, Christian Polos and Marianne Harkless.

Shaumba-Yandje is the artistic director and only full-time staff member at OrigiNation. She’s a former teacher at the Boston Renaissance Charter School and has studied dance with Jacqueline Curry and Leslie Butler. She also studied at the Boston Conservatory and the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theatre. At one point, Shaumba-Yandje had the opportunity to be a professional dancer and join Ailey full time. She decided against it, and has no regrets.

Muadi is busy with her life-coaching program Live By Design! and continues to study dance and choreograph for OrigiNation. She has worked at the Southern Center for Human Rights, the Africa Fund and the New York City Bar Association.

Despite their other obligations, they are all tied to the mission of building the self-esteem of young people and promoting civic responsibility through the arts. It’s a Herculean effort fraught with challenges, but they persevere.

“We have some students who’ve been dancing with us for years and we’ve never met their parents,” says Musau.

They’ve had young people live with them, given kids rides to school or auditions, and at other times supported the students in whatever capacity they could.

“We go to graduations, parent-teacher conferences and read progress reports,” shares Shaumba-Yandje. “We will do whatever it takes because that’s what creates leaders.”

OrigiNation also has a work-study program that pays students to run the office, teach dance or work in the Kulture Shop in the front of the building, which sells dancewear.

“We teach them how to teach, the importance of great customer service, profes-

sionalism and how to answer the phones,” explains Musau.

Their hard work is paying off. Over the last few years, OrigiNation has traveled all over the world and won two competitions on BET’s 106th and Park’s Wild Out Wednesdays in 2007. They’ve performed at the Democratic National Convention in 2004 and have appeared at Boston’s First Night for the last 10 years.

“We want to broaden their horizons,” says Shaumba-Yandje.

The Dibinga sisters founded and currently run the OrigiNation dance studio in Roxbury. From left to right: Musau Dibinga, Shaumba-Yandje Dibinga, Muadi Dibinga.

(Rebecca Cinclair photo)

To do this, Shaumba-Yandje launched the Empowerment Through the Arts Youth Tour an initiative that allows the students to travel and learn about the world through the arts. They’ve been to South Africa (2007), Dakar, Senegal (2009), London (2010) and most recently New Orleans to help rebuild a school post Katrina. Though it’s been several years since the devastating storm destroyed the 9th Ward, people are still left without homes, schools and grocery stores.

“They saw the news coverage, but they didn’t get the whole story. We talked to real people and listened to their stories. It made it real for them,” says Shaumba-Yandje.

On every tour, domestic or international, at the core is cultural exchange. The kids teach and perform for students wher-

ever they travel and then learn from the students.

In June, the young dancers are going to Ghana. Through fundraising letters, bake sales and private donations, the Dibingas are confident that funding won’t be a problem.

“The word ‘can’t’ is not even in our vocabulary,” says Muadi. “Whatever we want to do, we get it done.”

In the past students have participated in the fundraising efforts by writing and distributing letters. “We have the kids bring sponsorship letters to their churches, mosques or wherever. This allows students to realize that when there’s a will there’s a way,” explains Shaumba-Yandje.

They engage the students in whatever ways they can and as a result the kids in OrigiNation have transformed. Bonding with other students, improved grades in school and of course an increase in self-esteem are just some of the fruits of their labor.

“I see Facebook statuses saying ‘NIA or die.’ Our students have created a Facebook group to stay connected. They have a nice community. Some of our NIA alumni are living in New York and are paid professional dancers,” says Musau.

A former NIA student, David Brown is one of OrigiNation’s major success stories.

When Brown first came in to audition, he didn’t get all of the choreography right away, but Shaumba-Yandje claims she saw something in him.

“We took him and he worked really hard.

His spirit is incredible and he has the best personality. Now look at how far he’s come,” says Shaumba-Yandje.

Brown went on to become a principal in NIA and started the DGB project. According to his website, he wants to provide dance instruction in communities affected by disaster or that lack access to the arts.

If Brown is any indication of the impact that OrigiNation has on its students, then the Dibingas are accomplishing what they set out to do. “We live and breathe this. This is the core of us, that’s what OrigiNation is,” says Musau.

The forward-looking Dibinga sisters want OrigiNation to be a cultural institution with brand recognition. Training more teachers and developing as many young people as they can, the Dibingas will certainly get there. “We want the OrigiNation brand to go beyond the Dibingas; then we will know for sure that we’ve done our service,” says Muadi.= exhalelifestyle.com

23

profile

C

onnie Chow is excited — make that super-excited — about zebrafish. The transparent embryos of these rapidbreeding fish are perfect for teaching genetics and developmental biology to young students. Chow wants to bring zebrafish to her organization, Science Club for Girls (SCFG), a Cambridge nonprofit that teaches science and leadership to school-aged girls.

“I’m a microbiologist by training,” says Chow, 45, a Hong Kong native who earned her Ph.D. from Harvard University’s Program in Virology, “so I know about yeast and e. coli as model organisms. But they’re pretty much invisible. Fruit flies are a little better — but zebrafish are just so much cuter.” At this she emits a sudden giggle that contrasts with her low voice and serious manner.

In her earlier work as an assistant professor of biology at Simmons College, Chow taught young women microbiology, biochemistry and bioinformatics. As SCFG’s executive director since 2006, she now seeks to spark a love of science in girls of the K-12 set.

SCFG reaches girls through all-girl science clubs with female mentor-scientists leading girls in hands-on projects. Second-graders might mix paint colors to learn the chemistry of chromatography; fourth-graders build domes and bridges to understand the physics of load distribution.

In the process, they hypothesize and test. They see that problem-solving is a team effort, and that making mistakes is part of discovery.

The afterschool and Saturday clubs are offered free of charge, as are SCFG’s summer and teen programs. The organization is funded by grants and donations; the mentor-scientists are volunteers.

But, back to zebrafish. Speaking at the Science Club for Girls office in Cambridge, Chow’s face lights up as she explains further.

“We did a pilot four-day program during vacation week for 4th and 5th grades. The girls bred the fish, and saw how they developed, and how they breathed. They looked at the hearts. So they learned about anatomy and development,” she says.

24

Exhale • Winter 2012

Science Club for Girls grows up Under Connie Chow’s leadership, the organization has expanded, reaching more than 1,100 girls annually in its mission to instill science literacy and self-confidence. By Sandra Larson

Top left: Connie Chow at Catalyst 2011. (Sooz Photography) Top right: Third- and fourth-graders observe zebrafish embryos during a Vacation Week program held at Lasell College. (Photo courtesy of Science Club for Girls) Above: Girls develop spatial and motor skills and learn about levers using K’Nex. (Photo courtesy of Science Club for Girls)

“A

nd they dissected a salmon head,” she dreams large and has oriented us to think in that way.” throws in with another giggle. “The girls Chow’s role includes promoting the theory and method of the clubs at loved it. They were talking about it incesconferences and panel discussions. Last September, she traveled to Washingsantly; they would cut lunch short to get ton, D.C., to testify at a congressional briefing on the important role afterback to the microscopes.” school programs can play in the so-called “STEM” fields — science, technoloSeeing girls have such fun with scigy, engineering and mathematics — so crucial to today’s job market. She spoke ence, Chow says, is what keeps her working overtime to stay involved in club about afterschool as a flexible, nimble and fast-changing model to increase programming along with her fundraising and administrative tasks.

STEM learning, in contrast to the slow pace of education reform and national Science Club for Girls was launched 17 years ago by a group of parents science curricula development. at the King Open School in Cambridge. The impetus was a 1992 report by On an October Saturday morning inside the Northeastern University the American Association of University Women, “How Schools Shortchange (NU) student center, it’s almost time for grade school girls to arrive for their Girls,” which revealed that girls’ self-confidence in math and science dropped weekly science clubs. The student club coordinators huddle around a table dosharply in adolescence. ing last-minute checks of room assignments and supply lists.

“Our focus was to make science fun for girls before they got to that age,” Campus-based SCFG clubs are a recent addition, starting at NU in says Beth O’Sullivan, one of the co-founders and now an SCFG board mem2010 and at Harvard in 2011. Unlike at afterschool clubs, at the NU site the ber.The founders placed a priority on attracting minority and low-income girls mothers are on campus while their daughters are in the clubs. So parents, too, who might be the first in their families to attend college. have a chance get to know each other.

The first clubs served only Josette Williams of Dorchester grades K-2. In time, they expandbrings her 9-year-old daughter Kuned to higher grades and began to thary and 8-year-old goddaughter include older girls as “junior menAmelia to the NU clubs every Sattors” who helped guide the youngurday. She can hardly contain her er girls while themselves learning enthusiasm about the program and from the scientists. what it has done for the girls.

“When girls are given a lead“I have to say, this was the first ership position, they pay more atprogram where after the first day, tention to what they’re learning,” my daughter came home and was O’Sullivan explains. beyond elated. ‘You won’t believe it, I Today, girls in grades K-7 can built this rocket!’ She was literally dejoin clubs, and those in upper grades scribing the structure, the elements it can become junior mentors or partook to make it happen,” she says. ticipate on the media team or the All “Now she jumps out of bed on Girl Rocket Team co-hosted by the Saturday. This motivates her, this enMIT Department of Aeronautics ergizes her in a way I’ve never seen This young girl uses oobleck to discover the principles of green chemistry. (Jessica and Astronautics. anything energize her before.”

McKellar photo) O’Sullivan credits SCFG with Williams is also happy Kunpropelling her now-grown daughter thary has a chance to be on a college Rachel toward a career in public health, and with making her fearless enough campus. She likes that the clubs are led by college students who convey an to travel to Africa while still in high school and work in maternity clinics expectation that all the girls will go to college some day, along with teaching there. the kids some very cool things.

In 2006, the maturing organization brought Chow on board as its first “Every week she comes out using scientific language,” Williams marvels. executive director.

“Before, she usually talked about social stuff, and who she met. Now she says, “Her background in the sciences, her background as a minority woman, ‘I have a hypothesis.’ She’ll talk about her investigative approach: ‘You have and her teaching experience were great,” recalls Board President Uche Amaeto ask questions, you have to do a survey.’ It can’t get any more empowering. chi, who was involved in Chow’s hiring. “But what made Connie stand out Being a girl, a girl of color, and not being afraid to be a nerd. It’s cool to be a was her passion about why what we’re doing is so important. She believes in girl and be smart. It feels good to know stuff. She’s never been shy, but now she the mission of bringing girls into the sciences.” speaks from a place of education.”

Under Chow’s watch, SCFG has expanded geographically. Clubs now Inside one of the classrooms, mechanical engineering major Rachael operate in Cambridge, Lawrence, Boston, Newton and Fitchburg, as well as in Tompa and mathematics major Devin Shryock have been leading a group Pokuase, Ghana. The Ghana program, which serves 100 girls, is an expansion of fourth- and fifth-graders constructing domes out of toothpicks and gumof a club started by Rachel O’Sullivan during her high school work in Africa. drops. On the blackboard, the words of the day are listed: architect; dome; The number of girls SCFG reaches annually has grown as well, climbing load distribution. from 450 to more than 1,150 between 2006 and 2010.

“Okay,” Tompa calls out, “What works? What makes the domes stable?”

“Connie was hired to grow the organization in scope and reach, and has The girls offer thoughts. done a great job of that,” Amaechi says. “She’s really put us on the map. She “The base has to be wide.” ^p26 exhalelifestyle.com

25

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Science Club for Girls grows up

“I

f it’s shorter it can hold more weight.�

For now, the girls set aside their newly constructed domes. The gumdrops will harden over the week and the girls will test the domes next time. They spend the last five minutes of today’s club bent over notebooks, recording the day’s work in words and diagrams.

Back in the lobby, Kunthary and Amelia find Josette Williams. Next on their agenda is a birthday party, but Williams knows that on the way there, the girls will have a spirited discussion about what they learned today.

A few weeks later, the evening of November 9, SCFG holds its annual “Catalyst� awards and fundraising event at the Broad Institute in Cambridge.

Chow, looking at ease in a slim, sleeveless V-neck black dress, is everywhere. She greets supporters, chats with young women club members, hugs alumnae and parents, checks in with her staff at the registration table and verifies the setup in the auditorium before the evening program.

About 140 guests attend. Most are female. Many play high-level roles in science and technology. There are chemists, pharmacologists, senior engineers in computer science, technology chiefs of medical device companies, a few venture capitalists. Special guests include Una Ryan, CEO of Diagnostics For All and Susan Windham-Bannister, president & CEO of Massachusetts Life Sciences Center.

Ashlee Adams, a 23-year-old SCFG alumna, looks out over this audience. She prepares to speak, half-shy, half-poised. Chow watches, smiling like a proud parent. Chow does not have children of her own, but jokes that she actually has 600 of them, the number of girls typically enrolled in clubs in a given semester.

Adams tells the group, “I love Science Club for Girls. I got my first leadership experience here.�

She participated as a junior mentor from 8th grade up. The SCFG experience helped her win a leadership scholarship, aiding her entry to college, she says. Now she is a senior biology major at UMass Boston, preparing to apply to medical school. She always imagined being a doctor, but now her goal is to earn both M.D. and Ph.D. degrees, specializing in pediatrics and biostatistics.

Adams is helping to launch an SCFG alumnae group to help young women stay in touch as they head off to college and careers, and stay connected with the girls who follow them. “Connie said we need to come back, because the girls need us,� she says. “So our goal now is to give back any way we can.�

Not all girls exposed to STEM fields will choose them as careers, of course. In the interview at the Science Club for Girls office, Chow considers what actually constitutes success for her organization. “What is really important to us is to open as many doors as possible for girls,� she says, her gaze intense and her speech deliberate, “and to show them they have the support to pursue whatever it is they are most interested in.�

But she hopes, naturally, that the doors will lead to careers in sciences and engineering. “From my feminist point of view, it’s one of the last frontiers for equity,� she continues. “These jobs pay more, and the majority of new jobs in this state and in the world are going to require a fundamental knowledge of science or engineering. Opening the doors to make these young women feel they could learn and be creators in these areas offers up real opportunities for economic independence — for themselves and for their communities.�

She pauses. “It’s not trivial.�=

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profile

Girl Scouts celebrate a sisterhood of past, present and future leaders

By Christine McCall

28

Exhale • Winter 2012

Photos courtesy of Girl Scouts of Eastern Massachusetts

“Girl Scouting builds girls of courage, confidence and character, who make the world a better place.”

– Girl Scout Mission

T

hough women’s roles in society have changed over time, the Girl Scout mission remains as true today as it was when Juliette “Daisy” Gordon Low founded the organization 100 years ago.

It started simply enough when Low, a skilled painter and sculptor, was looking for a way to give back. She became interested in a youth movement after meeting Sir Robert BadenPowell, founder of the Boy Scouts and Girl Guides, in 1911. A year later — on March 12, 1912 — Low assembled a group of 18 girls in Savannah, Georgia and registered them as the first troop of American Girl Guides. She later changed the organization’s name to the Girl Scouts.

The idea was to bring girls of various backgrounds together and give them the tools to develop into capable and independent women. Low helped the girls prepare for roles not only in homemaking, but also for future opportunities as professionals in the arts, science and business.

From its meager beginning of only 18, the Girl Scout organization has grown to more than 3.7 million members today. Locally, the Girl Scouts of Eastern Massachusetts serves about 45,000 girls and 18,000 adult volunteers.

“The girls who come out of this experience have confidence, self-esteem, care about others and are making a difference,” Ruth Bramson, CEO of Girl Scouts of Eastern Massachusetts, says.

They are able to gain these skills through a number of programs, some of which focus on science, technology, financial literacy, the environment and the arts. These programs are constantly evolving to fit the modern girl’s needs and wants.

“They need to feel that the world is open to them and they can explore it a lot of different ways,” Bramson says.

Girls are able to explore the engineering realm through a program called Math Moves U. The daylong event, hosted by Middlesex Community College and Raytheon, allows the girls to participate in hands-on engineering activities and exposes them to various ways that math touches their everyday lives — from cooking to balancing a checkbook.

For the business-minded high school girls, The Successful You, hosted in 2011 by the Massachusetts Innovation & Technology Exchange, The Commonwealth Institute and Microsoft, provides a chance to listen to and connect with local business leaders.

Then there is one of the most popular and familiar programs to the general public — the Girl Scout Cookie Sale, which began in the 1930s. In fact, it is the largest girl-led business in the country. Not only does the general population look forward to cookie season (now through March 9), but the program also teaches Girl Scouts how to handle money and the importance of goal setting, among other skill sets.

The beauty of this organization is that “girls in Girl Scouts can come in and be whoever they want to be,” Bramson says. “It is a very supportive environment for girls and a safe environment.”

In fact, it has really been that way since its inception. Low, who was deaf when she founded the Girl Scouts, was cognizant of welcoming girls who had disabilities at a time when they were typically turned away from other activities. Bramson says the organization has reacted in recent years to changing demographics.

Bramson believes the future of Girl Scouting is strong so long as the organization continues “to be on the cutting edge of what Girl Scouts want.” In order to properly keep up with the girls, Bramson has a CEO Girls Advisory Committee. The committee is made up of 23 girls and they meet with Bramson every other month on a Saturday to discuss what they like, what they don’t like and what can be done better.

Girl Scouts of Eastern Massachusetts has also made a concerted effort to reach its audience through social media like Face-

“The girls who come out of this experience have confidence, selfesteem, care about others and are making a difference.” book and its expanding website. The Internet allows the Girl Scout network of more than 50 million to stay even more connected.

“I think that Girl Scout memories are something that’s kept [the] movement so strong,” Bramson says. She hopes the 100th Anniversary “Forever Green” celebrations will spark those memories, and reawaken and sustain the spirit of the sisterhood.

Celebrations include the Forever Green Gala Celebration, March 29; 100th Anniversary Forever Green Party for the Planet, April 22; All TogetHER Volunteer Celebration & Awards, April 28; Forever Green Camporee, June 1-3; and Forever Green Festival, June 3. Bramson hopes the 100th Anniversary celebrations will raise funds to reach even more girls.

Even though trends, technology and style are forever evolving, the one constant with the Girl Scout organization is working to develop future leaders who have a sense of self, make good decisions and give back to their communities.

To learn more about the Girl Scouts’ 100th Anniversary, visit www.girlscoutseasternmass.org/100.= exhalelifestyle.com

29

Health Matters

Kelley’s journey

Even when faced with breast cancer, she never lost hope

By Christine McCall

W

hen Kelley Tuthill heard the radiologist at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center utter three words — “This is cancer” — she immediately assumed the worst.

“I thought I was going to die,” she recalls.

It was December 22, 2006 when Tuthill and her husband, Brendan Ward, received the news. Both were in shock.

At a youthful 36 years old and no family history of the disease, Tuthill says breast cancer was the furthest thing from her mind. However, breast cancer is in fact the most common cancer among women, and the American Cancer Society estimated that about 40,000 women died from this disease in 2011. More troublesome, Tuthill learned, was that more than 85 percent of women who get breast cancer do not have a family history of it.

Tuthill was determined not to become a statistic. She and her husband had been focused on raising their two young girls — 2-year-old Madeline and 6-month-old Cecilia — but now they would have to shift gears to concen30

Exhale • Winter 2012

trate on getting the right treatment and beating the cancer.

But at that moment, cancer took a backseat. Christmas was right around the corner. Tuthill and Ward at first decided to keep the news to themselves because they did not want to ruin the holiday for their other family members. Tuthill describes those days as being lonely and awful, and admits she and her husband felt like zombies.

Tuthill started to tell family and friends a few days after Christmas. She also had returned to Beth Israel to have a biopsy of her breast as well as an MRI. Just a few days later, she was informed that the tumor was 4.5 centimeters (roughly 2 inches in size) and there was involvement in the lymph nodes. At this time, Tuthill was given a 70 percent chance of survival.

As a reporter for WCVB-TV Channel 5, Tuthill was comfortable telling other people’s stories, but rarely had talked about her own. Now the tables had turned. She says she felt a responsibility to share her very personal story with the masses. “It just seemed to make sense to do something with it,” she recalls.

After some discussion with family and friends, Tuthill decided she would chronicle her entire journey, from diagnosis to treatment in an online diary and occasional reports on Channel 5.

Alyson McLean photo

Susan Wornick, Tuthill’s friend and colleague at Channel 5, was stunned when she first heard the news about Tuthill’s cancer.

“I — like everyone else — was terrified and heartsick over what Kelley and her family would have to endure,” she wrote. “But, at the same time, I respected her courage going public. She realized that in doing so she would empower so many others.”

Tuthill’s husband echoed that sentiment. He says he was amazed that his wife could take in the bad news and turn it into a leadership moment. “So many people are focused on themselves; Kelley is focused on everyone else,” Ward says.

About a month after her diagnosis, Tuthill had surgery. She opted for a mastectomy, removal of the breast, and had reconstruction that very same day. Following the surgery, Tuthill underwent 24 weeks of chemotherapy followed by six weeks of daily radiation at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute. Friends would often accompany

Above: Kelley Tuthill enjoys a day on the beach with her husband, Brendan Ward, and two daughters, Cecilia (right) and Madeline. Right: Tuthill and her daughter Madeline. (Photos courtesy of Kelley Tuthill)

Tuthill to the chemo treatments to distract her.

She even hosted her book club during a treatment one day. “Why does chemo have to be miserable?” she says. “It doesn’t.”

She describes the treatment as “all consuming,” but reveals that what kept her going were her friends, colleagues and family, as well as the Channel 5 viewers and well-wishers who sent her bracelets, prayer shawls and buckets of letters.

“I so strongly did not want to die,” Tuthill says. “I would beg people to visit me. I didn’t want to be by myself. I really appreciated all the people who came by because it made me feel alive.”

Tuthill’s best friend, Lizzie Mazzola, who is one of the people who encouraged her in the beginning to get a second opinion, was by her side throughout the cancer treatment. “What I admire most about Kelley is her authenticity and her courage,” Mazzola says.

“She faced this crisis head-on and allowed herself to be vulnerable in a very public way during the process.”

After Tuthill’s mastectomy, she was unable to work for four weeks. When she healed from the surgery, she resumed work four days a week and chose to do so because she did not want to “give in” to her illness. She says, “I wanted to stay in the game.” At this time, she craved some semblance of normalcy in her life and says she only felt like herself again when she was at

work on assignment.

The whole journey was difficult, but one moment in particular that stands out is when Tuthill began losing her hair during the first round of chemotherapy. She decided to shave it as soon as it started falling out and was prepared for it as she had already had a wig made at P.K. Walsh. However, Tuthill says she felt ugly, and at the core of it, vulnerable and stripped down.

Moments like this one were when Kelley needed to lean on her confidants. “I think I was a good place for Kelley to express her fears,” Mazzola says. “Instinctually, as a mother, wife and daughter, she didn’t want to worry her husband or parents with her fears. …With me Kelley was free to unload all her thoughts and I listened without minimizing them. Even today when those fears arise, I hear them and acknowledge them.”

One positive that came from Tuthill’s cancer diagnosis was the creation of Kelley for Ellie (K4E). Wornick and Kelley Doyle, one of Tuthill’s longtime friends, wanted so badly to help after they got word of Tuthill’s condition. The women decided they could pool their resources together and host an annual fashion show at the Boston Harbor Hotel. “We all admired the Ellie Fund for the help it provides patients and families, and thus K4E was born,” Wornick says.

Kelley for Ellie has raised more than $300,000 in the last five years. “It’s just awesome,” Tuthill says of the fashion show. “It’s just a really magical night. There’s nothing I’m prouder of.”

Tuthill has also used her cancer experience to co-author the book “You Can Do This! Surviving Breast Cancer Without Losing Your Sanity or Your Style” with Elisha Daniels. She regularly speaks at cancer functions as well.

Looking back Tuthill wishes she would have found the lump sooner, but often times there are not many warning signs at the start of the disease. As the tumor grows, signs and symptoms may include: red or pink skin, swelling, skin hot to the touch, pain/itchiness, nipple discharge and swollen lymph nodes under the arm or in the neck, among others.

She recommends getting the appropriate screening tests, including mammograms beginning at age 40, earlier if you have a family history, and any other annual exams suggested by your doctor. Tuthill also urges people to get a second or third opinion after diagnosis because it provides patients an opportunity to learn more about their disease.

It has been a little over five years since Tuthill’s cancer diagnosis and she gladly reports that she feels “better than ever.” She has a mammogram once a year and undergoes two physicals each year. Tuthill admits that now she exercises more than she ever did in the past, eats better and listens to her doctors. “I’ve learned not to assume that you’ll have five, ten, forty years,” she says.

After reflecting on the last five years, she simply smiles and says, “I really try to enjoy life as much as possible.”

Tuthill feels lucky to have met so many incredible women along the way and believes you should not discount your faith when you are going through something like this. “I think hope is the most powerful thing we have,” she says.= exhalelifestyle.com

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Health Matters

A New Approach to the New Year’s Resolution Change, even positive, is difficult. The older we get, the more difficult habits are to break; the more we have done something one way, the more difficult it is to do it another; and, the longer we have thought a certain way, the harder it is to change our perspective. Yet, we assume that making change should be easy and accomplished within a very short period of time. Unfortunately, the instant gratification we crave is exactly what hinders us from successfully making change. The key is to acknowledge and accept that change takes time and requires a long-term commitment.

Brett Blumenthal is the author of “52 Small Changes: One Year to a Happier, Healthier You” and “Get Real and STOP Dieting!” Blumenthal is CEO of Be Healthy, Inc., and is certified by the Wellness Council of America and Aerobics and Fitness Association of America. She resides in Cambridge, Massachusetts.

A New Year’s Resolution Makeover If you’ve made a New Year’s resolution for 2012 for better health, I propose you take a new approach. Trade in the big and lofty goal for small yet meaningful changes. In “52 Small Changes,” I give readers a new change each week, so that at the end of a year they’ve implemented 52 small changes toward a happier, healthier life. Each week, make a new change while still incorporating changes from previous weeks so that you ultimately reach the bigger goal. This approach works because it gives you time to integrate changes slowly so they are more likely to stick for the long-term.

Here’s why: One Big Change = Many Small Changes: Each big change, such as eating healthier, requires many smaller changes, such as cutting out fried foods, reducing portion sizes and eating more vegetables.

Extremes Don’t Work: When we attempt to overhaul our life, we go from all to nothing, or vice versa, causing us to burn out. Easing into change helps make change seem less overwhelming.

It Feeds Our Need To Succeed: If we try to make a big change, but ignore each small step we take along the way, we never feel a sense of accomplishment. Mastering small changes will give us a feeling of success and the motivation to forge ahead toward the bigger goal.

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Exhale • Winter 2012

Six Weeks of Change

In approaching a new you in the New Year, take a holistic approach. A happy, healthy lifestyle requires more than eating a healthy diet or being active. It requires that you address several aspects of life, including diet and nutrition, fitness and prevention, mental well-being and maintaining a healthy personal environment. Try the small change approach over the next six weeks.

Week 1

Week 2

Week 3

Drink an adequate amount of water each day.

Water helps carry nutrients to cells, and aids digestion. It provides a moist environment for ear, nose and throat tissues, while lubricating joints and cushioning vital organs and tissues. Proper hydration flushes toxins from your system, keeps blood clean and skin soft and stretchy and allows you to cool down when you become overheated.

Get seven to eight hours of restful sleep every night. Proper sleep helps to strengthen and support the immune system, boosts cognitive function, consolidates memories, keeps hormones in check and helps us look and feel our best.

Incorporate regular and routine activity into your lifestyle. Regular activity, such as walking, helps to reduce your risk of type 2 diabetes and metabolic syndrome, both of which can contribute to heart disease. It can also help reduce your risk of some cancers, strengthen your bones and muscles and improve your overall mood.

Week 4

Week 5

Week 6

Keep a food journal, and track everything you eat and drink each day. Documenting what you eat throughout the day makes you more accountable for the choices you make, allows you to examine your feelings and emotions as they pertain to your eating habits, increases your awareness of the nutritional value of what you are eating and helps shed light on how your body reacts to certain foods.

Develop an optimistic outlook. Optimists tend to manage stress better, and are more likely to persevere and push through difficult situations and circumstances. They tend to believe in themselves and their abilities, and expect good things to happen. They’re also more willing to take risk to create more positive events in their lives.

Remove shoes at the door to minimize unwanted outdoor pollutants in your home.

Every time we enter our home, we drag in a whole host of unhealthy things from the outside on our shoes. This will help reduce symptoms of asthma and allergies, improve indoor air quality, decrease unwanted pollutants and in certain cases, increase energy efficiency.

Once you complete these six weeks of change, consider reading “52 Small Changes: One Year to a Happier, Healthier You” for more healthy changes you can incorporate into your life throughout the year. Adapted from Brett Blumenthal’s “52 Small Changes: One Year to a Happier, Healthier You” (January 2012).

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Exhale • Winter 2012

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35

Health Matters

A guide for health and wellness in the

new year

By JoAnne Foody, M.D. and Caitlin Johnson, Cardiovascular Wellness Service, Brigham and Women’s Hospital

Upon ringing in the New Year, many of us reflect on our accomplishments to date and set new goals for the coming months. And while we always have the best intentions in achieving these goals, they often fall by the wayside in the midst of our busy lives.

So what’s the key to sticking to New Year’s resolutions throughout the year, especially concerning health? Be sure to choose goals that are measurable, achievable and easy to incorporate into your daily life, yet make a real impact on your health and wellness.

Need some ideas? Here are some great New Year’s resolutions that will not only help promote good health, but make you feel great, too!

Improve Your Diet Making small changes to your diet can have huge health benefits.

1. Decrease sodium intake by cutting back on processed and prepared foods and avoiding condiments packed with salt, such as soy sauce. By limiting your salt intake to 1,500 mg or less per day — as recommended by the American Heart Association — you can help greatly reduce risk for high blood pressure, heart disease and stroke.

2. Incorporate more “power foods” into your diet, which are rich in nutrients, low in calories and boast a number of health benefits. Some of these foods include nuts (almonds), some fatty fish (tuna, salmon), whole grains (oatmeal, quinoa, brown rice) and most vegetables.

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Exhale • Winter 2012

Increase Physical Activity

Increasing your physical activity level to 30 minutes most days of the week may not be as difficult as you think!

1. Walking is a great form of exercise to incorporate into your everyday life. Take the stairs instead of the elevator, park further away at the grocery store or walk instead of drive to get your afternoon coffee. By using a pedometer to track your steps, you will be surprised how much these extra steps can add up!

2. Physical activity does not have to mean hitting the gym for hours on end. Make a point to clean your house more often or take part in hobbies that you enjoy, such as gardening.

During the winter months, get yourself outside — shoveling, skiing and even sledding with the kids helps get you moving.

Manage Your Stress

Although stress is often a part of our daily lives, it’s how we cope with stress that impacts our health.

1. Try out new stress management techniques, such as breathing and stretching. Once you find one that works for you, use these techniques when you find yourself at a tipping point, whether you’re stuck in traffic or having a bad day.

2. Set aside some time each day to focus on your mental health, whether it’s 5 minutes or an hour. Use this time to reflect on your recent stress levels, practice your stress management techniques and do something just for you, like attending a yoga class.

HEIGHT

Weight in pounds 100 110 120 130 4’10” 21 23 25 27 4’11” 20 22 24 26 5’ 20 21 23 25 5’1” 19 21 23 25 5’2” 20 22 24 5’3” 19 21 23 5’4” 19 21 22 5’5” 20 22 5’6” 19 21 5’7” 19 20 5’8” 20 5’9” 19 5’10” 19 5’11” 6’ Underweight 6’1” 6’2” 6’3” 6’4”

140 29 28 27 27 26 25 24 23 23 22 21 21 20 20 19

150 32 30 29 28 27 27 26 25 24 24 23 22 22 21 20 20 19 19

160 34 32 31 30 29 28 28 27 26 25 24 24 23 22 22 21 21 20 20

170 36 34 33 32 31 30 29 28 27 27 26 25 24 24 23 23 22 21 21

180 38 36 35 34 33 32 31 30 29 28 27 27 26 25 24 24 23 23 22

190 200 210 220 230 240 250 260 270 280 290 300 38 37 36 35 34 33 32 31 30 29 28 27 27 26 25 25 24 23

39 38 37 36 34 33 32 31 30 30 29 28 27 26 26 25 24

38 37 36 35 34 33 32 31 30 29 29 28 27 26 26

Normal weight: 18.5-24.9 Overweight: 25-29.9 Obese: 30 and above 39 38 37 36 35 34 33 32 31 30 29 28 28 27

38 37 36 35 34 33 32 31 30 30 29 28

39 38 37 36 35 34 33 32 31 30 29

39 38 37 36 35 34 33 32 31 31

Extremely Obese 39 37 36 35 34 34 33 32

39 38 37 36 35 34 33

39 38 37 36 35 34

39 38 37 39 36 38 35 37

Calculate your body mass index (BMI) to determine if your weight is a potential risk to the health and structure of your weight bearing joints. The BMI is a measure of body fat based on height and weight.

Weight Management

Maintaining a healthy weight is crucial to good health.

1. Use a BMI calculator to determine your body mass index (BMI), a measure of healthy weight based on your height.

A BMI between 18.5-24.9 is considered healthy, while a BMI beyond 25 is overweight and a BMI greater than 30 is obese.

Because BMI is not always a perfect indicator of weight, measure your waist circumference. A waist circumference greater than 35 inches for women and 40 inches for men is considered unhealthy.

2. If you’re overweight, make a plan to achieve a healthier weight — don’t be afraid to ask for help, whether it be a friend, doctor or someone at a weight loss program. And if you’re a healthy weight, keep up the good work!

3. Be patient. Losing weight or maintaining a healthy weight can be a long process, so reward yourself for small achievements. Remember, losing just 5-10 percent of your body weight can have significant health benefits, helping lower your blood pressure, cholesterol and risk for heart disease.

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Health Matters

Mindless Eating

Do you have a hidden habit?

By Allison Knott, RD

A new year, a new you. Maybe you have plans to eat more fruits and vegetables, to exercise more often or to lose five pounds. However, there is one thing that you might unknowingly do that can sabotage even your best intentions — mindless eating. You might not have heard of mindless eating, although it is likely that you and most of those around you are mindless eaters.

And according to some, mindless eating might be the key to your diet woes, weight loss challenges and overall improvement of your nutritional intake. So what is mindless eating and how can you take control?

What is mindless eating?

To understand what mindless eating is, you must look at the opposite — mindful eating. “Mindful eating is paying attention to what is happening in the moment with a craving for example, and understanding it so you can take full control over the situation,” explains Dr. Kelly McGonigal, health psychologist and lecturer at Stanford University. Mindless eating is the opposite — not paying attention to your cravings and eating without realizing how much you are consuming or why.

Brian Wansink, Ph.D., director of the Cornell Food and Brand Lab and author of “Mindless Eating: Why We Eat More Than We Think,” has spent many years investigating mindless eating and the driving factors behind why people eat what they eat. One of the most notable studies from his work examined popcorn consumption. Moviegoers were given free containers of either fresh or stale popcorn in two different sizes — medium or large. Despite the taste of the popcorn, the people with the larger container ate more popcorn than those with the smaller container. This 38

Exhale • Winter 2012

study shed light on portion size and its effect on calorie consumption.

Wansink has conducted multiple studies similar to the popcorn study to examine mindless eating. Each additional study finds that external influences impact food intake. Things in the environment such as company while eating and lighting can play a role in calorie consumption as well as the way the food is presented, described and its portion size.

How can mindless eating affect you?

“Mindless eating,” says McGonigal “is one of the leading causes of the obesity problem and other health-related problems from overeating.”

Despite that, many people do not believe that they are guilty of it. Wansink notes in his research that when asked, individuals think they are in control of the amount of calories they consume and that they listen to their bodies to know when to stop eating. As with the popcorn example, moviegoers denied eating more popcorn because they had a larger bag.

This is a common thread throughout Wansink’s research. With mindless

eating’s numerous consequences, it is important to become aware of the problem and take the necessary steps to help you become more aware of your eating habits.

What can you do to stop mindlessly eating?

McGonigal says the key to being conscious of your eating is having a clear definition of your goal. “You have to have your long term goal in mind all the time,” McGonigal says. She encourages her students to imagine the outcome of making the change and how they think they will feel once the goal is reached. “First thing is to have a clear understanding of why you are trying to change the way you eat,” McGonigal says. “Imagine what you think the outcome will be and how it will feel when you reach your goal.” According to McGonigal, finding the one thing that will motivate you during times of temptation is the key to success. Her suggestions include writing down your goal, asking reflection questions or having a daily ritual to remind yourself of it.

Ultimately, mindful eating is about you and your health. “Pay attention to your life and make predictions about when you will need support,” says McGonigal.

“Structure your life so that when you are in a moment you only have healthier options available.” =

In Wansink’s research, he suggests small changes to help control mindless eating.

Try a few of these suggestions to see how they work for you.

• Place a large bowl of freshly cut fruit or vegetables on a highly visible counter top or table.

• Wrap tempting foods in foil or put in an opaque container so they are not visible.

• Eat at a table — free of distractions and away from the television. This will help you to focus on your meal.

• Leave all bowls of food in the kitchen for serving and eat in a different room. Having to get up for seconds can make you more mindful of what you are eating versus having the food on the table in front of you.

• Use a smaller plate or bowl for all meals to control portions.

• Buy lower calorie, nutrient-dense foods like fruits, vegetables and whole grains to have in the house at all times.

These simple changes can lead to lower calorie consumption and to taking control of your eating. To learn more about mindless eating, visit www.mindlesseating.org.

Zesty Baked Macaroni & Cheese Makes 6 servings Ingredients: 1½ cups skim milk 2 tablespoons flour ¹⁄3 cup part-skim ricotta cheese ½ cup fat-free Greek yogurt 1¾ cups part-skim cheddar cheese 3 cups whole wheat penne 1 cup Triscuits or whole wheat crackers of your choice ½ teaspoon smoked paprika ¹⁄8 teaspoon cayenne Preparation:

1. Bring a large pot of water to a boil and preheat the oven to 450°F. 2. Spray an 8-inch baking dish with non-stick cooking spray.

3. Crush Triscuits or whole wheat crackers of your choice in a plastic bag. You want the crackers to be the same texture as bread crumbs. Mix crushed crackers with the paprika.

4. Heat 1¼ cups skim milk in a large heavy saucepan over mediumhigh heat until steaming. Whisk remaining ¼ cup skim milk and flour in a small bowl until smooth; add to the hot milk and cook, whisking constantly, until the sauce simmers and thickens. This will take around 3-4 minutes.

5. Remove the milk from heat and stir in cheddar until melted. Stir in ricotta and Greek yogurt. Add cayenne pepper, ⅛ teaspoon or to taste.

6. Cook pasta for 4 minutes, or until not quite tender. Drain and add to the cheese sauce; mix well.

7. Spread pasta in baking dish and top with crushed crackers.

8. Bake the casserole until golden in color 25-30 minutes.

Nutrition Facts:

291 calories, 14 g fat, 9 g saturated fat, 289 mg sodium, 24 g carbohydrate, 17 g protein

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Healthy Recipes

We Are Not Martha

Childhood friends turned successful food bloggers

By Allison Knott, RD

F

our years ago, two childhood friends from Andover, Massachusetts, Chelsee Adams and Susie Anderson, started a food blog with one goal in mind — to share their recipes and show that good food is not out of reach for people to prepare at home. The appropriately named “We Are Not Martha” blog is a way to take what Martha Stewart does and make it more approachable. “We both really love her and want to be like her, but we know that a lot of what she does is intimidating,” says Anderson. “Like our tagline says, ‘We Are Not Martha, but that doesn’t mean we are not going to try!’ ” says Adams.

“We aspire to be like her, but don’t want people to be scared of us.”

For both Adams and Anderson, cooking started as a necessity out of college that turned into a passion over time. “After college, I realized that if I wanted to eat well, I would have to cook,” says Anderson. Now as successful food bloggers, Adams and Anderson are adept in the kitchen, developing original recipes and preparing new foods, like pumpkin macaroni and cheese and brussels sprout and pancetta flatbread.

However, the comfort in the kitchen did not come right away.

Anderson, a self-proclaimed “control-freak,” says recipe development is good for her. “I use what I have and if it works, it works, and if not, it’s not that big of a deal.” Both girls agree that each mistake you make teaches you something, so the next time you make the recipe, it will be better. “I am sure Martha Stewart has thrown a few things away in her time,” says Adams.

Although the friends don’t identify with a single style of cooking, they have their favorites. “We definitely have our things. Everyone knows Adams has bacon and I have cocktails and cupcakes,” says Anderson. But they are sure to point out their differences. “We have been friends since

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Exhale • Winter 2012

Childhood friends Susie Anderson (left) and Chelsee Adams started the food blog — We Are Not Martha — in 2008. (Photos courtesy of We Are Not Martha)

second grade, but we are very different and we have different voices, which I think makes us both approachable.”

Not only do the We Are Not Martha girls stay active in the kitchen, they are also active in the blogging world. They are constantly networking with other food bloggers in Boston and throughout the country, attending blogging and food events, and they teach a blogging course at the Boston Center for Adult Education.

“My favorite part of food blogging is the people I have met,” says Adams. “Part of why we got to where we are today is because of the people we have met.” As for their future, Adams says she sees a lot of things coming up for the two of them and is not ruling out the possibility of a cookbook.

Until then, the We Are Not Martha girls are busy guiding their readers through each unique recipe and enjoying the journey.

Chili Lime Tofu with Avocado and Pomegranate Noodles

Makes about 6 servings Ingredients: 14 ounces extra firm tofu ¼ cup soy sauce ½ cup lime juice 1½ teaspoons chili sauce 1 teaspoon sesame oil 9 ounces Chinese-style noodles 2 avocados 1 pomegranate Dressing: ¼ cup lime juice 1 teaspoon chili sauce 1 teaspoon finely grated ginger

Instructions:

1. Preheat oven to 400⁰F. 2. Start by draining the tofu and squeezing out excess water using a dish towel or paper towels. Then cut the tofu into bite-sized cubes.

3. Mix together a simple marinade for the tofu.

In a small bowl, mix soy sauce, lime juice, chili sauce and sesame oil. You can place the tofu in a shallow dish with the marinade or in a Ziplock bag. Let the tofu marinate for about 2-4 hours in the fridge.

4. Remove tofu from the bowl or bag with a slotted spoon and place it on a baking sheet. Bake for about 10 minutes. Then flip over and bake for another 10 minutes.

5. While the tofu is cooking, boil your noodles and prepare the avocado and pomegranate.

When the noodles are cooked, rinse them well. Then mix the tofu, avocado, pomegranate and noodles together.

6. Whisk up a simple dressing of lime juice, chili sauce, and grated ginger for an extra kick. Pour over the salad.

For more information, visit www.wearenotmartha.com.

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41

Healthy Recipes

Turkey White Bean Pumpkin Chili

Ingredients: 1 pound 99% lean ground turkey ½ teaspoon olive oil 1 small onion, chopped 3 garlic cloves, minced 1 teaspoon chili powder 2 bay leaves 2 teaspoons cumin 1 teaspoon oregano 1 can white northern or navy beans, rinsed and drained 15 ounce can pumpkin puree (not pumpkin pie filling) 4.5 ounce can chopped green chili 2 cups low sodium, fat free chicken broth Plain Greek yogurt (for topping) Chopped cilantro and chives (for topping) Salt and pepper Directions:

1. Heat a large sauté pan and add a bit of olive oil.

Brown the turkey and break it up with the back of a wooden spoon until white. Add to slow cooker.

2. Add some more oil to the same sauté pan and add the onions and garlic. Sauté for about 3-4 minutes.

Add cumin and continue to sauté for another couple minutes. Add to slow cooker.

3. Next add the beans, pumpkin, green chilis, broth, chili powder, oregano and bay leaves to the slow cooker. Cover and cook on high for 4 hours or on low for 8 hours.

4. When done, spoon chili into bowls and top with a dollop of plain Greek yogurt, cilantro and chives. *Requires the use of a slow cooker

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Exhale • Winter 2012

Transformations Fashion and style makeovers are popular in today’s society. In the summer issue of Exhale, we highlighted a young woman named Ariel Fusaro, 22, a recent college grad about to embark on the start of her professional career. She was recruited by Dr. Marianna Toroyan, owner of Fashion Doctors, which is a company that helps women not only find their style but also builds self-esteem. Ariel identified three issues holding her back from feeling confident in this next stage of her life.

Before

1. Conquer her challenges that she has had with her skin condition.

2. Find her own personal style.

3. Speak with confidence while interviewing for her dream job as a visual merchandiser.

The Follow-up Report

By Dr. Marianna Toroyan

After

Cole Haan brown suede/leather lace up tall boots, $149.00 Skinny jeans $29.00 J Crew silk top $39.00 Libertine deconstructed jacket $49.00

Photographer: Tracy Aiguier • Photo assistant: Casey Stewart Makeup: Kacie Korbel • Hair: Jean-Pierre Salon/Hair Stylists: Justin Robey and Cathe Nunes Wardrobe: Second Time Around, 176 Newbury St., Boston, MA, www.secondtimearound.net/locations.aspx Accessories: Elisha Daniels located @ Jean-Pierre Salon

The Fashion Doctors, in conjunction with Dr. Jeffrey Dover, Kacie Corbelle, the Sports Club/LA, the Stylist Closet and Elisha Daniels, have worked with Ariel over the last few months in an effort to assist in her post-college transformation. The Fashion Doctors assessed Ariel’s initial concerns about her physical and emotional well-being, and then put together an action plan to assist Ariel with her step-bystep transformation.

The first and most crucial part of transformation was working on her inner strength. The Fashion Doctors felt Ariel needed to start working out in order to feel more empowered in reaching her goals. She started taking yoga and boxing with Tommy McNereny, a personal trainer at the Sports Club/LA on Avery Street in Boston. Ariel admits that boxing helped her feel more energized and self-assured, while yoga assisted with managing her stress levels.

Dr. Dover worked with Ariel on improving her severe acne condition. Ariel’s skin has changed dramatically since she first started seeing Dr. Dover in June.

Although Ariel’s acne had decreased significantly, The Fashion Doctors also asked Corbelle, a makeup expert, to work with Ariel on makeup tips for the occasional

flair up. Ariel rarely used makeup in the past and didn’t know how to apply it in a way that could cover up acne breakouts.

Corbelle showed Ariel quick and easy ways that she could get ready for work with light makeup application.

Terri Mahn, of the Stylists Closet, and Elisha Daniels, an accessory boutique owner at Jean-Pierre & Co., worked with Ariel on finding her own personal style.

The Fashion Doctors asked Ariel to keep a journal of looks that she wanted for her new professional wardrobe. Mahn assisted Ariel in finding those clothes on a recent graduate’s budget and Daniels worked with Ariel to find some fabulous accessories to complete her new look.

“My goal was to teach Ariel to view clothing as outfits and to coordinate a quality wardrobe, not just own a bunch of separates,” Mahn says.

The Fashion Doctors also worked with Ariel on interviewing for her dream job as a visual merchandiser. With weekly meetings in place, Ariel was able to work on interview questions and post-interview etiquette. The Fashion Doctors now believe that Ariel “has all of the tools necessary to reach her goals … now it’s up to her to use those tools and build her future.” = exhalelifestyle.com

43

Feature Chef

Chef brings traditional Texas-style barbeque to Boston

By Allison Knott, RD

T

iffani Faison, awardwinning chef and runner-up on “Top Chef ” season one, is now owner of a new barbeque restaurant in the heart of Fenway — Sweet Cheeks. The restaurant opened in November 2011 and features barbeque reminiscent of Faison’s childhood spent in the South.

Although she grew up with a military father traveling throughout the world and eating many styles of food, Southern food has always stuck with her.

One thing was evident when I spoke with Faison about her new venture in the weeks prior to the grand opening of Sweet Cheeks — she loves Boston and barbeque. “I grew up on Texas-style barbeque,” Faison says.

Faison has put an emphasis on the atmosphere of Sweet Cheeks in the hopes of creating a place that feels warm and generous.

“We aren’t going to take ourselves too seriously,” she says. “We are serious about the food and serious about what we are doing, but we are also serious about having a really good time.”

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Exhale • Winter 2012

And the name, Sweet Cheeks, encompasses how the restaurant should feel. It is “fun, sweet, irreverent and lighthearted,” says Faison. The more literal interpretation? A reference to “pork butt and sweet barbeque sauce.”

The lack of barbeque restaurants in Boston is what prompted her to open Sweet Cheeks.

And although she says there are a bunch of restaurants with deep roots in this area and pathmakers for barbeque in the Northeast, she has not found one that has the same atmosphere as Sweet Cheeks. Faison says it is the “overall feel” of Sweet Cheeks that she is excited to bring to Boston.

As a native Southerner, I couldn’t help but ask Faison what she would say to a native Bostonian to get them to visit Sweet Cheeks.

“Trust us, come in and eat, and you will get it,” she says. “Everything has a reference point and it is my hope that you have that reference point, come in and exceed that expectation.”

And then when asked what she might say to native Southerners to get them to visit Sweet Cheeks, her response was warm and simple

— “Welcome Home.”

Farm Salad

Mike Diskin photos

Ingredients: 15 ea. brussel sprouts 2 cups cooked farro 4 cups arugula (loosely packed)

Visit

Sweet Che eks at: 1381 Boylst on Street Boston, MA 02215 sweetcheek sq.com

10 ea. seedless red grapes, halved Ÿ cup grated Parmesan Reggiano ½ cup roasted hazelnuts 1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil 1 teaspoon champagne vinegar

1. Trim brussel sprouts, discarding the hard base. Remove and save outer leaves until the heart of the brussel sprout remains.

2. Cut the heart in half, season with salt, pepper and extra virgin olive oil. Roast in a pre-heated 450-degree oven until well browned (about 5 minutes).

3. Allow brussels to cool completely.

4. Toss all ingredients together and season with salt and pepper to taste.

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profile

Divas Uncorked Talk Wine, Women and Friendship

By Astrid Lium

L

ike many women, Carolyn Hebsgaard and Karen Holmes Ward enjoyed drinking wine socially, although they admit that they knew little about it. When ordering at a restaurant, their wine specifications rarely extended beyond “red” and “white.”

That changed in 1999, when Hebsgaard, Ward and 10 of their girlfriends decided to educate themselves, and other women, about the history of wine and the art of drinking it.

What started as casual gatherings over snacks and Chardonnay expanded into the tour de force known as Divas Uncorked.

For nearly 13 years, the Divas have transformed the fun pastime of sipping wine with friends into a successful side business, international phenomenon and lifelong adventure. “It’s like a hobby run amok,” Hebsgaard chuckles.

Today, eight of the original 12 core members of Divas Uncorked remain committed to the organization and to each other. More than social wine drinkers and business associates, the ladies have become entrepreneurs, experts and the best of friends. “When I have a get together, the first people on my list are the Divas,” says Hebsgaard, a consultant and executive director for the Boston Lawyers Group.

“We will always have the Divas in some form, regardless of the business.”

The idea for Divas Uncorked stemmed from dinner outings at Marché, a former restaurant in Boston’s Back Bay area. While working together with The National Coalition of 100 Black Women (NCBW), a nonprofit or46

Exhale • Winter 2012

The ladies of Divas Uncorked: Carole Alkins, Stephanie Browne, Gert Cowan, Barbara Cruz, Carolyn Golden Hebsgaard, Katherine Kennedy, Karen Holmes Ward, Paula Wright. (Photo courtesy of Divas Uncorked)

ganization, Hebsgaard and Ward joined four other members after meetings for food, wine and conversation. After visiting the restaurant’s wine cellar, the women realized how little they knew about what they were drinking.

Stephanie Browne, an Information Technology expert and another co-founder of Divas Uncorked, insisted that the group learn more about wine on their own. She offered to host the first dinner party, which she modeled on her mother’s bridge club parties. The six women each invited a friend — totaling 12 professional, self-proclaimed A-type divas, now in their 50s and 60s — forming the core group of the organization. Kicking off the festivities at 2 p.m., the ladies ate, drank and merrily studied the history of wine until midnight.

“The beginning of Divas Uncorked happened innocently,” says Ward, a television host and producer at WCBV-TV. “We just wanted to learn about wine in a fun and relaxed way.

Like a ‘spoonful of sugar,’ studying wine is easier with friends.”

The relatively simple fêtes morphed into themed, five-course dinners replete with gift exchanges, guest lecturers and hours of laughter. Friends of the Divas heard about their wine parties and envied the regular celebrations.

Shortly thereafter, they started planning public wine dinners with local experts, including Alicia Towns, wine director at Grill 23, and Jody Adams, chef/owner of Rialto, who appeared on the reality television program “Top Chef.” The dinners grew into larger con-

ferences, attracting a turnout of more than 100 women per gathering.

The get-togethers underscored the importance of friendship while bonding over wine education. The Divas aim to teach women about wine in a fun, relaxed fashion while boosting self-confidence when making wine choices. Having learned the nuances of their own wine preferences while strengthening friendships, the founders of Divas Uncorked want to encourage and teach other women to do the same.

Ward can now describe to sommeliers what she wants to order or pair with appropriate dishes. “I can’t necessarily say that I want a bottle of 1978 such-and-such,” she says. “But I can now attach adjectives to my description and articulate specific preferences.” From her education with Divas Uncorked, Ward has learned that the oaky, vanilla flavors which appeal to her fit the profile of a Chardonnay.

Conversely, the grassy, citrus flavors that she avoids are characteristic of a Sauvignon Blanc.

According to the Divas, women are largely neglected by the male-dominated industry and receive less attention from salespeople at wine shops and liquor stores. Ward explains that men and women shop differently for

wine. While men tend to spend more money, often to impress a woman, women generally seek value or follow a recommendation. “The wine industry certainly wasn’t responsive to women or people of color,” Hebsgaard says.

“So, like divas, we took it on ourselves!”

Since their inception, Divas Uncorked have caught the media’s attention, appearing in O Magazine, Edible Boston and Reuters, as well as a stint on NBC’s “Today Show.”

Also, in their free time, the ladies, all of whom have full-time professions outside of Divas Uncorked, represent at food and wine festivals, including South Beach and Martha’s Vineyard; manage their own website (www. divasuncorked.com); sell their own wine, Divas Uncorked Chardonnay, which is produced by the Mendocino Wine Company; and organize wine tasting cruises called Divas at Sea. Their progress has been conspicuous, although not always easy. Hebsgaard explains that gaining financial support and securing sponsorship for their cause has been challenging. “I still consider us a startup,” she says. “It’s really hard out there for women, especially women of color, to run a successful business.”

The obstacles have not deterred the Divas, who plan to continue growing, both personally

and professionally. “The more we learn about wine, the more we want to share,” says Hebsgaard. “The best way to do that is to create audiences with groups of women. Just when we thought ‘this is good enough,’ something else would come up.”

The next thing up for the Divas is their second annual cruise in September, when they will sail around the Mediterranean Sea for 11 days. As advertised on their site, the “wine savvy, not wine snobby” ladies invite interested parties to join them and a sommelier on board to learn about wine and visit Italy, Turkey and the Greek Islands.

Although the Divas pride themselves on “first-class, five-star service” for their events, they also stress the importance of humility in their organization. Ward claims that their goal is to demystify the process of ordering and learning about wine, as well as removing the “Frasier Crane, snooty approach.”

The future of Divas Uncorked has not been determined, but the cohesion of the core group of friends is stronger than ever.

“The thing I know for certain is that we’ll be together for the rest of our lives,” Hebsgaard says. “We will always have the thing we started with: wine, food, friendship.”=

A selection of wine to enjoy this winter Jo-Ann Ross, chief wine educator of J Ross Wine, is a wine enthusiast with considerable formal wine education. As a leading U.S.-based expert, Ross is frequently invited by the French government to come and learn about their wines and related cultures. As a traveler to worldwide wine growing regions, she brings firsthand appreciation of the wines to her presentations.

White

Red

Rose

Sparkling

Cortijo Viura White Rioja, Spain. $10.99 You’d think you were at the tapas bar with this very easy quaffing wine.

Where to find: The Wine Emporium, Tremont Street, Boston.

Santa Rita Reserva Carmenere, Chile. $10 Many thought this Chilean grape to originally be Merlot.

The Carmenere grape produces a rich, dark, herb-scented wine.

Where to find: BJs Wholesale

Santomè Prosecco, Italy. $11.99 It makes Tuesday night celebratory.

Where to find: The Wine Emporium, Tremont Street, Boston.

Albarosa Aglianico Rosé, Italy. $17.99 Beautiful color and a lot of zing.

Where to find: The Wine Emporium, Tremont Street, Boston.

Huber Hugo Gruner Veltliner, Austria. $11 This is the white wine that made me start drinking white wine. It is a crowd-pleasing, crisp, happy wine.

Where to find: Available throughout the Boston area.

Catena Zapata, Catena Malbec, Argentina. $12.

Nicolas Catena put Malbec from Argentina on the map.

Another crowd-pleasing yummy wine.

Where to find: Excellent availability throughout the Boston area.

Le Berceau Blanquette de Limoux, France. $12.80 The grandparent of Champagne at a fraction of the price.

Where to find: Bin Ends, Braintree.

Chateau de Ségriès, Tavel, France, 2010. $16 A delicious rosé that is perfect for a holiday.

Where to find: Bin Ends, Braintree.

For more information, contact Jo-Ann Ross at jross@jrosswine.com or www.jrosswine.com. exhalelifestyle.com

47

rs with u e rt n re po p e sup r t n d e n fin e m o W profile

e g n e l l a h C s s a M Liu d i str A By

m

W

ith a bra company in one corner and two shoe designers in the others, the MassChallenge headquarters in Boston resembles “Project Runway,” the Manhattan-based reality fashion program.

One might expect to spot Heidi Klum strutting down a corridor or hear Tim Gunn snap his catchphrase, “Make it work!” in one of the conference rooms. Instead, scores of entrepreneurs and MassChallenge coordinators diligently work throughout the 14th floor of the Seaport District high rise.

Although a competition lies at the heart of both the Lifetime network program and the Boston organization, the latter promotes budding startups, not aspiring fashion designers. Also, rather than a handful of runway models, designers and fashion editors, the Boston judges are 48

Exhale • Winter 2012

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a panel of about 200 venture capitalists, attorneys and entrepreneurs.

The MassChallenge office boasts high ceilings, breath-taking views of Boston’s waterfront and ubiquitous white boards adorned with colorful and original logo designs. Innovation and intensity emanate from the creative teams who now use the headquarters for their own work space. They don casual attire and jovial smiles, but the MassChallenge participants and organizers all log long hours with a shared goal: the success of their respective business ideas.

MassChallenge is a startup company that promotes other startups. It gathers a variety of entrepreneurs and helps them launch their respective business ideas while encouraging others to do the same. Drawing from hundreds of applicants, the judges choose the most promising startups to compete in a three-month business development process. While it isn’t the first of its kind to hold business competitions, MassChallenge stands out with its unique approach and vision for success.

John Harthorne, the CEO and cofounder, eschews the more traditional business model of competing with limited resources. The 38-year-old entrepreneur and his team instead opt for inclusion and encouragement among its participants. “We promote a system designed around collaboration,” he says.

That inclusive approach has attracted many female entrepreneurs: 44 percent of MassChallenge’s total participants in 2011 were women, more than twice the average number represented in the outside business world. According to Harthorne, the numbers indicate that the women members outperform their male counterparts this year. “There is no reason women can’t be good entrepreneurs,” he says. “The market is underserving this population ... and it’s from inertia and stupidity. That system is self-propagated, but irrationally so.”

One of MassChallenge’s finalists, Ashley Lucas, echoes Harthorne’s concern about the lack of female representation in business.

The 28-year-old founder of Diffuse5, an online site which connects the lesbian community with products and services, appreciates the opportunities that MassChallenge provides for women entrepreneurs.

“In other competitions, I’d be one of

three women and I would know the other two personally,” she says. “MassChallenge does a decent job improving that. It makes an effort to get more women judges and participants.” Harthorne, however, stresses that there are no quotas, but rather a concerted effort to attract more applicants overall.

Despite his youthful appearance, optimistic outlook and unorthodox startup plan, Harthorne is no business neophyte. A graduate of MIT Sloan School of Management, he earned his MBA in 2007, won an MIT award for entrepreneurship and competed in several other business competitions while in school. He had always wanted to launch his own startup and knew that it required a strong idea. “I thought that I was too small and the system was too big for me to make a difference,” Harthorne says.

“But it’s not true.”

While working at the marketing consulting firm Bain and Company, where

ing onto the tail of a tiger.”

With 446 applicants in its first year — about 20 percent of them women — MassChallenge attracted a group of the best and brightest from around Boston, across the United States and around the world to participate in his competition for startups.

One of the 2010 finalists is a bra company called Zyrra, which has a unique success story. Although MassChallenge attracts many women entrepreneurs with a variety business ideas, Zyrra was founded by a man with no prior experience in the bra industry.

Derek Ohly, Zyrra’s mild-mannered CEO, met a woman in business school who confessed that proper bra fitting was a problem.

Ohly spoke with several other women who shared similar complaints, which prompted his idea to try to revolutionize the bra business and its experience for women.

Erin Viestra, Zyrra’s current product manager, discovered the company after its

“It wasn’t about the prize, but more about the journey. It’s a challenge, but at the same time, men respect [me] for my strength and courage.” he met MassChallenge co-founder Akhil Nigam, Harthorne brainstormed startup ideas and planned his exit from the company. Although working in a large firm felt like the safe choice at the time — he was married with a young child — it was also stressful. “I literally had hives,” Harthorne explains. “I was miserable.”

At the end of 2008, he left his job and devised a life-changing idea for a startup company. “I was steep in competitions as a tool, but I never thought that it could be a business,” he says.

The following year, Harthorne and Nigam, a graduate of Harvard Business School, launched MassChallenge. Given their different business educations, Harthorne says he believes that he and Nigam represent the yin and yang of startup competitions, providing the necessary balance for success.

The inception of their company involved several months of legwork, careful planning and business expertise. It also required a sense of adventure. Harthorne describes the chaotic experience of the first startup competition in June 2009 as “hang-

MassChallenge win and joined the staff shortly thereafter. She says, “85 percent of women are unhappy with their bras and with that industry. This is a huge opportunity to improve women’s lives … And having a male CEO is an interesting slant.”

Zyrra’s custom-made bras are promoted at parties, not unlike Tupperware products or Mary Kay cosmetics, creating connections and community around the business experience.

Candice Leigh Cabe, founder of Day2Night Convertible Heels, a company which manufactures shoes with adjustable heel lengths, is a second year participant at MassChallenge. The 31-year-old Babson College graduate has observed some changes during her two years in the competition.

Not only has she improved her own business plan enough to earn a standing among the finalists in 2011, but she has also seen more female representation. “It’s great to be surrounded by more women in the second year,” says Cabe. “It feels like we all have unique [business plans] and I believe in collaborative and free ideas.”^p50 exhalelifestyle.com

49

Women entrepreneurs find support with MassChallenge

T

he second MassChallenge competition wrapped up in October 2011, with 26 teams chosen from 125 finalists, whittled down from 733 applicants (nearly 300 more than the turnout in its inaugural year). Deeming the original 125 all winners, Harthorne explains, “There is a psychological issue of giving something then taking it away.” Instead, he offers different degrees of winning with MassChallenge. With a total of $1 million in prize money, three of the 26 startups won $100,000; 14 won $50,000; and 12 won the non-monetary prize, garnering publicity for their respective companies.

One of the top three cash recipients this year is Ainsley Braun, a 23-year-old MIT graduate. Braun founded Tinfoil Security, which she created to make website security cheaper and easier to use. Working in a highly competitive, male-dominated business, Braun explains that “the tech[nology] world has a lot of skepticism toward a woman founder.”

Despite the gender-based challenges in the business world, she says MassChallenge has provided a non-competitive based way to help build a startup. For Braun, the most beneficial aspect of her experience with MassChallenge was the mentorship. More than 200 mentors — primarily angel investors and successful entrepreneurs — work with the 125 finalists over a three-month development period.

Sonia Divney is another MassChallenge entrepreneur who has overcome adversity in a maledominant profession. The 44-year-old periodontist has emerged as a leader in the medical field, where she has worked for nearly two decades.The Colombian native and Boston University graduate founded Zarza Tech, a medical technology startup which provides treatments for periodontitis, an oral inflammatory disease. Despite her professional success, Divney struggles with loneliness in her position. “[I am] in a man’s world,” she says.

“I speak with an accent and I am a female CEO ... [it] is very isolating.”

Although she embraced the competition of MassChallenge, Divney admits that it never actually felt like a competition, because everyone helped each other though the process.

“It wasn’t about the prize, but more about the journey,” she says. “It’s a challenge, but at the same time, men respect [me] for my strength and courage.” Having learned valuable lessons from the experience, Divney has expanded her 50

Exhale • Winter 2012

network and lessened some of the isolation by making new friends and colleagues.

Like Divney, Amy Dasch also felt like an outsider going into the MassChallenge experience. Having faced sexism and ageism in her career in the biotechnology industry, the 52year-old co-founder of Abazyme, an anti-body development company, feared discrimination among the other MassChallenge entrepreneurs.

“I thought I’d be competing with a bunch of 25-year-old MIT students wearing black and using Bluetooth headphones,” she says with a chuckle. “But I was delighted to discover that wasn’t the case.”

A sampling of shoes by Open Runway, a 2011 MassChallenge finalist. (Photo courtesy of La Capoise Galerie)

The representation of women entrepreneurs at MassChallenge runs the gamut. Many of those working in the traditionally masculine medical and technology industries have felt pressure to prove themselves to their male counterparts. But others disregard the male-dominated fields altogether and instead focus on untapped markets utilized by women.

Erica Zidel, co-founder of a babysitting business called Sitting Around, targets a female audience and stresses the importance of proper and convenient child care. The 29-year-old entrepreneur and mother claims that women have unique needs and problems, requiring products and services which cater to them. “It’s important to encourage women to start different kinds of companies from men,” Zidel says. “Venture capitalists don’t get that.”

She explains that popular startup ideas like mobile ads, phone applications and daily deals like Groupon are a $3 billion per year business dominated by men. In turn, babysitting — an area traditionally delegated to women — is a $5 billion per year business, financially dwarfing its male counterparts, but lacking the same amount of attention or investment.

Rather than hindering their progress, some of the women entrepreneurs believe that being in the minority has actually worked to their ad-

Candice Leigh Cabe, founder of Day2Night Convertible Heels. (Photo courtesy of La Capoise Galerie)

vantage. Windsor Hanger, a co-founder of the college lifestyle site Her Campus Media, explains that she and her colleagues have been well-received in the business world because of their gender. “Women startups have been hot lately and we have benefited from that,” says the 22-year-old Harvard graduate. “There is a big female force in the [MassChallenge] office ... and other women entrepreneurs are more helpful with each other.”

Echoing Windsor’s sentiments, most of the female participants of MassChallenge agree that a sense of community grew out of the threemonth experience together. According to Sara Gragnolati, the founder of Cocomama, a glutenfree cereal company, “Everyone wants everyone else to succeed.” She benefited from the entrepreneurs sharing their experiences and struggling with similar obstacles. All of the MassChallenge entrepreneurs agreed that ups and downs in the startup process were universal. “This is part of the journey,” says Gragnolati.

Claudia Espinola, founder of Casa Couture, claims that women let their guard down more with other women than with men. The 34-year-old entrepreneur, who has designed a business of expandable maternity shoes, says that MassChallenge got her “out of isolation into a community with the best minds.” After working with other women at MassChallenge, Espinola has learned to better balance home life with her own startup company.

A common thread linking every MassChallenge participant and organizer is the importance and reward of communal effort, which has caught the attention of women entrepreneurs. “All players are necessary for making a successful startup,” says Harthorne, referring to his own company as well as those of his participants. “They act independent, but they are all connected. It’s already one system.”=

Thinking about starting a business?

If you are thinking about starting a business, or want to grow your existing business, this chart will provide you with some funding options along with their advantages and disadvantages.

This information was provided

by Golden Seeds, a company that is a network of angel investors dedicated to investing in early stage companies founded and/or led by women.

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52

Exhale • Winter 2012

Lisa Pierpont

A boldface media star spotlights the untold stories in Boston

By Brian Wright O’Connor

n Boston, where fashion is about who you are as much as what you wear, media doyenne Lisa Pierpont makes everyone’s A-list. Sure, she has an eye for design and an instinct for style — the prerequisites for any boldface clothes hanger in the city rated by Esquire as the nation’s worst-dressed.

But fashion in the sense of labels and accessories only gets you so far in the Hub of the Universe.

Balancing between the old and new of Boston and its textured media landscape, Pierpont combines style and substance with a work ethic that would exhaust a sandhog. When not running a pioneering online video venture, she freelances as a TV producer, mounts pop-up retail shows, produces panel discussions and fashion shows, plans Lollapalooza social events, makes corporate videos, writes for magazines and raises two daughters. ^p54

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53

Lisa Pierpont

A

dd an insatiable curiosity, a gold-plated media background and a pedigree reaching back to the Pilgrims, and you’ve got the ne plus ultra of Boston society, a blue blood unafraid to go where Brahmins once feared to tread.

Looked at through the lens of an old Boston standard, she possesses what iconic columnist George Frazier called “duende,” that mysterious grey area that is ineffably impressive.

Pierpont, raised in the Back Bay and Weston, debuted in Boston society at a Copley Plaza cotillion as a Dana Hall ingénue. She went on to Hobart & William Smith College and the Columbia School of Journalism, landed several media gigs, and became a top producer for Channel 5’s “Chronicle.”

During 15 years with Boston’s highly rated TV magazine, she chased stories all over the world, writing copy and lugging gear in mad dashes around the planet.

There were highly polished travel pieces filed from the back roads of New England and glossy capitals of Europe. But there were also wrenching stories closer to home. One of them exposed a cancer cluster in Ashland that sent five local residents to an early grave and blew open the toxic dumping practices of a chemical dye company. The Ashland program won her an Emmy, followed by two more for shows on Venice, as well as a story about a child of Chernobyl.

She left WCVB-TV in 2007 to launch her own venture, Boldfacers.com, a weekly video magazine featuring the unsung stories of Boston’s most interesting characters, from a perky dominatrix to the city’s premiere pedi-cabbie. The subjects chosen, she explains, are not for glamour or from the insular chattering class who swap awards in public, but for the raw ingredient that gives a city its soul — excellence.

“Every time I opened the paper, you’d see stories about Tom Brady or Ben Affleck — the same people over and over,” she says.

“With Boldfacers, we wanted to profile the up-and-coming, the unheralded, the fascinating, without worrying about the celebrity angle. Boldfacers is not about all that.

We are the anti-Christ of celebrity. The 54

Exhale • Winter 2012

Stella McCartney sequin top, $1,085 at Bloomingdales Alice and Olivia crochet skirt, $597 at Saks Fifth Avenue Rodrigo Otazu “Pyramid” cuffs, $485 (large), $345 (small) at Good

common ground to our feature subjects is that you excel at what you do. You can be the best plumber or the best street dancer.

The idea is that you excel. Boldfacer is simply a stage for showing off our city’s incredible talent.”

Silver and leather bracelets jangling on her arm, Pierpont wipes away a wisp of hair falling across eyes wide open during an interview in her bustling Fort Point Channel studio office.

“I’m most drawn to stories of transformation,” she explains. “One was about a Vietnamese refugee who didn’t speak a word of English when he arrived in Boston, studied hard and got a scholarship to Milton Academy. He went to medical school and now is a prominent physician.

He told us that he remembered getting help from a physician on his perilous journey to America and said to himself, ‘If I survive this, I want to become a doctor to

Karen ZAMBOS Vintage Couture “Louis” jacket, $206 at Crush Boutique Theory green dress, $325 at Bloomingdales Giuseppe Zanotti sling-back pumps, $549.99 at Bloomingdales

help people like me.’ ” In more than 300 weekly installments of just a minute or two each, Pierpont lets the subjects do the talking, telling their stories and showing their talents in some of the best-edited video profiles anywhere.

To save costs and time, she films as many as five in a single session, unless field-work is involved, as was the case with paddleboarder extraordinaire Kevin Horner. He was filmed barefoot atop his river craft, floating smoothly among the lily pads of the Charles River.

Pierpont was lucky enough to meet her fate at a tender age. She appeared in the classroom of the tony Dana Hall School in Wellesley. “In eighth grade, I took a class called ‘News.’ A reporter from the Wellesley Townsman came to talk about her work. It was a ‘come-to-Jesus’ moment. I knew right then what I wanted to do with my life. It

“She’s one part connector, another a careful observer of social styles and trends, another a throw-back to a different era when social status, attending charitable balls and a well-tailored gown still stood for something.” was really an extension of my personality — most of all a curiosity about people that’s never satisfied.”

Chris Stirling, her former boss at “Chronicle,” credits Pierpont’s creative drive and intense curiosity with helping to keep the show above its many imitators over the years. “A ‘Chronicle’ producer needs to have a little curiosity about a lot of subjects,” he says. “And that fits Lisa to a T. The topics she took on here were varied and rich. She

reported on theft and autism, a last-chance school for troubled teens, and the inside workings of the Atlantic Monthly. She boarded a Concorde bound for London, survived a trick landing on a tiny airstrip in St. Barts, profiled a Harvard professor hunting extraterrestrials ... and a child of Chernobyl seeking a new start in America. To every one of her assignments she brought a lively imagination, a literary approach, and pride in being a ‘Chronicle’ producer.” ^p56 exhalelifestyle.com

55

Lisa Pierpont and her two daughters, Gemma (left) and Langley, in her Fort Point Channel office.

Dolce and Gabbana gown, $4,775 at Saks Fifth Avenue

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Lisa Pierpont

Photograph by Ian Justice; www.ianjustice.com • Hair and makeup by Mariolga ; Team Artist Representative • Styling by Erica Corsano

T

aking the entrepreneurial leap from the safe harbor of New England’s longest-running TV news magazine into the turbulent waters of online media was the kind of transformation story Pierpont likes to profile. She recalls comments from a Newsweek editor during a media think-tank session she convened to discuss the future of online publishing.

“He was talking about how the numbers didn’t stack up with online advertising,” she recalls. “I almost fainted during the conversation — I mean, to hear that Newsweek wasn’t cutting it meant I was doomed. I was little, I was local, and Newsweek couldn’t even make it!”

But survivors don’t fold — they adapt. “That night, I lay awake all night and thought, well, we’re going to have to start at the drawing board again. Advertising will never work for me, but if I can create value for my readers, they will be loyal,” she says.

Soon, Pierpont found herself furiously swiping credit cards at a pop-up sale of little black cocktail dresses, her studio transformed into a high-end retail space. It didn’t hurt that she looked stunning in one, a tight swath of black silk framing lithe legs and a Clairol girl smile.

It wasn’t exactly what a Proper Bostonian would do, but those standards went the way of spittoons, galoshes and No Irish Need Apply. “I would put my head in the oven if I lived the privileged life 24/7,” she laughs.

Though she could have. Her great-grandfather co-founded Kennedy’s Department Stores and her father continued in the fashion industry with his own women’s clothing line, The Sporting Tailors, furnishing a comfortable life. Pierpont had a charmed childhood on the sunny side of Beacon Street between Dartmouth and Exeter. Trinity Church was just a short stroll past the brownstones and brick bow fronts of the Back Bay. Her parents met on the beach at Kennebunkport, where the Kennedy family summered.

An only child, she grew up in the creative ferment of fashion design, surrounded by samples, mannequins and designs scrawled on onion-skin paper, floating like leaves from tables piled high with ideas. As an 8-year-old, she designed a sunand-rainbow skirt for her father’s collection.

After grad school, she married a social cynosure, Alex Pierpont — Andover, Harvard, Yale Business School — who shared her work ethic. Their friendship has outlasted the marriage, the better for their daughters Gemma, 9, and Langley, 13, who has followed in her mother’s stiletto heel-steps to Dana Hall.

Is there a débutante ball in their future? “Coming out these days means something a whole lot different than it used to!” quips the unattached single mom.

Her children are about the only thing that has ever forced Pierpont to slow down, but even so there are limits to her lassitude. During maternity leave from Channel 5, she start-

ed a women’s speaker series and mutual support club called Xchange, which she ran for 10 years, bringing in guests like Governor Jane Swift and Ambassador Swanee Hunt for offthe-record talks.

“We had invited the governor before nanny-gate became headlines,” says Pierpont, referring to a run of negative stories about the use of state employees to help watch the Swift’s newborn twin daughters. “We were surprised when she showed up and even more surprised by her frank discussion of what she was going through. When she walked out, we looked at each other and said, ‘She should be a member,’ and she actually joined and stayed with us for six years.”

She pauses to watch a trousseau being wheeled into the studio. Could be for a transvestite’s photo shoot or a diva’s ball gown. Or maybe something for Pierpont herself, who on this day is dressed like a Bohemian rhapsody, with motorcycle boots beneath an olive green, ankle-length dress and a dyed fur collar hovering above her décolletage. You never know with Lisa Lord Pierpont.

“I would compare Lisa to people like Gertrude Stein, who brought together the movers, shakers, artists and social elite to the great salons of Europe,” says former “Chronicle” anchor Mary Richardson. “She’s one part connector, another a careful observer of social styles and trends, another a throw-back to a different era when social status, attending charitable balls and a well-tailored gown still stood for something.”

But a good reporter does more than fill out a gown, adds Richardson. “She’s very inquisitive. She’s tackled tough subjects.

She’s the one who discovered a little boy from Belarus who’d been terribly damaged in the fallout from the Chernobyl nuclear disaster. She showed us the beautiful person inside a badly damaged body.”

Blue bloods don’t typically wear their hearts upon their sleeve or venture into the heart of darker stories about the human condition. Her ability to straddle both worlds astounds her business partner, Eric Levin, one of Boston’s elite commercial photographers who shoots stills for Boldfacers.com.

“I’ve always noticed that when she’s interviewing people, she draws a careful line between making someone comfortable and making them aware she expects something honest and jarring.

“When Lisa looks at you with that beautiful straight face, you’ve got to be ready with a straight answer,” he says.

The nature of Pierpont’s equilibrium in balancing so many roles, he adds, became physically apparent during a field trip to an indoor skydiving parlor in New Hampshire.

“There were these huge fans and motors and a two-story column where you were supposed to be floating on this cushion of air. I go in and I’m bouncing around, hitting the walls and barely able to stay up. But then she goes in and I’ve never seen anything or anyone more elegant. It was like watching a snowflake fall — calm, deliberate, unhurried, a picture of grace in the whoosh of chaos.”=

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Infertility

When your reproductive story goes awry

By Martha Diamond, Ph.D.

Center for Reproductive Psychology San Diego, California

“My parents had me really young,” Emily said, “and they really struggled financially. So John and I decided to wait until we were really ready before we had a family. Once I got tenure and his business was well established, we bought a house in a great school district.”

Her eyes filled with tears. “And three years later, our house is still empty. It wasn’t supposed to be this way.”

No, it wasn’t supposed to be this way. Emily and John’s reproductive story, the inner narrative of how they dreamed and expected things to be when they became parents, had gone terribly awry. They were grief-stricken and traumatized as months of disappointment chipped away at their self-esteem, both as individuals and as a couple.

For the first time, their education, hard work and careful planning could not solve the problem — conception was not a skill that they could learn and practice.

Going through infertility or pregnancy loss is a reproductive trauma. Feeling despondent, scared and angry is common. You may wonder, ‘why me?’ when everyone else in the world seems to get pregnant easily. You may feel as if you have failed rather than that you have a physical prob-

lem. Faced with difficult medical decisions and such overwhelming feelings, many couples’ relationships become stressed, as each person grieves and copes in his or her own way.

Infertility is traumatic because it affects every aspect of a person’s life and inflicts multiple layers of loss, some of which are invisible. You don’t feel like yourself. Not only do you lose the experience of pregnancy and birth, but you also suffer a loss of control, feeling healthy and intact, your sense of privacy and intimacy (who wants to have to go to doctors to make a baby?) and your feeling of belonging, as your peers have babies. Most painfully, infertility means the loss of your original reproductive story, the hopes and dreams that we develop, consciously or not, from the time we are small children.

The reproductive story derives from the way we ourselves were parented, for whether or not we have children, whether or not we want children, we all once were children, and it is upon this experience that our views of parenthood are built.

Having a baby may reflect ways we want to be like our parents, but it also gives us a chance to “re-do” or do differently things that didn’t go so well when we were growing up. Sometimes we only become aware of our reproductive story when it goes awry.

We grieve not only the ability to have our own biological children, but the ability to make ourselves feel whole through the love and “getting it right” that we planned to give them. No wonder infertility strikes such a blow.

Another traumatic aspect of infertility is that it is not a single event. Couples must cope with cumulative strain, multiple cycles of gearing up for a procedure, waiting for the results and then coping with the grief if it did not work. Often told to “just relax” (which is impossible) many couples feel as if they should be able to get over it quickly and just “move on.” It is important to remember that there is no right or wrong way to grieve. Although the feelings will become less intense over time, healing has its own timetable that is different for everyone.

In the midst of your journey, how do you maintain a sense of hope in the face of grief? How do you go on with your life when everything feels as if it is on hold and your life is out of sync? Keep in mind the following as you try to manage this traumatic time in your life: • Know that all the thoughts and feelings you are experiencing are normal, given what you are going through. If you can identify your emotions without judging them, it will help you cope more constructively.

• Both you and your partner have reproductive stories and you may cope and grieve in different ways. Understanding this can help you avoid misinterpretations and hurt feelings and help you stay more connected.

• Try not to isolate, but also give yourself permission to take breaks from your peers, if being around their babies is too painful.

• Consider creating a ritual that is meaningful to both of you to honor the losses you experience. It can be as simple as lighting a candle, planting a tree or even going for a walk together each time an unwanted period occurs.

• Remember that you are more than your reproductive organs. Try not to put your life on hold. Go ahead and make plans (they can always be changed) and continue to develop other aspects of yourself.

• Try to keep in mind that this traumatic time will eventually resolve, whether you have a biological child, use donor technology, adopt or remain a family of two.

Your reproductive story — although enormously important — is but one chapter of your life. = 58

Exhale • Winter 2012

Career coach

You start at square one How do you move from where you are at this moment to a better place?

ff

urie Sally O

By Dr.

Y

ears ago, when I was in training as a physician, I took care of a child with a debilitating illness and a family overwhelmed by stress, depression and poverty. Feeling the same helplessness and hopelessness that he and his family felt, I went to my mentor in despair. He made many helpful suggestions, but one in particular continues to guide me every day. He said, “In your care of him, give him a window out into the world. Help him create a vision of himself beyond the suffering he is experiencing.”

My mentor was telling me to give the child hope. But it was much more than just hope. It was about helping him learn who he was, undefined by and free of his illness. It was about encouraging him to dream. That lesson remains the starting place of almost all the work I do as a coach and consultant; it is square one.

Wherever we are at this very moment, we can only move forward if we have a vision of where we want to go.

The more difficult our circumstances, the more important it is to create a vision of something greater to inspire and motivate us. Unlike my troubled patient, children dream huge, bold, wonderful dreams of unbounded greatness. As

How do you move from where you are at this moment to a different, better place? You start at square one by listening to and learning about your own inner voice, no matter how muffled it is by the stress of daily demands. Before you can create a vision of your future self, you have to ask yourself what you value and believe in. You need to answer

When you consciously articulate what you value, those values become your guide for the decisions you make every day. adults, most of us come to accept that we may not, in fact, become Olympic athletes or rock stars. But way too many of us also relinquish attainable dreams to the mundane demands of everyday life.

We just stop thinking about them. We stop thinking about a vision of ourselves and of our life that embodies our deepest desires, joys and passions.

with honesty and courage so that your ultimate vision of your future has integrity and aligns your values with how you live and work. The answers must reflect your voice and not anyone else’s expectations or desires for you. They need to represent what you truly believe in and come from a place that is your genuine, deepest self. ^p60

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Career coach

S

o, what really matters? What do you hold dear? What makes you get up each morning feeling truly glad to start the day? What kind of people inspire you to be your best and why? Conversely, what do you dread? What drains your energy? What kinds of people feel toxic? What keeps you up at night? In his Stanford commencement address, Steve Jobs said we needed to imagine that death was near in order to truly discover what matters most. If you wrote your own memorial, what would you say about the things you valued and stood for in your life?

When you consciously articulate what you value, those values become your guide for the decisions you make every day.

Behavior is driven by what you care about or are attempting to avoid, whether you are aware of those things or not. When you make them conscious, you bring clarity and direction into your life. Beyond providing guidance, your values lead you to your greatest source of energy and strength, a sense of purpose.

Purpose is not a list of goals. Purpose infuses your goals with personal meaning that, in turn, can empower and motivate you through even the most difficult challenges.

So start with square one. Reflect and write down what you see as your grandest purpose in life. Why do you think you are here? Then, write down what you value most, as a whole and on a daily basis. At the end of each day, write down what you did

that exemplified those values and what you could do better. Are you making your values and purpose a part of your everyday life? As you gain clarity, you will become ready to envision your future. Imagine that there are no obstacles and that anything is possible. Write a vision of your ideal self, who you are and exactly what you would like to be doing five years from now. Make it as specific and detailed as possible. Write it by hand to keep it closely connected to you. Find a friend to share it with. Make it real and let it be heard. It is from this dream that you will then begin to do the concrete work of transforming your vision into your life.=

Dr. Sally Ourieff has joined Exhale as a regular contributor. Ourieff’s focus is to help you build positive, strong relationships and personal and professional lives that allow you to seek your highest potential. She is accepting your questions and comments about issues that you feel are holding you back. You can e-mail them to admin@ exhalelifestyle.com and she may answer them in the next issue of Exhale.

Here are some values to help you think about what matters most in your life and work.

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Exhale • Winter 2012

Education

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Exhale • Winter 2012

Simmons College

A transformative learning experience in the heart of Boston

By Taylor Rogers

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Exhale • Winter 2012

teeped in a tradition of cultivating the intellectual and professional growth of women, Simmons College provides an engaging and warm educational community with a national reputation of academic excellence. Founded in 1899, Simmons was the first college in the United States to offer women a liberal arts education integrated with excellent career preparation.

Today, Simmons provides a transformative learning experience so a student can marry her passion with her lifelong purpose. Simmons students develop a broad base of knowledge and a full range of the professional skills and strengths needed for an increasingly competitive job market. Located in the Longwood/Fenway neighborhood of Boston, Simmons is within walking distance of 15 other college campuses and surrounded by world-renowned museums, libraries, hospitals and medical research facilities.

A commitment to prepare women for challenging careers

sional development opportunities.

Simmons ranks among the nation’s top private liberal arts colleges. Forbes recently named Simmons one of the best colleges in the United States, and each year Simmons is recognized by the U.S.News & World Report annual survey and the Princeton Review’s Best 376 Colleges.

Simmons professors are distinguished researchers, published authors, Fulbright scholars, health professionals, practitioners and community leaders. Simmons professors advise government, nonprofit and corporate organizations in the United States and around the world. Yet, professors passionately uphold their primary obligation to teach and mentor students.

A hands-on learning experience

An enduring value to educate women for their Own empowerment and leadership

Simmons was founded to educate women for their own economic empowerment and independence. We have been dedicated to this mission for more than 100 years. Preparing women for today’s careers and for the careers of the future is our passion. We respect diversity of all kinds within our community and we are committed to educational excellence for our employees by offering opportunities to participate in various profes-

Simmons challenging curriculum ensures that each undergraduate student explores a variety of subjects while gaining and in-depth theoretical understanding of her major. Simmons offers more than 40 majors and programs, and nearly 30 percent of its students choose to double major. A 13-1 studentto-faculty ratio ensures that every student receives individual guidance and support.

Experiential learning is key, both in the classroom and beyond. Students fulfill an independent learning requirement through internships, field work and research projects. In doing so, they develop skills, confidence and experience.

Acquiring a global outlook — including an understanding of languages, cultures and world politics — is also part of the plan.

First-year multi-disciplinary courses emphasize critical thinking and writing skills, while integrating two or more subjects — ranging from bioethics and Buddhist studies, to democracy, education and economics.

Special opportunities include an honors program, communications design studio, political internships, cross-registration at neighboring colleges and universities and alumnae mentoring.

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University College

Empowering women leaders of tomorrow UMass Boston’s University College educates adult learners 66

Exhale • Winter 2012

very day you see women who are making a difference and changing society. They all have one thing in common. Each has had to overcome challenges and face roadblocks on their way to achieving their dream.

At University College of UMass Boston, many of the barriers women have had to face are disappearing. “For any woman who wants to learn, University College can provide a path,” says Carol Hardy-Fanta, who runs the Program for Women in Politics & Public Policy.

“We make education accessible to make change possible.”

Understanding the adult learner

With schedules jam-packed raising a family, taking care of parents, running a household, often while holding down a job, pursuing education and acquiring new skills is often a juggling act.

One of eight colleges on the UMass Boston campus, University College offers flexible scheduling and options to fit the lifestyle of today’s women. Included are a robust list of online courses, short and long-term non-credit training and certificate programs as well as undergraduate and advanced professional degrees to provide credentials and credibility for mobility in the workplace.

With classes on nights and weekends on the Boston campus, as well as in several suburban locations, students find hundreds of new ways to hone skills and challenge their minds. In the summer alone, there are more than 600 credit and non-credit offerings.

Explore the world of politics and social change

If you have an interest in the realm of politics and policy, there are two graduate certificate programs; Women in Politics and Public Policy and Women’s Leadership in a Global Perspective. Both programs prepare women to serve at all levels of government, take on leadership roles in non-profit organizations, hold elected office and pursue advanced degrees in such areas as law and public policy.

“We are very proud of these programs,” says program director Hardy-Fanta. “Our graduates are out in the world, making a difference every day, and nothing could please us more as educators.”

Who teaches the teachers?

Many educators find a home at University College.

The master of education program and graduate certificates in Instructional Design, under the direction of Judith Erdman, were one of the first of their kind in the nation.

“We’ve been a leader in the field keeping a pulse on exist-

ing and emerging technologies,” says Erdman.

“The Instructional Design program is a wonderful opportunity for career professionals and it opens many doors, “Erdman adds. “Most of all our students find a learning community that is collaborative, cooperative and collegial and our faculty are masters at cultivating that.”

Work in the service professions

If helping others is fulfilling, there are many options to explore at University College, from an undergraduate to doctoral degree in nursing, to degree and certificate programs in gerontology that prepare students to work and assume leadership roles.

Enhance your skills, one semester at a time

If students don’t have the time to pursue a degree program, a great way to fit aspirations into a busy schedule is to sample the many one-semester, non-credit offerings at University College. Practical Project Management and Web Design can help build business savvy. If there is a passion for the non-profit world, then Successful Grant Writing could steer you in a new direction.

In the human resources field, professionals can enroll in a two-semester certificate program to help them better understand and address the complexities of employee rights, benefits and responsibilities in the workplace.

Plot your own course

There is sure to be a course, certificate or degree program at University College to help adult learners achieve their goals. In all, University College offers 13 graduate degrees, 2 undergraduate degrees, 15 graduate and 4 undergraduate certificates. And all University College students can take full advantage of the extensive resources of the entire UMass Boston campus.

To learn more about University College’s award-winning programs, recognized for innovations in programming and delivery, visit the website at www.uc.umb.edu. exhalelifestyle.com

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Spotlight

Ballet Hispanico’s

Eduardo Vilaro talks dance and Latino culture

By Jacquinn Williams

E

duardo Vilaro’s love of dance reaches far back into his childhood. A Cuban immigrant who came to America when he was 6 years old, he remembers music being a huge part of his life.

“Music was so connected to our culture,” he says. “For a lot of Latin music there are dances that go along with songs. Mambo has the Mambo, Tango the Tango, Rumba the Rumba.”

Vilaro is the artistic director for Ballet Hispanico in New York, where dance and culture go hand-in-hand. According to its mission, they explore, preserve and celebrate Latino cultures through dance. Through collaborations with composers and outreach in the community, the organization has grown since its founding by Tina Ramirez in 1970 into a multi-faceted educational institution.

Growing up in the South Bronx, Vilaro traveled to the New York Botanical Garden to escape the daily pressures of life. There, he began paying attention to the seasonal shifting of migrating birds. Their synchronized movements, precise and graceful, like the pirouettes and balançoires of skilled dancers, intrigued him.

He was hooked — on bird watching and on dance.

“I’ve always loved movement,” he explains.

“Movement or gesture is a language we all share and can connect to.”

While in junior high, Vilaro vowed to make dancing his life. The music and drama from theater productions in school proved irresistible for him and sealed his fate as a performer. But, he

Eduardo Patino photo

wasn’t sure if he could share his newfound love just yet. For years, Vilaro kept his dancing a secret from his family using capoeira classes as his cover, while he indulged in ballet.

“It was kind of hard being a Latino boy who wanted to dance,” he shares. “I was hiding. I hid it until I graduated from high school.”

He began his dance training at the Alvin Ailey American Dance Center. He has also studied at the Martha Graham Center of Contemporary Dance. After years of studying and performing, Vilaro — who has a BFA in dance from Adelphia University and a master’s in interdisciplinary art from Columbia College — founded Luna Negra Dance Theater in 1999 in Chicago.

Vilaro served as the artistic director for 10 years and created more than 20 original pieces of choreography at Luna Negra. Two years ago he

joined Ballet Hispanico.

“Luna Negra was a labor of love,” he says.

“As artists we are always giving labors of love to the community. I wanted Luna Negra to live beyond me, so I gave it to Chicago.”

Now, Vilaro — who loves to cook when he’s not dancing or teaching — labors to make sure Ballet Hispanico stays true to its mission while remaining artfully innovative. As the company gears up to tour this spring with a stop here in Boston, March 9-11, at the Cutler Majestic Theatre, he’s hoping to create moments that move people and affect them in a profound way.

“I think institutions like Ailey and Ballet Hispanico are important because both companies use their cultures and the evolution of their traditions to create a dialogue in the community and the world at large,” he says. “We are the beacons.”= exhalelifestyle.com

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reviews

with Joyce Kulhawik

JANUARY

God of Carnage

On Stage

The weather outside may be frightful — but what’s onstage in and around Boston is so delightful! Boston’s theater scene has exploded in the last 10 years — it’s local and global, intimate and grand, and spans everything from Greek tragedy to Green Day! Here’s what I’m hoping will light my fire this winter.

The movie opened this fall, and now the Tony Award-winning comedy, which won raves on Broadway, hits The Huntington Theatre Company stage in its 30th season! Two uptown sets of parents meet for cocktails to settle their kids’ schoolyard squabble.

Drinks are thrown; primordial instincts are unleashed. I hate when that happens.

January 6 - February 5

Fen

Head down to Boston’s hip South End theater and restaurant district for one of the best fringe company’s latest productions: Whistler in the Dark presents Obiewinning playwright Caryl Churchill’s drama about four generations of women struggling for survival. Then you’ll need a good meal. Eat at Hamersley’s Bistro, STILL the best restaurant in that part of town.

The Factory Theater January 20 - February 4

Sugar

Yes — a world premiere about the epidemic that is diabetes. It’s one woman’s story about the pain, shame and triumph over “a little bit of sugar.”

Robbie McCauley not only shares her tale of survival, but also the stories of others across the country, the latest in care — and a sugar-free jam! I’ve never heard of anything quite like this.

“The Jackie” Black Box at the Paramount Center January 20-29

American Idiot

You know the smash hit title track from Green Day’s Grammy Award-winning multiplatinum album! They wrote the music and lead signer Billie Joe Armstrong wrote the lyrics for this Tony Award-winning hit musical about three boyhood friends looking for meaning in a post 9/11 world. Yeah. I know what you mean.

The Boston Opera House January 24-29

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Exhale • Winter 2012

The Wizard of Oz

reviews

I’m off to see the Wizard at Wheelock Family Theatre and here’s why: “Dorothy” is played by Dover native and Broadway star Katherine Leigh Doherty! She made her Wheelock debut at age 12 and went on to co-star with Angela Lansbury and Catherine ZetaJones in “A Little Night Music.” She’s back to play the part she’s always dreamed of in this production adapted by the Royal Shakespeare Company!

There’s no place like home.

January 27 - February 26

FEBRUARY

Medea Penned in 431 BC, Euripides’ tragedy of a woman’s ultimate revenge finds endless resonance in AD 2011. Can’t wait to see how some of Boston’s best — Nigel Gore, Jennie Israel, McCaela Donovan — push at the darkest limits of human nature in this Actors’ Shakespeare Project production. Post show discussions follow Sunday matinees; believe me — we’ll need to talk.

Multicultural Arts Center of Cambridge February 8 - March 4

Daddy Long Legs

Les Misérables

I hate “Phantom” — “Les Mis” is the musical that always gets me. The noble convict Jean Valjean heartlessly pursued by the wicked Javert! Unrequited love, the dying mother, the revolution, the nobility, the tragedy, the desperation, those magnificent songs: “Bring Him Home”! It’s French! Victor Hugo’s sprawling classic served up on that whirling turntable of a stage! I adore it.

I will see it again. Don’t miss this 25th Anniversary Production!

The Boston Opera House March 13 - April 11

It’s the New England premiere of a new musical written and directed by the Tony Award-winning director of “Les Miserables” and “Nicholas Nickelby” — John Caird. The story is set in 1912 New England about a young orphan and a mysterious benefactor who pays her way to college! Like Annie and Jane Eyre rolled into one, it stars Broadway’s Megan McGinnis.

Merrimack Repertory Theatre February 9 - March 4

Wild Swans

The Addams Family

There’s a good chance you were one of the more than10 million who read Jung Chang’s 1991 recordbreaking international best seller — about three generations of women and their torturous lives under Chinese Communism. Now, it’s about to have its world premiere on the American Repertory Theater’s mainstage, adapted by the A.R.T. and London’s young Vic Theatre Co. February 11 - March 11

I once dressed as the dark and slinky Morticia when I was a 12-year-old growing up in Bridgeport, Connecticut.

What wacky dreams I had. Now I get to see the musical about the whole macabre crew when the national touring company makes its Boston premiere.

Citi Performing Arts Center Shubert Theatre February 7-19

Time Stands Still They survived bombs in Baghdad and brushes with death — but can they survive everyday life at home?

Will taking out the garbage prove lethal? That’s what Sarah and James — a photo journalist and a foreign correspondent — have to figure out in what has been called “one of the best new plays on Broadway”!

The Lyric Stage Company February 17 - March 17

Bakersfield Mist

This rolling world premiere is like “Antiques Roadshow” onstage! An art expert and a woman living in a trailer park argue over a thrift store painting: is it a Jackson Pollock — or trailer trash? Inspired by real events, the play asks — what do we value, anyway?

New Rep Black Box Theater, Arsenal Center for the Arts February 26 - March 18

MARCH

Next To Normal It won last year’s Pulitzer and three Tony Awards. Mental illness rips apart a suburban family, the drama fueled by an emotionally charged pop rock score. Now that’s what my life is missing — a musical score!

Speakeasy Stage Company March 9 - April 7

Futurity: A Musical

By The Lisps And now to make your head spin — the latest at American Repertory Theater’s OBERON is billed as a time-traveling Civil War sci-fi musical with Indie-folk music and a steampowered brain! Couldn’t they be more inventive? See you there!

March 16 - April 15

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reviews

Q&A

Joyce Kulhawik talks with Anne Hawley,

director of the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum The museum opens its new wing — all glass and light — by architect Renzo Piano on January 19. The opening is sure to be the highlight of the cultural scene this winter! For me, the museum has always been a highlight — my absolute favorite space in all of Boston — ever since I was a student right next door on the Fenway at Simmons College!

The Gardner is a museum that isn’t supposed to change — per Mrs. Gardner’s will — but the new wing is all about change!

the magic is going to be even better in here!

The mission isn’t changing. The new wing is all about the kinds of programs that Isabella did in her lifetime. She had artists in residence — John Singer Sargent painted here; she had composers; and she produced their work. So she was running a center [for] new work, new ideas, new music, new thought.

We resumed that work about 20 years ago — but there wasn’t enough space to do it well — and attendance is going up!

[In the new wing] you’re entering a workshop. All these activities — from being in the living room, [a salon like space for conversation and tea and real live birds — which Isabella loved] or going to a concert upstairs, watching a museum at work, the café, the classroom, the gift shop — happen here.

Basically we’ve off-loaded [those] public programs and services to make the original museum sacred space again for the protection of the collection. The sacred space is through the link, and into her world, her mind, and it’s now been uplifted. Many of the galleries have been re-installed and refurbished to the appearance they had in 1926! So

I think she’d love it! In fact Renzo Piano was asked what he would do if he met her in paradise and he said, “I’d ask her to Tango!”

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Exhale • Winter 2012

What would Isabella think?

Why Renzo Piano — and did it have anything to do with his being Italian?

Well, partly! We picked Renzo out of 75 different architects. He gets it! He understands the quirkiness; he refers to [Mrs. Gardner] as this mad, mad woman who landed a spaceship on the Fens because there was nothing here — and then there’s a Venetian Palazzo?!

What are you most excited about?

I guess I’m so thrilled that we can interact with the public … so they can see Mrs. Gardner’s legacy! She was a patron of creative people and she supported them and she presented their work. There is nobody doing what she did, the way she did it — today, as an individual. But as a museum we are carrying that out! =

24x24 ea. acrylic on canvas

“Ripple Effect” and “Ripple Effect II”

By Margo Ouellette Margo Ouellette is a local artist from Boston whose art is influenced by her architectural background, her passion for color and her Native American heritage. Her art is displayed from Boston to Miami in prominent galleries, high-end retail stores and in the Presidential Art Collection.

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Live! Work! Thrive! Celebrating 5 Years of Innovation

Crittenton Women’s Union celebrated its 5th anniversary on November 10 at its “Live! Work! Thrive!

Celebrating 5 Years of Innovation” fundraising gala held at WGBH. The event raised $225,000 for the Boston-based anti-poverty organization.

(Matthew West photos)

Left to right: Dr. Margaret McKenna, former president of Walmart Foundation and Lesley University; Elisabeth D. Babcock, president/CEO of Crittenton Women’s Union; Pamela A. Murray, senior vice president of Rockefeller Financial and co-event chair; Fredi Shonkoff, senior vice president of Blue Cross Blue Shield of MA and co-event chair; and Peter Zane, chair of the board of Crittenton Women’s Union and co-event chair

Left to right: Stephanie Brown, Karen Sykes, Charlene Beckett, Celeste Lee, Liveda Clements

Left to right: Deborah Youngblood, Shannon O’Brien, Claire Wadlington

The Many Names of Love

The Center for Arabic Culture held a fashion show at the Taj Boston on November 4 with Iraqi fashion designer Hana Sadiq. The Center for Arabic Culture is dedicated to celebrating Arabic language, culture, art, history and Arab-American cultural experience. (Jan Bloc photos)

Designer Hana Sadiq (center) and Joe and Gin Freeman, owners of Dynasty Models

Models provided by Dynasty

Models Boston Models provided by Dynasty

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Exhale • Winter 2012

Models Boston

Top Dish Boston

Exhale Magazine hosted its premiere Top Dish Boston culinary extravaganza celebrating our local top chefs, local food producers and sustainability on October 14. The event showcased more than 20 different local restaurants and beverage producers, including Bully Boy Distillers and Narragansett Beer. The event was hosted by TV Diner’s Billy Costa and proceeds benefited The Greater Boston Food Bank. (Michael Blanchard photos)

Dress for a Cause ™

The 2011 All4One Alliance Event “Dress for a Cause ™” was held at the Liberty Hotel in Boston on October 26. The All4One Alliance is a partnership of four nonprofit organizations who are committed to helping women recover from breast cancer with dignity. The profits from the alliance fundraising activities go directly to helping women in need. The event was hosted by singer, songwriter and radio personality from Magic 106.7, Candy O’Terry. (Michael Blanchard photos)

ne Left to right: Pauli ve Alighieri, executi ds director of Frien of Mel Foundation and Melissa Graves

Left to right: d, Mary Lou Woodfor ll, be mp Ca Sara Candy O’Terry, Pauline Alighieri, Karleen Habin

Room To Grow Fall Gala

Hundreds of Room to Grow supporters filled the Boston Public Library on November 5, for its annual Fall Gala, the nonprofit’s largest fundraising event of the year to benefit parents raising babies in poverty. Room to Grow provides lowincome families with a unique combination of social work support and essential baby items. Parents receive one-onone parenting guidance and necessity items, including clothing, books, educational toys and baby equipment, every three months for the child’s critical first three years of development. At the Fall Gala, Room to Grow honored T. Berry Brazelton, M.D., one of the world’s foremost authorities on pediatrics and child development, and Mayra Santiago, a Room to Grow mother raising a child with special needs. The festive event included a VIP party sponsored by Urban Grape, dinner and an auction full of sports, travel and dining experiences. (Leo Gozbekian photos)

Anne Gavin

Honoree, and n, M.D., Fall Gala T. Berry Brazelto utive director ec ex ow Room to Gr Saskia Epstein,

Left to right: Julie Burns, Room to Grow founder and Fall Gala co-chair; Ken Burns, documentary filmmaker and Fall Gala co-chair; Mary Richardson, local TV legend; and her husband, producer Stan Leven

and Anne Ga

llagher

Alyssa Grinberg and Monique Luijben

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Cultural Calendar

January 6 – February 4

January 18 – February 12

January 27

Winner of six 2010 Tony Awards, including Best Play, “Red” is a searing portrait of an artist’s ambition and vulnerability. After he lands the biggest commission in the history of modern art, abstract expressionist painter Mark Rothko begins work on a series of large murals with the help of a new young assistant. What takes place between the two men is a master class on the methods and purpose of art and the dynamic relationship between an artist and his creations.

Stanford Calderwood Pavilion at the Boston Center for the Arts 527 Tremont Street Boston, MA 02116 Tickets are $30-$55. www.speakeasystage.com

Straight from its sold-out run in New York City, Company One is proud to present Travis Chamberlain’s highly acclaimed site-specific production of Tennessee Williams’ “Green Eyes” at The Ames Hotel. Written in 1970 but unpublished for almost 40 years, this “lost” erotic thriller graphically reveals the impact of war through the sexual fantasies of a newlywed couple honeymooning in New Orleans. He’s a soldier, traumatized by his participation in the war; she’s a ravenous woman determined to satisfy the darkest recesses of her most deviant desires. Starring the acclaimed NYC actress Erin Markey, “Green Eyes” transforms a honeymoon suite into a psychosexual battleground where desire and violence blur and become indistinguishable. With only 25 seats available per show, this is an exclusive theatrical event you do not want to miss!

The Ames Hotel 1 Court Street Boston, MA 02108 Tickets are $35. www.companyone.org

RAIN, the acclaimed Beatles concert, returns by popular demand! They look like them and they sound just like them! All the music and vocals are performed totally live! RAIN covers The Beatles from the earliest beginnings through the psychedelic late 60s and their long-haired hippie, hard-rocking rooftop days. RAIN is a multimedia, multi-dimensional experience...a fusion of historical footage and hilarious television commercials from the 1960s lights up video screens and live cameras zoom in for close-ups.

Sing along with your family and friends to such favorites as “Let It Be,” “Hey Jude,” “My Guitar Gently Weeps,” “Come Together” and “Can’t Buy Me Love,” and relive Beatlemania from Ed Sullivan to Abbey Road!

Providence Performing Arts Center 220 Weybosset St # 2 Providence, RI 02906 Tickets are $33-$63. www.ppacri.org

Red

Green Eyes

January 20-21

Everything Is Getting Better All The Time

January 16-22

Boston Wine Expo 2012

Boston is a foodie’s paradise — and the seventh largest wine market in the nation. To honor this historic region’s passion for food and drink, we’ve transformed the Boston Wine Expo into an entire week of festivities celebrating wine, food and culture from the greatest wine-growing regions of the world.

From its headquarters at the Seaport World Trade Center and the Seaport Hotel, the Boston Wine Expo 2012 will extend its reach into the city for special events, vintner dinners and gala celebrations.

We’ve targeted mature, affluent consumers who are serious buyers and connoisseurs. You’ll meet these consumers — plus top trade customers — in highquality settings that encourage interaction and sales.

Seaport World Trade Center and Seaport Hotel 1 Seaport Lane Boston, MA 02210 wineexpoboston.com

Monica Bill Barnes’s work is an impressive combination of choreographic imagination, intellect and humor. Her dances have the brilliant ability to pull at your heartstrings in one moment and laugh out loud the next. Her new work, “Everything Is Getting Better All the Time” is an outrageous and whimsical evening of dance.

Borrowing from the glamour of rock concerts, the goodwill of a Little League game and the enthusiasm of a high school marching band, four dancers blend explosive movement and familiar gestures to create distinct characters with a lot of heart and a touch of grit.

The Institute of Contemporary Art/Boston 100 Northern Avenue Boston, MA 02210 Tickets are $40. www.worldmusic.org

January 21

Kathy Mattea

Known for such classic country hits as “Eighteen Wheels and A Dozen Roses,” Grammy Awardwinner and Charleston, W. Va., native Kathy Mattea spent her childhood immersed in Appalachian culture, where mining is a way of life. Throughout her career, Mattea has explored music’s most basic human essence; melodies steeped in emotion and timeless narratives delivered with beauty by an unmistakable voice. Through projects such as her Grammynominated recording “COAL” and her environmental activism, Mattea pays tribute to “my place and my people.”

Sanders Theatre, Memorial Hall 45 Quincy Street, Cambridge, MA, 02140 Tickets are $40-$54. www.celebrityseries.org

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Exhale • Winter 2012

Rain: A Tribute to the Beatles

January 27

Roby Lakatos Ensemble

Mixing the fire of Hungarian-gypsy music with classical technique and a gift for improvisation, violinist Roby Lakatos is that rare musician who defies definition. A seventh generation fiddler, Lakatos’ mastery and musicianship have earned him the title “The Devil’s Fiddler” and “The King of Gypsy Violin.” Lakatos blends the wild rhythms of his gypsy roots with scorching virtuosity and an extraordinary stylistic versatility to take audiences on a careening musical thrill ride. Expect to leave with your heart racing!

Sanders Theatre 45 Quincy Street Cambridge, MA 02138 Tickets are $40-$54.

Call 617-482-6661.

January 28

Fire & Rain: David Binder plays The Music of James Taylor

Dave Binder has been playing guitar since he was 7 years old and singing for as long as he can remember. He is a lot more than just your ordinary solo performer. He holds a bachelor degree from the University of Lowell School of Music as well as an Honorary Doctorate in Musical Philosophy from St. Lawrence University.

After 25 years of touring college campuses and more than 3,000 shows, Dave Binder concerts have become “A Tradition” on many campuses throughout the country. Dave began his career in 1979 and has since showcased in six regions at 12 showcases, including a national showcase in Nashville. He has been a Campus Entertainer of the Year nominee for twenty years running and performs exclusively on college campuses and at corporate events when he’s not down the islands performing for Club Med. Showcase Live 23 Patriot Place Foxborough, MA, 02035 Tickets are $15-$40 for VIP. www.showcaselive.com/event schedule

To advertise call (617) 261-4600 ext. 123 or tim@exhalelifestyle.com

January 28

February 4

Cœur de Pirate (French for pirate heart) is the stage name for French-Canadian chanteuse Béatrice Martin. Her whimsical, magical pop songs blend cabaret music, French lyrics and playful indie sensibilities. Cœur de Pirate is touring in support of her highly anticipated new recording, “Blonde,” coproduced by Howard Bilerman and Béatrice Martin.

Brighton Music Hall 158 Brighton Avenue Brighton, MA 02134 Tickets are $15 general admission, standing room only, 18+. www.worldmusic.org

“Wild and Weird,” Alloy Orchestra’s newest collection of short silent movies, collects some of the oddest examples of early filmmaking you’re likely to see. Included are Wadislaw Starewicz’s 1912 “The Cameraman’s Revenge,” a soap opera of animated insects; Hans Richter’s 1926 Dadaist masterpiece “Filmstudie;” Edwin S. Porter’s 1906 “Dream of a Rarebit Fiend,” which explores the hallucinations brought on to a man who has eaten too much rich food, and “Princess Nicotine or the Smoke Fairy,” about an impish sprite living in a gentleman’s pipe. Tremendously entertaining, fast paced, truly wild and weird, these films will dispel any preconceptions you might have about silent films. And, of course, Alloy’s audacious scores make these mini masterpieces all the more fun.

Somerville Theatre 55 Davis Square Somerville, MA 02238 Tickets are $25. www.worldmusic.org

CŒUR DE PIRATE

Alloy Orchestra – Wild And Weird

February 2-4

STRAUSS Suite from Le Bourgeois Gentilhomme DUTILLEUX Tout un monde lointain DEBUSSY La Mer Charles Dutoit, conductor Gautier Capuçon, cello Swiss conductor Charles Dutoit leads this colorful Francophile program that begins with Strauss’s charming, quasi-ersatz, 17th-century music to accompany a new version of Molière’s play Le Bourgeois Gentilhomme. Joining Dutoit and the orchestra is French cellist Gautier Capuçon in his BSO debut, performing Henri Dutilleux’s Tout un monde lointain. The great French composer Dutilleux (b.1916), completed this shimmering concerto-like work in 1970 for the great Mstislav Rostropovich. Closing the program is Debussy’s symphony-like La Mer, three musical pictures of the sea. The Feb. 2 performance will also feature Project Debussy, a student fashion design competition, in which local students design evening wear inspired by a the French composer.

Symphony Hall 301 Massachusetts Avenue Boston, MA 02115 Tickets are $20-$110. www.bso.org

February 5

Dan Zanes And Friends

February 7-19

The Addams Family – A New Musical Comedy

The weird and wonderful family comes to devilishly delightful life in “The Addams Family.”

This magnificently macabre new musical comedy is created by Jersey Boys authors Marshall Brickman and Rick Elice, Drama Desk-winning composer/lyricist Andrew Lippa, choreographer Sergio Trujillo and Olivier Award-winning director/designers Phelim McDermott & Julian Crouch with creative consultation by four-time Tony Award-winner Jerry Zaks.

Citi Performing Arts Center Shubert Theatre 270 Tremont Street Boston, MA 02116 Tickets are $33-$103. www.citicenter.org/spooky

February 8-19

Mary Poppins

February 3-4

Inbal Pinto & Avshalom Pollak Dance Company Oyster

The award-winning Israeli choreographers Inbal Pinto and Avshalom Pollak are ingeniously imaginative artists whose richly intimate artistic vision speaks also of wider truths. “Oyster,” a full-length work making its Boston premiere, is a magically mysterious full-evening work combining the dreamlike qualities of Fellini and Tim Burton and the keen intellect of Pina Bausch. It is a fantastic circus-world of wandering street acrobats and oddly beautiful creatures, set to the music of Piazzola, Leoncavallo, Harry James, Yma Sumac and Tuvan throat singers.

The Paramount Theatre 559 Washington Street Boston, MA 02111 Tickets are $50-$60.

Call 617-482-6661.

One of the hottest bands in children’s music, Grammy Award-winners Dan Zanes and Friends create fun-filled, rockin’ dance parties wherever they go, performing exuberant, handmade 21stcentury music that transcends language, genre and age. Kids bounce to the catchy and playful tunes while adults appreciate the hip musicality that attracts collaborators such as Deborah Harry, Lou Reed and Blind Boys of Alabama.

Grammy Award-winning Zanes and Friends occupy a unique place in American music where sea shanties, North American and West Indian folk music, Mexican son jarocho, early rock and soulful originals come together in an extravaganza fit for kids and kid sympathizers alike.

Somerville Theatre 55 Davis Square Somerville, MA 02238 Tickets are $25. www.worldmusic.org

“Mary Poppins” is bringing its own brand of Broadway magic to theaters across the country.

Featuring the irresistible story and unforgettable songs from one of the most popular Disney films of all time, plus brand-new breathtaking dance numbers and spectacular stage-craft, “Mary Poppins” is everything you could ever want in a hit Broadway show. So get swept up in the fun of this high-flying musical!

Providence Performing Arts Center 220 Weybosset St # 2 Providence, RI 02906 Tickets are $38-$75. www.ppacri.org/events

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February 10

Cultural Calendar

Bobby Valli’s Tribute to the Jersey Boys

Yes, lightning did strike twice in the Valli Family.

Bobby is the younger brother of Frankie Valli of Four Seasons fame. Bobby pays tribute to Frankie and The Four Seasons in his incredible Jersey Boys Tribute Concert. You won’t believe your ears when Bobby sings – it’s definitely in the genes. You’ll hear many million selling hits in this outstanding show – “Sherry,” “Big Girls Don’t Cry,” “Let’s Hang On,” “Can’t Take My Eyes Off You” and many more! Singing, recording and producing music from a very young age, he recorded his own material for Columbia Records and was a member of several legendary groups. Bobby recently appeared at Carnegie Hall in a special tribute with fellow Jersey musician Bruce Springsteen. Bobby has performed his incredible Jersey Boys Tribute across the U.S. and abroad to rave reviews.

Showcase Live 23 Patriot Place Foxborough, MA 02035 Tickets are $20-$45 for VIP. www.showcaselive.com

February 10-12 Underland

Stephen Petronio’s “Underland” is a sexy, enigmatic fusion of dance, music and visual imagery inspired by the tender, bittersweet songs of pop balladeer Nick Cave. Completing Petronio’s vision is an exquisite triptych of projected imagery by visual designer Ken Tabachnick and video artist Mike Daly, as well as costumes by Tara Subkoff. Together with his superb company of 11 dancers, they create the provocative world that is “Underland.”

The Institute of Contemporary Art/Boston 100 Northern Avenue Boston, MA 02210 Tickets are $40. www.worldmusic.org

February 12

February 26

A daring response to the taboo of women playing the djembe in West Africa, Nimbaya! is the first all-women’s percussion and dance troupe from Guinea. The group, formerly known as Amazones Women Master Drummers of Guinea, was created in 1998 by Mamoudou Condé of Les Ballets Africains fame. Presenting spectacular performances, Nimbaya!

Sanders Theatre 45 Quincy Street Cambridge, MA 02138 Tickets are $22-$28. www.worldmusic.org

BeauSoleil avec Michael Doucet and Marcia Ball present a heart-racing musical tour of the American South and Gulf Coast. With a celebrated 35-year career, BeauSoleil has been taking the rich Cajun traditions of Louisiana and artfully blending elements of Zydeco, New Orleans jazz, Tex-Mex, country, blues and more. Singer/pianist Marcia Ball knows how to raise roofs and tear down walls with her infectious, intelligent and deeply emotional brand of southern boogie, rollicking roadhouse blues and heartfelt ballads. Her exquisite piano playing and passionate, playful vocals fuse New Orleans and Gulf Coast R&B with Austin’s deep songwriting tradition.

Somerville Theatre 55 Davis Square Somerville, MA 02238 Tickets are $35. www.worldmusic.org

NIMBAYA! Women Drum and Dance Company of Guinea

February 25 Solas

Since its birth in 1996, Solas has been loudly proclaimed as the most popular, influential, and exciting Celtic band to ever emerge from the United States. Solas is virtually unique in the new territory it has opened up for Celtic music. It has performed at all the major Celtic and folk festivals, including Philadelphia, Edmonton, the legendary National Folk Festival and Milwaukee’s Irish fest. It has performed at Symphony Hall, Wolf Trap, the Ford Amphitheater and Queens Hall in Edinburgh, Scotland. The Solas sound today is anchored by founders Seamus Egan, who plays flute, tenor banjo, mandolin, whistle, guitar and bodhran, and fiddler Winifred Horan.

Somerville Theatre 55 Davis Square Somerville, MA 02143 Tickets can purchased by calling 617-625-5700. www.somervilletheatreonline.com

Exhale • Winter 2012

Circa’s “Circa”

This seven-performer troupe from Brisbane, Australia, whose bold vision has made waves worldwide, explores the edgy territory where contemporary circus, dance and the expressive possibilities of the human body meet. “Circa” the show is seamlessly remixed from three of the company’s most acclaimed works and is an exhilarating, high-energy journey that strips acrobatics and movement down to their heartstopping essentials.

The Paramount Theatre 559 Washington Street Boston, MA 02111 Tickets are $50-$60.

Call 617-482-6661.

Flamenco Festival 2012

LE VENT DU NORD

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February 29 – March 4

March 2-4

February 11

Le Vent du Nord is a leading force in Quebec’s progressive folk revival movement. Drawing from French, Irish and Canadian traditions, the quartet blends vocals, fiddle, hurdy-gurdy, guitar, accordion and percussive feet to create a joyous new sound that swings, reels, jigs and sings with centuries of joie de vivre.

Somerville Theatre 55 Davis Square Somerville, MA 02238 Tickets are $25. www.worldmusic.org

BEAUSOLEIL avec MICHAEL DOUCET & MARCIA BALL

To advertise please contact

Tim Stansky (617) 261-4600 ext. 123 or tim@exhalelifestyle.com

Featuring Compañía Rafaela Carrasco performing the Boston premiere of Vamos al Tiroteo; and, Compañía Olga Pericet performing the Boston premiere of Rosa Metal Ceniza. From Seville, Carrasco is a breathtaking dancer and one of the most important flamenco choreographers of her generation. With her company of five dancers and live musicians, she displays her rare ability to explore new concepts while maintaining the essence and integrity of flamenco in Vamos al Tiroteo. Set to a selection of popular Spanish songs originally recorded by Federico García Lorca and sung by La Argentinita in 1931, Vamos al Tiroteo brings new life and energy to the music that inspired a hugely influential generation of flamenco artists. Pericet is a young, diminutive yet powerful dancer. Her elegant new work, Rosa, Metal y Ceniza (rose, metal and ash), won the Revelación prize at last year´s Festival de Jerez. It seamlessly blends oneiric references with traditional and contemporary flamenco dance and features Pericet joined by two male dancers and live musicians.

Cutler Majestic Theatre 219 Tremont Street Boston, MA 02116 Tickets are $40-$65. www.worldmusic.org

March 3

Carolina Chocolate Drops

The Grammy Award-winning Carolina Chocolate Drops revitalize the old-time string and jug-band music of the Piedmont region with velocity and virtuosity. The band’s expanded new lineup includes original members Rhiannon Giddens on fiddle, banjo and vocals and Dom Flemons on guitar, banjo, harmonica, jug and snare. They are joined by new members Hubby Jenkins and Leyla McCalla.

Berklee Performance Center 136 Massachusetts Avenue Boston, MA 02115 Tickets are $28-$37. www.worldmusic.org

March 9

Lila Downs

Known for her smoky voice and magnetic performances, Mexican-American singer and composer Lila Downs has created one of the most singular explorations of Mexican roots music on both sides of the border. She blends Mexican folk rhythms and native dialects with American folk, blues and rock. Her new release, “Pecados y Milagros” (sins and miracles), is inspired by Downs’s experience becoming a new mother (something she calls “a miracle”), and a contemplation of the meaning of “sin” in the modern world. The music is accompanied by a series of specially commissioned votive paintings (retablos) by 15 Mexican painters.

Berklee Performance Center 136 Massachusetts Avenue Boston, MA 02115 Tickets are $30-$42. www.worldmusic.org

March 9-11

Ballet Hispanico

March 9-18

The Barber of Seville

Ladysmith Black Mambazo

With the power of gospel and the precision of Broadway, Ladysmith Black Mambazo is the undisputed king of mbube, South African a cappella singing. The group came together in the early 1960s and continues to thrill audiences around the world with its strong, proud melodies, harmonized in layers of call and response.

Sanders Theatre 45 Quincy Street Cambridge, MA 02138 Tickets are $28-$40. www.worldmusic.org

March 21

Middle Eastern Music Festival Figaro, Figaro, Figaro! Rossini is undoubtedly the top dog of comic opera and “The Barber of Seville” is his undisputed masterpiece. Rossini generously stamps every moment with his own unique and irresistible mixture of manic madness and soaring lyricism. Patter songs, love duets, serenades, along with a shaving scene out of Max Sennett, a foiled elopement, a happy ending and even a thunderstorm. The Barber has it all … and more.

Citi Performing Arts Center Shubert Theatre 270 Tremont Street Boston, MA 02116 Tickets start at $32. www.citicenter.org/barber

The Middle Eastern Music Festival is a celebrated annual event that joins gifted artists from the Middle East and the Balkans with students from all over the world to perform traditional and inspiring music from these homelands.

Berklee Performance Center 136 Massachusetts Avenue Boston, MA, 02115 Tickets are $8 in advance, $12 day of show. www.berkleebpc.com

March 23

Blind Boys Of Alabama

Since meeting at the Alabama Institute for the Negro Blind in 1939, the Blind Boys of Alabama have thrilled audiences worldwide with their potent, March 9 – April 7 impassioned renditions of gospel songs. Winners of Next to Normal five Grammy Awards, celebrated by the National Featuring a compelling and surging pop rock score, Endowment for the Arts with several Lifetime “Next to Normal” shatters through the façade Achievement Awards and inducted into the Gospel of a suburban family dealing with the direct and Music Hall of Fame, they have attained the highest indirect effects of mental illness. Winner of three levels of achievement in a career that spans over 60 Tony Awards and the 2010 Pulitzer Prize for years and shows no signs of diminishing. The Blind Drama, this intense, emotional and ultimately Boys of Alabama send spirits soaring to dizzying hopeful musical makes a direct grab for the heart heights with their foot-stomping, hand-clapping with its story of a family coming to terms with its celebration. past and bravely facing its future.

Berklee Performance Center Stanford Calderwood Pavilion at the Boston 136 Massachusetts Avenue Center for the Arts Boston, MA 02115 527 Tremont Street Tickets are $30-$42.

Boston, MA 02116 www.worldmusic.org Tickets are $30-$57. www.bostontheatrescene.com March 23 – April 14

March 13-18 Ameriville Ballet Hispanico artistic director Eduardo Vilaro is building on the work of founder Tina Ramirez in exciting new ways, stretching and broadening the definitions of “Hispanico” to reflect the full depth of contemporary Hispanic people and cultures. With this bold new vision, “Ballet Hispanico” continues along the trail they have blazed for over 40 years, exploring the Latino voice in dance, from the smart and spicy to the elegant and lyrical and beyond. Program will include Boston premieres of “Mad’moiselle” by Annabelle Lopez Ochoa and a new work by Ronald K. Brown.

Cutler Majestic Theatre 219 Tremont Street Boston, MA 02116 Tickets are $43-68.

Call 617-482-6661.

March 17

Ameriville, a collision of storytelling, spoken word and the infectious rhythms of jazz, gospel and hip hop, will change your concept of “musical theatre.” The viscerally energetic and diverse young team, Universes, put the state of the Union under the microscope and into the microphone, as they spin exquisite harmonies and beatboxing around themes of race, poverty, politics, history and government, examining our country through the lens of Hurricane Katrina and its aftermath.

A modern-day variety show, the piece branches out from stories of post-Katrina New Orleans to the rest of the United States, giving voice to disenfranchised groups and articulating not just the difficulties, but also the underlying strength within America.

Paramount Center 559 Washington Street Boston, MA 02111 www.artsemerson.org

Hookman

It was just going to be another Saturday night at the movies for Jess and her high school best friend Lexi.

That is, until Hookman (of crazed-man-with-a-hook urban-legend fame) kills Jess. This unexpected twist leaves Lexi, well … sad. Lexi must go back to school, where nobody wants to hear her whine about her dead friend, just as Hookman begins to stalk Lexi next. In the spirit of the American Horror genre, Lauren Yee’s “Hookman” is full of humor and plenty of gore! An unsentimental exploration of how America copes with the tragedy in the Facebook age.

Hall A Calderwood Pavilion at the Boston Center for the Arts Company One 527 Tremont Street Boston, MA 02116 Tickets are $25, $15 with student ID. www.companyone.org

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exhalelifestyle.com

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Business Calendar The Franchise & Business Opportunities Expo January 14-15 Join North America’s fastest growing companies and sell your franchise at the best-attended, regional franchise & business opportunities events in the country. This event showcases a wide range of the fastest growing franchises and business opportunities in the U.S and Canadian markets!

Shriners Auditorium 99 Fordham Road Wilmington, MA 01887 For more information, please visit www. franchiseshowinfo.com/exhibitor/boston/ index.html.

The Affect Factory: Precarity, Labor, Gender, and Performance February 10-11 New York, NY The New York University-based journal, Women & Performance: A Journal of Feminist Theory, will be hosting a conference on the NYU campus. The Affect Factory reconsiders the feminist critique of the relation of time and work, material and immaterial labor, waged and unwaged emotion labor. Are we living in the Affect Factory?

New York University For more information, please visit http:// affectfactory.blogspot.com.

WOMEN CONVERSATION

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Exhale • Winter 2012

21st Annual Dynamic Women in Business Conference at Harvard Business School February 25 The conference, hosted by Harvard Business School’s Women’s Student Association, is a powerful forum for women to learn from, share with and inspire one another. This annual conference brings together more than 1,000 women to explore the opportunities and challenges that women encounter in today’s business world.

Harvard Business School Soldiers Field Park and N Harvard Street Boston, MA 02125 For more information, visit dynamicwibconference2012.eventbrite.com.

To advertise please contact

Tim Stansky (617) 261-4600 ext.123 or tim@exhalelifestyle.com

WEST (Advancing Women in the Business of Science & Technology) March 1 Please join us for “Lessons Learned from a Serial Entrepreneur” with speaker Barbara Lynch, James Beard Award-winning chef and owner of nine restaurants, serial entrepreneur and WEST advisory board member. The cost is $130 for WEST members, $160 for non-members and $225 for a WEST membership and dinner.

Hotel Marlowe 25 Edwin H. Land Boulevard Cambridge, MA 02141 For more information, visit www.westorg.org.

10th R&D-Product Development Innovation Summit March 6-8 This summit will provide participants with a comprehensive review of the Innovation Body of Knowledge for product management, creation, development and commercialization. The first goal will be to codify the current management science of innovation in corporations. The summit will synthesize what works from what is known. The second goal will be to project the future in corporate innovation knowledge, process and capabilities this coming decade. There are eight modules and four exercises.

Four Points Sheraton Hotel & Conference Center 1125 Boston Providence Turnpike (Route 1) Norwood, MA 02062

For more information, call Cheryl Walrod at 781-444-5400 or go visit www. goldensegroupinc.com/innovation-summitseminar-workshop.shtml

International Women’s Day Event March 8 9 a.m. – 5:15 p.m.

A daylong event with speakers including Magi Bish, activist, founder of the Molly Bish Foundation; Tamilee Webb, Buns of Steel star: Tips on “How to Have the Body Your Body Wants to Be”; and Wendy Murphy, former prosecutor who specializes in the representation of crime victims whose work has changed the law to help protect the rights of victimized women, children, and the disabled, presentations and performances, lunch, and socializing Back Bay Sheraton 39 Dalton Street Boston, MA 02199

For more information, call 617-236-2000 or visit internationalwomensday.org/boston.

Moms in Business Grant 2012 – Coaching Starting date January 13, 2012 and coaching is every four weeks Moms In Business Grant is the first-ever crowdfunding business grant in the nation! We launched this innovative program in March 2011, and it was a brilliant success.

We are doing it again for 2012 and giving one lucky mom a chance to win $15,000 in business growth tools and cash.

For more information, please visit www.momsinbusinessgrant.com.

The World Congress 3rd Annual Leadership Summit on the Business of Women’s Health April 25-27 The World Congress 3rd Annual Leadership Summit on The Business of Women’s Health will offer strategies for achieving profitability while examining the impact of Health Care Reform on women’s health services.

The main focus of the event will be creating outcomes in women’s health services, and providing participants with the tools to implement changes that will increase revenue while maintaining and improving quality of care.

For more information, contact Nicole LaLonde at 781-939-2407 or visit www.worldcongress.com/events.

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The 3rd Annual Sustainable Economy Conference

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Federal Reserve Bank of Boston Monday, April 30, 2012 8:15 am - 4:30 pm For registration and more information:

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*Exhale Magazine readers receive special discount*

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uestions and Answers

with The Commonwealth Institute Exhale had some questions for Aileen Gorman, executive director of The Commonwealth Institute, about its mission and goals for 2012.

When was The Commonwealth Institute formed and what is its mission? Has the mission changed or expanded since its inception?

The Commonwealth Institute (TCI) was founded in 1997 by 13 women who wanted to help other women grow their businesses. TCI’s founders had been very successful in a range of business environments and well versed in the intricacies of starting and building companies, so their initial efforts were directed toward women entrepreneurs.

Since they believed that entrepreneurs learn best from one another, they focused on establishing programs around peer mentoring. The first program they established was CEO Forums of 8-10 women entrepreneurs who committed to meet once a month for half a day to discuss business issues. The forums are confidential and professionally facilitated. The founders also established educational programs for women in business which were held as breakfast meetings or evening events.

We found that women in a range of business environments were also facing challenges that could best be addressed in a forum, and therefore we expanded our mission to these leaders as well. We established Forums for Senior Executive Women, including Human Resources executives, General Counsels and CFOs in the for-profit arena, CEOs/executive directors of nonprofits and sole practitioners.

In addition to our forums and educational programs, The Commonwealth Institute holds at least two major “signature” events per year.

While these are important fundraising events for us, and allow us to focus attention on women’s accomplishments in business, they are also excellent networking opportunities for entrepreneurs and corporate executives.

Past speakers have included Gloria Steinem, former Secretaries of State Madeleine Albright and Condoleezza Rice, and Chairman of Time, Inc., Ann Moore.

The Commonwealth Institute supports women entrepreneurs and corporate CEOs. Those present two different sets of problems — access to capital for entrepreneurs and the glass ceiling issues for corporate executives.

Can you break down the problems that you see and explain how TCI is working to support women in both these categories?

While the issues facing entrepreneurs, CEOs and corporate executives initially appear to be very different, there are some strong similarities. First of all, no matter what challenge you are facing, the burden is lighter when you can share it with a group of peers. There is no shortage

of support and advice in the forums. Secondly, while the initial thought about entrepreneurship is access to capital, that is only occasionally the focus of the CEO Forums. The companies are focused on growth, so the issues they face range from increasing market share and investing in technology, to product or geographical expansion and personnel issues.

The topics are as varied as the companies participating in the forums.

What do you consider The Commonwealth Institute’s greatest successes?

Since TCI was founded, we have helped more than 1,000 businesswomen in Massachusetts, New Hampshire and Southern Florida build their businesses. This includes both entrepreneurial businesses and also businesses within the larger corporate structure. We have heard from so many of our members that their experience in the forums has been life changing not only because it resulted in greater growth for their companies, but also because it has helped them grow personally.

Another important success, I believe, is the fact that we have heightened the visibility of women in business and demonstrated the impact these companies have on the economy of Massachusetts. Through our Top 100 program, where we identify by annual revenue the top 100 women-led businesses in Massachusetts, we are able to show their economic importance in the business growth of the Commonwealth.

Going forward, what are your greatest challenges?

The biggest challenge is navigating through a very difficult economy. While the recession has impacted everyone, it has been particularly difficult for nonprofit organizations. A substantial amount of the corporate funds we relied upon to subsidize our work with entrepreneurs and nonprofit executive directors has dried up. As a result, TCI, like so many other organizations, has had to reinvent the way we do business. We reduced staff and eliminated our Boston office. Our phones and mail are handled through a virtual office company where we also have access to offices and conference rooms whenever we need them. This is the wave of the future for businesses and organizations that want to remain nimble and adjust quickly to a changing economy.

The other big challenge is staying on top of the business environment, which means creating products that fill a market need. One such product is our Strategies for Success: A Development Program for Emerging and High Potential Women Managers. This four-day program is a deep dive into effective management and provides strategic insight, practical takeaways and exposure to successful CEOs and senior executives. Participation is limited to 40 women.

For more information about The Commonwealth Institute and membership, please visit www.commonwealthinstitute.org.

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Exhale • Winter 2012

Wine is not just a drink. It’s a lifestyle.

Add the Red White Wine Club to your lifestyle in 2012!

• Members enjoy wine recommendations updated quarterly and tailored to your personal tastes.

• Special events.

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Join the wine community that’s in it for the lifestyle.