It was time again for the annual Texas Conference for Women. Everyone was a little worried as the event is hosted by the 1st lady of Texas – Mrs Perry. As she refrained from any political messages though everyone started breathing again after the first 10 minutes. With > 5000 women there you can imagine the chatter levels. Despite missing Barbara -:( I had a great day. As I don’t watch Oprah or any other major US talk-shows I did not really know much about any of the names. However I think there are a few for all worth knowing about:
Rose Mapondo: This lady is the Humanitarian of the Year for 2009 and does a lot of very good work to get the world to work on peace & reconciliation. Her story is awful yet very inspiring and had especially all moms in the room sitting there with wet eyes. In Rwanda in 1998 she spend 16 months in a death camp. Her Husband was killed shortly after arrival there, she lived on a concrete floor with no sanitation watched 24/7 by guards with guns aimed at them at all times. Turned out she was pregnant and she delivered her 2 boys on that concrete floor prematurely (not knowing she had twins till she delivered). She tied off umbilical cords with her own hair and made the boys after 2 of the captors to keep them alive (hoping they would feel some affiliation). Miracles do happen and Rose now lives in the US and spends all her effort in helping others. Her main message is focused on reconciliation. What a woman!
Bloody Mary aka Bobbie Wiener: At 46, after 4 marriages to well of guys this lady ended up with nothing and no-one. Going in for her last decent haircut in a while her hairdresser apparently suggested she should go to make-up school. She did but was horrible at making people look good – she was and is however very good at making people look not so good and since she was responsible for the make-up on all the dead floaters in the movie ‘Titanic’ this lady has grown her business bigger and better in interesting areas such as providing all face camouflage paint for the US Army, Navy etc and sports fan custom color make-up as well as make-up for the funeral industry. Unfortunately this lady was part of a panel and did not get too much airtime. A happy, interesting & fun story!
Barbara Bradley Baekgaard: Founder of Vera Bradley (flowery fabric bags that are VERY popular in the US). I don’t really get the bags – but wow this women – I got her totally. She was very funny, very down to earth and really a nice role model if you ever want to start a business. She keeps it simple but realistic and has a great sense of humor. One of the funny stories – she and her partner back in 1982 both borrowed 250 USD from their husbands for their business. These days she said many younger women say to her – but was that not also really your money? She honestly said she did not think of it that way back then but with humor then said ‘the worst is that we actually paid them back!’. She also only does business with people she likes which sounds all wrong if you read most marketing books but is great to hear as a women that she still manages to keep that up even now her company went public (Trading @ NASDAQ). Other funny story – they had a customer who owed 100 USD. He did not want to pay and at some point even said ‘I doubt Vera Bradley is going to roll-over & die because I don’t pay my 100 dollars’. Vera Bradley was Barbara’s mom and had passed away that week. They send this customer a note with the obituary with 2 lines: ‘She Did’ and ‘You Do’.
A few of the other presenters: The widow of Patrick Swayze (Lisa Niemi Swayze), Cindy McCain & per video Link Ben Affleck her partner on the Eastern Congo Initiative (fighting Rape), Tory Johnson (another TV personality + small business guru), Mel Robbins (TV and Radio star & life coach) on how to ‘stop screwing yourself over’ or for me at least with some sensible thoughts on how to get your fried mommy brain to function better & trick yourself -:) and Martha Beck (on Oprah etc & Writer) on getting through the rough patches in life by trusting all will be ok, giving up your job as Harvard Professor to do what you really want. These last two though very different were great speakers: being motivational , funny and real whilst still sounding practical and not like a never ending flow of buzzwords .
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