February 28, 2022

Happy Last Day of February,

I hope that everyone has fared well in the turmoil of the last week. Thank you Kseniia for your letter to us all last week and to Andrew for following up with the speech. I truly value that within the BOSLady community we have the ability to share, receive and support in this way.

Not to pivot too sharply, but I want to remind everyone that this Thursday at 2pm PST is the Mindful Materials webinar Lighting the Way: Advocacy + Action for Lighting Design. If you haven't already, register for free here. The advocacy letter is here.

The Weekly Three

1. Something from our book of the month: Did you all know that our March book The Secret to Superhuman Strength is entirely a comic book? I like the change of pace and find myself lingering over each page longer than expected to take in the small details of each panel. As a philosophy major and literary buff, I also am enjoying all of her references to Beat writers, Eastern philosophers and Transcendentalists, among others. If you're not so convinced about a comic book or the selection in general, check out a few of the illustrated pages using this link.

2. Something about cooperation vs. competition with colleagues: Article from HBR exploring competition, conflict, independence and cooperation. Thank you Alexandra!

3. Something about the increase in Black women entrepreneurs: from The Guardian

What are some of the motivating factors for starting one's own business that are specific to Black women?

• "on average Black women are paid 37% less than white men and 50% of Black women and Latinas had trouble paying for basic expenses with less than $300 in savings, and that’s with a job"

• "compared with white men, Black women are almost twice as likely to say they have been laid off, furloughed, or had their hours or pay cut because of the pandemic"

How big is this professional shift?

• "women of color make up only 39% of women in the US but represent 89% of new women-owned businesses. Within that demographic, Black women are leading the charge at 42% of new women-owned businesses, followed by Latina women at 31%"

Other good news:

• the creation of companies like "EnrichHER, a platform that connects revenue-generating companies led by women and people of color to various sources of funding. The company loans up to $250,000 to small businesses and services an 80% Black demographic. Novellus says establishing guidelines that are culturally in alignment with Black women is essential"

Thank you for taking the time to read, Amber Watnik (she/her)