President's Message: Welcome, September!

Think! Act! Do! Empowering Yourself and Your Ideas with the Women's Development Series

Member Focus: Alecia Venkataraman

CABLE Member Announcements

"Oh the Places You'll Go": CABLE's Mentoring Program

Coach Anna McCoy kicks off the 2010 Women's Development Series, Wednesday, September 8 at 11:30 a.m. at the Renaissance Hotel, Nashville.

Anna McCoy is a certified business and life coach, author, ordained minister and business owner. She is the Chief Encouragement Officer of Act Now, Inc. Click here to read more!

2010-2011 President LoLita Toney is a Pharmaceutical Sales Specialist with AstraZeneca Pharmaceuticals and Owner of Ivy Recruiting and Consulting, LLC.

Welcome, September!

Wow, I can’t believe it is September already! Time really does fly when you’re having fun, and I’m having a blast networking with all of my CABLE friends at each of our many networking events.

I encourage each of you to take advantage of the opportunity to grow your CABLE network by attending a networking event each month in addition to the CABLE networking luncheon.

September is one of my favorite months because it signifies the beginning of three things I greatly enjoy:

1. Football – I love the smell of football in the air. Go Titans!
2. Fall – Ahhh . . . the beautiful orange, red and yellow colors of the leaves
3. Kick-off of Women’s Development Series (WDS) - it’s time to recharge and, in the words of Steven Covey, “sharpen the saw.”

I’m extremely excited about this year’s Women’s Development Series and speakers. There will be something of value for everyone, despite your profession or the stage of your career. So this is a call to action for members to share the series with their networks and encourage your friends, family and colleagues to sign-up.

This is an excellent way to recharge at a very affordable price. Please visit www.nashvillecable.org to register.

This month, CABLE becomes part of Nashville history by way of our participation in the inaugural Nashville Women’s Half Marathon. What an exciting event and time to be part of CABLE! We need our CABLE friends to run/walk with us and to support the CABLE team by coming out to the race and cheering. You can also show your support via a gift to the CABLE foundation in the name of the CABLE team or a specific participant. Just visit the CABLE web site and click on the Half Marathon link to learn more.

I would also like to welcome all of our new members. I look forward to meeting each of you at a CABLE luncheon or networking event. We are so glad you decided to join CABLE and I encourage you to get connected and involved by visiting and joining a committee or two.

Finally, it’s not too late to get your foursome together for CABLE’s Annual Fall Golf Scramble. This year there is a pre-event luncheon and a post-event reception. You can register for each of the events on the CABLE web site. So grab your golf bag and get ready to tee up!

CABLE is also extremely grateful for each of our Reaching Nashville Women’s Sponsors. A special thank you to the continued generosity of First Tennessee, Nashville Business Journal, Allstate, AT&T, Saint Thomas Health Services, NES, Deloitte, Bridgestone, RJ Young and TVA.

I look forward to seeing each of you at the luncheon and throughout the month, and of course, connecting you with plenty of CABLE opportunities.

Yours in service,

LoLita Toney

Think! Act! Do! - Empowering Yourself and Your Ideas

By: Christy Diane Farr, Life Coach
Seeds and Weeds Coaching

I've been interviewing the speakers for CABLE's monthly luncheons for a while now, and I must say, this job is a fabulous adventure. Every month I'm humbled by the intense passion, business savvy, and unique experiences embodied in those who come to enlighten us from the podium. I craft my best "you won't want to miss this" pitch to you, the CABLE membership, because I truly believe you won't want to miss it. (If you're thinking that I have the best assignment around, then you are absolutely right!)

Today, instead of focusing only on the regular monthly luncheon, I've come to taunt you with something even bigger, dare I say even better . . .  

It's time for CABLE's Women's Development Series! 

Our fearless leaders (thank you Casey Guimbellot Pash and crew!) prepared three mind-altering events with two incredible speakers and a bold theme: Think! Act! Do! - Empowering Yourself and Your Ideas. Yes, I realize that I tell you every single month that you don't want to miss it… but seriously, you don't want to miss this dynamic duo - Life Coach Anna McCoy and CABLE's own Kim Riley, President of First Horizon Insurance, Inc. (click here to learn more).

This series is all about empowering yourself and your ideas as an entrepreneur and corporate businesswoman.

To open the series, Coach Anna McCoy will deliver the keynote address at our luncheon on Sept. 8 and also facilitate a more intimate breakfast session at the Adventure Science Center the following morning, Sept. 9. My interview with Anna followed a brief planning conversation between Team CABLE and Team McCoy. While I waited my turn, I simmered nervously over how I would put my “this-woman-is-going-to-rock-your-world" Life Coaching spin on my profile of someone who is already a world-rocking Life Coach!

As I listened in on the whirlwind CABLE conversation with Coach Anna McCoy, the solution landed right in my lap. When my turn came, I'd written one word in all capital letters across the top of my page . . . "ENERGY!" 

Coach Anna is a speaker, author, entrepreneur, talk and radio show host. When she's not changing women's lives through Woman Act Now, she's a minister and collaborates with her husband on several very impressive businesses. Click here to learn more.

Do you see what I mean? ENERGY!

When CABLE's President LoLita Toney saw Coach Anna speak, the match was clear, for she is the embodiment of "Think! Act! Do!"

Her company Woman Act Now is the result (Do!) of the action (Act!) that Coach Anna took on a vision she had (Think!) about how the Internet could be used to create a community where women could come together to pursue their own visions. She believes that every woman who wants a Life Coach deserves to have one, and this membership community (online, over the phone, and in many places, in person) makes it possible for Coach Anna and her coaching staff to deliver accountability, motivation, and support at a variety of commitment levels and corresponding price points. 

The biggest challenge Coach Anna faces is one shared by Life Coaches everywhere…"getting women to understand they can overcome barriers, believe in themselves. They are overwhelmed with life, trying to survive. Four years ago, I changed my business model to meet the needs of every woman as she prepares to go to the next level."

Coach Anna’s plan is working and the success stories are remarkable. (I'm not giving them up . . . you'll have to come hear for yourself!) By the way, her ten year goal made my heart skip a beat . . .10,000 members in the Woman Act Now community. 

It might seem daunting to some of us, but not Coach Anna, a woman with not one but two of those "Easy" buttons from Staples, which she uses to punctuate staff meetings as well as her own accomplishments.  "That was easy!"

You'll have to stay tuned for more information on the Women's Development Series third session with CABLE member Kim Riley, but go mark your calendar and register today!

(Psst… I promise, you won't want to miss it either.)

Announcements

Laura Tidwell will be honored during the Big Brothers' Big Tribute on September16, 2010, at 5:30 p.m. at the Hutton Hotel along with long-time Nashville resident, Gay Levine Eisen. Big Brothers of Nashville is a near-one-hundred year-old nonprofit that serves Nashville families with emergency financial and food assistance. Visit the Big Brothers of Nashville web site to learn more about their mission and the Big Tribute.

* * * * *

Amber Gooding, director of business diversity development of Metropolitan Nashville Airport Authority, has been elected to the Airport Minority Advisory Council Board.

If You Dream It . . . Alecia Venkataraman Makes It Happen!

By: Megan McInnis

Do you have a dream? Have you ever had a dream? Regardless of the business, the athlete or the artist, Alecia Venkataraman (pronounced Veen-kuh-traa-min) makes your dreams come true! Her company, Dream It, Make It, established in late June, has one purpose – to make dreams come true.

Currently, Alecia and her team of 35 salaried and contracted talent are working with models, musicians and businesses to bring their dreams into reality. And, they are looking for more! She is in talks with major agencies to work with their clients as well. Christian, country and rock musicians as well as (huge) box office, award-winning movie stars are all in line for her services. Her clientele is booming.

What she does for her clientele includes pitching the models to Neutrogena, L’Oreal and Nike. One current client, a model, is already signed with Dove. Another client is a bilingual musician who is being promoted in Spanish- and English-speaking countries. Yet another is a country music artist with a new single being released!

So what really does her company do? Well, all the behind-the-scenes work or consultation to guide the client to success. She consults with the client, brings on her skilled, passionate experts and, together, the team makes the client’s dreams a reality.

“We truly are a team that can develop dreams and concepts,” says Alecia.

“It doesn’t matter what stage in the process (they are) or how much money they have . . . We will find a way to build them up. We don’t want anything to stand in the way,” said Alecia.

One thing that sets Dream It, Make It apart from other companies is the personal touch. “We are incredibly relational . . . we sit with the families along with the spouse because we want to be part of their family for the next few years,” continued Alecia.

Alecia might have learned her personal touch by spending much of her life in Cookeville, Tennessee. However, she has lived all over. After ending an abusive marriage, she looked around and decided Nashville would be where she should start again. That was three years ago. In that time, she founded Make It Beautiful, a non-profit dedicated to changing adversity into beauty. Through her work with the non-profit, she was inspired to make others’ dreams come true through her new business, Dream It, Make It. Today, she continues her support of Make It Beautiful through a percentage of sales.

For more information about the company, visit www.DreamItMakeIt.com. The new Web site will launch on Sept. 9. For more information about the non-profit, visit www.MakeItBeautiful.net.

Oh, the Places You’ll Go

CABLE Mentoring Program Works with Young Professionals

A wise mentor once wrote, “Congratulations, today is your day.”  He may have been your mentor at one time and maybe he still is.  Dr. Seuss wrote those words in his book Oh the Places You’ll Go.  On January 20, 2010, a mentoring program was kicked off for a group of Young Professionals (YP) from First Tennessee Bank, CABLE’s Platinum sponsor.  The six-month program, organized and facilitated by CABLE, included the pairing of the YP’s with former CABLE Presidents as their mentors.  The program also included a series of professional development sessions led by CABLE members Lynn Manzelmann, Deb Palmer George and Donna Yurdin.  The YPs were treated to a celebration of their growth and development in July hosted by First Tennessee Bank President Doyle Rippee. 

YPs, look where you have been.  Now where will you go?  The world is yours.  Continue to grow.  And when you are ready, mentor someone else.

CABLE looks forward to working with a new group of YPs in January, 2011.