This morning I opened up my trusty feed reader (feedly), and soon clicked on a post of mine to see how it looked in feedly. There are so many things about using this clean, minimalist feed reader, but one of my favs is the fact that it recommends things "you might also like". The suggested reading for those who like GenPink just so happen to be some of my favorite ladies.

Check it out (I did not pick these – but it’s pretty close to what I would have picked):

• Penelope Trunk’s Brazen Careerist
• Modite by Rebecca Thorman
• Life After College by Jenny Blake
• Zen Habits (ok a guy writes this one – but it’s great!)
• A Life in Translation
• Small Hands, Big Ideas
• Sydney: Unfiltered
• Mad Grad
• Politicoholic by Nisha Chittal
• Ophelias Webb

I saw this via twitter and I thought was worth sharing.

The venerable Estee Lauder cosmetics brand has found a seemingly natural way to connect with social media: offering free makeovers and photo shoots at its department-store cosmetics counters coast-to-coast to produce shots women can use for their online profiles. – AdAge

The promotion will start in New York Bloomingdale’s October 16th and expand into Macy’s and Saks in other cities.

The gift that the brand hopes will keep on giving is that the profile photos include the Estee Lauder logo in the background, which, assuming they aren’t Photoshopped into oblivion, could give the brand lasting presence on Facebook beyond its own 27,000-member plus fan page. The promotion is being plugged on that page, as well as on Estee Lauder’s website, and the company is also using PR to spread the word. – AdAge

I am entrenched in the marketing and social media world so "new" ideas always appeal to me. What do you think of this idea? Do you think you’d act on this offer? I’ve never used Estee Lauder, but it sounds fun to me.

More info: Estee Lauder Facebook Fan Page

I find it ironic that I filmed this video on why women suck at self promotion several days ago and I kept doubting whether I should put it up. Umm hi I suck at self-promotion!

According to a great post my friend Nisha Chittal wrote, The Politics Of Self-Promotion: Women Suck At It – "eight times as many men as women graduating with master’s degrees from Carnegie Mellon negotiated their salaries". She has a lot of other great statistics on her post – all which floored me! So I’m very curious WHY women suck at self-promotion. I think it’s pretty clear from watching my circle of friends there is certainly a different style of promotion among men and women but I’m curious what that is.

Since I like promoting other people … Here are some of my favorite Gen Y Women Bloggers you should be following!

• Rebecca Thorman – Modite: career advice for a new generation of workers.
• Tiffany Monhollon – Personal PR: building relationships, and sharing ideas.
• Sydney Owen – On New Media: Sydney recently moved to Chicago for a fabulous PR job! She blogs about PR, life and new media.
• Nisha Chittal – Politicoholic: commentary about a wide variety of issues, mostly political and social.
• Grace Boyle – Small Hands, Big Ideas: Life as a Gen Y in a startup with daily inspiration
• Holly Hoffman – Work, Love, Life: her blog title says it all! Holly is very inspiration and thought provoking in her writing.
• Jamie Varon – Intersected: Jamie is moving to Italy in 3 days, what more do you want to know!
• Jamie Ann – Oh! How Lovely!: Jamie blogs about life and inspiration and fun pink things!
• Monica O’Brien – Twenty Set: Monica O’Brien is a Marketing Consultant specializing in marketing strategy and consumer insights at the juncture of new media and traditional marketing.
• Susan Pogorzelski – twenty(or)something: career and personal development with a mix of creativity and reminiscence.
• Five Blondes: 5 blonde sisters blogging about life from five points of view.

*I stole many of these descriptions from Ryan Stephan’s Top 10 Gen Y Blogs.

If I forgot you, how about practice your self promo muscles and promote yourself in the comments!

Interested to know in the comments why you ladies (and guys) think women aren’t so great at self-promo.

PS: A bit of my own self promo (yay!) today Monday is the last day to vote for our SXSW panel submission on Why Gen Y Wants to Work “With” You, Not “For” You. I’d love for you to vote!

I just finished watching The Upside of Anger, as the credit music plays in the background I’m still unsure of whether or not I even liked the movie. I do know … it’s one of those that leaves you thinking. Either way this quote from the end is certainly worth sharing:

Anger and resentment can stop you in your tracks. That’s what I know now. It needs nothing to burn but the air and the life that it swallows and smothers. It’s real, though – the fury, even when it isn’t. It can change you… turn you… mold you and shape you into something you’re not. The only upside to anger, then… is the person you become. Hopefully someone that wakes up one day and realizes they’re not afraid to take the journey, someone that knows that the truth is, at best, a partially told story. That anger, like growth, comes in spurts and fits, and in its wake, leaves a new chance at acceptance, and the promise of calm. Then again, what do I know? I’m only a child.

Carol Smith, senior vice president and chief brand officer for the Elle Group, the media company is quoted in the New York Times saying "Hands down women are better [managers]. There’s no contest." She goes on to say

"In my experience, female bosses tend to be better managers, better advisers, mentors, rational thinkers. Men love to hear themselves talk. I’m so generalizing. I know I am. But in a couple of places I’ve worked, I would often say, ‘Call me 15 minutes after the meeting starts and then I’ll come,’ because I will have missed all the football. I will have missed all the ‘what I did on the golf course.’ I will miss the four jokes, and I can get into the meeting when it’s starting."

This declaration of managerial skill is very intriguing to me. However, upon reflection I realized I’ve yet to have a male manager. I’m not quite sure how that has happened but as the case may be, it’s true. Savvy Sugar has a poll that last I checked was leaning towards "Management skills have nothing to do with gender." But the comments were certainly less than neutral. According to the Boston Globe is may be more profitable to put women in charge. So what do you think?

Twenty something blogger, Sarah (aka Sarahbration) sparked quite a conversation on 20sb (20something bloggers network) all surrounding one word … feminist. The original question was quite simple and to the point:

International Women’s Day got me thinking about feminism and how few people in our generation seem to identify themselves as feminists. I’m curious to hear what other 20-somethings think.

Three days later and 9 pages of debating back and forth I’m left with some interesting insight and answers to questions that I’d never even thought about.

Sarah sets the tone with her initial blog post stating she is definitely a feminist "I’m not sure when I became aware of the f word, but it must have been fairly early on, because for as long as I can remember, I took for granted that the majority of people would say they were feminists. I mean, come on, who doesn’t believe women and men should be given equal rights and respect?".

The discussion begins with L.L saying she can’t call herself a feminist because it’s an ugly (hijacked) word. "I’m all about equality, for everyone. All colours, all sexes, all religions. However – to me, feminism has gone from calling for equality for women, to wanting women to be viewed as superior. I don’t feel that is right."

So essentially this raises the question what does feminist mean? How can you call yourself something if we can’t come to terms with what the word even means. Here’s a few of the distinctions offered by the 20sb community:

• I think feminism just means that women want the right to be any kind of woman that they want to be… Which I’m 100% on board with. – Muppet
• I think feminism is a hoax. "Lipstick" feminism, above all, is a contradiction in terms. I think men and women are created equal, but I usually disagree with most feminists on all of their politics. So many feminists want reparations for gender roles, they decide to make themselves into victims. Today’s feminists AREN’T fighting for my right to vote or… much else that really applies to me. THOSE first wave feminists didn’t just complain, they did way more than that. THIS wave of feminists is more of the sex and the city set – we have a right to be sexy, but we still talk about needing a man even though we think we’re independent.- Kat
• I’m a feminist. If I choose to wear lipstick it doesn’t make me not a feminist. If I wear my hair in french braids, or wear diamond earrings, or get a tattoo of a slice of pizza on my forearm, or wear a leather jacket, I’m still a feminist. Feminism is about choice… so anybody who wants to wear lipstick can, in my opinion. – Lisa
• Yes. I am a feminist. I don’t hate men, I love my boyfriend, I love when he takes me on dates, and I want to get married and have children some day. I shave my armpits and legs and all that good stuff. But…when I go to work, I want the guy working along side of me with the exact same level of education and experience to make the same amount of money as I do and I want to be respected in public and the work place. Feminist has become such a dirty word, it’s all about equality! – Bethany
• Some women of color choose not to associate themselves as a feminist but instead choose the term "womanist". They feel feminism doesn’t speak to them or include them in the movement. As a women of color, I consider myself a feminist because I believe in equal rights. I’m sorry, but the basic definition of feminism, as Lisa has pointed out, is about equality and I believe WOC "womanists" are feminists too. – floreta
• I think the joy of feminism is giving women, of all races, creeds and backgrounds, the chance to have the same opportunities and consideration given to them that men have. Feminism is about giving women the power to determine what they want to do, and supporting them in those decisions. – Elle Belle

Lisa, changed the direction of the discussion, through a metaphor about Christianity saying that even though there are people giving Christianity a bad name people are still standing by that term and the term feminist should be no different.

I read all 9 pages in one sitting and the discussion spun off in many interesting directions including: fathers rights in family court, maternity leave, the value of jobs historically held by women, gender discrepancy in the military, and decreasing BMIs of playmates. In the end, whenever I’m reading or listening to anything, I’m always looking for my take-a-way. I often ask my friends, at the end of movies, church and even conversations "what’s your biggest take away?". I would say that in the whole discussion mine are:

• "… feminism in no way means that we should shy away from or scoff at the value of traditional women’s roles. It simply means we don’t have to and aren’t expected to adhere to them if we don’t want to just like men shouldn’t have to follow the guidelines of traditional men’s roles." – Sarah
• And this statement which can apply to many areas of life "when you’re not extreme – PEOPLE LISTEN TO YOU. They don’t write you off automatically. We’re definitely getting things done when we argue vocally with reason, passion, and grace. No screaming here. Usually. " – Ashley Marie

So my next question is … "so what? now what?" – maybe it’s the marketer in me but I’m looking for a call-to-action in all of this. I’m curious with all of the passion, research and energy that I saw displayed in this discussion what actual steps (if any) can/should/would someone take because of the information that has been so gracefully hashed out in the past few days via an informal forum. If before the election someone had asked “do you call yourself a Republican?” and a nine page discussion broke out at the end I would feel compelled to go vote – that’s my very clear action.

I am working on a list of 101 things to do before my 30th birthday. I sent out this question to twitter & got several great responses. I will soon compile a list of everyone’s ideas and my complete list. In exactly 1 month from today (Feb 7 – put it on your calendar!) I will turn 27 so that gives me 3 years of adventuring.

Here’s why I need 101 things – Things to Do Before Your 30th.

Also, last night I was revisiting the ABCs of Me post – that’s pretty fun and random. If you want to know some randomness about me check it out & feel free to add some of your own. In fact how about do the whole ABCs on your blog and send me the link.

For the most part I don’t talk about my personal life here but today I’m choosing to because of the topic. I am sitting in the waiting room at the hospital my mom’s lifelong best friend (my other mother) was just called back for surgery. Last week she was diagnosed with breast cancer – so today she begins the process. There are 10 of us sitting in the waiting room pretty making idle chit chat at the moment. At times like this there aren’t a whole lot of words.

One of the family friends brought Beth an amazing gift. Pink boxing gloves that are to signify being a fighter. There is a little card attached to the gloves that says:
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When all seems hopeless remember the “Steps To Become a Fighter”
Find the courage to fight
Ignite the enthusiasm deep within you
Give 100% every day
Hold on to those who love you
Think positive
Endure the fear & doubt
Remember you are not alone

We, at My Knockout Inc., want to encourage you to “keep fighting” no matter how tough your battle may be.

You are a champion in the eyes of those who love you and we hope the gloves bring you encouragement every day. Remember to “never give up”.

http://www.myknockout.com

———————————–
I think this kind of stuff is so cool. The picture below was taken with the trusty iPhone.

I just posted a statement on twitter that I decided I had enough energy about to turn it into a full blown blog post.

Let’s back up and tell you where this mini-rant is coming from. I am currently sitting at the New Marketing Summit and I just heard Timothy Young speak about Collective Creativity & Gen Y. When I first read the write up about what Timothy would be speaking about my initial reaction was “here we go” let’s put Gen Y in a box and tell those of us at this conference how to market to “them (me)”. As Young was speaking I realized that since he was indeed one of “us” his generalizations weren’t too far off. I am a bit of a hypocrite when it comes to this. It doesn’t bother me as much when a Gen Yer tries to generalize us.

So here’s my generalization – don’t put Gen Yers in a box, don’t try to generalize us, it’s our uniqueness that is our box. We are a generation about being who we are and if you try to label or categorize us it won’t work. To test my theory I made a list of 9 of my close girlfriends and myself to have a list of 10 Gen Y – twenty something females.

Here’s what I know about just 10 Gen Y women:
• 3 are married, 2 are in committed relationships, 5 are single (2 of which were engaged in the past but did not get married)
• 2 are parents – 1 of which is married and the other is a single mother, and another of the group is currently trying to get pregnant
• 3 of us are bloggers
• 1 of us (me) is on Twitter
• 2 are vegetarians, 2 others have been vegetarians in the past
• 3 are sports fans
• Professionally: 1 entrepreneur, 1 student, 2 teachers, 1 stay at home mom, 5 work full time for a company
• 3 are blondes, 7 are brunettes
• 5 of us are artist/creative types
• 6 of us have unlimited text messaging plans
• 8 of us are on facebook
• Education: 1 with a masters, 1 with a bachelors currently working on a masters, 6 with bachelors degrees, 1 currently working on bachelors, 1 with no college degree
• 3 currently in debt

I could go on for days and while I was coming up with this list I was trying to think of things that I could say that would generalize all 10 of us. And what I came up with is we are all 20-something women. I’m going to send this to all 9 of the other women to see if they can come up with another commonality but I’d venture to say my group of friends is a pretty great example about why Gen Yers should not be generalized.

So here’s my 2 cents for those of you trying to market to us – let us know your company’s uniqueness. Yes Gen Y is a collective group of people but we are all individuals and some of us like to feel like we aren’t just one of the masses and therefore feel more comfortable working with companies who recognize that about us.

So Gen Yers … does it both you when your read/hear generalizations about Gen Y? Do you have any generalizations that ring true for you as a Gen Yer?

It’s been a while since I passed out the love to the great interwebz (thank you lolcats). If you follow me on twitter you already know that even on days that I don’t write full blog posts on genpink I’m usually posting fun finds on twitter or my tumblr page.

These are the great things that I’m enjoying lately:

• BB Free Font: Conglomerfont
• Desktop Wallpaper Calendar: October 2008
• Funny T-Shirts
• Walmart: Free Samples & Trials

Have any link love to add? Shameless self promotion can be excused if it’s really worth sharing.