July 17, 2008
Another birthday, second and third acts, and women who rock!
The Three Tomatoes have another birthday coming up. Although after
last year’s big “zero”, an event which for some inexplicable reason we decided to celebrate publicly, we’re just going to
let this one quietly slide by, and get back into the not remembering our age. Hopefully others will not remember too. But, we have
always taken the birthday “opportunity” for some navel gazing, and checking off things on our life to do list. One year it
was scuba diving, another year singing lessons, and this past year, it was reading more books, and our Book Club has forced us to do just that. And this upcoming year, we are going to continue to focus on our passion, which is The Three
Tomatoes, and in between improving our golf game and learning a second language, we want to evolve it into
something bigger and better. Call it our second, or in this case, third act. And many thanks to all of you dear tomatoes who have helped get us
where we are with your encouragement and support. You rock, which brings us other women who rock. And bands like Foreginer, that are still
rocking too.
Women who Rock
Last week, we attended the most amazing conference for women entrepreneurs, sponsored by a group called Womensphere. It was fabulous on several levels, including running into an
old friend (well she’s not old, just the friendship), Ronna Lichtenberg, who is a well known work place specialist, career counselor, author of several books, sought out by
the media for her wisdom, like her recent
appearance on the Today Show, and has been a contributor to O The Oprah Magazine. That
reconnection alone was worth the price of admission because Ronna has agreed to become The Three Tomatoes “Second
Acts” expert, and you will read her first article this week at “Ask Ronna”, now featured at The Three
Tomatoes Ask
The Experts. More about that later, because first we want to tell you more about Womensphere.
We avoided “women’s groups” for years
We confess. For many years as we were winding our way up the corporate ladder, we avoided any group that
had the word “women” in it. You know all those “women in blah, blah, blah” groups. Our mentors and
role models were guys, because they were the ones at the top, so we honestly didn’t want to be associated with “women in
anything”. We wanted to be in the clubs where the guys hung out. And it wasn’t just us. Sure we had lots
of women friends in the business world, and many have been become dear lifelong friends. But truth be told, we weren’t reaching out
to help each other. Not because we didn’t care about other, but because we just didn’t have any juice. Well guess
what. Now there are lots of women at the top, (although still not enough), they have juice, and they’re now in a position to help other
women. And thank goodness, many of them have stepped forward to help us with our latest endeavor.
Talk About Women who Rock
Up until last week, we had never heard of Womensphere. And then an amazingly generous women, Jeanne Sullivan, who happens to be General Partner at a women owned venture capital firm, StarVest, suggested we
attend the conference last week, where she was a keynote speaker. We signed up at her suggestion, but we had that “women
thing” playing in our head. And we half expected the other women attendees would be the kind who respond to those ads that say
“make millions working from home.” Man, were we wrong! (Pun intended).
It was more like a reunion of Harvard Business School alum, like the brilliant CEO and founder of Womensphere, Analisa Balares. The conference was first rate, the
speakers were awe-inspiring. The attendees were smart, engaging women of all ages, many of whom are already running successful
ventures, and several who are thinking about their next act. For example, we met Margo Tong, who has had a very successful
career in publishing, which led her to start her own publishing venture called Park It! NYC, a guide to all the parking garages in New York City.
It’s a street by street, neighborhood by neighborhood guide, and includes prices and hours of operation. If you’ve ever
wandered about NYC looking for a garage, you know how smart this idea is. Check it out at: http://www.parkitguides.com/.
Are you ready for your second act?
How do second and third acts happen? Well sometimes you get booted into them, like in “I was
down-sized.” Sometimes you just wander into them with no plan, after your first act has ended, like “retiring” or
finding yourself in the old “empty-nest.” We have often posed the question to some of our friends still in successful
careers, “What are you going to be when you’re not what you do?” No assistants, no big expense accounts, no corporate
jets. It’s scary how many of them have no idea. And let’s face it, perfecting your golf game, and learning other languages
are going to get a little boring after a while. So now back to Ronna Lichtenstein, who by the way is creating her own second act these days.
She suggests you might want to actually start thinking about your second act before you're in it. She calls this phase,
“Dating a Vision”. As she says, you have to kiss a lot of frogs to figure out what it is you want to do next.
You’ll love her first article for The Three Tomatoes called “Kissing Frogs.” And you can watch her recent interview on The Today Show on how to keep your job in a
recession at our web site too.
Ask Ronna
If it’s career advice, transition advice, or second acts advice, Ronna Lichtenberg is the go
to expert. Not only is she a great tomato, funny, warm, and smart, and wears great shoes, she has spent her career inspiring
executives (with an emphasis on women) to take control of their careers. She is founder and President of Clear Peak Communications, a consulting
firm that has partnered with Fortune 500 leaders for more than ten years. She’s also founder of Your Winning Pitch, the leading virtual
pitching coach for individuals and companies. She has published three books in ten languages (to rave reviews) including
Work Would Be Great if It Wasn’t for the People, and Pitch Like a Girl. Her interactive, motivational, and humorous style has made her a
very popular keynote speaker at events sponsored by Fortune 500 companies. You’ll find her articles in O, the Oprah
magazine among others, and you’ll see her as a frequent guest on Lifetime television’s news show, national television
morning shows and radio spots in every major market. And now of course, you will find her at The Three
Tomatoes Ask The Experts. How lucky are we?
Here’s to birthdays that should come a little more slowly, second and third acts, and women who rock!
‘til next week,
The Three Tomatoes
Copyright©2008. The Three Tomatoes, Inc. All rights reserved.
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You know you're a tomato
if...you're signing up for our summer events. Tea and tour at The Mount Vernon Museum on June 30, and Karaoke Night on August 12! Get the details .
*******************
We're happy for Christie, Brinkley,
but according to last
week's poll, most of us felt they shouldn't have aired all their dirty linens in public. But then, again, it was just so juicy.
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A Second Acts Breakfast
Seminar...we're hoping to pull together a fabulous panel of experts on this topic for the fall. Is this something you'd be
interested in attending? Let us know at this week’s poll
at our home page.
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Get your 3T horoscope....yes, indeed, you'll
find daily horoscopes right under our poll at our home page. See what's in the stars.
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Oops...we had the wrong link for Manhattan Real Estate Prices Still Soaring...Here's the correct link.
According to Douglas Elliman's
2nd
Qrt. Manhattan Market Overview, the median sales price of a Manhattan apartment exceeded
$1,000,000. *********************************
Tell your friends. If you
like getting The Three
Tomatoes, tell your friends to sign up
too.
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This week at Valerie's
Gallery
The Altar Boyz are going on national tour, and Valerie's mad as
hell at NYC traffic. Read Valerie's blog and watch her Broadway Bulletin video, this week at Valerie's Gallery.
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Listen to Foreigner's New Greast Hits CD...at The Three Tomatoes
home page(scroll down past the horoscopes.). Chill out to "You're as cold as ice", and "I want to know what love is",
while you peruse the 3T web site.
********************** This Week at the Insatiable Critic ..Gael Greene reviews 5 Napkin Burger, a new burger joint - 10 oz. burgers, juicy and
rare. We're there.
(Photo by Steven Richter.)
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