We're now at http://www.ywsesf.org - you can register for upcoming events, read new blog posts, join our membership and sign up for our monthly newsletter!
We hope to see you soon! Thanks!
YWSE-SF Board 2011
YWSE's mission is to promote young women social entrepreneurs by providing training and development, access to resources, networking opportunities, and general support. We practice full authenticity and honesty with one another and ourselves. We are accountable and responsible for our contributions, strengths, and weaknesses as individuals. We work in collaboration and consensus, valuing each woman's wisdom. We act with integrity, aligning this work with our deepest values.
Sound good?
Join us on October 27th, 2010 to celebrate YWSE and its core mission and values.
This will be a fun, all-inclusive night created just for you - both members and non-members alike! Whether this will be your first event with YWSE, or you've been involved with us for years, we invite you to engage, re-engage, and celebrate our warm community of amazing leaders.
Featured speakers include
Sara Ellis Conant and Michelle Lapinski, co-founders of YWSE
Kami Griffiths, YWSE member-at-large
Elizabeth Zirk, Chair of San Francisco chapter
Delicious, seasonal, and locally grown hors d'oeuvres and drinks will be served courtesy of the Roots Restaurant at the Orchard Garden Hotel. Did you know the Orchard Garden Hotel is also run by a woman entrepreneur?! And it's location is easily accessible by BART or Muni.
Every year, YWSE holds a weekend retreat. This year's retreat was full of brilliant women, ready to assert their power (whatever that might be) and follow through on their goals with actions that will sustain their dreams! Not only was it remarkable, going through energizing and enlightening workshops with like-minded women; it was a whole lot of fun!
At every signature YWSE event, the emphasis is on community. Our community of leaders grows stronger - and you can be part of it!
By joining us at our 10 Year Celebration on October 27th, you are contributing to the YWSE community!
Specific contributions that you can make to help out the YWSE community include
Become a Video Blogger
Develop a Leadership Workshop Series
Apply to be the Retreat Director
Launch a Social Entrepreneurship Discussion/Workshop Series
Become an Event Director
Donate an event venue located near BART
Implement a Mentorship Program
Lead a project to "green" our internal and external practices
Invite at least 3 friends to come with you to the October 27th event
guest post by Erica Fox
Saturday, September 11th, 2010
7 am -
Panic. Wakefulness.
Woken by Susan Gordon. Rather, woken by the cellphone buzzing under my left leg. Seems that I turned the alarm off in my sleep and rolled over onto it. Not an auspicious start. Panic ensued. I have never packed faster, or spent less time thinking about personal hygiene in my life.
8:30 am -
Arrival, Introductions.
Arrived at the Marin Headlands Center. Awesome. Completely shrouded in fog, but so charming. Was very impressed with the facilities. Very easy to impress before 9am. Which leads to the next point - whoever thinks that introductions at events like this should happen before 9am is brilliant. I think I slurred my introduction to everyone I met - failing completely to remember any names, and being spectacularly un-charming. This is a great way to get very intimate with people one might have otherwise tried to keep at an arm’s length. Showing up at your very worst. Great idea.
9:15-10:45
Unconference.
No idea what this was. Was naturally skeptical. Totally wrong. I know lots of people love these things, but I was really excited to find that they were not full of it. After brainstorming a lot of issues we ladies had in our lives, we went on to brainstorm solutions to those problems. I’m the kind of person who, when falling, goes limp and hopes for the best. These were not women of the wet-noodle school. I was pretty certain, before 9:45 that most of my problems had been solved.
Narrowed this list to 8, and split up to lead our own discussions about the issues. Frankly shocked, considering how I was feeling, to see four beautiful, with-it woman standing under my chosen “coping with/overcoming fear” sign. Also frankly impressed with how willing these grown-up-looking strangers were to jump right into the details of what scared them. No apologies for oversharing, just some blind trust that we were all there for the same reason.
11-12:30pm -
4 steps to GOLD.
Considering my feelings about early mornings, I feel guilty mentioning how difficult I also am when I’m hungry. But it’s real. So hungry. So prepared to sleep through this session. Clara is a rockstar. Don’t get me wrong, I will assume anyone with a British accent is just a little smarter, but Clara was pretty excellent. Her impression of the cruel voices in your head as a “drunken dinner guest” in the “Give it up” section was brilliant. Also strangely reminiscent of a college friend. Regardless, I found the excercise of identifying and isolating the negative forces in your life, before acknowledging the good, and then identifying what could make that even better to be interesting. Obvious, I suppose, but how many Saturdays do I commit an hour and a half to actually thinking about this? In fact, any other Saturday at this hour is almost certainly spent in a less constructive manner. Think fetch. With a dog who hasn’t worked out the part where he brings it back.
12:30-1:45
Lunch.
Need I say more. This place was great. Split pea soup!
1:45-3:15
Fearless Strategies for Asking (and Getting) What you need.
Really bad at this. Spectacularly so. I will go to great lengths to just do it myself if there’s an awkward conversation on the horizon. This is why I can sew my own clothes and write html. Starla and Laura came armed with the ultimate tool for a group of overachieving women: lists. Kind of blew my mind that a list of things an average person should consider asking for could resonate with so many members of the group. Incredible how obvious some of them were, but how many of us came up with excuses for why we had never asked. Spent a lot of time quieting my drunken dinner guest, who was saying “but your friends/lovers/mom wouldn’t WANT to do that”. Great.
3:30-5:00
Telling your story with food.
Did I mention I love food? Chloe’s presentation really struck me, beacause I generally try not to connect my eating habits with any sort of larger analysis of my mental/emotional well-being. Something about growing up in the suburbs makes a gal not want to talk about/think about/obsess about her relationship with food. Chloe, on the other hand, had no choice. To be fair, the rest of us don’t so much either. Still have to eat three times a day. But Chloe can’t try to ignore it the way the rest of us can. The “lab” was to create delicious things from the ingredients in front of us. Which I (now that I was awake, and caffeinated) took as a metaphor for the group of women I was looking at. Avocado and banana? With cocoa nibs? A nurse, a corporate finance person, a founder of a non-profit? What a delicious dish. Although, we made something pretty foul-looking. Still, I’m sure once people closed their eyes, they were into it.
5:00-6:00
Optional hike.
Turns out we missed the sunny window by a little. I was pretty impressed to discover that the retreat center was so close to the water...which was totally socked in when we got there. But hiking was gorgeous anyway. Such a nice lagoon thingy. Also, got to meet/chat with some more new ladies, and totally impressed with everyone’s ability to chat and move.
6:00-7:00
Dinner.
Man, I love food. So so good.
7:30-9:00
Happy Hour.
Wine and hooping. Not a combination I often think of, but really a great idea.
9:00-10:30
Campfire and Social Event.
Was glad to discover that social event = s’mores. I love s’mores. And being social. The only thing that could mar an event that social was when someone’s marshmallow stick fell on Tynisa, and everyone thought it was a raccoon. But man, those raccoons were aggressive. Still, nothing quite like a campfire and some grilled sugar in northern California. A point I haven’t really made properly yet, and probably should - there were a bunch of really remarkable women at this event. I mean, really remarkable. There are all sorts of external signifiers that make us remarkable - incredible accomplishments on the job, or volunteering. Remarkable social skills, outstanding dedication to the welfare of others, stunning good looks (just sayin’) but the thing I was struck by most was how much everyone was interested, and willing to dig deeper. There are a lot of very accomplished people out there who will never question themselves. Who are pretty sure that they have everything figured out. I am always impressed with someone who isn’t convinced that a little self-reflection will bring them down. Even more impressive is a successful person who is willing to listen to analysis (and advice!) from complete strangers.
10:15 -
Sleep.
What can I say, I’m a sleeper.
Early Bird Pricing through August 20th!
Take a step forward! Register now
Revive, Re-learn and Re-inspire at our 2010 Leadership Retreat, September 11-12th! Enjoy stimulating and interactive workshops led by engaging professionals, some of whom are our very own YWSE members; plus, overnight accommodations, beach access, hike and campfire, and 4 delicious meals.
Our theme this year comes from the knowledge that it can be challenging to know what you want, and event harder to know how to get it. We often need a little encouragement to determine our own vision for ourselves, and a little support to make it happen. Our workshops this year - many of which are member led and participant driven - will help you imagine the future you want to create and give you the tools and tenacity to follow through to make it a reality.
How YWSE Members are Asserting Their Power:
YWSE workshops introduced me to professional coaching that helped me clarify my vision -- being a leader in online communications for social good, and being a loving wife and mother in a home filled with light and laughter. Once I know what I'm looking for, I'm quite good at making it happen. Now I'm in a nimble, smart, ever-learning company that does social media for social good in nonprofits and foundations, where I want to be a VP someday soon, and my husband and I have a daughter about whom I could talk all day. Wow. Thanks YWSE. Being on the board for a couple years provided the ongoing support between retreats to light my way. - Adriana
Well, I've been putting myself out there a little more--summoning the courage
to talk about and share my dreams with others. Sometimes I feel shy or nervous to
share what I believe to be my "selfish" desires. There's both of a fear
of judgment and a level of guilt I grapple with for wanting to dream big, be
playful and truly enjoy my life—especially with regard to my career. Yet, I am
always surprised when people are encouraging and supportive of the things that
I say that I want, because it reminds me that I am usually the one that prevents
myself from moving full force ahead! - Angela
It wasn't until I connected with YWSE-SF when I truly felt I was in a community of like minded women; women who care tremendously about uplifting our society by striving for personal and professional development to help achieve social harmony. Being with YWSE-SF and meeting inspirational women has given me the awareness of my own self-power to propel my life forward. A power that I continue to cultivate through meeting such amazing women with diverse backgrounds and absorbing their energy, teaching, and advice. - Toni
Most of us actually know, on some level, who we truly are, what we deeply need and what we enjoy – but how many of us are asked to talk about it? How many of us are encouraged to articulate it? How many of us are lovingly asked, “So, how are you going to make that happen?” YWSE played a part in my new and improved to-do list. I recall my first time attending a YWSE Retreat in ’08 and being asked to submit answers to questions about myself for the Retreat directory. These questions went beyond “where are you now” to “where do you want to be.” – a common theme of YWSE events. It was jolting and intimidating to have to think this way and to have the space to be so honest and expansive. I was “doing me” for the first time. Now in my third year of membership, I can say I’m so thankful that YWSE offers consistent exposure to discussions and questions that remind me to give necessary attention to my needs, desires and dreams so I can give my best to the world. - Koy
Continue reading "YWSE 2010 Annual Retreat: Assert Your Power: Do "You" and Follow Through!" »
