Jane D. Wurwand

The Power Was Right Here All Along

2012-12-13T10:32:11-05:00

I am pleased over the reelection of President Obama. And while I am still holding out hope that the next election, or the one after that, will place the first woman in the Oval Office, the recent race has brought many, many victories for women.

Victory! There are now a record number of women in the Senate, including the fearless, plain-spoken and inspiring Massachusetts Democrat Elizabeth Warren.

Triumph! Another is Missouri's Claire McCaskill who, with seemingly effortless might, erased the idiocy of her opponent's comments about "legitimate rape."

History! Tammy Baldwin made history Tuesday night, twice, by becoming the first openly gay politician, and the first Wisconsin woman, elected to the U.S. Senate.

Future greatness! And I celebrate the first all-female delegation: senators, House members, and a governor in New Hampshire.

Signed, sealed, delivered, sister.

But here's what is actually most astonishing: According to pollsters, women's votes per se did not win the election for President Obama. The Washington Post online exit-poll interactive reveals that single women voted largely for Obama, but married women did not. What actually cemented Obama's win was his broader traction among young people, African Americans and Latinos, including unmarried woman in these categories.

This says to me that women are not voting as an isolated bloc. We are diverse, and this diversity -- as in, divide and conquer -- is the opposite of divisiveness. Diversity is the definition of America's success and greatness as a nation, and as an idea.

This means that as women, in our diversity, we are more powerful than we may have realized or expected, because we represent so many interest-bases within the voting population. Young, unmarried women seeking their first jobs out of college, African American and Latina women seeking greater social justice, and women in general demanding control over our own reproductive freedoms, for example.

This aligns with an epiphany I've had recently, after my company's nonprofit women's initiative, FITE, surpassed its target goal. The initiative was launched in January 2011 with the objective of funding 25,000 microloans to women entrepreneurs, worldwide. In the process of spreading the word about this goal to thousands of women everywhere, whether speaking at the Clinton Global Initiative or the United Nations each year, or simply blogging and tweeting, of course I used the word "empowerment," as if power were a magical something yet to be granted to women.

But here's the Aha! moment: Women have always been powerful. We are already powerful. And we don't need to be empowered, but merely connected with opportunity. The 25,000 women who received microloans via FITE are an illustration of this. The cash-value of the loans they receive is small, and they are literally using that money to change the world, starting with their own families, villages, townships and nations.

The subtler gender demographics of the recent election further prove this point. Our ability to direct the national conversation is growing steadily, not just because of our gender, but because we are people who influence and shape every aspect of national life. To quote a marvelous woman that I met earlier this year at the Clinton Global Initiative, activist/author Leymah Gbowee, "Mighty be our powers."

I still want a woman in the White House. Because I want balance and gender equality. That's all.

This is where we stand as women, right now. The mythic ruby slippers of power have been on our feet all along -- and now we embark together on what will be the most breathtaking part of our collective national journey.

Girl, Interrupted

2012-10-30T18:21:35-04:00

The Taliban's attack on 14-year-old Malala Yousafzai created a grotesque counterpoint to The International Day of the Girl, celebrated on October 11. She was shot in the head by the Taliban while taking the bus to school simply for speaking up and seeking an education for herself. And as the world watches and hopes for Malala's recovery, the future of girls has never seemed more precarious, or more important.

According to CARE, 25,000 girls, females under the age of 18, are forced into an arranged marriage EVERY DAY in the so-called "developing world." Many of these thousands of forced marriages involve girls as young as age seven or eight.

CARE and other human rights organizations declared International Day of the Girl Child as a Day of Action to End Child Marriage. Because there is no such thing as child-marriage -- it's an oxymoron. Marriage in any modern sense is consensual, so what happens to one in three girls worldwide is child-rape by another name. Also keep this in mind: girls who complete a secondary school education, according to CARE, are six times less likely to become child-"brides."

We may comfort ourselves with the notion that this sort of thing doesn't happen in America. Well, let's not get too comfortable: Malala's message needs to be heard everywhere, including here.

Even if you are able to push this aside with "it can't happen to my daughter" reasoning, consider some of the other stats discussed by Ms. Anna Bahr of Ms. Magazine, involving our Western obsession with body-image and our hyper-sexualizing of girls:

Fifty four percent of rapes inflicted upon women -- or girls -- in the U.S. occur before their 18th birthdays.

The U.S. teen pregnancy-rate is the highest in the developed world.

The average rate of entry into prostitution in the U.S. is between 12 and 14 years old

Deeply institutionalized gender inequality permeates every aspect of society, at every level, just about everywhere. To break its grip, girls must be empowered, women must be educated and respected, and civilized people everywhere, men as well as women, must stand together to protect them.

Because it simply is not enough to be horrified, take action now by signing the petition for Malala and use your voice to advocate for girls' right to education. Once 1 million signatures are collected UN education envoy, Gordon Brown, will deliver the call in person to the president of Pakistan, and the Pakistani media. Do it now!

This blog is part of a series called "Malala's Impact," which highlights the need for global education. The series is launched in partnership with the Global Day of Action for Malala campaign, which takes place on November 10.

Ignite the Ripple Effect to Empower Women

2012-09-12T11:58:25-04:00

Sexism continues to shape our world, in the developing world and the industrialized world, for the lives of women. The aspect where this is most sharply felt is in economic terms and the differences in the financial success between men and women. We all know the familiar stats, for instance that women in the USA are paid approximately 73 cents for every dollar paid to men. We know that dry cleaners mysteriously charge more to dry clean a woman's blouse than to launder a man's shirt, even though women earn less. But it's what women don't know about the assistance opportunities and access to financing that is most frustrating.

Since the launch of Dermalogica's joinFITE.org initiative in January 2011, I have travelled the world discussing microfinance and the beneficial ripple effect it spawns in communities everywhere. Working with Kiva.org I've seen how extending a microloan to a woman, generally an entrepreneurial woman who cannot get funding from a traditional bank, sparks a chain-reaction which touches every aspect of not only her life, but of many people within her sphere of influence. In this sense, a microloan to an entrepreneurial woman is not only life-changing, but may in fact be world-changing.

Thanks to joinFITE, this change is as simple as a few mouse-clicks. These few steps change the lives of women, their children, and the world, in outward-spreading ripples. Consider one of the loan recipients we've empowered, Efia. She's a single mother in New York City, a skin therapist like me and who works at a spa and doubles as a makeup artist. Efia lost her brother in the World Trade Center bombing of September 11. In part to honor her brother's memory, and in part to create a life of opportunity for her daughter, she created a lip gloss collection in 2003, called Smucci.

Currently, Efia is using a loan partially funded by joinFITE to purchase a new computer and re-launch her e-commerce site, making it easier for consumers to buy her products online.

While Efia was able to grow her business thanks to microfinance, many entrepreneurs are not aware of this option when they are denied funding from banks. An independent survey recently conducted through uSamp revealed that far more men than women understand the concept of microfinance. Among US consumers, 62% of men surveyed said that they were "familiar" with the concept of microloans, while only 38% of women surveyed said the same.

This disparity is disturbing since millions of women and their children live at, or below the poverty-level. Though men also live in poverty, there is a greater proportion of women, the overwhelming majority of whom are mothers, in need of economic empowerment. Many of these women, regardless of geographic location, do not qualify for loans from traditional banks. One reason for this is that only 1% of the world's land is owned by women, making it that much harder for women to obtain loans as this is the most time-honored form of capital.

In the United States, small business loans are increasingly difficult to secure as the result of the worldwide economic downturn. The independent survey revealed that 58% of the men who applied for loans were approved, versus 42% of the women who applied. The conclusion can be drawn that women are not only not receiving the assets they need to succeed in business, but are also unaware of the additional resources provided to them, such as microfinance.

This must change.

Each one of us, as an individual, has the power to ignite a ripple effect by investing in a woman entrepreneur. As the founder and owner of Dermalogica, I am deeply committed to being a part of sparking this movement and have made the commitment a part of my company's mission. As such, we have partnered with Kiva this month to provide 4,000 free trial loans so that you can create change in another's life, allowing her to invest in her own potential, and that of her children.

More than 81% of the loans funded through Kiva have been to women borrowers, in more than 60 countries. And, loans through Kiva have a 98.9% repayment rate. Working with Kiva, joinFITE has now invested in more than 25,000 women entrepreneurs worldwide.

Statistics demonstrate that women are more inclined to invest their earnings back into their family, which can include their children's education. Providing a microloan to a woman affects communities and local economies in a large way to create a ripple effect of change. My belief, shared with many global organizations and economists, is that empowering women in business will be the largest single component of our world's economic recovery. If you want you, your children, your family and your community to benefit from the solution, take this opportunity to engage and participate. Now. Kiva.org/women

Right On, Fight On for Mandela Day With joinFITE

2012-07-18T17:53:44-04:00

Nelson Mandela says that poverty is not an accident -- it is the result of human actions, and can be, and must be corrected by human actions.

He's dedicated his life to this belief, and to direct actions which support the belief. It's incredible to think that this iconic, Nobel Peace Prize-winning crusader for worldwide justice, equality and democracy was arrested for treason and sentenced to life imprisonment in 1964. He was incarcerated for 26 years, and released in 1990.

I have a personal attachment to South Africa. I moved there rather impulsively from my native U.K., when I was a young woman. I went because South Africa was offering a paid stipend to people who would be willing to come there, with a demonstrated skill, and work. I had my certificates in skin therapy, and also in aromatherapy. I did not know that this certification would literally be my passport to creating a global success I could only have dreamed of.

I also did not know at the time that South Africa would become a global symbol of bitter division. Apartheid would not end for many years. Ironically, this divided country is where I met Raymond, my husband, partner and companion in the remarkable journey which has become Dermalogica.

This journey began with our moving to the U.S. and founding 26 years ago, but today the most significant number is 67: Mandela has devoted 67 years to fighting the good fight. Almost seven decades of life dedicated to opposing injustice, and to raising his voice in the spirit of freedom. He's now calling on each of us as individuals to join him in creating change for another. July 18, 2012 is international Nelson Mandela Day, a day for each of us to do our part in creating change for another.

And here's how you can be a change maker in celebration of Nelson Mandela's 67 year commitment. joinFITE, championed by Dermalogica and powered by Kiva.org, aims to create change for women entrepreneurs by giving them access to a loan. In celebration of Mandela Day, we have pre-funded 670 Kiva microloans.

These microloans will enable the women who receive the loans to start or expand businesses which will bring economic empowerment to themselves, their families, and their communities.

We're asking you to engage in the process online by reviewing the profiles of qualified candidates for the loans, identifying a woman and a business venture that especially resonates for you, and "Directing a Microloan" that WE have already funded. There is no cost to individuals -- we're only asking you to participate by choosing who gets a loan on July 18.

Since we founded joinFITE in 2011, we've funded literally thousands of entrepreneurs around the world, all of them women. No one epitomizes the "good fight" more than Nelson Mandela, and joining in has never been simpler, or more powerful. Thank you for taking part in being a changemaker. Please visit www.Kiva.org/women for more information.

View Jane's message here and be a changemaker by directing a trial loan.

Why We Learn, Why We Work

2012-05-15T17:37:09-04:00

May is the season of graduations and commencements, and education is top-of-mind. But this season of promise is somewhat tempered by cold economic realities. The economic recovery is moving; however, is more sluggish than originally predicted. New jobs are being created but are not as abundant as hoped. And this gives me a little dry feeling in the back of my throat for all of those new graduates who are so filled with aspirations for the future.

We have to ask ourselves: Why do we want what we want? This "why" is at the center of how I've built my business. In my case, the "why" is clear: I'm a skin therapist because I love connecting with people and improving their lives. That is the "why"; the vehicle of skin care is the "what" and the "how."

Why do so many parents want their kids to go to college? An academic degree brings prestige and increases the chances for one's professional success. In America today, parents begin mapping out the educational trajectory of their offspring while the latter are still in diapers. The "right" daycare center in Los Angeles or Manhattan may have a waiting list of a year or more. Then, on to private school and prep school, with an artfully choreographed regimen of after-school activities sculpted to soften the hearts of the admissions departments of the Ivy Leagues, or whatever university is targeted as the ideal.

All good, but the truth is that an academic education, meaning a four-, six- or plus-year university degree, is by no means the only way to go and might not be right for everyone. And while I love the idea of the rigor, competition and accomplishment, I have to question if it's the right path for the majority of young people right now, prestige-factor notwithstanding. Even if the soul of a young person drives her or him to be a doctor, lawyer or professor, there may not be a laurelled corner office or lucrative private practice waiting.

Part of it is pure snob-appeal. People who go to trade-school and work with their hands are often treated as if they are part of an underclass. I know because I am one. "If you are not smart enough for anything else, go to beauty school" -- funny, wrong, but often said (or at least thought!).

I was raised by a no-nonsense, young-widowed British mother who insisted that I, along with my three sisters, learn to "do" something so that we could support ourselves and never be dependent upon a man for bread and butter or bed and board. By "do" something, she meant it literally; she herself was a nurse. It's not that my mother discouraged academic learning or credentials. She just made it clear that whatever we chose, it had to be a real asset in the real world. And put food on the table.

I read recently in the New York Times that two of the "occupations expected to have the most growth," home health aides and dental hygienists, have traditionally been filled by women. Is there any shame in this? It's honest work, and it's much-needed work. And, even more to the point, it's compassionate, service-oriented work.

Graduation time makes those of us who are parents really contemplate what we want for our children, and why we want it. What did my mother want most for me? Prestige? No. She wanted me to be strong, free, independent, and happy. Being productive was the first and defining priority. Should it not still be?

Of course I am happy for the daughters and sons of my friends who are launched into high-profile careers in prestigious professions. I am impressed by all it takes to get there. But I am equally impressed by the women entrepreneurs of joinFITE, the global, nonprofit initiative powered by Kiva, which my company founded in January 2011 to provide microloans to women who want to increase their prosperity. I think of recent recipients Timotea in Peru, who raises cattle; the Sumber Kelapa crafts cooperative in Indonesia, whose members create gift items from wood and coconut shells; and Manuela del Carmen in Nicaragua, beaming from behind the rough-hewn counter of her produce stand, who started her fruit and vegetable business with just a single pallet of lemons. These women are doers. Are they "dreamers"? Only in the sense that Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King had a dream. I would call them visionaries with a plan.

The women funded by joinFITE are women who work with their hands, for the most part. They create crafts, textiles and small objects for sale. They gather eggs, gently wash them, and bring them to market each day to sell. They feed chickens. They embroider. They plant and pick soybeans and sweet potatoes. They hand-paint signs, and the sides of trucks and buses with commercial messages. They braid hair. They give manicures. They prepare and serve food. They run seams on refurbished industrial sewing machines purchased with their microloan money. They cut clothing patterns, and baste by hand late into the night, by the flare of a single bulb or kerosene lamp.

Why do they do it? To expand their businesses. To purchase raw materials and supplies. To purchase a few more rabbits, or chickens, or ducks, or goats that will increase their net worth. They do it to put food on the table. To purchase mosquito nets under which their children will sleep each night. They do it to afford medicine for themselves, for their families. To keep a roof over their heads. Are these educated women? Often they are not, in the Western sense. Because joinFITE extends microloans to women all over the world, there are some exceptions. Some have college degrees. Many do not. Some may not be entirely comfortable in their literacy, and I say this only as a fact.

In every case, too, there is a larger "why" as to the reason they do it. Why they are willing to work so hard, why they sit up night after night, counting and re-counting, planning, worrying? Most of them do it because they are mothers, and because they want something more for their children. They want their children to go to school and to be educated -- perhaps even to be educated somewhere far from their traditional villages.

For all the reasons "why" these women do it, one truth remains. The "how" does not have to be found in a traditional four-year college program, but rather can be fulfilled via a trade skill that gives purpose, meaning, and most of all, economic empowerment.

Nicholas Kristof and Sheryl WuDunn, authors of the New York Times best-seller Half the Sky: Turning Oppression into Opportunity for Women Worldwide, assert that in order for the world economy to right itself, the world's women need to become economically solvent, viable and independent. This assertion includes and, in fact, specifically focuses upon the millions of women living in nearly Stone Age-poverty in the so-called developing world.

Need more answers to the question "Why?" Consider what Nelson Mandela said: "Poverty is not an accident. Like slavery and apartheid, it is man-made and can be removed by the actions of human beings."

Join us at www.joinFITE.org.

TAG You're It!

2012-03-19T13:59:33-04:00

March is National Women's History Month, and it's all about connection, reflecting on women who came before us and paying it forward to our future female leaders. In January 2011, we founded Dermalogica's initiative called joinFITE, a women's microlending initiative which operates worldwide in partnership with Kiva. We've received overwhelming positive feedback since its inception, and participants report a shared experience: connecting with like-minded entrepreneurial business-women across the world has reconnected those who give with a more immediate sense of their own possibility and potential.

One of the uniting themes for our company, and for joinFITE, is the need for greater connection, which we often call the power of touch. So it makes perfect sense to me to celebrate and honor National Women's History Month with the world's largest game of tag: #tagURit! It's a fun and easy way to spark change by reaching out to friends, family, colleagues and loved ones, who may not be aware of the opportunities they can create for a woman who is on her way to greater financial independence and success.

Simple human touch is what is missing from business, and from the world. But I use the term "touch" both literally and metaphorically. I have spent the past 30 years in professional skin therapy, witnessing and participating in the power of touch. Skin therapists literally lay their bare hands (no mandatory gloves in my profession, unlike in a dermatologist's office) on the skin of the people who come into their treatment space. This is one of the few places which exist in the industrialized world where we allow this vulnerability.

But sometimes we are not able to literally go hands-on, skin-to-skin. It is just impossible to physically touch everyone, so I am redefining the word "touch" and what it means to be "touched."

These days, it needs to be intangible as well as hands-on. We cannot simply hug and kiss and squeeze and stroke the people we like, much less the people we have just met. As urbanites, perhaps we have to stylize the nurturing power of touch into symbolic form. By this definition, touch may be transmitted via vocabulary when we speak. The healing power of touch may be transmitted by the tone of our voice. By our kindness. By our being fully present. And it is part of the micro-expressions that form the mosaic of our facial communication as we interact face to face.

I like a genuine smile, but most of all I like eye-contact. Looking someone in the eye, being present in the moment as they speak, is like holding both of their hands in yours, or feeling their heartbeat. No need for a big grin. Cultural anthropologists agree that showing the teeth is a sign of submission. I personally am not a fan of the frozen-in-place beauty pageant grimace which many women adopt. Sometimes when I see women doing this, I wonder if they have just had too much Botox.

It is tough with email, which is why I am a fan of Skype. We can actually look into each others' eyes and hear the sound of each others' voices. And although we have all had the conversation that our digital world creates distance instead of closeness, this month can be an exception. So share this message, "tag" a friend, and include "#tagURit." By doing so, our non-profit, joinFITE, will then contribute $1 towards funding a microloan that will empower a woman entrepreneur to become financially independent.

Go on: reach out and touch someone -- anyone -- we all need it. Tag you're it!

Visit JoinFITE on Facebook to get started in tagging a friend, and touching someone's life.

Sharing Women's Wealth

2012-02-01T16:48:05-05:00

I often quote Madeline Albright, who adapted a quote attributed to Dante, "There is a special place in hell for women who don't help other women." My work demonstrates that women truly flourish when we share the wealth: our ideas, energy and time as well as our money. A recent experience has made me more positive than ever that this sharing of wealth is the only thing that has the power to turn the economy around -- in fact, I believe that it will change the world.

It has been one year since The Dermalogica Foundation launched our global women's microlending platform, joinFITE. As I look back on this first year of joinFITE, the most surprising lesson I have uncovered is a new appreciation for the women I see and work with every day.

At first, we thought we were doing something for "other" women by founding joinFITE. Other women, over there, far, far away, in the vast reaches of Southeast Asia and Africa.

While our initiative does enable women in these areas to create a business, and to establish their own economic independence and all of the benefits which accompany it, the greatest impact of this experience is not about being over there: It is about being right here.

I have met a few of the women who have started or expanded their businesses through a microloan from joinFITE, in partnership with Kiva. And what I observe is that they don't simply start a revenue-center: they create a community when they start a business. What lies at the heart of this community? Other women.

In societies where women's resources are severely limited, women depend upon the support of other women. In cultures where women's rights are suppressed, the same is true -- even if this community exists underground. Because women have been historically excluded from mainstream power, we have learned to do business communally, collectively and cooperatively, especially in the face of brutality and injustice.

As a woman who started a business of my own 25 years ago, I learned that no one really accomplishes anything alone. What made Dermalogica successful is what makes the impossible suddenly possible in the microlending case-studies of joinFITE: the buy-in of other women.

Women succeed and thrive by connecting. With this in mind, I am inspired to take a page from the enterprising women who almost literally make gold from straw, in some of the harshest political and societal environments of earth. Women in these places are accustomed to sharing hard work, sharing loss, and sharing grief. Yet when presented with an opportunity, they share this opportunity as well. This is how knowledge, skill, access, wealth and resources of all kinds grow exponentially among women.

These days, we read about the phenomenon called "philanthropy fatigue." The pressures of our own economic challenges make many of us feel less generous, and we may have a harder time than ever relating to people on the other side of the world, whose faces we will never see, whose voices we will never hear. Our charitable instincts may be harder to summon than usual, because we're worried about our bills, our debts, and our own futures.

To this I say, fine. So let's relate to the women whose faces we do see, and whose voices we do hear -- the women in our cities, our communities, our lives. I'm challenging every woman I know to share the wealth. Yes, we all possess wealth, although it may not be in the bank.

Every woman has skills to share, and wisdom to impart. These assets -- which I define as wealth -- may be sold, bartered, or given as a gift. The sharing of this wealth may take the form of tutoring, teaching, supporting, assisting, listening or intervening in some way to support a woman in need. It requires engagement and participation, but it is not selfless. When all women do this, the collective good benefits all. It's a brain-trust, but it is also what I call a "heart-trust," and affects our quality of life as women in powerful, often unexpected ways.

It is the responsibility of every woman to seek opportunities to share her wealth with other women. You may not, but I believe that Ms. Albright and Dante are correct -- and that's a reservation no woman really wants to keep.

The Gift of Connecting

2011-12-23T12:08:17-05:00

'Tis the season to give to others. Worldwide, the holidays are known as the giving season. People's happiness during this time of year is measured not by the gifts received, but by the gifts given. Giving gifts, in some sense, is our attempt to connect with each other and express deep bonds -- which are intangible -- in tangible terms. There is nothing more magical than seeing a smile on a loved one's face when he or she opens a thoughtful gift or bites into a tasty treat this time of year. And in the true spirit of the holidays, it is important to give back wherever possible. This is where the real connecting and bonding take place. I encourage you to find a philanthropic cause that provides meaning in your life. For Dermalogica, and for me personally, it has always been about women entrepreneurs.

As 2012 dawns, joinFITE, the global philanthropic women's empowerment initiative powered by Kiva and championed by Dermalogica, nears its one-year anniversary. To date, the program has funded more than 8,000 microloans made to entrepreneurial women in small businesses across 52 countries. Below is the current breakdown of joinFITE microloans by country:

North America: 602

Central America: 628

South America: 980

Africa: 1,923

Eastern Europe: 236

Middle East: 512

Asia: 1,119

While these numbers are encouraging, it's now time to really turn up the heat -- the goal is to fund a total of 25,000 women entrepreneurs in the next 12 months.

You may ask yourself, why choose to align yourself with a cause that focuses on women entrepreneurs? Well, the obvious answer is that I am a woman entrepreneur. I founded Dermalogica 25 years ago when the unemployment rate was 10 percent, so helping to empower future entrepreneurs is a cause that hits very close to home for me. The World Bank recently conducted a study which concluded women perform 66 percent of the world's work, produce 50 percent of the world's food and invest 90 percent of their income into their families. And according to Kiva, women entrepreneurs who have received a microloan have a repayment rate of 98 percent. After hearing these statistics, the question for me is simply "Why not invest in women?"

The beauty of joinFITE is that the initiative does not require any huge leaps of imagination to make a difference. joinFITE can be personalized based on where you feel compelled to help, whether it be in your backyard or across the world. Even in the United States we have women who are being empowered by joinFITE loans. With today's economic climate, the need to receive a hand up is felt even in our own backyard. I recently met with two joinFITE microloan recipients in San Francisco, both of whom were able to gain greater financial independence as a result of the program.

Jane visits joinFITE loan recipient, Rosa Anrango, outside her gift shop, Native Hand by Hand, in San Francisco's Mission District.

joinFITE makes it easy to unlock a code that triggers a donation from Dermalogica, but you as the redeemer of that code have the power to select the recipient based on the country and industry of your choice. As a result of this simple act, which bears no cost to you as the code redeemer, you will help a woman entrepreneur become financially independent and you will learn her story -- the type of business she has and how it will benefit her family.

In this interconnected world, no man, or woman, is an island. People thrive on the help of others. It has been proven that children learn faster in the presence of other children and injured soldiers heal at a faster rate when in the company of other people. We are hard wired to be interdependent and to rely on others, especially in times of need. Helping friends, family or strangers fills us, nourishes us and sustains us with a sense of purpose broader than ourselves.

This holiday season, if helping to empower a woman entrepreneur is a cause that brings meaning to your life, I encourage you to seek out a joinFITE recipient in the location where you want to make a difference. Some people find it gratifying to fund a recipient in the city where they currently live, or in their hometown. Or if your travels take you across the world, redeem a joinFITE code to make a difference even before you land. My attitude is that it doesn't matter where we start; it's simply important that we start somewhere to keep the ripple effect of change moving forward. So whether it is your own town, a city you have come to know and love, or the next country you plan to vacation to, unlock a code today to a woman entrepreneur. And, if you happen to travel to the city where she lives, visit her business when you get there to say hello. It will change her life, and it may just change yours, too.

Unlock your free code today! Simply click the "Lend Your Hand" button at http://joinFITE.org/lendyourhand and follow the three easy step by step instructions.

Have a Nice Day: Stop Global Slavery Now

2011-11-11T16:44:04-05:00

America has always been a society of positive thinkers. This is one of the qualities which makes America great: our sunny, upbeat, "can-do!" national attitude has always drawn the dreamers, and drawn the dreaming out of each of us.

On the face of it, this is a great thing. This country's positive thinking has enabled millions of people, including myself, to create things which would not have been feasible anywhere else. As much as I love my native UK, where people tend to be a bit less blue-sky (maybe it's the weather), I am convinced this is what makes America unique!

But these days, there is a tendency in the midst all of this "positivity" to look away from anything disturbing. In our anti-depressant seeking times, nobody wants to wrestle with a downer, a bummer, a buzz-kill. Everybody wants to just have a nice day. This pattern may prove to be a challenge if you're one of the estimated 12 million people on Earth today who live in some form of slavery.

Yes, slavery. "Slavery" may seem like a word from another century, but it is still pervasive in many parts of the world. In fact, there are more slaves today than in any other period in history. Most slaves are female. Many are children. Much slavery around the world involves sexual slavery, almost always as an effect of poverty.

Slavery and trafficking of human beings are among the issues joinFITE, the women's empowerment initiative powered by Kiva and championed by Dermalogica, targets through empowering women with financial independence. Denying that these conditions exist doesn't help. Taking action does. Providing women with the tools and economic opportunities helps prevent potential trafficking situations that women may come across when seeking income to provide for themselves and their families.

We are honored to be joined by DNA Foundation, a dynamic activist organization formed by Demi Moore and Ashton Kutcher which aims to spread awareness of and combat sex trafficking in the United States. Other celebrities who have shown their support of joinFITE include Charlize Theron, AnnaLynne McCord, Cindy Crawford, Jason Alexander, Emma Watson and Kelly Rutherford, who also add star-power to the cause through their high-profile participation.

Most recently, these celebrities have shown their support of joinFITE by lending their hand for a recent social media campaign that was launched in October called "Lend Your Hand." The participating celebrities photographed their hands and consumers have the opportunity to guess which celebrity the hands belong to on joinFITE.org or on joinFITE's Facebook page. Winners receive a unique code which they can redeem online at joinFITE.org and trigger a donation from Dermalogica to a woman entrepreneur from the region of the world and industry of their choosing. The more codes a consumer redeems, the more chances she or he has to enter to win fabulous prizes from various lifestyle brands who have decided to lend a hand in making this campaign possible. Some of the brands who have donated prizes include Foot Petals, Lifetime Television, and Jimmy Choo.

This is our way of lighting one candle, rather than curse the darkness. We are committed to the idea that by creating modest, accessible economic opportunities for women, individuals, families and entire communities will be able to stand, rise, and break free from poverty and the injustice which reinforces it, including slavery of all kinds.

For more information on joinFITE or the Lend Your Hand campaign, please visit joinFITE.org or take this quiz to activate a microloan for a deserving woman entrepreneur. Together, we can help put more women into their own businesses, one code at a time.

Doing Good!

2011-09-27T18:03:42-04:00

I've just returned from a week in New York City, and the afterglow of Fashion Week combined with the feeling that fall is in the air makes the Big Apple come alive, more so than ever. Nostalgic feelings aside, I was there for serious business: participating in WIE and CGI. I also spent time with the fantastic entrepreneur, Claudia Chan (profiled in our Guest Blog section), and major editors who wanted to know more about our joinFITE.org initiative. Still, NYC makes me feel giddy!

WIE, the brainchild of Donna Karan, Sarah Brown & Arianna Huffington, stands for "Women, Inspiration, & Enterprise." This electrifying organization brings together minds from philanthropy, business, fashion, Hollywood and more to highlight and discuss important issues facing today's world. Naturally I was honored to be invited to participate in the: "Philanthropy, Social Enterprise & Corporate Responsibility -- The Business of Doing Good" panel.

The driving message behind this panel, and throughout the city of New York last week, was that financial success, human consciousness and social responsibility are all just facets of the same gem. One enhances the other. Looking at the world picture, professional and corporate success must embrace global activism and advocacy for women.

The sweep of this work is breathtaking. On one hand, it's irreverent. On the other, it's heart-stoppingly poignant. I base this reflection on two of my experiences as part of WIE. The first was a compelling chat with film producer Shauna Robertson -- you've seen her credits on big commercial successes in the Judd Apatow lineup, including Superbad, The 40-Year Old Virgin, and Knocked Up. She's also an activist. She and her fiancé, actor Ed Norton, devote themselves to good work via crowdrise.com -- so, it's not all about the big yuks and big bucks, it's about philanthropy, community, social networking and the common goal of giving back.

The other highlight was when the day shifted its focus to the White Ribbon Alliance, where the combined brilliance and magnetic drive of Arianna Huffington can be felt as the driving force. This initiative sheds light on the fact that over 1,000 girls and women (I say "girls," because they are often as young as 12, some younger...) die each day around the world as the result of pregnancy, or childbirth. The White Ribbon Alliance is dedicated to directing resources, including $40 million recently funded by the United Nations, to ensure safe motherhood, and that pregnancy and childbirth is safe for all women and children around the world.

CGI is, of course, the "Clinton Global Initiative," the forum where I presented our concept for joinFITE.org last year. President Clinton, himself, asked me to report back with our progress! So I was thrilled to have the opportunity to do so.

One of the cornerstones of this year's CGI was: "Investing in Girls and Women at Home and Abroad." Of course, this is the subject most dear to my heart. Since we started our business more than 25 years ago, giving working women the tools they need to succeed in business has been my laser-focus. With all eyes on the advancement of females around the world, I was thrilled to update my fellow CGI members on our work over the past year and renew Dermalogica's commitment to empower.

My update was timed -- they call it the "Two Minute Pitch." In those two minutes (yes, they're very strict!), I let everyone know that joinFITE.org has funded more than 5,000 women, and that we are now developing new partnerships to put mobile phones into the hands of our microloan recipients. The ability to connect and communicate is the single, most essential tool needed by compromised women everywhere. Yes, they need rice. Yes, they need shoes. But the cell-phone is like the fishing-rod in the old parable about how if you give a man a fish, you feed him for a day, and if you teach him to fish, you feed him for a lifetime. Well, I say, give a woman entrepreneur a cell-phone, even if she doesn't have shoes on her feet, and she can rule the world.

I love NYC, always have. And now that my daughter is planning to go here for college, I love it even more. Proof of the power of an idea whose time has come: after an exhilarating four days of back-to-back meetings, I'm fired up and can't wait to get back to work at home in Los Angeles. There is so much more to do.

Dreaming Is Fine, but Doing Is Better

2011-08-31T14:30:27-04:00

The first day of school definitely inspires optimism for the future. Speaking as the mother of a young woman who will soon begin her freshman year in college, of course we have high hopes. And no guarantees.

Americans have always been dreamers. For generations, Americans have promised their children that they can be brain-surgeons and rocket-scientists, cowboys and ballerinas, astronauts or the president of the United States. Part of this optimism springs from the faith of immigrants who flooded into America a century ago, and did, indeed, create success in ways which never would have been possible in their native lands.

British people like myself tend to regard this level of optimism as a bit naïve -- a cultural difference, perhaps. But given the current state of the world economy, we must temper "Dream big!" optimism with pragmatism.

I have spent my entire career -- 30 years -- encouraging and motivating young women to achieve. My specific expertise is in professional skin care, and the creation and running of a skin care business. My skills are very tangible, and my approach has always been practical. And I have used my skills to help literally thousands of women succeed in this profession.

Was I a dreamer? Dreaming sounds abstract to me now, and I was always more of a doer. I began working at 13, after being told by my own hard-working mother -- she raised me and my three sisters on her own -- that I needed to be able to "do" something to make money, so that I would never, ever have to rely upon a man for a place to live and something to eat.

My upbringing was not especially future-minded, although Mum did teach me to save money for a rainy day (we certainly have plenty of those in the UK). The focus was on the here-and-now. Not lofty, and not so very dreamy. I quickly learned there is no shortcut around sweat-equity. As a "Saturday Girl" in the neighborhood salon, my sweat-equity began with sweeping up hair cuttings and sterilizing hair-pins.

Although I consider myself a perpetual student, I did not pursue an academic education. I was trained and licensed in the craft of professional skin care, which is comparatively short-term. When I had my license, I went right to work, and I've never stopped.

This feeling of hands-on, here-and-now is what drove me to launch joinFITE.org in January of this year. The women -- we're aiming for 25,000 -- we will be empowering with microloans funded through this initiative may talk about dreams. These are dreams of putting food on the table, and creating a better life for their children in very immediate terms.

I recently encountered a remarkable woman who represents both the dream and the willingness to work tirelessly to make it real. Her name is Rosa, and she is the owner of a shop called Native Hand by Hand in San Francisco. Rosa grew up in a family of gifted artisans in Ecuador, and her shop is filled with exquisite silver jewelry and clothes made by artisan cooperatives in her country.

But in 2009, when she wanted to expand, she was deemed "unbankable" by major lending institutions, since she had no credit history. Her first microloan from Opportunity Fund allowed her to invest in inventory, and establish herself as a business. Now joinFITE has funded her second microloan, allowing her business to expand.

Rosa's so proud that her daughter has just graduated from high school, and you can get a glimpse of this success story here. Maybe it's semantics, but I don't know that I would call Rosa a "dreamer." Instead, I see unrelenting doing, working, and sacrificing for a clear objective, which is to give her daughter the tools she needs for success.

I am relentlessly upbeat, but I am about to send my oldest daughter off to college with this caveat: wishing and wanting will not make it so. The vision and the dream are just the first step. The sweat-equity is as important, maybe more so. For entrepreneurs like myself in particular, this sweat-equity means 12, 14, 16-hour days, and the potential of literally years without profit.

The dream and vision, the wanting and the wishing, are what allow you to persist spiritually through the hardship. But I place wishing and wanting into the same category as Snow White warbling "Someday my Prince will come." Maybe in a 1937 Disney cartoon, but I don't advise any of this as a strategy for success.

I was reminded of this by Susana, another woman I also met on my recent trip through Northern California. Susana received a joinFITE microloan for her daycare center called Happy Faces in San Jose, and word-of-mouth in the community has enabled her business to quickly grow to maximum-capacity. In fact, she is now sought out by mothers-to-be, who place their names on a waiting list.

It's worth mentioning that Susana, like Rosa --and like myself, at age 13 -- had made her living sweeping and cleaning, before being licensed as a professional in her chosen field.

For everyone starting a new school year, starting a new business or just looking for a job: there is no "secret." Americans love the word "visualization" these days, and it's the theme for countless books, seminars, success-coaches and self-professed entrepreneurism gurus who tell willing believers that if they just want something badly enough, it will happen. But the success of Rosa, and Susana, and of Dermalogica, too, are proof that this simply isn't so: you just can't skip the heavy lifting.

Learn more about my recent trip to Northern California to meet Rosa and Susana.

A New Day for Gugu

2011-06-21T14:06:38-04:00

When it comes to inspiration, I've gone gaga for Gugu.

I recently returned from a whirlwind trip to South Africa, where I spoke about microlending, financial independence, and women's empowerment to more than 1,000 women during meetings held in Johannesburg, Durban and Cape Town.

The incongruity of attending a conference discussing professional skincare against the backdrop of a vast and complex continent where millions of people do not have clean water or may die from a mosquito bite, and in the country with the World's highest HIV/AIDS infection rate, was not lost on me. In fact, I lived in South Africa as a young woman after leaving my native UK and before coming to the United States, so I know the stark contrasts of this land intimately. In many ways, South Africa is a microcosm of world issues. Here, as in much of the world, economic prosperity is highly concentrated in the hands of the few and injustice, poverty, and violence persist.

And yet, it is the success of my own skincare company, Dermalogica, and the lessons I learned along the way, that led me to help launch joinFITE (Financial Independence Through Entrepreneurship) to address these very issues. Were it not for the success of my company, I may never have known Gugu's name or have been here to tell you her story. I think it is also fair to say that without it-although she may never use our products on her own skin--Gugu would not now be figuring out the best way to expand her business and invest her profits.

Gugu Lungile is a proud South-African entrepreneur and single mother of four children. As a recipient of a joinFITE microloan, Gugu recently sat down for an interview with Cherie Keating, our Managing Director for South Africa. Cherie was immediately struck by Gugu's "very serious bearing" while possessing a smile as warm as a sunrise!

As Gugu explained to Cherie, there are no money lenders in her community and the only option for obtaining a loan was through joinFITE and its partners. Gugu was able to use her loans to expand her party-rental company and start a second business--a commercial chicken farm. Her party-rental business captures the essence of an entrepreneurial spirit that is stunningly simple, yet insightful: no other party rentals company offers a tent as part of the package, so Gugu used her loan to purchase a tent.

Her tent is absolutely natural in a hot, sunny place like South Africa. She also rents chairs and decorations, and her services are in high demand for weddings, funerals, and all manner of parties. The seemingly simple decision to buy a tent as part of her package offering is the essence of entrepreneurism: identifying and recognizing the gap in the marketplace and the business opportunity which it represents.

The chicken-raising enterprise has had its setbacks, like when someone broke into her coop and stole her chickens, but Gugu's steely determination kept the business afloat even through difficult times.

Gugu and her family live in a one-room home. She says she likes her current set-up, where the chicken coop is at one end of the property, the tent and party-rental storage area is at the other, and in between is a large, open, sunny area where she can dry laundry. Speaking as someone who grew up in a home consisting of a single mother and four children, I am certain that Gugu always has plenty of laundry to dry.

Gugu didn't really have much to say about "dreams" per se, but her goals are to keep her kids in school and to invest more in her tent-rental business. Sometimes the simplest goals are the most meaningful.

I am sorry that I didn't get to meet Gugu when I visited South Africa, but I hope she knows that just as joinFITE has inspired her, she has inspired me.

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Honoring All Women On Mother's Day

2011-05-03T14:33:35-04:00

We just celebrated International Women's Day and Mother's Day is around the corner. Already the shops and the Internet are filled with Mother's Day cards for mom, flowers for mom, bathrobes and bon-bons for mom.

However, most moms don't get bon-bons on Mother's Day.

The fact is that most of the world's women live in abject poverty, and most of the world's women are mothers. This also means that, since most of the world's women live in poverty, their children do as well. The good news is that we can all make a difference and we can honor our mother and all mothers in the process.

joinFITE.org (Financial Independence Through Entrepreneurship) is a new microlending website powered by Kiva.org to benefit women entrepreneurs in low income areas of the U.S. and 56 other countries. joinFITE is providing small loans to help at least 25,000 women to start or grow their businesses worldwide, and in turn, provide jobs for others in their community. The really beautiful thing about joinFITE is that ordinary citizens all over the world can help give a woman a hand up simply through a minimal donation and the click of a mouse. I couldn't think of a better Mother's Day gift to honor your mother and mothers all over the world.

I am so excited to be a part of joinFITE, and I am not alone! People from all walks of life and all over the world are joining FITE too. There are celebrities, companies and their employees, NGOs on the ground, parents and kids, all inspired to make a difference. We did it as a family and our two teen daughters are tracking the success of the women who received loans. It does not matter the age or gender of the individual, the way in which she or he embraces FITE are truly endless. On this note, I have to give a shout out to a particular mother and son. The mother, Amy Haber, a colleague of mine at Dermalogica, has a 12 year-old son, Harrison, who recently chose FITE as his Bar Mitzvah project and then went on to start a tee-shirt business called "R3DIRECT" ("redirect"), with a portion of the sales also benefiting FITE entrepreneurs. We can all take a page from this sort of initiative and follow through in paying it forward. I am thrilled to share that as a result of everyone's enthusiasm and participation, joinFITE has already funded over 1,600 women entrepreneurs since its launch 11 weeks ago. Together, we can all give a hand up and make a difference.

One of the women entrepreneurs who recently received a hand up from FITE is Noelia from Texas. When she was 4 years old, Noelia and her family came to the United States from Mexico to work as migrant field workers. As a child, Noelia worked in vegetable and cotton fields with her family when she was not in school. When her father was diagnosed with cancer, her mother pulled Noelia out of school to sell tamales in order to pay the hospital fees. Their neighbor worked as a notary public from home and taught Noelia how to complete income tax returns. At the age of 14, she started completing the income tax returns for all the field workers for free so she could get experience. Noelia knew at a young age that she wanted a different life for herself and her family. After graduating, she started helping people complete their tax returns out of her house. Soon this developed into a full-fledged business.

Noelia's loan helped her pay for computers for her business -- the upgrade was instrumental to increasing the number of clients. Currently, Noelia employs her husband and family at her office and she continues to offer free tax services to field workers who cannot afford her services. Noelia's loan is allowing her to realize her dream of creating a better life for herself, her family, and community. Together, we can help many more women like Noelia empower themselves and lift up their families.

In fact, my own childhood and my own mother's journey toward financial independence very much made me who am today. I am the youngest of 4 girls, originally from Scotland. My mother was a nurse and my father a major in the army -- both were stationed in India during World War II, where they met and married in 1944. Once my mother was married, she was prohibited from working as a nurse in Scotland. In 1952, we suffered a devastating loss when my father died of a massive heart attack -- I was two years old at the time with three older sisters. After my father's passing, my family was literally left with nothing. My mother was committed to keeping our family together so she took on a number of jobs to support us and one of these was a nursing job she managed to secure with the help of one of the women who was my father's nurse.

It was exactly at this pivotal time that I became acutely aware of how important it is to have a skill set that allows a woman to be financially independent. At my core, I believe that every woman should be equipped to sow and harvest the seeds of financial independence. In fact, when I started my own company, Dermalogica, I couldn't get a traditional loan and I had to borrow money from my girlfriends to start. Twenty-five years later, we are the number one skin care brand and we are paying it forward for thousands of other women entrepreneurs--honoring them and the women in our lives who have inspired us.

joinFITE helps women entrepreneurs and mothers all over the world realize the beauty of their dreams and create a substantial social return for themselves, their families and communities in the process. I've always had a broad streak of optimism. joinFITE reinforces this optimism for me. It proves to me that there are potential solutions to global issues which, some days, seem overwhelming. With each woman entrepreneur, there is hope. There are tangible routes to action we can all take. This Mother's Day, I will honor my own mother's resolve and fortitude in providing for me and my sisters by helping a woman entrepreneur in another part of the world with the same dreams and hopes that she had in Scotland sixty years ago. Thanks Mom.

Do More, and Do It Now

2011-03-08T11:46:41-05:00

It is with great pride that we celebrate the 100th Anniversary of International Women's Day with an innovative, exciting new opportunity to put our collective intentions, hopes, and dreams for women around the world into action. Dermalogica has a strong history of and commitment to women's economic empowerment -- we have helped 100,000 salon owners and skin therapists get on the path to financial independence since we started 25 years ago. So, it stands to reason that we would be among the founding partners of FITE -- Financial Independence Through Entrepreneurship (www.joinFITE.org). FITE is the first microlending site to benefit women entrepreneurs in low income areas of the US and 56 countries. By the end of 2012, Dermalogica, Kiva, and its partners aim to create financial opportunities for 25,000 women, everywhere from the Bronx to Uttar Pradesh.

As a woman entrepreneur who wasn't able to get a loan when I first started Dermalogica 25 years ago, I was inspired to launch FITE after reading the bestseller by Nicholas Kristof and Sheryl WuDunn, Half the Sky: Turning Oppression Into Opportunity for Women Worldwide. Their compelling premise: that the world economy can never thrive until women everywhere experience financial emancipation. Women and girls, they write, are not the problem: they are the solution.

Yet, in much -- perhaps most -- of the world, girls and women are indeed viewed as a problem, as an afterthought, if lucky. By marginalizing girls and women, this cultural and social discrepancy keeps millions of families in abject poverty. And "families" are increasingly defined as mothers and children, without men for wage-earning or protection; the men are gone, as the result of war, genocide, and HIV/AIDS in many regions of Central and West Africa, as well as many parts of India, for example. It is not unusual, in 2011, for a woman in one of these places (and many others) to find herself with several small children, without an education for herself or her kids, and thus no skilled job prospects.

The FITE initiative cannot presume to tackle all of these deeply enmeshed issues. But we do know how to help entrepreneurial women create paying work for themselves, using their own two hands, which in turn creates a ripple effect of positive change for their families, communities, and whole countries.

The women who will benefit from FITE microloans are involved in a range of businesses -- from embroidering silk pillows to selling charcoal, to raising rabbits, geese or ducks. Although we are separated by distance and language barriers, it is difficult not to feel an affinity with these women and their struggle to create a better life for themselves and their families.

In the summer of 2010, I had the great privilege of participating in a roundtable discussion in New York City, organized by the national nonprofit, Step Up Women's Network (www.suwn.org) and Bayer Healthcare to examine that most fundamental of female emancipations: reproductive freedom. The roundtable was organized to mark the 50th anniversary of the birth-control Pill. Let me add, remarkably, that millions of women in the world still have no access to any form of modern contraception, and this is a pivotal issue at the heart of world-poverty.

One of my fellow panelists in New York that day was Gloria Steinem. At the end of the discussion, I felt overwhelmed, exasperated, exhausted -- dehydrated, even -- by the vastness of the challenges facing women, especially impoverished women outside the comparatively prosperous bubble of the industrialized West. I said to Ms. Steinem, perhaps rhetorically, "I don't know what else to do."

She looked me steadily in the eye and said, without so much as a flicker of irony, "Do more". So today, when we are all wondering what tangible actions we can take on the 100th Anniversary of International Women's Day, I am asking you to do more. Watch the compelling FITE video and help a woman entrepreneur start or grow a business today.

Dermalogica launched FITE on January 6, 2011.