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Why is FemmeSpeak! donating 5% of net proceeds to women's literacy?

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Customer Service

Jeanette Dean
P (908) 995-7712 ext.1
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Sales and Marketing

Director
Rosa Blanco- Lehigh County
P (908) 995-7712 ext.6
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John Catanese- Monroe County
P (908) 995-7712 ext.5
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Jeremiah Germano-
Northampton County
P (908) 995-7712 ext.2
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Lindsey Stewart- Bucks County
P (908) 995-7712 ext.3
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Publisher

Colleen Larose
P (908) 995-7712 ext.4
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FemmeSpeak! is the regional woman to woman communication vehicle.

FemmeSpeak! optimizes women’s inherent capabilities to network through active and passive opportunities. Through the print magazine, interactive communication technology, and events, women form supportive inspirational coalitions.

Local readers are the writers of the online and print magazine content as well as contributors of original artwork and literary works. Local women also contribute to interactive online products such as blogs and an online community where they share information about local goods, services and resources. Searchable blogs allow businesses to see what is being said about them making FemmeSpeak! the new ‘go to’ resource to get the real scoop on local services and products and creating “BUZZ” about local businesses as a local viral marketing engine! Additionally, women have the opportunity to network in person through FemmeSpeak! coordinated workshops, seminars and conferences.

To empower women to value their own worth, reach for their goals, expand their horizons, and create the life of their dreams. The magazine’s motto: “Live to Inspire” encourages women to share their joy of life. What inspires us at FemmeSpeak!? … empowering women to create happier, healthier, stronger communities.

While the magazine pilot is being produced in the Lehigh Valley and Bucks County, the goal is to expand quickly with issues to also be produced for Montgomery County, Pennsylvania and Philadelphia before January 2011. By doing so, we will demonstrate that the FemmeSpeak! concept can work in a rural region (Lehigh Valley and Bucks County), a suburban region (Montgomery County), and an urban region (Philadelphia). Once that goal is met, we will open franchise opportunities to women across the nation and even internationally while continuing FemmeSpeak! growth into New Jersey, Delaware and beyond.

The franchises will further empower women, giving franchise owners a strong business model and the opportunity to have a stable, growth oriented income while expanding the mission of empowering and supporting women across the country. All franchises will be required to donate 5% of net proceeds to support women’s literacy initiatives in their respective regions.

FemmeSpeak! is for all women….The voice of every woman is important whether or not she has had access to further education and new technologies.

FemmeSpeak! wants to help to provide that access….

Through this initiative exclusively for women, it is hoped that women will improve their literacy skills so that they may confidently contribute to writing articles and contributing their own original literary works for publication in FemmeSpeak!

Improving basic literacy also includes learning to use computers proficiently and understanding how to contribute to blogs and participate in online communities. FemmeSpeak! blogs and the FemmeSpeak! community will be a safe place to practice these newly learned skills.

These new skills may then be applied to understanding how social networking sites operate so that mom’s will be better equipped to protect their children who engage on these sites from potential harm.

Additionally, women with improved literacy skills are better equipped to care for their family’s health and are better able to provide financially for themselves and their families.

Finally, women’s literacy is crucial because women who value education and further learning instill this in their children. Children respond to mom’s who set an example of valuing education and don’t just say education is important. Mom’s who improve their literacy skills are more confident to help children with homework. And children who see their mom’s doing homework are more inclined to do their own homework. Families who learn together are better able to communicate and understand one another, to encourage one another, and to learn from each other.

Improving the literacy of women is key to improving:

• The health and safety of the nation
• The economic vitality of the nation
• Understanding among all people by providing the outlet for all women to have a voice.

It surprises me that people want to know who I am and why I am starting FemmeSpeak!

But they are fair questions, so here you go:

I am not extraordinary….I am an average 47 year old woman, with an average body, an average face,was an average student, and married to the same man for 25 years. We do not have children. We live on a little farmette and take great joy in watching the animals play, laughing at their antics.

Embracing joy was a life lesson from my mother who loved to laugh…and who also taught my sisters and me the important lessons of the dignity of being a woman.

Both of my parents passed away in their 50’s, so I have made up my mind that it is time to let my life shine. I have had an epiphany of what I believe could make the world better; providing a place for women to share their thoughts, ideas, feelings, hopes and dreams, helping them find ways to improve their own lives while they inspire others to do the same. I am stubbornly optimistic in my view of life and if extraordinary at all, it is that I am just idealistic and bullheaded enough to see this through.

I spent the first fifteen years of my career in sales and learned a great deal about human nature through those adventures. At the age of 33, I returned to college to complete my AAS and BA and went on to acquire a couple of Masters degrees in public relations and higher education as well as complete additional graduate work in public administration.

From this academic immersion, I began working for government for the next ten years, ending my government career as the executive director of a workforce investment board. Workforce Investment Boards are boards comprised of public and private sector citizens appointed by local politicians. The board makes decisions about how local, state, and federal resources will be used to enhance employment and training opportunities for local citizens. Let’s just say that I learned a lot about politics…and I don’t want to work for government anymore. But I gained a great deal of insight!

What I learned:

Government employees do their best to provide needed services but are asked to do far too much with far too few resources causing frustration. Individual programs are often laudable, but narrow focus on task at hand, fear of change, and a culture of practicality (because of the responsibility of utilizing tax dollars) make system-wide improvements difficult to impossible.

Therefore, due to the lack of resources, creativity and vision, government is destined to always be reactive rather than proactive. So, the best opportunity for a proactive, visionary service to the community will nearly always come from the private sector.

This is why I am starting FemmeSpeak!

FemmeSpeak! is proactive and visionary. It celebrates and strengthens the woman as an individual while simultaneously facilitating the building of coalitions of women. It “unionizes women” by creating a supportive, inspirational environment where women communicate woman to woman, region by region…making each of us stronger and thereby building stronger communities.

While men, by their very nature tend to be more independent and self-driven, a woman’s strength comes from her interdependence. Women thrive where they can nurture and be nurtured.

FemmeSpeak will impact the lives of women in meaningful ways by furthering this interdependence through interactions with the quarterly print magazine, the online 24 hour connectivity of the website and in person events all for women. So you see, FemmeSpeak! could not be created by government, corporations, faith organizations, or educational institutions…because the power of women is larger than all of these…

It is every woman in support of every other woman…and it is all women seeking to become the best that they can be.

FemmeSpeak! is thus not just a magazine, not just a website, not just a product…it is a mission…a movement…for women, by women, about women.

And, just a word regarding the name of the publication….FemmeSpeak!…no it’s not a gay publication (femme-butch), nor is it a feminist publication, nor is it about “women’s wily ways”(femme fatale)….FemmeSpeak! simply means “woman talk”…and as a woman, I am tired of the word ‘Femme’ being mocked and would like to see the word revered as a strength. We all know there are plenty of disparaging words in our language used to describe women. This is a conscious effort to take back “Femme” as a part of the lexicon that connotes femininity as a positive attribute. Women speaking out, sharing, drawing strength from one another’s ideas and motivations is beautiful. I am proud to be Femme!

It is because women need each other and excel when connected to one another…that is why I have created FemmeSpeak!