Innovator Insights: Resources & Birthdays, Oh My!

Time is your most valuable asset, focus it wisely.

It’s August and I’m not only having the all too familiar “where did the summer go?” feeling but also a little of the “where the heck have 7 months of 2015 disappeared to already???” anxiety. My time, like the projects I’ve chosen to focus my energy (and time) on, is unfolding as it should. I would however, love someone to hack me back a couple of months just for good get-more-done measure.

August is also my Birthday month…and yes, I’ll let my Leo friends have the month until August 23rd when Virgo takes over on the 24th. In case you didn’t read to the bottom of my last newsletter, I’ll put the news up front for you this week:

I'm turning 50!

The big celebration is September 30. My friends at The Bright Agency Group, Women In Music, R1 Labs and Third Wave Fashion are planning to “roast” not toast this milestone with me (think Comedy Central + Justin Bieber). 

Keeping with my motto “invest in the change you want to see in the world” this is a party on a mission. Women in Tech, a cause near and dear to my heart (and tweets) is the beneficiary of the event – joke is on me -  and roast proceeds are going to support The YWCA of New York City’s Girls Geek Club.

Tickets to this soiree are available now and massive thanks to Laconia Capital Group and Venmo for jumping on board already as sponsors for the evening. Also, huge thanks to the good folks at BarleyCorn for providing the venue and to the ridiculously fabulous women who have agreed to host the event (I will make you look at the Eventbrite to see who they are).

How thick is my skin and how self-deprecating is my sense of humor? Time will tell on the evening of September 30. 

In preparation for the “Small Business – Big World / How To Surpass Expectations” panel - I’m on at the PGA Championship’s Beyond The Green event for women in entrepreneurship and small business - I put together a few of the resources I value and use to set my professional course, fuel my ambitions and generally get things done:

Online Courses

• Jonathan Field’s Good Life Project Immersion Program
• Joanne Tombrakos’ Your Digital You
• Rachel Hofstetter’s PR School
  
  

Books

• Wonder Women: How Western Women Will Save the World by Jessica Eaves Mathews and Phil Dyer
• The Path Redefined: Getting to the Top on Your Own Terms by Lauren Maillian Bias
• Rework by by Jason Fried and David Heinemeier Hansson 
• The Crossroads of Should and Must: Find and Follow Your Passion by Elle Luna
• Cooking Up a Business: Lessons from Food Lovers Who Turned Their Passion into a Career -- and How You Can, Too by Rachel Hofstetter

If you’re in need of additional book recommendations, there are 17 or so intriguing recommendations in my latest column on Inc.com.

Communications, Organization & Productivity

• TeuxDeux
• CloudPeeps
• RedStamp
• Paper by Fifty Three
• This Is Ground (I’m addicted to their cord tacos)

Inspiring Stuff

• Creative Mornings
• Blocks, Trucks & Art at Hayground 

Plus more to mark on your calendar! 

I’ll be moderating a new startup series of conversations at Apple this Fall. These conversation will take place in the morning (so grab your coffee and your questions). Details to come, however, I’m excited to announce the first three speakers are:

• September 22 – 500 Startups' Pankaj Jain  
• October 20 – eBay’s Tami Cannizzaro
• November 5 – Sprinklr’s Thomas Butta