Have you Felt Empowered Today?

Where are all the empowered female business executives? The role models for young women ready to storm the professional world and shatter the glass ceiling?

I know the ins and outs of working in corporate America. From being the founder and CEO of a very lucrative advertising agency to learning the hard way how to sell off that agency to now running six businesses, I’m no stranger to hard work in a business-driven environment.

However, I was a stranger to finding a successful and reputable woman entrepreneur and business mentor to look up to.

I spent most of 2008 traveling the country and speaking to thousands of women about this very topic. What I realized was that beyond solid marketing advice and business solutions, women needed someone to respect, admire and trust. A woman with a degree from the University of Been There, Done That

Yes we have amazing empowered and passionate women like Oprah Winfrey, Ellen DeGeneres, Michelle Obama and some fantastic actresses who’ve made millions with smart business opportunities like getting into the perfume and fashion industry. The problem was, there were so many more stories of women overcoming obstacles to make it to the top that were unheard.

Stories like that of Sheila Johnson, the co-founder of Black Entertainment Television. She threw caution to the wind and started her successful hospitality business after a messy and public divorce from her husband, Robert Johnson: a man who was known as one of the most respected, revered and honorable coaches in NBA history.

Tales like Johnson’s were common for women who climbed their way to success but were known as thewife of their husband rather than with their own identity and savvy business skills. I found these stories intertwined perfectly with those of international dance icon Ginger Rogers. The phraseBackwards in High Heels is synonymous with women’s empowerment and the many balancing acts we must perform to be the best mother, daughter, wife and CEO.

The expression came from a news article in which a reporter wroteGinger Rogers had to do everything Fred Astaire did only backwards and in high heels.

After reading Ginger’s book, Ginger: My Story, I became enthralled with this idea that women were always doing everything men did from finances to multitasking in the office to work/life balance all while dancing backwards in high heels.

Do you know what obstacles Ginger had to overcome to be as successful and powerful as she was? She had to make sure her larger-than-life costumes didn’t overshadow Astaire’s dancing in movies. She had to sit by and watch as Astaire took credit for their elaborate and fancy dance moves, all the time knowing that she was the one who choreographed them.

How many other women were like her? What I found was many. I decided their stories needed to be heard and woven with positive narratives of women who overcame against the odds.

That’s when Backwards in High Heels: A Woman’s Guide to Succeeding in Business was born.

As I wrote and researched for Backwards, I was deeply moved by so many powerful women. Stories like Dolly Parton who was literally wearing rags before garnering her riches, or Queen Elizabeth’s strategic and savvy way to reign over a kingdom so that all her subjects felt they had made a vital decision in running the government.

What I found was that not only were there wonderful and commanding stories of women succeeding, but that they each related to my encounters as a female entrepreneur. So I added my own flavor to each chapter to showcase a modern-day entrepreneurial woman who is relatively unknown yet can easily connect to so many other small business owners.

This is not meant to be a blatant advertisement for Backwards in High Heels, but rather a nudge to help yourself, your daughter, your favorite female student or your recent graduate feel empowered today.

If I were empowered with this knowledge before hitting the streets to look for my first job out of college, I would have felt so much more secure and powerful than I really was at the time.

Imagine a recent college graduate reading this and feeling unstoppable in taking on the corporate world.

I’ve had female entrepreneurs and recently retired male executives both tell me the same thing: Everyone needs to read this book to feel hope and empowerment in business.

If we can help just one female business professional feel welcomed into a community of empowered women, then we’ve all done our job. There’s safety in numbers and beauty in camaraderie. Join the thousands of women who have read Backwards and felt like they were finally a part of something bigger than they are.

Sheila Stewart is the author of 99 Killer Business Ideas, the Power-Injected Marketing Toolkit and Backwards in High Heels. She is the host of the Power-Inject your Marketing program on Diva Toolbox Radio.