2010
The Wall Street Journal interviews Inkandescent PR owner Hope Katz Gibbs
The Wall Street Journal — In today’s issue of the Wall Street Journal, reporter Emily Maltby interviewed five small business owners for an article entitled, “Preparing for a Double Dip.”
“Many business owners are worried that the economy will get worse before it gets better,” she explains. “Here’s how some are readying their companies for a double dip.
Rosetta Stone CEO Tom Adams Gives Us a Glimpse Into the Future of the Workforce
By Hope Katz Gibbs
Be Inkandescent Magazine
December 2010
Do you speak a foreign language? How about your employees? Have many, or any of them, mastered a second language or lived in a foreign country?
If not, you may be behind the curve in terms of the future of the workforce, believes Tom Adams, president and CEO of Rosetta Stone, Inc.
“Speaking more than one language is no longer just an asset in today’s job market; it is a requirement,” insists Adams, whose company provides interactive solutions that are acclaimed for the power to unlock the natural language-learning ability in everyone. “The United States risks falling behind in the global economy if we do not strive to be a multilingual society.”
Why is nonprofit guru Robert Egger is "Begging for Change?"
By Hope Katz Gibbs
Be Inkandescent Magazine
November 2010
“Hello, my name is Robert and I’m a recovering hypocrite,” writes nonprofit advocate Robert Egger in the beginning of his book, “Begging for Change: The dollars and sense of making non-profits responsive, efficient, and rewarding for all.”
The founder of the DC Central Kitchen, who among other leadership roles was tapped to clean up the beleaguered United Way National Capital Area as interim director back in 2002, is on a mission.
“I discovered soon after I started the DC Central Kitchen that winning my war — the war against hunger — wasn’t just about feeding more people or building more efficient kitchens,” Egger explains in his book. “Even if I spent the rest of my life raising hundreds of millions of dollars for the ‘cause,’ I realized that all the money would never end hunger. Hunger is tied to other battles. It’s about education, child care, job training, AIDS work, drug counseling, affordable housing, and health care.”
Steven Schussler explains why "It's a Jungle in There," and what entrepreneurs can do to tame the beasts
By Hope Katz Gibbs
October 1, 2010
Be Inkandescent Magazine
When Steven Schussler was 18, he got a job in Miami climbing phone poles for the Southern Bell Telephone Company. But the young man, who as a teen figured out a way to make thousands of dollars each summer selling playing cards and soda and running errands to poker-playing rich guys at the beach, had his sights set on something bigger.
“It was hard work for little pay and offered limited opportunities for advancement,” he writes in his new book, It’s a Jungle in There. “When I learned I could make more money selling airtime for radio and television stations and build a future career for myself, I knew it was time for me to make a move.”
President of Bread for the World Calls for Change in Politics of Hunger
By Hope Katz Gibbs
September 13, 2010
The National Press Club
Photo by Noel St. John, www.noelstjohn.com
The U.S. has not made sustained progress against poverty since the 1960s and early 1970s when the poverty rate was cut in half, said anti-hunger and poverty advocate David Beckmann at a luncheon Sept. 13.
“If countries as different as Bangladesh, Brazil and Britain can reduce poverty, it’s clearly possible in the USA,” said Beckmann, an economist and ordained Lutheran minister who has been president of Bread for the World since 1991. “As a nation, we have opportunities to moderate what the economy is doing to hungry and poor people.”
He said influencing politics is the key.
Dylan Gibbs tells us, "How Boy Scouts Saved My Life"
By Dylan Zane Glenwood Gibbs
Age 11
And Hope Katz Gibbs
his mom
This summer I learned some big lessons about the perils of catching grapes in my mouth, the importance of knowing first aid, and what an amazing dad I have.
It happened in August when my dad and I went on a biking and camping trip with two of my best friends and their fathers. Our mission was to bike at least 25 miles along the C&O Canal tow path, camp overnight, and bike back the next day as part of our Boy Scout cycling merit badge.
Michael Chasen teaches us the benefits of connecting education and technology
By Hope Katz Gibbs
September 1, 2010
Be Inkandescent Magazine
At 38, Blackboard Inc. CEO Michael Chasen has already achieved more than he ever dreamed was possible.
His company, which develops and licenses software applications and related services to more than 7,500 colleges, universities, K-12 school districts, corporations, and government agencies in more than 60 countries, projects revenues of $445.4 million in 2010.
Total revenue for the quarter ending June 30, 2010, was $107.7 million, an increase of 17 percent over the second quarter of 2009. The company went public on Nasdaq in 2004 and by the summer of 2006 was making headlines in The New York Times.
“Chasen [pictured below left with his co-founder Matthew Pittinsky] will never be confused with the brash upstarts that defined the Internet boom of the 1990s, or Silicon Valley’s ever-growing crop of disruption-crazed entrepreneurs,” wrote Times reporter William Taylor. “”[Blackboard] may be disruptive, but they conduct themselves like diplomats.”
Dr. Ben Carson's tells us when to take a risk
By Hope Katz Gibbs
August 1, 2010
Be Inkandescent Magazine
How risky is it to separate conjoined twins? Dr. Ben Carson, the director of pediatric neurosurgery at Johns Hopkins Children’s Center in Baltimore, says he doesn’t think about his work in those terms.
“You don’t go into a field that requires cracking people’s heads open or operating on something as delicate as the spinal cord unless you are comfortable with taking risks,” explains Carson in his latest book, “Take the Risk: Learning to Identify, Choose, and Live with Acceptable Risk.”
Previous books include “Think Big,” and “Gifted Hands,” which became a made-for-TV movie for TNT starring Cuba Gooding, Jr. Directed by Thomas Carter (Coach Carter). The film reveals Carson’s inspiring life story as a poor, inner-city youth who overcame great odds to become one of the world’s best surgeons, thanks to the love of his determined single mother (played by Kimberly Elise) and an unswerving faith.
Newsweek's Jonathan Alter on President Obama's first year in power
By Hope Katz Gibbs
July 1, 2010
Be Inkandescent Magazine
The word “promise” was repeated 19 times during Barack Obama’s acceptance speech on August 28, 2008 — the 45th anniversary of Martin Luther King’s “I Have a Dream” speech, explains Jonathan Alter in the prologue of his new book, The Promise: President Obama, Year One.
The President said: “I told you my story of the brief union between a young man from Kenya and a young woman from Kansas who weren’t well-off or well-known, but shared a belief that in America their son could achieve whatever he put his mind to. It is that promise that’s always set this country apart.
The promise of America, [is] the idea that we are responsible for ourselves, but that we also rise or fall as one nation, the fundamental belief that I am my brother’s keeper, I am my sister’s keeper. That’s the promise we need to keep. That’s the change we need right now.”
Alter writes that less than three weeks later, “the economy nearly vaporized, and some of the promises he mentioned would soon recede from public view. But many of his words would resonate — or clang — through the first year of his presidency.”
Here’s why.
Meet the CEO of Count Me In for Women's Economic Independence
By Hope Katz Gibbs
June 1, 2010
Be Inkandescent Magazine
Even before Nell Merlino founded Take Our Daughters to Work Day for the Ms. Foundation in 1992, she was considered “a professional rabble-rouser with a very active imagination.”
In 1990, she helped produce the 20th Century Anniversary Earth Day Concert in Central Park (www.earthday.net). That year, she also did advance work on Nelson Mandela’s first trip to New York after he was released from prison.
Nell helped organize the distribution of 100,000 condoms around New York City through the Gay Men’s Health Crisis organization (www.gmhc.org), was the communications director for the NGO Forum on Women in Beijing (www.ngocsw.org), and with her brother, Joe, helped organized the YWCA Week Without Violence (www.weekwithoutviolence), which ran for more than five years around the U.S.
President Bush's daughter Barbara tells about her life as president of her nonprofit, The Global Health Corps [National Press Club]
By Hope Katz Gibbs
National Press Club, The Wire
May 26, 2010
“The extreme disparity in health outcomes and access to healthcare that exists today between the world’s rich and the world’s poor is unjust and unsustainable,” said Barbara Bush today at a National Press Club luncheon where she spoke about the nonprofit organization she co-founded and is president of — The Global Health Corps (http://ghcorps.org/).
“We aim to mobilize a global community of young leaders to build a movement for health equity,” said the daughter of President George W. Bush, who brought her twin sister Jenna to the event. “Global Health Corps believes that a global movement of individuals and organizations fighting for improved health outcomes and access to healthcare for the poor is necessary in order to change the unacceptable status quo of extreme inequity.”
Social entrepreneur Muhammad Yunus offers new insight into microfinance in his third book, "Building Social Business"
By Hope Katz Gibbs
May 1, 2010
Be Inkandescent Magazine
A native of Bangladesh, Dr. Muhammad Yunus was educated at Dhaka University and was awarded a Fulbright scholarship to study economics at Vanderbilt University. In 1972, he became head of the economics department at Chittagong University.
He then served as chairman of the economics department at Chittagong University before dedicating his life to providing financial and social services to the poorest of the poor.
Former President Jimmy Carter says of Dr. Yunus’ work: “By giving poor people the power to help themselves, Dr. Yunus has offered them something far more valuable than a plate of food — security in the most fundamental form.”
Beverly Cleary's World [The Costco Connection]
By Hope Katz Gibbs
The Costco Connection
April 2010
“RAMONA QUIMBY WAS nine years old. She had brown hair, brown eyes, and no
cavities,” writes beloved children’s book author Beverly Cleary in the first chapter of her bestseller, Ramona’s World. It chronicles the day our heroine meets her new baby sister, Roberta.
This is one of more than three dozen books penned by Cleary in the more than five
decades (her first book, Henry Huggins, was published in 1950; her last was Ramona’s World in 1999) that she has been drawing kids into the adventures of her characters. Klickitat Street, where several of them live, is based on her own childhood neighborhood.
Ted Leonsis, one of AOL's entrepreneur extraordinaires and owner of the Washington Caps, has a new book out: "The Business of Happiness"
By Hope Katz Gibbs
April 2, 2010
Be Inkandendescent Magazine
“The happiest and most successful people I know have in common with one another not just an ability to function with multiple communities, but a real desire to do so,” writes Ted Leonsis in his new book, “The Business of Happiness: 6 Secrets to Extraordinary Success in Life and Work.”
Surely, any entrepreneur would love to know the secrets to Leonsis’ success — much as they did a decade ago when Jack Welch’s GE ideas seemed like the best path to follow for many business owners.
But this book, co-written by John Buckley who was Leonsis’ friend and PR director when he was an executive at AOL, focuses on self-actualization — the top of the pyramid in what Abraham Maslow termed the Hierarchy of Needs.
“What a man can be, he must be,” Maslow explained. “This forms the basis of the perceived need for self-actualization. This level of need pertains to what a person’s full potential is, and to realizing that potential.”
Gina Schaefer, owner of seven ACE Hardware stores in Washington, DC, is on the cusp of a trend: the return of the mom and pop shop
By Hope Katz Gibbs
March 1, 2010
Be Inkandescent Magazine
Owning a string of hardware stores in downtown Washington, D.C., isn’t what you’d expect Gina Schaefer to say she does for a living when you meet the perky, petite 39-year-old. But she and husband Marc proudly stand at the helm of an $11 million company that is opening its seventh store this spring — a 7,500-square-foot space at 7001 Carroll Avenue in Takoma Park.
Why did a girl who graduated with a degree in political science, and worked for a few years at the Children’s Defense Fund, get into the hardware business? “We were young and dumb,” Schaefer says with a grin. But the real answer seems to be equal parts necessity, opportunity, humility — and true grit.
Coast Guard Commandant Thad Allen talks about budget cuts and the future [National Press Club]
By Hope Katz Gibbs
The National Press Club
February 12, 2010
Friday Marked Final State of Coast Guard Address by Commandant Thad Allen
At his annual State of the Union address today at the National Press Club, Adm. Thad W. Allen, commandant of the Coast Guard, said he is concerned about the cuts in the agency’s 2011 budget proposed by President Obama.
Funding is expected to drop by 3% to $10.1 billion, and active-duty personnel would decrease by up to 1,100, to approximately 41,984, he explained, noting that the budget contains nearly $1.4 billion to replacing aging ships and equipment, especially high endurance cutters. Of 12 cutters assigned to the relief efforts in Haiti, he said 10 have broken down and three were forced to return to port or dry dock due to propeller or propeller-shaft problems.
Crafting a Career in the Arts [elan magazine]
By Hope Katz Gibbs
elan magazine
February 2010
Elaina Loveland wanted to be a prima ballerina. The graceful waif of a woman was a dynamic dancer, too. But after attending the dance program at Goucher College to study for a few years, she realized the reality of her choice might not make for an ideal career.
“It became clear that I should have gone straight to New York City to dance instead of going to college to study it,” she admits. “I also realized that my dance career would probably only last as long as my body held out—and that seemed like a bit of a gamble.”
So she opted for Plan B and became a writer—another career she had long dreamed of.
Jim Bognet and Jeff Kaiser, owners of the $50 million firm, Bognet Construction, are relentless about delivering high quality, on-time, on-budget solutions for our customers
By Hope Katz Gibbs
February 1, 2010
Be Inkandescent Magazine
Photos by Steve Barrett
Little did Bognet Construction founders Jim Bognet and Jeff Kaiser know when they leased their first office in 1998 for $500 per month in the basement of a Starbucks on MacArthur Boulevard that 12 years later they would be manning a $50 million firm that employs 45 people.
“We love construction, and are relentless about delivering high quality, on-time, on-budget solutions for our customers,” the owners say. “Our goal is to continue to build this firm into a $150 million company in the next five years.”
Motion Pictures: Scanimation inventor creates a literary movement [Costco Connection]
By Hope Katz Gibbs
January 2010
The Costco Connection, page 71
“I’m mostly interested in finding ways to make magic,” says Rufus Butler Seder, a filmmaker, inventor, toymaker, and author of several moving picture books published by Workman Publishing including Gallop! (2007), Swing! (2008), and his 2009 newest release, Waddle!
What is scanimation?
“It is a technique that combines the eye’s ability to use parallax perception with moiré-style multiple-line patterns, and a sheet of acetate,” Seder explains. “Ultimately, the brain thinks that the images on the page are actually moving. But really the only thing that is happening is what is going on between your ears. It’s a wonderful, patented, optical illusion.”
Dubbed the "queen of putting people's lives in order" by USA Today, organizational and time management expert Julie Morgenstern teaches us to clear the clutter
By Hope Katz Gibbs
January 1, 2010
Be Inkandescent Magazine
Dubbed the “queen of putting people’s lives in order” by USA Today, Julie Morgenstern is an organizational and time management expert, business productivity consultant, and nationally renowned speaker. She’s also a New York Times bestselling author, having published five books that are reference guides featuring techniques and observations culled from her 20 years of experience as a consultant to individuals and companies.
She founded Julie Morgenstern Enterprises in 1989, and her common-sense approach to getting, and staying, organized has attracted the attention of Oprah Winfrey. In fact, in the last decade she appeared as a guest on Oprah nine times.
She has also appeared on CNN, The Today Show, CBS This Morning, and Good Morning America, and has been quoted in The New York Times, and the Wall Street Journal. Julie was also a monthly contributor to O, The Oprah Magazine. Her new monthly column premiered in the March 2009 issue of Redbook.
Hope Gibbs offers "6 Tips for an Easy Move with Kids"
December 30, Life@Home magazine, Century 21 — In today’s issue of the Century 21 newsletter, reporter Robyn Friedman writes:
Hope Gibbs thought her move from Clifton, Va. to Arlington, Va.-a mere 45 minutes away-would be easy. And it was for daughter Anna, 14, who found new friends on Facebook even before she moved.
But Gibbs’ 10-year-old son Dylan found it more difficult. “You’d have thought we moved to Mars,” says Gibbs. “He still wants to go home despite having made tons of friends.”