A Woman's Resume

     You are reading a resume that includes the following: M.B.A. from Harvard Business School, U.S. Secretary of the Treasury's chief of staff, Google's Vice President of Global Online Sales and Operations, and currently chief operating officer at Facebook. After you are done, I can guarantee you are picturing a top-notch businessman in a crisp suit holding a brief case and handing you this resume. You'd be surprised to learn it belongs to Forbes' #6 power woman Sheryl Sandberg. Yes, a woman! Clearly from her resume, Sandberg knows a thing or two about what it's like to be a woman in the workforce. After you read her book Lean In: Women, Work and the Will to Lead, you will recognize her constructiveness, but you will also see her passion and likeability that inspired me to be a part of the change she believes women can make.

Professional Sheryl Sandberg

Photo credit: Forbes

     Shortly after diving into the book, I was immediately overcome by a conscience of misrepresentation. Women and have been silenced, fearful and underestimated in the professional world, and through the pages of Lean In, Sandberg taught me that it's only women who hold the ability to change society's perspective of them. You shouldn't have been surprised when I told you the resume above was a woman's. Women should not be bumped from their jobs or limited from opportunities because they have families or for the simple fact they are female. We must acquire determination and take charge of women’s ability to diminish the gender gap. I enjoyed Sandberg’s anecdotes that connected her to the lessons she teaches and the ambition she instills in her reader.

Mom Sheryl Sandberg

Photo credit: Vanity Fair

     Lean In is for the women who need a push to be strong and the men who want to support the change. If either of these personalities apply to you, this is a must read! I encourage you to find inspiration to have a resume like Sandberg's. 

The Real Savages

Savages

Joe Kane

280 pages

Vintage Books, A Division of Random House, Inc.

Kindle: $9.99

In the first chapter the author, Joe Kane, takes a Huaorani Indian, Moi, to Washington D.C. to be able to fight for the clean up of native land in Ecuador that was polluted by oil companies. He looks at the White House and thinks that he could make it all the way to the gates without getting caught. This whole book is a fight for survival of the Huaorani tribe, the Ecuadorian Amazon and for the future generations of the Ecuadorian tribes. It is one of the best forms of public relations for the tribes because by the end of the book a person wants to do anything they can to help them.

[Photo Credit: L. Marcio Ramalho//Flickr Creative Commons]

Savages is a compelling exposé about the harm that oil companies caused while they were drilling in Ecuador.  Kane lived with the Huaorani tribe to be able to experience the chaos the oil companies created for the tribe and on the environment. He wrote this book in order to show others what different types of tragedies occurred in Ecuador for our precious oil.

Kane has lived an adventurous life and has never done anything half-heartedly. He spent six months on the Amazon River and lived with the Huaorani tribe on and off again for over a year. He has won the Overseas Press Club Award and was named to the 100 best adventure books of all time by National Geographic. He lives in California with his wife and two daughters.

            This book will show you the horrors an oil company can create in a country with no resources and no standards for ethical oil drilling. It tells the story of natives who work for the oil companies, receive little pay and are forced to live apart from their families. There are little kids who cannot afford shoes whose feet are covered in oil. It describes the rich culture of Huaorani living but shows how this way of life is being destroyed. The river runs black in some parts of Huaorani territory because of oil contamination. This book teaches readers that the real “savages” are not the natives, but the oil companies. The only weakness this book has it there is not an updated epilogue that shows how the Huaorani are surviving.

[Photo Credit: Rodrigo Buendia/AFP/Getty Images]

            If you want a book that will both capture your attention, make you laugh and cry all in the same chapter buy this book. Savages is not only educational but it will be a book that you will not want to finish. 

sources: 

Savages by Joe Kane

http://www.traveleroverseas.com/contributors/joe-kane/

Book Review #2 - Open Your Eyes

Title: The Help
Author: Kathryn Stockett
Length: 534 pages
Publisher: Penguin Books
Price: $12.99

Open Your Eyes
By: Erin Nelson


     "Eat my sh*t." Minny Jackson, played by Octavia Spencer in the movie, proclaimed these words to the local, vicious white woman, Hilly Holbrook, to get back at her for the disrespect she is shown daily. Jackson baked Holbrook a pie and literally filled it with her bodily wastes and gave it to Holbrook. This scene shows the final straw Jackson had from being treated so terribly. This is an important scene because it conveys the daily ill treatment the white people showed the African Americans in the 1960s.

Tate Taylor (director)

     Kathryn Stockett, the author, placed the scene of the book in Jackson, Miss., where she was born and raised. Stockett received a degree in English and Creative Writing from the University of Alabama, which enhanced and led to the writing of The Help. The book was on The New York Times Best Seller list for over 100 weeks after it was released. The Help is the only book she has published, so far.
     The over all subject of the book, personally, is to give respect and equality to everyone, despite differences. This book emphasizes the severe disrespect and unfair treatment the African Americans are given and uses Eugenia 'Skeeter' Phelan, the white author who writes the book about their lives, to convey that they are people just like everyone else.
     I think Stockett nailed her point that equality and respect is to be given to everyone. Besides this one scene, there are many important moments throughout the book that stress the wrongful treatment. She uses Skeeter well to convey how it's perfectly OK to get along with African Americans by showing the change of heart and kindness Celia Foote shows towards the African American women. The ending to the book should have showed more detail about Holbrook's slow change of heart and attitude towards the African Americans. This would have benefitted the emphasis about the change of heart that slowly happened.

judgmentalobserver.com

     I would recommend The Help for anyone, in particularly women, to read in their spare time. Even having an open mind can change your look and open your eyes more to see the importance of how our actions towards others affect those around us.

Finding Bliss in the Unexpected by Lauren Leaver

In her memoir Happy Accidents, Jane Lynch illustrates a series of unexpected instances that created her journey to success. Throughout her book, she reveals both the happy and sad moments that changed her life. Lynch calls these moments “accidents,” because she admits that there were times in the beginning when she struggled with anxiety and depression. While she is seen as a famous and successful actress, her memoir examines the story of her life before she made it to Hollywood.

In one part of the book, she discusses a time period during high school in which she was desperate for an escape from reality while growing up in suburban Chicago. As a result, Lynch talks about how she decided to join her high school choir in to use performing as a creative outlet. However, the actress also reveals that she turned to alcohol for a significant portion of her life. Lynch completed a theatrical arts degree at Illinois State University and MFA from Cornell, but still struggled with alcohol addiction and finding her identity. 

Lynch also emphasizes that while knew that she wanted to be an actress, she had difficulty maintaing a steady job, since jobs in acting were sparse at the time. As a result, she obtained a series of different acting jobs, ranging from Shakespeare plays in New York to comedy shows such as The Real Live Brady Bunch in Chicago.    

Jane Lynch (top middle) on the set of The Real Live Brady Bunch in 1992. Photo Credit: Huffington Post Staff Photo

However, Lynch’s story takes a positive spin when she turns thirty-one years old and decides to get her life back together. Lynch moves to Los Angeles, embraces her sexuality, quits drinking and starts landing roles in television movies such as Julie & Julia and The 40-Year-Old Virgin. She emphasizes that it was during this time when one of the happiest accidents of all happened. A new series that she had been hired for had gotten cancelled, causing her to audition for the role of Sue Sylvester in the television series Glee. To everyone’s surprise, the series took off, making Lynch a famous actress and fulfilling one of her lifelong dreams.

Jane Lynch as Sue Sylvester in the television series Glee. Photo Credit: Fox Broadcasting Company Staff Photo

            Overall, I thought Lynch’s memoir was engaging, entertaining and informative. I also found her story found her story inspiring, because she emphasizes that there is no perfect path to success. I didn't know that Lynch struggled with depression and alcoholism, but I found the way she wrote about her experiences to be appropriate and enduring. Having previously seen her as a comedian, I was expecting her memoir to be written in a similar style to that of Tina Fey’s book Bossypants. However, her writing style was fairly straightforward with surprisingly little sarcasm. Therefore, this memoir will be a useful public relations tool because maintains her positive image as a successful female in Hollywood who is not afraid to tell her story and relate to her publics. 

Jane Lynch at her first book signing in 2011. Photo Credit: Huffington Post Staff Photo 

After reading this memoir, I recommend this book to anyone who is a fan. I especially recommend it to females who are interested in learning about how people obtain successful careers. Overall, I found Lynch’s wisdom to be especially beneficial and inspiring, because she demonstrates that no matter what your background is, you can still achieve your dreams if you work hard and take advantage of all the opportunities and “happy accidents” that come along the way. 

Confessions of a Shopaholic

The Shopaholic Series

Sohie Kinsella

Length: 320 pg.

Publisher: Dial Press Trade Paperback

Price: $10.00

Confessions of a Shopaholic

By Sophie Kinsella

Becky Bloomwood has just hit rock bottom when her card gets declined at a trendy London shop. She is embarrassed and tries to convince the store clerk that there must be some mistake. She ends up leaving devastated and without her fabulous item. This scene, in Confessions of a Shopaholic, reveals how Becky is ignoring her over the top spending habits, which has left her with an overwhelming amount of debt. She is a true shopaholic. 

Photo by Karen Curtis - Confessions of a Shopaholic

The author, Sophie Kinsella, is revealing Becky’s personality and her spirit for optimism, even in her difficult time of discovering reality. Kinsella has written many “chick lits.” in her time as an author. Her most popular, The Shopaholic, series has even been made into a movie, Confessions of a Shopaholic. Kinsella has a fun and witty writing style. Most women can connect with the Shopaholic series, as we all have been in a situation where we want to shop, but do not have the means to do so. In the end Becky Bloomwood figures out her financial stress and how to handle her shopping addictions. This book takes the reader from the many uncomfortable, but funny situations of having a shopping addiction, to a coming to reality moment when Bloomwood finally grows up and understands how to take control of her life. I recommend this book to all women. There are many life situations, in Shopaholic, that almost every woman can relate to. This series is definitely made for people who are interested in a fun read with fashion, a bit of love, and triumph. 

Photo by Devi R - Confessions of a Shopaholic