By Natasha Foreman Bryant
A study shows an association between exposure to DDT (the chemical used to kill malaria-carrying mosquitos) and Alzheimer’s, but it has yet to be proven that DDT exposure causes Alzheimer’s since research has shown that patients had two high risk factors: the high levels of DDT “as well as a variation in the APOE gene, which is known to increase the risk of Alzheimer’s.” (USA Today).
Since scientists have found 20 genes that increase the risk of Alzheimer’s, only APOE has a large effect on Alzheimer’s, which increases the risk in people who “inherit two copies of the variations” by 10 to 12 times, Scientist Steven DeKosky says.
Although DDT was banned in the US in 1972 by the Environmental Protection Agency because of the risk to wildlife (jeesh no one also considered human life), it is still used in other countries, and its reintroduction was endorsed by the World Health Organization in 2006.
So can we expect an influx of Alzheimer’s diagnoses in the coming years both pre and postmortem?
“Alzheimer’s is the sixth-leading cause of death in the USA, and affects more than 5.2 million Americans. As the country ages, the number of cases is expected to increase 40% by 2025,” according to the Alzheimer’s Association.
To read more about this story and the research behind it visit
Please join the Alzheimer’s Association in their fight to beat down and rid our world of Alzheimer’s. Visit: http://alz.org
Copyright 2014. Natasha Foreman Bryant. Some Rights Reserved.
Sources:
USA Today: http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2014/01/27/ddt-alzheimers-risk/4915421/
Alzheimer’s Association: https://alz.org
Monthly Archives: January 2014
Man Plans Ahead After Alzheimer’s Diagnosis
By Natasha Foreman Bryant
A 69-year old man was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s two years ago, and he made a point of planning out his life needs, medical requests, etc. while he was still capable of making those decisions.
If you or someone you love has recently been diagnosed with Alzheimer’s, or are still in the early stages where decisions can be made personally or elected to another party, then please read this story. Read more about this brave man here
Source: Alzheimer’s Association http://blog.alz.org/making-plans-for-the-future-after-an-alzheimers-diagnosis/?WT.mc_id=enews2014_01_29&utm_source=enews-aff-46&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=enews-2014-01-29
Women it’s Your Time to Act and Woman Up: A Call to Action, Part One
By Natasha Foreman Bryant
Teacher. Corrector. Nurturing. Supportive. Caring. Loving. Tender. Warm. Patient. Understanding. Healing. Healer. Fixer. Graceful. Delicate. Strong. Respectful. Kind. Brave. Meek. Humble. Courageous. Lady. Love.
These words and more describe the traditional woman. These are some of the words that we think about when we think of mothers.
Baby Mama. B*tch. Baddest B*itch. Side Chick. Side piece. Breezy. Butter head. Barbie. Chicken head. Dime. Cougar. MILF. Ho. Jump off. Queen Bee. Diva. Gold digger. Vixen. Trick. Slut.
These are some of the words that are being used to describe women today. These are some of the words that women and young girls are using to describe themselves. These are some of the words being used by mothers to describe themselves and other women. The list continues to grow each year.
Something is wrong. Something is terribly wrong. Painfully wrong. Females. Women. Ladies. Mothers. Sisters. It is time that we step up and act.
We must Woman Up!
I wrote a two-part letter to the men (see the links at the end of this post) asking that they step up and do their part to help bring about positive change in our households, schools, churches, and neighborhoods worldwide. I wrote and asked them to do their part to help young men and boys learn what it means to be a real man, a protector, nurturer, teacher, provider, father, husband, son, and friend. I asked men to do their part to help young women and girls learn what a real man is and is not, why they need to shake their fixation on finding the daddy that left them, was never around, or hardly noticed.
But this change requires us too!
Young men and boys learn how to treat a woman by looking at and getting directions from other males, but they also learn by watching and interacting with us. The kind of woman that you want your son, grandson, brother, nephew, or cousin to marry and raise a family with will either be the woman he sees in you, or the image he sees somewhere else—maybe on television, in magazines, or on the streets. You can either help present an honorable image, or you can carelessly allow him to seek out and connect with the next “jump off”.
It is our responsibility to change the image and view of women. It is our responsibility to not sell out for money, affection, fame, or perceived power.
Your Image: Healthy or Destructive?
Here’s the problem. If your model image of womanhood comes from what you see on television or view in magazines, then you yourself have not been exposed to any positive female role models. You have allowed the media, designers, corporations, and airbrushing experts (all mostly men) dictate to you the epitome of beauty, sensuality, and strength. I just watched an amazing video that reveals what Jean Kilbourne and thousands of women have been trying to make clear for over 40 years—the images we see of fashion models, actresses, and female celebrities are mostly altered and airbrushed in an attempt to entice and seduce men, and embed a message in the mind of women and girls, that only leads to our diminished esteem and an increase in eating disorders, suicide, and heightened destructive sexual behavior. Please watch this video and share it with others, males and females, old and young. We have to change the way we see ourselves and other women. We have to change the way men and boys see us. We have to change the way designers and corporations see and depict us.
Eating Disorders
Eating disorders are not just a “white girl” or wealthy girl issue. Eating disorders don’t discriminate. They can reach all of us. Starvation, forcibly vomiting, binge eating, and emotional eating are actions taken by females around the world from every socioeconomic background, race, color, nationality, religion, and sexual orientation.You can have a seemingly “perfect” life living in a two-parent household, beautiful home, fenced yard, with one or more cute pets, and still have an eating disorder. You can live in the projects with your grandmother or aunt, and have an eating disorder. You can be a straight A student and star athlete, and have an eating disorder. You can be a soccer mom, juggling your demanding career and back-to-back playdates for your kids—and have an eating disorder.
Either we think we’re too skinny, too fat, too wide, have too much cellulite, don’t have big enough breasts, or have some issue with our butt (too big, small, lumpy, flat, or too wide), whatever it is we aren’t happy. This unhappiness turns into us using exercise, food and other substances to drastically alter our bodies. Someone planted this seed in our minds. Someone told us we’re too fat or too skinny, and that seed rooted and grew quickly. We then fixated on this and it became our reality. Then our pain must be inflicted on others, because hurt people hurt people. So we then see the flaws in other women, and we do our part to share with them and others our opinion of these flaws. There is the chain reaction.
Plastic Surgery
Then there’s plastic surgery and this obsession with becoming a barbie doll—thinner, uplifted always-smiling face; big and even bigger breasts; perfectly sculpted legs and arms; toned and rounded hips and butt; and a teeny tiny waist. Women are spending one to six months of income (theirs or someone else’s) to achieve their ideal barbie doll image, and then when they still aren’t satisfied, they spend another one to six months of income to make corrections.
That is why honorable plastic surgeons inquire in advance your true intent for wanting plastic surgeon, what outside influences may be encouraging this decision, and if you are mentally and emotionally prepared for this change. You can make all of the physical corrections that you want with the help of a surgeon, but if you aren’t spiritually, mentally, and emotionally healthy, happy and satisfied, then you will never ever be happy with yourself or your looks. We must accept this for ourselves and we must explain this to the young girls and teens who are growing into their bodies and ingesting the toxins delivered by magazines and on television. It is our responsibility to have this discussion with friends and family. It is our responsibility to have this discussion with young school-aged girls and those young women ages 18 to 25.
It is our responsibility to tell the media, fashion designers, advertising and marketing companies, and other corporations that we are not inanimate objects, we are not objects. Period. We are women, ladies, girls, daughters, wives, girlfriends, sisters, cousins, teachers, entrepreneurs, and bearers of life. We are not to be dehumanized and exploited. To make this point clear that means that we have to also refuse to audition and interview for roles, assignments, and jobs that negatively portray us as objects of desire, and we have to stop carrying ourselves (and behaving) like mere objects.
Woman up!
Tune in for Part Two coming soon!
Your Sista girl,
Natasha Foreman Bryant
To read the two-part Call to Action for men visit:
Part One
http://natashaforeman.com/2013/12/12/a-call-to-action-for-all-men-part-one/
Part Two
http://natashaforeman.com/2013/12/13/a-call-to-action-for-all-men-part-two/
Sources:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jWKXit_3rpQ
Jean Kilbourne
http://www.jeankilbourne.com/
Bad Girls, More Like Hurt Girls: Woman Up!
By Natasha Foreman Bryant
I admit that around 2006-2007 I watched the earlier seasons of the Bad Girls Club. I wanted to know what Oxygen was bringing to the table, so-to-speak, and what made these young females so “Bad”. I soon discovered that droves of females claiming to be real women, were lining up to join this show to prove how devious, violent, ruthless, and spiteful they were. They wanted to prove to themselves that they were the hottest, sexiest female on the show, and the one who could curse the most and the loudest, while pretending that they really wanted to fight one or more of the other cast members.
Yeah I got bored of it quickly because I know that the women who aren’t to be messed with don’t go around advertising it for the world, or tooting their own horn. They just confidently sit back and relax.
Little girls throw temper tantrums, play childish games, and do petty things. This is what I saw on the Bad Girls Club, and this is what I saw when I decided to check on the show the other day (now in it’s 11th season). It’s disappointing to see these girls, obviously in pain, obviously battling some childhood or early adulthood trauma, taking out their pain and frustration on others.
Someone let them down early on in their life. Someone didn’t give them a healthy dose of love, attention, affection, and structure growing up. Someone didn’t teach them how to be ladies and mature women. Maybe there are daddy issues, mommy issues, or both. Whatever the problem it runs deep, and when not properly redirected, hurt people will ultimately hurt people.
I always wonder if the cast members from all eleven seasons look back at the episodes they starred in and really reflect upon how they were portrayed, how they acted, and the image that they have left in the minds of their viewers—and the young girls that I’m sure tune in regularly.
The episode that I have shared at the end of this post is a small reflection of what Bad Girls Club has recycled and evolved into after 11 seasons. I tell those so-called “bad girls” and those who walk around thinking they are “bad” to woman up! Your attitude and false image won’t get you far in life. The high you feel tearing others down will still leave you feeling lonely when the cameras aren’t on you, or when your entourage isn’t hanging around egging you on.
[ http://www.hulu.com/watch/539096%5D
Copyright 2013. Natasha Foreman Bryant. All Rights Reserved.
Do You Know Who Invented the Products You Use?
By Natasha Foreman Bryant, MBA
I love learning new things. So I get excited when I learn facts about people, products, things and places that I sometimes take for granted, for instance, I use Crest toothpaste, sometimes drink Folgers coffee, I like to pop in Bounce fabric softener in my laundry, and before I stopped drinking soda I used to love slurping back a can of Crush soda (Orange or Strawberry).
Well I was very surprised to find out that these products and more were developed by an African American chemist and executive, Dr. Herbert C. Smitherman, Sr. when he worked at Procter and Gamble beginning in the 1960s.
Dr. Smitherman developed several flavors of Crush many of which are still on grocery store shelves today.
Now I’m sure some of my friends from high school or even college will tell me that I knew this little known fact, but I honestly can’t recall—which is sad, especially since I have a degree in Black Studies. Uugh…well let me continue sharing what I found out about this great innovator.
Dr. Smitherman was the first African American hired by P&G with a PhD in physical organic chemistry, and he continued working for the company for 29 years, helping to develop numerous products for them, while also helping to make P&G a more diverse company, as he recruited a great number of African American professionals to work for the company from the 1960s through the 1980s.
How many of you use (or used) Safeguard soap? Well be sure to say, “thank you” to the late Dr. Smitherman, Sr for developing that for your daily use!
Check out this 1960s Crest commercial: http://youtu.be/cbXuW97l3DQ
Developing products and creating a more diverse environment for P&G aren’t the only things Dr. Smitherman did in his lifetime. Besides earning his PhD, the only child to an Alabama pastor (also a community activist), also served in his community, as an active member of the NAACP. He and his wife of 51 years, Barbara Flowers Smitherman, had six children and 14 grandchildren. The couple met while they attended college at Tuskegee Institute in Alabama.
After retiring from P&G, Dr. Smitherman pursued a career in education, serving as vice president of academic affairs for Wilberforce University. Dr. Smitherman then started Western Hills Design Technology, a high school that was created to assist African American students in math and science. He later joined the Cincinnati Public Schools Board of Education as an assistant to Superintendent Mary Ronan.
Dr. Smitherman passed away on October 9, 2010 at the age of 73. He left to carry on his legacy his wife, children, and grandchildren. He also left behind a history that can never be forgotten, as long as we do our part to share it in our households, communities and with the world. Some of the many patents Dr. Smitherman developed for P&G were featured in the ‘’America I AM: The African American Imprint’’ exhibit at the Cincinnati Museum Center. Check with America I AM for current and future exhibits around the country, by visiting: http://www.americaiam.org
Every time I purchase a P&G product developed by Dr. Smitherman I will smile proudly at the cash register and all the way home. Thank you Dr. Smitherman for your amazing contributions to the world.
Please share this story and other historical records of contributions made by men and women of color, and the African American experience, as it oftentimes goes overlooked, and has increasingly been removed from history books given to students in grades K-12. I don’t recall reading about Dr. Smitherman in any of my K-12 classrooms, and he’s not searchable on Wikipedia, so I know that the majority of students today don’t know about him and other pioneers, innovators, and leaders—don’t forget, many of them go to Google and Wikipedia for their research and fact checking.
Knowing this, let’s do our part to keep the light lit and the information churning!
Copyright 2014. All Rights Reserved. Natasha Foreman Bryant.
Invest in Your Life and Purchase Real Money Answers For Every Woman: How to Win the Money Game With or Without a Man.
A book review written by Natasha Foreman Bryant
Let me start off by saying that this may not be like any other book review you have ever read. Okay, now that I have prepared you, let’s do this!
I absolutely love Real Money Answers For Every Woman: How to Win the Money Game With or Without a Man. It encourages women to Woman Up and get their lives right. I have known Patrice C. Washington personally and professionally for roughly three years and it’s both an honor and privilege to write this review for this awesome woman, wife, mother, author, and entrepreneur. Hopefully after reading her book you will do the same, and share the book with others.
Patrice has done an amazing job taking the lessons she learned the hard way and combining them with the lessons she has learned from others, and those she has taught her clients over the years, and she is now sharing all of this proven wisdom with her readers.
Regardless of your financial situation, the health of your financial portfolio, your job title, or knowledge of this topic—you should read this book and share it with others. I intend to purchase this book for family members, friends, and my mentees. I intend to purchase this book for women who know (and those who think) they have their financial worlds together, and I’m going to encourage them to read and review it, and then share it with others.
I’ve been a personal and professional CEO for over 25 years. I know you’re saying to yourself, “huh how can you be both a personal and professional CEO?” Well when I train adults in the business and community settings, and speak with youth in classrooms and youth centers, I always tell them that they need to see themselves as the CEO of their life, that they are a brand and that they need to live and act accordingly. So it was great to read that Patrice teaches the same to her clients.
This book encourages and empowers you to build your personal brand and live your life as the CEO of that brand, while also showing you how you can professionally become the CEO of your very own company (or as an Intrapreneur you can see through the lens of the CEO of the company where you work).
I always share with clients and those that I work with in the community that I am the CEO of my personal brand, Natasha Foreman Bryant (formerly Natasha L. Foreman). How I live affects my branding. I am the CEO of Foreman & Associates, LLC, a business management firm. The decisions I make personally and professionally affects my company and its stakeholders. If I’m irresponsible, lazy, shiftless, fearful, prideful, or stubborn my brands are negatively impacted. Every day I must consider my brands.
We all should live our lives thinking this way. Patrice will help you to begin thinking this way and I’m so glad to see that she is dedicated to this, because not all authors, consultants, and leaders focus on that.
Trust me, there is something in this book that you don’t know, forgot, hadn’t seen delivered (or explained) a certain way, or you hadn’t fully applied to your own life.
Now you can use these tools to begin the necessary steps to provide the sense of security you want and need, and from there you can create or maintain the financial wealth that could possibly sustain future generations in your family.
There isn’t a dull page in this book. Patrice jumps right in, no sugar-coating, no trite regurgitation of things you already heard, and no “mumbo jumbo”. If you want an enabler, this isn’t the book for you. If you want a rah rah session filled with frills and fluff, this isn’t the book for you.
This is a book for women, not immature females who want to call themselves women. If you have fallen and you need to pull yourself up, this is the book for you. If you want to make sure you are on the right path, this is the book for you. If you want to become more interdependent and less dependent, co-dependent, or obnoxiously independent—-this book is for you.
Let me explain my thinking here. You can be broke and alone but you can’t be broke and independent. Trust me you’re depending on someone. On the flip side, you can have all of the money and resources in the world, but you still need someone’s help, guidance, support, and encouragement. You didn’t make it to the top alone. Gain the knowledge to grow into a healthy interdependent woman that can stand on her own but has the sense to ask for help when needed, quickly seeks out the resources you need to learn and grow, and is reliable enough where someone can come to you for counsel and assistance.
Woman up!
Here’s the thing, even the areas that you may already be well-versed in this book has great tips, affirmations, stories and testimonies that you or someone you know might find extremely helpful. As you turn each page you will instantly gravitate to Patrice’s “Real TALK”, “Real MONEY”, “UN REAL”, and “AFFIRM” sections. There is where you will find the quotes, affirmations, statistics, and tips that Patrice has gathered from research (and spending time listening to and learning from experts in the field) and shared with clients and in workshops.
It was great seeing one of my husband’s (John Hope Bryant) favorite Winston Churchill quotes in the Wealth Begins Within chapter (pg. 16) that said, “…success is going from failure to failure without loss of enthusiasm“.
Every person should memorize this quote, and apply it to their lives. Every successful person and every person who has gotten back on their feet after failing knows this quote to be true, especially if you’re an entrepreneur. I started my first business when I was 11 years old, and have since owned several businesses that I have started, stopped, and failed at—-and that doesn’t include the business ideas that failed before I could get them started.
Failure is inevitable. It’s what you do afterwards that counts. How do you deal with it and how quickly do you realign your thinking so you can get back up? Patrice’s book helps you switch your thinking about your failed financial situation, your failure to not succumb to excessive spending, and your failure at reaching or maintaining the wealth you desire.
The biggest problem in our personal debt crisis is our pride, shame, and yes even our greed. Greed is also the reason our country had a financial crisis.
People have lost their homes, cars, and more because they were too prideful or too consumed by their shame to admit they needed help, and to go get the help that could save them. Oftentimes our greed is what first got us there. We buy cars and homes that we know deep down inside that we can’t afford, but we convince ourselves that we have to have it, and that somehow someway we will pay those bills each month. Then when times get tough our pride and shame kick in and we never get help, or we wait until it’s too late. We lose our car, home, lifestyle, dignity, and sometimes our family and friends.
Patrice’s book helps people face this fact, and take the necessary steps to save themselves and build the lives they have always wanted, with the wisdom to not repeat bad habits and make fatal mistakes. Her book isn’t a one-size fits all nor is it the solution for all of your financial problems. But it’s a start and it gets you to the next level where you can see the finish line, or the goal you’re reaching for.
If you think you don’t need this book and you have it all figured out. You really need to get this book. If you discover you were right, then great, pay it forward and give the book to a loved one. You can vouch for it and help someone else attain their goals.
Maybe you haven’t figured it out and don’t have top-rated credit, zero debt, and a top-notch portfolio. Are any of the scenarios below similar to your current reality:
1) Do you have student loan debt, credit card debt, facing foreclosure or repossession of your vehicle, or barely making ends meet? Read this book.
2) Have you lost your job, car, or home, or a combination of the three? Well you need the resources to get back on your feet. Buy this book.
3) Do you have problems saving money and reducing debt simultaneously? Read this book. You can pay off your debt and save money at the same time!
4) Do you have problems with budgeting effectively? Read this book. Do you wonder if you really need a budget? You really need to read this book.
5) If you don’t have a professional financial team providing counsel, helping you with financial decisions, and helping you to build a healthy portfolio then please read this book.
6) If you’re clueless about financial portfolios, then you really need to read Patrice’s book.
7) If your credit score is below 850 then you should read this book. Yes, even having a high 700 credit score doesn’t make you financially savvy or secure. You are only a few late pays (or one high credit card limit) from dropping to a mid-to-low 600 credit score. Trust me, it happened to me more than once. Co-signing for someone could drop your credit score. Acquiring that awesome no-limit credit card could drop your credit score. It’s possible, and Patrice’s book (and the access to resources, professionals, workshops and other books) could help you.
More applied knowledge leads to growth and wisdom. Take what you learn in this book and apply it to your life, and then do check ups twice a year to make sure you are staying on track.
8) If you are married or considering marriage, please please please read this book. The number one cause for divorce is behind money and debt. This is not the 1950s ladies. Change your thinking that it’s solely your man’s responsibility to handle all of the finances.
As we have taken on more professional roles and responsibilities, and achieved greater heights in education over the past 50-plus years we have also further exposed ourselves to more financial debt.
Unfortunately most women don’t share the details of their financial position and amount of debt they have taken on while they are in the courting and dating phases of their relationships. Instead it’s usually not until they get married that they drop the debt bomb on their spouse. I’ve seen it happen with my friends, and I swore that I would never do it to my husband, and I didn’t. Upfront we put our cards on the table so that there weren’t any postnuptial surprises.
Here’s why:
For 20-plus years your spouse has been focused on their budget, debt, and responsibilities. Understandably he believes that you have been doing the same for the past 20-plus years. How do you think he would feel finding out that now your debt pile has been added to his? He feels blindsided and possibly like you played him.
What if he isn’t strong in that area, what will you do? What if he passes away and you’re left to handle everything on your own? Additionally and most importantly, your personal debt shouldn’t be his burden. Woman up and take care of your responsibilities. Patrice’s book encourages this and I love it.
You wouldn’t want your spouse handing you his pile of credit card, mortgage, car loan, and student loan debt expecting you to pay all or most of it, so don’t convince yourself to do the same.
Look at it another way, if your finances aren’t in order and his finances aren’t in order (or something happens that disrupts his financial conditions) how will that impact your relationship? The blame game will begin quickly and your marriage may take a hit that you may not recover from.
Remember, the number one cause for divorce is behind money and debt. So be proactive and get this book!
Here are some other reasons to buy Real Money Answers For Every Woman:
9) Do you have children or want some? This is a no-brainer. Buy this book immediately!
10) Are you the person that friends and family come to when they need money, “a loan”, “help”, “a favor”? Trust me, buy this book and read it.
11) If you are a big spender, giver, or a push over, you need this book to help you realize what you can and cannot afford to do in your life, and for others. This book and the other resources Patrice shares from other authors, will help you learn to say “no” to yourself and to others, learn how to become more disciplined, learn how to reprogram your thinking and habits, and learn how to live the life you want and need, while learning the real difference between wants and needs.
12) If you want to invest in yourself, your family, your career, and in your future. Then invest in this book.
While reading this book I found myself saying, “yep I remember doing that”, “uugh, yep I’m guilty of this”, “okay okay, I’m on it”, and “oh shoot I need to share this with so-and-so she really needs to read this”. Trust me you will too! There were things that I already knew, already committed to habit, and then there were things that I have procrastinated on, or hadn’t seen explained the way Patrice did. What is also great is when she shares updated statistics that you may have been unaware of, it’s both informative and useful.
As a wife, daughter, sister, friend, mentor, entrepreneur, and PhD student, I can say that Patrice’s book covers all or most of the areas in a woman’s life that needs help, tuning up, restructuring, or reevaluation. For less than $20 what sane person wouldn’t want to invest in themselves by purchasing this book?
As I prepare myself for a future life of motherhood, I will use this book again to check up and check in, as I work to balance my roles of wife, mother, community servant, and entrepreneur. My children will need to learn early on their responsibility in life, how to grow the wealth they have inherited from their parents, and make the right decisions in order to be productive personally, professionally, and in the world in which they live. If they can’t learn from me and their father, then who will they learn from? My goal is to be their first role model and the one they can turn to and emulate throughout their life.
If that is also a goal of yours for you and your family, then make sure you invest in and read:
Real Money Answers For Every Woman: How to Win the Money Game With or Without a Man
Purchase Patrice’s book and check out the 5 stars I gave her here:
http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/0985908017
Here’s to your success,
~ Natasha Foreman Bryant
Servant leader, wife, change agent, PhD student, CEO of Foreman & Associates, LLC, and CEO of the Natasha Foreman Bryant brand!
Invest in Your Life and Purchase Real Money Answers For Every Woman: How to Win the Money Game With or Without a Man.
A book review written by Natasha Foreman Bryant
Let me start off by saying that this may not be like any other book review you have ever read. Okay, now that I have prepared you, let’s do this!
I absolutely love Real Money Answers For Every Woman: How to Win the Money Game With or Without a Man. It encourages women to Woman Up and get their lives right. I have known Patrice C. Washington personally and professionally for roughly three years and it’s both an honor and privilege to write this review for this awesome woman, wife, mother, author, and entrepreneur. Hopefully after reading her book you will do the same, and share the book with others.
Patrice has done an amazing job taking the lessons she learned the hard way and combining them with the lessons she has learned from others, and those she has taught her clients over the years, and she is now sharing all of this proven wisdom with her readers.
Regardless of your financial situation, the health of your financial portfolio, your job title, or knowledge of this topic—you should read this book and share it with others. I intend to purchase this book for family members, friends, and my mentees. I intend to purchase this book for women who know (and those who think) they have their financial worlds together, and I’m going to encourage them to read and review it, and then share it with others.
I’ve been a personal and professional CEO for over 25 years. I know you’re saying to yourself, “huh how can you be both a personal and professional CEO?” Well when I train adults in the business and community settings, and speak with youth in classrooms and youth centers, I always tell them that they need to see themselves as the CEO of their life, that they are a brand and that they need to live and act accordingly. So it was great to read that Patrice teaches the same to her clients.
This book encourages and empowers you to build your personal brand and live your life as the CEO of that brand, while also showing you how you can professionally become the CEO of your very own company (or as an Intrapreneur you can see through the lens of the CEO of the company where you work).
I always share with clients and those that I work with in the community that I am the CEO of my personal brand, Natasha Foreman Bryant (formerly Natasha L. Foreman). How I live affects my branding. I am the CEO of Foreman & Associates, LLC, a business management firm. The decisions I make personally and professionally affects my company and its stakeholders. If I’m irresponsible, lazy, shiftless, fearful, prideful, or stubborn my brands are negatively impacted. Every day I must consider my brands.
We all should live our lives thinking this way. Patrice will help you to begin thinking this way and I’m so glad to see that she is dedicated to this, because not all authors, consultants, and leaders focus on that.
Trust me, there is something in this book that you don’t know, forgot, hadn’t seen delivered (or explained) a certain way, or you hadn’t fully applied to your own life.
Now you can use these tools to begin the necessary steps to provide the sense of security you want and need, and from there you can create or maintain the financial wealth that could possibly sustain future generations in your family.
There isn’t a dull page in this book. Patrice jumps right in, no sugar-coating, no trite regurgitation of things you already heard, and no “mumbo jumbo”. If you want an enabler, this isn’t the book for you. If you want a rah rah session filled with frills and fluff, this isn’t the book for you.
This is a book for women, not immature females who want to call themselves women. If you have fallen and you need to pull yourself up, this is the book for you. If you want to make sure you are on the right path, this is the book for you. If you want to become more interdependent and less dependent, co-dependent, or obnoxiously independent—-this book is for you.
Let me explain my thinking here. You can be broke and alone but you can’t be broke and independent. Trust me you’re depending on someone. On the flip side, you can have all of the money and resources in the world, but you still need someone’s help, guidance, support, and encouragement. You didn’t make it to the top alone. Gain the knowledge to grow into a healthy interdependent woman that can stand on her own but has the sense to ask for help when needed, quickly seeks out the resources you need to learn and grow, and is reliable enough where someone can come to you for counsel and assistance.
Woman up!
Here’s the thing, even the areas that you may already be well-versed in this book has great tips, affirmations, stories and testimonies that you or someone you know might find extremely helpful. As you turn each page you will instantly gravitate to Patrice’s “Real TALK”, “Real MONEY”, “UN REAL”, and “AFFIRM” sections. There is where you will find the quotes, affirmations, statistics, and tips that Patrice has gathered from research (and spending time listening to and learning from experts in the field) and shared with clients and in workshops.
It was great seeing one of my husband’s (John Hope Bryant) favorite Winston Churchill quotes in the Wealth Begins Within chapter (pg. 16) that said, “…success is going from failure to failure without loss of enthusiasm“.
Every person should memorize this quote, and apply it to their lives. Every successful person and every person who has gotten back on their feet after failing knows this quote to be true, especially if you’re an entrepreneur. I started my first business when I was 11 years old, and have since owned several businesses that I have started, stopped, and failed at—-and that doesn’t include the business ideas that failed before I could get them started.
Failure is inevitable. It’s what you do afterwards that counts. How do you deal with it and how quickly do you realign your thinking so you can get back up? Patrice’s book helps you switch your thinking about your failed financial situation, your failure to not succumb to excessive spending, and your failure at reaching or maintaining the wealth you desire.
The biggest problem in our personal debt crisis is our pride, shame, and yes even our greed. Greed is also the reason our country had a financial crisis.
People have lost their homes, cars, and more because they were too prideful or too consumed by their shame to admit they needed help, and to go get the help that could save them. Oftentimes our greed is what first got us there. We buy cars and homes that we know deep down inside that we can’t afford, but we convince ourselves that we have to have it, and that somehow someway we will pay those bills each month. Then when times get tough our pride and shame kick in and we never get help, or we wait until it’s too late. We lose our car, home, lifestyle, dignity, and sometimes our family and friends.
Patrice’s book helps people face this fact, and take the necessary steps to save themselves and build the lives they have always wanted, with the wisdom to not repeat bad habits and make fatal mistakes. Her book isn’t a one-size fits all nor is it the solution for all of your financial problems. But it’s a start and it gets you to the next level where you can see the finish line, or the goal you’re reaching for.
If you think you don’t need this book and you have it all figured out. You really need to get this book. If you discover you were right, then great, pay it forward and give the book to a loved one. You can vouch for it and help someone else attain their goals.
Maybe you haven’t figured it out and don’t have top-rated credit, zero debt, and a top-notch portfolio. Are any of the scenarios below similar to your current reality:
1) Do you have student loan debt, credit card debt, facing foreclosure or repossession of your vehicle, or barely making ends meet? Read this book.
2) Have you lost your job, car, or home, or a combination of the three? Well you need the resources to get back on your feet. Buy this book.
3) Do you have problems saving money and reducing debt simultaneously? Read this book. You can pay off your debt and save money at the same time!
4) Do you have problems with budgeting effectively? Read this book. Do you wonder if you really need a budget? You really need to read this book.
5) If you don’t have a professional financial team providing counsel, helping you with financial decisions, and helping you to build a healthy portfolio then please read this book.
6) If you’re clueless about financial portfolios, then you really need to read Patrice’s book.
7) If your credit score is below 850 then you should read this book. Yes, even having a high 700 credit score doesn’t make you financially savvy or secure. You are only a few late pays (or one high credit card limit) from dropping to a mid-to-low 600 credit score. Trust me, it happened to me more than once. Co-signing for someone could drop your credit score. Acquiring that awesome no-limit credit card could drop your credit score. It’s possible, and Patrice’s book (and the access to resources, professionals, workshops and other books) could help you.
More applied knowledge leads to growth and wisdom. Take what you learn in this book and apply it to your life, and then do check ups twice a year to make sure you are staying on track.
8) If you are married or considering marriage, please please please read this book. The number one cause for divorce is behind money and debt. This is not the 1950s ladies. Change your thinking that it’s solely your man’s responsibility to handle all of the finances.
As we have taken on more professional roles and responsibilities, and achieved greater heights in education over the past 50-plus years we have also further exposed ourselves to more financial debt.
Unfortunately most women don’t share the details of their financial position and amount of debt they have taken on while they are in the courting and dating phases of their relationships. Instead it’s usually not until they get married that they drop the debt bomb on their spouse. I’ve seen it happen with my friends, and I swore that I would never do it to my husband, and I didn’t. Upfront we put our cards on the table so that there weren’t any postnuptial surprises.
Here’s why:
For 20-plus years your spouse has been focused on their budget, debt, and responsibilities. Understandably he believes that you have been doing the same for the past 20-plus years. How do you think he would feel finding out that now your debt pile has been added to his? He feels blindsided and possibly like you played him.
What if he isn’t strong in that area, what will you do? What if he passes away and you’re left to handle everything on your own? Additionally and most importantly, your personal debt shouldn’t be his burden. Woman up and take care of your responsibilities. Patrice’s book encourages this and I love it.
You wouldn’t want your spouse handing you his pile of credit card, mortgage, car loan, and student loan debt expecting you to pay all or most of it, so don’t convince yourself to do the same.
Look at it another way, if your finances aren’t in order and his finances aren’t in order (or something happens that disrupts his financial conditions) how will that impact your relationship? The blame game will begin quickly and your marriage may take a hit that you may not recover from.
Remember, the number one cause for divorce is behind money and debt. So be proactive and get this book!
Here are some other reasons to buy Real Money Answers For Every Woman:
9) Do you have children or want some? This is a no-brainer. Buy this book immediately!
10) Are you the person that friends and family come to when they need money, “a loan”, “help”, “a favor”? Trust me, buy this book and read it.
11) If you are a big spender, giver, or a push over, you need this book to help you realize what you can and cannot afford to do in your life, and for others. This book and the other resources Patrice shares from other authors, will help you learn to say “no” to yourself and to others, learn how to become more disciplined, learn how to reprogram your thinking and habits, and learn how to live the life you want and need, while learning the real difference between wants and needs.
12) If you want to invest in yourself, your family, your career, and in your future. Then invest in this book.
While reading this book I found myself saying, “yep I remember doing that”, “uugh, yep I’m guilty of this”, “okay okay, I’m on it”, and “oh shoot I need to share this with so-and-so she really needs to read this”. Trust me you will too! There were things that I already knew, already committed to habit, and then there were things that I have procrastinated on, or hadn’t seen explained the way Patrice did. What is also great is when she shares updated statistics that you may have been unaware of, it’s both informative and useful.
As a wife, daughter, sister, friend, mentor, entrepreneur, and PhD student, I can say that Patrice’s book covers all or most of the areas in a woman’s life that needs help, tuning up, restructuring, or reevaluation. For less than $20 what sane person wouldn’t want to invest in themselves by purchasing this book?
As I prepare myself for a future life of motherhood, I will use this book again to check up and check in, as I work to balance my roles of wife, mother, community servant, and entrepreneur. My children will need to learn early on their responsibility in life, how to grow the wealth they have inherited from their parents, and make the right decisions in order to be productive personally, professionally, and in the world in which they live. If they can’t learn from me and their father, then who will they learn from? My goal is to be their first role model and the one they can turn to and emulate throughout their life.
If that is also a goal of yours for you and your family, then make sure you invest in and read:
Real Money Answers For Every Woman: How to Win the Money Game With or Without a Man
Purchase Patrice’s book and check out the 5 stars I gave her here:
http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/0985908017
Here’s to your success,
~ Natasha Foreman Bryant
Servant leader, wife, change agent, PhD student, CEO of Foreman & Associates, LLC, and CEO of the Natasha Foreman Bryant brand!
Paradigm Life 