SavvySugar

Cool Job: Nina LaCour, Author

SavvySugar — Mon, 26 Oct 2009 12:00:27 -0700

Whether you love heading into work every day or dread the alarm each morning, hearing about people who love what they do is always inspiring. In our new Savvy series, Cool Jobs, we’ll talk to real women who have turned their passion into a very cool career.

Oakland native Nina LaCour always knew she wanted to be a writer, but over the past two years, she’s made that dream a reality. Nina’s debut young adult novel, Hold Still, was released by Dutton (a division of Penguin) last week, and she’s already signed on for a second novel.

Tell us what a typical day looks like for you.
I teach high school in the mornings, so my workday begins at 7:45. For a few hours, I sit around a big table with between 10 and 14 students per class and talk about books. When I get home I need a little while to wind down from teaching, so I use that time to answer interview questions for YA bloggers and get in touch with my agent or the people at Penguin about book stuff. They are all in New York, and I'm in California, so these calls have to take place early in my day.

No matter how often I do it, it takes me a little while to settle into writing. Usually I'll begin by reading over my newer scenes or notes. I also keep an ever-changing outline up on my wall, so I keep track of what I've written and what I need to write, and I'll cross scenes out if I decide that I'm taking a different direction. And then, finally, I start typing. I'm a slow writer, so on a good day I'll get one or two pages written. On a slow day I might just end up revising existing scenes or writing a bunch of notes, or working forever on one important paragraph.

To hear more about Nina's cool job, keep reading

Cool Job: Pete Hottelet, Creator of the Real Sex Panther

SavvySugar — Mon, 11 May 2009 10:30:27 -0700

Pete Hottelet has never believed in doing work that doesn’t make you happy. So when he got the idea to take a fictional product from one of his favorite movies and turn it into the real deal, he went for it. Hottelet, a graphic designer based in Oakland, CA, is the founder of Omni Consumer Products, a company that specializes in "defictionalization." What exactly does that involve, you ask? Just what it sounds like: Hottelet takes products from movies and TV shows that don’t actually exist in the real world, and, well, makes them exist.

Hottelet’s first product, which launched in November 2007, was Brawndo, the supercharged energy drink from the cult comedy Idiocracy. It was a huge success - especially among young male gamers, surprise! - because of its tie-in to the movie, its massive caffeine content (the equivalent of about four cans of Mountain Dew, Hottelet says), and the fact that it actually tastes good. A year later, Hottelet launched Sex Panther cologne from the movie Anchorman ("60 percent of the time, it works every time"). And he doesn’t plan to stop there.

To see what Hottelet has to say about where he got his ideas, how he made them work, and why he thinks everyone should be doing what they love, read more.

On where the idea came from and how he made it happen:
"Sort of the a-ha moment was, I was reading something about the red stapler from Office Space, and how it didn’t exist before Office Space. Swingline only sold a black stapler or silver - just regular colors. Definitely not a red one, because gosh, who’s going to buy a red stapler? Then it was just figuring out the details. . . . I just started making phone calls. I mean, I’m just some guy with an idea, and they don’t know who you are. No one knows who you are. But you’ve got to just get ahold of the right people, and present your idea well."

On what the reaction has been to his products so far:
"The reaction has been really fantastic to everything I’ve done. People really appreciate the humor of it, and not just the humor, but the fact that they’re real products. I started doing this because it was a fun idea, but the best part of this whole thing is when people try it, and their faces just light up. There is no replacement for that at all."

On creating surprisingly high-quality products:
"I think a really key thing that makes this work is, I don’t care what the cost of goods is. I really don’t. What’s most important is producing something that is good that people will enjoy interacting with. You have to spend that much less effort convincing people that it’s good, because it is good. So I don’t have to sell anybody on anything. I wouldn’t be happy with just taking people’s money. I think that’s absolutely the wrong way to go about it - producing garbage and taking people’s money, that’s fail."

On how much he loves his job - and why he thinks you should love yours, too:
"I look at it as, if your work and your play is the same thing, then that’s the absolute best scenario you can come up with. My day consists of doing exactly what I want to do. And it is a lot of work, but I enjoy every drop of everything I do. I think a lot of times people hold onto things that don’t make them happy, but they’re comfortable with them, and I think that’s a mistake. I think the world would be an amazing place if more people did what they wanted to do instead of what they felt like they were supposed to do."

Image courtesy Pete Hottelet

Lindsay Price Says It's All About the Moments, Not the It-Bags

SavvySugar — Wed, 22 Apr 2009 09:00:35 -0700

As if Lindsay Price hasn't given us enough reasons to love her with roles on some of our favorite TV shows (I'm talking about you, 90210 and Lipstick Jungle), it turns out she is even more of a doll out-of-character. We'll have the opportunity to see Lindsay back on the small screen when she appears in the Eastwick pilot, but this week she's been busy promoting The Degree Women Fine Fragrance Collection, and I had the pleasure of interviewing her.

Lindsay shared her secrets on everyday indulgences like why you "can feel quite chic bout that green and pink [mascara] tube" and where to shop for affordable accessories that are also fashionable. Check out a brief excerpt of our interview below and be sure to view the video of Lindsay dishing her sweet secrets after the jump.

SavvySugar: How do you think women can cut back to afford the everyday luxuries we don't want to live without?

Lindsay Price: "I think women should definitely choose the things that are important to indulge on or, you know, the areas where they need to save. You have to be mindful of things but not completely deprive yourself. I know that my favorite lipstick is also drugstore bought and it makes me feel good to go and just swipe some color on, it's a pick me up and those things go a really long way. Does that make sense? You know, you have a personal gauge of what's important to you style-wise."

To see a video of our interview, read more.

Source

Interview With Celebrity Apprentice's Annie Duke, Part II

SavvySugar — Fri, 27 Feb 2009 11:30:42 -0800

Poker pro Annie Duke seems like she will be a force to reckon with as a contestant on The Celebrity Apprentice. She knows what Donald Trump is looking for on his show - competency and controversy - and this intelligent and frank player could bring both elements to the table. Here's more from my fun interview with Annie.

SavvySugar: Did you form any bonds with the other contestants?

Annie Duke: Anyone who knows me would be surprised by this unless they know this person. But Brande Roderick, she's a former Playboy playmate. Brandy is really smart, one of the sweetest people on the planet, and to this day we’re really good friends. I would never guess I’d go on a show like that and become real friends with someone, but we started bonding during press week. She’s one of my favorite people now. Herschel Walker is one of the nicest people you’ll ever meet. He’s a total sweetheart. The call time for that show is 5 a.m., so in order for him to get in his run, he’d wake up at 3 a.m. He’s a business owner, confident guy, really nice. Natalie Gulbis . . . we probably bonded because we kind of do similar things. She travels a lot, she's a female athlete, really smart and confident.

To see how Annie worries about how she comes off on the show and her feelings about the March 1 premiere, read more.

SavvySugar: What’s next for you in your career?

Annie Duke: I don’t know, I'm just sitting here dreading the premiere of the show. One of the reasons I hesitated to go on . . . I have a very strong personality and I’m really direct and used to communicating with men. The way you communicate with men is much different than the way you communicate with women. You have to go at things more sideways, and I’m more of a frontways person. I’m definitely concerned that the show is going to premiere and people will say 'that’s one snarky bitch.' You give me a task and I face it head on . . . besides the dread of March 1 I have a lot of poker coming up. . . and I'm going to hide in my house [laughs]. I had a horrible panic attack, people in my yoga studio don’t really know who I am. Right after I got back from The Celebrity Apprentice and someone came up to me and said, 'hey just wanted to let you know, big fan.' Then I thought, what if I come to the yoga studio and more people recognize me. I’m having a little bit of a, oh no what have I done?

Join me in rooting for Annie on Sunday when The Celebrity Apprentice premieres its second season.

Photo courtesy of Charles William Bush

Interview With Celebrity Apprentice's Annie Duke, Part I

SavvySugar — Thu, 26 Feb 2009 07:15:16 -0800

The second season of The Celebrity Apprentice premieres this Sunday and the previews have made me excited to watch. It's a diverse crowd of candidates this year, and I was lucky to chat with Annie Duke of professional poker fame. She's a sharp, funny, mother-of-four, and for a highly successful woman who has coached other celebrities like Matt Damon and Ben Affleck on their poker games, she is incredibly down to earth.

Annie said that she had huge hesitations about saying yes to the show because she never had interest putting herself out there on national TV more than she already does, but once she found out that she could raise money for charity by playing a game, she couldn't say no. As the co-founder of Ante Up For Africa she said, "Here’s a chance, because people know who I am, to do something really good. Not just for my charity but for other people’s charities. Every week of that show, some charity is going to benefit. I just thought it would be a really cool thing to be a part of. I would have been more enthusiastic had I known that in advance, but I’m really glad that I did it."

To see some of Annie's responses to a couple of Savvy questions and learn what Donald Trump is looking for, read more.

SavvySugar: Did your ability to read people come into play?

Annie Duke: The structure of the game is really interesting. On a game like Survivor, your teammates vote, on Dancing With the Stars, America votes. In this situation it’s one guy. You don’t have to worry so much about whether or not your teammates like you because in the end it just matters if Trump is pissed off at you. It’s a game of competence. In Survivor, it’s important you don’t appear too competent. But on The Celebrity Apprentice it's extremely important you appear competent for two reasons: Number one, Trump needs to think you’re competent, and number two, if your team wins you don’t face the board room and no one on your team wants to face elimination. It’s a very unusual game because you don’t have to hide your competence, in fact you have to show it off. After I found out I'd be on the show, I watched the entire first season - I didn’t just watch it, I paused and went backward and forward, analyzed everything. Watched how the challenges went, what part of the challenges tended to get you on the chopping block. If you do too much or not enough, it can get you there. I watched how bad it was not to defer to your project manager. I really strategically analyzed the first season and I was extremely regretful I hadn’t watched it because it’s an extremely interesting show - because it’s a show about competence.

SavvySugar: What else is Trump looking for?

Annie Duke: Controversy. But if you're controversial for no apparent reason you’re not going to win the game. Omarosa is a good example – all she did was pick fights with people and that was a good strategy to get her to the middle of the game. Take someone like Piers, he was controversial because he was direct and spoke his mind, but he backed it up every time. And that’s the better kind of controversy. If you’re a quiet little mouse, you’re going to be in big trouble on that show. Trump likes fireworks. He eggs people on. I saw situations in the first season where it seemed obvious that one person was wrong, like when Omarosa reamed at Piers the whole day talking about his kids and talking about what kind of father he was. That was a situation when there was one person clearly in the right and one clearly in the wrong. I was impressed that he kept his cool, but when they went into the boardroom Trump was like, 'Why are you such a jerk Piers?'. He certainly knows what makes good TV.

Check out what Annie had to say about the other candidates and her feelings about the show's March 1 premiere in tomorrow's post on SavvySugar. For more information on Annie Duke, check out her website.

Photo courtesy of Charles William Bush

Schwarzenegger's Wage Threat: A State Employee's Reaction

SavvySugar — Mon, 28 Jul 2008 04:00:51 -0700

As California Democrats and Republicans struggle to find a satisfactory compromise and seal the deal on a new and overdue state budget, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's frustration has risen to the point of making threats. He's considering an executive order that would reduce 200,000 state employees' salaries to the $6.55 per hour federal minimum wage, which CitizenSugar points out is $1.45 less than the state's minimum wage.

A good friend of mine happens to be a hard-working California state employee, so I asked him for his thoughts on the governor's threat and how it would affect him should the order go through this week.

SavvySugar: How would something like this affect the public sector?

State Employee: I think it is a fair assumption that state employees do not jump into the public sector expecting some great financial windfall as a result. No, most people are doing it for a sense of security. Every month you are going to get your paycheck and you are going to get it on the first or the 30th and that's it. Likewise, you are going to have not just financial security, but job security. In general terms a concept such as the one which Arnold is proposing would overthrow one big benefit of being a public sector employee.

See his thoughts on the concept of Arnold's threat and how he'd personally be affected when you read more.

SS: What's your opinion on the concept in general?

SE: The fact of the matter is these are hard financial times for many people and by cutting people's salaries, in some cases up to 90 percent, you are putting their livelihood in dire straits and for what purpose? Stymieing the ability for 200,000 state employees to subsist on their own financially seems like a very backward way to help quell the budget crisis.

SS: How would you be affected? Does the fact that your salary would be paid retroactively make it no big deal?

SE: For me personally, I have enough savings that I could stand a few months without making my regular hourly pay, but it would be tight. I actually figured out what my pretax paycheck would be under the governor's proposal of lowering the salary to $6.55 an hour, and it comes out to $1135 a month. My paycheck after taxes would pay rent and that's it. No food, no water bill, no electric bill, nothing, just rent.

Source

An Expert's Golden Rules For Negotiating

SavvySugar — Mon, 14 Apr 2008 09:25:03 -0700

Earlier I shared with you most of my interview with Linda Babcock, professor of economics and author of Ask For It. We talked about how important it is for women to learn to ask for more at work, but there are certain points you should keep in mind before going into a negotiation.

SavvySugar: What are your top tips for women entering a negotiation, your golden rules for going into a meeting?

Linda: Number one, do it. Decide that negotiation can get you what you want.
Number two, be prepared: Being prepared will give you confidence going into a negotiation. If you’re uncomfortable asking colleagues what they earn in order to gage your own salary, talk to them about what they think you should be earning. Gather information to support your case and feel confident that you’re being reasonable.
Number three: Practice, especially if you’re anxious. Ask a friend to sit down with you and run through the points your want to cover in your negotiation.

SS: So what if the company responds that there’s just no money available to boost your salary? The economy has caused a lot of companies to tighten their belts, so how should we respond to that excuse?

LB: If there’s really no money to spare, negotiate other things like projects you want to work on, or think about rearranging your hours like switching to a flex-schedule with Fridays off or working from home. Think creatively and broadly about the possibilities of improving your work life.

Savvy Interview: Why You Should Ask For More at Work

SavvySugar — Mon, 14 Apr 2008 06:28:21 -0700

I had the fortunate opportunity to speak with Linda Babcock, a Professor of Economics at Carnegie Mellon University and an expert on women and negotiation. Her most recent book, Ask For It, explores the reasons why negotiating is necessary and how to go about asking for more. She was a pleasure to interview, so intelligent and good humored, with an arsenal of interesting observations and tips. To see what Linda shared with me about her experiences and women negotiating just read more

SavvySugar: Was there a specific instance that got you interested in the topic of women and negotiating?

Linda Babcock: I've been teaching at Carnegie Mellon for over twenty years and was never interested in gender differences until I directed a PhD program. The female students came to me and asked why the male students were teaching the courses, while they were all teaching assistants. The men hadn’t been chosen over the women, they had asked to teach. The women hadn’t considered it and were waiting to be asked. Men and women differ in the way they get what they want and men initiate more negotiation.

SS: What have you found to be the biggest reasons women don’t negotiate?

LB: There are two reasons. The first is socialization that teaches girls not to push or be greedy or selfish, while boys are taught to go after what they want. Books, movies, and TV all contribute to the messages kids receive and develop different personalities in how to get what they want. The second reason is that women are met with a chillier reaction for negotiation - people don’t like when we’re aggressive. So women are worried about how to approach a negotiation by coming on too strong. New research shows that women are most successful when they approach negotiations in a relational oriented, cooperative, problem solving way rather than copying men and using a more aggressive approach.

SS: So what lessons can we teach our daughters that will help them be better negotiators as adults?

LB: Teach them to negotiate! Make it an ingrained behavior so that it eventually comes naturally to them. I started an organization called Progress to teach young girls to negotiate, and now there’s even a Girl Scouts badge for negotiation.

SS: How does a woman lose by failing to negotiate? What are the consequences?

LB: If a woman doesn’t negotiate her salary for her first job, she can potentially lose $750,000 over the course of her career. That’s how much she can lose from a one time negotiation. We don’t usually think about the long run consequences of not negotiating, but it’s really a snowball effect.

SS: Is anything at work negotiable?

LB: I often challenge my students to go out and find something that’s not negotiable, and it’s actually pretty difficult. I say that everything at work is up for grabs - projects, raises, salaries, hours, more responsibility - everything can be negotiated.

Ask Savvy: My Interview With a Plastic Surgeon Ended Abruptly

SavvySugar — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 06:00:32 -0800

Dear Savvy,

I applied for a receptionist job at a plastic surgeon's office (I have experience in this field). Yesterday, I was called back and interviewed on the phone for about 15 or 20 minutes with the office manager. She asked if I'd come in to be interviewed by the doctor. I went in this morning for my interview. I met and spoke with the doctor for a while before he called the office manager and other receptionist to come and speak to me.

It seemed to be going well until the doctor came in and asked to speak to the office manager. I could hear them in the hallway saying something about "she's here early." They came back in and said, "I'm sorry, but I have to cut this interview short. We'll get back to you (or we'll be in touch, I can't remember verbatim)." So, I went and got my coat from the closet. As I was walking out, the doctor and office manager were greeting what seemed to be an important patient - judging from her Chanel jacket. The receptionist was even rushing coffee over to her.

Now, I'm confused. The interview seemed to be going well and I'd understand if something came up, but it seemed very odd and that I was being abruptly shuttled out. I'm not sure if it was just the circumstances or if I was being brushed off. If it was a brush off, it was a very unprofessional way to go about it. I'm disappointed because I felt a good vibe coming in and they were initially very nice. I just wrote and sent out a thank you note, I guess it's all I can do. Any insight into the situation?

To see my answer, read more.

Savvy says: Now I'm dying to know the identity of the woman in the Chanel jacket! Kidding, kidding. But important client or not, the interviewers handled the situation unprofessionally. How could you not leave asking yourself, "What just happened?" Your seemingly positive interview was cut off without explanation except for the small pieces you could put together, and it's just enough to leave you both frustrated and confused.

From your description of the way events played out, it doesn't seem like you were simply brushed off, but I can't say for sure. I think you did the right thing by sending them a note right away, and hopefully you included something along the lines of, "I really enjoyed speaking with you and our interview was unfortunately cut short; if there's anything else you'd like to know about me please feel free to ask." You've left the door open, and now it's in the employer's hands to knock again.

Have a question for me? Ask away by posting your questions in my Ask Savvy group.

A Little Monday Inspiration - Paula Deen

SavvySugar — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 12:00:02 -0800

Need a little Monday inspiration to get you going, then look no further than Paula Deen. The 62 year-old restaurateur, entrepreneur, and superwoman, makes the list of Fortune's 50 Most Powerful Women, and opens up about her journey to the top and how she totally transformed her life.

You may not agree with her buttery-indulgent recipes, but Paula's personal story and professional mega-success certainly inspire - serving as a role model for anyone looking to make a career out of their passion, and as a reminder that it's never too late to redirect your career goals.

Explains Paula, "I came from an era where...I expected some man to take care of me...[till] 42 [when] I realized that I was just as capable as my husband," and opened her very own restaurant business, The Bag Lady - the first small step in a career move that has had a huge payoff. How's that for a savvy career woman?

To see Paula's complete interview read more.