Like many I am fascinated with Jeremy Lin. I am fascinated by his incredible story of triumph. I have never been a sports fan but I find myself not only watching the Knicks games but checking their schedule so I don’t miss the next one.

By now we know that only a few weeks ago Jeremy was sleeping on his brother’s sofa and was so depressed he cried about his circumstances. Then the “break” came and as Jeremy said he decided to “play his game” – and what a game it is!

Jeremy had...

Meet Ravelle. Ravelle is a lovely, smart, educated 74 year old woman. Ravelle teaches at NYU and does freelance work in PR. Ravelle is also 74 years old and admits she never saved a penny for retirement (http://finance.yahoo.com/news/pf_article_111154.html).Ravelle always thought that retirement would take care of itself.

Retirement does not take care of itself – you do! Ravelle is not alone.  Many women delay putting into place money saving strategies to take care of themselves.

Accord...

Like many others I will never give another dime to Susan G. Koman.  Women’s health should not be used as a political football. I had breast cancer and thankfully I had insurance to pay for my care but there are many women who do not have health insurance and rely on Planned Parenthood for their mammographies. Women’s health is not political issue – it is a moral issue.

If woman’s health is under attack –is domestic violence next? Fact - funding for women’s organizations is being ...

I have faced and conquered a number of fears. Yet there is still one thing that frightens me – medical tests. I hate it when a doctor says “I think we should do a test just to be sure all is good.”

In years past I would panic everyday to the point where I could not think about anything else until the test was completed and I received the results. The only test I had that had a negative outcome was when I was diagnosed with breast cancer. I was fortunate that my breast cancer was found...

This week News4 in Jacksonville, FL published this article (http://www.news4jax.com/news/Domestic-violence-doesn-t-discriminate/-/475880/7897318/-/vfm16c/-/index.html). The title of the article is “Domestic Violence Doesn’t Discriminate”.

Many people still believe that domestic violence is prevalent at lower income levels and not affluent successful women. Well they are wrong! I was abused and I was a successful Wall Street executive.

Domestic violence is an equal opportunity social...

One of the most dangerous times for a victim of domestic violence is when she leaves the abusive relationship. I know. When I left my ex-husband the reign of terror began in earnest. I was stalked, terrorized and beaten within an inch of my life. At the advice of my attorney I hired a bodyguard. I was fortunate I had the means to afford one but not all women do and this is a story about one of these women.

Her name was Shelby Wilkie and she was murdered by her husband. It seems that Shelby h...

This story ran on December 30, 2011 (http://www.wmbfnews.com/story/16418294/domestic-abuse-victim-survives-12-hours-of-beating).The story is about a woman who endured 12 hours of torture at the hands of her boyfriend. During those horrifying 12 hours she was so severely beaten, kicked and dragged by her hair that she kept losing consciousness.  She miraculously escaped when he left the house to get cigarettes. He was arrested.

She appeared in court to testify. “He kicked me in the head. He...

Since I have not lived in NYC for over five years I was unaware of the annual Good Riddance Day (http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/12/29/good-riddance-day-in-time_n_1174784.htmlIt’s a day where folks can smash, shred, dump or find other ways to destroy their bad memories of 2011.  I love that idea –it’s a way to make room for the good that will come into our life in 2012.

We have a similar ritual in The Business of Me to help our participants rid themselves of the negative thoughts...

Picture this - a young 19 year old college student standing in her boyfriend’s bedroom - he has a gun and puts it against her head and says “this is how you do it” and pulls the trigger. The young woman falls dead on the floor. He calls 911 hours after the shooting and tells 911 “A woman passed out”.

The young man had repeatedly abused his girlfriend and he finally murdered her. He has been charged with reckless homicide.  The young woman’s grandmother is now fighting to have the...

Many of you have heard me talk about Omerta. Omerta is a code of silence prevalent in Sicilian heritage. I have talked about how Omerta affected my life and how it was part of the reason I endured domestic violence for so many years and stayed silent.

I have a story I want to share with you. It was Memorial Day1992 and my aunt invited my mom to a family barbeque. My mother asked if I could come. Now you need to know that I was living with my mom and she didn't tell anyone in the family that...

As soon as I get out of bed in the morning, before I even have a cup of coffee, with my eyes still half closed, I check my email. I know I’m addicted. And yes, I need to do something about but it but that is not the reason for this post.

As I was going through my emails I saw an email from a Twitter follower – yes, I Twitter too. The message said “There is a bad blog going around about you, did you see it?” I immediately felt that old feeling of fear came back – but just for a sec...

I have not only survived domestic violence but I have survived breast cancer too. Years after my divorce I was diagnosed with DCIS (Ductal carcinoma in situ).  When the doctor told me the news I was in shock. My first thought was “Why me? I don’t need another character building exercise”.  I was fortunate that it was caught early and after a lumpectomy and radiation treatment I was cancer free.

Well it’s been over 10 years since my cancer and all my mammographies have been perfect -...

This morning as I was walking to Dunkin Donuts to get my morning coffee I ran into a homeless man. This man was carrying 3 very large garbage bags of empty cans and bottles that he obviously had been collecting and was off to redeem them for cash. This is not the first time I have seen homeless people walking the streets of NYC with their bags of empty bottles, and it’s not just men - it’s women too.

Somehow the fact that I accidentally ran into this man has shaken me and I can’t seem ...

Many of you know that I was brought up in a large Sicilian Roman Catholic family and that the only way to be heard above the roar was to yell. Yes, I come from a long line of expert yellers. When I first met my ex-husband’s family they were also yellers and screamers.

In my world yelling and screaming was the way you showed someone how much you cared for them. In fact, my ex-husband told me once he yelled at me because he cared for me and for years I bought that. 

I now know that “yell...

 “You’re a girl so you are your mother’s problem” is what my dad told me when I was about 5 years old. Dad completely disengaged himself from my upbringing. He also told me that “If he had a son he could do things with a son like fishing and horseback riding”. The message was clear, I was a girl so I was not worthy of his attention.

Those words haunt me to this day. And it’s those words that subconsciously put me on a quest to find “a daddy”. I went looking for someone who...

I’m diabetic. Diabetes runs in my family and I inherited it. Type 2 diabetes runs in my family and I was diagnosed with it when I was nineteen – the same year I got married. My mom told me once after I left my ex-husband that I should have broken my leg walking down the aisle but I didn’t I got married.

A friend of mine told me once that perhaps I became diabetic in the same year I got married as that was the year the sweetness went out of my life. I don’t know about that but I do kn...

Well the jobs report is out and the news is not good – no new jobs were added in August and unemployment remains at 9.1%. My purpose today is not to talk about the unemployment rate but to talk about my reaction to news in general.

I will admit to being a news “junkie” and I am finding that this barrage of horrible news is starting to affect my mood – I need an intervention.  I am especially sick (as I’m sure we all are) of the bickering crap that is going on in Washington D.C. on...

Many of you know that my partner and I found a kitten about 3 months ago and we are enjoying having him in our lives. We have named the kitten Poncho.

Poncho is an active kitten running, jumping, fetching (yes, fetching!) and biting. He does not bite out of meanness; he bites as part of his play. Since my partner takes blood thinners and Poncho does break his skin he is bleeding a lot. So we decided that Poncho needed a buddy. We went to an animal shelter in our neighborhood and found an ad...

Many of you know that my partner and I found a kitten about 3 months ago and we are enjoying having him in our lives. We have named the kitten Poncho.

Poncho is an active kitten running, jumping, fetching (yes, fetching!) and biting. He does not bite out of meanness; he bites as part of his play. Since my partner takes blood thinners and Poncho does break his skin he is bleeding a lot. So we decided that Poncho needed a buddy. We went to an animal shelter in our neighborhood and found an ad...

I received an email from a friend today who felt I would be facing some challenges and his partner told him “Don’t worry about Nancy she is a powerhouse”. I don’t view myself as a “powerhouse” so to hear someone else say that about me is a real boost to my psyche and a great motivator.

There are times when we are feeling overwhelmed by our circumstances and then “out of the blue” you get the boost you need to keep moving to achieve your goals – and yes you are a “powerho...

Many of you have heard me talk about the importance of planning for the future we desire.  I still hold to that principal but I also have learned that the road to success does have roadblocks. I have also learned that regardless of the roadblocks I need to keep working my plan.

The roadblocks do not mean we will not attain the goals we have planned. The roadblocks mean we need to make temporary adjustments to our plan. In fact, what we may perceive as roadblocks are blessings.

I hav...

Many of you know that when I worked on Wall Street I had an assistant for a number of years. Wilma is no nonsense, straight talking Latina with a heart of gold. She became my defender, confident and a life long friend whose advice I cherish.

I woke up today thinking about Wilma and some of her “sayings”. Wilma would always say “When you are feeling your worst you should look your best.” She was right about that. When I was going through my divorce there were many days where I felt...

When I was a child my Dad brought home a puppy. My sister and I were so excited and thrilled to have a puppy but our excitement was short lived. The active little puppy was obviously not house-trained and my Mom scared the little thing to death by chasing it around with a broom. The poor little puppy was so scared that it did “its business” all over the house which incited my Mom even more – these were the days before “wee-wee” pads.  The next morning when my sister and I woke up th...

Recently a number of women have reached out to me and told me about their struggles with domestic violence. The women who have contacted me are still in those abusive relationships and were seeking advice on what they should do so they can leave their abusers.

Each woman had the same concern – money. It is important to start putting aside “escape” money. Put aside money that only you know about and can use to get out in a hurry, if you need to. Open a bank account in your name only an...

Yesterday I read this quote “Stress, worry, and anxiety simply come from projecting your thoughts into the future and imagining something bad. This is focusing on what you don't want! If you find that your mind is projecting into the future in a negative way, focus intensely on NOW. Keep bringing yourself back to the present.”

This sounds so simple and easy but it’s not. I know that when my mind goes to those “dark” places I have to really stop all I am doing and really work on ge...

After my divorce I spent 10 years living alone. Yes I made friends and had an active social life but I did not want a “relationship”. I needed to have “alone” time to heal and learn how to be by myself and enjoy my own company.  The time I spent living alone allowed me to be “me” and hone in on what I truly wanted in my life.

It was not until I became a happy single person that I was ready to share my life with someone. So to all the women I have met as I travel around the count...

Many women are murdered by their intimate partners. There were 2 women who were recently murdered by their intimate partners and it’s not just that they were murdered it was the vicious brutality of the murders that I can’t get out of my mind.

One woman was doused with lighter fluid and set on fire and the other was nearly decapitated as her boyfriend was trying to destroy her face with a knife. Horrifying!

I can’t even imagine what the last moments of these women’s lives were like...

I have had this picture in my mind for days. It’s Christmas Eve when I was a child and my entire family would gather at one of my aunts’ homes in the Bronx. Since my mom was one of ten children there was always a huge crowd on Christmas Eve.

I can still see the Christmas tree laden with gifts for everyone which would be handed out after midnight. But it’s not the gifts I remember; rather it is the tradition our family had.  At the stroke of midnight everyone stopped their conversation...

I was talking with a lovely woman today who has endured her own struggles with abuse. As we talked she told me about how shameful she felt about the abuse she endured. I can relate to her feelings of shame as it was shame that kept me from telling anyone what I was going through.

It has taken many years but I no longer feel any shame. Hooray for me! I know I did nothing to be ashamed of – he did!

I no longer hide what I went through or keep it a secret. What I went through is part of my ...

Picture this well-dressed woman, a Wall Street executive - a normal day at work.

This woman is going about her day busy with meetings, talking to clients and reading her mail doing what she does every day. But this day, a day that began just like any other wouldn’t be ordinary at all.

You see, she had recently left her abusive husband and was scared to death that he would come to the office to harass her.  She informed building security and a picture of her husband was given to the secur...