Dartmouth Aires - and Hope Sings?

The Dartmouth Aires, the a cappella singing group, has a chance to WIN NBC's Sing Off - but we all have to vote.

BECAUSE -

I intend to ask them to perform a Hope Sings song!

Remember how the Dartmouth Women's group, the Decibelles, arranged and performed our song, "Hope" last spring?

So that song is ready and waiting for them to perform and raise awareness of/funds for microfinance.

So help MF - and vote! Up to 10 times per email address.

http://www.nbc.com/sing-off/vote/

Blog up!

I have a blog on this awesome new site, Better After 50.

It's about my personal "f" word - focus.

http://betterafter50.com/2011/11/chasing-squirrels/

Are you a Latin music artist interested in ending domestic violence?

One out of every three women under the age of 35 has experienced gender-based violence during her lifetime (according to the Ibero-American Youth Organization). And regional statistics in Latin America and the Caribbean are even more terrifying. For instance, in the Bahamas, 17% percent of deaths/homicides in 2007 were as a result of domestic violence.

In September, the United Nations Secretary-General’s Campaign UNiTE To End Violence Against Women invited 26 artists from Latin America and the Caribbean to participate in a workshop in Panama City.

Over three days, those artists used their talent to generate compelling messages and other initiatives to raise awareness of and advocate for an end to this scourge of violence against women and girls.

http://www.saynotoviolence.org/join-say-no/26-artists-unite

Are you interested in being involved? Let us know!

A place for Charm and Charisma - bring it on

Ginni Rometty is the next CEO of IBM. In part, perhaps, because she is full of charm and charisma, theorizes Judith Samuelson's in her post on the Huff Post. (bolds mine)

"In 2002, when IBM purchased the consulting arm of PricewaterhouseCoopers, the company turned to Rometty to massage the egos and assure a successful transition. At the time, the $3.5 billion purchase was viewed as a big risk...CEO Palmisano..."She did the deal and she made it work" ... George Colony, chairman of Forrester Research, called it a "massive charm campaign" and cited Ginni's "performance and charisma."

Really? The next CEO of IBM is charming? We have promoted a woman to lead the single largest company ever led by a female in the history of the country, because of her charisma? For a Boomer feminist like me, those words should make my skin crawl.

Instead, I say bring it on. A few years back, it was the women who had the courage to speak out on the need for internal business protocols and compensation systems that favor long-term investment over short-termism. Anne Mulcahy at Xerox, Indra Nooyi at Pepsi, Peggy Foran at Pfizer, and Sarah Teslik at Apache Corporation were among the first to lead or persuade their companies to sign on to the Aspen Principles, an unprecedented agreement among companies, investors, and corporate governance professionals who have vowed to dedicate themselves to long-term value creation over short-term profits. I am quite sure that smarts and charm were needed."

So maybe we're getting closer to the day when we'll get to see what the world would look like if women were in charge...

United Nations Assignment: Create "We Are the World" for Women (When You're Not Quincy Jones)

Reprinted from Beth Blatt's Huffington Post blog...

In November of 2010, I learned from my friend Evelyn that UNIFEM, where she worked, was morphing into a brand-new entity -- UN Women -- which would be the umbrella for the UN's other women's agencies.

Before I could think, I blurted out, "They need a theme song." (My social enterprise, Hope Sings, is in the business of creating music to support causes that support women).

And three (very) short months later, they had one. Graham Lyle ("What's Love Got To Do With It" and many other hits) and British/Somalian singer-songwriter Clay composed the music, and I wrote the lyrics, based on stories of women whom UNIFEM/UN Women had helped.

"One Woman" was the grand finale at the launch ceremony in the UN General Assembly Hall, where 1800 guests stood and sang along with the reprise (it's a pretty catchy song).

Over the next few days, requests poured in from UN offices around the world to perform the song in honor of International Women's Day. Frankly, we weren't ready for that kind of reception. We didn't have sheet music, didn't have a demo, didn't have a karaoke track -- nada.

After that, we all knew we wanted to produce the song, and produce it big. The vision was a veritable United Nations of international female singing stars -- a sort of "We Are The World" for women. We'd get Quincy Jones on board, Peter Gabriel, Shakira -- she's tight with the UN (even if it is UNICEF) and personal friends with Michelle Bachelet, the Exec. Dir. of UNW and former president of Chile.

And then, a few weeks back, UN Women said they had the money to produce the song.

So... how exactly do you make a "We Are The World" for women happen -- when you're not Quincy Jones?

That's what I plan to share in this blog.

We have a mind-boggling Wish List of women from every continent. Singers, producers, instrumentalists, even non-singers -- humanitarians, politicians, businesswomen. The list runs to six pages, from Beyonce to Esperanza Spalding to the 13 Grandmothers to Michelle O. and the girls.

There are men, too -- because they are part of the equation, both in the song and in the world.

We also want women from villages all over the world to sing along on the refrain of the song, "We Shall Shine." No idea how to make that happen. But we will.

And of course, we need video. Not just your basic 3-minute music video, but also the "Making Of" video-mentary. Mind you, UN Women doesn't have budget for that. Translation: we need to find a sponsor.

All by March 8, 2012 -- the next International Women's Day, when we have agreed we'll launch the song (on the Today show. Of course. Though they don't know that yet. Unless they're reading this now.)

This blog is a few things.

This blog is my stake in the sand. Your eyeballs make us accountable. Please smile when we soar (or post a comment). Please offer Kleenex when we crash and burn (or post a comment).

This blog is my publicist. Who knows, maybe some of the women on my six-page list will read this and email me. Maybe even a sponsor will email me. One item less on my to-do list.

This blog is also, I'm hoping, a way to inspire others to blurt out things like, "They need a theme song." And then make it happen.

This blog is also (and I swear, after this one, I'm done) a way to share our learning so you don't have to reinvent the wheel. How do you work with a behemoth like the UN? How do you get through to Beyonce? How do you decide which celebrity to call first? Why are celebrities so powerful, anyway? How exactly do you do a global simulcast? I hope I don't lose my nerve to tell it like it happens, hiccups and all. "Tune in" to see.

So, welcome. On my to-do list for next week: finding a way to get to Alicia Keys, our first choice to produce the song.

Beth Blatt is the founder of Hope Sings, a social enterprise dedicated to harnessing the power of song and story to empower, inspire and connect women around the world. Hope Sings was selected by UN Women to create the agency's theme song for their launch in February 2011, and to produce and release the song in time for International Women's Day, March 8, 2012.