Office Romances Lead To Marriage

CHICAGO, Feb. 9, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- Love is in the air and it's wafting its way through the office. Thirty-eight percent of workers said they have dated a co-worker at least once over the course of their career; 17 percent reported dating co-workers at least twice. Thirty-one percent said their office romance led them to the altar. This is according to CareerBuilder's annual office romance survey of more than 7,000 workers nationwide conducted by Harris Interactive© between November 9 and December 5, 2011.

How Many Dated the Boss?

While the majority of relationships developed between workers in comparable job levels, 28 percent of workers who dated a co-worker said they have dated someone above them in the company hierarchy, and nearly one-in-five (18 percent) admitted to dating their boss. Women were more likely to date someone higher up in their organization – 35 percent compared to 23 percent of men.

Which Industries Have the Most Romance?

Hospitality leads the top five industries for office romances, coming in significantly higher than the national average:

Hospitality – 47 percent dated a co-worker
Financial Services – 45 percent
Transportation & Utilities – 43 percent
Information Technology – 40 percent
Healthcare – 38 percent
How Much Does Your Job Factor into Your Love Life?

More than one-in-four workers (26 percent) reported that what someone does for a living influences whether they would date that person. Five percent of workers said someone broke up with them because either their job required too many hours at the office, they didn't make enough money or the person didn't like their line of work.

Do Opposites Really Attract?

While the majority of workers tended to date people in different professions or functions, nearly one-in-five workers (19 percent) reported that they are more attracted to people who have a similar job.

Where Do Office Romances Begin?

Social settings outside of the office were cited most often in regard to workers connecting on a romantic level. Running into each other outside of work (13 percent), happy hours (12 percent), lunches (11 percent) and late nights at work (10 percent) were among the most popular catalysts for dating co-workers.

Are Relationships Better Kept Secret?

Most workers who have had office romances said they were open about their dating situation. Thirty-seven percent reported they had to keep the relationship under wraps.

"Whether you're dating someone higher-up or a colleague at the same level, office romances are always tricky," said Rosemary Haefner, vice president of human resources at CareerBuilder. "First and foremost, it is important to know your company's office dating policy. Remember to stay professional and draw a boundary line between your personal life and the workplace."

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My Success Is Not Accidental

I know I make it look easy.

Women admire me from all four corners of the world. I enjoy the best that life has to offer and I appear to do it with ease.

What you fail to see are the long nights I spent perfecting my craft, skipping the parties, boyfriends and gossip sessions in favor of studying to become the best at what I do.

I know I make it look easy and it is, but that comes after years of fumbling around, making mistakes and beating myself up for not getting it right. I couldn't allow myself to remain stagnant or to waste my talent by not chiseling at it with precision every second that I was awake.

I sculpted the very best version of me through years of trial and error and I continue to dedicate just as much time to remaining at the top of my game. Yet, you see me and you think she is cute and sweet and bubbly, when I'm a beast when it comes to my profession, yet my roar seems more like a hypnotizing purr.

My success is not accidental.

My ability to maintain my status in my own eyes, is what separates me from the women who compare themselves to me.

Flawlessly, instinctively I polish my skills without chipping a nail. I do all that and then I play with the best of them simply because I deserve to sit on this throne that I created.

I know I make it look easy, but even that takes effort, honey.

And I am well up to the challenge.

Are you?

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You're Not Ready To Buy A House If...

Life has a way of making us want to measure our success by reaching certain life milestones. By 18, we need to be headed to college. By 25 we should be married. By 30 we should have our first child and by 35 we should be running the PTA and managing our own businesses.

You don't have to succumb to the pressure to keep up with the pace of your parents or friends. They're living their lives on their own frequency and you are allowed to do the same. No, you don't need to own your first home by the time you're 31 in order to feel successful but we often think this is what we need to do in order to feel 'grown up'. This isn't true. You're holding yourself down by tying yourself to an investment that isn't really necessary right now.

In fact, if you still...

• Haven't traveled to the place you've been dreaming of visiting
• Have yet to save enough to pay off your car
• Are drowning in student loan debt
• Aren't happy in the city where you live
• Daydream about making a career change
• Are not thinking about settling down
  
• Are under 35
• Have lived in one city your entire life
• Have never been placed in a situation where you have to figure a way out all by yourself
• Are still depending on your parents to bail you out
• Do not have a dependable second stream of income outside of working for a wage

Buying a house will hold you back from being free to chase the opportunities that could lead to the lifestyle of your dreams.

You'll get to that home ownership stage later but for now, focus on living the most adventurous life possible filled with those magical events that you never thought could happen in real life. They can and they will if you don't burden yourself with owning 'stuff' that holds you back from experiencing the freedom of life which eventually ends up shackling you to where you are.

FREE YOURSELF!

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Natural Hair Competition Will Crown America's Next Natural Model

Don't miss out on Going Natural.Com's America's Next Natural Model, an annual beauty pageant that celebrates the beauty of the natural state of women's hair. In its 4th year, this pageant is America's Next Top Model meets Naptural Roots as 10 women compete in hair styling and photograph challenges that both stir and inspire women with natural coils to celebrate their beauty.



This year's competitors are symbols of all things naturally beautiful. Meet the 2012 Miss Nappturality contestants, Chassity, CarlieM, Deseray, Kala, Jalita, Justyce Chavez, ReShonda, Nefertiti, Natasha and Jael by visiting Going Natural.Com and checking the results of the weekly competitions.
The winner of the 2012 Miss Nappturality competition will receive national exposure as a celebrated natural hair model, endorsement deals and free products from Iman Cosmetics.

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15 Ways To Measure Success

Why is it so much easier to label yourself a failure after a loss? This label sticks to our psyche hindering us from moving forward in life when it really doesn't have to.

Instead of applying negative outcomes as the defining labels for our lives, how about we celebrate the victories that may not be as glamorous, but are still deliciously sweet.

Here are 15 ways to measure whether or not you are truly a SUCCESS.

1. Did you make it through an entire work day without punching your co worker?
2. Did someone prosper because of your efforts?
3. Did someone smile after you left the room?
4. Did you finally throw away those bags of clothes in your garage?
5. Have you graduated from one stage in life to the next?
6. Did you make it through the arduous phases of high school?
7. Do you wake up in the morning smiling?
8. Do you have friends?
9. Did you get the laundry done this week?
10. Did you live through childbirth?
11. Did someone 'like' or 'plus one' your status update today?
12. Have you helped someone orgasm recently?
13. Are your children laughing, playing or fighting in the background?
14. Did you pay your bills last month?
15. Do you have the energy to wake up tomorrow and try again?

If you answered YES to at least 3 of these questions- YOU ARE A SUCCESS!


For My Savvy Sisters: Please share your personal modern day success stories in the comments.

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EDITORIAL: Our Secret Second Bill of Rights

By Christina Fermin
Politics and Society Columnist

On January 11, 1944, President Franklin D. Roosevelt introduced his Second Bill of Rights during his State of the Union address to Congress. This Second Bill of Rights dealt with what he saw as economic rights for the people. He understood that the Bill of Rights was the citizens political rights and what was lacking in the new industrial century was an economic bill of rights to secure the “pursuit of happiness,” guaranteed by our wonderful Constitution. Roosevelt stated in his famous State of the Union address: “We have come to a clear realization of the fact that true individual freedom cannot exist without economic security and independence. “Necessitous men are not free men.”People who are hungry and out of a job are the stuff of which dictatorships are made.”

This Second Bill of Rights was to guarantee every American the right to employment with a living wage; Freedom from unfair competition and monopolies; Adequate housing; Universal medical care and Education and Social Security. Unfortunately President Roosevelt never saw this implemented and died before he could fully pursue it. President Roosevelt, dealing with the Great Depression and World War IIm understood the future implications if Americans did not have economic security. Without economic security, peace would be short lived. Today we have Social Security which is the only part of Roosevelt’s Second Bill of Rights which were given to the American people. Today, this lone support system for aging Americans is in severe jeopardy because of the carelessness and greed of Congress.

Eleanor Roosevelt, Franklin’s wife, went on an international crusade to ensure these Second Bill of Rights were incorporated into the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, which was adopted by the United Nations in 1948. Today much of Europe enjoys many of these rights because of President Roosevelt and his wife Eleanor. Shortly after his death, the Second Bill of Rights fell into the shadows, some hoping it to be forgotten and lost. Michael Moore discovered the black and white video footage in 2008 in South Carolina while filming Capitalism: A Love Story. Now the video can be found on YouTube and other parts of the Internet where it is being remembered and brought back into the political realm.

I cannot help but to speculate as to what kind of America we would be living in today if Roosevelt’s Second Bill of Rights passed after the Great Depression and the war. Today’s America is radically different and unfortunately for us, our wonderful Constitution, along with the Bill of Rights has been under brutal attack in the last decade. The most recent passage of the National Defense Authorization Act, allowing indefinite detention to any who commits a “belligerent act” is the most recent evidence. Human rights have never looked as dismal as they now appear since the inception of the Constitution. As we look to the Presidential election coming in the Fall of this year, we need a leader who will lead America to the path of glory and freedom. Where is the leader that will give us this Second Bill of Rights and restore our civil liberties?

Roosevelt understood that without economic security, America was set to repeat history and peace would be short lived. As history unfolds today in the 21st Century Great Depression, these economic social nets that were created to protect us from financial uncertainty wither away. Until people of America and the world have economic security we will never be free nor will we have peace. To be in debt or financially uncertain is not freedom, it is a form of oppression and a ways of keeping the people enslaved. So long as the 1% control the market and control the economy, economic security will never prevail. We the people must hold the unpatriotic acts of elected officials accountable for their betrayal against the oath they have taken in office. Without economic security, the “pursuit of happiness” is a mere phrase that may fade into the history books just as Roosevelt’s Second Bill of Rights did. The time has come for the people to liberate ourselves from the hegemonic powers of the 1% and move forward. It is time for the people to say, "Enough, I will not buy your products, nor will I listen to your media or watch your television."

Second Bill of Rights Petition



About the Columnist
With a bachelors degree in political science from Florida Atlantic University, Christina Fermin has always cultivated her love for history, politics, sociology, ancient knowledge and teachings, the outdoors, the ocean and the environment. Christina strives to make our world better by helping us all create a new reality and understanding of all taking place here and now. You can reach her at Christina@MySavvySisters.Com

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Strategic Efforts & No One Cares- Is It Because I'm Black?

By Te-Erika Patterson

Organizing the partnership between The Rebuild Your Life Project and Denny's Restaurant wasn't exactly a smooth process. I had to articulate my vision for a hiring event that would collectively offer job interviews to the South Florida community on a wide scale basis and a 5 member team from Denny's corporate had to revise and refine it.

My goal was to have each Denny's restaurant in Miami-Dade and Broward counties to participate and have community members in need of employment come into the stores on a specified day during specific hours to be interviewed. After I was asked to send in an additional proposal to my district manager, he hosted a conference call with a member of Denny's marketing team and four other people who would offer insight, including his boss.

That morning during the conference call, I shared my ideas and vision and we all went back and forth, offering input and scaling down the project. Denny's suggested that we open up the interviews to everyone so that we wouldn't discriminate based on gender and they reminded me that every Denny's restaurant in South Florida isn't a corporate owned restaurant so getting the franchise restaurants on board would take some time, if it was at all possible.

We set a date for the hiring event - December 20th, 2011- and the public relations specialist asked me to send over a brochure to send to all of the franchise stores so that they would have information about my project.

The next day I drafted another proposal that detailed my idea along with the revisions that we discussed and I emailed it to the marketing manager, Chris Nichols. I didn't hear back from him for another two weeks and I began to get nervous so I contacted the corporate office and was given his direct phone number. He answered promptly and assured me that things were progressing and that in a corporation, things take time to be approved.

I felt better, but was still nervous because I am a complete control freak when it comes to my work. During The Rebuild Your Life Project, I had to do all of the writing for the marketing campaign myself, while I navigated through the homeless lifestyle, organized my job fair, did interviews to learn from the homeless people I met, did research on how to survive homelessness both physically and mentally and shot and edited videos that I posted daily on youtube. A one man band with a million tasks on my daily to-do list, not including dealing with the psychological ramifications of being homeless, I was in over my head during that project but I survived.

The knowledge that I can overcome anything still didn't stop my panic attacks as I checked my email waiting for word that everything was running smoothly with the partnership with Denny's. Just five days before the event was scheduled, I received the unofficial press release announcing the event and I breathed a sigh of relief.

My vision had been adjusted in a few very smart ways. There wasn't enough time to gather participation from the franchise stores so the district manager of the Miami-Dade restaurants and Broward country restaurants pledged their participation. Instead of having the open job interviews inside the 14 participating stores, there would be two locations that offered the hiring event, one in Miami and one in Broward. During the event, the general managers of each restaurant would be present to interview interested candidates.

The press release from Denny's was finally approved and I sent it to my media list. There were several local African American publications that I sent the press release to as well and I was simply shocked by the response I received from one editor.

"This is great and we commend Denny's however what Black american newspaper does Denny's advertise in?" he wrote to me.

"I am not certain. I am certain, however, that your readers will benefit from this news. It's your call of course," I wrote back.

"I know," he wrote back. "We have to have advertising to get information out to our readers. It's a fine line however that's why we believe in relationships and at this point we DO NOT have one with Denny's."

The next day I was pleased to see that this particular publication did indeed run the press release anyway. It was my first clue as to the yet undiscovered racial tensions between Denny's restaurant and the African American community.

The event went on as planned and I made this video to capture the monumental event.



I was shocked that absolutely no one from the local media decided to cover the event. In fact, if I had not made this video there would be no documentation of the turn-out at all. Through a connection I made during The Rebuild Your Life Project, Hot 105FM host Rodney Baltimore announced the event two mornings in a row during the Tom Joyner Morning Show (a long standing radio program with a focus on the African American community) and nearly every person I met that day informed me that they had heard the announcement on the radio.

At the end of the job fair, which I hosted from the Broward country location, my district manager informed me that 40 people were interviewed in Broward and 62 people had been interviewed in Miami. I was elated and excited about the people who would become employed as a result of our efforts, yet I was confused as to why the local media were not interested in covering a story about an international corporation that was offering employment opportunities 5 days before Christmas.

If I sent out my press release to all of my media contacts and Denny's did their part in marketing the project, at least ONE media outlet should have been interested- right?

I rarely watch television because most of what's on has nothing to do with my personal goals or plans so I don't care, but while visiting my Mom I saw a story on the news about a national chain store giving a woman a free Christmas tree.

Wait. A chain store gives ONE woman a Christmas tree and they get a whole segment on the nightly news and my event wasn't covered by anyone? This doesn't sound right.

I began to blame myself, thinking maybe it's me. Maybe because I have been such a flaming failure at life, some of that energy has tainted my project too. I began to doubt the value that the life lessons I taught as I conquered homelessness and advocated for women would bring to the world.

In my mind, I did something great, but no one in my hometown, at least not the mass media, seemed to care.

Maybe it's me. In my mind, I'm awesome but no amount of effort seems to matter. No matter how much I push, I still get the same result.

An opportunity to shift the blame came when I was invited to participate in a structural organization committee for an African American centered event. During a phone conference I introduced myself and shared my professional experience as a writer and the work that I had done to empower women during The Rebuild Your Life Project.

"You're partnering with who?" one of the committee members asked me.

"With Denny's."

He laughed.

Another phone conference participant chimed in. "If you partnered with an international corporation and actually did what you said you did and it's not on CNN, why do you think that is? You're a WAITRESS, helping people to get jobs. That's national news."

Huh?

"Did you know that Denny's had a class action lawsuit filed against them a while back?" he asked.

A what?

"For racism," he continued. "Denny's doesn't support the Black community."

What? I was confused. "But they said they would support this. We did all of this work together."

"If you say so."

After offering my input to their project, I hung up to draft a proposal for them but as I typed my thoughts were racing. Their words had impacted me more than I thought. The negative energy they passed along had taken root and attached itself to my spirit. I'm already a paranoid person, I don't like fear being added to my mental state by others.

The next day I devised a plan to contact the local media myself and ask them why they weren't interested in covering my event. It would be a report on why good news isn't fit to be news, at least that was my plan. When I shared my plan in an email with the marketing manager Chris Nichols, he told me that he'd call me and we had a 30 minute phone conversation.

I asked him why he thought the media wasn't interested and he said that the press can choose which stories to cover and he didn't think I should be so aggressive in seeking out answers from them.

"They aren't obligated, Te-Erika," he replied softly.

"Well, when we find out how many people were actually hired, can we do another release announcing the success of the event?" I asked him.

"Sure! We can do that," he assured me.

Then I brought up the issue about the racial tensions and he listened and offered his thoughts.

A long time ago Denny's was involved in some racial tensions and there was a law suit but most people don't know that the people who were involved in that don't even work for our company anymore, Chris shared. He said that Denny's had worked hard to gain right standing and had even hired someone to make sure that they have healthy connections within the various ethnic communities.

I hung up feeling more confused than ever. If Denny's did their part in marketing and I did my part in marketing, then how did this fall between the cracks? Does it have something to do with the fact that I am Black?

Wait a minute. I don't think like this. I never allow my skin color to become a reason why I can't have my dreams fulfilled. I never blame my ethnicity for my losses.

This internal debate sparked my creativity as I desperately tried to shake the negativity that clouded my joy.

I made this video that gently urged the African American community to release the mentality of victimhood and take personal responsibility for their own lives. I'd rather blame myself than give anyone the power to say they stopped me from doing what I wanted to do.



And then I waited to hear back from Denny's about the number of people who were actually hired as a result of The Rebuild Your Life Project partnership with Denny's so that I could try to market it again. As I waited, I devised another plan to take this initiative to an even bigger level.

What if I could get other big businesses to partner with The Rebuild Your Life Project to offer a mass hiring event? What if big businesses across the nation decided to take part and people were offered the opportunity of a lifetime, the one break they really needed to rebuild their lives during a time when the average man believes that big businesses don't care about them?

Who could I get to help organize and lead this initiative that would make the biggest impact? Who has already devised plans to create jobs for Americans? Who cares about this topic?

I sat down and drafted yet another proposal. This time it began-

Dear President Obama...

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