Publisher's Note Apr/May 2K8

WOMEN IN BUSINESS

Each year, NV takes a moment to dedicate an entire issue to celebrate women making it happen.

This issue always reminds me of my amazing grandmother who helped greatly with my upbringing.
Although she is no longer with us, as I write this I can still smell her homemade buttermilk
pancakes that she would cook most mornings. She was no doubt superwoman. After making
these pancakes she would see my cousin and I off to school, make our beds, then she would
go to her job and work a full day at King’s Daughters Children Hospital in Hampton Road, VA. I
honestly don’t remember if we returned home first or if she did. But, what I do know is that you
could smell the homemade biscuits that she gently and lovingly baked as soon as you walked
into the house. You could hear the sound of the pressure cooker simmering with greens that
she had planted in the backyard and tended to with her very own hands. We would set the table
and grandma would serve us dinner. Although I thought I was a smart New Yorker, now living
in Virginia, grandma was smarter and wiser. I will never forget coming home from school one
day and my grandmother asked, “why didn’t you wash your face this morning?” I did what any
nine-year-old would do and said, “I did.” She looked at me with her hands on her hips and said
“no you did not, your washcloth was dry, now go outside and get me a switch for lying.” For
those of you who don’t know, a switch is a piece of a branch that uhhhhh … let’s just say that in
the proper hands it teaches you not to lie.

I share stories about my grandmother because I really do not know how she did it all. And even
today I am amazed at how women truly do it all. They handle their home, family, careers, rear
the children and own businesses, all without missing a beat. I am truly amazed and will always
be in awe of the beauty, power and strength of “woman.”

OUR ECONOMY

I just wanted to quickly put the reality of the U.S. economy in perspective. There is to date a total
of $200 billion in write-downs so far due to the current credit crisis. The size of the entire U.S.
economy is $14.1 trillion and $53 trillion is our country’s bill for the Social Security and Medicare
promises we’ve made. By calculations Medicare will become insolvent by 2019 and Social
Security will follow soon after. Former Comptroller General of the United States David Walker
writes that our unfunded promises translate into “an IOU of around $455,000 per American
household.” Overall we have to pay more attention to those we put in various national offices.
These are real numbers that must be addressed and will affect our economic lives for years to
come. So let’s not only exercise our right to vote, but let’s carefully watch how they are voting
on our future.

ABOUT THIS ISSUE

As you turn the pages of NV you will find the stories of some truly successful and amazing
women. I cannot tell you what an honor it is to have NV here to help share their stories. May
each of you be touched moved and inspired by their stories and visions.

As always, a big thank you to you the reader, the NV subscribers, staff, advertisers and the
creator of all things.