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10 Vital Reasons To Use Real Extra Virgin Olive Oil
Extra virgin olive oil is very special and unique. This is something that people along the Mediterranean, as well as gourmets everywhere, have known for a long time. Thomas Jefferson is even said to have considered the olive tree as ‘surely the...
Dietary Carcinogens that Increase the Risk of Cancer
One way our diet may increase the risk of cancer is by dietary carcinogens. There are four groups of carcinogens: • Naturally present carcinogens • Carcinogens forming during food preparation • Preservatives and coloring agents added to food •...
Diseases of the Colon Caused by Constipation and Past Emotional Trauma
It was estimated that of all the people who died of cancer – colon, lung, prostate, and breast - in 1999 sixteen percent were attributed to colon cancer. But, how many of these other cancers originated in your colon? We do know that colon cancer is...
Do You Need Diet Pills?
Obesity problem has reached epidemic proportions in the USA. According to a data, in USA, number of overweight person is 58 million; 40 million are obese; and nearly 3 million are morbidly obese.
Overweight and obesity are known risk factors...
Herbal Menopause Treatments
Herbal Menopause Remedy Menopause is a transition that marks the stop of menstruation. Although this is a life change which should be embraced as another stop in life's natural stages, some women's experience with menopause has more to do with pain...
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What I Learned From Barbie's Mom
When my daughter received a gift certificate at KB Toys for
her birthday this month, she announced her intention to
spend it all on Barbie.
Never mind the fact that she already owns a Veterinarian
Barbie, Lifesaver Barbie, Prom Queen Barbie, two Barbie
Ballerinas and a Prince Ken... She's got Barbie's Beach
House, a Barbie Steering Wheel, two Barbie autos that each
seat four, a Barbie tape player, Barbie Hair and Makeup
Model, Barbie Nail Designer Software, and a big box full of
clothes. But Megan wants to have a *collection*, a
peculiarly human urge understood well by the Mattel Toy
Company, which comes up with all this stuff.
It's too bad they don't make a Work at Home Mom Barbie. If
they did, they could draw on the life of Ruth Handler for
inspiration. Handler, who passed away last week, is best
known as the inventor of the Barbie doll. She was also one
of the most successful female entrepreneurs of all time,
beginning in an era when women were expected to stay in the
kitchen and out of the boardroom.
Like many of us, Ruth's career as an entrepreneur began by
accident. Money was tight when she married her husband,
Elliot. She was working as a secretary and he was studying
industrial design. He decided to use his skills to make some
housewares for their apartment. *She* decided that there was
a market for them. They operated their first business out of
their garage. Ruth handled the sales, which reached
$2 million within the first few years... and that was in
1945 dollars. Today that amount would equal ten times as
much!
Ruth and Elliot joined with another designer, Harold "Matt"
Mattson, to form the Mattel Company (named for Matt and
Elliot). They manufactured picture frames. Elliot
realized that he could take the wood scraps from the frames
and turn them into doll furniture. This side business proved
to be so successful that the company changed its focus to
toys.
The folks at Mattel credit Ruth with playing an integral
role in their success. Her natural talent as a marketer
helped the company turn a profit its very first year as a
toymaker. But her biggest was her ability to identify a
market void and fill it ("niche marketing," which is what
the experts all tell us we should be doing.)
It was just such an instinct that led to the Barbie's birth.
The 1950's were an era when little girls played with baby
dolls -- in fact, those were just about the only kind you
could buy. But Ruth noticed that her daughter, Barbara, was
fascinated with paper
dolls representing adult and teenage
women. She would change their dresses and imagine how life
would be all grown up.
The male ad executives at the company were not impressed
with Ruth's doll. Neither were the mostly male buyers who
saw her debut at the American Toy Show in 1959. But as Ruth
had guessed, little girls loved her - and 350,000 Barbies
were sold that very first year, which was a record. Mattel
introduced more dolls to the Barbie line over the next
several years, some of which were named after other Handler
family members, such as Ken -- Ruth's son -- and Stacie,
Todd and Cheryl, who were named after the Handlers'
grandchildren.
All was going well until 1970, Ruth was diagnosed with
breast cancer. It was a difficult time, bad decisions were
made and the Handlers' eventually left the successful
company they had founded. But Ruth not only survived her
bout with cancer; her experience inspired her next business
venture.
Ruth told the Los Angeles Times about her fruitless search
for natural-looking prosthetic breast. What was available at
the time was less than adequate. "I looked at the shapeless
glob that lay in the bottom of my brassiere and thought, 'My
god, the people in this business are men who don't have to
wear these,' " she told the Times. Once again, Ruth
discovered a niche to fill.
Ruth found a designer who created a new prosthetic to her
specifications. Made of liquid silicone and polyurethane, it
looked and felt natural. Her stroke of genius was her
realization that like shoes, it needed to be made up in
"lefts" and "rights." Then Ruth assembled a sales team made
up of other breast cancer survivors, who demonstrated
her new product to department store buyers and helped train
their sales staffs on how to fit their customers. In 1991,
Ruth sold her company to a division of Kimberly-Clark and
retired.
"Women--and men too--can do almost anything they set their
mind to," said Ruth. "You have to believe in what you want
to do and have the courage of your convictions."
Good advice for us all. Rest in peace, Ruth.
About the Author
Donna Schwartz Mills writes about the specific needs of work
at home parents at her website, The ParentPreneur Club,
"For Parents Who Want Choices, Not Office Politics."
http://www.parentpreneurclub.com Tools, tips and advice
you need to help grow your home based business while raising
a family. Subscribe to our weekly newsletter sending a blank
email to: mailto:subscribe@parentpreneurclub.com
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| BreastCancer.org - Breast Cancer Treatment Information and Pictures |
| Breast Cancer Information from a Nonprofit Organization. |
| www.breastcancer.org |
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| The Breast Cancer Site |
| Founded to help offer free mammograms to underprivileged women nationwide. With a simple, daily "click" visitors help provide mammograms to those in need. |
| www.thebreastcancersite.com |
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| Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation |
| The Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation is dedicated to education and research on breast cancer causes, treatment and the search for a cure. |
| www.komen.org |
|
| Breast Cancer Information from National Breast Cancer Foundation Inc |
| Breast cancer information including early signs and symptoms of breast cancer, myths, early detection, breast cancer research and more from National Breast ... |
| www.nationalbreastcancer.org |
|
| BreastCancer.Net: http://www.breastcancer.net |
| A clearinghouse for the latest news and information on the prevention, detection and treatment of breast cancer. |
| www.breastcancer.net |
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| Breast Cancer Treatment with Traditional Chinese Medicine |
| Educational resources on using Traditional Chinese Medicine to treat and prevent breast cancer. |
| www.breastcancer.com |
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| Breast Cancer Care - Homepage |
| Breast Cancer Care is the UK's leading provider of information, practical assistance and emotional support for anyone affected by breast cancer or breast ... |
| www.breastcancercare.org.uk |
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| Breakthrough Breast Cancer |
| Breakthrough Breast Cancer is the UKs leading charity committed to fighting breast cancer through research and education. |
| www.breakthrough.org.uk |
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| MedlinePlus: Breast Cancer |
| Search MEDLINE/PubMed for recent research articles on Breast Cancer: • Breast Cancer ... Select services and providers for Breast Cancer in your area. ... |
| www.nlm.nih.gov |
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| Breast Cancer Research | |
| Online and print journal covering topics of basic and clinical research relevant to breast cancer. Research articles are free to all users. |
| breast-cancer-research.com |
|
| National Breast Cancer Centre - Evidence based information for ... |
| The National Breast Cancer Centre of Australia providing information about breast cancer for consumers and health professionals. |
| www.nbcc.org.au |
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| Canadian Breast Cancer Foundation: Run for the Cure: Select Language |
| Charitable organization which raises money to advance research, education, diagnosis and treatment. |
| www.cbcf.org |
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| Breast cancer - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia |
| That is why you will see breast cancer patients wearing braces, ... [5] Men can also develop breast cancer, but their risk is less than one in 1000 (see sex ... |
| en.wikipedia.org |
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| End Breast Cancer from Care2.com and TBCF! |
| Help stop Breast Cancer by clicking daily - free! Supports efforts by The Breast Cancer Fund. |
| breastcancer.care2.com |
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| National Breast Cancer Foundation |
| The ultimate goal of the National Breast Cancer Foundation (NBCF) is to raise enough money to fund a cure for breast cancer. As Australia’s leading national ... |
| www.nbcf.org.au |
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| Y-ME National Breast Cancer Organization |
| Support and information about the condition from this non-profit entity. Headquartered in Chicago, Illinois. |
| www.y-me.org |
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| Breast Cancer Home Page - National Cancer Institute |
| Information about breast cancer treatment, prevention, genetics, causes, screening, clinical trials, research and statistics from the National Cancer ... |
| www.cancer.gov |
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| What You Need To Know About™ Breast Cancer - National Cancer Institute |
| Information about detection, symptoms, diagnosis, and treatment of breast cancer. NIH Publication No. 05-1556. |
| www.cancer.gov |
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| Breast Cancer Campaign - Researching the cure |
| Breast Cancer Campaign is the only charity that specialises in funding independent breast cancer research throughout the UK. |
| www.breastcancercampaign.org |
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| NBCC - NBCC - National Breast Cancer Coalition |
| The National Breast Cancer Coalition Fund is a grassroots organization dedicated to ending breast cancer through the power of action and advocacy. |
| www.natlbcc.org |
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