The New York Times Sunday section (12/14/08) had the following article in the 8th Annual Year in Ideas:  “Women in Power are Set Up to Fail.”

My mother was a trained artist. She died nearly 10 years go. My father, who is living, is also an artist. That's his job and he supported four children and a wife as an artist. That art was important in my childhood is an understatement. My mother taught me the color wheel when I was five. She would pull fashion pictures out of magazines and use them as teaching aids for color, cut and line. I was visually groomed throughout my life with them. One would naturally think I know how to dress appropriately and figure out simple fashion things like layering. I don't.

I’m out meeting with the press right now to promote SmartNow.com and I’m getting quite a reaction. Not to the business, but to me. You see, it’s been awhile since I met with them, at least eight years. Many of the people in the press are same ones I met all those years ago. Many I don’t know. No matter if they knew me before or not, they all ask the same question: "What mistakes have you made and what have you learned from them?" And this isn’t a normal "check-the-box" reporter question.