Contents:
December Luncheon
From the Boardroom
"Puttin on the Ritz"
December Cannon Circle
The Executive Grapevine
Upcoming Luncheons and Board Meetings
Cannon Circle Schedule
WEC Mission Statement
Book Club
Women Empowering Women
November Photos
Mentorship Program
Greet Eat Meet

WEC Board of Directors
2003-2004

President -
Leigh Nickel

President Elect -
Dee Moustakas

VP Corporate Records -
Emily Rushin

VP Community Involvement -
Ronnie Karlin

VP Finance -
Jacqueline Powell

VP Internal Involvement Toby Manke

VP Membership -
Carolyn Ernest-Jones

Past President -
Joyce Shore

All contact information is available for WEC members on our Members Only website. If you are a member and you don't have a name and password, you can contact Chris Guld for more information.

Upcoming Luncheons

December 12, 2003
January 15, 2004
February 18, 2004
March 16, 2004
April 16, 2004
May 14, 2004
June 15, 2004

Upcoming Board Meetings

December 5, 2003
January 9, 2004
February 6, 2004
March 5, 2004
April 2, 2004
May 7, 2004
June 4, 2004

December Holiday Luncheon

Date: Friday, December 12, 2003
Time: 11:30 Networking
12:00 Luncheon

The Riverside Hotel
620 East Las Olas Blvd
Fort Lauderdale

Guest Cost: $25.00 Members are responsible for all guest lunches

Holiday Luncheon

Be sure and attend our annual Holiday Luncheon. There will be music, wine, and a gift exchange. Bring a $15 value gift and enclose your business card with the gift.

A Time For Giving

Members please bring unwrapped toiletries (soap shampoo hand lotion etc.), pantyhose, make-up, and items needed for adult women at Woodhouse. It would also be nice to include perfume or something special.

Our special holiday menu is: Choice of 3 entrees – please select one.

1.) YellowTail Snapper - Pan Roasted with lemon-thyme butter sauce served with Basmiti Rice and Vegetable Medley

2.) Chicken Francese - Breast of Chicken sautéed in butter and white wine served with Oven Roasted Potatoes and Vegetable Medley.

3.) Vegetarian Selection - Fresh grilled vegetables and Roma Tomatoes with garlic basil sauce over Pasta

Dessert is Flourless Chocolate cake with Raspberry Coulis

RSVP to: Toby Manke by December 9th at 954-522-2200
or tsm@brinkleymcnerney.com

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From the Board Room

Emily Rushin here, wishing you and yours a wonderful holiday! My wish for the season and for the coming new year is that we remember to treat the earth and all the people on it with kindness. Every life has moments of joy and moments of sorrow, and I truly believe that grace happens.

One of the functions of my board position this year is to collect photographs, newsletters, and other memorabilia of our club, and to keep scrapbooks/photo albums. Our Very Old Scrapbook covers the 1980s with photos, invitations, and publicity of members. It is a little torn and tattered, but its memories are bright and shiny. Our Old Scrapbook has photos only of the 90s, and because we didn’t assign this job of Historian, skips a few years. It, too, has irreplaceable photographs of good times past. Joni Rosenthal and I are working on the New scrapbook this year of the new millennium. It is a big job and the holidays are upon us, but we hope to have 1990 through 1993 finished by January. I’m sure you will enjoy finding old friends who were mere children when their photographs first appeared!

Then there’s a book of newsletters - a bit of nostalgia going back to 1984. “Should auld acquaintance be forgot . . .” We hope not. Here are some tidbits from old newsletters:

Luncheon prices rose in 1985 to $8.00, and we had a pool party at Pier 66 with an introduction to SCUBA diving in their pool.
Janet Reno addressed the club on November 15, 1985, when she was Florida’s
State Attorney, and again in 2000 when she was running for President.
We had a tenth birthday party in September 1986 at Harbor Beach Marriott.
Our Special Event in November 1988, had Linda Ellerbee, 500 attendees, and required attendance for WEC members.
Teddy bears were given as tokens of a “buddy system” at the 1990 Christmas party.
April 2001 featured photos of very elegant members in stylish hats at our first High Tea.

Let me close with my own quote from a 1987 column: “Women’s Executive Club is very important to me. The friends I have made and the support team of members who aren’t yet friends are a practical and psychological resource that is a very, very valuable asset.” It is still true this day. Thank you for the privilege of serving this terrific club.

Sincerely,

Emily Rushin

“Puttin’ on the Ritz” Gala Update

Plans for our 1920’s-era event are shaping up. In fact, they’re just ducky.
We’re planning hors d’ oeuvres stations that are the berries (and we’re not just talking fruit and cheese here). We’ll have valets to park your jalopies…live jazz… spirits and soft drinks served from a 125-year old European bar…a ride in a breezer for six lucky swells…blackjack tables… prizes and deluxe auction items, including sports and entertainment memorabilia.
So, get a wiggle on. Mark your calendar for Saturday, March 20, 2004, and think about everyone you’d like to invite. Sign up sponsors and keep your eyes peeled for swanky auction items.
Pick up your packet of sample introduction letters, sponsorship opportunities and auction ideas at the holiday luncheon. This is the perfect evening to impress clients and have a wonderful time with friends and family.

Proceeds to benefit the Mentor and Women Empowering Women programs.

Prohibition & Speakeasies

Speakeasies were formed in the 1920s as a way for people to get around the 18th Amendment. As a result of Prohibition, the speakeasy became an established institution. For every legitimate saloon that closed, half a dozen underground places sprang up. By the middle of the decade there were thought to be 100,000 speakeasies in New York City alone. Patrons often said you could get a glass of liquor at any building on 52nd Street between Fifth and Sixth Avenues in New York City –– if you knew where the speakeasies were and you had the password to get in.

In addition to speakeasies, American’s came up with other innovative ways to circumvent the law. They used hip flasks, false books, coconut shells, hot water bottles and garden hoses to transport illegal liquor. They stored the contraband in prams with babies perched on top and in carpenter's aprons with big fat pockets. One man was even caught hustling liquor over the border in two boxes of eggs: He had drained the eggs and refilled them with liquor.

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Cannon Circle

From the police blotter: (November’s Cannon Circle)
Uniformed guards Ann Meacham, Barbara Riley and Dee Moustakas booked about 15 suspects into the ABD Slammer at November’s Cannon Circle. Those who acted up were cuffed to their chairs until they confessed their childhood and school-day misdemeanors. Christy Lambertus advised inmates of their rights and actually helped Chris Guld escape. Everyone was released on her own reconnaissance around 8:30

In December we'll celebrate Freedom!

Who says 'there's no place like home for the holidays'?? Chris Guld says: "Home is where you park it" in her new RV lifestyle. Vivien Godfrey will be spending the holidays with her son in Japan. And, we hear that Emily Rushin will be going to Ireland in December. If you happen to be in town on December 10 - come join Chris and Vivien at Vivien's home in Rio Vista. You will also be visiting Chris's home because it will be parked in Vivien's driveway!!

Chris' home and Jim, her husband/chauffeur! Since the driveway will be full ... Vivien will make arrangements with neighbors to use their parking areas - look for the balloons marking acceptable parking spots.

December Cannon Circle
Date: Wednesday, December 10
Time: 6pm - 9pm
Where: Vivien Godfrey's home: 805 Cordova Rd. 954-523-5107
RSVP: Chris chris@guldsystems.com (954) 551-9142

WEC Cannon Circles

December 10, 2003 Vivian Godfrey, Chris Guld
February 26, 2004 Mary Minnnet, Dorothy Eisenberg
(Business Venue)
March 24, 2004 Carol Jones
April 28, 2004 Patty Camp, Debbie Rugg
May 26, 2004 Dr. Dora Vilk-Shapiro’s Office
(all dates are not confirmed)

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The Executive Grapevine

Sandy Title: I had a chance of a lifetime and took it. The USS Ronald Reagan came into port. It is a brand new carrier and Ft. Lauderdale was the first port of call. I had the privilege of being on the ship when it left Port Everglades on Friday. We got on the ship about 10:00 left about noon and about 4:00 we flew back to Port Everglades on a Navy helicopter. It was a wonderful experience and one that I will never forget.

Nora Weiss and her husband, Steve, will be spending the Thanksgiving Holiday in Park City, Utah, and will be attending the America's Opening Men's and Women's Slalom ski competition while spending the week in Park City.

Camille Dixon. Our family just had a baby girl on 11-10-03. Her name is Meredith Ann Dixon and she is our 3rd. Congratulations from all at WEC!

"Dr. Donna" Well, I've been doing some more writing. Have just published contributions (chapters) to my 18th and 19th books-on Training and Human Resources for Wiley and McGraw Hill. One was a chapter on Sales Training I wrote with our August speaker, the radio exec, Dennis Collins. The other was a mock reality game show I developed on employee performance issues for managers, which execs worldwide are now "playing" in classrooms and boardrooms, called "My Worst Nightmare Employee."

Jan Nelson “Zilberg” is back in town from her honeymoon and summer stay in her other home in Canada. Welcome back, Jan.

Welcome New Members Leticia Latino and Susan Hurschman

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WEC BOOK CLUB:

In 2002, members of WEC who had a common desire for reading and discussions formed the WEC Book Club. The book for discussion is select by the majority and the gathering is held in a member’s home (munchies are always welcome). The meeting schedule varies according to the book and other circumstances. All members are welcome to participate.

If you missed the November meeting, you missed a really interesting discussion. Even though about half those present didn't really like the book, the discussion was deep and quite wonderful.

Emily Rushin will host the next meeting of the WEC Book Club on Monday, February 19 at 6:30, and the book chosen that evening was WEAVEWORLD by Clive Barker.

A few quotes from the back of the book: "Barker puts in strands of Joyce, Poe, Tolkein, and King himself, and emerges with the one ingredient that all good rugmakers and storytellers have in common: an irresistible yarn." Time "A powerfully imagined, fully executed fantasy. A book of dreams recalling William Blake instead of Lewis Carroll...Barker borrows a great many themes from literature, folklore and religion, and makes it completely his own. He writes with a lyrical intensity that transforms some passages from prose to poetry. He infuses his villains and horrors with such venom that they are overwhelming. And he informs everything with an imagination so powerful that it creates its own reality." Cincinnati Post

Note that the book is available in paperback, mine is marked $14.95, and it's not new, so you might find it used on Amazon or Ebay's Halfbooks.com. Now for the groans, my paperback edition is 648 pages long BUT I can ALMOST promise you that you will hate to see it end! You have over three months to read it. Happy reading! Emily

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Women Empowering Women Program

The "Women Empowering Women" (WEW) program, started in 1996, provides financial assistance and member services support to females in the workplace who need help to further their education.

Do You Know ... someone who is re-entering the workforce? . . . trying to advance in her career? . . . could use a “leg up”?

Our Women Empowering Women (WEW) program provides scholarships and mentoring to women who are either going to work after staying at home for a period of time or who want to transition from an hourly position to management. If you meet Kim, our current scholarship recipient, you’ll see a bright woman working on her Masters in communication. Kim has the promise and drive to be an executive. We’re helping her do that through financial and moral support!

Please help us identify someone. It can be a family member, co-worker, friend, or friend of a friend. Call (954-344-9892) or email (ann@ileadershipsolutions.com) Ann Meacham with ideas or questions

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Mentorship Program

In 1983, WEC developed its mentorship program where members spend time with female students from Broward County High Schools to give them the opportunity to see women executives at work. Each year students who complete the program are eligible for "Virginia Young Scholarships." The scholarships are named for Fort Lauderdale's first female mayor and a WEC member.

GEM “Great Eat Meet” Program

Formed in November 2002, members of WEC who choose to get together for an informal meeting are selected at random in small groups to great, eat and meet. A Lead person is selected to set a time and place for breakfast, lunch, dinner or what ever. This is a great opportunity to get to know each other on a more personal level. It is great fun!

What a bunch of good looking members we have!!

These photos snapped by Joni Rosenthal at the November luncheon.

WEC MISSION STATEMENT
The purpose of Women's Executive Club is to give executives the opportunity of fellowship with their peers in diverse fields; to promote the image of the woman executive; to further the interrelationships of such executives and to promote the general welfare of their businesses and community.

December Luncheon
Friday, December 12
RSVP to: Toby Manke

Quote of the Month:

Let no one come to you without leaving better and happier.
Mother Teresa