Turning a problem into a business (and transforming wealth transfer in the process)
Posted On November 21, 2023
Sometimes the problems life presents to us lead us to create new solutions. So it was with Martha Underwood, our guest in a recent episode of “What’s Working with Cam Marston.” Underwood had a family emergency in 2017, when her father fell from a roof while helping a neighbor clear debris after a hurricane and fell unconscious. Living in Birmingham, hundreds of miles away from her parents’ home in Miami, she found that finding and accessing his medical and financial information to make decisions on his behalf was problematic. “With my background, I said there has to be a better… Read More
Categories: Blog, Entrepreneurship, Wealth, What's Working with Cam Marston, Women
Riding wave of prosperity, Poarch Band of Creek Indians CEO believes in giving back
Posted On August 9, 2023
Stephanie Bryan grew up in poverty as a member of the Poarch Band of Creek Indians community, before it obtained federal recognition in 1984. Today, as its first female chairperson and CEO, she is leading it to unprecedented prosperity. Bryan, our guest in a recent episode of “What’s Working with Cam Marston,” now oversees a business portfolio that includes 42 separate businesses, ranging from government contractors to software companies to Wind Creek Resorts and the popular OWA amusement park and waterpark. A community that once received 100 percent of its funding through grant money is now 90 percent funded through… Read More
Categories: Blog, What's Working with Cam Marston, Women
Lauren Weber wants to share the love of Fairhope in a new TV series
Posted On January 10, 2023
Lauren Weber believes the world needs more feel-good stories, more stories about love. And she believes the perfect place for them is Fairhope. Weber, our guest in a recent episode of “What’s Working with Cam Marston,” is an Emmy-nominated TV producer with two decades of experience who specializes in real-life romantic comedy. She was looking for an idyllic small town for her next project and, when she found what she was looking for in Fairhope, she loved it so much that she relocated her production company, Tremont Road, to the Eastern Shore. That project, “Love in Fairhope,” tracks the romantic… Read More
Categories: Blog, Generations, Podcast, What's Working with Cam Marston, Women
For Gabriella Saab, writing is as much about process as inspiration
Posted On December 12, 2022
One might think of writers as creatures of impulse who work in fits of inspiration, waiting for the muse to lead them. Our guest in a recent episode of “What’s Working with Cam Marston” flies against that image. Gabriella Saab writes historical fiction, a genre that requires a copious amount of research, and she has become very deliberate in how she goes about it. Saab’s first novel, “The Last Checkmate,” was quite successful and is now available in 15 countries. But as she began to work on her next novel, “Daughters of Victory,” she decided she needed a new approach…. Read More
Categories: Blog, Podcast, What's Working with Cam Marston, Women, Work
Why “coaching is coaching” is a myth
Posted On March 20, 2019
You don’t need me to tell you that women are a force in today’s workplace – just look around. Women are established at all levels of management, from corporate boardrooms to main street entrepreneurs, even in industries that were once completely male-dominated. But are they motivated in the same ways as men? Should managers coach or mentor them in the same ways? Or are there mentoring approaches that work with men that might not be as effective with women, and vice versa? In the latest episode of “What’s Working with Cam Marston,” I asked these questions to two women who… Read More
Categories: Podcast, What's Working with Cam Marston, Women, Workplace
Women are fueling a resurgence in millennial household incomes
Posted On March 5, 2019
We all know the economic issues with which the millennial generation has been saddled. We’ve all heard the stories of millennials moving back in with their parents and struggling to make ends meet while paying off exorbitant student loans. But there is good news: According to the Pew Research Center, incomes are rising and millennial households now earn more than young adult households of any generation in the last 50 years. The median income for a millennial household in 2017 was $69,000, less than $10,000 lower than the typical Baby Boomer household (just over $77,000). Generation X households, enjoying their… Read More
Categories: Blog, Generation Y / Millennials, Wealth, Women, Work
That Girl Can Code!
Posted On July 24, 2017
Women have made a lot of gains in the workplace, and many of those gains have been accomplished or expanded upon by millennials. Computing and the tech industry remain largely male-dominated fields, however. According to National Center for Women and Information Technology, only 26 percent of computing jobs in the 2016 U.S. workforce were held by women – this despite the fact that women filled 57 percent of all professional occupations in the U.S. Widen the scope to the tech industry as a whole, and the number isn’t much better – only 30 percent, according to CNET’s Roger Cheng. And… Read More
Categories: Generation Y / Millennials, Women, Work, Workplace
Want to attract and retain top female Xer talent? Walk the walk.
Posted On April 29, 2014
While Xers are growing in leadership ranks throughout corporate America, in many cases the leadership tone and corporate culture is still set by Boomers. They are either still at the helm, or their values have so permeated the leadership circles that the generational norms of younger leaders have not yet sunk in. At the same time, businesses are realizing that each generation is different and they may need to engage different generations of employees in different ways. I’ve spent the past 15 years talking to companies about just that. But talking and doing are two separate things – and that… Read More
Categories: Blog, Generation X, Women, Workplace
Are millennial women more optimistic about their career prospects?
Posted On April 10, 2014
Possibly not. While my work focuses primarily on generational differences, not gender one, this Chicago Business story about getting more women into the c-suite piqued my interest. Would the optimistic nature of the Millenial generation translate to greater belief in their ability to break the glass ceiling? According to a Pew Research study cited in the article, 62 percent of Millennial women surveyed assumed that having children would make it harder to advance in their careers. Seems the times are not changing as much as many had hoped. Yet, I can’t help but think that while Millennial women may not… Read More
Categories: Blog, Generation Y / Millennials, Women, WorkplaceAuthenticity Reaches Gen X
Posted On December 6, 2012
A new study by Nielsen shows that Generation X responds to authenticity in advertising above other qualities and approaches. Advertising that is calm, reasonable, and based on real life will appeal to Xers in contrast to more aspirational, extreme, and exaggerated styles that appeal to Millennials. The study found some subtle differences between men and women of Generation X. Gen X women are more responsive to sentimentality, while Gen X men respond to competence. Both place a high value on real-world, relatable situations. The study acknowledges that Gen X is smaller than the others but represents an opportunity for marketers… Read More
Categories: Advertising, Blog, Women