Since January 1, I have taken two enormous steps along the road to responsible adulthood: First, I launched a new business and, while some of my loved ones questioned the responsible nature of that decision, it felt like progress. Not long after that, I procured and installed a mini-bar for my apartment. Slowly, but surely, it seemed, I was on my way to becoming a lady boss.

As my business grows and I continue to expand my team, I realize that my beloved, 200-square-foot shared office will no longer do. In the course of seeking larger space, I’ve also begun to consider what additions might be necessary. With the final season of “Mad Men” upon us, it’s occurred to me: Every lady boss needs a mini bar for her office.

Not just any mini bar, though: A conscious, eco-friendly one, which is easier to assemble than it might sound. These four, fundamental bar staples will have lady bosses everywhere making responsible decisions: For business, and the environment.

1. Eco-chic bar cart. I’ll admit: After years of writing about organic products, sustainability and environmental responsibility, it’s never actually occurred to me that an eco-chic bar cart is something that might exist. Duh: It’s such a real thing, in fact, that EcoSalon ran this article last year profiling nine different eco-friendly bar carts. It doesn’t end there, however: Check out this more affordable Rattan Wicker Furniture serving cart.

2. BPA-free glassware. This should be old news, by now. BarLuxe, a producer of several drinking containers, boasts an entirely BPA-free selection, from its sleek carafes to its Vintage collection of wine glasses. This option might be particularly favorable for the lady boss who frequently hosts events; BarLuxe cases typically contain a minimum of 24 glasses.

3. Biodynamic wine. There remains a great deal of confusion around sustainable winemaking. My favorite method du jour is, without a doubt, the biodynamic practice. To clear up any misunderstanding (which this Food & Wine article does quite nicely), biodynamic winemaking views all the various organisms involved in the cultivation of wine’s final product as, if you will, an ecological supply chain. These organisms range from those in the soil used to grow grapes, to any other life around it, including plants, for potential integrated pest management, and cows for fertilization benefits. Want to further reduce your carbon footprint? Use this Fork & Bottle guide to find a biodynamic wine that’s made nearby.

4. Organic whiskey. Cue the “Hallelujah” chorus: Organic whiskey does exist. Koval offers no less than six variations, including the eerily clear white rye whiskey, as well as its ancient-grain-friendly spelt whiskey. Cheers!

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Image of cool businesswoman relaxing via Shutterstock

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 Happy National Business Women’s Day!

There may still be a huge gender gap in the workforce, with even the women running Fortune 500 companies earning just 69 cents to every dollar earned by male CEOs. But women are proving to be major forces of change in virtually every industry, from international banking to non-profit organizations. These 10 women CEOs, including Eileen Fisher, Lauren Bush and Majora Carter, are promoting social and environmental responsibility within their companies and in the world at large.

On this National Business Women’s Day we salute them!

Phaedra Ellis-Lamkins, Green for All

CEO of anti-poverty organization Green for All, Phaedra Ellis-Lamkins is also a sustainability advocate who has been named among the 100 most powerful people in California’s Silicon Valley. Green for All provides green jobs training for low-income people and people of color, and helped push through a California provision that guarantees local workers access to energy-efficiency and renewable energy projects. Before she came to Green for All in 2009, Ellis-Lamkins was the Executive Officer of the South Bay AFL-CIO Labor Council and Executive Director of Working Partnerships USA, which works to address economic disparities in Silicon Valley.

Kim Jordan, New Belgium Brewing

Along with her husband Jeff Lebesch, Kim Jordan co-founded one of America’s most successful craft breweries, New Belgium. Now the company’s CEO, Jordan was instrumental not only in bringing the company from a tiny two-person operation to selling beer in 26 states, but also in making New Belgium truly sustainable. The brewing company is 100% wind-powered and employee-owned, with a sustainability team visiting each department on a regular basis to make sure operations are as green as possible.

Through smart cuts to waste, energy and water usage, New Belgium has become a leading example of how breweries can take a sustainable route to profitability. The company is about to open a new brewery in Asheville, North Carolina, where it will revitalize an industrial brownfield and create new parks and greenways.

Eileen Fisher, Eileen Fisher Sustainable Apparel

The name Eileen Fisher is associated with timeless elegance, high quality and eco-friendly fabrics like organic and Fair Trade cotton, hemp and bamboo. As CEO of her eponymous brand, Eileen Fisher has committed to environmentally and socially conscious fashion, creating sophisticated garments that can last a lifetime. Many of Fisher’s garments are hand-sewn at a family-owned facility in New York City with a seamless process that reduces waste and creates a more durable product. The company even takes back used garments to either repair and resell, or recycle into other items like rugs and blankets.

Irene Rosenfeld, Kraft

Kraft Foods isn’t exactly known for being sustainable, more closely associated with industrial ‘cheez food’ products that barely resemble actual food. But Irene Rosenfeld is trying to change that. The Kraft CEO has dedicated a vast amount of resources and time to overhaul the company’s strategies, setting aggressive sustainability goals that have resulted in massive reductions in packaging waste, water consumption, energy use and carbon dioxide emissions. Kraft is also the world’s largest buyer of coffee and cocoa from Rainforest Alliance-certified farms. While the changes may be slow, they’re certainly notable.

Lauren Bush, FEED

Ducking out of her family’s historical involvement in politics, Texan Lauren Bush (now Lauren Lauren, after marrying the son of fashion designer Ralph) has dedicated her life and career to feeding the hungry. She co-founded FEED after becoming the UN World Food Program’s 2004 Honorary Spokesperson and is now CEO and Creative Director. FEED seeks to create products that can help bring food to impoverished people across the globe. The purchase of one FEED reusable shopping bag can feed one child in school for one year.

Gail Kelly, Westpac Bank

Can big banks be sustainable, too? Gail Kelly, CEO of Australia’s Westpac Bank, believes so, and has pushed sustainability as a business strategy in this seemingly unlikely industry. Under her leadership, Westpac rose to #14 on the Corporate Knights Top 100 Most Sustainable Companies  in 2011. Kelly has advocated for unprecedented transparency in Westpac’s operations and its sustainability report reveals such small details as CO2 emissions per employee. Westpac Bank also has 37.5% women in positions of leadership, which is unusual for such big companies, let alone banking institutions.

Alexa Von Tobel, LearnVest

28-year-old Alexa Von Tobel started LearnVest in 2008 to teach women how to be financially independent. Since then, the company has been valued at $100 million and expanded to offer affordable financial advice to clients ranging from those extremely in debt to people with a net worth that reaches 8 figures. Von Tobel got the idea while at Harvard Business School, taking a leave of absence to follow her dream. According to LearnVest, the company has helped over one million women gain control of their finances to date.

Majora Carter, Majora Carter Group

The founder of Sustainable South Bronx (SSBX), a non-profit organization that works to address economic and environmental issues through green job training, Majora Carter is now CEO of her own economic planning and consulting group. Known as one of America’s top environmental justice advocates, Carter’s motto is “Green the Ghetto!” and her current work with the Majora Carter Group brings her SSBX approach outside the South Bronx. The Majora Carter Group “uses the green economy and green economic tools to unlock the potential of every place – urban, rural and everywhere in between.”

Denise Bode, American Wind Energy Association

Denise Bode is the CEO of the American Wind Energy Association, the national trade organization for the United States wind energy industry. A nationally recognized energy policy expert, Bode was once the president of the Independent Petroleum Association of America, but now heads up lobbying efforts to get funding for wind energy projects. She has also served as CEO of the American Clean Skies Foundation, and was named among Washingtonian’s “100 Most Powerful Women of Washington” in 2011.

Maria Eitel, Nike Foundation

After sportswear giant Nike got caught violating worker rights in outsourced factories around the world in 1998, Maria Eitel came on board to help turn things around. The CEO of the Nike Foundation and vice president of Nike, Inc. works to bring economic opportunities to the world’s most impoverished girls, focusing on 250 million girls aged 10-19 in the developing world. Eitel turned the Nike Foundation from a passive group lacking any real budget or organization into a force for change committed to gender equality. Initiatives that have been created under her leadership include efforts to keep girls in school in Zambia, to avoid early marriage in Ethiopia, and to build rural learning centers in Bangladesh.

Images: wikimedia commons, new belgium brewing, eileenfisher.com, wikimedia commons, feedprojects.com, westpac, learnvest.com, majora carter group, awea.org, unicef.org

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Inspiration is a dish best served in a pretty font.

A good manifesto has the power to move the spirit, incite action and change lives. It’s no wonder that rules for life have been put on paper, given the typographic treatment and posted all over Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr and Pinterest – then instantly shared, retweeted, reblogged and repinned. Inspiring words never get old. Here, a collection of our favorite manifestos, some vintage and some brand new, from across the Internet.

Work Is Not A Job

33 Ways to Stay Creative

Baking for Good’s Recipe for Change

Mary Schmich’s “Advice, like youth, is wasted on the young” column (“Everybody’s Free” song by Baz Luhrmann)

A Manifesto for Women in Business

Indie Travel Manifesto

55some’s Five Simple Rules for Happiness

Platform21’s Repair Manifesto

Apple‘s 1997 “Think Different” Campaign (poster design by Jared McDaniel)

The Why Cheap Art? Manifesto from Bread & Puppet

Skillshare Manifesto: The Future Belongs to the Curious

Hello Handmade Manifesto

Creative Something’s Rules of a Creator’s Life

Ira Glass‘s Nobody Tells This to Beginners

The Holstee Manifesto

Image: Jay Mug

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Hard work and long(er) hours alone won’t get you there. Sponsors are crucial if you want to move up the ladder.

You are one of the majority of women graduating from college and graduate schools, and you know that women comprise more than half the workforce and make more than 80 percent of household buying decisions. You’ve landed a good job and your hard work has led to some recognition and added responsibilities, but your upward trajectory has stalled. You want to lead and your goal is to make it all the way to the top. If you think that even longer hours and more hard work is the path to leadership, you’re in good company – but you’d be wrong.

Many say women are achieving parity and the CEO of Coca Cola says this century should go to women, yet still, few women have made it to the upper echelons of management. Theories for the dearth of women at the top range from a lack of ambition, to the interference of family obligations to gender bias.

Two recent studies (The Sponsor Effect: Breaking Through the Last Glass Ceiling, by the Center for Work-Life Policy and Catalyst’s Sponsoring Women to Success) claim that hard work alone won’t get you to the top, but who you know will. Catalyst reports that 77 percent of women believe that hard work and long hours alone will pay off, but most men know better. Sponsorship is crucial for both men and women to move into leadership positions, but it is especially important for women, and they are the ones who receive it the least.

Sponsors vs. Mentors

Many women have mentors, but while mentors are a valuable part of navigating the workplace landscape, a mentor’s role is usually that of a passive advice-giver. A sponsor takes an active role in your career. According to the Catalyst report, a sponsor’s role is predicated on power. A highly placed sponsor champions you in leadership meetings that you can’t attend, recommends you for high-profile assignments and highlights your accomplishments to the other leaders in your organization.

Many times it’s women themselves who sabotage their own advancement by a lack of assertiveness or inability to negotiate for themselves. Women actually learn at an early age not to champion themselves. Having someone else endorse a woman applicant lends them credibility and makes a much bigger statement than if the woman does it herself. It happens all the time in politics, but isn’t as formal in business.

Everyone Who Enjoys Success Gets a Helping Hand From Someone

Sheryl Sandberg’s excellence in her economics class at Harvard caught the attention of her professor, Larry Summers. When Summers became U.S. Secretary of the Treasury, he appointed her as his chief of staff. From there, her career only rocketed upward to Google and finally to COO of Facebook. Mika Brzezinski’s Morning Joe co-host, Joe Scarborough, went to bat for her at NBC over the disparity in their salaries (he was making fourteen times what she was), even paying her out of his own compensation until they finally offered her a better contract.

Colleen Plimpton, a garden columnist, described how another garden writer, Lorraine Ballato, took an interest in her career. Ballato opened up her personal contact list to Plimpton in order for her to contact people who might hire her as a speaker or writer, and gave her the names of garden radio show hosts who had interviewed her and might interview Plimpton. Ballato even went the extra mile and drove Plimpton to trade shows, and demonstrated how to sell a book and create an effective presentation. “Every time I get to a sticky wicket in my career, I have but to ask Lorraine, and she comes through for me,” Plimpton said.

When Susan Bender Phelps switched careers to marketing, the first company she called granted her an interview. After that initial meeting, they asked her to come back in a week and pitch them on how she would market their company. Phelps had no idea how to go about pitching a plan, so she called her friend Bob, who had volunteered at her former organization. Bob opened up his own firm’s marketing plans to her, taught her what comprised a successful proposal and discussed local market conditions and the roles of different well-known players.

Bob then introduced her to his colleague Tina, who took Phelps to a two-hour lunch and briefed her on the personalities of all the members of the firm where she would be pitching. Both she and Bob offered to be references for Phelps. Phelps got that job and went on to do marketing for several engineering firms. In three years, she helped them bring in more than fifty million dollars in construction projects, and more than 130 employees kept their jobs and saw their careers grow. “Bob and Tina remained friends and resources over the following five years. They continuously shared their networks with me, and introduced me to people and organizations that could help me,” Phelps said.

Workplace Fairy Godmothers

So where can you find such a person that will take hours out of his or her own schedule to help you in your career? Good question. Unfortunately, sponsors are hard to come by these days. A tough job market and the current competitive work climate we’re presently in doesn’t help, although sponsorships are valuable relationships for organizations. Companies who rely on an existing, overworked workforce are making the problem worse.

Mean boys and girls make more money, but it’s a short-sighted tactic. Networking and building relationships is extremely important. If you step on the wrong person in your haste to climb the ladder, that just might be the person who later becomes an important client or works at a company you want to move to. Burning bridges can have consequences.

Let’s be clear – It’s a Partnership

Sponsors put their own reputations on the line when vouching for sponsorees, but the payoff can also be significant. Sponsors put a large amount of trust in the people they help and recommend, so it’s imperative that if you are fortunate enough to be sponsored, you reciprocate by living up to that faith and working hard. However, sponsors also gain insight into the organization and look good by recognizing and promoting talented individuals, and many report feeling good about helping other employees achieve their goals. Retaining workers is becoming more and more important, especially if the economy ever bounces back and employees feel more empowered to switch jobs. Employees who had sponsors reported feeling supported and valued,  and stayed with their companies longer.

Generosity and Diversity Required

While women and men can move up on the lower rungs of the ladder, the higher level jobs are fewer and farther between, so having someone champion you for these positions helps you have an edge. The reason that men have had this advantage until now, is that men tended to sponsor other men like themselves, and with many more men in power sponsoring men, women were at a disadvantage. Several companies like American Express, Cisco, Citi, Deloitte, and Time Warner are putting formal sponsorship programs in place, and for many the first criteria is: you must sponsor someone different from you (whether by gender or race or both).

Many sponsors in the Catalyst study said that they unconsciously gravitated toward sponsoring people like themselves, but when it became a mandate to start looking at other employees with fresh eyes, they discovered a lot about colleagues they had never been in contact with before.

Previously men in power were (understandably) leery of sponsoring a younger woman inside their organization for fear of being accused of a sexual relationship. And, in some cases, women who fought their way up aren’t as willing to help other women advance, especially past their own position. Since there is such a shortage of top spots awarded to women, there can be a feeling that there isn’t enough to go around. But with the rise of women’s business groups and networking, that feeling is subsiding. Women who worked hard to climb the ladder certainly can be an infinite help to other women on their way up, but the key is for more men to advocate for women to move into higher positions.

Repeated studies have shown that having multiple women on corporate boards and in leadership positions result in a better financial performance for organizations. And to get women, women of color, and minorities into leadership positions requires sponsors and advocates who have already walked the challenging road.

image: Alvaro Canivell, mnsc, lumaxart, BinaryApe, vokakvklim and Nicholas_T via Flickr cc (some rights reserved)

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