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You need to have your full mental gear in overdrive to keep up with the tornado that is Mandie Crawford.
No matter what she’s working on whether it’s teaching, writing, mentoring, or starting her own business, Mandie’s mission in life is to help other people succeed. More specifically, to help empower women to achieve success. “All my life, I’ve always wanted to help women,” says Mandie passionately. And everything she does to help others is infused with exuberant enthusiasm.
Responding to the mushrooming need of women in business to connect with each other, the award-winning ex-police officer launched RoaringWomen.com on June 1, 2004. “In the first ten days, we got 500 hits. And I was approached by a woman from the States who says she wants to start the same kind of site down there,” says Mandie.
Last year, the number of women starting small businesses was double the number of men doing so. And networking usually has an old-boys-school atmosphere, so fewer women do it well. “I’ve noticed that women and men network very differently. In fact, in mixed company, you will still find more men in the room than women,” says Mandie.
Hardly surprising, “The perception that women are unimportant is so ingrained, I’ve even fallen into that trap myself.” Mandie recalls a recent interview conducted by Bob Sherwin on a local radio station. “We were talking about how women are not empowered and Bob asked me to tell him about some of my achievements. My response to that was, ‘No, that’s okay.’ Well, it took a second for both of us to realize what had just happened, and then we laughed about it. But what a way to prove my point, and on radio!”
Mandie takes some of her inspiration from Malcolm Gladwell’s book, The Tipping Point. Gladwell states that there are exceptional people out there who can start social epidemics. These people are called “connectors” and can bring other people together. Mandie is definitely a connector. You can tell by the nature of all her activities:
-Mandie currently freelances for The Hamilton Spectator, writing columns on and for women in business.
-A professional organizer, she has also written and published a time management book for the one-person-business called "When Every Second Counts"
-Mandie writes a weekly e-zine that reaches over 1,000 readers. Her articles are published in several periodicals and all over the World Wide Web.
-She leads a mentoring group through the Small Business Enterprise Centre in Hamilton, mentoring, teaching, and motivating other small business owners.
-She teaches psychology and life skills management courses for the Police Foundations Program at CDI College.
Mandie is also an expert in “soft skills” training. A trained behaviour consultant, she teaches others how to understand themselves and then begin to understand others. Combined with Mandie’s leadership and sales training, Mandie’s courses are unique, easy to understand, and apply. Her policing experiences also lend to her understanding of people, and her stories put humour back into learning.
In October of 2004, Mandie teamed up with Susan Valeri to create and launch a radio show at CFMU- out of McMaster University. Roaring Women Radio, a dynamic new business show can be heard at 93.3 - CFMU on Fridays at 12:30 p.m. More about Roaring Women Radio. or you can tune in by webcast CFMU Radio Webcast
After all that, most people would need a nap. But not Mandie. “I don’t even want to think about what I’ve accomplished, I just want to know what’s next,” Mandie tells me. And when she finds it, all you hear is “Ready. Set. Go.” before she leaves you in her dust.
Read more about her here!
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