Today, March 8th, is International Women's Day, a day to celebrate women and how far we have come toward equality and autonomy. It's also a day to contemplate how much still needs to be done to further equal rights for women, both in the United States and around the world. Even President Obama is quoted in The New York Times as saying that there are "opportunities that are still beyond reach for too many young women and too many of our brothers and sisters - too many of our sisters and mothers and aunts..."

Each year, there is a theme. Themes are not global, however. Each nation that participates in the movement can choose their own individual theme. The theme adopted by the UN and its members this year is "Equal Rights, Equal Opportunities: Progress for All". In light of this day and its theme, I thought it would be fitting to publish excerpts of an interview I did a while back with Carol Evans, president of Working Mother Media. Ms. Evans has been a working mother of young children herself. She has seen the social trends and the obstacles that have affected women over the 30 years she has been associated with Working Mother, a publication that, according to Evans, "is all about serving women, minorities  people in general in either finding support for their lifestyle within the companies they work for or finding ways to give themselves the best ideas and solutions for their own personal lives."

Entrepreneurial Women Still Struggle

Evans believes that women, as entrepreneurs, have come a long way. She believes that women have become more savvy, now knowing how to find capital to start their businesses and hire the employees needed to make those businesses thrive. She sees that there are more women entrepreneurs today and that the businesses they are starting are larger and more encompassing than they once were. But Evans still feels there's a long way to go. She says, "It’s still hard for women to get as much capital as male entrepreneurs. It’s hard to scale up because they have so many other financial commitments with their families, and women’s businesses tend to stay smaller than men’s due to less comfort going out to ask for the money." Even Evans had a tough time herself in obtaining capital when she bought Working Mother Media in 2001. "The big difficulty for me was getting capital, getting the more male oriented financial system to believe in me as a woman."

Working Mother: A Supporter of Women

Evans loves the magazine business and is particularly proud to be associated with Working Mother, a publication that has strived since its inception to bring the issues facing women in the workforce to the forefront. An example of how the magazine, that just celebrated its 30th anniversary, has changed America is its yearly 100 Best Companies campaign. The prestigious list has been around since 1986. Evans says that it, "helps companies to not only understand what working mothers need, but it helps to push companies to excel in their support and understanding of working mothers,  and that all goes to the support of our Working Mother readers. It’s a nice circle - it’s like a circle of change!

Views on the "Mommy Wars"

Carol Evans has a lot to say on the subject of the long-standing war between stay-at-home moms and working moms. According to her, "I think the mommy wars are somewhat exaggerated by the media. A lot of moms are working in a corporation one year, another year they’re working from home. Another year, they’re gonna go get back on the corporate ladder. I think what’s important is that they have choice in their career and that their careers are multi-faceted. So I think that what a lot of what happens is that the mommy wars are a product of our own self-doubt." That self-doubt comes about when women become insecure about what the other has or what she knows. Evans points out that working mothers often feel bad about not knowing what's going on in the neighborhood, while stay-at-home moms may find themselves feeling inadequate because they aren't up on career issues. But in the end, "We shouldn’t be battling each other; it just doesn’t get us anywhere.", says Evans. In my opinion, truer words have never been said.

There are lots of exciting things about Working Mother. They feature profiles of amazing women who are succeeding in business and in their personal lives. They showcase the 100 Best Companies each year for working moms. They have a MomBlog, for which I write. These are all very cool things, in my opinion, but there are two things about Working Mother that are particularly exciting for me right now.

The first thing that has me all fired up is that I will be interviewing Carol Evans, the CEO of Working Mother Media, this week. I'm extremely excited to talk with her. My initial intention was to interview her about advice she'd give to freelancers. I thought it would make a nice article for my freelance blog. But how can I have the opportunity to talk to such a maven in the world of women's media and not ask her more? I've got lots of questions lined up to ask her and will post her answers here soon after I talk to her.

So I decided that I'd look through Working Mother for my Monday Magazine Motivation this week. As I was leafing through the magazine, I almost fell off the couch when I saw a picture of my online friend, Heather Allard, on the page! That got me really excited! Heather is a twitter friend of mine and gives great business advice over at her site The Mogul Mom. Head over there to read the full Working Mother feature highlighting her advice on finding distribution for your business's product. It's good stuff. Heather is a knowledgeable business woman and a great friend, always willing to lend a helping hand and a word of encouragement. I'm so proud of her for her accomplishments. She deserves to be seen by thousands of women who read Working Mother. Woo hoo! You go, Heather!

So congratulations to my friend, The Mogul Mom. If you're interested in starting your own business, you'll definitely want to visit her site. As a subscriber, you can receive insight from Heather for free. Didn't I tell you she's generous? Also, wish me luck with my interview and be sure to leave a comment with any questions you think I should ask Carol Evans.

You know how I'm always advocating that we step out of our comfort zone?  Ever since I started this blog, I try to focus each week on doing something different, reaching out to someone new, or taking a risk of some kind.  And it's almost always paid off.  I've received numerous opportunities and have made such great connections with people each time I step out of my comfort zone. I'd like to share my latest exciting news with you.

Do you see the Working Mother logo in my side bar, listed under Where I Write?  No, I haven't gotten anything published in Working Mother magazine.  Yet.  But I am blogging at WorkingMother.com! They have a great Momblog.  I saw that they were accepting applications for bloggers, so I decided to go for it.  I was accepted, and you can read my first blog here.

What do you think?  I'm hoping this new avenue will be fun and will help me in my freelance pursuits.  By the way, I can't believe I forgot to tell you all about my new blog!  It's called Adventures in Freelancing, and I'm hoping it will be a place for other newbie freelancers like me to learn together and share experiences.  Wanna contribute?  Just let me know.  I'd love to have guest bloggers share their knowledge.  Also, don't forget to enter to win one of 8 great prizes for writers. I'll be listing something new each week.  Please drop by and let me know what you think!  And comment here with any good news you've got happening in your life or tell us about ways you've stepped out of your comfort zone recently. Inquiring minds want to know!