Dana S. Marlowe–2010 Hot Mommas Project Winner

Can you imagine finding a job through strangers?  Dana S. Marlowe, 2010 Hot Mommas Project winner, will tell you the story.

The Hot Mommas Project is an award-winning research project making stories of women teachable to serve as virtual role models and mentors. In this series, students comment on what they learn from the cases both from a personal and career standpoint.

Hello there!  Here is Li, how’s your summer going?  My summer is amazing, but school starts in a month (can’t believe it!).  Today, I read and write on Dana’s case!  She is active and has a kind heart! P.s. Please pardon my English grammar errors.  I am an international student, posting from Beijing, China this summer. Thanks!

Dana as a role model

A communication major focusing on Deaf studies, Dana cares about people with disabilities, and is the Senior Vice President at TecAccess, an award-winning accessibility consulting firm in the United States.  According to Hot Mommas Project, I am very impressived by the record that Dana made.  She relates to different fields, including business management and communications as it relates to accessible technology and disability industry.

The entrepreneurial spirit in us all

When Dana was young, she spent her spare time with her dad in hospital.  Her dad’s words inspired her, “Don’t be boring – leave that to the other kids. When you go home with mom tonight, do something different.”  She indeed made a difference!  In her college term paper, in order to get rid of the stereotypes, she armed her Barbie with a tool belt and GI Joe sported an apron and gripped a frying pan!  In her later career, she discovered how difficult that disabled people can commute with each other, and wanted to make it happen.  On some idle Tuesday, Dana walked into a computer store to fix her computer when she saw people using sign language, which sparked her minds.  She further found out that these computers were also sold to government for helping disability workers.  She became more excited.  Later, Dana got the position doing communications at an accessibility company.

Overcoming challenges

Dana, of course, was not satisfied with her position.  She wanted more challenges!  She wanted to do things differently.  Although she knew she didn’t have all the tools in her tool kit, she got a   feeling that she was close to there.  After trying for  a couple years, she decides to work with a partner.

My career learning from Dana

I know to be an entrepreneur is hard, especially for a woman.  They need support and applause, and more importantly, to be brave.  Another very important point is to know how to “sell” yourself, like Dana.  She sensed the opportunity,  which can take her more closely to the success.  She even “grasped” the chance of fixing the computer!  I was very impressed that she could recognize opportunity right away.

Li’s friend Natalie’s comment

I am currently looking for jobs.  So I learned to connect my major with reality, just like Ms. Marlowe.  If my luck comes, I want to thanks her!

Natalie Walker, Marshall Graduate School’ 10, Communication Major

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What is the Hot Mommas Project?

The Hot Mommas Project is an award-winning venture housed at the George Washington University School of Business.  We make women’s stories teachable using our “case wizard” at www.HotMommasProject.org . The Hot Mommas Project library is the first of its kind, providing scalable, global access to role models and virtual mentors that can be used by educators, trainers, and parents. We’ve been featured in Prentice Hall textbooks, the Washington Post Magazine, NPR and are the winner of a national Coleman Foundation case award.

How you can get involved: Write your story, or nominate a dynamic woman 18 or older.

Our call for 2011 nominations has begun. While the contest runs through January 31, 2011 – Start now! There will be prizes this spring and fall for early bird publishers.

How it works: Nominated women come online, write their story using our “case wizard,” and click “publish” to be permanently archived in our case library.  Winners will be published in a leading Prentice Hall textbook in addition to other honors and prizes. To participate, nominate a dynamic woman 18 or older (yourself included) here or find us on Twitter. No, you do not need to be a mom. To inquire about sponsorship, email us.