Personal Power Archives - Kathleen Hassan

What Are You Waiting For?

What are you waiting for? Are you waiting for your big break? A book deal? A financial breakthrough? A promotion? Your house to sell? The love of your life to come and sweep you off your feet? Your daughter to respect you? For her to love and accept herself? To lose twenty pounds? For your roots to grow out? To get all your ducks in a row? The legendary Tom Petty sang, “And the waiting is the hardest part.” No one likes to wait. We live in a world of instant gratification and quick fixes. In today’s society, entitlement has replaced empowerment and as a result, our kids are suffering with depression and anxiety. We need to teach them persistence and resiliency skills, how to stop looking to everyone else for their sense of self-worth and how to stop being so damn afraid to fail. There’s a worship song we sing at [...]

By Kathleen| 2018-05-01T01:30:25-05:00 May 1st, 2018|

Wanna Make God Laugh?

You know the old joke, "Wanna make God laugh? Tell him your plans!" Well no doubt, God is laughing his ass off right about now as I embark on a mission trip to Medellin, Colombia this summer. Never in a million years did I imagine I would be a freaking missionary traveling to remote regions to share the love of God. It was never part of my five, ten or even twenty year plan. But four years ago I walked into a church and it felt like home. I'm not even sure I was looking for a church, but happened to see a sign on the main road one day for Life Christian Church. The logo was a tree and I always loved the symbolism of the tree of life and so I decided to check it out. Six months after that, I got baptized in the Gulf of Mexico! [...]

By Kathleen| 2018-04-06T14:23:10-05:00 April 6th, 2018|

Need help? Hire a Girl!

My business naturally yields itself to working with girls. Let’s face it, my business is girls! But even if you’re not specifically in the female empowering biz, hiring a girl might be the best thing you could do for your company, and will probably be the best thing that could happen to a girl too. This past summer, I hired an intern for some special projects, one of which was getting organized and clearing out all old files from my desk and computer. While transferring files onto a external memory drive, I came across a series of audio files that I had created years ago while mentoring a group of girls at GirlTalk Radio, a station run by girls in Boston. All the girls had cool DJ names and they dubbed me “DJ Kat.” I created twenty short audio clips/confidence tips that they could play regularly on air as girl empowerment [...]

By Kathleen| 2017-12-24T14:47:04-05:00 December 24th, 2017|

You Are Here! But Where Do You Want to Be?

You are here! You know that map at the mall? The one you look at when you're trying to find Forever 21? In order to get there you have to know where you're coming from. It's the same thing in life. You can't get where you're going until you know the starting point. Last week was the final session of my brand new pilot program called Buried Treasure: A Girl's Guide to Discovering Inner Strength and Confidence. It's a social emotional curriculum that helps girls deal with their feelings and relationships more effectively so they can navigate the onslaught of pop culture that constantly sets them up for feeling like they're not good enough. This particular program was a six-week after school program, but will be adapted for a weekend retreat experience as well. The Buried Treasure™ curriculum was developed to help girls explore their place in the world, to [...]

By Kathleen| 2017-06-05T15:50:09-05:00 June 5th, 2017|

Let’s Hear It for the Girls! Favorite Moments from the #StateofWomen Summit

Last week I was honored to attend the United State of Women Summit in Washington, DC. Five thousand women gathered in our nation’s capital to celebrate the progress made throughout the Obama administration to improve the lives of women and girls here and around the world, and showcase innovative solutions to the obstacles women and girls still face. The invitation-only guest list was a who’s who of activists, academics, journalists, public officials and business leaders who are all change-makers dedicated to building a better world. I cannot tell you how grateful and humbled I was to be among them. I was invited to attend the Summit by Jess Weiner, CEO of Talk to Jess, a consulting and strategy firm that acts as a thought partner for companies who seek to change their messaging toward women and girls. Jess moderated a panel on Revolutionizing Gender Norms with Amy Poehler and Juliana Chugg, EVP [...]

By Kathleen| 2017-03-07T11:39:41-05:00 June 22nd, 2016|

Create Dangerously: As If Someone’s Life Depends On It

The other day on Facebook I read the transcript of a speech delivered by a girl from York PA. Her name is her name is Devon Hornberger and she gave the Valedictorian Commencement Address at her high school graduation ceremony. I was blown away by her speech that began by recounting the abduction of 276 girls from their dormitories in Chibok, Nigeria. They were kidnapped because their abductors believe that girls should not be educated. Her message to her fellow classmates was about the privilege of their education and how young people around the world are risking their lives for that same right. In her speech, she also sited a quote by Edwidge Danicat, an award-winning Haitian-American author: “Create dangerously, for people who read dangerously. This is what I’ve always thought it meant to be a writer. Writing, knowing in part that no matter how trivial your words may seem, [...]

By Kathleen| 2017-03-07T11:44:34-05:00 June 2nd, 2016|

I Am Enough – free meditation podcast

You are more than enough! You are awesome!!

By Kathleen| 2019-04-27T12:10:25-05:00 April 30th, 2016|

Want Peace? Think on such things.

My son got married last weekend and gave me the greatest honor by asking me to do the blessing and say grace over the meal at the reception. The moment he asked, I started to think about what I wanted to say and immediately thought about my favorite bible verse; Philippians 4.8. I wanted these words to reflect all that was in my heart and be a blessing to everyone there as well. But as with most things that begin with “I want”, it’s so easy to get caught up in self-will and lose sight of God’s will. And so, I paused and prayed. I wrote in my journal and asked that I might be a channel for God’s love and that he give me the right words to say. I turned the page and there on the very next page, was Philippians 4.8! Whatever is true, whatever is noble, [...]

By Kathleen| 2017-03-07T11:51:56-05:00 November 17th, 2015|

You’ve Got What It Takes

Recently I flew up to Boston to attend the 30th Anniversary Gala for National Speakers Association of New England. They were honoring all the past chapter presidents and I was the 20th president. During my term, I actually hosted the 20th Anniversary Gala and people flew in from all over the country so I felt somewhat obligated and compelled to make the trip and attend... and I'm so glad I did! It's not often that we get an opportunity to look back and see our trajectory and career path and get to honor and give thanks for all the people who helped us on our journey. During the event, each past president in attendance got to share a story or most memorable moment of NSA-NE. However, we were told to keep our remarks to 90 seconds!! They should've known better... a roomful of speakers and one microphone - trust me - [...]

By Kathleen| 2017-03-07T11:54:50-05:00 May 22nd, 2015|

Go Ahead. Make My Day! The Power of Compliments

Yesterday I was running into Whole Foods to get a Green Dream (sounds so much better than kale smoothie) and noticed a young woman in the parking lot wearing this awesome purple dress and really cool purple shoes. Without a moment's hesitation I said to her, "Girl... you are totally rocking that purple outfit today!" The guy she was with said, "I'm so glad you said that!" I was thinking that probably he had already told her the same thing and she didn't believe him, so I asked, "Why are you so glad I said that?" He went on to explain that she had, just moments earlier, commented to him how much she liked another woman's cardigan sweater and the boyfriend had said to her, "Well, why don't you tell her that?" But she told him she'd feel silly and that the other woman would probably think she was weird [...]

By Kathleen| 2017-03-07T12:19:43-05:00 October 8th, 2014|