Client Service Account Manager

Client Service Account Managerwithin the

Penguins organization.  Qualified Hill District / Oakland

residents encouraged to apply.

Please contact the Hill District

First Source Center for more information.

 Department:  Sales & Marketing

 Reports to:              

Vice President, Corporate Partnerships

Basic Function:        

Provide proactive account service for

assigned accounts.  The Client Service

 Account Manager is responsible for

 the creation, implementation and

execution of contract benefits for

corporate partnership agreements.

Send resume and cover letter to:

Self Esteem refers to the level of belief in and love you have for yourself.  If you have self esteem this means you recognize your  value, as a child of God who is perfectly imperfectly made, said as such because in our imperfection God made us perfectly so.

Some one asked me once, where does self esteem come fro  A better question is, how is self esteem developed?  When we are born we enter this world with a blank page.  There is nothing on it;  we don't have a clue about ourselves and do not know if we are good, bad or in-between..  By the time we begin  having a sense of out own existence we start to get feedback from our immediate environment; which includes  parents, aunts, uncles, other relatives or key persons involved in our development from birth until just before we go off to school.  This feed back usually goes something like this.  Oh, she is so cute, or, what a bad little girl, or your hair is so nappy that I can't do nothing with it, or she is so pretty, look at her good hair.   We hear these things and more.   At this point, that once empty page  starts to fill up with things that define us, and most of these things on our page  come straight from the perspective of others.  . 

As time passes, we get more exposure to the world outside that first environment; which was either parents, siblings or others directly involved in infant and toddler care, and we hear even more things about ourselves.  Some of those previous comments get confirmation, and some times new things are added.  Added to the equation that equals the development of self esteem, is that the opinions of us that end up on our page are usually unsolicited and many time clouded by the baggage.  This is demonstrated in a line in the song "Do Nothing till you Hear from me', which goes like this "Why people tear the seams of any one's dream is over my head".   Who knows what people have been through that creates in them the need to malign others. 

By the time we become  adolescents and our page  is  a little more than half full; our peers become more important to us, we discover  the opposite sex and THE MEDIA.  All of these enter our lives and the position of our self esteem is at greater risk as we begin the "am I good enough" dance?.   Between the confused state that adolescence often leaves us in, the  signals from the media, peer pressure and a natural inclination to seek the attention of the opposite sex;  we  begin to get lost in society's definition of 'good enough', pretty enough, thin enough, light enough, tall enough, and so on and so forth. 

 And in the absence of an extremely supportive home environment, a place where there is encouragement and nurturing and teaching that somehow counters the daily onslaught of "why aren't you good enough" messages,  by the time we are 25 our slate is now  loaded with everyone else's concept of who we are and whether or not that is valuable or not;  and at this point we begin to by into it.  

We believe the smears on our slate that don't empower us and we subsequently begin to act out on that belief.   Many times there are other things in our past that increase the

Way we quickly internalize the negative things that have been drummed into us.  As our own opinion of ourselves decreases because of  our decisions are tainted by this poor sense of self, we become vulnerable to abusive relationships, we put up with  being disrespected in general, we stay in unrewarding jobs and relationships because we don't believe we deserve better.  Additionally we engage behaviors that will validate some of what our page  says about us. 

When I was 19 I was involved in a program which was sponsored by a local corporation and Kaufmanns Department store.  This program was designed to be a refresher course for Black Women who had taken secretarial courses but had not been in jobs where they were using their skills.  It was also an effort on the part of the Corporation to provide an program that would increase the diversity within their company. 

The twelve-week program  was broken up with the morning being devoted to English, grammar and literature and the afternoon was spent drilling on short hand and typing.  At the end of the program of the 35 girls some would be accepted into the PPG typing pool, which was pretty much a cream of the crop job back then.  They had very strict guidelines and not everyone would be able to make the cut.  Those who were not accepted were guaranteed assistance in going to another company.

At the end of the 12 weeks, participants were tested.  Typing mastery needed to be 60 wpm and the shorthand needed to be 120 words a minute.  At the end of the time I unfortunately, was not successful and came just short of the requirement necessary to be accepted at PPG.  Each of us learned of our fate during a meeting with the corporation H.R. Rep along with a young African American Social worker.  The HR rep  was kind and understanding and assured me that a test is not a determining factor truly on your competency.  Not so of the young African American Social worker.  I was extremely embarrassed and quite shaken that I had not met those minimum standards.  And of course I felt inept and diminished-this African American woman proceed to affirm my feelings of incompetence.

This woman who had sat during the meeting glaring  me the entire time in a very disdainful manner said  as nasty as she could.  "I don't know why you are crying, you had to know you weren't cutting it.  You probably didn't even try, I know the instructor gave you two try's at the taking the  test; you still didn't pass.  Even if we place you, I can't imagine you'll hold the job-or any other one for that matter.

When she was  done I sat there afraid to stand up. It took me close to 20 years to recognize how I had allowed her comments to live inside of me and wreak havoc on my work life during most of that time.   I believed her, she was a trained professional and I was a 20 year who was just making my way-hadn't even been introduced to my skills or self worth.

This is our charge as mothers, grandmothers, mentors, aunts, and sisters; to make sure those young women who are in our charge are empowered.  We must make sure that they know that they are capable, competent, and even gifted.  And that nothing anyone says about them can take away from this.  But it starts with suring up our own sense of self.

As women we are called to enter a softer more relationship with ourselves.  We must refuse to accept whatever negative identifiers we've listened to (forced of otherwise) all of our lives.  We can recreate the way we see ourselves and therefore the way we think about ourselves, and these two together can impact our bottom line objective for our lives inner peace, joy in our existence, belief that we are endowed by God to be golden achievers and a reflection of his beauty. 

The What --  The Why  --  The Where --  The When and  The Who of Self Esteem

When you see those swimsuit sales in stores, you know colder weather is 'round the corner.  And when the seasons change, so does our look - from the clothes we wear to the face we present to the rest of the world.

            So here are a few tips for making a smooth transition into fall and winter 2010:

v  Keep moisturizing your skin.  The sun dries it out, for sure, but so does that indoor heat we love when temperatures dip and the furnace kicks on.  Supplement your facial moisturizer with a night cream.  Don't be surprised if you need to use a little more of your body lotion or even switch to a richer formula.

o   Don't forget to keep using that sunscreen.  Those damaging UVA and UVB rays are out there no matter how cloudy the day may look.

v  Pick up some bold, shiny jewelry to update your current fall and winter outfits.  Chunky bracelets and necklaces and mammoth metal rings with colorful stones are the bling that will make your look sing.

v  Use an exfoliant to rid your face of the dead skin that gives it a dull, ashen look.  A sugar scrub will do the same for the rest of your body, too.

v  Sky-high heels will always have a place in the fashionista's closet, but they've got to make room for the colorful, shiny or embroidered flats that take slacks and skirted outfits to a new level.

v  Blue eyeshadow is back...along with other bright shades.  Use them as accent colors by day - try them as eyeliners or a dash of color on the inside corners of the eyelids.  Go dramatic for evening, washing the eyelid with color and using a contrasting color as eyeliner under the bottom lashes.

v  When it comes to headbands and hair ornaments, don't think back to Secretary of State Hilary Clinton on the presidential campaign with hubby Bill in the '80s or the movie "South Pacific."  A variety of colors and textures move these items into the 21^st century.

v  Eye and lip colors are as bold as ever.  To make sure you don't overdo it, decide what feature you want to play up - bold eyes and soft or nude lips one day; bright or deep lip color and softer eye shadows the next day.

v  Boots, boots, boots.  We saw them all summer with the cut out side and toes.  Make sure you have a pair for rain, snow and just to look cute.

v  Holiday party save-the-date postcards, or more likely e-vites, will be arriving soon.  If you're tired of the LBD (little black dress), opt for a jewel-tone dress color in a classic style. It'll definitely brighten your spirits and put you in the party mood.

        Edwina L Kaikai is an award-winning journalist, health and fitness enthusiast, author of "Stomach in My Lap, 25 Lessons Learned Confronting the Fears, Doubts and Excuses that Piled On the Pounds," and an independent beauty consultant for Mary Kay Cosmetics.  She can be reached at www.marykay.com/ekaikai or ekaikai@marykay.com