This post is by Bibi K.:

BE STRONG; BE PATIENT; BE WARY; HOLD FIRMLY TO YOUR BELIEFS; YOU WILL SURVIVE AND SUCCEED.

When we come to this country for the first time, it is a very overwhelming experience. Whether we come from a third world country where the socio economic conditions are not so great, or whether we come from a country that is more financially viable, we have to go through certain rigors of assimilation and they can be brutal.

Many of us coming to America for the first time do so on our own. We leave family, friends, loved ones and familiar surroundings in search of a better future for ourselves and our families. Some of us do not even speak English and it is remarkable and sometimes beyond comprehension that we are able to cope.

In our home countries many of us did not work and were primarily home makers; taking care of the children and our husbands who went to work and provided for us. Here we are expected to earn our own livelihoods, provide food, clothing and shelter as well as send money back home to help take care of the rest of the family.

Most of the time we have to leave our children. What is this like? Ask any mother what it feels like to be separated from her child for a week or two and then mutiply that grief to the nth degree. Even then, words cannot express the anguish and heartbreak a mother feels at being separated from her child/children.

Add to that our parents and our siblings with whom we were surrounded since birth. All these familiar faces and support systems that we were accustomed to are taken away and we are left naked, lonely, lost and forlorn.

This is when our inner strength has to kick in. Do we run back and succumb to defeat, or do we stand up and fight with every fiber of our being? We can do it, I know we can, because I have been there and done that!

We only have to remember that we do not want to survive at the expense of others. Never give up when the going gets tough .. we have to make sacrifices if we want to accomplish anything in life. When we are faced with hardships, we need to dig deep down within and find the resources to propel us forward. It is remarkable that we do not know what we are capable of until we are put to the test.

There will be many sleepless nights when you will toss and turn and pray and ask:
“Why am I here? What am I doing in a land so far away?”
“Where are my children and did they have a decent meal today?”

You will have nightmares about your children or your family members going hungry or suffering when you are well fed, but you cannot feel guilty about those things. You can only endure so much mental torture and as much as you can, try to put away all these negative thoughts. And, above all, do not ever think about ways to end your life because it is becoming very unbearable. No amount of worry or struggle is worth giving up on life, for every day that we awaken, it is a new dawn with new possibilites and who knows, tomorrow may be the day that your struggles will be over.

Never give up your values and beliefs – especially your faith in a Higher Power – whatever you percieve Him to be. Your belief system is your code of life and if you give up too much in trying to assimilate, you may end up losing your entire being and thus lose your way. There are times when inexplicable things happen, reminding us that there is a force beyond our realm of comprehension.

Maintain your self respect and never, ever succumb to temptations and weaknesses especially when it comes to drugs and alcohol. One woman who came here by herself from an island country was so intelligent that she raised her first child and he became a College Graduate. However, she soon got caught up with alcohol and drugs and when she was about to deliver her second child, the ambulance had to pick her up, drunk on the streets.

Eventually her older son had to step in and adopt his younger brother, because his mother had fallen by the wayside. Just be aware that there is a very thin line between walking the straight and narrow path and going astray.

The world is still full of kind and generous people – they appear at the most crucial moments. However, be cautious and wary of the many wolves in sheep’s clothing. Remember because of your circumstances, there may be many people who would try to take advantage of your moments of weakness, so be STRONG, yet gentle to yourself.

Never give up on your quest to fulfil your dreams and your goals. They give you purpose and a reason to keep going, day in and day out. After all your hardships, there is always a light at the end of the tunnel.

There will be many times when you feel like you have nothing left and there is no purpose in going on, DO NOT LOSE FOCUS. If your children are the light at the end of your tunnel, then use that as your guiding force. Let that thought and that purpose occupy your mind and your soul – let them be the reason for waking up every day.
When your family joins you, do you think that will be the end of your journey? A resounding NO!! That is when you have to make your struggles count. Do not ever think, I can now relax because I have succeeded in bringing them to America.

This is where all your strength and courage will be tested. Even though you may be weary to the bone, you now have added responsibilities. The responsibility of securing a good education for your children. If you do not accomplish anything else, let this be your number one goal. Once your children have acquired a proper education, your struggles will now have purpose. If not, it will all have been in vain.

And after they finally join you and you hear one of them say, “I will not let my mother’s sacrifice be in vain!”
It will all be worth it a million times over. The most rewarding part about all of this is to be able to look back and say, I did this and I survived. Please do not give up hope! When your dreams are fulfilled, and trust me they will be, you will feel an extreme sense of “Euphoria” and it will ALL be worth it.

Bibi K. is a native of Guyana. She is now a United States Citizen who lives in Queens, NY along with her two children and her grand child. She is happily remarried and still working as an Executive Assistant in a very renowned company in Manhattan. She recently published her first book, The Green Grass, which tells the gripping story of a single mother coming to America.

To learn more about Bibi, please visit her blog or connect with her on social media:

Blog: http://bibisingh.wordpress.com/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/BibiSingh2

Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/pages/BIBI-K/471349182896757

This post is by Marija Bojic:

My name is Marija Bojic and I am an immigrant woman from former Yogoslavia. I came to Canada desiring peaceful life, education, and a better life for my family.

As I was leaving the war- torn country, I thought that witnessing such tragedies as friends and family being brutally killed was going to come to an end. Losing several family members and several friends including my very close friend Zrinko left me with a lot of fear for my loved ones.

After coming to Canada, finishing the Nursing School and getting my dream job, I met Sonia who I regarded to be the loveliest person I met in a long time.

She worked hard, was always honest and understanding of others. She had strength to advocate for people who were not able to advocate for themselves. She was always on the side of vulnerable people (immigrants, people living in poverty, single mothers, people who did not speak English well or were not familiar with Canadian health care system).

We used to go out together, dancing, shopping….

I was planning Zumba ®Fitness party for September and Sonia was thrilled to RSVP to attend. “Finally, I can dance and not be dependent on finding a partner. I can dance on my own terms!” She was excited to come all the way from Orangeville to this event.

One afternoon in August of 2010, I was watching TV when I saw that she was pronounced to be missing. The way the scene was described did not give a lot of hope that she would ever be found alive. After a week, her body was discovered.

This incident was very disturbing to me and had brought back many of my memories from Sarajevo. I left my home without many memories (such as pictures) of my lost loved ones. I felt alone and helpless yet one more time.

But this time, I decided to create a memory for Sonia.

I spent many days thinking what to do and how to do it. One day,the  idea came to my mind that I could organize a memorial scholarship through Registered Nurses Association of Ontario.

The event would be a mix of Zumba ® Fitness and dance , which would be dedicated to remembering Sonia. I also found that organizing this event helped me with grieving process.

There were (and still are) good days and bad days; days when I feel hopeful that violence will stop to exist; there are days when I feel vulnerable, afraid for my loved ones and insecure of the safety in this world.

The event took place on February 4th 2012, and it was a great success.

It was supported by her Sonia’s family, the public, nursing organizations and Zumba ® Instructors. This event was regarded to be an act of kindness and acknowledgement of Sonia’s life, as well as creating lasting legacy in her memory.

Registered Nurses Foundation supports Ontario nurses in pursuit of their academic work as well as knowledge advancement. The scholarship in Memory of Sonia will focus on supporting nurses who are through their academic work involved in projects related to healthy work environments. That is, focusing on a culture grounded in respect and equity in workplace. That is the work-life that Sonia enjoyed and advocated for.

The next Fundraiser is scheduled for February 23rd 2012, 6pm, at St Michael College School. We are looking forwards to executing yet another fundraiser for this great cause.
For more information, please visit
http://inmemoryofsonia.com/  or,
http://zumbaclassesintoronto.com/zumba-r-fitness-fundraiser-in-memory-of-sonia-varaschin

This post is by By Gina Mollicone-Long:

Do you get the most out of your employees? Do you know how to motivate them? Do you realize that if you or your employees aren’t operating at full potential then you are leaving money on the table?

We’ve all heard the old adage that the people in your business are your greatest asset. But very few organizations take that sentiment seriously.

Let’s face it, many companies spend more money annually on tea bags and coffee filters than they do on developing their people or on team building. Yet, when you think about it, not one of those businesses could run at all if you took away their people.

A common mistake that many business owners and managers make is that they hire  based on skills or likeability often neglecting the cultural fit and the potential performance of the employee.

They look for experience, education or hard skills. This may work in the short term but it can lead to big problems in the long run.

How a person does something is as much, if not more, important than what they do. Skills can be taught but cultural fit and performance potential cannot.

There is an entire field of study called neuro-linguistic programming (NLP), which is dedicated to understanding what causes peak performance and how to replicate it. NLP is about understanding how a result is achieved and what is critical to success.

How someone thinks and acts is usually a preprogrammed response. The way they handle stressful situations or how they communicate with other team members or even their ability to multi-task are all habitual patterns of behavior.

These types of details are very important in the overall performance of the employee and yet most companies don’t have a clue how to discover them.

In NLP, these patterns of behavior are called Meta Programs, which are basically mental processes that manage, direct and control other mental sub-processes. Essentially, meta programs are the master mental processes that govern behavior and therefore performance. Knowing someone’s meta programs will give you a good understanding of how they will perform on the job.

If you’re like most companies then your interview and screening process is more focused on skills and experience then on discovering how the candidate thinks and how they will behave and perform in your corporate culture.

Some companies use assessment tools such as personality testing which is a fantastic first step towards understanding cultural fit. But most personality testing is not detailed enough to predict performance potential. Understanding the meta programs of a person takes personality testing to the next level and can usually be discovered in less than 15 minutes.

 Another common trend is the lack of performance development with existing employees. It’s analogous to buying a car and then never doing a day of maintenance on it. The more you tune your engine, the better it will run. Obviously, many companies have scores of people who are not operating anywhere near their performance potential. When people operate at their peak performance then they will do the things necessary to maximize results whether it is revenue generating or cost cutting. Essentially, they will do the job that you hired them to do and they will do it in the best possible fashion.

Here are five tips to help boost performance in yourself and others that you can begin doing immediately:

1.   Ensure that your employees have the resources they need to get the job done well. Having the right tools allows employees to focus on their outcomes.

2.   Recognize employees on a regular and frequent basis. This recognition could be formal or informal but it should be done at least weekly.

3.   Foster a cohesive, supportive environment where employees feel as though they belong. Engage in events that build team morale and interpersonal relationships.

4.   Develop your employees and teams on a regular basis with opportunities for personal and professional development so that they can maximize their contribution and build their skill levels.

5.   Start using an assessment tool to help allocate people to the right job, motivate them and even determine whether they would be better to part ways with your company.

Your people are the only real competitive advantage you’ve got. In a day and age when everyone has access to the same resources, the same raw materials, the same methodologies and the same strategies, there is only one area where you can still cultivate a meaningful difference – your people. When you learn how to leverage your people then the sky’s the limit as to what you can achieve. What would be possible if you and your people were operating at full potential?

 Gina Mollicone-Long helps people get what they want. She is an international best- selling author, compelling speaker and peak performance specialist with a mission to reveal greatness in individuals, teams and organizations. She is the co-founder and CEO of The Greatness Group, a multi-national corporate team building and training company. Since 1998, she has trained, coached or spoken to tens of thousands of people globally. Her books, Think or Sink and The Secret of Successful Failing are widely read and enjoyed by people around the world. She can show you exactly how to get out of your own way.

This post is by Guiomar Campbell Dipl Ac., Sh. RN:

Summer is the most wonderful time of the year. Those of us who live in Canada really appreciate the sunshine, warmer temperatures and the opportunity to spend time outdoors. Since our summers are so short, it’s especially frustrating when you get sick or feel low on energy.

If you want to enjoy the summer time to the fullest, make sure to nourish your body and keep your immune system strong by following these tips:

• Drink 8 cups of water a day starting first thing in the morning;
• Eat small amounts of food every three hours to keep your metabolism going;
• Do not eat and drink at the same time;
• Be relaxed and only focus on your food when you are eating;
• Prepare your food ahead of time and store it in the fridge.
• Choose natural foods as opposed to food from boxes;
• Drink green tea;
• For women specially, avoid skipping meals, eat foods that are warm, light and easy to digest, and try to avoid goods or aromas that are highly chemicalized;
• Cook with spices such as turmeric, cumin, coriander and fennel to aid digestion;
• Take real rest during your menstrual cycle;
• Eat lots of green leafy vegetables. Green leafy vegetables contain a wide range of vitamins and minerals as well as high doses of chlorophyl, digestible proteins and enzymes. The most powerful greens are: spinach, dandelion greens, kale, watercress, parsley, lettuce, endive, chicory, broccoli, sunflower sprout, buckwheat sprout and mustard sprouts;
• Include seaweed in your diet such as nori, kelp, dulce and wakame sea weed. Because you don’t need to cook seaweed it is great to use as seasoning on salads or vegetables. The chemical composition of seaweeds is so close to human blood plasma that perhaps their greatest benefit is regulating and purifying our blood system. According to researches sea vegetables have ten times more calcium than milk and eight times as much as beef. The most remarkable results with seaweeds we see in boosting weight loss and deterring cellulite build up;
• Choose a liquid mineral supplement that contains sea vegetables and aloe vera plant. Aloe Vera stimulates cell growth and tissue healing. It has 20 of 22 amino acids, including 8 essential nutrients. It is an excellent source of vitamin B12. It aids in detoxifying hormone balancing, sleep enhancement, digestive support and strengthening the immune system. Aloe vera caries lots of minerals and is cooling in nature. It has a very gentle effect in the colon and powerful detoxing properties.

 And most importantly, be happy, peaceful and keep smiling!

 Have a great summer!

This post is by  Nance Williams Jonkman:

For years I have dreamt of being an entrepreneur.  I searched for the next great thing I could offer and found myself frequently in conversations with other women who had successfully launched their own businesses, but were struggling in one area or another. 

I found the discussions invigorating and exciting.  Invariably, I would provide advice, offer to help or, if I needed more information, launch myself into a Google marathon to find a solution.  It took a while, but I finally realized this was my talent and I set out to start my own business.

While putting together my business plan, I couldn’t resist researching who else is starting businesses in Canada.  It was incredible to find such a diverse pool of talent with so much in common. 

The average entrepreneur or small business owner in Canada is a woman in her 40’s, with one or more young children and possesses a post-secondary education or higher.  Canada has more than 821,000 women entrepreneurs contributing in excess of $18 billion to the economy every year. Among women entrepreneurs, immigrant women are more likely to pursue this path than Canadian-born women. 

Interestingly, immigrant women have more in common with successful entrepreneurs than just demographics.  The circumstances that bring an immigrant to Canada may be unique, but the personality traits of women immigrants show a lot more in common with entrepreneurs. 

Entrepreneurs and immigrant women both share the ability to:

• Make strategic choices –possess an ability to act decisively, adapt to change and acquire new skills; 
• Be confident and dedicated – are willing to take risks, persevere and learn from their mistakes; 
• Be consistent and creative – are able to find ways to bring their skills and experiences to new situations;
• Learn and be flexible – willing to listen, adjust quickly and seek out mentors.

Fortunately, I recognized a lot of these traits in myself.  I could safely consider myself worthy of being a part of the entrepreneur club, despite being a Canadian of countless generations (I have native Canadians and early settlers in my family tree).  I do have fewer obstacles to overcome than many immigrants starting a business….but my research also showed that those obstacles are becoming less relevant.

The timing has never been better to be an entrepreneurial immigrant in Canada:

•  The internet has provided a global market for the right products and services to thrive; 
• Technology has become more affordable and mobile for businesses on the go; 
• There are plenty of good free or inexpensive tools to help you run your business;
• The sheer volume of start-up companies in this country are challenging the way funding is both found and allocated.

Government and industry leaders are also leading several initiatives to direct small and medium enterprises (SME’s) to recognize immigrant talent.  It’s becoming more worthwhile to promote your own entrepreneurial efforts through individuals and organizations like industry or professional associations.  Online networks like BrilliantWoman are also incredibly important sounding boards and communities for immigrant women entrepreneurs.  

So, whether you are thinking of becoming an entrepreneur or you already are one, you are in good company.  You already have the right traits to succeed and now you just need the right tools. 

Number 1 on your list should be a business plan.   Even businesses that have been around for years without a business plan can find enormous benefit from one (often times more than a new business).  No matter how great your idea or your business-sense, there are always parts of your business that you’ll be great at and parts you won’t give much thought to.  Completing all of the pieces that make a successful business plan, forces you to think about all of the pieces involved and where you might need help.

As mentioned in the excellent Brilliant Woman Guide to Starting a Small Business, you can find business planning templates for free on-line. 

Some additional tools to help you with the research and ongoing support of your business include:

• To help streamline the amount of information you’re either searching through or reading to keep up on what’s happening in the market your business services, content aggregator sites are easy to use and GREAT:

1. Google Alerts monitors the web for new content   – www.google.com/alerts
2. AllTop to find all the top stories on the web – www.alltop.com
3. Topsite to find the best sites on the web  – www.topsite.com
4. popurls® is the premium aggregator to the best of the web – www.popurls.net

• To push content to the web and have it appear in multiple locations/social media sites like these are very helpful:

1.  netvibes is a personalized dashboard publishing platform for the Web– www.netvibes.com
2. Hootsuite is  a social media dashboard to manage and measure your social networks – www.hootsuite.com

 If your efforts are not instilling the confidence you’d like to have in your business, there is help available.  I am the owner of strategy4balance, a business and marketing planning consultancy that also offers marketing services.  I would be happy to offer readers of BrilliantWoman a free 1-hour consultation to help you put together your personal guide to a successful small business.

Nance Williams Jonkman

Nance Williams Jonkman -  a 15 year marketing and planning veteran with a passion for innovation, a deep curiosity about just about everything and a love of helping people. Six years ago she stepped away from a full-time corporate career to raise her young family. During those years, Nance has spoken with many women and small business owners, sharing the business and marketing planning lessons or tips she has learned over the years.  Now that Nance’s young family is a little less young, she is making her passion for helping women and small businesses official with strategy 4 balance. Nance lives in Toronto with her husband and 3 kids.

Website:  www.strategy4balance.com <http://www.strategy4balance.com>
Email:     nancewj@strategy4balance.com
phone #:  647-407-9608

This article is by Gina Mollicone-Long:

Everything that happens to you serves you in some way. Everything. Every time. It doesn’t always feel good but it always serves you. Just as the pain of a paper cut serves to alert you to the injury on your finger so too does the pain of a failure.

Pain is feedback that something is amiss. In this context, failure is simply feedback. You can be instantly freed from the suffering associated with any failure if you grasp (and master) the concept that failure is feedback.

Everything in the Universe is energy (including you and me). We know this because Einstein showed us with the theory of relativity that everything in the universe is just energy in one form or another.

All energy in the Universe is governed by Universal Laws. The most important of these laws is called the Law of Attraction. This law states that like attracts like. Everything that you experience in your physical surroundings is a direct vibrational match to your internal energetic vibration.

Basically, thoughts lead to feelings, these feelings lead to action and action leads to results. In other words how we think and feel creates every experience in our lives. Therefore, if you want to see different results in your life then you must make a change on the inside first.

I often use the analogy of looking in the mirror to explain this principle. When we look in a mirror, we see ourselves reflected. It seems silly, doesn’t it, to blame the mirror if we don’t like what we see? Doesn’t it also seem silly to try to somehow modify the mirror to get a different picture? On the contrary, in order to change the image being reflected, we need to change ourselves.

In other words, if we don’t like the results we get in life, it’s futile to blame the results themselves or our circumstances. To see different results, we must make a change inside of us. This, and only this, will create a different reflection in the mirror. You can’t fix your hair by combing the mirror.

Failure is feedback, nothing more. Failure is just a reflection of something that isn’t working on the inside. It doesn’t hold any hidden meaning about our worthiness and doesn’t mean that we shouldn’t try.

It is feedback about what worked and what didn’t work. It contains all the necessary information for us to go back and change something on the inside so that we can produce a different outcome.

If you can master the art of learning from your failures, you will find that you can literally direct your life exactly as you want it. Remember, if you want to find your brightest light then you have to look in your darkest room.

Gina Mollicone-Long helps people get what they want. She is an international best- selling author, compelling speaker and peak performance specialist with a mission to reveal greatness in individuals, teams and organizations. She is the co-founder and CEO of The Greatness Group, a multi-national corporate team building and training company. Since 1998, she has trained, coached or spoken to tens of thousands of people globally. Her books, Think or Sink and The Secret of Successful Failing are widely read and enjoyed by people around the world. She can show you exactly how to get out of your own way.

This post is by Fabiana Bacchini:

Her desire for change empowered her to overcome an addiction of over 12 years. “The doctor told me I was going to die if I carried on drinking”, says Maria Connie Garcia, 53 years old, our Brilliant Woman of the week. “It was a miracle. I just stopped one day and that was it”, she celebrates.

Connie moved to Canada from Portugal with her parents and two siblings when she was only 17 years old. The family had a hard time making ends meet back home and they already had 5 kids living in Strathroy,Ontario, which made the decision to immigrate easier.

 As soon as they arrived, Connie started to work in a furniture factory. Speaking the language was her main problem so she decided to attend night school to learn English. “I ended up working at the furniture factory for 15 years. I was making money so life was ok”, she says.

 The beginning of her addiction

 One day, Connie had an anxiety attack at work. “I didn’t really know what had happened. Then I came home and I had a glass of wine. It felt really good”, she explains. At that time she was living with one of her brothers and she started to drink more and more everyday. Her brother stopped talking to her. The situation was really bad.

 One year, Connie went to Portugal and met a guy there. He moved to Canada and they got married. She said she does not remember her wedding day because she was drunk. Everything started to get out of control, but she still managed to buy a house in Strathroy and get a job at a nursery. Her husband was working on a turkey farm, but Connie was the main breadwinner. “One day I couldn’t handle it anymore and I gave the house to the bank and left my husband. I lost everything, including my job”, she says.

 On top of that, her health started to show the signs of her addiction. She developed liver problems. “I had to go on welfare”, she explains.

 One day, Connie went to Toronto and decided that soon she was going to move there. So, she started helping in a church and one of the members brought her to Toronto to help. “I was still drinking but not as much”.

Overcoming alcohol

 In Toronto, Connie met Fernanda, also a Portuguese immigrant. They became friends and she invited Connie to live with her.  “Fernanda didn’t put up with me or agreed with what I was doing”. One day Connie drank so much, Fernanda told her if you keep drinking you will have to get out of my house. “That was a big wake up call and soon after that the doctor told me I was going to die because I was really sick”, she adds. She stopped drinking overnight and since then has not had any cravings. “If I hadn’t moved toToronto, I would be dead by now”, she says.

Fernanda and Connie fell in love with each other. “She was the one who helped me get through a very difficult time in my life. My family didn’t want to have anything to do with me and she took care of me”, she tells us.

 Connie started to get her life back on track. In the beginning she was cleaning a building as she had no strength to do anything else. Counseling played an important role on her road to recovery. For many years she had to take pills to improve her memory. In 2000, she stopped the pills and a few years later got a job with the government at the Ministry of Children and Youth Services. She now works at a jail in Milton.

Catching up with life

“Thirty years ago, I was nothing. Now I feel like a million dollar woman. I’m happy and I’m healthy. I feel like I’m 30 years old”, she celebrates.

 One year ago, Connie started her own business in the wellness industry through network marketing. She has big plans of buying a house, her own car and to live a very long life. “I have to live my life now because I didn’t before. Besides, I have a dream to help people, especially children”.

 Her message is to BELIEVE that there is a new beginning. “Get out of the hole because there is something better. There is always a way if we let people help us. There is always a door open”, she concludes.

We, at  Brilliant Woman, want to thank Connie for sharing such a personal journey of courage, strength and determination to take control of her life.

Maria Connie Garcia

Maria Connie Garcia is a Vemma brand partner. She lives in Mississauga, ON, with her partner of 16 years, Fernanda. To contact Connie, send her an e-mail to maria_connie_garcia@hotmail.com

This post is by Guiomar Campbell:

Recent findings suggest that the immune system is designed to eliminate cancer. According to Dr. Mercola, osteopathic physician and writer, when a person uses medical interventions (such as radiotherapy and chemotherapy) to eradicate the cancer, they end up damaging the immune system and it fails to respond appropriately destroying the chances of your body to heal itself naturally.

Unfortunately, mammograms, a specialized radiography that shows the contrast between normal tissue and tumors tend to increase the probability of women to perform medical procedures such as biopsies unnecessary. There is now a large amount of scientific evidence supporting the theory that your own immune system is your best weapon against cancer.

Nearly everyone has cancer cells and precancerous body but not everyone develops cancer. The difference is in the health of the immune system of each person. The cancer cell needs more than one mutation to develop. It needs the cooperation of other nearby cells and certain immune responses, and needs to be fed with hormones.

It is important to understand that strength and health of your immune system is an important factor in determining whether or not you will beat cancer once you have it.

One way to strengthen your immune system is to minimize your exposure to mammograms and other sources of ionizing radiation. The dose of radiation during an annual mammography test is twenty to twenty-five times higher than simple pulmonary radiography and it is proven that the organ of the body more sensitive to the carcinogenic effects of this test is the breast, compared with the lung, thyroid and bone marrow.

A more natural alternative approach to mammography is thermography, a painless, affordable, noninvasive, and safe, procedure where an infrared photography is taken from the body to detect heat from the tumor areas.

How to dramatically reduce your chances of getting cancer?

Eating a good diet rich in minerals, vitamins and antioxidant, reducing mental stress and exercising daily.


Start optimizing your vitamin D level, a steroid hormone that affects almost every cell in the body and one of the most potent anti-cancer agent. Vitamin D is able to enter cancer cells and trigger apoptosis or death of cancer cells.

For someone who is diagnosed with breast cancer it is recommended to keep a level of 70 to 100ng/ml of vitamin D per day and make an immediate detox of the liver through the use of enzymes, minerals, and complete elimination of sugar.

Vitamin A plays a role in preventing breast cancer. Your best sources are organic eggs and beef and chicken liver (coming from animals grown outdoors and fed organically).

The curcumin (the active agent in turmeric) is one of the most powerful spices to inhibit tumor formation. Green tea, seaweed, cruciferous vegetables and evening primrose oil also help prevent breast cancer.

Avoid all processed foods, and minimize sugar, grains and starchy foods.

Essential oils are of tremendous importance in maintaining breast health, especially sandalwood frankincense, rosemary and lavender. Besides inhibiting the cancer cells they work our mood, balance our emotions and pleasure and maintains skin health.

The better you take care of your immune system, the better it will look after you.

Guiomar Campbell

Guiomar Campbell, Dipl. Ac Dp. SH Tel: 416-986-9270/ 416-922-7200 www.lotusartswellness.com/blog e-mail: guiomar@lotusartswellness.com

This post is by Fabiana Bacchini:

Looking for a safer life, she arrived in Toronto in the middle of the winter 14 years ago. Cindy Sacks and her husband Ronnie left South Africa with very little knowledge about the work opportunity in Canada. Our Brilliant Woman of the Week knew she could pursue her career as a kindergarten teacher. However, the school year had started in September and it was January so Cindy could not get a job right away.

“We needed money so I decided to start a home day care”, she says. She worked long hours with no help. The kids arrived at6.30amand she had them all day until7pm.

On the weekends, Cindy joined her husband in a store in downtown Toronto. “I don’t know how we were able to afford anything. We were making very little money”, she explains. “I don’t know how we made ends meet”.

Even though the times were tough for the young couple, Cindy remained positive. “Immigration can destroy your marriage or make it stronger”, she tells us. But they did not give up.

After one and a half years with the day care, Cindy decided to work with her sister selling promotional products. Shortly after, she got pregnant. As she couldn’t afford to stay home, she started to look for a nanny.

The new business

“When I started to look for a nanny I saw a possibility to have this as a business. It would give me flexible hours and I could be around. This could be my job”, she says.

Cindy drove all around Toronto to interview nannies, to learn the business and spent hours on the Internet researching the rules and regulations of the business. Her first client was happy and the business started to grow by word of mouth. She realized she could make money doing it. Nannies Inc. was born!

“I didn’t have any formal training for this business, there was no course to take. I learned from my mistakes”, she says.

In the beginning, Cindy said, it was frustrating because you deal with the government and you have no control over it. As the business grew, the nannies started to come from abroad, especially from the Philippines.

Working from home is challenging and for Cindy it wasn’t different. “I didn’t know the balance between work and time with the family. I learned to be very disciplined and divide the hours for the family and work”. This kind of work involves a lot of evenings as most clients work all day and the nannies are abroad.

The success

It took some time for Cindy to start to make money but she was patient. With a second child on the way, she knew that this business was a perfect fit for her.

When I asked her what was the secret of her success she didn’t hesitate to say that honesty and always telling people the truth are the best ingredients for any business to succeed.

Cindy does her best to match her clients with the nannies. “The nanny becomes an addition to the family and that’s great”.

But there is more to it, Cindy talks about her business with love and passion. She knows she is making a difference in many people’s lives not only of the families who are looking for extra help, but also on the nannies who dream of a better life in Canada.

“It’s rewarding to see these women making their dreams come true. They leave everything behind including families and their own children to seek more opportunities and reunite with them in the future here”.

Cindy Sacks is the owner of Nannies Inc. She lives in Thornhill, ON, with her husband Ronnie and her two kids Jordan and Emmaruby. For more information, visit her website: www.nanniesinc.ca  or contact her at : nanniesinc@rogers.com

This post is by Maria Ushakova:

Last week, we celebrated one year anniversary - it’s been one year since BrilliantWoman.net went live on March 20th of 2011. I am so excited! In just one year, the blog has grown from a small project that I started out of my personal interest in blogging into an established and expanding brand.
 
Often, we are afraid to start something new because we think that we can’t succeed alone. Working on BrilliantWoman, once again proved for me that once you are ready, the Universe will align and the right tools and people will show up on your path and assist you in achieving your goal.

I really believe in the power or gratitude. I think we are often so focused on the things we wish we had that we forget to be thankful for what we already have.  So today, I want to express my gratitude to everyone who directly and indirectly helped me to develop this project to what it is today.

I started this project with very limited knowledge in blogging. But what I quickly realized is that bloggers are the most generous people in the world – they share their knowledge all over the internet for free. I was able to find answers to all questions I had about setting up my blog, customizing it, installing plugins, publishing articles etc. I very much appreciate everyone who is “blogging about blogging” – thank you for sharing your knowledge!

I am also very grateful to the team of StudioPress – the company who developed the wordpress theme I used for the website. I got so much assistance on their support forum that I was able to customize the theme myself which saved me a huge amount of time and money. Without all the wonderful people who gave me great advice and suggestions on the StudioPress support forum this website wouldn’t be here.

I started working on this project alone. I really enjoyed developing the concept, building the website, working on the graphic design and writing the articles. However, after the blog was launched I got very overwhelmed. I realized that I started something that was much bigger then I could handle. I am very fortunate that Fabiana Bacchini agreed to be my partner and Editor at BrilliantWoman.net. Fabiana is a talented writer, a wonderful life coach, a brilliant business woman and a beautiful person; without her this project wouldn’t be what it is today.

I would also like to thank all of our contributors who took time out of their busy lives to write for our blog. Writing for a blog on a weekly basis is not an easy task and I appreciate each and every guest post, posts by our regular contributors as well as all blog reviews. Thank you for your time and effort!

I am also very grateful to all of our readers! We work on this blog for you and appreciate every comment you leave on the website and on all our social media sites. We spend our time and effort on this project to motivate and inspire you to believe in yourself. I know that every one of you already has everything you need for living a happy and fulfilling life. You just need to find it within yourself.  Our hope is that reading the stories of brilliant women we feature on the blog will bring you one step closer to creating your amazing life. Thank you very much for being a part of our community!

XO Maria