Lucinda Yates
Award: Entrepreneurship
NAFE member: Two years
The most important thing I've learned is to surround myself with the right people and trust them.
The best advice I ever got was that when you are faced with a tough decision, make a choice-because when you don't, the choice is made for you and you have less control.
My role model is my mom.
My favorite indulgence is cycling.
I am a NAFE member because it offers the opportunity to network with other women executives and that results in personal and professional growth.
Favorite Quote: "You don't necessarily have to be the best, but you do have to be the first."

Designing Woman
Over the last decade, Lucinda Yates built a multimillion-dollar business from the ground up-and in the process helped nonprofits raise $24 million in funding and scores of moms enjoy a lucrative work-at-home opportunity. But the most amazing part of her path to success came earlier, when a divorce coupled with financial troubles left her living on the streets, hawking handmade jewelry for food.

How did Yates fight her way back from poverty? One step at a time, says the founder of Portland, Maine-based Designs By Lucinda. "Every choice you make leads you to where you are today," she says. "I got out of homelessness the same way I got into it, by making decisions and creating my own reality."

By 1988, through determination, hard work, and the support of family members, Yates had a roof over her head and was scratching out a living designing costume jewelry. One of her designs-a pin in the shape of a house-led to a novel concept: Selling one-of-a-kind, house-shaped pins to raise funds for homeless programs. The pins were an immediate success and within a year Yates had $90,000 in orders from nonprofits looking to buy and resell her pins.

For Yates, who was making the pins by hand, the success was both heady and daunting. "Sales kept doubling. In the next year we had $300,000 in sales, then $1.4 million," she says. "I didn't know anything about hiring and firing, setting up a factory, labor laws-and it wasn't as if I had time to go to school and learn."

Cash flow problems and managerial difficulties brought by rapid growth are the downfall of many fledgling businesses, but Yates persevered by employing her "one step at a time" working philosophy. "I solved each problem as it came up," she says. "I needed to produce 1,000 more pins a week, so I put an ad in the paper. Then I sat down and figured out how to train people."

Faced with a large order, Yates turned to a local bank for funds to purchase supplies, only to be summarily rebuffed when the banker found out she lacked collateral. "He said, 'Dear, we need a guarantee,' " she recounts. "It was the word 'dear' that got me. I said, 'I will guarantee you this: When I have a multimillion-dollar company I will let everyone know that it was your bank that wouldn't give me the money.' "

The banker called her later that day to discuss options, but by then Yates had decided on a novel approach. "I told my clients I need to be paid up front," she says. "They were reluctant at first, but I can be pretty convincing. We still work that way."

Today, Designs by Lucinda occupies an 8,000-square-foot factory, employs an army of 300 pin-making moms who work from home, and is working on a plan for expansion. "We're looking for ways to apply our unique process to other categories," says Yates, 50, who recently challenged her employees to suggest alternative products. "We're working on the next big concept."

Dr. Sharon Nunes
Award: Mentorship
NAFE member: 20 years
The most important thing I've learned is don't be afraid to take risks, to do something different.
The best advice I ever got was from a former boss who used to say: "Go for it, Nunzie!"
My role models are single parents who are holding it together-it's hard enough as a couple.
My favorite indulgence is a relaxing weekend on Cape Cod or Godiva dark-chocolate covered cherries.
I am a NAFE member because I believe that women need to help other women. It's about creating the old girls' network.
Motto: "The most essential work of the leader is to create more leaders."
-Mary Parker Follett

Forging Leaders
When Dr. Sharon Nunes joined IBM in 1984 as a materials and process engineer, there weren't many women in the engineering sector-and men still dominate the field today. That imbalance fuels her passion for educating young women about careers in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics.

Like many women in her generation with a talent for math and science, 49-year-old Nunes, who is now IBM's vice president of business development, was initially pushed toward a teaching career. But she was fortunate enough to have a chemistry teacher encourage her to pursue a graduate degree. "That's one reason I spend time with students," she says. "I was strong in math and science but never considered a career in the field. That's true of many women."

Nunes serves as a speaker in IBM's Exploring Interests in Technology and Engineering camps, which gather schoolgirls from across the globe to cultivate their interest in science and math. She also sees mentoring the next generation of executives as a key leadership responsibility. In 2005, Nunes worked with Smith College to develop an Executive Leadership program for early-career women working in science, technology, and engineering fields. At IBM she formally mentors as many as 10 young executives-male and female-at a time, and also offers informal mentoring to an equal number of employees.

Experiencing the benefits of candid feedback about her own performance influenced her dedication to giving back, says Nunes, who credits several women mentors for helping her professional advancement. "One executive told me things I would never have heard from anyone else, especially a male manager," she explains, "from commenting on personal mannerisms, such as slouching in a chair or having your hand over your mouth, to the importance of observing and learning from the speaking style of the executive who controls the conversation at a meeting."

Those pointers are more essential for women, who often struggle to be perceived as appropriately assertive in meetings and to understand that professional success is not only about performing well, but also getting recognition for that performance. "It's important for men who want to be in leadership positions to have mentors, but it's important for women at every level," says Nunes. "Understanding the unwritten rules of the game makes you more effective as an individual contributor, manager, and leader. In technical industries, where there are fewer women in leadership posts, it's even more critical because a mentor can also serve as a networking guide."

Dr. Mary H. Perea Starz
Award: Woman of Achievement
NAFE member: One year
The most important thing I've learned is that a good work ethic and positive attitude will open many doors.
The best advice I ever got was read. By reading, you can handle any job.
My role model is my foster mom, Barbara Garcia. She taught me never to be afraid of hard work and not to let negativity into my life.
My favorite indulgence is a glass of red wine, listening to Kenny G.
I am a NAFE member because I believe that organizations that help women succeed should be supported.
Motto: "Do not allow negativism into your life."

Found in Translation
A firm belief in the importance of education sent Dr. Mary H. Perea Starz back to college for a bachelor's degree at age 42-and the mother of four didn't stop there. "I decided to go straight for my doctorate in linguistics, which I received in 1996," she says. "I was 51 years old."

To Starz, who was raised in a foster home, the degrees represented the achievement of a long-held dream, as well as the foundation of a new career. "When I was a little girl, a teacher told me, 'If you want to be someone, go to college,' " recalls Starz, who planned to use her degree to help people with language problems succeed. "So I decided to get the highest possible degree."

Since Starz's husband and two of her three daughters were teaching, an academic career was a natural next step. Soon after graduating she began teaching English part-time to new international students at Southwest Texas University in San Marcos, Texas. Her academic career progressed with a full-time position as a bilingual educator at Texas Southern University, where she was made first associate chair and then chair of the Curriculum and Instruction Department.

"I was charged with instituting an international program," she recounts. But Starz, who is of Spanish and Native American descent, met with resistance from tenured faculty who wanted the school to maintain its status as a predominantly African-American university. "People questioned my authority and resisted changes," says Starz, who won praise from Texas Southern's dean but was consistently denied tenure. "Every day was a fight."

Starz persevered until the University of St. Thomas lured her to Houston for a position as director of dual language in July 2005. In her new position, her hope is to help the dual-language institute gain international recognition. "After that I'd like to retire and start a language school with my husband and daughters," says Starz, who is now 61. "That's my next goal."

Lisa Whaley
Award: Rising Star
NAFE member: Three years
The most important thing I've learned is to define success for myself.
The best advice I ever got was to follow my heart and my passion.
My role model is my sister, Berthina Jamison.
My favorite indulgence is a bubble bath with candles, nice music, and a glass of wine.
I am a NAFE member because I love having the opportunity to meet, network with, and read about other smart, talented women.
Favorite Quote: "If you don't like something, change it. If you can't change it, change your attitude." -Maya Angelou

Makeover Maven
In 2002, pajama-clad Lisa Whaley climbed into her car in her closed garage, revved up the engine, and waited for the carbon monoxide to fill her lungs. But she couldn't stop thinking about the scene that would confront her youngest daughter returning from school that afternoon. The thought spurred her to turn off the engine and reach out for help by calling her company's Employee Assistance Program (EAP) hotline.

"That was the beginning of my journey toward healing," recounts Whaley, whose struggles with family trauma, illness, and financial and professional stress had sent her into depression. "EAP arranged for me to see a therapist that day, and I realized that depression is nothing to be ashamed of. It's an illness."

Whaley-who had risen rapidly to a vice president level and was being groomed for an executive director position-took a medical leave of absence to recuperate. By the time she returned six months later, she knew it was time for a change.

The same work ethic and can-do attitude that propelled Whaley up the corporate ranks proved invaluable in the next phase of her life. After taking a hard look at her strengths and weaknesses, and at her interests and skills, she mapped out an exit plan: to segue into a career-coaching business.

Whaley quickly landed speaking engagements and clients for her Woodbridge, Virginia-based professional development company, Life Work Synergy. Today, she speaks regularly at Fortune 500 companies like Hewlett-Packard and Microsoft and is publishing a book-Prisoners of Technology, on the impact of technology on work/life balance.

But the best thing about her success, says the 45-year-old, is helping others identify and follow a professional path that works for them. "I tell my clients to be true to themselves and what they really want versus what other people want from or expect of them," she says. "I also try to convey the importance of setting clear boundaries between professional and personal lives. Sometimes we get so caught up with our careers that we sacrifice more than we should or have to on the personal side. When you know your boundaries and articulate them, people respect that." .