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The Corporette Giveaway (And Preliminary Survey Results)

Thank you guys so much for taking the survey and entering the giveaway! As of today, I had 3714 responses — using the Random Number Generator, the lucky number was 619. I've already contacted the winner and asked for her mailing address. Even though the giveaway is closed, the survey will remain open. I thought I'd share some of the preliminary results — so if this doesn't sound like you, please weigh in by taking the survey. (I'd like to get to 6,000 responses since that'll be about 10% of the readership, but I know you guys are busy, so I really do appreciate every response thus far.)  Preliminary responses, after the jump…

  • 99.7% of you are female, with 37.2% of you being 23-28 years old (just slightly edging out the 37% of you who are 29-36 years old).
  • Most of you are in a relationship, with 46.8% of you married and 27.2% of you otherwise in a relationship.
  • 77.4% of you have zero children.
  • 85.3% of you are Caucasian, 7.7% are Asian, 3% are Black or African-American, and 3.8% are from multiple races.
  • 78.6% of you would describe your current employment as “full time.” (I would have thought there'd be far more of you who answered that you were summer associates, but that's only 11.3% of the audience.)
  • 26.5% of you make between $101-$200K. (Go ladies!)
  • 53.5% of you have JDs (or are in the midst of attaining them) — only 6.8% of you have MBAs, which clearly means I need to do a better job connecting with that audience. :)
  • 32.6% of you have just started your career, and 31.4% of you have been at it a while (3-8 years).
  • Most of you guys are really satisfied with your current job, with the largest percentage of people answering “It's great” re: intellectual, monetary, emotional and life balance satisfaction.
  • 40.6% estimated that you had already spent between $500 and $1000 on clothes for the first half of 2011, with 27.2% estimating it was more in the range of $1001-$2500.
  • Most people who answered the survey were longtime readers, with 49.5% of you saying you'd been reading for 1-3 years. (Thank you ladies — I'm truly honored to have held your attention for so long!) Most of you visit Corporette once a day (36.8%). Of the survey takers, 35.1% only read the comments if they're very interested in the subject matter of the main post, and nearly 60% had never commented on the blog.
  • I asked a lot of questions about the coverage of topics on Corporette — most of you thought the coverage was “just right.” The biggest numbers in the extremes were 8.7% of people who wanted “WAY more” financial advice, and 12% of people who wanted me to “shut up about it already” regarding pregnancy/motherhood advice (using my own phrasing from the survey…)

106 Comments

  1. Please do not “shut up about it already” re: pregnancy/motherhood. Those 12% can choose not to read that day. But there are many of us out there who find that to be a very important topic and always willing to learn more from others’ experiences. :-) So please don’t shut up!

    1. Agreed! 12% is not enough to stop talking about these topics! Especially since so many readers are in the 23-36 year old group (although I’m sure I’ll get some nasty responses for writing that).

      1. I also think it’s helpful to see some of the info on pregnancy/motherhood, as I’m early in my career and trying to figure out how/where/if kids fit into the picture. It’s interesting to see how such successful women have dealt with this issue, as I don’t have a lot of people to look to for that kind of advice in the real world. Most are in one extreme or the other, so the balancing act of career/kids is really interesting to me as I think about my long-term goals/planning.

    2. Agreed, may not have kids now, but getting the first-hand advice from like-minded ladies is priceless. Please don’t stop posting on this topic!

    3. As a firm member of that 12%, I would like to point out that there are many outlets for the pregnancy/motherhood kind of advice and I find it especially refreshing to read a blog geared towards women without this kind of discussion. It’s part of what I enjoy about Corporette. I don’t think that “shut up already” is the right terminology, but if given the choice, I would prefer not to hear about those topics on this blog.

      1. Agreed. There are plenty of placed to read about career-and-babies, many fewer to read about career-and-not-babies. I’ve always found it refreshing that this site was so baby/motherhood/pregnancy free.

        As a member of the 12% (and a member of the group that always reads the comments), I really dislike the baby coverage, but would be all for separate baby-related posts so regular posts don’t get threadjacked or a related site, as I respect the fact that many other readers find that information interesting/useful.

        1. I can actually get on board with that suggestion, to keep the baby-related stuff to specific posts. I completely agree that I like being able to talk career without having someone constantly interrupting with, “But, what about your CHILDREN!??!” Since I don’t have any/may never have any, this is not my top priority when considering a career move. Thus, I read the pregnancy stuff more as information-gathering from women who seem to be in a similar mind-set about career being a really high/the highest priority right now/maybe always.

        2. My .02 — if you work with women or manage them, it’s helpful to read about the issues that go along with children at work; it’s not bad to understand where people are coming from regardless of your own babymaking plans.

        3. When 77% have no children, that speaks louder to me than the 12% vocal enough to say they dislike posts about kids. Many of us spend our careers (in any field) being told or expected to focus on baby-making, is it not possible to have a place for career-focused women to not talk babies?

      2. Me too. It’s one thing to talk about maternity leave, but we were getting into frequent discussions about pregnancy symptoms and such. Take that elsewhere.

      3. Also a member of the 12%, and a member of the “shut up about it already” demographic for weddings, too. I like that Corporette is a place where discussions about babies and brides and anything “OMG Squeeeee!” are the exception rather than the rule.

        1. W/r/t the survey, I hope it was clear that I meant the content (i.e. the posts that I write in the main body of the blog) was what I was talking about, NOT the comments — I have no desire to turn into a censor (plus only a small percentage of people read them every day).

      4. I too am a firm believer in the 12% arena. 77% of the people reading this blog don’t have kids, and so that isn’t something that we are geared toward. I think that there are thousands of sites for the professional/working mothers, why do they need to get advice on here as well. This is the only blog I have really found that meets my needs, but the few days/times where it is mostly about being a mother and working or pregnant and working I start to dislike the blog. I love corporette, but it does bother me when we the discussion is mostly pregnancy.

      5. I agree. I don’t have kids and don’t plan to have kids, and get tired of the pregnancy threadjacks with questions that could easily be answered on one of twenty pregnancy-related sites or career+children sites. Obviously there aren’t going to be a wealth of sites that discuss maternity leave in biglaw or midlaw, so I am not opposed to those topics.

      6. I completely understand where you’re coming from (as a no kids but wants to), but, in my experience, there don’t seem to be many pregnancy/childrearing based sites that are really geared towards professional, high acheiving women. There are some special concerns there, and it’s really useful to hear other women’s perspective on them, particularly if you wind up, say (as I will probably be), the only mother in your company or in your position. (There are assistants who have grown kids, but I’d be the first and only attorney mom.)

        I do have some concerns that, with Kat both becoming a mom (yay for her and her husband, completely!) and having left her own professional job, that this stuff will become overly prominant, though.

        My complaint, actually, was that Corporette is too big-city centric. I live in decent sized city, but no one worries about commuting shoes or purchasing apartments.

        1. Cosign! If someone would list out those other sites for pregnancy+career or maternity leave questions and convos, then great, people can take them there. However, while I have found 200 gazillion “mommy blogs, ” I have never seen or heard of a site that answer questions like — how do I find a professional suit for my 8 month while I’m in a month long trial? or what did others say in their out of office message while on maternity leave? I think there’s a real derth of information on these topics out there. And while yes, 77% does not have children, it seems that maybe 60-some percent of those (ok, I know it’s not an exact correlation between the 12 and 77, but I am no statistician) are either thinking they may have kids someday or are otherwise interested. Like all other topics, if you don’t like it, scrowl through.

          1. I know it’s just a typo, but I think “scrowling” is the perfect word for what happens when an uninteresting topic crops up. I scroll through it, with a tiny scowl :-)

          2. Absolutely. What to wear to work (a corporate job) while pregnant. Other sites that pitch to pregnant women seem to assume that none of us have jobs that require us to look professional.

    4. I think we perhaps need a break out. Its been a while since the survey, but wasn’t there a question around shut up already on stuff like in vitro, versus managing maternity leave, pregnancy at work etc… Not to be insensitive, but I think managing motherhood and working is on topic, fertility struggles less so. that said, I generally just skip over anything I find not relevant, so others can as well……..

    5. This is a blog for women. written by women. about a particular group of women, yes. But women nonetheless. expecting there never to be anything regarding motherhood is unrealistic. as with most blogs, you’ll love most entries and not love some. click the X box and don’t read those entries or skip it in your google reader. but thanks so much for allowing us to share our thoughts on what we’d like to see. thankfully 88% is more than 12%. and majority rules!

      1. I am firmly in the 12% category.

        Frankly, I love Kat’s advice on fashion, the workplace, makeup, etc. But she doesn’t have experience in the kid realm, and I think blog postings saying I should “remember to take your pill before the Bar ladies” is rude and insensitive to people who are maybe trying to get pregnant. I don’t feel that she is in tune with some of the struggles of pregnancy, so I’d just rather she stayed away from it in general. It’s refreshing to have a blog where I am not constantly reminded that I don’t have a child yet.

        Yes, I know it’s bitter. And Kat, I think your writing is generally wonderful, and it’s not fair to you that I feel this way. But I wanted to explain my answer, and why I’d rather not hear anything about this subject on THIS blog.

      2. Actually, it’s not correct to say that 88% want the baby talk on this blog. The question was phrased in terms of what you don’t want to hear about and 12% were solidly in this corner. And I don’t think anybody has asked for a ban on all things related to motherhood. Some of us just really don’t want to hear about potential pregnancy symptoms.

      3. I strongly disagree. The fact that this blog is written by women and for women does not necessitate discussion about every aspect of being female. Just because I am a woman does not mean that I must listen to and partake in discussions about pregnancy and motherhood. I’m not a mother and do not plan to be. I like Corporette because it is, for the most part, free of this type of discussion. It’s rare to find a community of women that is not overrun with baby/pregnancy/motherhood talk. There are numerous places where one can go to find this kind of discussion and I would love to see Corporette continue to be an alternative to this rather than becoming a part of it. Regardless of the percentages, this blog is for corporate women and their interests – at least that’s the way I understand it. Maternity leave is one thing because it relates to work…. otherwise, I would love to see Corporette avoid pregnancy and motherhood topics.

        1. Would anyone out there please point me to blogs written by and for professional women (particularly lawyers like myself) that also discusses pregnancy, maternity leave, etc… thanks so much!!

          1. One of the reasons that I would like to see more pregnancy/motherhood posts on here is because – while there are other sites devoted to the intersection of career and motherhood – the comments here are always so interesting and thoughtful. When people ask for advice from the hive mind on other, non-child issues, the responses are always incredibly helpful (at least seem so to me, I’ve never asked). I believe this would be the case as well with many pregnancy/motherhood issues. Some questions/issues will of course be very specific to the person, so YMMV. But I just thought I’d explain why I was not in the 12%.

          2. Tried to post a response. But I think all the links I had got lost in moderation. If you search for “Corporate Women Blog Pregnancy” there are probably 15 blogs that pop up that just deal with working moms.

          3. I don’t want to get stuck in moderation, but I particularly like lagliv(dot)blogspot(dot)com.
            She’s a mom of two, a wife, a full time big-law litigator. She started writing right before she got pregnant as a 2L in Chicago. She went though a horrible time with her first child (see tag “the Nightmare”) and while she does talk about work/life balance, it is not her primary focus. She just blogs about her life, family, etc. in a very matter of fact way.

  2. though it appears from these stats that the majority of your readers are under 40, with less than 10 years experience, as someone outside of those stats, I’d like to voice my appreciation for this blog.
    thanks for everything and thanks to all the regular commenters – there’s always more to learn – fashion, financial, mentoring, work advancement, work habits, etc… – and I’ll keep coming back to read.

    1. The age stats confirm for me why it often sounds like an echo chamber in the comments. It would be great to see some guest posts from women more established in their careers so those of us in the first ten years or so of ours can hear that perspective as well.

      1. Me too! But I really enjoy the energy here – and widening my perspective to include the thoughts and concerns of those so much younger than me (basically my daughter’s age) – is a good thing!

    3. I bet that we of the 23-28 demographic (of which I am on the very starting end — nose?) are probably most interested in hearing the voices of that smallest demographic. I know that you all (speaking generally) are the women that I most seek out at events about careers etc. (I’m just going to go ahead and speak for everyone…)

      1. That’s kind of you Alanna of Trebond. Because, speaking only for myself, one of my greatest joys at this point in my professional life (20 years post grad school) is being a mentor to younger women (and men) who are starting out in my field. I certainly don’t have all the answers, but I always have an opinion ;) and am interested in people who share a passion for my field and are willing to learn from others (with said learning being a two way street!).

      2. I second this sentiment. I would give just about anything to have a female mentor in my life/career. I have been the only female attorney at both places of employment, and that makes it tough just starting out!

      3. Because of the preponderance of younger readers, to me it is not surprising there are some people who don’t want the baby info – because they don’t need it yet, or think they don’t.

        FWIW when I was 25 I did not have children and did not plan on having any, either. More power to those that are firmly in the “do not want” camp and know they will stay there, but many women reading the blog will eventually need the info, and I think it’s good that Kat covers it here. The “don’t have kids and don’t want them” camp seems to be in the definite minority, from what I’ve seen reading the blog for three years, and so I think it’s totally fine to include information about pregnancy and mothering as it relates to career.

  4. I am a senior accountant with an MBA who would love some more coverage devoted to those of us climbing a corporate ladder outside of a law firm.

    As one of your 3% of black readers, I see I am going to have to do a better job of pubbing your site to my friends. I’m gotten some good insight from the comments and posts.

    1. I’m in pursuit of my MBA, so I also like to read about others who are building their career outside of law.

    2. Same situation here – sr. accountant, CPA/MBA. Would like to see more about corporate finance and other business environments. If 53% of readers are lawyers or on that career path that means 47% aren’t :)

    3. Same here re: coverage outside of law. I’ll complete my MBA next May and I’m working my way up in Marketing (currently in a Director position), but I’m also interested in possibly pursuing Operations Management. I would love to see some female perspective there since Ops tends to be male dominated. Honestly, any area outside of law, in the interest of diversification, would be welcome!

      1. LOL, AHP, can I network with you? I’d be happy to fill your current position when you use your MBA to move upward and onward in the Marketing/Ops world :)

    4. I was surprised at the low number of MBAs….. I also have a JD, but don’t work in a law firm, although I do practice law. Trust me when I say some of the office politics issues are the same, its just the terminology thats different….

      1. I’m not too surprised, actually. I’m sure it’s not Kat’s intent, but she’s a lawyer, most of the posts have always had a law bent – from “it’s OCI season, let’s do a post on interview suits” to posts about the bar – there’s just often an air of “appropriate for a law firm.” And then, of course, the commenters are all largely lawyers as well, so that adds to the atmosphere.

        1. Well, and I think a lot of the law folk found out about this website from legal blogs like Above the Law, for example. Maybe Kat needs more exposure in Dealbreaker-type blogs?

      2. I’m an MBA, but I work in a casual environment, as do an increasing amount of MBAs. Even the consultants aren’t wearing suits most of the time. I think all of the Weekly Roundup is awesome, but I don’t get a lot out of the Suit of the Week post and can’t wear anything but the Thursday/Friday priced items and some of the coffee break items to work or I will feel out of place.

        1. Thank you MBA ladies for weighing in — I think that of my friends who have MBAs a lot of them do work in casual environments also so I can’t even promote to them! I do make an effort to talk about “the company” versus “the firm” and “VIPs” versus “the partner on the Executive Committee” or whatnot. But I’d love to know what other terminology is different, or which subjects should be covered more or differently (e.g. the lazy secretary post last week — relevant? not?). If you guys can point me to some good reading on the MBA lifestyle (I’ve recently found the website Poets and Quants, I think it’s called) that would be great too.

          1. Kat – I don’t have any MBA blogs for you, and I don’t know how much time/energy you have to ‘research’ this, but as a suggestion there are a lot of non-law related women’s industry groups as well as MBA alumnae groups that have a lot of coverage of issues relevant to women in the field. Also, related conferences, meetings, speaker series, etc. For example – WICT.org (women in cable & telecommunications). Or ask your MBA friends about their women’s alumni associations and all their related events and publications. B-schools themselves also constantly have events and speaker series featuring women and women’s career development. I say this not to fill up your schedule with a lot of inane activity, but to simply suggest different ways to get more familiar with women in the business world who are not in big law, including MBAs.

            Anyway I must add that you’re doing a great job and even though I’m not a lawyer, I just scroll past all the legal stuff because I can find plenty else to read. So many comments are lawyer-based, yes … but I don’t know that you can do anything about that, except to encourage other non-lawyers to comment more as well.

          2. Kat – I also think you’re doing a great job, so no worries there. I’m able to use a lot of your fashion advice (suit of the week for potential interviews, etc.) even though I’m in a business casual work environment. I think there is an art to dressing gracefully in the casual workplace (and many, many people have not mastered that art), so any posts that relate to that are great.

            I don’t really follow MBA-related blogs, because the field post-MBA tends to be so diverse. I think anything related to juggling the work/life balance, motherhood and work (I’m a mom myself), or office politics in general are helpful. Maybe some guest posts or interviews to mix it up a bit? But truly, no big complaints – this is one of my favorite blogs that I visit on a daily basis.

          3. How about postings on being younger than those who report to you? Of how to dress professionally in a “casual” office environment? Tips on what can be purchased for cheap and dressed to look expensive? Styles for different body types or ages? Heck, with as much as some here like to shop, what about a section for those who may be cleaning out their closets and would be happy to send their cast-offs to some of us who don’t make enough to ever afford those items? (I know I’d certainly love the opportunity and am not fashionable enough to care if they’re from last season!)

  5. Second the request for more coverage of advice for corporate-ladder-climbing-non-lawyers!

    2. fourth!

      I work in the software industry at a company whose clients are government and financial institutions (so it’s not a “flipflops and jeans” kind of environment, although many people seem to think that all software companies are) and I can’t imagine I’m the only one in that or a similar position, given how large this industry is.

  6. It would be very useful to see all the replies to the survey, not just the top vote getters. That would give us a better sense of the breadth of coverage. For example, I appreciated Nancy and anon’s interest in having older, established lawyers and corporate types weigh in. Nancy — There are two of us! How many more?

    1. I am also Corp – been in-house lawyer my entire legal career. As my career has progressed, I’ve actually become more aware of the politics of being in-house and find it more challenging now than ever. Even after almost 15 years, I’m still learning and adjusting — and working to not be complacent about what can appear to be a pre-determined destiny/career path set by a manager.

  7. I suspect that the reason for the lack of readers with MBAs is because Corporette feels like a law blog. Since that’s Kat’s employment background and the background of most of the commenters, it’s understandable. If Kat does want to appeal more to non-law Corporettes, maybe more guest posts from people not in law? The issues we face may be similar, but they aren’t identical.

    1. Agreed. Not only does it “feel” like a law blog, but somewhere in the background info I read when I first started reading Corporette, I’m sure it says that’s its primary audience. I come back because I appreciate the fashion discussions (although I fall outside the norm on almost several counts–I’m 51, I’m a VP of a small software company, I wear jeans and shorts to work unless I have client meetings, my MA is in English, and I live in a small city). I truly thought that was its intent, thus the handle I have chosen.

      1. I am a lawyer and get tired of the law school related questions/issues. Passing the bar, studying for the bar, blah blah blah.

  8. I found it very curious that Hispanic/Latina was not given as an option for ethnic identification (I realize it is not a race); what did Latinas choose instead?

    1. When not given a hispanic/latina option I choose other and fill in hispanic/latina even though I know it is not a race. It is a frustrating thing with no clear solution.

    3. White, but I am white. If I were a non-white Latina I’m not sure what I’d choose. Mixed race or American Indian, I guess.

      1. This makes me feel a certain sort of way, but the day isn’t long enough and I am not educated enough to properly respond to your comment. I can only say that in my personal opinion, I do not feel this is an accurate categorization. However, you probably have your reasons for doing so. Race and ethnicity are so complex that I cannot fault you for it.

        1. Plenty of Latinos identify as white. I don’t see how you could fault Anon at all.

          1. I am a white Latina (light eyes, light-brown hair, pale skin) but there is no way I identify as “white”. There is no way to articulate this, but I’m not “white” and also choose “mixed race” when not given other options.

        2. I guess I understand white to mean of purely European descent. There are plenty of Latinos whose ancestors came from Spain, Portugal, Italy or even northern Europe to Latin America. So I consider myself white, even though I’m Latin American. If the options had included “White (Non-Hispanic)” and “Hispanic/Latino”, I’d have picked the latter.

          It’s true that a majority of Latinos are not purely of European descent, and I certainly wouldn’t expect them to select white. But for me, it characterizes me accurately so long as it doesn’t specifically exclude Hispanics.

          It seems to me the best option is to allow people to check more than one box. For instance, what about Hispanic people who are of 100% Asian descent, but native Spanish speakers and their families have been in their Latin American country for generation? Or Afro-Caribbean Hispanics? They’re not of mixed race, but the “Asian” or “Black” box hardly gives the complete demographic picture. Even if you’re just tracking statistics so you can target advertising better, wouldn’t you want to know if, for instance, many of your black readers were also Hispanic?

          1. This. My ancestors came from Spain to Mexico. My mother’s first language is Spanish, and my extended family is all dark and very culturally Hispanic. I happened to get the red hair and freckled skin, and to marry a German, so I have a German last name, but, I very much self-identify as a white Hispanic.

      2. I realize that this sounds completely ignorant, and please understand that I’m only asking out of curiousity, but how does the whole white/non-white but also hispanic/latina thing work, exactly? I’ve never really understood what people are talking about when they talk about that.

        (Bear in mind that this is from a girl who knew a guy for *years* growing up, knew his family, including his fabulous PR immigrant mom and his white-bread southern Baptist dad, yet who was completely lost and confused when he told her that he was writing his college essay on having grown up “bi-racial.” I’d always just thought of him as Sean.)

        1. Ha, your comment kind of reminds me of Stephen Colbert’s “I am blind to race” schtick.

        2. This is oversimplified, but:

          “Hispanic” means Spanish-speaking. “Latino” and “Latina” mean from a Latin country; technically this includes any Romance Language-speaking country, but in common parlance means America south of the US, excluding the English-speaking countries and Surinam and including Spanish-speaking Caribbean countries. Most people use the terms Hispanic and Latino interchangeably, but that’s not technically correct.

          So, Hispanic or Latino doesn’t indicate your race. It indicates where you’re from or where your ancestors came from. People of a lot of different races are also Hispanic and/or Latino. Latin America and the Caribbean is a huge region and every country has different demographics, but to generalize, a very large number of Latin Americans are of mixed indigenous American and European ancestry; a large number are of purely indigenous American ancestry; and a large number are a mix of African, European and indigenous American (or African and one of the other two) ancestry. Some are also of purely European ancestry or purely African ancestry. I can’t give you the breakdown for different countries, but the CIA World Factbook could.

          Also, Puerto Ricans living in the mainland aren’t immigrants.

          Hope this helps.

          1. ETA: I am using the term race to indicate color or ancestry, which I see below that some commenters disagree with. For me, the terms Hispanic/Latino indicate your cultural background, not your race (just like how a white person could be Irish, English, etc – the former are race, the latter are cultural backgrounds or ethnicity). I realize that a lot of people disagree on the precise meaning of terms like race and ethnicity so I just wanted to explain how I used them.

          2. Thanks! And, duh to me, I knew that Puerto Ricans aren’t immigrants. I’m not sure why I said it that way, but I guess you guys got what I meant. And to think, West Side Story is one of my all time favorite movies.

          3. I’d also add that people from Spain are Hispanic but people from Brazil (where they speak Portuguese) are not.

      3. I actually expressed this in my response to this. I was born and raised in Buenos Aires, of Argentine parents; yet I chose to respond white. Where I
        come from, I *am* white.
        And also, my maternal grandparents were Italian Jews. My paternal greatgrandparents were Russian Jews. How does that heritage make me “Hispanic/Latina” other than the accident of the city of my birth?

        1. Fascinating cultural subject. I read a book about the early days of the DEA when they got a Puerto Rican guy from Jersey to deal with the Columbian drug dealers. So funny! Whiteness is cultural – living in Miami, it is about whether you identify with the privileged class or the lower class minorities. I am a white European descent and lived in South FLorida my whole life. The Cuban population who came to Miami in the 1960’s had education and money – they have power and wealth here as well. They are WHITE! Central Americans and Mexicans often had children with the indigenous population and many Hispanics in the Carribean are black. If they are working in farms and identify with the poorest in the community, they are NOT WHITE!

        3. I’m Jewish too. I am Jewish, white, and Latina/Hispanic. Sounds like you are too.

          1. I didn’t. Eponine has mentioned that she comes from Morrocan Jewry. I’m Jewish, hailing from Ukraine and Russia, possibly Spain too. Anyone else here Orthodox?

          2. White. Born in America to parents whose grandparents came just before and at the turn of the century from Germany and Russia. Raised Reform (very). Practicing Reconstructionist.

          3. I was raised Orthodox and now consider myself shomer mitzvot/observant. This website is a professional lifesaver when it comes to appropriate fashion!

    4. I always just put “other” and type in Latino or Hispanic. I do this because I don’t think a demographic survey would be an accurate portrayal of the population if we (Latinos) just select the “white” option.

      My friend who works for the US Census told me this: Hispanic and Latino are ethnicities not races, as defined by the US OMB. You can be a white Latino or a black Latino.

      1. Ask your friend what a “race” is. Seriously, there isn’t anyone in the sociology or anthropology field who wouldn’t laugh the census guy. So, if you select the “Latino” option, what does that tell me about you? Other than that your ancestors were originally from Spain, and that you self-identify as Latino. I didn’t answer the census question myself.

        1. Chill out. Why the hostility? And ms. Know it all, no it does not just mean your ancestors are from Spain. Mine happen to have been settled in Puerto Rico and Cartagena decades before the Inquisition.

          Ps- if you are the same “anon” that posted at 644 above… Learn how to spell Colombian.

          1. Point taken on the ancestors and the spelling. I don’t know where your ancestors are from either so all I know is that you self-identify as Latina. I still don’t know anything about you. The hostility is not against you at all: it is against this inane idea that there is something inherent in humans that divides us AND that the U.S. Census bureau has the answers.

        2. err, there are plenty of Latinos who did not have ancestors from Spain. If we check the Hispanic/Latino box on the census form, it means that we spent a number of Saturday nights with Don Francisco. Whose ancestors did not come from Spain either.

  9. There is no such thing as race. Period. End of story. We either identify ourselves, or others paint their own picture. Race and ethnicity are social constructs. LLM: I cannot imagine that you would self-identify as Hispanic. What do white people from South Africa who are now U.S. citizens call themselves. . . . African-American? Would that be wrong. Check out this great article about how census classifications have changed of the years. http://thesocietypages.org/socimages/2010/03/29/the-census-and-the-social-construction-of-race/

  10. Almost half of the readers are between 23 and 28, yet 1 in 4 make six figs?! What! As an engineer, I thought I was doing well, but by no means am I making 100k yet! Wowzers, go ladies is right!!

  11. So 12% of us don’t want to hear about babies. What about stepkids and stepwives (your stepkids’ mother)? Anyone care to share stories, good or bad. I am dealing with a dysfunctional stepwife and could use some company.

    PS: While I am happy to hear good stories, please know that my stepwife has cognitive issues and so will never “grow into” a good relationship with her kids, my husband or least of all me.

    1. Oh. No real advice. But, you love your hubby, and he loves his kids, and she is their mother. Kind of a reverse of “Lord, this is someone’s child.”

      1. I’m a stepmom, too. To the extent family issues (especially “working mom”) issues are covered here, I’d also be interested in others’ thoughts and experiences in that area.

        However, I think on balance I’d cast my vote for keeping most of the published content (not necessarily comments) about work/style.

  12. An LMSW here (licensed master social worker) who is someone with a more “type a” personality that leads me to enjoy reading about those who have no shame in negotiating salary or looking for a promotion, which is often rare in the helping professions (or at least rare that people admit to it).

    That said, in my non-private practice field, making 50k is pretty awesome, which leaves me with very rare opportunities to purchase clothing or accessories as shown here. A $30 item feels like a splurge for me and, while I would never begrudge those who make far more and can afford it, I do hope there are some thriftier options shown more often too… or even the expensive and similar but less expensive pairings.

    lovelovelove to all, I hope someday I meet you all in NYC (or get to find your hand-me-downs in a thrift store somewhere, I’m dying for them)! :)

    2. I would love a post on thrift store shopping for professional women, or a series of city-specific posts. I suggested this on the survey.

      1. This is a great idea! FWIW, I moved a few months ago from the Midwest to DC, and the professional women’s clothing available here at Goodwill and the like is mind-bogglingly fabulous. Lots of almost brand-new Ann Taylor/Loft/J. Crew.

      2. I would love a post like this! How to find good pieces at great prices. Or even a thrift shore/tailoring combination post. Like how to spot pieces and now how to alter them to fit your look.

    3. I agree. Although I do enjoy looking at them, when I consider student loans, the job market hit that I took, and the fact that I’m still not working nearly as much as I’d like, I’d say that 90% of the items Kat features are generally outside of my price range, including a significant number of the “bargain” ones. But I don’t really care for buying clothing online anyway, so it’s no big deal, and it’s fun to see what others suggest.

  13. I’m curious about the response regarding paying for forums. What did you ladies say?

    I personally was shocked. It felt like Kat wanted to make an extra dime on the advice we give each other. I felt like we paid our readership by giving her another reader so she could get ads to pay her anyways. There are plenty of sites that have forums for free anyways. It feels silly to me esp in this economy.

    1. I said something to the nature of that I probably wouldn’t pay for it, as there is so much on the net that is free already, but I might like to have an excuse that would keep me from hanging out here as much!

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