By Amy Lotz

Every year as we prepare for the Gracie Awards, I am asked many of the same questions over and over.  Who's the host?  Who's the biggest celebrity so far? Who's the performer?  All good questions, but ones that I don't always have the answers for.  And oftentimes I wish I did!  But there's another question that my colleagues ask and I spend more time considering the answer than I really should – what's this year's Gracies theme song?

I believe that every significant event should have a theme song.  From then on, every time you hear that song, you associate it with that event.  And sometimes that song helps keep you energized when exhausted during the final days of preparation.  The Gracie Awards is no exception. 

By Erin Fuller

Thanks to my friend Ilana, who writes the ridiculously funny MommyShorts, I watched this Google commercial in honor of Mother's Day (which is THIS SUNDAY so go order some flowers or a good book right now!) Like Ilana, I loved the use of YouTube videos, and was struck at how some of those moments were both viral as well as instantly universal. The use of user video makes it feel immediately accessible, connected and way less sales-y than a standard commercial.

The commercial also made me think about the role of mothers, and our complicated relationship with our kids and our media.

By Erin Fuller

So, last week was quite a week – a week where a lot of us probably connected with many forms of media in ways we hadn't in a long time. A week where I worried for family and friends in my beloved home state of Massachusetts. A week where, when I heard the television turn on in the morning, I had a split second to remember that I had (of course) been glued to the news the night before – before I ran down the stairs two at a time to change the channel, but not before my son saw too much. A week where I had to explain some really awful things to this same eight-year-old son; his heartbroken expression upon understanding a boy his own age had died in Boston creating a significant fracture in my heart.

And at the same time, it was a week that showcased so much good. The viral Mr. Rogers quote instructing us to tell our children to "look for the helpers." The people who ran towards billowing clouds of smoke, rather than from them – and carried people who needed aid. The runners who kept on running to donate their blood. The communities that stayed inside, for so many tense hours, allowing law enforcement to do their jobs. Law enforcement agencies, cooperating and searching, doing their jobs so very well.

By Erin Fuller

So, normally I am on top of Women's History Month. I am so down with reminding and educating people about the long fight for suffrage – and honoring any number of courageous women who fought any number of battles. I mean, I know this stuff cold.

Except that, for whatever reason, women keep on making history happen – even today, or perhaps especially today. Here is a list of groundbreaking stuff going on right now that is having an impact – from book clubs to Afghanistan to the comfort of our own DVRs:

By Lee Lowery

I love history, I always have. Especially US history, which was a favorite subject that I studied in college. In fact, I'm currently reading Team of Rivals, Doris Kearns Goodwin's biography on Abraham Lincoln, and I am riveted by all of the Civil War era events that happened just down the road from Coulter's office. I can practically hear the cannons across the Potomac River as I turn the pages.

As the Executive Director of the Accounting & Financial Women's Alliance (AFWA), March is great fun because I get to attend all sorts of events that occur as part of Women's History Month. This year, I participated in a reenactment of the Suffrage March in Washington, DC, that occurred 100 years ago. How cool is that?

By Amy Lotz

I love lists. It is as simple as that. I have wanted to write this blog post for months now but kept adding ideas to my list. So, I decided to finally stop adding to my list and write.

Are you like me – you love to read lists that organizations put together? Whether it is a top ten this or the top 25 that – I read them. I'm an easy target to pick up any magazine off of the newsstand if it has a list on it.

By Erin Fuller

For some, the big football game that just happened is the most exciting evening of the year, filled with chili and chips and betting and trash talk galore.

For me, it was a concert by Beyonce, prefaced and then interrupted by football. (I also liked a few of the ads.) I thought Beyonce was incredible. To have a stage full of Beyonce, and then multiple Beyonces, and then Destiny's Child reunited, and then hundreds of female dancers – it was kind of awesome. Beyonce is a shining example of showmanship – I didn't care if she sang (which she did, clearly live, and hit some crazy notes), or strutted, or just smouldered at the camera. Because, seriously, no one smoulders and struts and does a vocal run like Beyonce.

By Erin Fuller

And another holiday season comes to a close – bringing me a huge sense of gratitude and relief, largely because another reign of terror by our Elf on the Shelf has come to an end. I am surprised that we haven't coined a phrase for the parental terror that occurs between 2:00-4:00 a.m., when you realize you forgot to move said elf, but I am sure the Internet will create it shortly.

In any case, resolutions for 2013.

By Haley Lesavoy

As a Gracie Award® winner, I know that the Gracies statue carries a lot of significance. For me, the statue means:

• Having your hard work seen, acknowledged and rewarded by powerhouse figures in media.

By Amy Lotz

I love Thanksgiving. I love it for all the reasons that everyone says...delicious food, time with family and catching up with friends. But when I say friends, I mean Friends.



We started a tradition several years ago of watching the Thanksgiving episodes of the hit show Friends during the Thanksgiving four-day weekend. When looking back at a decade's worth of episodes, the Thanksgiving-themed episodes always stand out as some of the best. Plus, I find watching this show with family always helps those awkward "family bonding" times move a little faster. Kids, parents, grandparents, crazy uncles: all of us can watch Friends. So let me remind you of some of my favorite episodes...I think the titles will take you immediately back.

• Season One: The One Where Underdog Got Away. Always a favorite as we watched Monica prepare everyone's favorite potatoes, including tater tots.

By Erin Fuller

I heard the thuds first. The soft kerthump of the many toy catalogs as they landed in my metal mailbox, delivered by my kind mailman who greets me by name. As usual, I stacked them in my "kids' mail" pile, also occupied by our zoo magazine, a few comic book subscriptions, National Geographic Kids and the all-important Lego magazine.

My boys, aged four and seven, occupy, like many same-sex siblings, the opposite ends of many spectrums. One would prefer all food to be in nugget form; the other can list his top 27 best meals ever. One seems to have an almost cat-like grace; the other stubs his fingers, toes and elbows on everything. (I fear I am responsible for the clumsiness gene.) One sleeps like a rock for 11 hours at a stretch, the other seems to enjoy a series of naps throughout the evening.

By Amy Lotz

So this month, I celebrate my 10th anniversary of helping to lead the Alliance for Women in Media. This is an achievement that I take great pride in. I have had the glorious opportunity to work with some amazingly talented women both at the national and local levels. And of course the most brilliant staff, who make me laugh daily and have had my back too many times to count.

Several of these colleagues refer to me as the "Queen of the Gracies." This is a distinction that I take a lot of delight in. First off – who doesn't want to be Queen? Royal purple is my favorite color and I look good in tiaras.

By Erin Fuller

In the "is this an SNL skit or an actual product category" I received the release of Fujitsu's new computer, the "Floral Kiss." The introductory information reads a lot like a promotion for personal hygiene products, complete with a whole designed-by-women-for-women vibe.

I can't even comment on the name "Floral Kiss" with a straight face.

By Erin Fuller

I tried to figure out some sort of thematic structure for this post, but I then felt like the longer I waited, the less awesome things would be due to the law (that I just made up) about the Magic of Recency. So, here you go.

1) Ms. magazine turns 40

By Erin Fuller

25 years ago, the summer before my junior year of high school, I entered a movie theater with a group of high school girlfriends, where we spent 105 minutes enthralled. In my memory, we must have immediately proceeded to the mall – to buy that soundtrack. Oh, that soundtrack.

And thus began my guilty love affair with Dirty Dancing, an affair shared by many, many other women I know. It is one of the movies that, when I scroll through the channels, I would physically be unable to not watch at least a significant portion, mouthing much of the dialog. (I should compile my own list of those movies for a future post – we all have them.)