Business Protocol: Talk-show co-host's empowering message

Another in a continuing 
series of women shattering the glass ceiling.

Mika Brzezinski, co-host of MSNBC’s “Morning Joe” show and founder of the “Know Your Value” movement for women, wakes up at 3:30 a.m. ready to go.

The mother of two teen girls, Emilie, 19, and Carlie, 17, said the secret is to have “a great attitude, a solid sense of your value … and thick skin.”

The daughter of Zbigniew Brzezinski, national security director under former President Jimmy Carter, was in Boston on Friday as part of her speaking series on empowering women in the workplace. I sat down with her just before Boston Mayor Martin J. Walsh declared it “Know Your Value” day:

Being a woman in a man’s world: “I don’t think it’s a man’s world anymore, but I’ll go with the question because I work with a lot of men. I treat people the way they treat me. If a door is opened or a chair pulled out, that’s fine, but I’m 48 years old I have been around and I am sort of in that middle area and completely ambidextrous.”

Motivation: “I have been given an incredible platform to reach women and access my message, and finally do something to say, ‘Thank you.’ I see these women just completely explode, their eyes and mouths wide open and they’re like, ‘Yes, I can do this!’ ” She also credits her grandmother: “Those things I am teaching women on stage are things my grandmother taught me in her living room when I was 7 years old … and good posture is the beginning of everything.”

Advice to aspiring women entrepreneurs: “Stop apologizing. Don’t think about what you want, say it! Always look for opportunities and put yourself outside your comfort zone and learn how to command a room. Practice speaking and presenting at church, family celebrations … propose the toast!”

Appearance: “You need to relate to your audience and appearance is a major facet of your message. … I myself have had a couple style evolutions. There was a whole phase where I tried too hard to match the beauty queens in my business with the tight, bright dresses, cinched waists and extra eyelashes, and if I worked really hard, … if I killed myself, I could do it, but that isn’t me.” She has a clean, classic style and doesn’t like to spend a lot of time or money on clothes but says, “you can’t spend nothing, you have to invest in 
today’s clothes.”

Wearing hosiery? “Oh my God, no!”

How do you handle adversity? “With humor. I face adversity every day because I am trying to do so many different things. Sometimes, you just have to hunker down and keep going and not … take the time to let it get to you.”

Marriage: “I tell women, especially younger women not to forget to get married and have a family because what’s the point of it all if you have no one to share it with?”

Being on TV: “I never knew how much I loved television until I lost my job (at CBS). I hadn’t worked for a year when I was approached for ‘Morning Joe.’ It was a surprise and a blessing” to be back in the game.

Judith Bowman is the president and founder of Judith Bowman Enterprises and an author. Email: Judith@
ProtocolConsultants.com.

Business Protocol: Talk-show co-host"s empowering message