March 8th, 2020 is the 45th  International Women’s Day! The United Nations initiated International Women’s Day on March 8, 1975 to celebrate the social, economic, cultural and political achievement of women.

Do you have a female role model to look up to? Do you surround yourself with women in your life who will motivate you and push you? The mission of this year’s International Women’s Day is to champion women of all backgrounds who dare to innovate, lead, and uplift others towards a more equal and inclusive workplace. #IWD2020 #EachforEqual

Here at City Wide of Boston, we are fortunate to be surrounded by many inspiring women. Here is a highlight of some of our favorites.

Victoria Waterman, CEO of Girls Inc. Worcester is  a local advocate for young women. Victoria states in her TEDTalk that the ladder of success begins at the age of 10. She encourages us to help girls gain and build confidence to succeed in a competitive world in their early stages of life. Learn how you can  get involved and be a role model for a young woman.

Tara Westover, author of Educated, A Memoir  was chosen by Time Magazine as one of the 100 most influential people of 2019 and was a guest speaker at the 21st Annual Horizon’s for Homeless Children Women’s Breakfast.  As the Sommers Family is a sponsor of this breakfast, our City Wide of Boston guests had the opportunity to hear her inspirational journey and reflect on hardships that others might be dealing with and learn to empathize with others before passing judgement.

Michelle Obama is an author, speaker and advocate.  Our team was excited to get our hands on her book “Becoming”  and we even had a mini book club! Michelle states, “Becoming is never giving up on the idea that there’s more growing to be done,” which perfectly aligns with the initiatives of International Women’s Day. In her book she encourages women to share their stories. Share yours below using #iambecoming.

Karen Sommers City Wide of Boston founder and owner (who we call K-boss) is another inspiration. She not only is a role model for us but also has a strong presence in her hometown of Southborough. Southborough Living  magazine recognized her as a Remarkable Woman of Southborough. Click here to see the full article!

In April, Earth Day gets a lot of attention as it should, but there are other emerging national days designated to bring awareness to other things that we can do to save our planet. In 2017, the fourth Friday in February was designated National Skip the Straw Day.

The National Park Service estimates that Americans use 500 million plastic drinking straws daily. Plastic straws do not biodegrade but break down into tiny microscopic pieces that are then consumed by wildlife and that create the suspected carcinogen, styrene monomer.

What to do if you love the Earth and a straw? Good news, there are many reusable, eco friendly options.

In addition to skipping the plastic straws, our team at City Wide of Boston is continuing to make strides to decrease our footprint in our own office. We recently installed an Ion “bottleless” water cooler from our friends at Stonybrook Water Company. Our team enjoys an endless supply of pure drinking water without the hassle or environmental harm of bottled water.

“We continue to think of small changes that we can make in the office to reduce waste. It is important to us to be mindful about the environment. We were very excited to learn that we had a reasonable option that could provide not only an environmentally conscious product but also a healthier product for our employees!” – Cara Angeloni (Office Manager)

We can all help by learning more about steps to take to help make a cleaner environment and what choices exist to use eco-friendly products for our homes and offices.

“There are many different options we have that are better for the environment. We work along with City Wide of Boston to provide the best solutions for their clients.  People take a lot of different angles to look at “green” depending on what they’re trying to save, the most common  is the slogan “reduce, reuse & recycle” . Systems like Enmotion control usage by dispensing one towel at a time and reducing the amount of towels used. How the paper is made is another way in which something can be more environmentally friendly. There are many manufacturers that offer recycled content and post consumer recycled content, such as towels. Manufacturers also use independent third parties like eco logo, green seal and many others. Solaris paper has a different path to be green, they use rapidly renewable resources for paper. They have all plantation grown fiber for their products.  There is such a variety of products that we can offer to fit the needs of any client. ”  – Scott Pena    Arrow Paper Corporation 

Together we can all make a difference.  Please join the effort #skipthestrawday Friday Febrary 28, 2020.

City Wide of Boston provides managed services to commercial properties throughout central and eastern Massachusetts.