Aminy Audi, president and CEO of Stickley Furniture, has been named WithIt's 2011 Legacy Award recipient, an honor bestowed to a woman who has made significant lifetime contributions to the home and furnishings industries. Nominees for the Education, Mentoring, Future Leader and Leadership awards have been announced, too:

Education Award

Lauren West, Director of Education and Development for Natuzzi Americas Inc.

W. W. Epperson, Jr., Partner, Mann, Armistead & Epperson, Ltd.

Michelle Lamb, Editorial Director, Marketing Directions Inc./The Trend Curve

Mentoring Award

Mary Frye, President, HFIA

Peggy Burns, Queen Bee, Circle Furniture

Catherine Morsell, Executive Director, ITMA

Leadership Award

Dorothy Belshaw, Senior Vice President and Director, NYIGF, GLM dmg::events

Joni Greeson, COO, Collectic Home

Connie Lineberry, Vice President Marketing, Furniture/Today

Future Leader Award

Tammy Nagem, COO, High Point Market Authority

Holly Blalock, Vice President of Merchandising and Marketing, C.R. Laine

Comer Wear, Marketing Director, Century Furniture

The finalists for each award will be announced during WithIt's annual educational conference, which will be held Aug. 23-25 at the Renaissance Raleigh North Hills Hotel in Raleigh, NC. "Wisdom, Work, Wealth: Winning Insights to Reshape Your World" will attract furniture, bedding and furnishings industry professionals in the manufacturing, retail and design segments. The WOW Awards dinner and ceremony will be held Aug. 24 at the conference's host hotel.

To sign up for the conference and the WOW Awards banquet, visit www.withit.org. The Conference Brochure is available at www.withit.org. Sponsorship opportunities for the conference are still available. For more information, contact WithIt Executive Director Sara Lyke, at director@withit.org.

Education Award Honorees

Mentoring Award Honorees

Leadership Award Honorees

Future Leader Award Honorees

Delia Passi,   Medelia, Inc.

Do you ever feel like your career path is in a stall mode? The keynote speaker at WithIt's 2011 Professional Conference, Aug. 23-25, may have ideas about steps that you can take to reach a higher level. 

"How to Realize Your Dreams and Get What You Want" is the theme for Delia Passi, CEO of Medelia Inc. and Founder of WomenCertified. As a leading authority on marketing and selling to women, she is a sought after consumer expert and advocate for both women in business and female consumers. 

Passi's knowledge is complemented by her own successful track record of proven sales, strategic marketing, powerful branding and in-depth entrepreneurial experience. She promises to be a dynamic speaker with a compelling message that will resonate with every WithIt member.

Other featured speakers include Bob Maricich, CEO of International Market Centers, on "Lessons in Leadership." Mike Anderson, vice president of the Center for Sales Strategy, will deliver a presentation titled "Elm Street Economics." Jena Hall, WithIt founder and president of Jena Hall Associates, will close the conference with "Career Confidential: More Than Talk." 

One of the favorite features of the annual WithIt conference is the opportunity to gain knowledge through interactive roundtable discussions. Two sessions of these small groups are scheduled for Wednesday, Aug. 24; attendees can register for their preferred topics:

• Lead Like a Woman -- Finding our strengths and using them to our  advantage.
• Building/Recognizing Your Useful Network -- Best practices for connecting  with and maintaining communications with the key persons who shape your career  path.
• Business Ethics -- Dos and don'ts in the professional world.
• Top 10 Tips from a Female Entrepreneur -- Getting started out on your own  including the musts and pitfalls to avoid.
• Tomorrow's Women to Watch -- Help for young leaders who are thinking  strategically about their career.
• Communicating GREEN -- Successfully communicating the sustainability of  your products or company.
• Effective Project Management -- Navigating the daunting task of project  and budget management in a changing environment
• Authoring Your Own Social Media Communication -- How to manage and  interface your messages on Facebook and Twitter.
• Interpreting Global Home and Furnishings Trends -- Understanding trend  development from concept to sourcing.
• Why Blog? -- Guidelines for creating a successful blog that is seen and  read.
• Industry Differences and Similarities -- Reaching out to colleagues in  bedding, hospitality, textiles and more.
• Closing the Deal -- Insights on how to engage, connect and meet your sales  goals.
• The Voice of the Consumer -- Best practices for connecting with your  customer.
• Financial Milestones -- Recommended strategies to meet your financial  objectives for the future.
• Drive Your Own Success -- Techniques that will help you set priorities,  measure risk and make adjustments for your career.
• Investing in Retail Training -- A classic subject with a new approach.

First come, first served! Register early to lock up your seat at the table! 

WithIt Professional Conference Brochure 

The 2011 New York Design Tour enjoyed its brushes with fashion: a shop tour with an artisan who embellishes couture; a lecture by Wendy Goodman, the author of "The World of Gloria Vanderbilt;" and side trips to the Alexander McQueen exhibit at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. There was a forecast--Stylesight's Jamie Thomas shared her firm's 2012 interiors trend report. And there was plenty of fun, too.

WithIt Regional Vice President Jana Platina Phipps, Classical Elements, explains the custom fabric flower making process at M&S Schmalberg, the largest direct manufacturer of custom silk fabric flowers in the USA.

Just ask WithIt member Ruth Olbrych, who blogged  about WithIt's three-day adventure. WithIt's Maybelline Te invites you to see New York Design Tour and other NY Design Week events through her eyes. Her snaps include shots from the 2011 Kips Bay Decorator Show House and the International Contemporary Furniture Fair.

Jamie Thomas of Stylesight presents key colors, essential shapes, and leading materials for 2012.

Other highlights: Traditional Home magazine gave WithIt a tour of the brick-and-mortar storefront for online antiques resource 1stdibs.com. Lillian August's Skye Kirby, vice president of stores and marketing, revealed how she brings her tireless passion for interior design and marketing to the brand's newest retail location, located in Manhattan's Flatiron district. What's the secret to making it look so easy?

"It's about good people...there's no such thing as, 'That's not my job' at Lillian August," Kirby told the NY Design Tour. Step inside the store here. 

Special thanks to WithIt's New York Design Tour committee, including Jana Plantina Phipps, Betty Lyn Eller, Deb Klein, Katie Matushak and Janine Finkle, for organizing the 2011 tour.

Some of the New York Design Tour attendees at their final destination: the Lillian August store in Manhattan's Flatiron District.

By Nook™ or by book, check out these newish tomes on leadership, professional success and career contentment: 

The Next Generation of Women Leaders by Selena Rezvani offers "a penetrating, eye-opening, and ultimately empowering narrative filled with stories of remarkable women who navigated the leadership maze and triumphed."

Wander Woman: How High-Achieving Women Find Contentment and Direction by Marcia Reynolds examines the "wander women," professionals who move from job to job, challenge to challenge, almost on impulse. Reynolds examines the roots of restlessness and teaches how to make wandering a conscious strategy, not a series of unplanned events.

Why Women Should Rule the World by Dee Dee Myers. Reflecting on her own tenure as White House press secretary and her work as a political analyst, media commentator, and former consultant to NBC's The West Wing, Myers blends memoir and social history with a call to action, as she assesses the crucial but long-ignored strengths that female leaders bring to the table. With intelligence, courage, candor, and wit, she looks at the obstacles women must overcome and the traps they must avoid on the path to success.

Women Count: A Guide to Changing the World by Susan Bulkeley Butler. The author shows readers how to change the world through a series of inspiring case studies that chronicle how she and other pioneering women in a range of fields have done so in years past. Never before has the world so greatly needed the unique abilities of women to lead the way. But as history has shown, to make change, women must step into their power and become "women who count."  

His Holiness, the Dalai Lama, says the world will be saved by the western woman. Check out what he has to say.