Barbara Daniel

The Gender Equality Fight Isn't Over Yet

Barbara Daniel Ep. 65 - Meet Barbara Daniel on TrailBlazers Impact Podcast, the publisher, and editor of the Cleveland Women's Journal, a digital and print magazine. The Cleveland Women's Journal is informative, educational, and objective. Their mission is to empower women through knowledge. As Founder of the Cleveland Women's Journal, Barbara knows the gender equality fight is not over. Barbara and Nan talk about entrepreneurship, women's health and well-being, spousal abuse, sex trafficking, and dealing with breast cancer and death of a spouse. As a woman who knows who she is and where she's going, Barbara's thoughts are enlightening, inspiring, and helpful.

Top Takeaways:

- How Barbara took a risk with the magazine business by treading unknown paths
- The importance of changing with time- including technology in her magazine publishing
- Learning to deal with cancer as it became part of her life
- The purpose of helping and empowering women who go through violence, abuse, and gender inequality

Listen in to hear how Barbara sued the City of Columbus for discrimination. She was unable to take the police civil service exam. A class action lawsuit was filed against the City of Columbus and she won.

In September 2004 when she purchased the magazine, Barbara recognized that it gave her the opportunity to achieve her personal mission to help women and the community. She knows what it takes to start a new business after being in another field for many years and shares it with the listeners.

Before publishing, Barbara was in the financial services industry for 25 years and received the Valmark Securities award, "Excellence is the Exceptional Drive to Exceed Expectations." Barbara was the third woman President of the National Association of Insurance & Financial Advisors. She was also President of the Cleveland National Association of Women Business Owners.

Barbara was President of the Women's City Club from 2003 to 2006 and received the Elsa Pavlik award in 2003 for serving as a role model for other women. She was an Athena Award finalist in 2005 (presented by Inside Business magazine). Barbara was inducted into the West Technical High School 2012 Hall of Fame. In 2013, Barbara received a Women's History Month award from the City of Cleveland for service to the community and empowering women and in 2017 she received the Inspire Award from Celebrating Women.

Listen to her mantra is "Well behaved women rarely make history."

Key Moments:

- Barbara talks about the lawsuit she filed and won against the city of Columbus in 1975 for women discrimination when it came to taking the civil service exam [2:39]
- How she started the Cleveland women's magazine for women [5:39]
- The milestones that her magazine has made- from tabloid-sized newsprint to glossy print and later digital [7:18]
- How she and her business partner learned to run the magazine business by defining their mission and vision and never changing it in 15 years [10:08]
- How her dad inspired her in business and teaching her honesty, integrity, and the strength of a woman [12:27]
- How she found a purpose in working for the magazine after leaving her 25 years career in the financial industry [13:50]
- What is her biggest success story so far? [15:21]
- Barbara shares all the challenges she and her business partners went through in their personal lives and how they dealt with it to keep the business afloat [16:21]
- She shares some of her biggest achievements [18:19]
- She shares a story of abuse from a subject she interviewed 10 years ago and how that touched her heart [19:56]
- What has been her experience working with nonprofit organizations? How does she contribute to helping them? [21:27]
- How did she balance work and life? [24:48]
- She describes how she dealt with breast cancer and the sound advice she has for people who are battling the disease [26:18]
- How she handled her husband's cancer, eventual death, accepting his loss, and finding purpose afterward [31:08]
- What advice does she have for young people? [34:50]