Shake It Off Leadership-
Achieving Success Through the Eyes of Our Labels
By Betsy Cerulo
Who Defines You? You or Others? Can You Choose Your Labels and Use Them to Empower Yourself and Your Business? YES! Betsy Cerulo Shows You How!
Are you ready to stop allowing others’ perceptions and labels of you limit what you can accomplish? Have you had enough of the outright or subtle undermining of your career or self-esteem by the ways people “categorize” you or the way you categorize yourself?
Betsy Cerulo had her fill, and so she stepped up to claim her labels and make them her fuel for greater success!
And in her new book Shake It Off Leadership—Achieving Success Through the Eyes of Our Labels, she will gift you with the guidance on how she did it…and how it can transform your life and your business!
Betsy felt the sting of disempowering external perceptions early. Her mother made no effort to hide she favored the boys in the family over the girls, and that they could have nearly unlimited freedom, but the females had to live according to a specific standard. And then, in college, when she came out, after falling for one of her classmates, she began to experience the sting of unkind and discriminating labels. In business, as she tried to rise as a young executive search professional, she found her way blocked and her salary less simply because she was ”a woman.”
But with skill and determination, she built a hugely successful boutique professional staffing and executive search firm. AdNet/AccountNet, Advocates for Workplace Excellence and Equity. But along the way, she decided to throw off the limitations of those labels, embrace those she was proud of, and choose the labels that she wanted to define her!
Betsy won’t put up with “the nonsense” she hears come out of the mouth of those who attempt to diminish women, the LGBTQ+ community and racially diverse people. She challenges them.
Instead of suffering the insulting brand of dyke or lesbian with a sneer, she decided to make her sexuality a proud hallmark of her success, attaining the first government 8A certification based on Gender and LGBT discrimination. This allows a company to bid for government contracts with less competition. Then, she went on to co-found the Maryland LGBT Chamber of Commerce and the Maryland LGBT Foundation, built it into a robust organization that attracted many mainstream sponsors. As a woman-owned business, she fought the discrimination of banks that refused loans, and found those that would treat her with respect.
Betsy learned how to shake-off the slights, disappointments and roadblocks in building a successful business—not just the issues related to discrimination, but with all of the gumption, wisdom and courage it takes to create a thriving enterprise, with quality, happy, engaged staff and curation of clients that are an asset to the business. She’s discerned a style of SKAKE IT OFF LEADERSHIP, that will empower any leader with the skills, wisdom and strength to successfully create or grow a business, while insuring balance and personal fulfillment.
Each chapter in Shake It Off Leadership provides lessens, new perspectives and an enriching Shake It Off tip at the end. Betsy’s personal story is woven throughout as an inspiration for those who have struggled with the labels that have disempowered them.
Your listeners will find astute insights on every page. Every business can benefit from leader who stands in her, his or their strength -- and who can spot and act on strengthening the weaknesses within themselves and their company—just as Betsy Cerulo has done.
If you would like to interview Betsy Cerulo, please send an email with the name of the show, your contact information, a proposed date and time, and the calling details.
In 1990, Betsy Cerulo founded AdNet/AccountNet, Inc., a Baltimore-based company with a powerful mission of being “Advocates for Workplace Excellence & Equality”. AdNet is a Professional Staffing & Executive Search firm focused on providing exemplary Human Capital Management services to government and corporate clients throughout the United States. AdNet places subject matter experts with Accounting/Finance, Human Resources and Legal expertise. Since 2011, AdNet excels at identifying and managing teams of individuals who provide Equal Employment Opportunity Compliance Services, as well as Reasonable Accommodation assistants who handle administrative tasks for government and corporate employees who are blind or deaf. The company is 8a, LGBTE and WBE certified.
Betsy is the Co-Founder and Past President of the Maryland LGBT Chamber of Commerce, which successfully launched in 2017 and was awarded Rising Star Chamber in 2018 by the National LGBT Chamber of Commerce. In 2021, Betsy and eight community leaders founded the Maryland LGBT Foundation, which is a 501c3/non-profit entity, working in partnership with the Maryland LGBT Chamber. Betsy serves as the Board President. The Foundation generates resources and works to activate, educate and mobilize the LGBTQ+ community to access opportunity and wealth generation.
She also serves on the National LGBT Chamber of Commerce certification committee, which verifies that eligible businesses are majority-owned by LGBT individuals. This certified LGBT Business Enterprise designation allows businesses to better compete for corporate contracts. Betsy is a member of the Women’s President’s Organization, which is a global peer advisory group for female CEO’s.
Betsy is a passionate activist pushing for equity and equal rights for women and all diverse groups.
Betsy is the author of Shake It Off Leadership-Achieving Success Through the Eyes of our Labels and a children’s book, Miss Crabapple and Her Magical Violin, which tells a story of how the quietest child in a group can light up dreams when we ask questions. She is also a contributing author of two compilations Women Living Consciously and Keys to Conscious Business Growth.
