Amanda Hofman is a whirlwind of energy. After a casual chat with this bubbly and vibrant yet down-to-earth woman, you would never believe she’s the founder and CEO of Urban Girl Squad, one of New York City’s most popular networking groups for women in their 20s and 30s.

A self-professed hard worker who attended Barnard College, Hofman says that part of the reason she started Urban Girl Squad was that she felt she wasn’t being challenged enough in her everyday life.

She says, “I worked really hard in school. I made the Dean’s List, I got good grades; I was an RA. I was doing, doing, doing, and then school ended. I had a really tough transition.” After being a star student who spent all of her time striving to excel, naturally transitioning into the working world would be a challenge. Working entry-level jobs left her feeling drained and unfulfilled by the monotony of office work. She yearned for something that challenged her the same way she had been previously.

As an escape from her blasé work life, she started a knitting group for her friends. This would be the precursor to Urban Girl Squad. Hofman says she loves to create fun social gatherings for herself and her acquaintances. She often throws big parties to introduce her friends to each other and help them to create opportunities of their own. She says, “I was always trying to find ways to introduce my friends to each other. I was trying to make connections, and hook up my friends with jobs and dates. I set up four of my friends with people who they then married.”

After calling herself a “yenta,” Hofman went on to sum it all up. “I like to bring people together and connect people to opportunities,” she says.

After being advised to expand her knitting group to something more than what it was, she was naturally skeptical that it would be a success. But Hofman figured there was nothing wrong with taking a chance. So, to bring things to the next level, she decided to “take out the knitting and have this network of women doing fun exciting things, giving them the opportunity to meet each other and make connections. It gave me an identity. It really helped me to have something that felt right.”

At first Urban Girl Squad started with one or two social networking events a month. Now they’ve moved up to four or five events a week. They range in subject; there are craft parties, cooking classes, wine tastings, spa parties and even group exercise events. By looking at Hofman, you would never guess that she’s running such an empire; she’s poised, put-together and extremely well-polished. She’s our definition of a true hard-working Diva who keeps herself together even under possibly stressful situations.

But don’t think for a second that she ever fails to learn new things about herself and her career. Hofman explains, “I feel challenged all the time.” She adds, “My rate of growth in terms of my knowledge base and skill set is higher than it’s ever been. Maybe it was similar at some point in college but compared to how much I was learning in my other jobs. For me to be challenged like I have been lately is exciting. I’ve learned a lot doing my own thing.”

We love a lady who can put on her big girl panties and stand apart from the rest by taking risks that ultimately lead to success.

You go, girl.

Photo credit: Amanda Hofman

Photo courtesy of Don LaVange, www.flickr.com

Ah, college. It was such an easy time in life. The hardest thing you had to do was write that 15-page paper the night before it was due. But whenever you needed a break, you could go knock on someone’s door. Presumably, that someone would be one of your girlfriends. Even if she was just a classmate, you had someone to commiserate with over a latte or a pint of Ben and Jerry’s. That’s what was so great about living in a dorm; most of my girlfriends were within reach. We either lived in the same building or only maybe a few buildings apart. It was easy to pick up the phone or go on the computer and set up a date to go to the dining hall with, find someone to watch American Idol with or just find someone to chat with while I put off writing that 15-page paper.

The ease of college life and living spoiled me because once I graduated I was in for a surprise. It’s not always that easy to make time for your girlfriends once they don’t live right next door. When you become an “adult,” you have a new set of responsibilities and seeing your friends for a chat or a pint of ice cream may be on the top of the list, but you can’t always get to it.

Now that my friends and I are getting older, we’re learning that we have to make a conscious effort to see each other. That means it can be weeks or months before it actually happens. Work, grad school and boyfriends are just the most common of our road blocks. We make plans, and something suddenly comes up or then we have no money. Often we as women ask ourselves, “What about my friends?” It’s imperative to have a solid group of ladies in your life. They’re the ones that keep you from losing your mind or salvaging the little mind you have left. In the two years since I’ve graduated from college, I’ve come up with some tricks that work for keeping your girlfriends in your life and therefore maintaining your sanity when times get tough.

1. Find something you can do together. Whether it is a class or just something that’s fun like trivia night at a bar. One of my friends and I decided that we were going to find an activity to do together. We chose yoga. That way, we were guaranteed to see each other at least once a week and we could get in shape at the same time.

2. Make at least one friend at work. These are probably the women you see more than anyone else, so find one (or more) ladies that you get along with and would want to spend time with in a social setting. This way after work if you want to grab a quick drink or dinner you may have someone at the next desk (or whatever) who will want to join you.

3. Use the social networking media you have. You follow your friends on Facebook and Twitter right? But don’t just use it to follow their status updates or find out the cool and exciting things they’ve been doing and not respond! It’s the perfect way to start a conversation. For example, “Hey! I saw that cute Marc Jacobs bag you posted on your Twitter, where did you get it?” The lines of communication are already open so take advantage!

4. Schedule a time to catch up. I have a friend who lives in Asia and with the half a day time difference and her constant traveling, it is often hard to keep in touch. So when it’s been a while and we haven’t talked, we’ll set up a phone date. This way we have set up time in our schedules and know that we have blocked out a solid amount of time to talk.

These are just a few ideas that have worked for me. Use them as you will but also try other things that fit into your lifestyle. Your friends are important; you should always make sure that you have them close to you!

Photo courtesy of "Suez92," www.flickr.com

I live in New York City. I can’t walk down a street without seeing images of perfect-looking women; magazine and store ads with beautiful, waifish women glisten on taxis, buses and billboards. When you are faced with that kind of pressure to fit into an ideal, it can be impossible to love the body God gave you, let alone accept it. As women, we constantly aim to please with our looks. Why do you think Victoria’s Secret was created? We wear our jeans tighter, our heels higher, our shirts more low-cut; anything to be found desirable by those around us.

The need to appear perfect is inherent in women, but the capability to understand that perfection is impossible is not as easy for us to accept. When we see, for example, Gisele’s pouty lips and long hair flowing around her lingerie-perfect body, we will stop at nothing to look like a runway model. But for many of us, it just won’t happen.

The staff of Glamour magazine started a revolution when they posted a nude picture of plus-size model Lizzie Miller. When I saw it, I thought, “Well, it’s about time!” The time has come for women to begin realizing that they are beautiful, no matter WHAT they look like.

In honor of Love Your Body Day, I spoke to a few female friends who have finally come to accept the beautiful bodies they were born with. When I asked what having a positive body image meant to them, each answer was strikingly different. My friend Rachel thinks that self-confidence, culture and environment play a role in body image, while my friends Tia and Sandy think it’s more introspective.

Sandy says, “Having a positive body image is about supporting yourself emotionally and physically. By that, I mean don’t stand in front of the mirror and pick yourself apart by noticing all of your flaws. Everyone wants to change something about themselves, but you can’t dwell on what you want to change. Love what you have and work on making those attributes stand out—the rest will fall into place.”

Tia believes, “Positive body image is accepting your own body. All of it. All the parts you love about it and even the parts you perceive as being flawed. And if you want to work on your the parts you believe are flawed, do that in a way that won’t cause harm to your body.”

When asked about their least positive experiences with their body, my friends responded differently. For Sandy it was in junior high.

“I was teased and harassed for my weight and the way I dressed,” she said. “Back then, it was incredibly difficult to find plus sizes, especially for a 13-year-old. Shopping was something I dreaded and I always settled for clothes my mother picked out that I really didn’t like just because I didn’t think anything else would fit. My style looked somewhere in between five-years-old to 80; it seemed to skip right over the teen trends all together.”

Rachel’s body image, on the other hand, was affected by a very specific incident. “When I first injured my knee, I was in an awkward leg brace. It was conspicuous and ungainly.”

But everyone has a turning point where acceptance begins to overturn negativity. For Tia, it came in the form of other people. “The turning point for me was definitely in an acting class I took,” she said. “One day, we sat around and had to say a positive thing about other people in the class and something positive about ourselves. I raved about my classmates but had nothing to say about myself. They all had such great things to say about me, but it was overwhelming. For a second I thought they might have been lying. But that day, I decided to try to find the positive in everything about myself. Especially my body.”

Sandy found strength in her creativity to help her overcome her negativity. “The more I was passionate about things I enjoyed like writing and music, the more I shined on the outside. I faced the world unafraid because despite what judgments might be made on my appearance, I knew I was beautiful all around.”

Rachel’s inspiration came from someone very special to her. Yet she admits it’s still an adjustment. “When I re-met my (now) fiancée, it took me a long time to accept [that he really sees me as beautiful]. I accept his acceptance, but sometimes I still have doubts.”

After the turning point, all of my friends are in much happier and more accepting places. Here’s their advice to you:

Tia: “Learn to look at the positive about yourself, love your body because you only get one. You can work at the things you want to change but accept those things that you can’t. We spend a lot of time comparing ourselves to each other when we should embrace the fact that we are all unique and different.”

Sandy: “Say one good thing about your body every day. When you look in the mirror, don’t pinch your stomach and frown. Smile when you look at yourself. It makes you prettier. If you really don’t like something about yourself and you can work on it, do so, but don’t obsess and put yourself down over it.”

Now, I’m not exempt from the conversation, either. My own personal battle with positive body image is something that I started fighting at a young age. I was mercilessly teased for being so thin and tall; called everything from “stretch” to “scarecrow” to “beanpole.” It wasn’t easy for me to hear, let alone feel secure enough to look in a mirror without hearing those words in the back of my mind. By fifth grade, I was the second tallest girl in my class, with glasses and braces. Eventually the braces came off, but I was still getting taller. Junior high was like hell. I was taller than almost all of my friends (except for one other girl who was as tall and as thin as I was.) It crushed me to hear that the boy I liked didn’t like me back because I was “too tall.”

In high school, boys started to notice me, but mainly because I started wearing short skirts in the summer and shirts that stopped slightly below my belly button—about an inch above the start of my tight jeans. Dressing more provocatively didn’t get me any dates either—just more looks as I walked down the street. It wasn’t until college that I really began to accept and love my body. I gained a few pounds, filled out in a few places and finally started going out with guys.

One night when I stood in front of a guy, completely naked with the lights on, he called me sexy. I had never believed it before, but something started to change in me. Soon after that, I didn’t mind having sex with the lights on! Now, I accept that being thin and tall is who I am. Even though most people see my body type as an ideal to strive for, I can tell you it’s still annoying. It’s hard to find jeans that fit legs with a thirty-five inch inseam. But when my boyfriend runs his hands over my curves and tells me I’m beautiful, I believe him.