When singer-songwriter Whitney Nichole isn’t composing music or performing in front of live audiences, you’ll find her in the San Francisco music studio she founded with her husband, photographer Niall David, doing one of her favorite things in the world: teaching students how to find their voice. Since launching her business, Songbird Studios, back in 2009, Nichole has not only released her first full-length album, 100 Strong, and performed her pop songs around the country. She’s also been getting singers both young and old excited in music and enjoying the exhilarating rewards of expressing themselves creatively.

Here, Nichole talks to Red Typewriter about the mood-boosting, brain-nurturing, confidence-building benefits of singing your heart out. … //READ MORE

Helsinki-born singer/songwriter Janita may be 36, but her career already spans more than three decades. She began playing piano at age 3. Started writing songs at age 4. Met her long-time music collaborator (and future husband) at 13. Then, over the next few years, recorded several albums and became a teen pop sensation in Finland. Janita moved to Brooklyn at age 17 and was signed to one of Sony’s music labels the following year. … //READ MORE

I love having girls. The complexities of my twin daughters’ personalities confound and delight me daily. Next year they’ll go to kindergarten, taking one more step toward independence. But, while I love watching them mature into confident and capable girls, my fears about the world they’re growing up in can get the better of me. In the dark shadows of 4 a.m. I can get fixated on eating disorders, cyber bullying, and the violence against women that continues in our culture. I wonder, how can I prepare them for danger without contaminating them with fear? … //READ MORE

Nishika de Rosairo has been an artist and she’s been a dancer. She’s lived on four continents, worked as an adviser to Fortune 500 companies in Silicon Valley, and served as an advocate for women’s entrepreneurship. Now, as the CEO and creative director of dE ROSAIRO, she’s fulfilling a childhood dream to design her own fashion line, drawing on both her artistic and business acumen to outfit sophisticated, successful women around the globe. … //READ MORE

For Pam Baer, it doesn’t get any better than this. As an executive board member of San Francisco General Hospital, an adviser to several other nonprofits and (one of her most high-profile roles) the wife of San Francisco Giants President Larry Baer, she’s attended her share of chic soirees and charitable events. Now she’s taken two of her passions—fashion and philanthropy—and started her own company to give back on a global level. … //READ MORE

This week, many of us are spending some time in the kitchen. We’re slicing, dicing and combining delicious flavors into festive dishes to share with friends and family. And to ensure that our holiday meals turn out just right, we’ve chosen the freshest, most aromatic ingredients available. If we’re lucky enough to live in a warmer climate, some of those ingredients may have even come straight from our garden. 

According to Allison Evanow, founder of Novato, Calif.,-based Square One Organic Spirits, this creative impulse lies behind everything culinary—whether it’s served on a plate or in a cocktail glass. … //READ MORE