<img class="gwt-Image" src="/photo/50279823.cms" />When president of <a href="http://dawoodglobal.org/">Dawood Global Foundation &amp; First Dawood Group</a>, <a href="https://www.ypowpo.org/Member.aspx?memberid=31068706-37FF-E211-BB3A-0050569257EF"><strong>Tara U. Dawood</strong></a>(YPO Capital Pakistan) speaks the room literally lights up. Her unmasked passion for educating young girls and promoting the advancement of women in business has created an entrepreneurial maelstrom of initiatives.  <br />
<br />
<br />
<img class="gwt-Image" src="/photo/50279857.cms" />Tara launched <a href="http://ladiesfund.com/USA/index.html">LADIES FUND</a> in 2008 in direct response to the assassination of Pakistan’s first female prime minister, <a href="http://www.biography.com/people/benazir-bhutto-9211744">Benazir Bhutto</a> in December 2007. A network of thousands of women professionals and entrepreneurs, LADIES FUND trains and promotes female entrepreneurs with the aim of getting more women into the workforce and facilitating business deals between women entrepreneurs.<br />
<br />
“In Pakistan, I would meet someone who married at 18, had two children, ran a floral arrangement business and was also an educator, devoted mother and wife and if you asked her what she did she would say she was a homemaker,” says Tara. “In the West she would be considered a superwoman. We launched LADIESFUND Awards for Pakistan in order to recognize women’s achievements. Almost instantly, with the support of the media, there was a big cultural shift. Today, the husbands, fathers, sons and brothers are some of the biggest campaigners for the women in their lives to win these awards.. “<br />
<br />
Past award winners include <a href="http://tribune.com.pk/story/551508/samina-baig-first-pakistani-woman-to-scale-mount-everest/">Samina Baig</a> – the first Pakistan women to climb Mount Everest, Oscar winner <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2012/mar/01/pakistan-oscar-winner-sharmeen-obaid-chinoy">Sharmeen Obaid Chinoy</a> and <a href="http://www.malala.org/">Malala Yousafzai</a> – the young Pakistani activist whose advocacy has grown into an international movement. <br />
<br />
“We have been so blessed to have these women be a part of LADIES FUND,” says Tara. <br />
<br />
LADIESFUND has grown from an award ceremony to include a yearly conference with more than 600 women participants and a busy yearly calendar of networking lunches, workshops and mentoring opportunities. Additionally, the platform nominates women for board seats, and with the support of LADIESFUND Corporate, is working hard to help women obtain C-level managerial and board positions.<br />
<br />
An outgrowth of LADIESFUND is the <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nLc4s4iPQHY">Educate a Girl</a> initiative whose mission is to educate 1,000 girls, ages 18-22, to become journalists in order to upgrade gender representation in the media. To date, the foundation has granted scholarships in media studies to almost 600 young women at the Pakistan Institute of Journalism, with 268 certified after three months of training and assignments in radio, print and television media. <br />
<br />
“We are reminding girls they have voices that need to be heard,” says Tara. “We train them and then help place them in jobs where they are given a platform and the freedom to speak about the issues close to their heart.”<br />
<br />
Three of the program’s girls – previously without jobs and little prospects – have gone on to become professional news anchors. One girl won a Google competition for best documentary and has secured funding for two more films; other girls have newspaper columns; and some are working as radio disc jockeys. The foundation is working actively to help more and more get jobs, which is a key purpose of this program.<br />
<br />
Founded in 2013, Educate a Girl’s ability to reach so many in such a short span of time is a testament to the program’s grassroots outreach via Facebook. Each girl has her own album on the program’s Facebook page to help facilitate networking and as a way for the girls to stay connected to their donors.<br />
<br />
“Because everything is transparent – one donor, one girl – people feel a real sense of connectedness,” says Tara. “I’ve had people tell me they’ve never given to charity before and now they’re doing it for the first time because they have so much confidence and trust in the process and impact. It’s about engaging people with total transparency; the girl you support is tagged on Facebook, you know she’s real, she knows who’s supporting her – it’s all completely organic and from the heart.”<br />
<br />
Tara’s passion for ensuring every girl has access to education most recently drove her to create Product Pink. Akin to Bono’s <a href="http://www.red.org/en/U2">Red</a>, Product Pink simplifies charitable giving by tagging products with purpose. <br />
<br />
“Anyone with any product can sign up to be a part of Product Pink,” explains Tara. “When someone buys your product, a percentage of the revenue goes toward educating a girl. The great part about it is that the money doesn’t come out of a business’s philanthropy arm, it comes out of their revenue stream.” <br />
<br />
Leveraging purchase power as a means of doing good has been permeating the YPO-WPO collective unconscious lately with members like Tara and <a href="https://www.ypowpo.org/Member.aspx?memberid=8B4546ED-77E3-DE11-8D75-005056923298"><strong>Amar Sharany</strong></a> (WPO Orlando, WPO Monaco, WPO Greater Europe) leading the way (read about Amar’s in/PACT on the <a href="http://www.ypo.org/2015/08/can-money-buy-happiness/"><em>Ignite</em> blog</a>).<br />
<br />
“If all the brands in YPO donated even 1 percent – or ideally 10 percent - of their proceeds to initiatives like educating a girl, it would give even greater meaning to our peer-to-peer network,” says Tara. “Ours is an organization that can impact not just through fundraising, but through business and influence.” <br />
<br />
For Tara, beyond business, networking or gender, life is about becoming ones optimal self. <br />
<br />
“Imagine a whole world living happy and productive lives of great impact,” muses Tara. “For me it’s about everyone living up to their true potential.”<br />
 <br />


Into The Light: Tara U. Dawood’s Exuberant
Empowerment

<img src="https://static-ssl.businessinsider.com/image/5e62c9cffee23d2169042652-1589/gettyimages-505580611.jpg" alt="woman reading a book" /><p class="source"><span>Tara Moore/Getty Images</span></p><p class="caption">Many leaders recommended books about psychology, feminism, and mental health, in addition to traditional business strategy.</p><ul class="summary-list"><li><strong style="background-color: #ffffff;">Of all the great <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/books-about-entrepreneurship-starting-business-leadership-ceo-founder-2019-12">business books</a>, the ones </strong>written by men tend to get a lot of attention, but many other important perspectives are out there.</li><li>Business Insider asked female founders and business leaders for books - written by women - that they recommend on leadership, entrepreneurship, and running a company.</li><li>In addition to books on traditional business strategy, many women pointed us to books about psychology, feminism, and mental health.</li><li><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/prime?module=article&amp;area=summary"><strong>Click here for more BI Prime content.</strong></a></li></ul><p>The business books that land on must-read lists year after year, heavily recommended by CEOs, executives, and entrepreneurs, usually have one thing in common: they're written by men. Of the 49 books on these lists from <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2019/03/06/i-read-the-8-best-business-books-of-all-time-here-are-the-most-brilliant-lessons-from-each.html">CNBC</a>, <a href="https://www.inc.com/geoffrey-james/10-best-books-written-by-entrepreneurs.html">Inc.</a>, and even <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/influential-business-books">Business Insider</a>, you'll count just 10 books that have female authors. </p><p>So Business Insider asked female founders and business leaders what books they recommend on leadership, entrepreneurship, and running a company. There was only guideline: at least one woman must be an author of the book.  </p><p>What we found is that these female entrepreneurs and executives have a broader understanding of what constitutes business advice than traditional topics such as funding, pitches, capital, scaling, business plans, and board meetings.</p><p>Traditional business strategy was still on the list, but many leaders also pointed us to books about psychology, feminism, and mental health. Best-sellers from leading ladies like Michelle Obama and Sheryl Sandberg made the list as well as books from authors Jessica Joines and Kim Scott. The resulting list reflects a step forward in the ever-evolving story of female entrepreneurialism, and how women have different experiences and insights to share, adding up to a different leadership style.</p><p>As Stephanie Nadi Olson, the founder of <a href="https://www.wearerosie.com/">We Are Rosie,</a> put it, "Women like me are much more drawn to books written by women leaders and founders simply because women lead from intuition and compassion," she told Business Insider. "It's less about competition for us, and more about how we can build and manifest our visions into a business that serves humanity."</p><p><em>Do you have a book recommendation to add? Please email this reporter at jortakales@businessinsider with your suggestion and tell us why it's an important read. </em></p><p><strong>Here are 15 business and leadership books written by women. </strong></p>

We asked female founders and executives what books helped them grow their businesses. Here are the 15 must-read books by and for women entrepreneurs.

<p></p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"><img src="https://static-ssl.businessinsider.com/image/5c3fbe39feba8c2c554b867c-2000/ap18031094029028.jpg" border="0" alt="Trump State of the Union" data-mce-source="AP" data-mce-caption="President Donald Trump delivers his first State of the Union address."><p class="source"><span>AP</span></p><p class="caption">President Donald Trump delivers his first State of the Union address.</p></img></div><p></p></div></div><ul class="summary-list"><li>President Donald Trump is delivering the 2019 State of the Union address at 9 p.m. on Tuesday night.&#xa0;</li><li>Trump is set to cover an array of issues in the address, which almost didn't happen, including immigration, abortion, health care, and foreign policy.&#xa0;</li><li>Rising star Stacey Abrams will deliver the Democratic Party's response to Trump's address.&#xa0;</li></ul><p>President Donald Trump's 2019 State of the Union address is on Tuesday night.</p><p>There's been a great deal of drama surrounding the address in which Trump is expected to outline his agenda for the year, while also touting what he feels his administration has accomplished thus far.</p><p>Trump heads into the address with a lot up in the air on multiple major issues - most notably immigration, US troop withdrawals from Syria and Afghanistan, and denuclearization negotiations with North Korea.</p><p>The theme of Trump's address is reportedly "CHOOSING GREATNESS."&#xa0;</p><h2>The address almost didn't happen</h2><p>In recent weeks it wasn't clear if Trump would deliver the address as he quarreled with Democrats over funding for a wall he wishes to build along the US-Mexico border.</p><p>The border wall fight and broader debate over how the US should address undocumented immigration catalyzed the longest government shutdown in the country's history, <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/government-shutdown-trump-democrats-gop-three-week-funding-bill-deal-2019-1">culminating in late January.</a></p><p>Amid the shutdown, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi disinvited Trump from delivering the State of the Union. The address is traditionally given to a joint session of Congress in the House chamber, over which the Speaker has control.</p><p>Trump's address was originally set to occur on January 29 until Pelosi effectively cancelled it. The move was viewed by Republicans as a petty political slight, but Pelosi justified it by citing security concerns linked to the shutdown.</p><p><em><strong>Read more:</strong> <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/pelosi-trump-state-of-the-union-address-february-5-2019-1">Pelosi invites Trump to give State of the Union address on February 5 after canceling original date</a></em></p><p>During the back and forth over the address, Trump cancelled a government trip of Pelosi's to Afghanistan.</p><p>But facing growing criticism and pressure, <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/government-shutdown-trump-democrats-gop-three-week-funding-bill-deal-2019-1">Trump effectively ended the shutdown on January 25</a> by agreeing to a deal that temporarily funded the government - but didn't provide funding for his wall. Some conservatives seemed to feel Trump had capitulated to Democrats by agreeing to a deal without border wall funding, <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/ann-coulter-slams-trump-on-bill-maher-over-government-shutdown-bill-2019-1">and he's since faced criticism</a> on that front from erstwhile Trump-supporting right-wing commentators like Ann Coulter.&#xa0;</p><h2>Immigration and foreign policy are set to dominate Trump's speech&#xa0;</h2><p>The wall was one of Trump's biggest campaign promises and he seems determined to deliver it by any means necessary.</p><p>Trump has <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/national-emergency-to-build-the-border-wall-what-would-happen-2019-1">threatened to declare a national emergency</a> to obtain the necessary funds, which would be highly controversial and likely face opposition in the courts. However, <a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2019-02-05/trump-said-to-decide-not-to-declare-emergency-in-state-of-union">Bloomberg reports</a> the president will not call for a state of emergency during the State of the Union address.&#xa0;</p><p>The president may offer a definitive plan on immigration and the border wall, or he could use the national stage to pressure Democrats to give into his demands.</p><p>Trump will also reportedly <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/trump-planning-to-slam-abortion-in-state-of-the-union-speech-2019-2">focus heavily on the issue of abortion.</a></p><p>The president is seemingly looking to capitalize on an incendiary debate over late-term abortions that started in Virginia and was quickly signal-boosted by conservatives nationwide. Trump has pegged himself as a fervently pro-life president, nominating two Supreme Court justices with similar views.</p><p><em><strong>Read more:</strong> <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/trump-planning-to-slam-abortion-in-state-of-the-union-speech-2019-2">Trump is planning to slam abortion in his State of the Union speech, fanning the flames of the culture wars</a></em></p><p>The president also has much to discuss regarding withdrawing US troops from Syria and Afghanistan. Trump hastily announced his intention to pull out all of the 2,000 troops in Syria and roughly half of the approximately 14,000 troops in Afghanistan late last year. But there's not been much movement on this as Trump has faced widespread criticism, <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/republicans-slam-trumps-syria-retreat-after-isis-claimed-attack-2019-1">including from top Republicans in Congress</a>, over these plans.</p><p>There are broad concerns withdrawing US troops from Syria will open the door for ISIS to make a major comeback. Trump has in recent weeks falsely claimed ISIS is defeated, <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/trump-blames-media-for-intelligence-assessment-2019-1">publicly feuding with his intel chiefs</a> who've contradicted him on this and an array of other issues.</p><p></p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"><img src="https://static-ssl.businessinsider.com/image/5c1bab18d4beaf2a8645e97d-2000/ap18354216766121.jpg" border="0" alt="trump kim jong un" data-mce-source="AP Photo/Evan Vucci"><p class="source"><span>AP Photo/Evan Vucci</span></p><p class="caption">North Korean leader Kim Jong Un and President Donald Trump.</p></img></div><p></p></div></div><p>The president on Tuesday night will also likely discuss his <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/trump-meet-with-north-koreas-kim-jong-un-in-february-2019-1">impending meeting with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un.</a> The summit will mark the second time the two leaders have met to hold talks on the denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula.</p><p>North Korea in June pledged to work toward denuclearization but intelligence suggests there hasn't been much progress on this front, and there are doubts Pyongyang will ever truly get rid of its nukes. The second meeting is set to occur sometime in February.&#xa0;</p><p>According to reports, Trump will also take some time to discuss health care and trade during Tuesday's speech.&#xa0;</p><h2>Trump's special guests emphasize his immigration agenda</h2><p>Trump has <a href="https://www.whitehouse.gov/articles/special-guests-president-trumps-second-state-union-address/">invited a number of special guests to the address</a>, including family members of people killed by undocumented immigrants.</p><p>The president has attempted to portray undocumented immigrants as a violent threat to the US, despite <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/trumps-depiction-of-illegal-immigrants-contradicted-by-statistics-2018-11">data that shows native-born Americans are more likely to commit violent crimes.</a> Some of Trump's other guests also have backgrounds that are linked to his immigration agenda.&#xa0;</p><p><em><strong>Read more</strong>: <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/trumps-depiction-of-illegal-immigrants-contradicted-by-statistics-2018-11">Trump cherry-picks examples of violent illegal immigrants to stir up his base, but the statistics tell a different story</a></em></p><p>The president has also invited Matthew Charles, who was recently freed from prison under the First Step Act, a bipartisan criminal justice reform bill Trump signed and supported.&#xa0;</p><p>Additionally, Trump has invited survivors of the mass shooting at a Pittsburgh synagogue in October 2018.&#xa0;</p><p>A boy named Joshua Trump, who has reportedly been bullied over his last name, will also be in attendance under the president and first lady Melania Trump's invitation.</p><h2>Democrats' special guests mark their anti-Trump agenda</h2><p>A number of Democrats have invited special guests to make points about their anti-Trump agenda, including some 2020 contenders.</p><p>Democratic Sen. Kamala Harris has invited an air traffic controller who was furloughed during the government shutdown and <a href="https://www.elle.com/culture/career-politics/a26132607/senator-kamala-harris-state-of-the-union-trisha-pesiri-dybvik/">lost her home during a 2017 wildfire in California</a>. Trump has in recent months made controversial remarks on wildfires in California and has <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2018/11/11/politics/california-wildfires-trump-tweets/index.html">been accused of being insensitive to those affected</a>.&#xa0;</p><p></p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"><img src="https://static-ssl.businessinsider.com/image/5c4fdc3d2bdd7f4a5428e504-2400/2019-01-28t024214z1665490942rc125a232090rtrmadp3usa-election-harris.jpg" border="0" alt="Kamala Harris" data-mce-source="REUTERS/Elijah Nouvelage" data-mce-caption="U.S. Senator Kamala Harris launches her campaign for President of the United States at a rally at Frank H. Ogawa Plaza in her hometown of Oakland, California, U.S., January 27, 2019."><p class="source"><span>REUTERS/Elijah Nouvelage</span></p><p class="caption">Senator Kamala Harris launches her campaign for President of the United States at a rally at Frank H. Ogawa Plaza in her hometown of Oakland, California, U.S., January 27, 2019.</p></img></div><p></p></div></div><p>In a similar move seemingly meant to be a jab at Trump, Democratic Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand invited Navy Lt. Cmdr. Blake Dremann, a transgender service member affected by the president's ban on transgender people in the US military.&#xa0;</p><p>Meanwhile, Democratic Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez invited an activist who famously shouted at former Republican Sen. Jeff Flake amid the chaotic confirmation hearings for Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh.&#xa0;</p><h2>Rising star Stacey Abrams will deliver the Democratic response</h2><p>Following Trump's speech, Stacey Abrams will deliver the Democratic response, marking <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2019/01/29/politics/stacey-abrams-democratic-response-state-of-the-union/index.html">the first time in US history a black woman has done so.</a></p><p>Abrams gained a national profile in a heated gubernatorial race this past November. She narrowly lost under chaotic circumstances, including allegations of voter suppression against her Republican opponent Brian Kemp.&#xa0;</p><p>Sen. Bernie Sanders, who is reportedly poised to join the pack of 2020 contenders in the near future, will<a href="https://thehill.com/homenews/senate/428430-bernie-sanders-to-deliver-his-own-state-of-the-union-response"> also offer a response to Trump's speech on Tuesday.</a></p><div><blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en"><p>NEW: President Trump spoke to 20 Republican supporters yesterday at the WH about what to expect in <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/SOTU?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#SOTU</a> speech. Here are the very broad talking points they handed out, "choosing greatness" in bold. <a href="https://t.co/SXzMHSUB0O">pic.twitter.com/SXzMHSUB0O</a></p>- Tara Palmeri  (@tarapalmeri) <a href="https://twitter.com/mims/statuses/1092864368658841602?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">February 5, 2019</a></blockquote><script async="" src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script></div>    <div class="margin-top">        <h3>NOW WATCH: <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/roger-stone-donald-trump-richard-nixon-2017-2">Roger Stone explains what Trump has in common with Richard Nixon</a></h3>        <div>            <iframe class="bijwplayerclass" data-player="jwplayer" src="https://content.jwplatform.com/players/dmeOdLyE-CEZHWCBG.html" width="100%" height="100%" frameborder="0" scrolling="auto" style="margin:0px;" allowfullscreen=""></iframe><script>function receiveMessage(event){ console.log(event.data.fullscreen); Android.fullscreen(event.data.fullscreen); }window.addEventListener("message", receiveMessage, false);</script>        </div>    </div>

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Into The Light: Tara U. Dawood’s Exuberant Empowerment

Guest Author

We asked female founders and executives what books helped them grow their businesses. Here are the 15 must-read books by and for women entrepreneurs.

Jennifer Ortakales

What to expect in Trump's State of the Union, which almost didn't happen

John Haltiwanger