I’ve always been an optimist. If this were not the case, it’s possible that Dermalogica as we know it might not have happened! And you’d be microfoliating and Power Rich-ing with someone else. By the way, I am so grateful that this is not the case.

So, I do look forward into the eyes of 2012 as one would look into the eyes of a newborn baby. I believe that virtually everything is possible.

And here’s some good news to start off the year: you do not have to be good at everything. You only need to be good at what you’re already really good at. Whatever this is, love it, cherish it, nurture it, own it in 2012. Take it to a new level of mastery in the New Year. Doing so will make you happier than you were in 2011. It may even make you rich, possibly in cash as well as in more intangible ways.

The common wisdom is that we should strive to be well-rounded. Another word for this is “balance.”

I think that balance is an impossible proposition, really. Whether you’re a single working person, a new parent, a small business owner, whatever, I believe that it is more innately human, and ultimately more rewarding, to recover and rebound from extremes. To me, the good life is all about resilience.

Of course, I am in favor of eating vegetables, lots of cardio, hand-written thank-you notes, and getting plenty of sleep. Of course I believe in thoroughly removing all makeup before bedtime. Ditto for daily flossing, quitting smoking now, drinking plenty of water, and never exceeding the speed limit.

Does your life really work this way, though? Mine doesn’t.

From a career standpoint, as well as from a personal standpoint, here’s my advice for 2012: don’t bother with things you don’t care about. Don’t fret about this idea of balance; instead, focus on your strengths. This does align, I suppose, with the idea that whatever we focus on becomes larger and stronger. So don’t obsess about what you don’t have, and what you are not.

If you’re just not really a dog person, fine! If you really don’t get excited about fine wines, okay! If you’re great at math, but can’t make toast or boil an egg, it’s all good – because chances are there’s a diner down the street.

Love what you love. One really great way to expand this love is to share it with others. I encourage you to share your strengths with other women, in particular, in 2012. This proposition has many implications in many areas of life.

Consider tutoring or mentoring one or more women, in your workplace, in your community, at your child’s school. Explore the idea of barter. Lessons in Excel in exchange for a deluxe latte coffee-drink every Monday morning, or vacation pet-sitting? Why not?

Yes, here is a refreshing reversal: an opportunity for a younger, less experienced person to mentor an older person—since younger people often have mad tech skills to share. Imagine!

Then, imagine even more. Imagine what else is possible when you focus on your strengths.

Winter is often a time of reckoning for many women. One morning in February, we look in the mirror and literally wonder aloud, “What happened?”

There are several reasons for this. One reason is literally the light of winter. It is oblique, sharp and high-contrast, while the light of summer is more diffused, sort of like putting gauze over the photographer’s lens. The harsh light of a winter morning exposes every pore to merciless scrutiny.

Another perceptual issue is the fact that most of us are at our palest in winter. I personally am not a fan of the tan, at all. I think every person should enjoy and celebrate the actual color of her skin, from alabaster to espresso.

But the fact of the matter is that many Americans are a bit tanner in summer. Exposure to the sun, as well as vacation spray-tans and bronzing products, add golden and warm-brown tones to even the pastiest skin. This effect does distract from purplish-blue undereye shadows, fine surface fissures, reduces sharp contrasts and visually creates a smoother look in terms of perceived pigment distribution – although I am not an advocate for basking.

So, winter is the time to get it right, and lay the foundation for healthier skin as the New Year. The real issue is two-fold. Cold temperatures cause the skin to contract, and cold reduces circulation. This means cell turnover slows, as do other body processes. So, cold weather may slow down lymphatic drainage, making us feel sluggish and look puffy. And, a slowing of the overall system reduces the rate of cell turnover, resulting in more cell debris on the surface of the skin. This can make skin look ashy, pasty, dusty and dull.

The other problem with winter weather, though, is the drop in humidity. Even in sunny Southern California where I live and work, it’s dry as well as chillier. And this loss of air-humidity means that skin feels dry, too.

Here are a few key moves to keep your winter skin healthier:
1 – Tepid water only. Heat may be appealing when you’re chilled to your core, but hot water contributes to dehydration. A steaming bath may also trigger flushing, including Rosacea symptoms.

2 – Moisturize – especially before you go outdoors. No, moisturizer does not freeze! Dermalogica’s clients across Scandinavia will attest to this. This never happens. So be sure to guard your skin with a shield of hydration. Sounds like a given, but we’ve gotten the feedback that some people actually skip moisturizer when it’s cold outside, fearing that their product will ice up like a skating rink. Not gonna happen.

3 – Cleanse carefully. Your skin continues to produce sebum and waste products, and shed cells, even if you’re not feeling warm and sweaty. So, cleansing is always the first step to optimum skin function. When facing the challenges of winter weather, it is more important than ever to avoid harsh products, especially deodorant bar soaps. These are generally alkaline, and the perfumes are irritating to the skin. Don’t use these on your body, and definitely don’t get them anywhere near your face! Cleanse face and body with a gentle botanicals-based liquid cleanser, pat dry (don’t rub), and apply moiturizer from toenails to hairline. I also think that antibacterial cleansers are overkill, unless you’re about to perform surgery.

Click here to watch the Winter Skin Tips Video.

I recently had the pleasure of joining Ali Brown as part of her annual “Shine Conference” in Dallas, where I was invited to speak and participate. Dermalogica’s women’s global microlending initiative, joinFITE, was spotlighted before 500 attendees, all of them dynamic women who are dedicated to entrepreneurism.

The theme of the conference was “Embracing Change.” And no one epitomizes this more than the electrifying Ms. Brown herself, who brings a sparkling million-watt smile and a sizzling billion-watt brain to the party. She’s written several business bestsellers, and her company, Ali International LLC, has been listed in the Inc. 500 as one of the world’s fastest-growing companies. Business News Daily has dubbed her “The Entrepreneurial Guru for Women.”

She’s a self-made success zeitgeist, leading, coaching and counseling women about how to create the lives they want.

Ali is a supporter of a dynamic national organization for women where I also mentor, Step Up Women’s Network (suwn.org). On the topic of change, one of Ali’s recurring themes really resonates for me: that women are creating a new paradigm in business, which literally will alter the course of history — and save the world! — because it is more sustainable than the prior masculine model. Men are welcome to follow, join and learn, and I can think of no more energizing example and teacher than Ali Brown.

Check out her no-nonsense inspirations — which are often hilariously funny, as well as pointed and smart — at alibrown.com, and her blog at forbes.com (Forbes called her one of the “Women to Watch”).

In the new year, people often make resolutions. “This is the year,” we often tell ourselves, “for a big change!”

Perhaps the most common NYR: to find a new job. A better job. Or just a job. Of course, in our current economy, this resolution may be somewhat tempered by the cold reality of less hiring. Still, employees may aspire to something… better.

It’s easy to conclude that the problem may be your employer. Just as there is no perfect mate or perfect marriage, there is no perfect workplace, and there is no perfect boss. If you can land another offer, it’s possible that a different job and a different company culture may suit you better—in which case, go for it, congratulations, and I wish you every success!

But here’s my news flash for the New Year: creating your own greater job-satisfaction may be possible right where you are. It requires that you see yourself differently, and see your job differently. When you do this, it is possible that you will create different results in the corporate culture around you.

A woman I know, a writer, spent many years working in ad agencies and PR agencies. She described feeling like a large, agile, trained, captive killer whale at a place like Sea World. “I live in a cement pond and perform tricks for food,” she told me one day over a martini or two.

You may know how this story ends, as these stories always end: the trained killer whale bit her trainer in two. Bad whale.

This is the problem with how most of us think of our jobs. We are conditioned to seek external rewards and incentives.

But get this: Dan Pink, author of four best-selling books on motivation, says “Tangible rewards tend to have a substantially negative effect on intrinsic motivation.” Money, in particular, he says, tends to de-motivate. It’s never enough.

In fact, Pink says “meaning is the new money.” What people really need in order to achieve and succeed is a sense of connection to something beyond self-interest. Something more meaningful.

In 2012, try looking at your work with new eyes. The word that’s got my mind buzzing is “autotelic,” meaning that the activity is its own reward, and the goal is self-fulfilling.

We’ve all had the experience of having our restaurant meal served by someone who genuinely seems to take joy in bringing us our food. Sure, this inspires us to tip well. But the truth is, people who love their work aren’t doing it for the tips.

We’ve all felt the difference of being greeted and assisted by a customer service person who genuinely addresses our concerns, attentively and effectively. Their task may sound like a nightmare job: handling our luggage at the airport, or working at the DMV. Again, this is because whoever that person is finds some intrinsic pay-off in the job itself. These people work with pride, and a sense of joy.

Do you?

If you’re disconnected from your job, it’s human nature to say that this is because it’s not a good job. So, you play Farmville instead of working. You re-tweet and text and FB instead of working. Maybe you, oops, how did that get there?, may even find yourself slipping some office supplies into your gym bag. You paste magazine photos of beaches inside the drawer of your desk, thinking, Some day, some day.

Some day is now. You may be experiencing disconnection, and dissatisfaction, because you’re waiting for rewards, like my friend Shamu, waiting for a fish to be tossed to her from the side of her sad cement pond.

Find your meaning now. Where is it? The answer may surprise you.

‘Tis the season to give to others. Worldwide, the holidays are known as the giving season. People’s happiness during this time of year is measured not by the gifts received, but by the gifts given. Giving gifts, in some sense, is our attempt to connect with each other and express deep bonds—which are intangible—in tangible terms. There is nothing more magical than seeing a smile on a loved one’s face when he or she opens a thoughtful gift or bites into a tasty treat this time of year. And in the true spirit of the holidays, it is important to give back wherever possible. This is where the real connecting and bonding take place. I encourage you to find a philanthropic cause that provides meaning in your life. For Dermalogica, and for me personally, it has always been about women entrepreneurs.

As 2012 dawns, joinFITE, the global philanthropic women’s empowerment initiative powered by Kiva and championed by Dermalogica, nears its one-year anniversary. To date, the program has funded more than 8,000 microloans made to entrepreneurial women in small businesses across 52 countries. Below is the current breakdown of joinFITE microloans by continent:

• North America:602
• Central America:628
• South America:980
• Africa:1,923
• Eastern Europe:236
• Middle East:512
• Asia:1,119

While these numbers are encouraging, it’s now time to really turn up the heat – the goal is to fund a total of 25,000 women entrepreneurs in the next 12 months.

You may ask yourself, why choose to align yourself with a cause that focuses on women entrepreneurs? Well, the obvious answer is that I am a woman entrepreneur. I founded Dermalogica 25 years ago when the unemployment rate was 10%, so helping to empower future entrepreneurs is a cause that hits very close to home for me. The World Bank recently conducted a study which concluded women perform 66% of the world’s work, produce 50% of the world’s food and invest 90% of their income into their families. And according to Kiva, women entrepreneurs who have received a microloan have a repayment rate of 98%. After hearing these statistics, the question for me is simply “Why not invest in women?”

The beauty of joinFITE is that the initiative does not require any huge leaps of imagination to make a difference. joinFITE can be personalized based on where you feel compelled to help, whether it be in your backyard or across the world. Even in the United States we have women who are being empowered by joinFITE loans. With today’s economic climate, the need to receive a hand up is felt even in our own backyard. I recently met with two joinFITE microloan recipients in San Francisco, both of whom were able to gain greater financial independence as a result of the program.

joinFITE makes it easy to unlock a code that triggers a donation from Dermalogica, but you as the redeemer of that code have the power to select the recipient based on the country and industry of your choice. As a result of this simple act, which bears no cost to you as the code redeemer, you will help a woman entrepreneur become financially independent and you will learn her story – the type of business she has and how it will benefit her family.

In this interconnected world, no man, or woman, is an island. People thrive on the help of others. It has been proven that children learn faster in the presence of other children and injured soldiers heal at a faster rate when in the company of other people. We are hard wired to be interdependent and to rely on others, especially in times of need. Helping friends, family or strangers fills us, nourishes us and sustains us with a sense of purpose broader than ourselves.

This holiday season, if helping to empower a woman entrepreneur is a cause that brings meaning to your life, I encourage you to seek out a joinFITE recipient in the location where you want to make a difference. Some people find it gratifying to fund a recipient in the city where they currently live, or in their hometown. Or if your travels take you across the world, redeem a joinFITE code to make a difference even before you land. My attitude is that it doesn’t matter where we start; it’s simply important that we start somewhere to keep the ripple effect of change moving forward. So whether it is your own town, a city you have come to know and love, or the next country you plan to vacation to, unlock a code today to a woman entrepreneur. And, if you happen to travel to the city where she lives, visit her business when you get there to say hello. It will change her life, and it may just change yours, too.

Unlock your free code today! Simply click the “Lend Your Hand” button at http://joinFITE.org/lendyourhand and follow the three easy step by step instructions.

When I was sharing news of joinFITE with our team in South Africa this past summer, I had the pleasure of meeting an icon in South African music, PJ Powers, who has been topping the charts there for two decades.

This woman is beloved not only for her dynamic energy as a songwriter/ performer, but also for her collaborative artistry. She teamed with Ladysmith Black Mambazo in 1995, which introduced her to an international audience. In all, she’s recorded 16 albums, and her music has been part of some of South Africa’s most historic moments, including the Inauguration of President Nelson Mandela.

And now, she’s written and recorded a song for joinFITE! In honor of the bestselling book that inspired our launch of our initiative in January 2011, PJ named her song “Half the Sky.” It’s a call to action, an affirmation, and really a rocking hymn to the power and potential of women. Thank you, PJ, and give a listen right here:

“Broad.” In our politically correct times, it’s just not a word you hear much anymore, as a synonym for a woman. It’s a word like “dame.” While any word may be used to inflict harm, I think that most often, generations past used these two words with admiration – as in, a powerhouse, spitfire, gutsy lady and a red-hot mama.

In any case, I was very honored and excited to be in the presence of a great group of such women, call them what you will, at the Skirball Cultural Center in Los Angeles. This is the venue where the remarkable exhibit that Dermalogica helped to organize, based upon my favorite book, “Half the Sky,” is on view.

The group of women calls itself “BROADS CIRCLE,” and I had the privilege of participating in the panel to discuss “The Legacy of Self-Made Women,” as part of the 3rd Annual Philanthropy Forum. Sharing the stage with entrepreneurs Lizanne Falsetto, who founded thinkproducts (“Think Thin” power bars), and Beth Shaw, president and founder of YogaFit®, I discussed how essential philanthropy has always been and continues to be in the success of Dermalogica. Ms. Falsetto dedicates her philanthropic efforts to cancer research, while Ms. Shaw is an activist for animals’ rights, and both have similar experiences and points of view.

Rachel Ashwell must think I’m stalking her. The first Shabby Chic store she opened, on Montana Avenue in Santa Monica in 1989, is across the street from the famous Dermalogica flagship – and these days, I have my satellite office there as well.

Shabby Chic also opened its doors in SoHo, just a short stroll from our NYC Dermalogica concept space, and ditto for Kensington, London! It’s as if Dermalogica is a mirror-image of Ms. Ashwell’s comings and goings.

I’m not much for the pretty, glazed chintz florals, but I do like her slightly “bent” sensibility, and love her sharp mind. Her story really strikes a nerve with me as an entrepreneur. She recently wrote her story for Inc.com, where she reveals her formula for success as well as the classic missteps that led to her massive crash-and-burn in January, 2009, when she filed for bankruptcy.

The good news is that the Santa Monica store is open again, epitomizing the renewed Shabby Chic mission. What happened? Rachel’s near-tragic mistake was that she listened to the advice of other people. Luckily, she’s a plucky British lady, and she was resilient enough to rebound from the resulting losses.

She had started off as a single mum with a magpie’s urge to collect, and a livable, soothing, slightly fey décor-design sense which really connected with an entire sub-culture of overwhelmed, “cocooning” Americans who wanted comfort-food for the soul.

Then she got successful. Her success was organic – she didn’t hire “a big cheesy blonde publicist,” as a brunette publicist-friend of mine likes to say, in order to become famous. Celebrities discovered her interiors, artfully re-purposed furniture and other décor items, and suddenly “Julia Roberts,” “Oprah” and “Shabby Chic” were being used in the same sentence.

Then she hired investors and a CEO. She recalls:

She adds:

Well, the guys actually did NOT know what they were doing, and Rachel lost everything because she listened to them. Now she’s gone back to hand-picking her own merchandise for her four retail locations (down from a proposed 57), and has opened her own B & B near her favorite flea market in Texas.

Her test for whether or not something truly works for the Shabby Chic mission:
“There’s nothing in the new store that I don’t want to take home – that’s a very good benchmark for me.”

As the New Year approaches, Rachel’s story offers a core lesson for every one of us, for life in general as well as in business. We are all curators. We get to pick and choose.

If you were to lose it all tomorrow – what would be worth re-creating? What would be worth bringing back?

This applies equally to relationships, shoes, recipes. Throw out the ones that don’t make you happy. There may be an empty space for a while, after you have jettisoned something that doesn’t work. Enjoy that space, which is such a powerful part of every old cycle ending. And let’s see what happens next.

Everyone is searching for the magic formula, the equation that will guarantee success in work, in love, and in life. As someone who has spent my entire career championing entrepreneurs, I hear this question asked a lot: what does it take to succeed? And, are the needed qualities innate, or learned?

Just a brief aside. A century ago, Sigmund Freud and successive waves of his students opined that character and personality are mostly learned. Dr. Freud, undeniably brilliant and prescient though horridly chauvinistic, has fallen out of favor in recent decades, as genetic research has exploded. In the past few years especially, we’ve heard that personality – especially anti-social behavior – is all in the genes. No more blaming Mom and Dad. Even if they do their best, the all-genes theory goes, you could still turn out to be a serial killer, or just a slacker who can’t get off the couch.

More reasonable people have countered with the hybrid analysis: who we are is the product of Nature (genes) AND Nurture (what we learn and acquire). No one has put it as succinctly as Gabor Mate, M.D. of Vancouver, B.C. – just Google him – who writes and talks about how early experiences literally turn genes on and off. He defines “early experience” as beginning with the nine months that the baby-to-be is in utero, explaining that while genetic predispositions certainly are present in the genetic message, it is our acquired experience which activates specific genes and the behaviors which accompany them.

So, nothing is cast in stone. Mate and others write about the plasticity – the moldable quality – of the human brain, long after childhood. So, my point is, never give up on anyone, especially not on yourself. I read recently in The New York Times about “indicators of high achievement.” These qualities are defined in the study quoted there as “teachable attributes and character strengths.”

We all have to learn and master these seven qualities, and remind ourselves of them constantly. It takes daily practice, like playing the piano or hitting a soft ball, even if you DO have an innate talent. And we also have a responsibility to teach these qualities to others – I think especially as women who champion other women and girls. If we are parents, of course we must teach these qualities to our children. And even if we are not parents, how about leading by example, in business and in life, by exemplifying the Big Seven every day?

1. Zest
2. Grit
3. Discipline (Self-Control)
4. Social Intelligence
5. Gratitude
6. Optimism
7. Curiosity

I’ve been zooming around the country this month, so I did not take the time to immediately comment on what is truly century-changing news: in October, the 2011 Nobel Peace Price honored three women. All three are African activists: Yemen’s Tawakul Karman, Liberian President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, and her compatriot Leymah Gbowee. These three women have been recognized for their non-violent fight — an oxymoron, and a good one — for the global freedom and empowerment of women.

In the 110-year of the Nobel Peace Prize, most winners have been men. Not surprising.

The fact that this year’s honorees are women is significant. It also is significant, from a world politics view, that they are Africans. I say this because Africa is a place that few non-Africans know. Here in America, it is viewed as another world, although ironically so much “American” culture is African-American, and African in its origins (let’s just start with American music: blues, jazz, ragtime, doo-wop, gospel, R&B, rock and roll…).

Much of the world has literally given up on Africa. We hear horrifying reports — and see mind-blowingly terrifying images — of genocide, zombie-like troops of child soldiers, tribal war, drought and famine, ritualized rape by the military, and genital mutilation of girls. Here in the West, we tell ourselves that those are “other” people in “another” place, too far removed for us to stop them, to help them, and perhaps too far removed for us to care. Perhaps too “far-gone” to be saved.

African Nobel Peace Prize Winners: Tawakul Karman, Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, and Leymah Gbowee.

I lived In South Africa before I moved to Los Angeles. My husband Raymond is South African. As a result, I have family and many friends who are “Springboks”, or South Africans, and South Africa is a vibrant center for our Dermalogica business.

All of this is to say: Africa is not as far removed as you may think. And it is the epicenter of the emancipation of women, which can no longer be stalled or stopped. The three women leaders who have recently been awarded the Nobel Peace Prize symbolize this momentum. They are mothers and activists who have endured exile and incarceration, and who literally risk death to set other women free.

So the next time you hear the clipped sound of Afrikaans (the Dutch dialect of South Africa), or admire a beautiful African textile, or listen to the lilting sound of “township” music, so famously borrowed by Paul Simon and other Western musicians, or any of the many other African influences upon American culture, think of these three fearless Nobel Prize winners who are making Africa safe for women, and a bright light for the entire world.