Entrepreneur. Womenpreneur. Mompreneur. Solopreneur. Employedpreneur.

There are several more similar titles, however for the sake of time, I won’t list them all.

Suffice it to say that the term ‘xyzpreneur’ has taken on a zip code of its very own. Women are without question, “doing it for themselves.”

We are unapologetically shouting, “I’m every woman!” “I am woman, hear me roar!” We continue to bring home the bacon and serve it up in a pan! Ahhh …bacon, like in edible bacon -which leads me to the discussion of food, women, success and table etiquette.

We are blazing trails, trotting the globe, increasing our earning power, and many of us Mogul Moms Dujour are teaching our offspring the power of self- sufficiency. While we are engaged in these amazing activities, let’s make sure that we are truly baller-ready when it comes to dining etiquette.

When you’re about to close that big sale and the client invites you to that 5-star restaurant to celebrate, the last thing you want causing an anxiety attack is the sight of a formal table setting. Many of us have been there at some point, and the guilty- as- charged simply need to admit it. Those wandering eyes, observing the table, hoping someone else grabs a water glass or reaches for the bread plate first. Their movement  then gives you insight into which one of those remaining items is yours to claim and consume. At least that’s what you hope for. That moment of relief – I may now proceed without appearing to be dining while clueless. C’mon and admit that this was or is you!

I’m a woman who grew up with modest means in Brooklyn, New York. We had forks, spoons, knives and not all of them matched. Real talk. However, when I landed my first job out of college and went to my first Wall Street luncheon, the number of items on the table mortified me. I began to wonder if we were planning to eat lunch, dinner AND breakfast and were expecting about ten additional people to join us. Who needed all of this stuff and what was it for?

Needless to say, that was the last time I was going to be left feeling so clueless while dining. DWC.

That was several years ago, and I continue to attend events where I observe that same clueless look on the faces of men and women when confronted with a formal and sometimes informal table setting. There are so many more “complex” issues that you might encounter when faced with a formal place setting, i.e. How DO I position my fork and knife to let the server know that I am finished with a course? Where do I place my napkin when I leave the table momentarily?  However, it always seems to be that darn bread and water dilemma that gets most folks feeling clueless. Is my bread to the right, or to the left of my plate? I’ll wait. The tip that I created and memorized from that clueless day on Wall Street was as simple as ABC.

The letter “B” comes before the letter “W” does it not? Therefore, since most of us read left to right, if you were looking at an alphabet chart  in  front of you, “B” would be to your left and “W” to your right. B= Bread, W = Water. Simple, but it works.

You can find some other very useful tips here on this website.

Also, make use of your iPhone or Android in a crunch. Find a descriptive photo that details a proper place setting and save it to your phone. In a moment of brain freeze when you need to refer to it, it’s there. Needless to say,  you want to do it away from the table and not during the meal. Contrary to popular belief in this high-tech, gadget-addicted world in which we live, it is still considered to be in poor taste to use a cellphone at the dining table. Now that’s a debatable topic that should make for great table talk! Bon Appetit! #BeDoHave2015