Stephanie Carter (pictured on the left with her business partner, Lenya Shore) is the co-president of Wallaroo Hat Company (www.wallaroohats.com), makers of fashion-meets-function UPF 50+ crushable fabric hats for the whole family. Here's what this Boulder, Colo., mother of three has to say:

“2010 is the year to focus on health and happiness. As we move into our New Year's resolutions, I hope to be more focused on my daily interactions with my family and friends to ensure that I am fully present in each and every moment. Life is fleeting and to be able to show up with authenticity and compassion every day is so important. I want to experience all the moments both big and small and be present for them all. I believe that in our world today we move so fast that we rarely have time to slow down and appreciate the here and now. My goal for the upcoming year is to make sure that I experience it all and savor each moment.”

Kisha Holt

“It is hard to believe that it is 10 years after the millennium. In the year 2000, my first child was just 1 year old. He is now 10! I now also have three other children, aged 8, 4 and 2 years old. In 2010, I hope that I continue to be blessed with their love as well as with the love of my adoring husband of 12 years. Last year I gave birth to my fifth child, my online company, Kisha’s Kids. Kisha’s Kids has helped to build self-esteem in the lives of little boys and girls by creating merchandise that allows their beauty to be reflected in the products in their environments. I hope that in 2010, my dream of improving self-acceptance and self-love in these young people is realized in even greater numbers. I also pray for the big things like world peace as well as small things like peace in my house, i.e., no more sibling rivalry! Whatever 2010 has in store for me, my family and the world, I welcome it with graciousness and thankfulness for every day that we live and breathe. We are truly blessed!”

Helen Lesnick is the co-founder of the Organic Kids Company (www.organickidsco.com), a company established to create innovative, fun and educational programming for children. Storytellers’ Favorite Fables, the first in the company’s Storytellers DVD series, enhances learning and language, and offers parents a healthy entertainment alternative for their children. Here’s what this Carlsbad, Calif., mother of two daughters has to say:

“I want most that 2010 will begin a new era of tolerance. The ’00s were an era that the United States got involved in two wars and withdrew from the international community. Internally, as a country, we became fragmented as people became less and less tolerant of differences between our cultural groups, political affiliations and ethnicities. The expression that was so prevalent after 9/11, ‘United We Stand,’ seemed to have the addendum ‘But Only with the People We Like.’

I hope for 2010 we can go even beyond tolerance to appreciation and respect of the differences among us. I hope we find the strength within ourselves to realize that these differences do not detract from us but instead contribute to the strength of the whole. I hope we come to see that true strength comes with diversity.”