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Being a professional woman with a thriving career or small business can be overwhelming. Add being a mother as well, and you’d think you’d have to be Superwoman to combine the two.

But mompreneurs are doing it every day. It is possible to be a great mom and a successful business owner. We offer a few organizational tips to help mompreneurs stay on track.

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Facebook COO Sheryl Sandberg causes a firestorm of debate with new book/campaign Lean In: Women, Work, and the Will to Lead, in which she prods women to be more aggressive in business. In a blog post for The Washington Post, Mary C. Curtis asks “Do black women need lessons on ‘leaning in’?”

Sandberg claims that women are not successful in business, in large part, because they don’t play like the big boys. Some working women were offended by the theory, saying that it is easy for Sandberg to pass judgment as she had many helping hands on her way up the ladder. Other detractors say no matter how hard women fight for corporate rank, most will still hit a ceiling. It isn’t women who need to change, the argument goes, but the corporate culture.

And now many black female executives are giving their opinion. African-American women in the workplace most often face different obstacles. “[B]lack women have long been in the work force, facing different and difficult obstacles. Sandberg warns that being assertive, a positive quality in a man, can be judged as ‘too aggressive’ behavior in a women. For black women, the line between leaning in and being perceived as stereotypically pushy is awfully thin. The rewards may be less and the risks far greater,” writes Curtis.

Many feminists too are weighing in on the “lean in” discussion.  And some are not upset, but rather, inspired by it. Gloria Steinem, notes Curtis,  says Lean In “addresses internalized oppression, opposes the external barriers that create it, and urges women to support each other to fight both.”  Her view is that critics “are making a deep if inadvertent point: Only in women is success viewed as a barrier to giving advice.”

But as Curtis points out the feminists movement over time has excluded black women. “When the feminist icon weighs in, it’s a reminder that the women’s movement, too, has long been accused of catering to elite circles and leaving others out,” she writes. But adds that many black women have been involved in the  “lean in” conversation.

“It’s a conversation I’ve taken part in, reminding movement leaders of their debt to civil rights progress and occasional failure to acknowledge the added burdens working-class women and women of color face. The matter of ‘choice’ — the ultimate goal — isn’t always theirs to make,” she says.

What do you think about the “lean in” concept?

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How you choose to present yourself at work and beyond the office can speak volumes of your personality and how you feel inside. If you’re not careful you can end up that person at work who dresses too young for her age much to the discomfort of the rest of the office, or the woman that is constantly wearing oversized clothing. Jennifer Baumgartner, a clinical psychologist and wardrobe consultant, tells Forbes that “your clothes reflect how you feel at the moment.” She offers nine common wardrobe mistakes that reveal your inner feelings, whether you’re going through a stressful situation or are unaware of insecurities you’ve kept inside.

The first mistake many people make is that they buy more clothes than they need. Baumgartner, a “closet whisperer” points out that people who buy too many clothes are like binge eaters. “There’s an emotional emptiness that you’re trying to fill with clothing,” she said to Forbes. “And because buying offers a temporary high, oftentimes excessive shopping can be a coping method to distract yourself from the real, underlying problem.”

Excessive buying creates an even larger problem when credit card debt and overstuffed closets come into play. It’s important to stop the habit and focus on what’s really bothering you. Try to channel your anxiety or stress into healthy habits such as exercising. If you can’t face whatever is bothering you, find a support group.

Next on her list is a closet in overflow. When you have more stuff than space, it may be a sign of mistake number one, but it may also be nostalgia. Some people refuse to get rid of their old clothes that they can no longer fit. People that make this mistake refuse to let go of the memories associate with the clothing. Baumgartner recommends it’s best to stop stalling and to clean out your closet. Then develop a plan for further upkeep.

Number three, is the person with a closet-full of neutral, basic and “safe” clothes. “If getting dressed doesn’t excite you, it may be that you’re not excited with your life,” Baumgartner said. This person needs to take some risks, and let go of the fear of being noticed or what people will say. They may want to find some exciting hang out activities to help encourage them to dress differently.

The person that avoids mirrors is next on the list. This shows a discontentment with body image. People who avoid mirrors are likely to hide themselves in over-sized clothing so that no one can see them. Baumgartner says that these people must learn to look at their body and love it so that they are able to effectively buy clothing that fits.

Number five is the person that shows too much skin. Women that chose to wear short skirts and extremely low cut shirts generally place too much emphasis on the body as their only value. They must recognize that showing too much skin receives the wrong type of attention.

Next are the people who refuse to dress their age or in this age. These people are unable to embrace their current situation. Whether you’re an older women who continues to buy from the junior section, a young women who tends to dress like her grandmother or the woman who can’t stop wearing her suits from the 80’s, it’s time to recognize how old you are and what year we’re in and dress accordingly.

The person that is always in work clothes is next on the list. This person fails to separate work and social life. People around you always see you as “on call” and it can impact your family life as well as how you define yourself. As Baumgartner points out, if you completely identify with work, what would you do if you lost the job?

Number eight is the person that feels compelled to wear designer clothes. If you truly like designer clothes, that’s one thing. But if you’re covered in labels and shelling out money you don’t even have, “it’s a farce,’” Baumgartner said. The first step is to take away the importance of a label and focus on a style instead of a name brand.

Lastly is the mistake of the “Mom Jeans.” These are the high-waisted, ill-fitting jeans that are usually accompanied with messy hair and sneakers. Women who tend to dress like the frumpy mommy aren’t acknowledging their entire identity. These people tend to over identify with motherhood and must learn to take into account their whole-selves.

A Forbes article makes an alarming finding: one in three women with MBAs are not working full-time, compared to one in twenty men. Although many of these women desire to return to the workforce full-time, they are unable to do so without major career difficulties. Why? Perhaps, it’s because business schools aren’t structuring their MBA programs to fit the needs of its women students. As the Forbes article points out, Business schools neglect to address the varying life situations students will encounter as they go out into the work force; a significant disadvantage to producing “principled leaders.”

“The last frontier for women’s advancement at work is understanding how men and women re-define roles at home,” Anne Weisberg, the head of Diversity at global financial management firm Blackrock, said to Forbes. Business schools tend to prepare students only as future employees without taking life changes into account. As a result, many women in MBA programs feel that their family and work lives must be overcome, and not managed. Weisberg believes that if business schools were to offer classes on gender and life issues, it would save firms from losing strong employees and stop them from paying heavy transition costs.

In addition, when women graduate and reach the workplace, a study by Leipzig Professor Anne Huff finds that women often volunteer for “maintenance-level roles” like note-taking for example, that may lead to little recognition of their work. But it’s not just the lack of diverse and innovative classes that make business school less effective for women students. MIT Sloan Dean David Schmittlein observes that in top 10 MBA programs, women tend to be younger than men.

“This may lead to a negative perception of their experience in the business school environment,” he said to Forbes.

Schmittlein also notes that research proves women aren’t called on in class as much as men. Even when they are, their peers are less likely to offer feedback to their comments.

Women business students also face a lack of role models. Schmittlein notes that the number of women facultry members is small in business school faculties across the country.

With so many factors at play that hinder women’s success, one thing is clear: in order to better prepare women students, business schools need to restructure their courses and better analyze and address the situations women professionals will face.