243: The Self-Empowered Woman: Cassie De Pecol

Dear Followers, Today I’d like to introduce you to a young woman who has really captured my attention. Cassie De Pecol recently became the fastest person—and first documented female—to travel to every single one of the world’s 196 sovereign nations. She completed her voyage in February of this year, after 18 months and 26 days of travel. Cassie’s big adventure was nicknamed “Expedition 196.” Sadly, I am no longer able to hop on a plane and … [Read more...]

242: The Self-Empowered Woman: Ona Judge

Dear Followers, Hard as it is to believe today, the sad truth is that most of our Founding Fathers were slaveholders.  Today I’d like to introduce you to an amazing woman who gained her freedom by escaping from her owner—Mrs. George Washington. Ona Judge (she was also known as Oney) was born in 1773, and known as a “dower slave.”  Her mother was a seamstress and her father was a white English tailor who was an indentured servant at Mount … [Read more...]

241: The Self-Empowered Woman: Maria Sibylla Merian

Dear Followers, I love stories about brave women who will do anything to follow their passion. So when I learned about Maria Sibylla Merian (1647-1717), I wanted to share this amazing story of a Self-Empowered Woman from centuries ago. She was a descendant of the Swiss Merian family, who were founders of one of Europe’s largest publishing houses back in the 17th century. Her father died when she was only three years old (1: No Paternal Safety … [Read more...]

239: The Self-Empowered Woman: Gretchen Carlson

Dear Followers, For the last blog of 2016, I have chosen to write about a controversial—but newsworthy—accomplished woman. Gretchen Carlson first became a household name back in 1989, when she became Miss America. She grew up in  Anoka, Minnesota, where her grandfather was the Pastor of what was then the second- largest Lutheran Church in the U.S. As an adult, Carlson has been a dedicated Sunday School teacher  (3: Belief In The Unbelievable). … [Read more...]

238: The Self-Empowered Woman: Because I was a Girl

Dear Followers, It’s no secret that I am one of millions of American women who were deeply saddened that we still have to wait (again) to have a female president. Like so many feminists, I had hoped that the glass ceiling that has “contained” our gender for so long would have shattered for good last Tuesday evening. Unfortunately, that was not to be. As you know, each of my blogs has attempted to show the strength and resilience of women … [Read more...]

237: The Self-Empowered Woman: Svetlana Alexievich

Dear Followers, During the past couple of weeks there has been a lot of attention devoted to the fact that Bob Dylan just won the Nobel Prize for literature. After all, it’s unusual for an iconic recording artist to receive such a prestigious award. But today, I would like to introduce you to the woman who is considered to be the first journalist who has ever won the Nobel Prize in Literature—a Belarusian investigative journalist who is a … [Read more...]

234: The Self-Empowered Woman: Maria Grazia Chiuri

Dear Followers, I don’t know about you, but after emotionally dealing with our electoral politics, BREXIT, the situation in Dallas, and the massacre in Nice, I’m in the mood for something that is relatively removed from world events. And even though anything that affects women anywhere in the world is “political,” today I’d like to focus on a groundbreaking event in the “lightweight” world of fashion. Last week it became public knowledge … [Read more...]

232: The Self-Empowered Woman: Mother Angelica

Dear Followers, Today, I would like to thank my Dallas pen pal, Joan Faubion, for suggesting that my next blog be about Mother Angelica, who died this past Easter Sunday. The more I researched her life story, the more obvious it became that she was indeed a Self-Empowered Woman. Rita Antoinette Rizzo was born on April 20th, 1923 in Canton, Ohio,  and died on March 27th, 2016. She was the only child of John and Mae Helen (Gianfrancesco) … [Read more...]