Dear Followers, First of all, a great big THANK YOU to everyone who helped me celebrate my birthday. Lucky, lucky me to have so many kind, thoughtful and (amazingly) generous friends. Each of you made getting older more fun than I could ever have imagined! Today I'd like to introduce you to an amazing 14 year old Vietnamese girl named Dao Ngoc Phung, pictured above with her younger brother and sister. My hero, Nicholas Kristof, wrote … [Read more...]

Dear Followers: Many of you might think that this blog would focus on Hillary Clinton, who is wearing gray in the above photo, because she was First Lady for eight years, a former US Senator, Presidential candidate, and our current Secretary of State. But, instead, I'd like to pay tribute to her mother, Dorothy Emma Howell Rodham, who died on November 1st at the age of 92. Dorothy Rodham had a childhood that has been described as "Dickensian." … [Read more...]

Dear Followers, Those of you who know me are well aware of what an Anglophile I am. Who else would give up a cushy L.A. Times job to move 6,000 miles away to spend five years working as a journalist in London? And my framed invitation (plus menu card) to have dinner with Queen Elizabeth and Prince Philip on the Royal Yacht Britannia is among my most-treasured life souvenirs. So, naturally, I felt it was worth special notice to share the news … [Read more...]

Dear Followers, Today’s remarkable woman is beautiful, a multimillionaire, only 37 years old, and has become a household name in America. Most women know Tyra Banks as the TV host of America’s Next Top Model or of the past program The Tyra Banks Show, while most men remember her as the first African-American model to be chosen as a Cover Girl for Sports Illustrated Magazine.   Banks was born in Southern California in 1973, to a mother who … [Read more...]

Dear Followers, Instead of focusing on one amazing woman, today's blog will introduce you to the three women who received - on Friday - this year's Nobel Peace Prize . Their selection highlights not only the "Arab Spring" movement, but the increased power and influence women are experiencing globally. President Obama said that the winners pictured above are "a reminder that when we empower women around the world everyone is better off, that … [Read more...]

Dear Followers, Today I'd like to introduce you to an amazing woman who, sadly, died last week. Wangari Muta Maathai was best known as the force behind Kenya's Green Belt Movement, a program she developed to help women plant trees in order to conserve the environment and improve the quality of life. Born in 1940 in the village of Ihithe, Kenya, Maathai’s first years were spent when the country was still a British colony. Her family was … [Read more...]

Dear Followers, I'm willing to bet that most of you have either read the book (which was published in 2009) or seen the movie that today's amazing woman wrote. Kathryn Stockett's novel The Help has sold over five million+ copies, been on the New York Times Best Seller list over 100 weeks, and been published in more than 35 countries. When Stockett was only six years old, her parents divorced (1: No Paternal Safety Net). Much of her childhood … [Read more...]

Dear Followers, Last month, one of America's truly amazing women died at age 85. Betty Skelton, who was admired for her good looks and her flair for fashion, was often referred to as "the First Lady of Firsts." Her passion was speed, and she set 17 aviation and race car records in an era when they were considered to be "male only" activities (7: Magnificent Obsession). Nearly 35 years after her retirement, she held more combined hallmarks than … [Read more...]

Dear Followers, Today I'd like to introduce you to a true trail-blazing Empowered Woman. Ntsiki (pronounced n-SEE-kee) Biyela is South Africa's first-ever fully-fledged female African winemaker. And what makes her story even more amazing is that until her first year at university she neither knew what wine was, nor had she ever tasted it! Now 33 years old, Ms. Biyela was born and raised in the rural village of Ulundi/Kwa Nondlovu in Zululand. … [Read more...]

Dear Followers, Today’s remarkable, accomplished woman is someone most of us know from watching her work as a judge on American Idol, and enjoying her music and videos for years. But there is a lot more to Jennifer Lopez than meets the eye. In addition to being an actress, dancer, fashion designer, singer and television personality, she is one of the few big-time modern celebrities who has never had an embarrassing meltdown (at least not in the … [Read more...]