Hi Penny. Thanks for hosting me today so I can tell your
readers about the awesome women profiled in my new interactive e-book for
girls, Girls Succeed: Stories Behind the
Careers of Successful Women.
Hello Readers. I’m excited to visit with you today. Please
leave comments to enter a random drawing for prizes after the tour is
completed. More information about that later.
This book about careers includes interviews with fifteen
remarkable women who have achieved recognition for their accomplishment in
their occupations. This is a diverse group of careers involving women who have discovered cures to stamp out disease, made
people laugh, earned Olympic and Paralympic gold medals, crossed the country in
the cab of an 18 wheeler, and lots more.
It was my privilege to interview them for the book. My
heartfelt thanks go to them for trusting me to tell their inspiring stories and
for allowing me to share them with young girls. I have had so many wonderful
comments from the girls’ focus groups on how the stories have resonated with
them.
I envisioned this book way back in 2006 after I had met and
worked with the counselors and campers at a girls’ summer residence camp in
Michigan, Camp Newaygo. In fact three of the women in the book are alumni from
that camp, medical doctor Cate Bradley, cooking professional Sue Chef, and
educator Barbara “Chili” Chiles.
I began my quest for outstanding women in their field by
researching at the library. I made a list in Word Excel of all the areas I
would like to include like arts, entertainment, science, business, athletics,
and so on and filled in the spreadsheet with their names and mailing addresses.
I designed a really cute letterhead, if I say so myself, and toiled over
writing a cover letter that would stir them to want to be included in the
project. I sent a matching post card
for them to return with boxes to check indicating they were interested, not
interested, or wanted more information.
I was thrilled when the postcards began returning to me in
the mail with checkmarks in the boxes for interested. I immediately sent the
respondents a page of questions to return to me and then I called each one for
an interview. Yes, complete strangers who were in the project simply because
they wanted to inspire and empower girls. Amazing.
I sent a request to Robin Roberts, host at Good Morning
America. She was so gracious in her hand-written reply noted at the bottom of
the post card. She wished me luck with the project, but could not participate
due to contractual obligations. At this moment Robin is in the fight of her
life after undergoing a bone marrow transplant. She is in my prayers for her
complete recovery and return to the GMA desk.
It has been an awesome journey to discover so many generous,
thoughtful women. They range in age from late twenties to well, just let me
say, mature. Their backgrounds include the city life and the rural life, and
they are from different ethnic groups. They have graduated from Harvard, Yale,
private and state colleges, and one from a community college to earn her
commercial driver’s license to drive semi trucks.
So you can see there is no one requirement to become
successful, except perhaps passion and hard work.
I have listed below the Table of Contents in the book so you
can see how diverse the careers are in the book. Perhaps you or a girl in your
life would like to explore one of these careers.
Table of Contents
Chapter 1--Horse
Trainer/Competitive Dressage Rider, Pati Pierucci
True Love
Chapter 2--Bike
Racer, Mackenzie Woodring
Speeding Around the Track
Chapter 3--Children’s
Book Author and Illustrator, Jane Stroschin
Practice, Practice, Practice
Chapter 4--Medical
Doctor, Cate Bradley
Role Models Rock
Chapter 5--Chef, Sue
Chef
Cooking Up a Career
Chapter 6--Technology
Expert, Diana Stoneberg
Keep Your Sense of Humor
Chapter 7--Christian
Minister, Laurie Haller
Serving God
Chapter
8--Horticulturalist, Sharon Loving
Thank You Very Mulch
Chapter 9--Medical
Scientist, Juanita Merchant
Confidence Counts
Chapter 10-Olympic
Gold Medalist in Women’s Ice Hockey, Angela Ruggiero
Showing the Boys
Chapter 11-Semi-Truck
Driver, Barbara Totten
Freedom of the Road
Chapter
12-Teacher/Coach/Athletic Director, Barbara “Chili” Chiles
Aim Higher
Chapter13-Social
Worker, Lenair Correll
Overcoming Obstacles
Chapter
14-Entrepreneur/Product Developer, Veronica Bosgraaf
Find the Path to Success
Chapter
15-Professional Clown, Brenda Marshall
A Big Red Nose
Connect with J.Q.
Rose online at
Contest Information Janet
will be drawing winners from visitors who leave comments during the tour. The
prizes for you or a girl in your life are a $10 Amazon gift certificate, a copy
of the Girls Succeed e-book in your choice of format, a “Succeed” beaded
bracelet kit, and inspirational note pads. (See the Girls Succeed and J Q Rose
blogs for photos and blog tour information.). Winners announced on her blogs on
Sunday, November 18 at 9 pm EST. Good luck!
This is a terrific post J.Q. Thanks for sharing it on my blog!
