A Place to Call Home

The success of women immigrants is ‘remarkable,’ according to a new study.

When women immigrants come to America—“the land of opportunity”—a new study shows that their journeys are laced with unforeseen challenges. And still, these women often emerge more resilient, potentially more business savvy and more nurturing to their families, according to inferred statistics released in May 2009 by New America Media (NAM). Read more

Home-Grown and Nationally Known

A Colorado mom learns tricks of the trade as a small-business owner.

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A Peacemaker in the Making

For a senior in high school, La-Chanae McAfee has endured considerable pain. About a year ago, her friends Donnell Davis Jr. and Brandon Johnson were shot to death on a highway in San Diego. About six months later, another friend—a girl—was shot and killed walking home from a party alone.

“Losing friends is a permanent scar,” McAfee says. “You learn to accept it, but I haven’t healed. I don’t think other people have healed either.”
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Who Says You Can’t?

Author writes about go-getting women

Susan Casey’s list of “friends” is extensive. Some were born in the 1800s, while others haven’t graduated from high school yet. And many, she never met. But an avid researcher and lover of “detective work,” as she calls it, Casey combed through libraries across the country, hungry to meet women inventors. She now knows so much about them that she calls most—dead or alive—friends. “I feel like I know them,” she says.

Her far-reaching memory harkens back to a “brilliant” woman who came to the United States in the 1920s and built the first solar-heated house. She jumps to the story of the hardworking secretary Bette Graham, who secretly invented Liquid Paper in the 1950s to cover up her typewriting mistakes. Casey’s research was published in Women Invent!, a book about female pioneers of their time.

“These women were pursuing their interests in a very intelligent way—and following through,” Casey says. “They say, I’ll figure out a way to do it. I’m gonna make this happen. It’s inspiring.”

Casey talks about her favorite women inventors, unable to pick just one. She tells the story of Rose Totino, of the famous brand of frozen pizzas, like she’s a long-lost friend: “Rose settled in Minneapolis, and nobody there knew a thing about pizza,” she explains. “Rose would take pizza to the PTA when they were asked to do a potluck. And people thought, Wow, this is great! And it caught on!”

Casey’s book was published in 1997—just before the advent of the Internet and online search engines. She spent nearly 18 months in a Los Angeles library, “zipping” through microfiche and making notes for her book. “It was really fun. For a lot of these women, I had to search in books and call historical societies to find anything about them,” she says. “Now, I Google their name and five biographies pop up.”

Still, the lengthy research process is what Casey found fascinating. “Spending several years talking and researching about optimistic people is inspiring,” she says. “There’s a model of every kind of person in this book: chemists, balloonists, secretaries. When I speak, I teach girls and boys that anyone can use their ideas and create something terrific.”

See a Need. Do a Good Deed.

To those who think you can’t have it all, woman entrepreneur Kim Lim says, “Watch me.”

As a single mother, owner of two businesses and recipient of three academic degrees, Lim has had her hands full during the past few years. But following painful divorce, and with the creation of two new and starkly different career paths, Lim forges ahead. She says today, she’s doing everything she’s wanted in life, all at the same time. Read more

Choices, Choices

Leverage your strengths by limiting your options.

Have you found yourself in this scenario? You walk into the local department store in search of a new pair of jeans. You’ve carved out an hour and a half on your lunch break to run in, try on as many jeans as you can, and select the perfect pair for this weekend’s holiday party.

Of the 57 pairs of jeans you try on, you select one. And let’s be honest, they’re not perfect. Herein lay the problem for many of us: Life provides us with too many choices to be happy with our selection. Read more

Reinvent Your Life - Tips and Tricks that Really Work

Growing into confident, successful, happy women can be like a game of survival of the fittest. How do we ensure our life unfolds as planned? And what do we do when it doesn’t? Women have the power to recreate themselves and redefine their roles. It’s no longer survival of the fittest; it’s evolution at its best. Read more

Find Your Spiritual Center

Embrace your spiritual side and discover newfound peace.

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