A Custom-Fit Life

Deborah Norville’s career didn’t follow the path she’d mapped out, but she created something better along the way.

If you know anything about Deborah Norville’s career, you know she has experienced her share of challenges in television and radio. But she’s also enjoyed the thrill of success, receiving numerous honors, including two Emmy Awards, two AWRT Gracie Awards, as well as being named Mother of the Year by the National Mother’s Day Committee. A dedicated mother of three, best-selling author, entrepreneur and award-winning journalist, Norville celebrates her 15th year as an anchor on Inside Edition in 2010. Read more

A Stroke of Insight

On December 10, 1996, Dr. Jill Bolte Taylor woke up with a pounding, pulsating pain behind her left eye. She was hypersensitive to light, and her hands were curled up like claws. “It was as though I was witnessing myself having this experience rather than me being the person having this experience,” she says.

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Danica Patrick is Pushing the Limits

Danica Patrick thrives on the chase. Driving for Andretti Green Racing, she’s always in the hunt, whether it’s climbing up in the rankings, reigniting fan interest in IndyCar or amping up her ad campaigns. She is both one of the most recognized and scrutinized female athletes in the United States for doing what she loves: pushing the limits.

Yet as Patrick chases the dream—to win races, the Indy 500, an IRL championship—veteran drivers are roaring along with her like jets on takeoff, going wheel to wheel, 2 inches apart at 220 mph in the heart- chase thudding world of open-wheel racing. She makes her living being chased. She knows it. She feels the media and marketing pros jockeying for position. Read more

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

Planning for Success

Kristi Mailloux shares her strategy for business and personal growth.

Today, more than ever, business leaders must be open to change. Molly Maid President Kristi Mailloux understands that need and says she’s passionate about asking questions that lead to positive change. Read more

Empowering Tomorrow’s Achievers

The SUCCESS Foundation is on a mission to inspire 10 million teens.

When 10-year-old Dalton Sherman took the stage at the SUCCESS Foundation™ Celebration on March 28, he opened with a simple question, “Do you believe in me?” With enthusiasm, this young man stood before a crowd of 400 and shared a message that aligns with the SUCCESS Foundation’s passion: improving young people’s lives through hope, education and personal development. Read more

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.”

Hometown Heroes

At a time when money seems to be in short supply, Jenny Jones is giving $1 million away — for the second time.

The former talk show host says success isn’t about money, but about individuals doing what they’re meant to do. “To me, success means being fulfilled, but that doesn’t mean financially,” Jones says. “You can be struggling financially but still feel fulfilled because you are doing something good — something that matters.” Read more

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

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