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.”

Make an Impression

One of the most common misconceptions about searching for a job is that the person with the most or best experience is the one who gets hired. The truth is: You’re more likely to be hired for a job based on your connection with the interviewer than on your qualifications. And the best way to forge an instant, powerful connection with your interviewer is to define and communicate a strong job-seeker personal brand. Read more

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