Dear Followers, I received this amusing email from my late father-in-law's widow, and thought I'd pass it along.  Helen is in her 80s, and it's nice to know that a good sense of humor doesn't fade.  Enjoy...   Merry Christmas To My Female Friends If I were ol' Santa, you know what I'd do I'd dump silly gifts that are given to you And deliver some things just inside your … [Read more...]

Dear Followers, Queen Latifah has a new afternoon talk show that is already receiving good reviews. Her real name is Dana Elaine Owens, and she was born in East Orange, New Jersey on March 18th, 1970. She chose the name Latifah (which means delicate and very kind) when she was only eight years old  Her mother was a high school art teacher and her father was a police officer; they separated when she was eight, and divorced two years later. As a … [Read more...]

Dear Followers, Wow! How have I ever missed writing about Self-Empowered Women! As many of you know, I have just returned home from an unexpected 8-day hospital stay, and I will begin sharing my online love letters to high-achieving women as soon as I dig myself out of my backlogged paperwork. In the meantime, thank you for you calls, cards and gifts and for being so supportive to Tony--known throughout the hospital as "Mr. … [Read more...]

Dear Followers, I hope that you will be able to tune in to" The  Women's Concert for Change: The Sound for Change Live from London" tomorrow night at 9 P.M. on NBC. And I REALLY hope that you'll let all your girlfriends  (and female relatives) know about this ground-breaking event for girls and women. This important event is the centerpiece of CHIME FOR CHANGE, which is a new fundraising campaign founded by Gucci. The idea is to raise both … [Read more...]

Dear Followers, Often when I lecture about The Self-Empowered Woman, listeners are intrigued by Edna O'Brien's life story (Chapter 17). Her latest book, Country Girl (Little, Brown & Company, $27.99, 357 pp)  is her first memoir, and a riveting tale of the challenges she faced on her way to becoming a literary icon. O'Brien was born in County Clare (in a town that had no library, three groceries and 27 pubs) in the West of Ireland in … [Read more...]

Dear Followers,Sorry I haven't posted in so long, but I've been down for the count with  a nasty case of flu--I'm finally on the mend, and overdue to write about yet another high-achieving woman. And thanks to the suggestion of my faithful French follower, Philippe Drevet, this short blog will remind all of us of what an amazing woman Hillary Clinton is.I wrote about Hillary's mother (Dorothy Rodham, 1919-2011) in November, 2011, shortly … [Read more...]

Dear Followers, Today I'd like to introduce you to a genuinely unique Self-Empowered Woman who devoted her entire life to fighting against the status quo. Emma Goldman was born on June 27th, 1869, in what (today) is called Lithuania, but at the time of her birth was Russia. Emma's mother, Taube, had been married and widowed (and the mother of two young girls) before she met Abraham Goldman, the man her family had "arranged" for her to … [Read more...]

Dear Followers, Stephanie Coontz recently wrote an article in The New York Times about the "Myth of the Male Decline," which argued that a variety of new "females today have all the power" books (with titles like The Richer Sex and The End of Men) are both misguided and misleading. Below are some of the arguments she makes regarding "the glass ceiling" and financial (i.e., professional) progress for women in America today: Women make up … [Read more...]

Dear Followers, Now that we've all enjoyed the opening ceremonies of the London Olympics, I thought it would be a good time to introduce you to the first African-American woman to win an Olympic gold medal. She was also the only female American athlete to win gold at the 1948 Games; her sport was the high jump. Alice Coachman was born in Albany, Georgia, on November 9, 1923. She and her nine siblings grew up at a time when public training … [Read more...]

Dear Followers, Everyone who knows me clearly understands how deeply I love ballet. When I lived in London, I considered it a dream come true to interview Natalia Makarova and Margot Fonteyn. No wonder my (battered) toe shoes are still hanging in my bathroom! Today I'd like to pay tribute to a remarkable woman who just retired as the artistic director of Britain's Royal Ballet--after being with the company for 54 years. Dame Monica Margaret … [Read more...]