Professional Women

A manifesto on what it takes to be a true professional in the modern world. By common definition, a professional is anyone who possesses the skills and knowledge necessary for a career-whether as a surgeon, a software engineer, or a plumber. But according to Subroto Bagchi, our increasingly...

New Year's Eve 2020 was supposed to be a turning point to better days for twenty-nine-year-old Katie Coleman. Instead, she found herself in the ER processing the earth-shattering news of a stage IV cancer diagnosis, one that had come after years of being assured she was "too young for cancer" and a repeated misdiagnosis of anxiety. Too Young for Cancer tells the story of Katie's journey from diagnosis with an ultra-rare cancer through treatment, recovery, and a life-altering shift in perspective.

The MRC Laboratory of Molecular Biology (LMB) in Cambridge, UK is a world-leading scientific institution. This book, by LMB alumna Kathy Weston, is a collective portrait of women scientists who, as staff members, visitors, and trainees, helped build the LMB’s reputation as a powerhouse of science, often going on to stellar careers at other outstanding institutions around the world. Combining narrative history with interview transcripts and personal reminiscence, Weston’s book describes the career accomplishments of these successful scientists.

Tara has it pretty good: a nice job, a writing career, a forgiving boyfriend. She should be happy. Yet Tara can't stay sober. She's terrible at monogamy. Even her psychiatrist grows sick of her and stops returning her calls. She spends most of her time putting out social fires, barely pulling things off, and feeling sick and tired.

Sally Ride, the first American woman to go to space, once said that she didn’t set out to be a role model, but after her first flight, she realized that she was one. Like her, the 12 women scientists in this collection became unintentional heroes through perseverance and hard work, making great discoveries in all areas of science. From Vera Rubin’s examination of the internal dynamics of galaxies to Nobel Prize winner May-Britt Moser’s study of the brain’s GPS-like navigation system, Trailblazers highlights the achievements of women who became role models for us all.

William’s memoir, The Parts of Him I Kept, is an intimate account of a daughter’s coming of age in the face of her father’s schizophrenic unraveling. Williams investigates the limits of our medical and cultural understanding of schizophrenia while chronicling the shared burden and benefits of caring for a mentally ill family member.

Growing up in poverty, and neglected and abused by her own mother and stepfather, Jaz Ampaw-Farr was destined to become a statistic. Her story was changed, however, by five teachers who made a point of putting human connection first, despite the challenges of the education system. Because of these people, Jaz went on to become a teacher, writer and award-winning international speaker who, through celebration and provocation, engages educators and galvanises them into embracing the difference that they can make when they, too, put being a human first.

Women are at a disadvantage in the workplace, where they deal with unequal pay, sexual harassment, lack of credit for their contributions, and more. And while organizations are looking to address these issues, too many gender-inclusion initiatives focus exclusively on how women should respond, leaving men out of the equation. Such efforts reinforce the perception that these are "women's issues" and that men - often the most powerful stakeholders in an organization - don't need to be involved.

The real-life Cinderella story of the very first professional woman astronomer—Caroline Herschel! Comet Chaser is the thrilling biography of a woman who made a lifetime of incredible contributions to science. She was the first woman to discover a comet, the first officially recognized in a scientific role, and the first to be given a Gold Medal by the Royal Astronomical Society.

From wartime nutrition science to modern food activism, Six Women Who Shaped What Americans Eat examines the pivotal roles six women played in rewriting the rules of American cuisine. Michelle Mart offers a rich and accessible narrative that connects dietary trends, food marketing, and public health movements to the voices of the women who helped drive them.

Being the first is never easy. Taking a company public on the Nasdaq Stock Exchange is even more of a challenge. But being the first woman of Indian origin to take a company public in the United States? That takes a whole new level of grit. This is Vinita Gupta’s story.

Virtually every big name in wrestling in the second half of the 20th Century crossed paths with "Ms. Christine," as she was known to most. If they followed her rules, Christine "Teeny" Jarrett probably taught them a thing or two about staying out of trouble and saving money for a rainy day. If they got out of line, they likely faced The Grip. Over the course of her 50-year career in wrestling, Teeny worked her way from selling tickets in the back of a Nashville, Tennessee shoe store to running a network of towns for Nick Gulas and Roy Welch...

In When There Are Two Patients in One Body, an experienced Labor and Delivery nurse shares a collection of birth stories, some joyful and others harrowing, that reveal profound life lessons from one of the most intense human experiences. While babies arrive either by vaginal delivery or caesarean section, each birth unfolds uniquely, whether as a momentous and thrilling event or an unexpected and life altering ordeal. This book follows the author's career, presenting a chronological journey through a diverse array of births, each story interwoven with her personal reflections.

After years of hearing that she was an inspiration to family and friends, Heather decided to strive to inspire a larger audience by writing. Citing a lifetime of personal experiences, she gives her listeners an inside look at her world of insane medical drama, PTSD, pain, grief, and loss. She shares that the only way she has learned to accept each situation she has had to endure was to allow herself time to grieve. She knows that the only way to find lasting peace in the midst of life's many storms may require going through the grief cycle over and over again.

In The Accidental Entrepreneur, author Janine Allis shares the secrets and skills that took her from housewife to entrepreneur to head of a multinational corporation. As the founder of Boost Juice, Janine has journeyed from zero formal business training to leading a company with over 400 stores in 12 countries. This audiobook takes you down the long road that she travelled, including some quirky stops along the way, and gives you valuable insight into taking the alternative road to business success.

The extraordinary life of the woman behind the beloved children's classics Goodnight Moon and The Runaway Bunny comes alive in this fascinating biography of Margaret Wise Brown. Margaret's books have sold millions of copies all over the world, but few people know that she was at the center of a children's book publishing revolution.

Shakespeare professor and prison volunteer Laura Bates thought she had seen it all. That is, until she decided to teach Shakespeare in a place the bard had never been before - supermax solitary confinement. In this unwelcoming place, surrounded by inmates known as the worst of the worst, is Larry Newton.

Fanny Bullock Workman was a complicated and restless woman who defied the rigid Victorian morals she found as restrictive as a corset. With her frizzy, brown hair tucked under a topee, Workman was a force on the mountain and off. Instrumental in breaking the British stranglehold on Himalayan mountain climbing, this American woman climbed more peaks than any of her peers, became the first woman to map the far reaches of the Himalayas, the first woman to lecture at the Sorbonne, and the second to address the Royal Geographic Society of London.

Lawyer, activist, and former Chatelaine legal columnist Linda Silver Dranoff details her trailblazing journey from a traditional 1950s childhood to the battlegrounds of the courts of law where she and a generation of women lawyers, supporting a larger feminist movement, championed the rights of Canadian women and families.

The freezing Antarctic winter shuts supply lines down completely; conditions are too treacherous for planes and boats and the only connection with the rest of the world is satellite hook-up. During the winter of 1999, Dr. Nielsen, the only physician on a staff of 41 people, discovered a lump in her breast. She was forced to perform a biopsy and in June began to treat herself with chemotherapy, in order to insure that she could survive until her rescue in October.