Karen Arrington: More than Just a Pretty Face

https://www.travelandleisure.com/travel-news/karen-arrington-interview-black-women-empowerment-trip

Karen Arrington is the founder of the Miss Black USA Pageant. More than a pageant, it’s a movement—celebrating the talents and achievements of today’s Black women and awarding over $450,000 in college scholarships each year. Since founding the pageant in 1986, Arrington has mentored over a thousand young women, helping them get into top medical schools, land major modeling and recording contracts, secure life-changing grants and sponsorship deals, and more. In addition to running the pageant, Arrington is a philanthropist and humanitarian whose work has touched millions of lives. She’s the cofounder of Diabetes Awareness Day in West Africa and was named a goodwill ambassador to the Gambia and to the Republic of Sierra Leone. She has received numerous awards, including leadership awards from the Lifetime Network and Jones New York, the Trailblazer’s Award by Zeta Phi Sorority (the highest award that is bestowed by this sorority, which has over 21,000 members), and Maryland Black Mayors Honors for commitment and dedication to the community, and she was a Woman’s Day magazine Red Dress Honoree along with CNN’s Sanjay Gupta and Olympic gold medalist Dana Vollmer. Arrington has been interviewed in places like the Washington Post, Woman’s Day, Jet, and on BET.

This excerpt is from The Book of Awesome Black Women by Becca Anderson and MJ Fievre, which is available now through Amazon and Mango Media.

ILEANA CRUDU: SHE’S GOT THE IT FACTOR

https://www.unwomen.org/en/news/stories/2016/9/from-where-i-stand-ileana-crudu

Before graduating High School, Ileana entered into a program called GirlsGoIT, which is an inspirational program in Moldova (where Ileana is from) that empowers girls to break from traditional gender norms and teaches them valuable skills to enter into the IT field. After completing the program and graduating from high school, Ileana went on to study knowledge engineering at Maastricht University in the Netherlands. She is now a relentless ambassador for the program and encourages other girls to break down norms and study technology and code.

“I am proud if people say that I code like a girl because I know I can rock the world with my code!”

—Ileana Crudu

This excerpt is from The Book of Awesome Girls by Becca Anderson, which is available now through Amazon and Mango Media.

SABA ISMAIL: GIRLS HELPING GIRLS

https://www.peacedirect.org/us/war-stories-peace-stories-a-photo-journal/

Saba is a feminist and activist. At only fifteen years old, she co-founded “Aware Girls,” an organization run by young women aiming to empower girls to fight for social change and take part in leadership opportunities. Due to her work and excellence on youth development and the prevention of violent extremism, the UN General Secretary appointed her to the Advisory Group for the Progress Study on Youth, Peace, and Security. To be so young yet to understand the importance of fighting for social change is what inspires others to follow in Saba’s lead, and demand equal opportunities for girls and women globally.

“You have to take a step if you want to bring a change, and you have to do something.”

—Saba Ismail

This excerpt is from The Book of Awesome Girls by Becca Anderson, which is available now through Amazon and Mango Media.

ANI DIFRANCO: RIGHTEOUS BABE

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ani_DiFranco

Ani DiFranco has achieved incredible success entirely on her terms without the benefit of a record label by touring, working hard at her distinctive music. A folk punk phenom, DiFranco writes about her own life, offering strength, honesty, and courage to other women—who have responded in droves. Adored by thousands of devoted fans, DiFranco is slightly uncomfortable with being idolized as a role model of female empowerment, writing about it in her “I’m No Hero.” Living on her own by the age of fifteen, the guitarist-songwriter who, in her own words has “indie cred” as a “stompy-booted, butch, folk-singer chick,” remembers the irritation of walking into music stores and having the clerk assume she was there to pick something up for her boyfriend. She’s gladdened to see these same music stores now packed with teenage girls inspired by the success and long-overdue acceptance of women in rock. “I don’t feel like the superhero that sometimes I’m made out to be, but I guess I do feel responsible to other young women, and I do feel fortunate.”

This excerpt is from The Book of Awesome Women by Becca Anderson, which is available now through Amazon and Mango Media.

HELEN REDDY: “I AM STRONG. I AM INVINCIBLE.”

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Helen_Reddy

Along with Led Zeppelin, art rockers Yes and Fairport Convention, one of the artists Alison Steele played on her nationally popular radio show was Helen Reddy. Both of these women struggled for years to make it. Reddy’s songs were embraced as anthems for a nation of women collectively committed to shattering the glass ceiling. For the time, Helen Reddy’s achievement was stunning. She wrote a hard-core feminist song and took it to the top of the charts; “I Am Woman” was the number one hit on the charts in 1972. In clear ringing tones, Helen declared a message that empowered and encouraged women around the world, “I am woman, hear me roar. I am too strong to ignore…if I have to, I can do anything. I am strong. I am invincible!”

This excerpt is from The Book of Awesome Women by Becca Anderson, which is available now through Amazon and Mango Media.

Lang Leav poignant poems of love and loss

Photo by Carolyn Haslett

Novelist and poet Lang Leav was born in a Thai refugee camp as her family fled the Khmer Rouge regime. She grew up in the predominantly migrant town of Cabramatta, a suburb of Sydney, Australia. Leav is the winner of a Churchill Fellowship, a Qantas Spirit of Youth Award, and a Goodreads Reader’s Choice Award. According to Publisher’s Weekly, her first poetic volume, Love & Misadventure (2013), presaged the poetry renaissance that has been in the ascendant in the publishing world. Her later books, including her first novel, Sad Girls, are international bestsellers as well. With a combined social media following of 2 million, her messages of love, loss, and female empowerment continue to resonate with her many readers. Leav currently lives in New Zealand with her partner, fellow author Michael Faudet.

This excerpt is from The Book of Awesome Women Writers by Becca Anderson, which is available now through Amazon and Mango Media.