Gals Guide

Leah continues Financial Health & Security Month with the first Black woman to establish a bank in the United States. Maggie Lena Walker not only opened the Saint Luke Penny Savings Bank, but she was the first Black woman to be president of a bank in the United States. Learn more about the financial well-being Maggie created for her community in this week’s episode.

Bonnie starts our monthly theme, Financial Health & Security, by talking about Katharine Dexter McCormick. Katharine was a rich lady, a suffragist, and helped fund the first birth control pill.  

Leah finishes up Creative & Expression Month with Moomins!!!!! Leah talks about the Swedish-Finnish artist, Tove Jansson, who created a colorful universe for her and her characters to escape to. The Moomin world is about admitting your joys and fears, looking for a place of safety, knowing danger is out there, but that you’ll always discover new ways to incorporate what “home” means.

Klaire is back on the podcast talking about an amazing Italian painter who started producing works as a teenager. Artemisia Gentileschi's life was full of challenges and obstacles, including an abuser and rarely getting credit for her paintings. Learn about Artemisia's fierce paintings of women that are gorgeous and haunting to look at. 

Katie is taking a pottery class and found inspiration and kinship with Beatrice Wood. Beatrice was a potter and involved with the Dada movement, giving her the nickname "Mama of Dada." Learn about Beatrice's fascinating life in pottery, art, literature, and French names we struggle to say. 

Bonnie starts Creativity & Expression month by talking about Elizabeth Keckley. From slavery to the personal dressmaker to Mary Todd Lincoln, learn about Elizabeth and her dress-making business.  

Katie finishes up Movement & Joy in the body month by talking about Eunice Kennedy Shriver and her work creating Special Olympics. Did you know Special Olympics first started with Eunice hosting a summer camp on her farm in Maryland? Learn more about Eunice and her work on behalf of persons with disabilities. 

Jackie continues our learning theme of finding wellness with Movement & Joy in the body. Jackie talks about Dorothy "Tommy" Dermody, the Irish fencer who was from County Tipperary. Not only did she compete in the  Olympic Games, but she also made movement and fitness invaluable for kids around Ireland. 

The world is a better place because Selma Miriam was in it... and we might not have known about her without the support of our patron Tony Vasquez. He was the one who sent us a DVD of the amazing documentary A Culinary Uprising: The Story of Bloodroot. Leah closes our learning theme with a wonderful example of Nourishment & The Table. Selma Miriam created a space for well being in so many women’s lives. Learn and share the story of Bloodroot a feminist, vegetarian, restaurant, and bookstore in Bridgeport Connecticut.