Phenomenal Women

I don't know if it's because I've found myself in a work environment full of strong women, or because I know that I am growing into the woman I want to be myself, but in the past year I have become fascinated by the stories of successful, powerful women. There is just something about estrogen paired with a success story that truly inspires me. Whether it's reading through a biography in the library or in magazine articles, there are certain women whose stories have just captured my attention and shown me that there is no one path to success, and no obstacle is insurmountable. In addition to the women in my personal life, like my mother and my grandmothers, here are some of the women who I find inspirational, fascinating, and, well...phenomenal.

MICHELLE BACHELET

The first woman president of Chile, Bachelet is an amazing example of the power of a woman. Overcoming the adversity of losing her father to the regime of Augusto Pinochet and experiencing personally the torture and brutality of his reign, Bachelet went on to become a successful doctor before becoming the first ever female Defense Minister of Chile, followed by President.

She was a passionate leader of a country that needed that passion, with a large focus on the health problems plaguing her nation. I find her story inspirational not only because she was the first woman to hold such a post, but because of the challenges she didn't let get in her way of changing the world.



MAYA ANGELOU

I'm a writer, and so it's probably no surprise that Maya Angelou has inspired me. Beyond her poise and wisdom, it is purely her way with words that moves me.

From "I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings" to the poem "Still I Rise," I have never encountered a piece of her work that didn't make me want to close my eyes and envision, dream, and think.






DIANE SAWYER

While I was a fan of Sawyer on Good Morning America, it was always her interviews and work on Primetime and 20/20 that fascinated me most. As a budding journalist, I loved to watch her intensely interview everyone from Fidel Castro to President Bush.

When I watch her interviews, it is something about her fearless traveling and inquisitive and firm line of questioning that makes me sure I picked the right profession.


GLORIA ESTEFAN

Apart from the fact that Estefan, along with her husband Emilio and the rest of the Miami Sound Machine, can be credited with making Latin music and sounds mainstream in American culture, Estefan's life story is motivating.

An immigrant who was forced to migrate as a young girl with her mother from Cuba to Miami in the early years of Castro's dictatorship, Estefan went on to be an award-winning singer and performer with the Miami Sound Machine. Along the way, however, she faced incredible hardship again. After a serious bus accident, she was critically injured and told she might never walk again. How could I not find inspiration in the fact that ten months later, she was not only walking again, but back on tour and went on to sell millions of hit records?

Post-racial? No Thanks, I'll Take the Melting Pot, Please

A young President Obama with his white grandfather.

Most people who know me know that when the issue of racial identity comes up, I can go on for days. So it's no surprise that the headline of a front page article in today's USA Today caught my interest.

"Multiracial no longer boxed in by the Census."

The article talked about how the upcoming Census is likely to reveal more people than ever listing themselves as multiracial, because of a rise in mixed race marriages and a new generation of people who may now choose to identify as multiracial. All of this seemed to lead to the point that the U.S. is getting closer to becoming a "post-racial" society, and the article ended with a quote from a biracial person who said she thinks that eventually, races will continue mixing and we will all end up as one color anyway. Overall, the article had a very hopeful note for a possible post-racial society where all races will mix happily because more people are identifying themselves as multiracial.

One might assume that, because I am biracial myself and don't hesitate to let people know it, I would feel that way, too: hopeful that one day, we will all mix together happily as one American culture, leaving notions of individual races and ethnicity behind. But that's not actually the case–I don't hope for this at all. Honestly, I think that having a society where people can belong to and identify with different ethnic and racial groups is a good thing. Culture, and cultural pride, is so amazing to me–I can't imagine not having the culture and history that I was raised in and learned about growing up.