Recently I was interviewed for EnkoArt.wordpress.com, a  terrific art site that features many artists. Mia Corrino, the interviewer, does a whole lot of research before asking her questions, and I was particularly pleased with the questions she asked me. Here’s the third one – more to come in ensuing posts. Or if you so choose, you can read the whole thing on her site HERE.

Question 3:

You put together two books called Women of Power.

For those who have not read them, was there any pattern emerging when you learned the stories of all these wonderful women?

What was the common experience, what were the character traits that shaped their achievements?

Do you relate? (Click on the book covers above to get the free books)

ANGELA:

Hm. Interesting questions. OK—the most common experience for the most part was that each woman had to be really strong, focused and determined to get what she wanted and achieve what she did, some of them even posing as men to be able to do what she loved to do, some of them taking positions of extreme power within their communities, some of them arising up after tremendous loss, some of them fulfilling deep dreams.

DR. MARIE CURIE

One of the women I really admire was Dr. Marie Curie. Did you know that she died of cancer? The readings, papers and charts she created are still too radioactive to even get near enough to open up to this day. Imagine sitting there working with that poisonous stuff all day every day. Her discoveries changed medicine completely.

BEING UNDER-APPRECIATED by MEN

A few of them accomplished amazing feats, only to be undercut in the end by men. That ticked me off. What cowards and thieves those men were!

Doing that series really brought home to me how women have been devalued for millennia. In truth. From the 300s and 400s to the 12th to 18th centuries, women were literally less valuable than dogs. Coming to that realization infuriated me. And it hasn’t been all that long since women have been as free as we are in the western world today.

“WOMEN ARE STUPID!”

Why is it so important to me? Because I spent years thinking women were stupid. Really. I’m ashamed to admit it, but there it is. I wanted to be with men, talk like men, walk like men, do what men did, because it seemed like women were simpering droids I couldn’t stand to be around them. Notice how I thought of them as separate from me—them, not us. Such blind arrogance! I lost out on so many years of fine friendships with incredible women because of that attitude.

I was brought up in the mindset of Daddy and my 3 brothers were all way more important than I was, and for me to go to art school was “enough” for me. “You know you’ll just get married and make babies and forget your art training, so why bother putting you through college?” At 15, my brothers got stock options for Christmas. I got silk stockings (really!) and high heels when I turned 15. What does that tell you???

I didn’t understand that women are far more powerful than men—ever see the play, “Lysistrata”? One woman’s idea and ensuing alliance with other women stopped a raging war.

I didn’t understand how clever, intelligent and resourceful women are.

I didn’t see how influential women are—ever hear the saying, “behind every powerful man is a powerful women”? I just thought that was stupid. Hah! How little I knew!

EVEN NOW, in OUR FREE TIMES….

I look around and, even now, in times of the greatest freedom women have ever had, I see women unconsciously defer to men. You watch—a room chock full of happy, focused women, talking about their businesses, their successes, things dear to their hearts, will shut up faster than a clam at high tide when one man walks into the room. One man, that’s all it takes.

Because we don’t feel safe. The fear, at least until we get to know him, is that he will laugh at us, deride us, tell us what to do, try to overpower us.

Girls today, in their tiny tiny clothes and tattoos and pierced everythings prance down the street without one clue what we women fought for and won in the 60s and 70s. Bikinis! I was grounded for a month when I wore what today would be a frumpy two-piece to the beach.

Abortion, birth control, the vote, the right to have a bank account! Do you know my mother had to bring my father with her to the bank to open her first account? How humiliating! Now we can buy property, be inheritors of property, even when we marry. Used to be that a woman’s property reverted to her husband as soon as “I do” was uttered.

NO BLAMING the MEN!

But we cannot blame it only on the men. Women have to change, too. I’m not talking about riots or marches or protest. I’m talking about at home, and what we teach our kids, both through our words and as role models.

WE HAVE the POWER to CHANGE EVERYTHING

We need to teach our kids to respect girls and boys—not boys-don’t-cry, not girls wear pink. We need to support a girl scientist, support a boy singer. We need to hold a crying boy and tell him crying is no shame, applaud a powerful girl and tell her to keep it up. Because one day she really, really can be a Nobel prize winner, president of a country, an astronaut, a commercial or fighter jet pilot, an inventor of a world-saving device. AND she can keep the prize—not be ripped off by or have to hide behind some man.

As women, WE have the kids until they’re 5 years old—birth to 5 is when kids develop all their from-then-on brain patterns, habits and attitudes! WE have the power to stop the conventional conditioning!

The WOMEN of POWER SERIES

I was excited and inspired to do The Women of Power series because of a few facebook posts I saw about amazing women. I did a little research and saw how few powerful women we are exposed to on a daily basis. Especially women artists! How many women artists do you see in art history books? How many women artists do you know about from the 1400s, 1500s? I bet no more than one, if that! And yet, they existed, they were good, and even celebrated.

Women are bloody amazing! It’s time we stood up and came to the fore-front, because women are smart, talented, gifted, skilled, resilient, focused, determined and very, very powerful.

We don’t have to be better than men, we just need to be who we ARE, with no shame, no cowering, no deferring to anyone else. And we need to develop conscious, equal-as-beings partnerships with men—not tramp all over them and blame them for everything. After all, they’ve just been thinking and doing what they were conditioned to do, too, just as we have been.

If you are a ‘friend’ of mine on FB, you’ll have noticed that many of my posts are petitions about the environment. When I first started posting them, many people criticized me for it, saying there were too many, they didn’t work anyway, why bother, etc.

Now, several years later, the ones who didn’t like it unfriended me—mostly family!—and the ones who didn’t believe petitions were worth a second of their time are now eagerly signing and sharing them with their own friends. And I even get notes from them saying I’m their favorite squeaky wheel, please keep it up.

And you know what? Most of the sharers are women. Because they’ve seen that they can stand up for what they believe in, get fantastic results, and not endanger themselves.

AMAZING WOMEN

I find and interview amazing, awesome women for my radio show, Daring Dreamers Radio, at IDareYouRadio.com. It’s for aspiring and experienced women entrepreneurs who want to live their deepest heart’s desires, share their passions and talents, and who want encouragement, inspiration and resources for moving forward. They share great stories of overcoming, practical business strategies and systems, and wonderful tips and processes for improving their health and dealing with their emotions.

I’m also a Business and Marketing Coach—I show women entrepreneurs how to dance through extraordinary transformations. I help them clear and sail through the old limiting thoughts, beliefs, emotions and habits that come up and rear their ugly heads as they navigate each new level of success. I’ve written and published books and blog posts, given teleseminars and webinars up the wazoo to help women get off the ground floor and soaring into the success they deserve and having the impact they want. (EFTBooks.com)

WE CAN and MUST….

I do all this because I heartily believe that we women can—and must!—save the world. Seriously. There is tremendous planetary destruction happening right now because of a small group of very greedy people who can’t see past their wallets.

So we women—we powerful, amazing, talented, gifted, skilled, elegant, eloquent women—need to get ourselves to come out! No matter what! From the safety of our homes and daily anonymity, and put our hearts and minds to it and stand up and speak out about what we believe in.

That’s why I created the Women of Power ebooks, and the Women of Power greeting card series, so that hope and inspiration and energy can be infused into women as they read the books and see the images.

Because it’s our time, right now.