Episodes

Bold and vivacious herself, Diane’s 2nd book: Too Young to Be Old: How to Stay Vibrant, Visible, and Forever in Blue Jeans: 25 Secrets from TV's Jean Queen shows women how to face life with unfailing optimism and be risk-averse. As she reached her 60’s, Diane found there were no jeans in the marketplace that fit her well. She created her own brand and took them on the Home Shopping Network. One hour later, she sold 5,000 pairs of jeans. The DG2 brand of jeans are a favorite of women everywhere....

Helen Shiller, age 75, was a six-term alderperson in Chicago’s poor and oppressed communities where she advocated for radical changes to police misconduct, poverty, and racism. Starting in the early 1970s, Helen’s activism took a page from the Black Panther Party’s 10 Point Program. Fifty years later she concluded her book---Daring to Struggle, Daring to Win: Five Decades of Resistance in Chicago’s Uptown Community—with the Party’s 10 Point Guide to Action. Upon leaving the City Council, He...

Joyce Feustel earned three degrees: BS in English Education, MS in Health Education and MA in Health Services Administration. While pregnant with her first child, she was elected to the County Board of Supervisors. After her daughter was born in December 1980, she remained on the county board but resigned from being executive director of a mental health advocacy organization to focus on being a Mom. "I love people Connecting through conversation is the best way to understand how to help." - Jo...

Kimbeth Judge has been writing her entire life. At age 4 she was already fascinated by adult behavior. Understanding human nature has preoccupied her ever since. Putting words to paper enables her to make sense of what she thinks she sees. Her mother encouraged her to use her imagination, her father to stay level headed. As a result, her books include a certain playful pragmatism. Her first book, Mothers and Others is a compilation of short, amusing life stories. Her novel, the Flipside, a stru...

Dynamic duo, Opal Lee, 96 and her granddaughter, Dione Sims, 54 are relentless in their fight for freedom. Opal’s activism started as a home school counselor in South Fort Worth, TX. Opal believed that “access to information and resources is what helps us do better” and she fought hard for all children to be educated and fed. Opal joined the movement, started by the late Dr. Ronald Meyers in 1999, to influence the United States government to make Juneteenth a national holiday. She had worked si...

Catherine Johns found her way to an early career in broadcasting. She thought she went to college to become a nurse. There was this guy in her dormitory……how many stories started out that way in the ‘60s? “You have an amazing voice. You should be on the radio”. So she auditioned for the campus radio station and was hired. She started in smaller markets and ended up in Chicago, anchoring the news at WLS. Catherine learned from some of the best in the business: Larry Lujack and Fred Winston. By t...

Dr. Susan Weininger, age 78, is professor emerita of art history at Roosevelt University, Chicago, where she was Chair of the Department of History, Art History and Philosophy. She concentrates on art from the first half of the 20 th century, delving deeply into the lives of artists in order to better understand their work. For example, Susan is an expert on the life and art of Gertrude Abercrombie whose work she curated for a museum and published a catalogue and later published a book. ...

Eileen Joyce Donovan has been a writer throughout her life. It was not until she had been an adult for many years that she began to pursue writing seriously. Until then, she never felt her stories were “good enough”. It was her late husband who encouraged her to submit them for publication. At heart, Eileen adores historical research, especially on an idea that captures her imagination. She notes, “You have to be fascinated by the subject to do a good job on it”. This approach allowed her to al...