5/22 Instagram takeover with Rachel Simmonds- What a nice addition to our weekly #52PWP blog features. Drop us a line if you'd like to participate - It's so important to stick together during these difficult times. #phenomenal_friday.

Meet Allison: In her own words - "I don't remember who gave me my nickname, “The Historian“, I am not sure it was given out of love or appreciation, probably more out annoyance other's felt about my deep-seated drive to document, save, collect, and record everything about family. I came by it honestly. Both of my grandmothers have passed along everything from court records and books about our family history to photos so old you can barely make out the people in them. My father made audio recordings of my brother and me when we were little. While I love watching videos, nothing touches me more than closing my eyes and listening to the voices of people I love. My mother saved special outfits, toys, every piece of schoolwork and art, my brother and I ever created. I find myself doing the same with my two boys. When I married, family silver was passed down to me along with generations of china, and crystal. When we bought our home, my mom and grandmother brought us daffodil bulbs from gardens of friends and family members, and after my Grandmother Breland passed away, I added Purple Dutch Iris bulbs from her garden. When you walk through our home, you will find it decorated with memories, history, and experiences. My father chides me from time to time about attaching too much meaning to objects of the past, but I've come to believe that's when you know it's time to pass it on to the next generation, changing the old guard to new. I realize there are parts of our past we should relinquish, it's therapeutic, I've done it myself many times. But it's the pieces of my family's collective history that give me comfort. I've spent time learning about relatives I've never met and honoring the others I have loved and lost, warts and all. I have two beautiful boys whose lives I started to document before they were born. I have to remind myself not to spend too much time preserving the past lest you forget the importance of the present; after all, it's what gives you history. I spend time telling the stories behind these seemingly random objects - like an old wooden box that sits on the top shelf of our entertainment center. When I pulled it down explained it was bible box carved for our family in the late 1700s, the boys couldn't wrap their minds around the fact we had something so old in our home. I explained we have it because generations passed it down, trusting us to keep it safe and their stories alive for their own children. You see, it takes about three generations to lose track of stories, people, and events that have gone before you. I hope you make time to listen to and record stories of loved ones, sort through photos, and write the names, dates, and relationships of the people in them. It takes time and patience, but I promise it's a journey that will feed your soul and countless other generations." *** Please follow along on instagram as well and learn more about Allison. 52 Phenomenal Women is now in its second year! This is week 36 of 52.2 Participants in this project will be supporting the efforts of Dress for Success Worldwide – Central. We are all stronger together and it is my sincere hope that we will be inspired by each other’s stories. Now is the time to celebrate as well as encourage one another. Tell your story!

Our first Instagram takeover with Chef Alexia - What a nice addition to our weekly #52PWP blog features. Drop us a line if you'd like to participate - It's so important to stick together during these difficult times. #phenomenal_friday. Wishing you a beautiful weekend! Amy

"Tin, and Lead. Sn, Pb. Six years ago, I knew nothing of these elements. Now, they are my bread and butter. In the summer of 2014, my father - my rock - passed away. After three weeks on life support following a fall, we held his hand and said goodbye. After the funeral, my brother, Steve, asked me to help him run the family business, Mayer Alloys Corporation. Mayer Alloys is a distributor, specializing in tin and lead alloys, as well as a recycler of nonferrous metal and electronic waste. Doing so would not be an easy task. Mayer Alloys is based in the Detroit suburbs, 300 miles from my Chicago home. Moreover, Steve had worked with my dad for over 20 years, whereas I knew nothing about the business. However, with the support of my husband and son, I accepted the challenge. Thus, the question was raised: how do you run a business you know nothing about? The answer: you learn. For the first couple years, I watched, listened, and learned from those with more experience than me. I believe you can’t change what you don’t know, so I studied the periodic table, researched the various alloys, and asked a lot of questions. I learned something new every day, while also leveraging my past, to improve our company’s future. I graduated from the University of Michigan, Dearborn in 1985 and began my 30+-year career in marketing and advertising. I worked on accounts for some of the largest companies in America, like Microsoft, USPS, Chrysler, and, Chevrolet, which offered me the memorable experience of touring with the Beach Boys at the height of their “Kokomo” resurgence. I loved building brands, and helping my clients grow their business. I liked what I did and was good at my job. However, despite decades of late nights and weekly business trips, I was never able to break the glass ceiling. I watched as men doing less work, with equal or less success, got promoted, because, as I was told, they had families to support. Though I had little experience in metals, my marketing expertise is what gave me the ammunition to help move the company forward. With Steve running the day-to-day operations from Detroit, I sought new ways to grow the business. Together, we acquired our own warehouse, emphasized government contracting, and expanded into military packaging and warehouse distribution. These decisions were often met with skepticism. I was changing things and I had to work hard to earn the respect of our staff. Today, Steve and I to continue to expand upon my father’s legacy, abiding by the values he taught us as children - putting honesty, fairness, and responsibility at the company’s core, and focusing on what matters most, the people in our company and our customers. I cannot say that these last six years have been easy. I had to learn how to run a small business from scratch, and made many mistakes along the way. I work a lot and spend roughly a quarter of the year away from home. But now, I work on my terms. I never broke the glass ceiling, but now, I’m standing on top of it." *** Please follow along on instagram as well and learn more about Ilene. 52 Phenomenal Women is now in its second year! This is week 35 of 52. Participants in this project will be supporting the efforts of Dress for Success Worldwide – Central. We are all stronger together and it is my sincere hope that we will be inspired by each other’s stories. Now is the time to celebrate as well as encourage one another. Tell your story!

Meet Adlyn: In her own words - "My name is Adlyn Carreras and I’m an artist. It took me a long time to use this word to describe myself. Ever since I was a little girl, I have loved to perform. My mother put me in Ballet and Flamenco classes and I would do performances in the living room of my home for all my dolls. I would pretend that I was the host of my own Miss Universe pageant with my Barbies. In school, I would always be involved in anything that was happening: being the elf during a Christmas pageant, playing the part of a little girl in a production of “Annie get Your Gun” when I was in 3rd grade. In high school, taking part in all the Homecoming Skits and being part of the Dance Team, were some of the things I loved doing. I also loved sports and played volleyball, basketball, and softball. Because I played sports, I never really participated in any theater productions in school. I wanted to, but the productions were always during softball season and that always won out. After high school, I went to Macalester College in Minnesota. At Mac, I was always involved in anything that was being performed during Hispanic/Latino Week. It occurred to me that maybe I should pursue a degree in the arts, but I thought my mother would not approve. I studied International Studies with a concentration in Latin American Literature and also had a minor in Biology because I thought I wanted to be a doctor too. I also played sports and again made that a priority. Fast forward a few years, and I met my husband, who was (and still is) an actor in the Twin Cities. At the time, I was looking for a way to get into acting in theater. We started dating and he introduced me to people, which led to auditions. I started doing some shows, but not as many and as frequently as him. As our relationship became more serious, we started making decisions on where to live and how we would support ourselves. We had the opportunity to live in an artist co-op and, because he was a theater artist, we were accepted. I started thinking of him as the artist and I just acted for fun. And this was fine for a long time. As time went on, we got married, had two beautiful kids, bought a house, and settled into our life. Then, as it happens, life threw us a curve ball. We were both working in the same restaurant and taking turns taking care of the children, and acting in productions. Early in January of that year, he was fired from the restaurant on a Thursday and then I was fired the following Saturday. We both lost our jobs within one week. My biggest fear happened: that I would be without a means to take care of my family. I fell into a deep depression. I was so miserable, I had to seek help. My doctor recommended an outpatient program, with the idea that if I got a job, I would have to leave. The program was 12 weeks long, Monday through Friday, 9am-1pm. After the first couple of weeks, I received an email from the wife of a former director, telling me that the director’s mother had died. I called him and we agreed to meet. After catching up on what was happening in each of our lives, he said to me “so I’m directing this small production, rehearsal starts in a few minutes, and I want you to join me.” He hired me on the spot! For the next 5 to 6 weeks, I went to my program and then went to rehearsal. It was exactly what I needed to be lifted from my illness and it completely change my life. I spent a lot of time looking inward and assessing my life and what I wanted to accomplish. I re-discovered my love for performance, that I wanted to act and be involved with anything in theater. I realized that I am an artist and this is my calling. It took a long time and going through difficult situations to realize this simple concept. That first contract with the director, led to another opportunity stage managing a reading, which led to me managing the theater’s Gala, and then the opportunity to be the theater’s Office Manager. I have been working at this theater for the past 6 years as Office Manager, been in many of the theater’s productions, learned how to coordinate major events, and have seen how many opportunities there are available to someone like me. I was commissioned to write my own show, which I gave a reading in the past year and continue to write. I was hired as a Teaching Artist for the local children’s theater. And, in the past year, I was offered a position to teach an acting class at Augsburg University. All these things that I only dreamed of doing and coming from a dire time in my life. I’m proud of my journey and glad that I found myself in the process. It took a long time, but here I am. My name is Adlyn Carreras and I AM an artist." *** Please follow along on instagram as well and learn more about Adlyn. 52 Phenomenal Women is now in its second year! This is week 34 of 52. Participants in this project will be supporting the efforts of Dress for Success Worldwide – Central. We are all stronger together and it is my sincere hope that we will be inspired by each other’s stories. Now is the time to celebrate as well as encourage one another. Tell your story!***

Meet Kate: In her own words - "I’ve been doing concert photography for years, but it’s been my passion since I shot FFS (a collaboration between Franz Ferdinand and Sparks) in 2015. I’ve always been a big music dork, and photography has been a hobby of mine since high school, so being able to connect those two interests is really a dream come true. Since then, I’ve shot over three hundred shows, and even though there are some times that I need to throw the brakes on booking myself, I love it and would do it every day if I could. I’ve made some great friends and built a great community, both in Chicago and around the world. I’ve never been much of a musician myself, but I’ve had a life-long love affair with music my entire life. Growing up, I was a huge fan of David Bowie and Queen, and honestly, those two haven’t really gone anywhere in my all-time favorites. I’ve always been into music magazines like Q and NME and used those as a way to discover new music, but more recently my discoveries come from the internet like a non-ancient person. Recently, I’ve been listening to a lot of Andrew Bird, the Karen O/Danger Mouse collaboration Lux Prima, and the new Fiona Apple album Fetch the Bolt Cutters. I’ve shot a lot of great artists in the last five years, but some standouts events have been the Rolling Stones in 2019 at Soldier Field, Chance the Rapper’s free show in August 2017, and St. Vincent’s Lollapalooza aftershow in 2018. I’ve shot a lot of my favorites, but I’d love a chance to shoot some artists I’ve never seen before. Lorde and Kendrick Lamar are both on my bucket list, for sure. Music festivals are some of my favorite events to shoot, and I usually go to all the fests that Chicago has to offer, which is another reason that this year is a bummer. When I’m not shooting shows, I like spending time with my cat, Margo, doing yoga, and playing video games. In terms of smaller-scale disruptions, one of the most frustrating aspects of this quarantine for a lot of people is the disruption of their day-to-day, and for me that meant losing the event photography that I usually do. I started doing this quarantine activity series for two reasons: to give myself something fun and entertaining to do, and to try to put a smile on everyone’s face. I think in a time like this, acknowledging how absurd this situation is can really help people on a sort of basic, emotional level. I’ve always loved the pinup aesthetic and even though I haven’t been able to model for anyone except my husband and cat, giving myself a reason to dress up is a delight. Getting pretty, staging fun scenes, and taking some photos will never get old." *** Please follow along on instagram as well and learn more about Kate. 52 Phenomenal Women is now in its second year! This is week 33 of 52. Participants in this project will be supporting the efforts of Dress for Success Worldwide – Central. We are all stronger together and it is my sincere hope that we will be inspired by each other’s stories. Now is the time to celebrate as well as encourage one another. Tell your story!***

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Meet Nika: In her own words... "Thankfully before being shelter-in from Covid 19, I took the trip of a life-time. For the first time in my life, I visited the continent of Africa, traveling to Ghana. Before visiting I took an Ancestry DNA test where I discovered I am 93% African and 26% of that DNA is Ghanaian. So the trip was more than a vacation or my 40th birthday celebration, it was a coming home journey. During my trip, I wondered who is related to me because I was surrounded by many Africans of different backgrounds, highly educated, wealthy, and most importantly with a moral code of community. Sometimes your life path takes you on an unplanned journey, and I am a true testimony of this. My journey started on the west side of Chicago in the North Lawndale area. Growing up here in the 80s was where I solidified my identity. North Lawndale is an area in Chicago that doesn't get much positive press. I must admit the neighborhood was crime driven and underserved. However, I was blessed to grow up on a block that had people like Ms. Mattie, Ven, and Ms. Mary who cared about the people on it – my first exposure to the community. Over the years, I continue to have a community of people that speak blessings into my life and encourage me to keep reaching for my impossible dreams – even when I was living the opposite. This encouragement propelled me to pursue a career in television broadcasting. It still amazes me that I put myself through Western Illinois University and earned a degree in Communication with an emphasis in television broadcasting. But I had those blessings of encouragement that said keep reaching. That degree took me to Des Moines, Iowa, West Palm Beach, Florida and eventually the big return home to Chicago having conquered working in the television broadcasting industry for 17 years. Because of those blessings of encouragement this young lady from North Lawndale (against the odds) has worked for 5 television stations, 1 minor league sports team, a nonprofit media company, and a sports television station. A big thank you to my community for the encouragement! A familiar moral code of community was the connection I felt when I arrived in Ghana. My ancestors were taken from their native land, but their moral code of community was not destroyed. They still share a feeling of fellowship with others, common attitudes, interests, and goals. Being a little girl from North Lawndale I would've never thought I would have the opportunity to return my ancestors, whose shoulders I stood on and now was in their home. While I was in Ghana I was welcomed by the community - Emerald Jane, Mama Ama, Aaron, Jalil, and the most important person Ava who gave me life. No matter where I go from here, whether I am in the motherland or North Lawndale I’m thankful for being blessed with a heritage of a moral code of my community." *** Please follow along on instagram as well and learn more about Nika. 52 Phenomenal Women is now in its second year! This is week 32 of 52. Participants in this project will be supporting the efforts of Dress for Success Worldwide – Central. We are all stronger together and it is my sincere hope that we will be inspired by each other’s stories. Now is the time to celebrate as well as encourage one another. Tell your story!***

Meet Kim: In her own words - "I didn’t grow up with a lot of money but I was fortunate enough to have an extended family that wanted to help me succeed. My grandmother would give me $100 here or there to help me put myself through college. My aunt Audrey, (my grandmother’s daughter) was a huge support for me emotionally and financially when I was in my late 20’s. These women became two of my strongest mentors. After I changed my career in 2006 and was committed to becoming a chef, I was laser-focused on being the best I could be. I love to cook and it was a wonderful challenge for me. I’ve been cooking professionally for 14 years now and have the opportunity to pay it forward with my experience. I have young cooks ask me “how long will it take me to become a chef?” I advise them to be patient, put your head down and work, and become the obvious choice when there’s a promotion to be doled out. On March 9, 2020, my good friend (and mentor), Belinda Chang and I hosted a celebratory dinner for “International Women’s Day” at Publican Quality Meats, one of the restaurants I oversee. I invited 8 young, female culinarians to join me in creating a dinner for this occasion. They were so honored and excited! Chefs are notorious for being unresponsive to deadlines and communicating menus for special events. I took this as an opportunity to teach our Kitchen Supervisors, Sous Chefs and Pastry Chefs how to organize the menu, collaborate with one another, cost out their dishes, do a tasting at least a week prior to the event and meeting deadlines. The dinner was a success! Our goal was to sell 24 tickets with $50 from each ticket sale to benefit “Dress for Success.” We ended up selling 35 tickets and donated $1750 to this incredible organization that supports the empowerment of women. I’d also like to give a shoutout to one of my girlfriends, Laura G. She was uncertain about job security and hesitant to join us for the dinner. I made the decision to pay it forward and invited her to be my guest as she has always been a huge support to me. She is incredibly talented and has a small business called popofpaper.com. She paints custom black-and-white pet portraits. I encourage you to support her small business! A portion of her sales is donated to one of the local animal shelters. And that’s my mantra: Pay it forward for continued success." *** Please follow along on instagram as well and learn more about  Kim. 52 Phenomenal Women is now in its second year! This is week 31 of 52. Participants in this project will be supporting the efforts of Dress for Success Worldwide – Central. We are all stronger together and it is my sincere hope that we will be inspired by each other’s stories. Now is the time to celebrate as well as encourage one another. Tell your story!***

Meet Suzanne: In her own words - "What would I tell my 52-year-old self? “Stay at home.” That’s the phrase I’ll remember forever as the mantra from my 52nd birthday, since it occurred just last week in the midst of the Corona virus. And while it is literally true of this moment in my life, to a great extent, it’s the thing I would have said to my 42-year-old self, and my 22-year-old self, and my 12-year-old self. Because “staying at home” is a good idea metaphorically if you understand it this way: Staying at home is about knowing what is yours to do when no one else is watching. It’s about closing your eyes and getting very clear about your value proposition, and then spending as much time as possible gaining the knowledge, skills and disciplines needed to kick some serious ass when you unleash yourself on the world. My value proposition has been more or less the same since I was about 11 (yours probably has been, too). I know how to get people excited about an idea. You can call that “marketing”, but I don’t. You can call that “leadership”, but I don’t. Those terms refer to the work that comes after the part that is really mine to do: clarifying and elevating the idea itself so that it can be made interesting and exciting to others. I can do that whether the idea is a social movement, an elaborate prank, a brand strategy for a political candidate, a menu for dinner for my family, or a new venture to help the rising generation of women lead in the workplace. So that’s a lot about knowing what you’re good at (skills). I’m a big believer in “there are no short-cuts” meaning that if you want to get great at something, you need to do it a lot. And then do it some more. Maybe it’s why so many people told me that I reminded them of the crazy coach, Monica, on Cheer. Yet “shelter in place” is, at its core, about discipline, and that’s the part that usually gets us in trouble. It’s why “staying at home” is so hard. It’s hard to confine ourselves to ourselves. It’s hard to look inward again and again. But as my long-time business partner (and best friend) Rachel Bellow and I have always said, “the only way out is through.” From the start of my career (at Teach For America as a member of the Charter Corps), I knew that I wanted to live “out there.” I was drawn to solving complex social problems, like educational equity, access to quality early childhood, work force development, or creating entrepreneurial ecosystem for cities. My younger self wanted to leap right to where the action was, wherever it was. As Rachel likes to say, my vector drives OUT. Yet that’s not how you matter. It’s not how you radiate impact. This is definitely a “52 year-old self” realization. I’ve learned that you matter more when, you connect to conversations that are bigger than you. To do that, you need 3 vectors. One that drills down (what is yours to do), one that yes, drills out (get me into the room where it happens), and another that points up to the big ideas. But you can only do that well when you know what is yours to do relative to that conversation. And this is why you must “stay at home.” Feeling like you are “in the room where it happens” (e.g. the big, interesting conversations about ideas that matter) is pretty easy thanks to Zoom. But really driving the conversations that matter—that takes work. It takes expertise. It takes rigor and discipline and inward facing work. This is the work I’m doing now at 52. It doesn’t feel phenomenal. It doesn’t feel sexy. It feels hard. But I’m doing it with a sense of humor, a brain-trust built over many years, and complete clarity about where I live having nothing to do with restrictions of place." *** Please follow along on instagram as well and learn more about  Suzanne. 52 Phenomenal Women is now in its second year! This is week 30 of 52. Participants in this project will be supporting the efforts of Dress for Success Worldwide – Central. We are all stronger together and it is my sincere hope that we will be inspired by each other’s stories. Now is the time to celebrate as well as encourage one another. Tell your story!***

Meet Katie: In her own words... "Imagine a little girl, three years old, stretched out on her back in the summer grass, watching the clouds float by. Each one a new possibility, all a path to the sky - a rocket, an airplane. Then a real airplane roars by and her heart leaps with excitement! She sees herself in that plane, traveling the world. Meeting unique people in every corner of the Earth. A door in that girl’s imagination opened, and it was only the beginning. As a girl, I loved all things air travel and space. My parents indulged my obsession and I flew through every book I could get my hands on. They sent me to space camp where I dreamed of travel beyond our atmosphere. My dad taught me to build and launch model rockets and planes. Best of all, the summer I was 15, they allowed me to start flight lessons in a small 2-seat airplane! Feeling the rumble of the engine, hearing the rush of the wind, seeing the ground fall away as the plane lifts into the air, was awe-inspiring, and still is more than 20 years later. I am blessed and honored to safely fly people on their journeys around the world as a pilot at Delta Air Lines. As much as my love of flying permeates my self-identity, there is more. Women are multifaceted and complex. We love our friends and families, hobbies, and the world that surrounds us. I am no different. While my father taught me about model planes, my mother taught me about servant leadership. Now that my oldest daughter is in grade school, I lead her Girl Scout troop. I strive to help them act on their dreams as I have acted on mine. The girls create, act, run, and laugh, while digging deep inside to find their personal passions and strengths. They examine the community and use their voices to make it an even better place. Each year we have a variety of experiences - from rock wall climbing to attending live theater, from delivering books to NICU patients to preparing and serving a meal for 50 at a foster facility. These girls are growing up to be powerful leaders of tomorrow and I’m honored to be a part of their journey. My faith is another integral part of who I am. When not flying or camping with the girls, I volunteer at our church. My primary job is to lead the Vacation Bible School each summer. We share love, crafts, science experiments, and service projects with all ages. All these things are part of who I am, but none would be possible without all the people in my life. My parents raised me to dream, and follow my dreams. My scouts keep me curious and learning new things. My daughters inspire me to live my dreams every day. My husband supports me with encouragement, collaboration, and managing the daily minutiae that demands unending attention. We are all Phenomenal Women. We go out every day to pursue our dreams, big and small. Some days we are lucky enough to lift off and soar. I wish you clear skies and calm winds as you soar to reach your dreams." *** Please follow along on instagram as well and learn more about  Katie. 52 Phenomenal Women is now in its second year! This is week 29 of 52. Participants in this project will be supporting the efforts of Dress for Success Worldwide – Central. We are all stronger together and it is my sincere hope that we will be inspired by each other’s stories. Now is the time to celebrate as well as encourage one another. Tell your story!***

Meet Brittany: In her own words... "I love to bartend and would encourage ANYONE to do it! I figured that I could always do it while I was in town being that they were willing to work around my flight attendant schedule. I learned some basic bartending necessities and took off from there. I crammed all the info that I could. I learned and learned and learned. I learned so much and was so good at bartending that I stop flying to pursue my REAL passion and it wasn’t serving drinks in the sky. I bartended several years and all of my friends and friends of friends saw how much fun I was having doing it that I had people asking me to teach them. I loved it so much, I would feel selfish not to help people enjoy what I enjoyed so much. So me and a friend started to teach people one on one the basics of becoming a bartender. We did that for a couple years until I decided to up and move to Chicago, not knowing what I was in for. I came to Chicago and my whole world changed. I became even more of a mixologist. Learning things that I never knew existed. Plants, spices, textures, tastes, different liquors, spirits, and so much more. I familiarized myself with these things. I did tastings and short educational courses on some of them. I became so intrigued that I started curating and creating my own cocktails. The first drink I ever curated made the menu at The Promontory (Hyde Park). I was so proud and excited that every chance I got to create a cocktail, I was doing it. If someone comes to the bar and gives me an idea or even something that they have a taste for... I’m gonna make it with love AAAND flavor. Some people like it sweet. Some people like it sour. Some people like it dry. But everyone loves happy hour. Be on the look out for me because I’m satisfying taste buds all around Chicago." *** Please follow along on instagram as well and learn more about  Brittany. 52 Phenomenal Women is now in its second year! This is week 28 of 52. Participants in this project will be supporting the efforts of Dress for Success Worldwide – Central. We are all stronger together and it is my sincere hope that we will be inspired by each other’s stories. Now is the time to celebrate as well as encourage one another. Tell your story!***