Myself & The Amazing Kathy Ireland
The other day I shared with you how my friend (and coach) Mark Edgar Stephens refers to uplifting and inspirational people as, “Inspirationators”. A couple of months ago when I attended The NorthWest Women’s Show in Seattle, WA I had the GREAT pleasure of meeting a truly incredible Inspirationator…her name is, Kathy Ireland. Kathy is an author, Mom, Super Model, Super Mogul, and just an all around amazing and stellar woman.
Meeting Ms. Ireland was great, but hearing her speak and tell her story was incredible and truly inspiring. Kathy was the keynote speaker for this event and she shared with the audience how she has had to overcome many obstacles to get to where she is today in the business world.
Her first job was at age 11 when after reading a job listing in her local paper that said, “Newspaper carrier wanted: Are you the right boy for the job?” Kathy immediately wrote a letter to the editor of the newspaper that said, “No, I’m not the right boy for the job – I’m the right GIRL for the job. I can deliver newspapers better than any boy. I deserve a chance.”
Kathy experienced opposition her first day on the job – a man walked down his driveway as she was getting ready to deliver his newspaper, he told her, “This is a boy’s job!”. Kathy did not let this stop her. She went on to be “The Carrier Of The Year” for her district for the next 6 years in a row. Amazingly Kathy admits that she was, “extremely grateful to that man because there were a lot of days I felt like quitting, but I wouldn’t give him the satisfaction,”
In 1993 Ms. Ireland started “Kathy Ireland Worldwide” with a simple pair of socks to launch her clothing brand. According to Kathy she was laughed and ridiculed for an idea that she was told would never work. She flew around the country (sleeping in many airports to save money on hotels) meeting with buyer after buyer who turned down her idea. Today, that idea is a $1.5 Billion dollar company. Just like the young girl at age 11 who was told she would never make it “in a boy’s job” Kathy preserved and proved the naysayers wrong.
I was extremely impressed with what I was hearing Ms. Ireland share with us. Then she told us the story of how she made her entrance into the Twitter Universe. Her very first day on Twitter she didn’t get a single follower. The next day she had two followers…those were co-workers. :-) Today she has a following of almost 75, 000 people.
As I was hearing Kathy speak I thought to myself, “I can do this. I can step out of my box and stop letting things hold me back (like my fear of technology).” That night, when I got home I went to Amazon and purchased two books. The first was Kathy’s book, “Powerful Inspirations” and the second was, “The Tao Of Twitter“, by Mark W. Schaefer (you can find out more about Mark, his work, and the great book he wrote about Twitter @MarkWSchaefer).
Today I am building my own website, I am on Twitter (you can follow me @WendySchauer), I am working on my second book, and I am in the middle of filming my first exercise DVD. Kathy, thank you for being an Inspirationator. Thank you for being the incredible woman that you are. Thank you for leading the way and reminding all of us that we can achieve great things in our lives.
If you would like to follow Kathy Ireland on Twitter you can find her @KathyIreland.
With Passion & Conviction,
Wendy
