October 6th will go down as one of the most memorable days of my life. My dearest friend, Lili Bosse had warned me ahead of time, “You better be prepared. It will be a big celebration. Mark my words.” She was obviously imaging the day in her mind’s eye as she was the one who was hosting the book launch.
I am no newcomer to book launches, after all “Visionary Women” was my third book, and I have gone to support numerous other book parties. But somehow, when Lili and I were planning this event, we wanted it not only to be a book launch but a celebration of sisterhood, of women coming to support other women, and most importantly, a celebration of women’s voices.
It seemed as if all who joined us that day had instinctively understood the purpose of the event and the reasoning behind writing the book. I was quite taken when guests started arriving half an hour earlier than expected and shortly thereafter a long line of cars started forming. Lili and I had invited our friends from our elementary school years, and high school years. We had friends from work and the nonprofits that we are involved in. We also had invited some new friends and family members. An hour into the event, close to 500 enthusiastic friends were mingling in the garden, listening to an all-women band, and taking up the festive atmosphere.
But it wasn’t the sheer number of people that made an impression on me. Quite frankly I was so moved by the show of love and support by all those who were there. Friends and family gave me warm embraces and congratulated me and so many people bought multiple copies of the book to gift to their nieces, friends, and sister. I was truly touched.
When the two years that I was engrossed in learning, researching, and writing about the lives of 20 trailblazing women in the world, I felt as if I had formed my own interior world of fearless tribe of women. That day at the book launch, I looked around myself and saw that so many of them were in reality gathered there in the garden.
I hope we always find ourselves in tribes of women who are generous in spirit and encourage others to greater heights.
