November 23, 2021

Hello everyone,

Happy Tuesday and almost Thanksgiving! Whether you celebrate the holiday or not, hopefully you can take the time off to relax and reenergize before the wild, end of the year rush.

We don't have a host or book yet for December so if you're interested, please let me know. Otherwise, since it's such a hectic time of year, we can do a bookless "holiday party" of sorts or skip it altogether and reconvene in 2022 (aaaaah!).

The Weekly Three

1. Something about 26 rad american women: I absolutely admit that I didn't realize that Rad American Women A-Z was a children's book when I downloaded it from Audible (it's a free download if you're a member), although the short length should have been a clue. In spite of being outside the target audience age, I still enjoyed it very much and it was an excellent refresher on some great American heroines: Angela Davis, Billie Jean King, Carol Burnett, Dolores Huerta (first photo below), Ella Baker, FloJo (second photo below), the Grimke sisters, Hazel Scott, Isadora Duncan, Jovita Idar, Kate Bornstein, Lucy Hale Parsons, Maya Lin, Nellie Blye, Odetta, Patti Smith, Queen Bessie, Rachel Carson, Sonya Sotomayor, Temple Grandin, Ursula Le Guin, Virginia Apgar, Wilma Mankiller, (X is for the unknown), Yuri Kochiyama and Zora Neale Hurston.

2. Something about neurodivergence: When we think of DEI, we tend to think of representation of women and of people of color. What about people who are neurodivergent? Admittedly, I never thought about it. Examples of neurodivergence are autism, ADHD, dyslexia, dyspraxia, dyscalculia, and Tourette syndrome and about 15-20% of the world's population fall under one of those categories. Here is an article about the ways that those who are neurodivergent can benefit business. Resources to employers and more educational material, including how to accomodate for neurodivergent individuals in the workplace, are available here. A few to consider:

3. Something about all of the incredible things going on with women in our industry right now: I'd like to use this part of the email to amplify the WILD Thanksgiving email that Kelly Roberts sent out last week because it is chock full of goodness. There's too much to copy and paste so I've attached the email for you all to go through. Special shout out to all the love Brittany received and deserved! Thanks for all of the hard work you do. Thank you also to Alexandra for sharing upcoming BSA events in the 11/23 Knowledge Communities Newsletter. On Thursday, December 2nd, the BSA is hosting Women in Design: ADVOCATE! For Yourself with Amanda Hennessey. On Wednesday, December 15th, Understanding Your Special Sauce and Leveraging Thought Leadership will be hosted by Timothy Downing and Nancy Jenner. Registration is accessible through the event title links. Thank you for taking the time to read and for all of the support year round. I'm grateful for the BOSLady community! Best, Amber