21 Resilient Women

Book excerpt: 21 Resilient WomenStories of Courage, Growth, and Transformation The 21 co-authors of this book, a diverse group of women, decided to use this downtime to reflect: How do we navigate uncertainties and disruptions? How do we bounce back from broken dreams or broken marriages? How do we juggle motherhood, career and a passion for community? How do you move forward with a career after being paralyzed in a car accident? How do we cope in the workplace when hopes are dashed, and career progression is limited? As you turn these pages, you will read about struggle, survival, disappointment and hope. You will laugh and you will cry; you will reflect, and you will remember, but most importantly, you will learn, grow and be transformed by the stories of these resilient women. THE BACK STORY When a small group of women met at a Let's GROW Sip & Paint event in January 2020, we joked that 2020 was the only time we were all going to have 20/20 vision, and we should embrace it and create a legacy for the new decade. This legacy was to write an anthology that would include stories of courage, growth, and transformation. Little did we know that a pandemic of epic proportion - COVID 19 - was about to turn the world upside down. Despite this, we used this sombre down time to come together to create a book to give others hope and inspiration.