This true adventure story from a trailblazing woman will make you laugh at humanity, provoke your anger at infuriating situations and leave you inspired for life and business. Uncanny predictions come true. The writing is often written on the wall, as if fated to happen.
Marilyn Howard’s determination as a child to change the norms of the 1950s and forge a different path leads to a roller-coaster ride of adventures at an evolutionary time in the woman’s movement. After breaking through a glass ceiling of seventy men at a New York advertising agency as the first woman art director and then traveling for a year, 60s style, to find her place in the world, the author returns to New York City. In 1970, at age twenty-seven, she founds an innovative startup company. Creative Freelancers Inc. becomes the first agency to connect business with freelance artists and writers. The idea thrived for over twenty-five years in the center of Manhattan despite some sizable legal battles, and the company became the first agency on the Internet in 1997.
The author started her business while single in the city, with weekends at fun group houses in the Hamptons and Vermont. Having only a two-week MBA summary course, she learned about business with surprises and fortitude. Marrying in her early thirties to an older, extroverted man brought three teenage daughters and two children of her own. The author had it all, but found that can mean sacrifice for women. Time was precious. Family life with five children and a business vividly captures the complexity of women during the growth of the woman’s movement.
In1983, ADWEEK Magazine of New York profiled the author in a feature called The Dynamic Dozen. She placed first on their list of the top twelve women in advertising under age forty most likely to succeed, and was the only one with children.
The book tells an epic tale about life, love and business women, from family flapper stories in the 1920s until today’s 21st century environment. It’s an engaging account of an eventful life, and a page-turner infused with noteworthy perspectives. Book clubs will encounter many enjoyable talking points.
