Focus instead on the real TREASURES we can justifiably rave about and take heart that there are so many DARE-ing women over 40 who made the world a better place in 2009—for all sorts of people, ages, faiths, nationalities, and persuasions, via the media, the arts, business, science, non-profits, and public service.  Here’s our 2009 list of DARE-ing women to TREASURE—all of them over 40.  We DARE you to be uninspired!

#16: Brenda Barnes

Brenda Barnes, CEO of Sara Lee Corporation, www.saralee.com, which makes and markets some of the world’s most popular brands of food, beverages, household products, and body care lines.   Barnes joined Sara Lee in 2004, and was named CEO in 2005, but she perhaps is best known among DARE-ing women for her headline-generating decision to leave her position as president and chief executive officer of PepsiCola North America (1996 to 1998) so that she could devote more time to raising her then-young children.  Among her multitude of accomplishments at Sara Lee, she has created internal initiatives to champion women employees’ needs for balancing career goals with the demands of motherhood.

#15 and #14: Dr. Elizabeth Helen Blackburn and Dr. Carol W. Greider

Dr. Elizabeth Helen Blackburn and Dr. Carol W. Greider, both 2009 Nobel Prize winners for their work in studying the telomere, a structure at the end of chromosomes that protects the chromosome. Whether we mere mortal women understand what the telomere does or not (at least, I don’t), the true gravity of Drs. Blackburn and Greider’s achievements is that they not only survived in the brutally sexist fields of science and medicine, but rose to the top.  Prior to the 1980s, and even into the 1990s, clinical health studies were almost always performed solely on men, and by men (duh, right?).  Women scientists do not receive the same kind of mentorship through their doctoral studies as their male counterparts; and there was a disproportionate amount of focus on military research—by men—as opposed to the kind of research that could diagnose, prevent, and cure illness. Thanks to DARE-ing forces like Drs. Blackburn and Greider, that’s changing.

#13: Susan Boyle

Susan Boyle, the Scottish singer who blew everyone away on reality TV show Britain’s Got Talent last April, singing “I Dreamed a Dream” from Les Misérables.   The so-called “plain” Boyle gave new meaning to the word “DARE” when she released her powerful voice on an audience full of skeptics.  Her first album—“I Dreamed A Dream”—was released in November 2009.  It debuted as the number one best-selling CD around the world, and has become Amazon’s best-selling album in pre-sales.

#12: Kathy Cloninger

Kathy Cloninger, CEO of The Girl Scouts of America, www.girlscouts.org,  which today serves 2.4 million girl members and nearly a million adult volunteers by providing girl-centric programs in science, technology, business, and financial literacy, health and safety, and outdoor and environmental awareness. The activities are designed to provide fun and friendship opportunities, and to foster the development of self-esteem in girls of every race, faith, economic status, geographic origin, and physical ability.

#11: Katie Couric

Katie Couric, is not only anchor and managing editor of the CBS Evening News, a correspondent for 60 Minutes, and host of @katiecouric on CBSNews.com, but the first solo female anchor of a weekday evening news program on one of the three U.S. broadcast networks.   On air, Couric retains the accessible and cheery personality of her “Today Show” days, but she has obliterated—yay, Katie!—that “perky” moniker she was saddled with for so long by handily brain-busting the sad and sorry Sarah Palin, who presumed she could just sashay into the berth that’s one heartbeat away from the leader of the free world.   It is disgraceful and disrespectful to all smart and DARE-ing women over 40 that Palin didn’t think it necessary to prepare for her close-up with Couric.  Did Palin really presume some sort of implicit sisterhood with Couric and that “Katie” would run a softball interview?

#10: Vicki B. Escarra

Vicki B. Escarra, CEO of Feeding America (formerly America’s Second Harvest) www.feedingamerica.org, which provides food to more than 25 million low-income people facing hunger in the United States, including more than 9 million children and nearly 3 million seniors, through its network of more than 200 food banks that serve all 50 states, plus Washington, D.C., and Puerto Rico.  Escarra is leading an aggressive strategic plan so that the organization can feed even more millions of needy individuals in the next several years.

#9: Joi Gordon

Joi Gordon, CEO of Dress for Success, www.dressforsuccess.org, which was founded in New York City in 1997 by Nancy Lublin, with a $5,000 inheritance from her great-grandfather, which helped fund the collection and dissemination of used or discarded suits and other clothing suitable for work to women who are economically disadvantaged.  Since 1997, Dress for Success has served more than 500,000 women around the world.   Under Gordon’s leadership, the organization has broadened its focus to include employment retention in addition to suiting.

#8: Judith Jamison

Judith Jamison, the American dancer and choreographer, is best known as the artistic director of the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater, a post she earned after a lifetime of studying and performing dance.  She first joined the Ailey company in the 1960s, then made a DARE-ing departure to star in a Broadway musical.   During the 1980s, when she was in her early 40s, she began choreographing her own works. When Alvin Ailey died in 1989, Jamison was named to her current post.   Since then, she has choreographed many works for the company.  Her numerous awards include Kennedy Center Honors (1999), the National Medal of Arts (2001), and a prime-time Emmy.

#7: Andrea Jung

Andrea Jung, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Avon Products, Inc., appointed CEO in 1999, elected Chairman in 2001, and a member of the Board of Directors since January 1998.  Jung is responsible for developing and executing all of Avon’s long-term growth strategies, launching new brand initiatives, developing earning opportunities for women worldwide—a feat for which we at The DARE-Force think she should be canonized (after Sister Lillian Murphy, #12 below). Avon is the premier direct seller of beauty products, marketing to women in more than 100 countries through 5.8 million independent Avon Sales Representatives.

#6: Nancy Meyers

Nancy Meyers, Hollywood writer/director/producer, whose latest movie is “It’s Complicated”—featuring Meryl Streep as a DARE-ing woman over 50 who’s juggling the affections of both Alec Baldwin and Steve Martin.  A recent New York Times article confirms that  “… Meyers makes movies … in which the middle-aged woman always triumphs.” Just as relevant to yours truly, a newly-minted 57-year-old MBA, is that four of Meyers’ movies in the past ten years grossed an average of nearly $250 million each worldwide—a triumph for certain in an industry that practically ignores women over 40 (with cash flow!) who love movies where we’re not portrayed as crones, drones or bones.  Meyers, who grew up in the same leafy suburban enclave of Philadelphia as I did (yay, Drexel Hill!!), has been called a “micro-manager” and “idealistic” because she will go so far as to restyle a movie set with different books if she feels they don’t accurately reflect the character’s personality or lifestyle.  Obviously, that critic has never sat through marketing briefings about how a particular brand—whether peanut butter, cereal or a car—“behaves, thinks, and acts.”   Trust me, I have.  Meyers is not only a visionary movie maker, but a brilliant marketer who knows exactly what will plant our middle-aged butts into those cramped little seats.  Ka-ching, Nancy, ka-ching!

#5: Sister Lillian Murphy

Sister Lillian Murphy, CEO of Mercy Housing Inc., www.mercyhousing.org, a national organization founded in 1981 with an initial investment of $500,000 by the Sisters of Mercy of Omaha—who found that a lack of adequate housing was the root cause of many of the health and education problems in their community.  Today, Mercy acquires and develops housing around the country, for a variety of low-income populations, including families, seniors, and people with special needs.  Sister Lillian is a DARE-ing and commanding presence, literally doing God’s work, but she is also one of the most gracious and kind women I have ever met.

#4: Annise Parker

Annise Parker, newly elected Mayor of Houston, Texas, the country’s fourth largest city. That Parker was elected in November as the first openly gay mayor of a major city is nothing less than a triumph over the long-held stereotypes about Texans and how they are expected to vote.  After all, isn’t Texas the state that is customarily associated with tan, strapping alpha-male cattlemen who all look like actor Sam Elliot (or wish they did).  The truth is that the same state that gave us Papa Bush, Wubya, and Governor Rick Perry also happens to be home to some of the strongest, most powerful women in public life, including iron-queen Senator Kay Bailey Hutchinson (aka “KBH”) and the late great Anne Richardson.  Parker joins a long line of female politicians who prove that “Don’t Mess With Texas” is more about Texan women than its men.  Here’s wishing Her Honor a successful and productive run.

#3: Diane Sawyer

Diane Sawyer, anchor of ABC World News with Diane Sawyer. OK, so she isn’t the first evening news network anchor, but Sawyer could become formidable competition to Katie Couric as the preferred antidote to Brian Williams’ (NBC) persistent and pompous “voice of God” delivery style.  Sawyer’s DARE-ing journalistic chops are even more impressive:  As a former aide to President Richard M. Nixon, Sawyers helped him write his memoirs and prepared him for his now-legendary interviews with David Frost.  Sawyers was a “60 Minutes” correspondent when it was unusual to be a female amidst that Mount Rushmore of craggy old men.  Sawyer simultaneously held down two jobs—as co-anchor of both ABC’s Prime-Time Live and 20/20—when she agreed to add on the job as “temporary” host of  ABC’s morning broadcast, Good Morning America.  She did that indefatigably for ten years before being named Charlie Gibson’s successor in the evening news anchor chair.  Sawyer and Couric are no mere tokens.  They are totems of how far women over 40 have come and how much they’ve DARED.

Finally, just when you think your head will explode from all the negative and hackneyed stories about women over 40 who are victims done wrong by their men, or victims done in by their men, or villainesses doing other women’s men, there’s a breath of fresh DARE. Get a Tivo, amputate the ads, and tune in to these two surprising TREASURES who will convince you of the power of DARE-ing women over 40:

#2 and #1: Kathie Lee Gifford and Hoda Kotb

Kathie Lee Gifford and Hoda Kotb, co-anchors of the fourth hour of The TODAY Show. If you think that the 10 to 11 A.M. hour of TODAY is a vast wasteland relegated to stay-at-home housewives in their fuzzy slippers and robes, you’re the one in a time warp.  Kotb, a veteran broadcast journalist, and Gifford, the former “Regis…” co-host and cruise-ship pitchwoman whose personality and comedic delivery have been unjustly maligned for way too long, are so much more vibrant, crisp, knowledgeable, and assertive in their delivery of news and features for women than almost anyone else on TV—at any hour.   Tune in even once to listen to them dissect—eviscerate?—the news headliners of the day, their tone dripping more than a dab of vitriol but a lot of intellectual firepower.  Your happy meter will be reset on high for the whole day.  But here’s another unexpected TREASURE of that hour:  the affirmation and validation it gives to women over 40—especially the show’s segment called “Ambush Makeover,” where celebrity hairstylist Louis Licari and US Weekly’s style reporter Jill Martin pluck a decidedly unglamorous but definitely DARE-ing woman over 40 from the screaming hordes gathered outside the NBC studios and then proceed to transform not only her hairstyle, makeup and wardrobe but her very psyche.

What’s especially endearing is that the women selected have heart-wrenching back-stories: They’re widows, or they’re single for other reasons not of their choosing, or they’ve been job hunting for too long, or they’ve been so dedicated to their (now grown) families that they’ve had the same hairstyle since their breast-feeding days.  The reaction of their families, who are blindfolded until the “ambushed” women come on stage to show off their makeovers, never fails to generate tears of joy and hope.  Kudos to everyone involved with that fourth TODAY SHOW hour—but especially to all connected with Ambush Makeover.  Tune in, you’ll love it.

Then, get out DARE and make it a happy, healthy, and inspiring new year—for you and everyone around you!

[He DARED me to publish it, thinking that I would not be DARE-ing enough to let him have his say.  Hah!  I TREASURE the fact that he did most of the work for me this week.  All I had to do was my usual big-sister micro-managing—editing for typos, misspellings, grammar, etc.  After all, I do have standards!]

Yo! DARE-Head! TREASURE begins at home!

by Lou DiMarco

Wow, the theme about “TREASURE” really hit home with me and made me wonder why my big sister, Liz DiMarco Weinmann—the big-mouthed, big-word host of this Website—did not explicitly mention our MOM as a TREASURE!   At least, she didn’t in her last post, although she’s praised both our parents in other posts.  I know I’m risking my life by saying this, but could it be that her “mental-pause” is finally kicking in?

For all of you women just over the age of 40 or even 50 and 60—who might forget about your moms who are well over those milestones and still doing daring feats every day—here’s my DARE-ing insight:

Don’t forget the women who go unknown, who are not so famous, who worked in a time when it was for survival—not just being fashionable.  Women whose steps up the ladder were literal and not part of some statement, model, goal, or vision other than helping their families!

I TREASURE my mom this holiday season, this woman who worked as a seamstress in a clothing factory (a.k.a. sweat shop). Every day, day after day, year after year, despite deteriorating eyesight and dealing with stress from travel into very bad areas of the city where we lived.  Not for personal growth, not for her own needs, but for the survival of the family.

When I was old enough to drive, I would pick up this selfless woman from work.  I was so full of life and fearful of nothing—until I realized just how bad her factory’s neighborhood was.  Policemen on every corner, a drive-by waiting to happen.

At that point, my appreciation for what this woman—my MOTHER!—endured every day rose even higher.  There is a reason why the term “Greatest Generation” was coined for women like my mother, who grew up or immigrated here after World War II and gave birth to the baby boomers, a generation of advocates and activists, to be sure, who were more than a little inspired by the sacrifices of their mothers and fathers before them.

For my mother and millions like her, the TREASURE was to retire after working for so many years, well into their sixties, to help put three children through college—all without taking on student loans or any other kind of assistance.  Again, the reward was not about her, but about what she and her husband—my father—had inspired in their children, which was that education was the key to a better life here in the United States.

For them, their greatest TREASURE was in seeing their three kids graduate college and go on to remarkable careers—three kids who grew up in a house with two parents who had no formal education.  This was a tremendous accomplishment for two immigrants who some would call “uneducated” but I would call inspired and nothing short of transformational.

To this day, my mom puts aside as much money as she can for her “Christmas club” bank account, just so she can give my sons and my niece nice things.

So, this holiday season, I TREASURE that part of me and what I have become: my success, my goals, my heritage that is from a very strong woman who influenced my life beyond her dreams and beyond what even she believed she could DARE reach.

I TREASURE the value of family, a strong father who worked hard and influenced my two sisters and me to do the same.

I’m impressed that my big sister is DARE-ing enough to let me have my say on her Website. (Old rivalries die hard!) I TREASURE the woman she grew up to be and her work to help other women be strong.

DARE-ING LEADER Senator Olympia Snowe (R-Maine)

With her solo pro-vote among Republicans for the proposed Obama healthcare legislation, the elegant and eloquent senator from Maine, Olympia Snowe, DARED to take the LEAD over the slackers, whackers, and attackers among her Republican colleagues, who have been anything but collegial.  In so doing, Senator Snowe issued this memorable and exemplary sound-bite:  “When history calls, history calls. And I happen to think that the consequences of inaction dictate the urgency of Congress to take every opportunity to demonstrate its capacity to solve the monumental issues of our time.” Tell ‘em where to go, Senator Snowe!

DARE-ING to GUIDE – Congresswoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D-Florida)
(pictured above)

Schultz, 41, DARED to go public last week with her breast cancer, and has authored a bill to create a national program to GUIDE young women in self-examination and early detection of the disease.  Breast cancer is more common in women over 45 than in young women, but most women over 40 already do self-examinations, which is how Schulz detected her own illness.  That Schultz has undergone a double mastectomy and is now taking on a very public MENTOR role to help detect breast cancer in younger women is a DARE -ING example for all women over 40.  We also hope the Congresswoman DARES to encourage all women over 40 who may not realize that their own wrenching experiences can be catalysts for advocacy that changes lives.

DARE to TEACH Your Children Well – Anguished Mom Valerie Brewer

If there’s a more heart-wrenching story in the news this week involving a mother’s unspeakable anguish, I can’t imagine how it could be more horrific than that of Valerie Brewer, mother of 15-year-old Michael, who suffered burns over 80% of his body when he was viciously attacked by a pack of other teenagers over something so stupid we can’t even give it space.  Ms. Brewer DARED challenge all parents to GUIDE and MENTOR their children:  “We need to stop it now so this doesn’t happen … to somebody else or something worse,” she said. “It’s just unimaginable. Please, everybody out there, take a hold of your children. Love them. Love everybody’s children and let them know that these things are not right. Violence doesn’t solve anything.” Our hearts go out to Ms. Brewer, whose DARING challenge to parents everywhere is a lesson for all – even those of us who don’t have our own children.

Juliette Gordon Low (1860-1927): DARED Start the Girl Scouts at 52. Today there are 3.7 million members in the United States, and in more than 90 countries. Famous Girl Scouts include: Elizabeth Dole, Barbara Bush, Laura Bush, Billie Jean King, Mary Tyler Moore, Candice Bergen and Fergie.

Laura Ingalls Wilder (1867-1957): DARE Started writing at 65 years old, basing her stories on her life as a wilderness pioneer, wife and mother. At 68, wrote Little House on the Prairie, which led to the successful series of books and the popular network TV show that ran for nine years.

Betty Smith (1896-1972): Wrote her first novel when she was 47 years old, after postponing her education to put her husband through law school and raise their children. It was the beloved classic, A Tree Grows in Brooklyn, the family saga that inspired thousands of other writers.

Rachel Carson (1907-1964): A marine biologist and nature writer, was 55 when she wrote the landmark book Silent Spring, the first vocal criticism of the U.S.’s policy on pesticides. It led to a nationwide ban on dangerous pesticides, and the creation of the Environmental Protection Agency.

Julia Child (1912-2004): Introduced to French cooking by her husband, she was 49 when she published her first cookbook, Mastering the Art of French Cooking. TV’s first celebrity chef, she is still revered and loved by professional chefs and amateur cooks throughout the world.

Mary Kay Ash (1918-2001): At 45, Ash’s frustration at being passed over for a promotion in favor of a man she had trained, led her to DARE Start her own company. After her interview with 60 Minutes in 1979, when she was 51, her company really took off.

Jean Nidetch (1923-2006): At 40, she DARED Start Weight Watchers, the godmother of all diet programs, turning her weekly support group meetings into the global public company that today is considered by members and health experts alike the most effective diet program in the world.

Ruth Fertel (1927-2002): In 1965 mortgaged her house to purchase Chris Steak House, a small restaurant in New Orleans. Ten years later, at 48, became a franchisor of steakhouses across the country and, ultimately, around the world. Regarded as “The First Lady of Restaurants.”

Geraldine Ferraro (1935 – ): At 49, became the first woman to run for Vice President of the United States. Then DARED Start a new career as a media commentator and corporate consultant, as well as waging a tenacious battle against cancer in her late 60s.

Paula Deen (1947 – ): Agoraphobic from her early 20s, was 42 before she DARED Start the catering business that ultimately led her to Food Network stardom and national popularity among women of all ages.

Likewise, I gorge on Websites, TV shows, and magazines about decorating, and before I decided to lose the weight I gained in business school (MBA = Much Bigger Ass), I used to read cookbooks to decompress, and for a laugh:  I mean, if you have time to cut up and roast whole leg bones from a mammal, your name is either Martha Stewart or Hannibal Lecter.

When I really need a rest from work, I crave books, TV shows, Websites, movies, actors, and magazines that feature celebrities:

1) Those who, “just like us” (as Us Magazine says) face and conquer adversity (getting fat, dieting and then getting fat again); or those whose anatomies are even more surreal than their wax-museum avatars: (e.g., Madonna’s arms, Angelina’s lips, Cher’s cheekbones);

2) Those who embody the accomplishments, joys and foibles of women over 40 who find their comedic voice, wisdom and other enlightenment in getting older, as they DARE for love, career, children, or other passions – despite money, memories, or mirrors.

Anything with Joan Crawford, Bette Davis, Katherine Hepburn, Audrey Hepburn, Meryl Streep, Julianne Moore, Sally Field, Sissy Spacek, Cher, Diane Keaton, Helen Mirren, Holly Hunter, Mary Louise Parker, Kyra Sedgwick, Marisa Tomei, and other visionary, intelligent and motivated women over 40 who face a challenge; especially, when they mobilize their brains, balls, or bucks to win the day or move on, shoulders held high either way.  Not 40 yet, but Tina Fey’s Liz Lemon has more middle-aged quirks than a lot of women over 40, yet manages to swagger at detractors, snipe at debaters and diss dilettantes stupid enough to take her on.

If “moving on” for any of these women involves sneaking up on and then shooting her husband’s Fatal Attraction/bunny poacher in the bathtub, or getting down on her knees pledging sacrifice to God to demonstrate The End of the Affair, or choking from sobbing in the pickup truck of her homely farmhand husband as she watches her one-true-hunk-of-burnin’-love leave town forever over The Bridges of Madison County, all the better.  The more pathos and bathos, the better the pleasure and complete the escape.  Streep’s head was literally in the clouds when she flew with Redford in Out of Africa, and they hadn’t even made love yet – the whole movie is thrilling and the music alone is transporting.

Audiences of all ages and all genders, scream with Pavlovian predictability at the I Love Lucy episode featuring the chocolate factory assembly-line.  Likewise, Carol Burnett and her hilarious send-up of Gone with the Wind, prancing and stumbling around with a huge cascade of draperies – rod, finials and all – on her tiny frame.  And who would DARE play a woman past her prime but still making it and shaking it as poignantly and sympathetically as Dustin Hoffman in Tootsie?

Regardless of the names of the dames, you don’t need a lot of bucks to get your yucks.  NetFlix, which seems to have every movie ever made, has subscription packages for every size wallet.

Finally, here are two witty, funny and irreverent guides that should be on the bookshelf of every woman over 40 who needs a BREAK:  

Cinematherapy – The Girl’s Guide to Movies for Every Mood, by Nancy Peske and Beverly West; and,

Bibliotherapy – The Girl’s Guide to Books for Every Phase of Our Lives (same authors).