Katie Couric

Today we continue the theme of Athena, who seems to be manifesting in four strong, courageous, gracious women in the news recently: Oprah, Katie Couric, Maria Shriver, and Christine Lagarde.

Oprah signed off this week, as did Katie Couric last week.  Couric’s sign-off was the epitome of class and dignity.  Oprah’s farewell “benediction” was fit for a queen – the Queen of All Media, of course.  Maria Shriver continues to build her brand for her return to her own limelight, as journalist, best-selling author, and Emmy Award -winning producer (The Alzheimer’s Project). And, the person who is rumored to be the replacement for the frenzied Frenchman and former IMF director, Dominique Strauss-Kahn, is another French countrywoman, Christine Lagarde. This is a woman who is as facile with English and Chanel as she is acclaimed for her intellectual firepower.

So, while the humiliation, disgrace and dark secrets about €œThe Governator€ have more than alarmed women everywhere – East and West, from the U.S. to abroad, from the boardroom to the bedrooms, from the supermarket to the super-rich, all women over 40 should strive to emulate  Shriver, Couric, Winfrey and Lagarde for their grace, dignity, poise, confidence, and leadership in the face of challenge and transition.   All are powerful brands in their own right – no male arm candy needed.

Maria Shriver

Christine Lagarde

Oprah

Maria Bartiromo

Often we hear that if an accomplished woman over 40 is not the “top in her field” or “one in a million” or (the most overused cliché) “unique” then she’s not worth noting or celebrating.  We have a different point of VIEW.   Women over 40 distinguish themselves in fields that are on VIEW every day, and many of them are not traveling around with posses of assistants, hairdressers and wardrobe stylists.  Even if they are, they’re so credible and accomplished at their jobs, that we don’t even notice the battalion of help they get.

Over the next month we’re saluting DARE-ING women over 40 on VIEW in journalism, critical government positions, valuable nonprofits and the corporate world.

On TV, here are the women over 40 whose points of VIEW we admire.

While luminaries such as Diane Sawyer, Meredith Viera and Katie Couric get a lot of deserved positive news coverage even when they’re not actually on the air doing their jobs, I DARE say it’s time to notice other equally accomplished women over 40 who write, produce and report the news in these three areas:  politics; environmentalism; and finance.

NBC’s Chief Foreign Affairs Correspondent, Andrea Mitchell, who is also an MSNBC anchor of her own news show, really impresses me.  This elegant woman presents a refreshing and calm VIEW of current events, totally lacking in ballast and hyperbole, let alone the rudeness of some of her male counterparts.  Mitchell focuses on the issues, not on herself, or her PR.  Considering that she’s married to the former Chairman of the Federal Reserve, Alan Greenspan, and that United States Senators make time to talk to her in the middle of their day, it’s even more astonishing that she keeps the focus on the news, and not on the glitz, glamour and glory of being on television.

Anne Thompson, Chief Environmental Correspondent for NBC’S Nightly News, is another example of a reporter whose #1 job is to do her job well.   Poised, elegant, and calm, like Mitchell, when Anne Thompson is updating you about the Gulf oil spill, it’s like your big sister letting you down gently, without being patronizing or condescending.  Her handling of the Gulf issue has been empathetic without being maudlin, and has remained at all times objective, matter-of-fact and gracious.

Another television journalist we love is Maria Bartiromo, anchor of CNBC’s “Closing Bell with Maria Bartiromo” and “The Wall Street Journal Report with Maria Bartiromo.” Bartiromo had to endure a few years of gossip and the moniker of “Money Honey” (which I even hate to bring up) a few years back, but there’s no one at CNBC who can command the attention, respect and deference that Wall Street titans give to Bartiromo.  Smart CEOs know that they have to do Bartiromo’s show, and she doesn’t shy away from the tough questions.   In December 2009, Bartiromo was featured in the Financial Times as one of the “50 Who Shaped the Decade.”   Take some time to VIEW Bartiromo when she’s doing “The Closing Bell” and you’ll see how her less-seasoned colleagues (male and female) defer to and take their cues from her.  God forbid they DARE to do otherwise, because I would flip the channel in a heartbeat.

Take time out of your own day to VIEW accomplished women in your own life who are also understated, competent and confident.  VIEW such accomplished women as the role models our daughters should emulate.    Not every accomplished woman over 40 (or any age!) has to constantly shout (implicitly or explicitly), “Look at me!  Look at me!” They DARE to let their accomplishments do the talking.

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!