Katie ends our Around the World theme with a baroness and author. Baroness Karen Christenze von Blixen-Finecke went by many names when she wrote. She's most famous for penning Out of Africa. Learn about this Danish traveler and her many adventures. Season 8 of the Gal's Guide Podcast returns in January 2025!
Kassie continues Scandinavian Gal Month with Icelandic musician and actress, Björk. Learn about how Björk started in music at age 11 and rose to international success with the band The Sugarcubes before going solo. There was also that swan dress...
Bonnie continues Scandinavian Gal Month with the first woman in the world to be democratically elected as president. Learn about Vigdís Finnbogadóttir the president of Iceland from 1980-1996.
Riwo starts off Scandinavian Gal Month with Swedish royalty who saved her country with alcohol! Learn all about the gal with a brain for science, Eva Ekeblad!
Riwo finishes up South American month talking about a historian who taught us how to learn about the Incas not from a western perspective, not from a Spanish conquistador perspective, but that of the ancestry of the people, the Andeans. Learn about the fantastic historian Maria Rostworowski.
Julie shares with us the colorful life of the gal known for her fruit hats, singing, and dancing - Carmen Miranda. There is much more to this "Brazillian Bombshell" learn about Carmen's life in two Americans and her many talents.
It's Katie's Birthday week and we have a special coupon code for 15% off our event A Night With the Witch and Famous. The episode originally aired October 17, 2022 - Katie gets gruesome with the tale of Catherine “La Vosin” Monvoisin. This French black magic sorcerer was the head of a powerful network that provided poisons, love potions, and abortions. She might have killed over 1,000 people but she also might have got King Louis XIV to fall for Madame de Montespan. Listen, if you dare!
It's the start of South American Gal Month! Bonnie leads off with a national hero of Brazil, Maria Quitéria! Learn about this lieutenant in the Brazilian War of Independence.
Katie finishes up American Farmers Month with the Indigenous peoples' mythos of planting corn, beans, and squash.
Before there was Rosie the Riveter there were the Farmerettes. Riwo shares the history of the gals who were called to help America by being farmers.
Debbi shares her American farmer gal, Harriet Williams Russell strong. Harriet was pivotal to water conservation in California. She was also known as the "Walnut Queen" and held 5 patents. Learn all about this innovative woman.
We're Back! It's been a bit of a break but we've found our way out of the cornfields and back to the Gal's Guide Library to talk about American farmer gals. First up is Bonnie's pick, Rith Imogen Stout the "no-work" garden method author.
Riwo closes up Canada Month with her "TV mom" and a major happiness factor in her life, Catherine O'Hara. This talented comedian is the mom in Schitt's Creek, the mom in Beetlejuice, and the mom in Home Alone. But to Riwo she's so much more.
Barb tells the tale of the first female publisher in Canada, Mary Ann Shadd Cary. Mary was born and died in the United States but her time in Canada was marked by her creation of the newspaper Provincial Freeman, a weekly paper starting in 1853 that circulated around southern Ontario that advocated equality, integration, and self-education for Black people.
Canada Month continues! This time Katie tells us about the civil rights activist Viola Desmond. She made history when she refused to leave her seat in the Roseland Theater. This Black Nova Scotian challenged Canadian segregation. Today she's on the $10 bill. Learn about this amazing woman on today's episode.
It's Canada Day! Bonnie is starting us off with the author of Anne of Green Gables, Lucy Maud Montgomery. Learn about how this Canadian author used working at the post office to her advantage.
Riwo finishes up Caribbean Month talking about the Queen of Salsa, Celia Cruz. This colorful Cuban singer part of Tito Puente's Orchestra and the only female in the Fanta All-Stars. Her story is full of Azucar (sugar) sweetness. She released 37 albums and has even more collabs including one with Wyclef Jean.
Barb continues Caribbean month by talking about the cultural icon of Jamaica. Miss Lou was an author, poet, and folklore expert. Learn and embrace the beauty and importance of the language of your culture.
Bonnie starts off Caribbean month with a Barbadian-Guyanese by way of Brooklyn, the fantastic Shirley Chisholm. The first African-American woman to run for President whose biography is named "Unbought and Unbossed" gives much of her influence to attending a strict school in Barbados. Bring a folding chair to this episode!
Riwo closes our Japan Month with a slice of shogun history. Tomoe Gozen was an onna-musha, a female warrior. She was taught defense and offense. She was on the battlefield with Samuari where she beheaded a lot of men. She was also involved in what led to the first shogunate.