I adored learning Spanish in tenth grade from Miss Pardal. I also loved to write.  So I concocted an idea to publish a newspaper in Spanish for my high school.  The head of the Spanish department gave Miss Pardal approval for the project (she was having an affair with him, I believe), and I went on my merry little way.

Cantinflas, outside the car and inside my makeshift Spanish newspaper

About the only thing I specifically remember about the project was writing an article on Cantinflas, a Mexican comedian and stage actor who was the star of the movie, Around The World In 80 Days. God only knows why I remember that one little fact after all these years.  Oh, I also remember mimeographing the newspaper. (If you don’t know what a mimeograph machine is, you’re definitely not FOF.)

My passion is dreaming up ideas and putting together the pieces to make them come to life. Sometimes, the ideas were modest, like a beatnik themed party for my thirteenth birthday. Others were more complicated, like producing a summit for honchos in the fashion and beauty businesses, or publishing a kids’ book and convincing F.A.O. Schwarz to sell it 10 minutes before the start of the Christmas season.

I’ve learned something valuable from each experience, although a few of the lessons were mighty painful (e.g. good ideas often threaten insecure, unhappy, untalented people.)

When I dreamed up FOF last March, I never imagined how many pieces I’d have to pull together to make it come to life. I am thankful for my forty years of experience. Thankful to the boss who taught me how to think strategically and connect point A with Point B, thankful to the editor who taught me how to communicate concisely, thankful even to a negative co-worker, who inadvertently taught me how to think positively.

Of course, I could never do this by myself. I am grateful to everyone who embraced this idea from the start, from store owners like Joan Shepp in Philadelphia to FOF women like Mica Mosbacher in Houston. And to a team of passionate colleagues, led by Lina, who is far from OF, but fab nonetheless.

FOF women know how to make things happen. We’ve been in training from the day we were born.