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16. Becoming an Entrepreneur
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Chapter 16 Becoming an Entrepreneur Deloise (Dee)Frisque When we dare to live feminist principles, we are challenged to “feel the fear and do it anyway.”1 That’s called “courage,” and it takes courage to expose your life to an audience of strangers, too. Still, I hope to help others by describing my “discovery decade,” during which I learned to “surprise my fears” and then “go on about my business,” as my mother would say. My mother’s wit, along with the wisdom of feminist artist Susan Ariel Rainbow Kennedy, also known as “Sark,” taught me that we can engage in serious endeavors while creating (and even discovering) fun in our lives. You may have seen Sark’s “How to be a Fabulous Feminist” poster with its childlike handwritten and colorful print or her colorful books that fill each page with free-flowing expressions that dare women to think and live creatively.2 Sark is a best-selling author, artist, and transformation teacher, who is best known for her self-help products (e.g., books, cards, posters, and blankets) that encourage women to “reinvent ourselves,” “gently take the road less traveled,” and even “eat fruit naked” if that’s what it takes to “live our lives in full color.”3 Two of her popular books, Succulent Wild Woman and Living Juicy Living, are user-friendly and personal favorites, particularly the deck of affirmation cards she developed from the Living Juicy book.4 Living juicy means “jumping for joy on the inside”5 and, as my mother used to say, “knowing what you can do and doing it.” I’ll playfully use Sark’s affirmations in the text as I share my story of personal transformation. Although most best-selling self-help books are likely to be nonfeminist rather than feminist, I demonstrate the usefulness of some of the self-help literature , as certain feminist scholars have noted, when authors adopt perspectives that (1) address gender as socially defined rather than innately determined, (2) encourage women to engage in egalitarian relationships with men and other 259 260 Deloise (Dee) A. Frisque women, (3) empower women to explore being nontraditional in their lifestyle choices, and (4) integrate a nonhierarchical (nonauthoritative) literary style and stance in their writing as they provide suggestions to readers.6 Feminist self-help books empower women because they suggest that change is possible, women can make choices that go beyond social norms, that power imbalances in our daily relationships can be renegotiated, and that our personal happiness and safety as women matter regardless of what others think. Dance on the Edges of New Beginnings At the beginning of the 21st century, I decided to devote the next 10 years to focusing on making a difference in my own life. My mind was telling me it was time to choose a direction. I would wake up thinking about what my purpose was, what I wanted to accomplish in my life, and what legacy I hoped to leave. Fortunately I was happily married, in good health, and I loved my job. My children were well on their way to living independent lives. My husband , always my cheerleader, simply said, “Create a plan, and give it a name.” Although my husband, who is White and a professor of molecular virology, is too modest to call himself a feminist, he has always supported the rights of women and minorities. I loved the word discover, which simply means “to obtain sight or knowledge for the first time,” so I decided to call the plan my “Discovery Decade.” Although I tried not to create any hard or fast rules for the plan, feminist definitions of discovery deepened my appreciation for the term. Doris Lessing, Nobel Laureate for literature in 2007, writes of the discovery and learning process, “[Y]ou suddenly understand something you’ve understood all your life, but in a new way.”7 Sark’s recipe for discovery suggests that we “investigate our dark places with a flashlight” and learn how to “make more mistakes.” With new affirmations swirling inside my head, I decided to return to graduate school to get a PhD. When I made that decision, I had recently been recruited to work as a coordinator in a new research center on campus. I had experience in a number of different positions already and had made numerous contacts across the university. My work was respected, and I had a reputation for outstanding organizational skills. The director of the center traveled...