Arianna Huffington spoke last Tuesday night for the SmartTalk presentation series at the DuPont Theatre in Wilmington, Delaware. She spoke about becoming fearless.

In 2005, Arianna Huffington launched the Huffington Post with 1 blogger, in 2011 she sold it to AOL for $315 million. The company is now global and has hundreds of bloggers contributing about world and social news.  The online community is hungry to connect and the Huffington Post delivers a progressive platform for communication. It is a fabulous thing to mobilize people through the power of interest.. but social media “will not be fabulous for long if we do not learn to disconnect.”

As the President and Editor in Chief, Arianna leads the way to promote healthy thinking and living with contemporary ideas about the workplace, ways to reduce stress and advocating for sleep! There are 2 rooms for sleeping at the Huffington Post for employees who need a rest, the staff will be learning about breathing techniques to reduce stress and healthy snacking is encouraged.

The Huffington Post just launched “GPS for the Soul” a new app for the iphone that can help you reduce stress immediately with music, poetry and images. It also measures stress and lets you know when you need to unplug and recharge.

Arianna recommends a regiment of healthy rest by reading real books at night – not from an ipad or a nook, not charging devices in the bedroom and setting an alarm clock for bedtime. Referencing Hilary Clinton’s recent collapse she declared it a myth that women should be super women and that “success does not mean burning out.”

On becoming fearless, Arianna recalled a time when she had no income and needed money. She boldly went into a bank and asked for a loan. The bank manager was able to meet her need and she was able to carry on and pursue her writing career. She also talked about how we need to regard negative thoughts as an obnoxious roommate that we can ignore. She is 62 years old and asks, “How can you be fearless if you are hiding your age?”

Karen Eichman, Esquire, PLLC who attended as my guest commented that, “It was truly wonderful to hear Arianna talk about many things, and the one thing that resonates with me the most is the idea of naming the fears in your head the “Obnoxious Roommate.”  When you start thinking of your fears as just someone you can banish, it is so much easier to quiet the voices of fear in our heads.”

Arianna is fearless, she took the ambiguous notion of blogging and global news sharing to unprecedented levels. She says it is because we want to connect more personally. Arianna, thank you for coming – we loved connecting with you!

Did you know that our DNA naturally carries a 50% chance for us to be happy? The other 50% is up to us! Do what you love to do and stand up for what you believe in. Doris encouraged us saying, “You can make somebody happy, you can make somebody joyful, make someone feel loved!”

She is right and as I watched her slide show of images from her career I saw that this lady is blessed to have worked in the spotlight for over 50 years! Her role as Marie Barone on Everyone Loves Raymond has kept all of us laughing as she lovingly naggs Raymond and his wife Deborah.  Doris says she is nothing like Marie in real life and she has learned not to focus on little petty things. The show currently airs in 160 countries worldwide including Russia. I watched clips from the show and thought… what a great job! Working with a bunch of comedians couldn’t be more fun and she is making people smile all over the world.

She was working on Remington Steel in 1983 when her late husband, William Goyen passed away from Leukemia. Each night she would go to the hospital and sleep in the room with him and then get up the next day and go to work. She was thankful for her friend Pierce Brosnan who was a comfort to her during the difficult time. It is important to have good friends.

Doris has helped raise millions of dollars for the Puppies Behind Bars organization, the Children Affected by AIDS Foundation and the International Myeloma Foundation.

Doris Roberts was wonderful – she inspired us, made us laugh and asked the audience to think about this…. “How old would you be if you didn’t know how old you are?

Doris really is a pioneer for the aging – In September 2002, Doris spoke to the Senate Special Committee on Aging, an Image of Aging in Media and Marketing special and asked the chairman to “address the devastation, cost and loss that we as a nation suffer because of age discrimination.”

She is also shocked at the amount of violence and sex in films.  She asks, “What about love and caring? Why can’t we promote more positive things?” If television is a reflection of who we really are… our reality and our values need to change…Doris suggested that people should be renting the elderly for their children to teach them better values – what a great idea!

With two parents who were screenwriters, Nora Ephron was determined to do something else with her life so she became a journalist. She worked for the New York Post in her 20s and thought she was in heaven when she went to investigate a crime that became notorious for the theft of the The Star of India; a 563.35 carat (112.67 g) star sapphire, one of the largest such gems in the world. One of the thieves, Jack Murphy a legendary surfer, became known as Murph the Surf. Nora gained wisdom when she interviewed several people and determined that she would need help piecing this story together… she became an investigator!

It was the beginning of her career and becoming the writer she is today started with short articles and stories. The stories she encountered became more and more interesting and it became clear that the stories were so clever that “you can’t make this stuff up!” Nora developed a constant amazement with real life.

She married Carl Bernstein, a journalist from the Washington Post who covered the Watergate Scandal with Bob Woodward. Ephron wrote the novel Heartburn in response to the scandalous affair Carl had with the daughter of British Prime Minister James Callaghan and wife of Peter Jay, then UK ambassador to the United States. Ephron says the whole thing was ridiculous, but it was a turning point in her career. Heartburn became Nora’s first screenplay.

Nora says that in her younger years, everytime something went wrong, her mother would tell her, “Everything is copy” and she found that to be true. Even though she was determined not to be a screen writer like her mom… that is what she and also her sisters became. Nora is known today for her screenplays: Silkwood, When Harry Met Sally… and Sleepless in Seattle.

In 2009, Nora directed Julia, Julia and was impressed by the life story of Julia Child. Julia’s book, Mastering the Art of French Cooking was published in 1961 when Julia was about 50 years old! Nora is an excellent writer and her craft is a reflection of her life – she went from writing about scandal to relationships and cooking.

Nora has recently written a book about the joys of menapause basically and she calls it I Feel Bad about My Neck referring to the hot flashes and redness that women experience…even in the cold of winter. Random House describes her book as “Utterly courageous, wickedly funny, and unexpectedly moving in its truth telling, I Feel Bad About My Neck is a book of wisdom, advice, and laugh-out-loud moments, a scrumptious, irresistible treat.” Sounds like a good read!

I enjoyed meeting Nora and learning about her transformation from being a journalist to a screenwriter. Nora is an example of how a woman can take life -as ridiculous as it can be and turn it into copy. Love ya Nora! Thanks for inspiring us!

Andie MacDowell.

Andie presented  a look at acting as a way of life and what we saw in her was indeed something of an open soul. Andie is a mother, an actress and a longtime model for Loreal makeup. Andie looks proudly to the memory of her mother who strived for an education even when life was overwelming her. Her mother left an impact on Andie because of her struggle with manic depression; if only they knew then what we know now – her mother may have been able to get the help she really needed. When Andie talks about her mother she reflects that her mother was proud of her model daughter who lived in France, but she did not live to see Andie in the movies.

Andie describes a sad story of her youth but her adult life is one of true Hollywood glamour. Andie has suceeded as an actress and was nominated for a Golden Globe award for her role in “Sex, Lies and Videotape.”  When asked which is more difficult acting or modeling, Andie says that a lot has changed in both modeling and acting…but acting is more of an art form. Acting may be a way of life for Andie… but I think Andie’s real message is that life itself is an art form.

Something is revealed as I think about Andie and the stories of her life. She speaks transparently about her mother, her career, her family, her childhood and her lovelife -and these stories present as communication that she has shared before. She talks about the changes she has gone through as a woman and how she struggles with depression…but when Andie began to talk about her work with women who have cancer…there was a pause and Andie told us that these women “know the value of life.”

Andie’s appeal is instantly in her beautiful features but as she warmed up to the SmartTalk audience it was her stories that we really wanted to hear. We found out that she likes to walk on the beach and eat fruit and yogurt; she does yoga and her weaknesses are sweets, chocolate and m&ms. My friend Barb Miller was in the audience and asked Andie if there was ever a moment that made her laugh until she cried… Andie ended up telling us a story about a comical encounter she had with a certain fellow actor… I can not tell you what happened or how she reacted… but every woman in the theatre could relate to Andie in that moment.

I met Andie briefly backstage and she is striking with kind eyes and dark wavy hair – she is tall and slim and looks gorgeous from head to toe…. but she allowed us all to really see her heart tonight. She loves animals, being a mother to her three children and she sees the beauty in other people.  As women we face so many struggles – life can seem so unfair at times – we unravel ourselves to a place of simplicity and  complete openness – because this is where we learn to see the beauty in who we really are and in the things gone wrong, in the people and in the stories of our lives.

This is the part of life that can not be an act – it is a form of art that life is  – that brings us to the places where we are needed, wanted and enabled to do what we are truly called to do.  The SmartTalk women know that women are indeed to be seen and heard – and the therapy for our brokenness is in the truths that we share. Thank you Andie MacDowell -thank you for letting us get to know you.

from Sigourney::

I was so looking forward to spending the evening with you in May for Smart Talk.   I will now be shooting on that date and cannot join you.  I am playing  the fabulous leading role of a woman Secretary of State in a cable series called Political Animals for the USA Network.

Sigourney Weaver

Andie MacDowel

Andie MacDowell has established herself as an accomplished actress in a career that shows no signs of slowing down. Her undeniable charm and talent has resulted in worldwide recognition. She has acted in hits such as “Groundhog Day”, “St Elmo’s Fire”, and “Unstrung Heroes”.  She earned the title of #1 female box office draw worldwide with her performance in “Four Weddings and a Funeral” as well as receiving Los Angeles Film Critics Award for Best Actress and a Golden Globe nomination for “Sex, Lies and Videotape”.  Along with acting you can find her dedicating her life to healthy heart awareness including teaming up with “Time to Talk Cardio” which helps you get the most out of your medical visits!

Cathy is fondly remembered as a hopeful Olympian and cute girl with pigtails but her personal struggles with family and weight were always on her mind. Her dilemmas took her at a young age to become an anorexic and a bulimic. But Cathy’s competitive drive persevered and after getting medical attention she was able to pursue new directions as an actress and a singer.

I will tell you that my mom so enjoyed seeing Cathy talk about her life and getting to meet her backstage was a real treat. My mom remembers being glued to the TV set when Cathy Rigby competed in the 1972 Olympics. She was a star gymnast and performer and remains in the spotlight today as an amazing Peter Pan with her production company called McCoy Rigby Entertainment.

Thank you Cathy for sharing your story about your life with all of us… especially my mom.